[Italiancook]

I made a Texas Chocolate Cake for my computer tech. Normally, I make him (and his colleagues) Double Chocolate Brownies, but I still haven't purchased chocolate chips. Nevertheless, they have a good snack. Making the cake this time was easier than the one I posted about recently. I measured everything for the frosting before I started the cake. That made the frosting less time-crunched to make. But I started cooking the frosting too soon. Partly, because the caked needed 4 extra minutes baking time. Partly, because I was unsure of how much time it'd take. The frosting was on the stove too long, and I think too much water from the milk and butter evaporated. The frosting was thicker than last time. I was in a hurry to get cake done and cooled, so I used the thicker frosting. I'm sure I'm the only one who knows the difference. My husband has eaten what I didn't give the tech, and he hasn't complained.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 9 months ago by Italiancook.

[Italiancook]

I knew this, but I managed to choose the wrong answer. I was in a hurry is my excuse.

[Italiancook]

This is fascinating, Mike. Thanks for the photos. I'm looking forward to next week's bread tests.

[Italiancook]

Mike, do you buy the frozen creamed chipped beef or make it yourself? My husband has been buying the frozen version for his breakfasts. When we were first married, I mixed a package of chipped beef with cream cheese, and we ate those on bagels for lunches. Since hubby and I are in a nostalgic mood with chipped beef, I wonder if they still sell it in the dry packages. Haven't found it yet. If you buy it dry and make it creamed, would you please share the name of the brand chipped beef you're buying.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 9 months ago by Italiancook.

[Italiancook]

Nancy, thanks for the suggestion. I read in reviews that she has info on buying slow cookers. I'll be interested in reading that. I bought the 6 quart cooker on sale at Christmas. My plan was to make Ree Drummand's (Food Network) slow cooker ribs, but that hasn't happened yet.

Skeptic, I've been wondering this since you first mentioned cooking bread in the slow cooker. What do you do about all the water that accumulates on the bottom of the lid and falls back into the pot? Do you cover the cooker with a towel before putting the lid on?

BakerAunt, like you, I haven't had good success with beef and pork in the slow cooker. It's not to my liking. I also haven't been happy with chicken. I recently learned from a Food Network recipe that I've been cooking the chicken too long in the slow cooker. Eventually, I'm going to do a chicken again, following that recipe. If it comes to the proper temp in less time and is better quality, I'll know for sure I was wrong.

I cooked a large chicken breast in the slow cooker from an online recipe. I added a little chicken broth to the bottom of the pot on a friend's suggestion. Recipe didn't say to do that. I cooked it the time the recipe said, and we were pleased with it. Trisha Yearwood (Food Network) has a recipe for a pork roast that I may try to see if my timing was also wrong on that. I won't try another beef roast unless I have a specific recipe, because it's too much money not to be happy with the results.

Overall, I don't mind tending a pot on the stove. I find it fun to stir every once in a while. But I do see the advantages of slow cooker cooking, and would like to expand into that.

[Italiancook]

I missed this. I rarely buy ground beef. When I do, I look for leanest. At least now, I know what it's costing me.

[Italiancook]

I've never eaten a fava bean, but I picked up the correct answer from Food Network.

[Italiancook]

Thanks for the info, Mike, on the cake. I think your modification of coating pan in cocoa is much better than using flour. I used flour. When I cut two pieces for neighbors, I had to cut off the floury edge before I could take it to them. I compared my stepmother's recipe to the one you use. There are some differences. Below is beloved stepmother's recipe. I don't know where it's from or how old.

TEXAS CHOCOLATE CAKE

2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
2 sticks oleo
4 tablespoons cocoa
1 cup water
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla

Blend sugar & flour & set aside. Bring to a boil, oleo, cocoa & butter. Pour over flour & sugar mixture. Add buttermilk, eggs, cinnamon, baking soda & vanilla. Mix well with mixer. Pour into a greased and floured pan. Bake at 360 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes. The last few minutes of baking, prepare the frosting.

As a separate note, she says the pan size should be 17 x 9 x 2", but she always made it in my grandmother's cake pan, which is what I used. It measures 8-1/2 x 13 x 1-1/4". I had just enough frosting for it without it being too thick. I'm thinking, but don't know for sure, that for the larger sized pan, a double batch of frosting may be needed, but that may be too much. Maybe 1-1/2 batch.

TEXAS CAKE FROSTING

Bring to a boil:

4 tablespoons cocoa
1 stick oleo
6 tablespoons milk (she used regular milk, not buttermilk)

Remove from heat and add 3 cups confectioner's sugar. Beat with a mixer. Add 1 tablespoon vanilla & a heaping 1 cup of chopped nuts.

Remove cake from oven and pour the hot icing over the hot cake. If this is too thick to spread, add a little more milk.

[Italiancook]

I made lamb soup a couple of weeks ago. It wasn't authentic, apparently, because I missed this. The soup was good, but too rich for how much I made. We had a hard time finishing it. If I ever make it again, I'll halve the recipe.

[Italiancook]

I made my beloved stepmother's Texas Chocolaate Cake with her chocolate frosting. I made this shortly after I inherited the recipe. It didn't taste like hers, so I never made it again. I realized today that the difference in taste probably is because her recipe calls for "oleo," which I assume is margarine. I use butter.

Mike, I may have asked this before. If so, I'll write down the answer this time, instead of leaving it in my brain. Is the icing to be put on the second the cake comes out of the oven? Or, 5 minutes later?

The cake baked for only 18 minutes. I couldn't get the icing done in that time. It was about 5 minutes after removing the cake that I put on the icing. Also, is this supposed to be a liquidy frosting? Her recipe says to add extra milk if the frosting isn't spreadable. Mine was thick, but spreadable, so I didn't add extra milk.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 9 months ago by Italiancook.

[Italiancook]

I wanted to look up roll recipes in the Wise Encyclopedia of Cookery. I had a baking flop this week and wanted a better recipe. I made Whole Foods Market's Buttermilk Rolls (from Internet). The recipe pictured them as cloverleaf rolls so I made them that way. I had tried cloverleaf rolls once before, and the 3 balls of dough in each muffin cup had fused into one large roll. So I still wanted to replicate the excellent cloverleaf rolls of my beloved stepmother.

The Whole Foods recipe didn't do that. The dough was dry in the mixer. I probably would have thought of adding water, but a workman needed to ask me a question. By the time I got back to the dough, I was in a hurry and used it dry. The rolls did develop the cloverleaf shape, and they weren't doorstops, but they almost were doorstops. Saturated with hot soup, they're good.

The cooking encyclopedia is over 1300 pages, because it has, I believe, every food and everything related to cooking that was known in 1971. With at least one recipe for almost everything, and several recipes for most, with variations. The reason I didn't use the cookbook a lot is that it's so thick it's hard to prop open to read a recipe while cooking it. As I recall, I had to use cans of veggies to hold each side open.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 9 months ago by Italiancook.

[Italiancook]

I knew it, too.

[Italiancook]

I second you, Mike, on marjoram being "an underused and underappreciated spice." It was that way in my kitchen until I began to put it on top of focaccia. Before that, I only used it in an Italian soup. Now, it's on the lower rack of my spice cabinet so I can reach it easily. But I haven't used it in tomato sauce. Will try it. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Italiancook]

I awoke early this morning and was in the mood for a restaurant breakfast. But the restaurant wasn't open. I waited over an hour for them to open, but then decided I didn't want to go out in the cold. Headed to the kitchen to make myself a restaurant breakfast. Bacon was in freezer & no sausage. So I settled on my grandmother's hash browns, over easy eggs & juice. Forgot the toast, it's been so long since I went to a restaurant for breakfast. Nevertheless, I was satisfied with the specialness of the meal and the taste. My normal breakfast is slow-cooker oatmeal with fruit.

[Italiancook]

I made a fool's purchase in the name of baking. My husband threw away my copy of Wise Encyclopedia of Cookery that was a gift -- Really! It has a tried and true Vienna Bread recipe that I like to make for guests. I never used the cookbook for anything else, so if it wasn't for that recipe, I would chalk it up to de-cluttering. I didn't want to spend over $50.00 for a new copy -- after all, it is only one recipe. But I plunked down $20.00 for a used one. Again, for one recipe. Thus, a fool's purchase in the name of baking!

BakerAunt, after reading your post about Valentine's Day, all I can think of is chocolate cake. I think there's a Texas Chocolate Cake in my weekend future. The temptation would have subsided if I had chocolate chips to munch on, but I'm all out of those.

[Author]

Posts