By Angela Denstad
Summer’s coming, and time and again so many of us are fortunate in having something to celebrate: birthdays, graduations, public holidays, family gatherings, good weather, life in general. And throughout human history, bakers have offered cakes as their contribution to celebratory events, some of them grand enough to be the celebration itself. But cake doesn’t have to be beautiful or elaborately decorated to be delicious, and making cake from scratch doesn’t have to be hard. Whether bakery bought or home baked, this is my call for a return to real cakes made authentically from simple ingredients.
Let me explain. Though cakes in various forms have been around since ancient times beginning with honey-sweetened bread-like doughs, it was a 1930s invention, followed by some good post-World War II marketing, that changed what Americans think of as cake baking—and not for the better in my humble opinion. I’m referring to, of course, the cake mix.
Though originally slow to catch on, cake mixes were embraced in the 1950s as trends toward modernization promoted convenience. Food companies placed emphasis on creative presentation with the arrival of ready-made frosting, which also served to mask the chemical flavor profiles that plagued the boxed mix confections—though the frostings themselves masked similar flavor undertones by adding more sugar. Cake mixes became commonplace, so much so that by the 1990s, surveys indicated that bakers no longer even understood them to be semi-prepared foods and considered cakes made from box mixes to be “from scratch” simply because they were baked at home.
Though we can all use a shortcut once in a while, the adoption of the cake mix by many home cooks and commercial bakeries alike actually redefined an elemental part of baking. The more insidious outcome of this reliance on prepackaged products is that we’ve gotten used to the chemical taste that once was off-putting. And when you buy a mix, you’re accepting whatever quality ingredients were tossed together from wherever, along with a few things you’d never think to measure into your own batter, usually including artificial flavors and unnecessary food dyes.
Fortunately, it’s easy to have your cake and eat it, too, so to speak. When you want cake that’s uncompromising on authentic flavor from quality ingredients that’s also a piece of cake to make, stir up this one-bowl wonder for any occasion. The amounts of ingredients even align so you can minimize your use of measuring cups and spoons. It’s a cakewalk to double the recipe, and I’ve even used powdered buttermilk in the dry ingredients to concoct a homemade cake mix to include in gifts or have on hand to make any day feel special.
Once baked, serve this basic chocolate cake plain with ice cream and caramel syrup; crumble it into cake pops; layer it with raspberry jam and coat it in ganache; whip up a frosting of cream cheese and peanut butter, sweetened to taste; create individual servings of baked Alaska; or just serve it with a slather of high-quality salted butter. However you embellish it, you’ll feel good about actually baking from scratch – a time-honored tradition that really takes the cake.
About the author: Angela works as a copywriter in the education sector and has dabbled in various culinary pursuits. She was the author of The Caledonia Argus’ long-standing weekly food column Thyme Out with Angela and is happy to now join the rotation of food writers with the Fillmore County Journal.
One-Bowl Chocolate Cake
1 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 ½ cups sugar
¾ cup best-quality cocoa powder
¾ teaspoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, room temperature
¾ cup low-fat buttermilk, room temperature
¾ cup hot tap water
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
Preheat the oven to 350º with racks set to the middle positions and grease two round cake pans (8- or 9-inch diameter), a 9×13-inch rectangular pan, or line 24 cupcake wells with paper or silicone liners.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk in the eggs, buttermilk, water, vanilla and oil. Stir together with a rubber spatula until no streaks of dry ingredients remain.
Fill the prepared pans evenly with the cake batter. Bake until the top springs back when lightly pressed, about 15-20 minutes for cupcakes, 25-30 minutes for round layers, or 35-40 minutes for a 9×13-inch cake. Allow cake to cool in the pan before turning out to cool completely. Frost and serve as desired.