I’ve had some delightful Morrow mail since Courting Morrow Little was on sale. One dear reader asked me for Morrow’s mother’s recipe for Queen’s Cake, something I had researched years ago. It’s worth sharing here, if only for a gasp or a chuckle! I had forgotten Morrow was something of a kitchen diva (and Roxanna, but that’s another story)…
*Kitchen at Mount Vernon
Hannah Glasse, in The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, gave a recipe for the cake that included four pounds of flour, thirty-two eggs, six pounds of dried fruit, and half a pint of brandy. After the cake was baked, it was covered with a pure white, smooth icing made with “double refined sugar,” egg whites, musk, ambergrease [sic], and orange-flower water. The mixture was beaten for two hours, then spread over the cake and dried in the oven until hard. This drying process required constant vigilance to ensure that the iced cake did not color or scorch.
Well, fast forward to the 21st-century…
I was at Bible study recently when a friend brought in the most beautiful chocolate cake I’d ever seen. And it tasted as good as it looked! She’s kindly shared the recipe which is too good to keep to myself! If you suffer from a lack of chocolate love, my heart goes out to you!
The Best Chocolate Cake
Yield: 8 servings
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time:
Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Ghiradelli unsweetened cocoa)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup strong black coffee (I used Green Mountain Coffee’s Vermont Country Blend)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extractDirections:
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans or one 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or in a large bowl with an electric mixer, combine the sugar, flour, cocoa(s), baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix on low until dry ingredients are thoroughly combined. Add eggs, buttermilk, coffee, oil and vanilla. Beat on medium speed for about two minutes; the batter will be thin. Pour batter evenly into prepared pans.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes for round pans, 35 to 40 minutes for rectangular pan or until wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.
4. Frost as desired. I used a simple and delicious Chocolate Buttercream Frosting from Savory Sweet Life. One batch was perfect for this layered chocolate cake. I also toasted walnuts and put them on top the cake. Amazing addition!Okay, back to work…!
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Oh Laura. I’ll be trying this. I seem to be on a lifetime search for the perfect baked-at-home chocolate cake. Haven’t found it yet. Might this be the one?
And thank you also for posting the pic of the MV kitchen. I’ve been looking for one that resembles the kitchen in my WIP, with an alcove to one side of the hearth, and this is IT!
Lori, So glad you like this kitchen pic! It really is a perfect colonial or early American kitchen. I love having kitchen diva heroines. I’m cooking up another one and can’t wait!
I hope you like this one, Lori. It’s really an amazing cake and I think it has to do with the quality of cocoa you buy. My friend used Hershey’s Special Dark but I was caught between that and Ghiradelli. Maybe it doesn’t really matter but it seems a step up from plain old cocoa powder. And the dose of coffee really helps :)!
I am back to testify that this IS the best chocolate cake I’ve ever made. Thank you so much for passing along the recipe Laura. Wow. Saturday is my sugar day and guess what I’m having along with my breakfast? 🙂
I used a combination of Hershey’s regular cocoa and Special Dark. I’ve tried using all dark and find it’s actually too dark for a cake. I used 2 parts regular and 1 part dark. I will have to find Ghiradelli’s brand. I’ve never tried that. I’m sure it’s wonderful. Their chocolate is.
LOL, dear Lori :)! SO happy you agree about it being the best. I sure thought so! Sunday is my sugar day but I think since this my boys’ spring break I’ll be making one tomorrow. Glad you told me about the dark being too dark before. I was wondering about that. And I’m smiling because my boys ate the last piece of this cake for Sunday breakfast last week – AND THEN had pancakes! That isn’t our normal – but it sure speaks to how good this cake is! 🙂 Thanks for enjoying it along with me…
I’d been thinking it was time to bake a proper cake!
I know what you mean about galleys–just got my first set and I had one week to review them. I alternated between: hey, this is pretty good; and what was I thinking?!?
Oh, smiling broadly at your galleys comments, Sarah :). Yep, your response is just about right, lol. I alternate between those 2 even after I press SEND. Must be the perfectionist in me/us!
I can’t wait to hold your debut in hand. Counting down with you!
Hi, Laura!!
Enjoyed seeing the picture at Mount Vernon, and thanks SO much for the recipe!! I’m a chocoholic of the worst kind (and not even a writer, although I tend to write books in e-mails, letters/notes, and greeting cards, LOL), and desserts, in general, I’m afraid!! And – I love Ghiradelli chocolate, their hot cocoa mix is wonderful, also!!
One of my favorite chocolate cakes is Coca Cola cake – the cake and icing are SO rich!! I ordered it at Cracker Barrel just week.
I’m laughing at the recipe from Hannah Glasse, and wondering what the life span would be for one enjoying such treats on a regular basis?? Also wondering how much healthier recipes such as this were compared to those of today??
Interesting to know that you are fellow perfectionist, Laura!! It can be both a curse, and a blessing, I’ve found!!
Wishing unexpected blessings of chocolate in your near future, Laura, dear!!
Oh Bonnie, Yes, perfectionism runs in my blood, I’m afraid. A southern malady, perhaps! And you’re victim, too!
How I miss Cracker Barrel!! And everything on their menu. It’s the first place I head when I go home. There’s a great one just off I-75 at the Berea exit down from my Granny. Right by the biggest Walmart I’ve ever seen. Thankfully Granny lives over the hill and we can see neither ;).
I love chocolate, too, and try to send little gifts of Seattle Chocolate when I can. IMHO it’s the best chocolate outside of European chocolate like Lindt and Toblerone and Cadbury I’ve ever tasted! I will remember your hankering for it, too. Nothing like a little chocolate to sweeten the day! I even included it in this next Ballantyne book, lol…
I laughed, too, at this recipe from poor Hannah G. Can you imagine standing there and beating that batter for TWO HOURS?! I also got a good chuckle from baking that cake “hard.” I can only imagine. Probably needed a sugar hammer to dislodge it when done. So thankful for modern kitchens and hand mixers! Though I imagine Hannah had some great muscles!
Bless you, Bonnie, for admiring that cake and kitchen along with me :).
COFFEE???
That is just SICK!!!
Blech! Spit-ooey! Hurl!!!
Can I use rum instead? Gin? Whiskey?
Totally kidding…RS doesn’t drink.
LOL, You need some of that Turlock special brew, dear Jennifer:) No doubt that concoction would set the cake on fire! You’re so right. RS is a complete abstainer :). So truly, who needs coffee – OR this cake ;)!!
Oh this will not help my 5k prepping. My husband is a chocolate cake addict and this recipe sounds like mine.
Ive got an amazing German Chocolate cake recipe if your ever in the mood. I seriously despise coconut in all forms but I devour this cake.
I just love baking and cooking. I love reading about our ancestors who ate heartily for every meal and always had dessert. What fun!
Cindy, Oh, kindred spirits we are in more than books!! I’d love your GC recipe if you can share here or even via email :). But only if you have time! German Chocolate cake means a lot to me because every year on my birthday my KY granny would make one for me. And it was a whopper – 3-4 layers and oodles of coconut and nuts. And believe it or not I DO NOT LIKE coconut either and hate plain coconut cake!
You’re so right about those ancestors of ours – they ate hearty and always enjoyed dessert :). There are some things about the olden days I couldn’t handle like the lack of bathing, but I do think I might like being in this 18th-c. kitchen, excepting those friend squirrels!
When is your birthday, Laura??
Bonnie, I’m a spring chicken – April 19th! And I’ve even ordered a German Chocolate Cake:) I seem to remember you have a birthday in spring? Or perhaps I’m getting a bit fuzzy. I’d love to know yours, too :)!!
No, my birthday is Christmas day – Dec. 25th!! My mother has always said we should celebrate it another day – perhaps in the summer – as it tends to get lost in the bustle of the holidays. But it never happened – and at my current age, celebrating my birthday matters far less than when I was a child.
SO glad you’re getting that German chocolate cake – however, hope you’re getting a homemade one!! You deserve it, my dear!! Would love to make you one – if/when you make it down my way, next Spring!!
Bonnie, How quickly I forget! You ARE the Christmas baby:) We were just talking about that. Forgive me. My mind is on overload with these galleys! Like you, I think less and less of birthdays as I get older. I even struggle sometimes to remember my children’s when asked spur of the moment! Sigh.
Thanks for asking. I will take a pic of that cake and post it – if I can remember, lol! I may be too busy eating it!!
Im so glad you love German Chocolate cake. This recipe is hard work but so worth it. I will email it to you soon. I will try to figure out the source so you can post it if you like.
I wish I could make you one for your spring bday but Im glad you’re getting one regardless.
Just put away CML. I’m convinced there has to be more story there. There has to be a reason that I want to be on the Red River all the time.
It sounds just like my granny’s recipe if it’s hard work, dear Cindy:) I will try to post a pic of this bakery one before we attack it! It’s really an Easter cake more than a bday cake. You’re so sweet to share! I will treasure it and call it Cindy’s GC cake!!
LOVE that you’ve just revisited Morrow. My dream is to repackage that story and add a novella to the end to tell the rest of the story. Your instincts are good and I hope you’re not disappointed!!
Okay, silly question–we don’t drink coffee! But I get why the coffee would be important. Soooo, if I want to make this, what do you advise I do to get this “strong coffee”? 🙂
Sally, You and Jennifer are a pair :)! Once upon a time I used to shun coffee, too, and now only drink one cup of decaf per day. I’m more a tea fan, actually. Easy solution here – just go to Starbucks or any coffee stop and ask for a straight cup of regular coffee, then bring it home. Heat it up when it’s time to make the cake. I’ve heard that the coffee deepens the chocolate flavor but doesn’t make the cake taste like coffee, honest! I hope you like if you make. Wish we could sit down and partake together! Or even bake together, lol!
I just finished reading CML again :happysigh: Seriously Laura, it is the best fiction book I’ve ever read! The true sacrificial love between Red Shirt and Morrow, Red Shirt’s gentleness with Morrow, the passion between them, the way God leads Red Shirt through the tribulation of Fort Pitt in order bring that very good thing back into Morrow’s life (don’t want to give any spoilers lol), Red Shirt’s repentance and obedience to God even when He knows what he has to do is dangerous…..just :happysigh:
I was blown away the first time I read it, blown away the second time, and now blown away a 3rd time. I don’t think this story will ever get old. Thank you so much for such an incredible book!
Oh Eva, I so treasure your priceless words here! You understand the heart of Morrow’s story so well. I’m so thankful. And I’m beyond honored you’ve read it again! I need to read it again, too, as your comments make me want to do that. I’m so thankful the Lord led me to write that story and that in His miraculous timing and way, you found this book and it means something to you. I just pinned a pin to my Pinterest board of CML that seems to fit her story, too ~
“There is a sacredness in tears. They are not a mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition and of unspeakable love.”
― Washington Irving
I am back on the frontier again, beginning a new story. I would so appreciate any prayers as I start. The research has been wonderful and I’m more excited about this book than I’ve been since Morrow’s story, I think!
Hope you and your precious family are well and will overflow with the joys of Easter! Thanks so much for the gift of your words here today.
Even Though I am not a big fan of chocolate (I Know not normal) but I may have to make this cake.
Carissa, My mom doesn’t like chocolate either! I know quite a few chocolate shunners for lack of a better word. Am sure you are healthier for it! If you make it, maybe your sisters will like?! 🙂