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. Sheesh, amazing how much she changes. Last time we baked something together was probably six weeks ago. She did fine then, but today she was really, really eager to get started. She said "I'm Chef Aster and this is Chef Dada" as if she was doing a cooking show. And then we got to work measuring and mixing and following this interesting sounding recipe. It's basically your garden variety "stir and bake" chocolate cake until after you pour the batter into the pan. It's at that point that you add some topping and then, the real kicker, douse the whole thing with boiling water. Makes for a very moist cake as you might imagine. 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. 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. It is a "hot fudge sundae cake" so it is supposed to be sort of gooey. 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. The boiling water is what ultimately gives this cake the feel of a hot fudge sundae with a syrupy edge. 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.
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.