Absurd Wacky Chocolate Cake

This week I'm cooking from The I Hate to Cook Book: 50th Anniversary Edition Cook Book by Peg Bracken. 2010 was the 50th edition of the book, and I wanted to see what made it such a long-lasting book.

There are many quick and easy desserts in this book, and several have intriguing names. For example, the Hootenholler Whiskey Cake and Cockeyed Cake both caught my eye immediately.

To an experienced cake or cookie baker, the directions for the Cockeyed Cake might sound apocryphal. Bracken recommends greasing the pan, then sifting into the pan flour, cocoa, baking soda, sugar and salt. After that,you're supposed to poke holes into the dry ingredients, pour wet ingredients in, pour water over top of the whole thing and mix right in the pan.

It all sounded to Easy-Bake Oven for me, so I did a little internet research. Sure, plenty of others have written about and made this cake - it's been around for years and may have originated during the Depression era. I particular like the advice from this blog: don't mix in the pan unless you're good at that.

Umm, I've never mixed in the pan, so that makes me an absolute beginner. And on a Monday night after a wacky day at work, I didn't want to take too many chances. I used a small glass bowl, dropped in the dry ingredients, and mixed them up.

Dry Ingredients

 I used a dark chocolate cocoa, and poked holes in the dry ingredients. Can you tell what wet ingredients are in the holes?

If you can believe it, the wet ingredients are vegetable oil, vinegar, and vanilla. Then you pour water over the top and the ingredients start to bubble.

I used my sexy red whisk to mix the whole thing up.

Into the prepared pan it went, and straight into the oven.The batter tasted good, so I had high hopes. I also like that this batter did not have any raw eggs: more batter for me to eat without worrying about salmonella poisoning. Or overeating the batter and just not feeling good.

I can't say I'll make it again anytime soon; after all, I prefer a bar cookie to cake at home. This was a satisfying, dark chocolate cake, and I munched on it throughout the week. It was a nice way to wrap up an uneven week eating from The I Hate To Cook Book, and the book was returned to the library on Saturday. I chuckled to myself about Bracken's keen sense of humor, and wondered what book I'd select for next week's menu. 

Fast Italian & Tuna

This week I'm cooking from the 50th Anniversary Edition of the I Hate To Cook Book by Peg Bracken.

First, where on earth do you find an 8 oz can of tomato sauce? I hunted up and down the "Italian" aisle at my local grocery story to no avail. All I could find were family-size beomoth's of red sauce of varying flavors. I settled on 24 oz can of Bertoli's Vineyard Marinara with Burgundy Wine and hoped for the best.

Simple Ingredients

So far, things haven't gone well for me with the I Hate To Cook Book. However, reading the recipes and advice still make me laugh out loud. In this recipe, the author suggests that I "turn heat to low, set table, and apply lipstick." Yeah, right. As if my cats would care if I had lipstick on or not. 

This recipe was on the table as fast as the Back Country Ham recipe I'd made earlier. It took perhaps 20 minutes from start to finish. I put some water on to boil, then chopped the onion and garlic. 

The onion and garlic went into a saute pan with a little olive oil, and at about the same time I dropped the spaghetti into boiling water. 

By the time the onion and garlic were softened, I was ready to pour in the marinara, freshly chopped basil and a sprinkle of pepper. The basil came from my kitchen countertop Aerogarden. It's an easy way to have fresh herbs all year, and makes a great night light for long winter evenings.

Adding Fresh Basil 

After a few minutes the sauce was bubbling nicelly so I added the tuna and stirred to incorporate. What resulted wasn't a particularly pretty sauce, but it tasted great.

I drained the pasta, put it into one of my Fiestaware bowls, and dolloped on sauce.

Italian Tuna

I tasted and was pleasantly surprised. While the pasta was chewy (my fault) the sauce was yummy, and the pictures don't do the taste justice. This will definitely make it into a regular rotation meal. It's easy, fast, and tasty - just what I was anticipating from the I Hate To Cook Book!