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Chocolate Cake (II)
M. R. Beard.
One cup of butter, one cup milk, three of sugar, four cups of flour, six eggs, one teaspoon of soda, two teaspoons of cream of tartar ; bake in layers like jelly cake. Iceing for cake to place between : One cup of sugar, one cake of chocolate, the whites of two eggs whipped together.
A large butter cake raised with the pre-baking-powder pairing of soda and cream of tartar, baked as thin "jelly cake" layers and stacked with a chocolate meringue filling. Two things need attention: the leavening and the uncooked icing.
- Soda and cream of tartarOne teaspoon soda with two of cream of tartar is the standard homemade baking powder of the period; cream of tartar was usually sifted with the flour and the soda dissolved in the milk, though the recipe does not say. If you would rather use the commercial article, about 3 to 4 teaspoons of double-acting baking powder gives comparable lift.
- "One cake of chocolate"Chocolate was then sold in hard, unsweetened cakes, commonly scored into squares of about an ounce, so the quantity intended here is uncertain. Use 1 to 2 oz unsweetened baking chocolate, melted and cooled, not chocolate chips or eating chocolate, which carry their own sugar and would throw the icing out of balance.
- OvenNo temperature is given because the stove had no dial. Bake the layers at 350F for 18 to 25 minutes depending on thickness, until the centre springs back.
- "Bake in layers like jelly cake"Jelly-cake tins were shallow, about an inch deep. This is a big batter, six eggs and four cups of flour, and it will fill four to five 8- or 9-inch pans thinly, or three deeper ones if you accept longer baking.
- The uncooked icingOne cup sugar beaten with two raw whites and melted chocolate is essentially an uncooked meringue and will not reach a temperature that makes eggs safe. Use pasteurized whites, or beat the whites and sugar over simmering water to 160F before adding the chocolate.
- Salt and butterThe recipe calls only for butter, and butter of the period was commonly salted. If you use unsalted butter, adding about 1/2 teaspoon salt to the flour will keep the cake from tasting flat.
- FlourFlour of the period was often softer than modern all-purpose and was generally sifted before measuring. Measure by spooning sifted flour lightly into the cup; scooping straight from the bag adds enough extra to dry the cake out.
- YieldA tall layer cake serving 12 to 16. The filling quantity is modest by modern standards, sufficient between layers but not for coating the sides.
The Home Cook Book was compiled in Chicago in the mid-1870s from recipes contributed by named local housewives, sold to raise money for charity, and copied widely afterwards; the initials "M. R. Beard" at the head of the recipe are the compilers' way of crediting the donor rather than a brand. Its two chocolate cakes reflect a shift then underway: chocolate had long been a drink, and American bakers were beginning to treat it as a flavouring for cake and icing. The leavening is equally of its moment. Cream of tartar, a by-product of winemaking, sold alongside saleratus so cooks could mix their own leavening; commercial baking powder existed by the 1870s but was distrusted as adulterated, and this recipe keeps the two components separate on the ingredient list.