My 2 1 /2 year old daughter, Aster, with our "Boiling Water Cake"...we took it over to my parents so they could help sample it!
By Kevin Williams
I was looking for something easy to try making with Aster. Â Sheesh, amazing how much she changes. Â Last time we baked something together was probably six weeks ago. Â She did fine then, but today she was really, really eager to get started. Â She said "I'm Chef Aster and this is Chef Dada" as if she was doing a cooking show. Â And then we got to work measuring and mixing and following this interesting sounding recipe. Â It's basically your garden variety "stir and bake" chocolate cake until after you pour the batter into the pan. Â It's at that point that you add some topping and then, the real kicker, douse the whole thing with boiling water. Â Makes for a very moist cake as you might imagine. Â Adding to the mystery of the cake is that there was no baking time given. So I set the timer for 30 minutes and then kept checking. Â At 30 minutes the cake was still much too liquidy to take out. By minute 50, the cake was passing the "toothpick test", so I decided to take it out. Â It is a "hot fudge sundae cake" so it is supposed to be sort of gooey. Â Dorcas Raber says this about it:
"This is good served warm with ice cream or milk, of course, we prefer raw milk."
By itself, the cake is good. But with a scoop of ice cream, yea, it'd be an absolute winner. Â The boiling water is what ultimately gives this cake the feel of a hot fudge sundae with a syrupy edge. Â You can adjust the water downward if you want a less syrupy cake.f
- 2 cups flour
- 1½ cup white sugar
- 1 /4 cup cocoa
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup milk
- 1 /4 cup vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- topping:
- 1 1 /2 cups brown sugar and 1 /2 cup cocoa
- 3 1 /2 cups boiling water
- Mix everything together and pour into a greased 9 X 13" pan.
- Mix the brown sugar and cocoa from the topping and then sprinkle on the batter.
- Pour boiling water on the cake.
- Bake at 350 until a toothpick comes out clean.
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hmchelen
Your daughter Aster is so cute. I always read your column. I wouldn't worry about your weight. It's better for your health to lose it slowly. You and your loved ones have a blessed weekend.
Kevin
Thanks, Helen!
Virginia
I remember these cakes being sold in mixes as pudding cakes. I was surprised when I found a recipe for one...I thought the recipe cake was better than the mix.
Bev
These cakes are wonderful. Thank you for this recipe. Your daughter is absolutely adorable.