National Chocolate Cake Day

I woke up this morning and during my caffeination time Facebook scrolling I saw that it is National Chocolate Cake Day! How handy! For one, we always have fun dinner with a special dessert on Friday. For two, the January 1967 issue I’m currently doing had a big section on cakes! So I started around 10:30 or 11 this morning making a cake, and finally at 7:30 got to actually eat some of it. 

Some people are kitchenaid fans, but I’m a Bosch girl. My Bosch made quick work of the cake batter, but left me wondering, Why is it called Red Regal Chocolate Cake?? If the batter was any example though, the cake would taste good! 

Now, I had to substitute the recipe a bit. I have Celiac disease and have to follow a gluten free diet. I was a little alarmed at the cake flour it called for. So I was taking a risk. I used 1 cup of my personal blend of all purpose flour, 1 and 1/4 cup of corn starch, and 1 teaspoon of xanthun gum. Shifted together and then measured out to the 2 1/4 cup total the recipe needed. 

So far so good! I thought they were 8 inch pans and was prepped to need to fill some muffin cups or something with the leftover batter, BUT the chocolate cake gods were smiling on me, either they are 9 inch pans or something went perfectly wrong in my recipe. It filled two pans just right! 

A slightly rounded top, but not even worth trimming. 

I tend to feel that homemade cake should look a certain way. I don’t pull out all the stops unless it’s a burthday, and even then I still keep it homestyle. I made a chocolate sourcream frosting. 

Here’s my recipe, in a method I call Troll Cooking (From The Troll Cookbook, essentially there is no measurements and it makes how much it makes) 

Butter- generous

Spash of milk

Glub of sour cream

Lots of confectioners sugar until it’s icing

Funny side story, my som distracted me and instead of the small splash of milk I must have used a generous glug, because it made a TON. I threw in an entire bag of sugar and it laughed at me. I had to have my husband bring home more sugar so I could finish. I spooned a ton of the chocolate soup out, and was able to fix the frosting without making enough for 500 cakes. I tossed some chocolate soup down the sink, and saved some for possible doughtnuts frosting. 

And that’s why it’s Red Regal! Somehow, for reasons I cannot explain, it comes out red colored! Red tinted. Not red red, but there is a definite tint. It got thumbs up all the way around! It was rich and moist but not TO rich. Tasted great with some coffee! My husband surprised me with a Ninja when he came home from work!!! 

Homemade cappuccino and a big slice of cake! What a way to celebrate National Chocolate Cake Day! And I got this post up before the holiday is over, though probably to late for you to make this recipe for your celebration. But, everyday should be chocolate cake day, so just make it tomorrow! 

Hot Turkey Salad

My husband and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary back in October, and I remember making hot chicken salad years ago as a newlywed in our apartment. The November 1962 issue featured the same recipe using turkey, so I knew I needed to make it again. 

Admittedly it isn’t much to look at. The picture in the magazine looks very boring and in person it isn’t much better. 

I left out the green peppers, because I don’t like them in this style of recipe. And, in the spirit of leftovers, instead of grating up fresh cheese I sliced layers of leftover cheeseball and laid them on top. (Which did add an extra flavor punch, because it had ranch dressing.) 

Over the years I’ve also added chopped apples, or changed the spices just a little. Basically you make a simple chicken/turkey salad; mayo, onion, celery, mustard, shredded meat, a dash of  lemon juice, and salt and pepper; then you top it with cheese, top that with crumbled up chips (or sometimes I use nuts) and bake it until it’s hot and bubbly. So any variation you would do of a classic chicken salad will usually also work with this. 

One thing I love is that you can eat it various ways. My husband made a sandwich, my son just ate a spoonful on his plate, and I made a double decker open faced sandwich. It would also be good as an appetizer or side with chips or crackers as a dip, just dice the piece smaller. 

It helped get us over the leftover turkey slump and add a little variation. I’m hoping to spend some time tomorrow sorting, using, and freezing any remaining leftovers. My family is about turkeyed out.

Spiced Apples

The November 1962 issue I’m currently working on has a ton of recipes (17 if my memory serves) but they’re mostly for Thanksgiving or Turkey leftovers. I don’t have turkey leftovers yet obviously, but there was a spiced apple recipe and I decided to try it. My family loves apples. I usually buy 2 bushels every fall to get us through the winter. They love to seem them baked or stewed on the dinner table, or as a dessert. 
The magazine suggests it as a garnish for the turkey platter and I figured I’d do a test run. The clove and warmth of it could possibly help this cold I’m fighting, which is why I’ve been a bit quiet around here, and also if it was good I could do it as a side dish on T-Day. 
It was a pretty simple recipe. Make a syrup, and include brown sugar and clove; halve apples and cut out the core; fill that core hole with raisins; place in a pan; cover with syrup; bake and baste occasionally. Simple. The syrup was delightfully zesty, especially because I may have used too much clove. Once I skimmed the recipe I didn’t actuallypay attention to how much clove it said to use, and it turns out the new brand of spice I bought had surprisingly large holes in the lid. 

They admittedly don’t look like much in the dish. The apples held their shape well, and would work for a garnish. They didn’t turn to mush like I half expected them to. What surprised my whole family was that it really wasn’t very spicy. I made everyone taste the syrup and they said the apples took very little of that spice. Out of the corner of my eye I could see my son drinking the syrup off of his plate. The apples were good, the raisins were good. Perhaps I just didn’t baste enough? It just tasted like apples and raisins. All my family enjoyed them, and said they’d love to see them on the table again, but agreed they just weren’t that same lovely zest that the sauce was. I can see them as a beautiful garnish on a traditional turkey platter, especially with a more traditional red apple. This year we have family coming and will be frying a turkey, so I’ll save the garnish idea for another year. 

Spaghetti Fritatta

The October/November 1992 issue features surprisingly few recipes, but I was intrigued by the spaghetti fritatta. 
It features egg, mozzarella, parmesan, bacon, and the main ingredient cooked spaghetti. The great benefit to this is how impossible it seems to be to make the right amount of spaghetti for dinner to match the right amount of sauce. When you end up with leftover spaghetti you can put it in the fridge and make this later or the next day. 

I whipped it up and vaguely remembered having made something similar before. 

It was pretty good! I ate some plain, some drizzled with Frank’s Red Hot, and some topped with leftover spaghetti sauce. Each variety was pretty good! The recipe comes out very cheesy, and the taste is similar to egg spaghetti (aka pasta carbonara.) 

My son also loved it. He rated it a 10 out of 10. 

Only one slice remained, set aside for my husband, and it remained, and remained, and remained, until finally on trash day (when the outside was crusty and dry, and none of it could possibly be as good as fresh) he tasted a bite pulled from the moisted area he could find. His response has “it’s a little eggy.” 
So out of only three recipes in the issue the one I tried was a hit. My son said I should make it again, and next time I have leftover pasta I do believe I will. 

Side note, my husband is a picky eater, so instead of the suggest prosciutto or ham I used bacon. I have celiac, so I used gluten free pasta. But those substituions are so minor I can’t picture the recipe being any better or worse without them.