Choclate cake, levels and definitions.

I consider chocolate cake to be an umbrella under which the categories of things like Devil's-food, red-velvet, and German-chocolate cake reside.

So, for a few years now, "Red velvet" cake has been a hip, in, and trendy thing. And I have to say, some people , who should know better, Should know better.

So Let me Ed-U-Cate

I have a few old cookbooks:
Between that, and my knowledgeable grandmothers, I give you the definitions of chocolate cake.

Red Velvet:
Red velvet is set apart ingredient wise with buttermilk and a little bit of Choco powder in the batter. Back in the day, before the recipe called for a TON of red food coloring, the color of the cake was NATURALLY occurring. It was before the chocolate was processed in a our modern "Dutch" processing ways. The chocolate would react with the buttermilk, and the reaction would cause the brown coco to look red. And the cream cheese frosting is a must. I would say this is the least chocolaty of the cakes.

Chocolate spoon cake:
This is the chocolate version of the classic pound cake. Also called Dump cake because you only use one bowl, and then dump it in the baking pan. This is the style most often found in cake mixes. Usually Eggs, milk and butter. It is chocolaty in a shallow way.

Devils food cake:
This cake in identified by the methods of using boiling water and coco powder. Sour cream and baking soda makes the cake a deeper brown and also a slightly different flavor. More "complex" flavor, because of the extra fat and acidity in the sour cream.  It has a more "coffee cake" texture from the cream and soda, which often leads to the appearance of coffee in the recipe. Back in the day, this cake was also red in color, and that is there it got the Devil name. But because of the other flavors, it's not that chocolaty.

German chocolate:
Using BROWN sugar, and the boiling water method with chunks of chocolate instead of coco. This makes the cake darker, and a richer flavor. The German part came form the origin of the chocolate; the original recipes called for a specific kind of sweet chocolate brick, that as imported from Germany, that the baker would then chop up and melt with hot water. The arrival of the coconut pecan frosting was closely after, but is still a good way to identify it.

"Brownies"
This cake is characterized by less flour, more coco and more liquid, as melting the butter is a must. Basically if a Brownie recipe calls for a leavening agent, then its actually a cake. Legend says that brownies were invented when someone left out the baking powder out of a chocolate cake by accident.

Betty crocker Gluten free "Cookies n Cream" frosting

My MIL gave me a cake mix and a tub of frosting. Not sure why... But It was a flavor of frosting I had not tried.

And it's gluten free.
Have to say, it's been a LONG time (almost 15 years) since I had cookies and cream anything.
So, I tried it out.

Betty Crocker Yellow cake mix. (better then any recipe I have)

It was very yummy and a fun change from my normal frosting.

America's Test Kitchen: Birthday Cake recipe review.

I already mentioned my opionion of the cookbook in general, but I thought I would give more indepth of the cake recipie itself

 

The "birthday cupcake" which they brag about on the cover, was a disappointment. They had better structure then the chocolate, but felt dry. After a bite or two you felt like you needed a glass of milk. And all the crumbs make you feel like you need to vacuum. The top crust was nice, and took the frosting well, but trying to remove the cupcake wrapper revealed that the rest of the cake was extremely fragile.

And the flavor was ... odd. It calls for melted white chocolate and sour cream.
The first time I attempted the recipe, I followed it to a T.

 

The second time I made it I changes a few things. I used regular chocolate chips, because I was out of white chocolate, and since the recipe was a disappointment I did not want to make a trip to the store to get more. (White chocolate is in effect: oil, butter and milk.) And I thought the actual chocolate might improve the flavor. It was not notable for the flavor, but it did change the color.
The recipe has no butter, it calls for oil. The book explained that because they used the sour cream you would not "miss the buttery flavor". I disagree. I thought the exchange was not an improvement in flavor. And since the first time I felt the cake was dry, I increased the sour cream by a spoonful the second time, but it did not help. I have had decent sour cream coffee cakes, but this should have been a birthday cake. So I felt like it was not a good match. And this was not even a decent coffee cake.

I felt that, after a few more attempts, I might be able to to adjust the recipe into something I like, but I am not going to bother. For me; the store bought Betty Crocker cake mix is a better choice.

Ameria's Test Kitchen "The How can it be Gluten free cookbook" review

For my birthday My Sister in law gave me this cookbook.

It can be purchased at Costco, or Amazon or here.

When I read the concept, I was floored. It's the SAME premise behind THIS blog. Bu then I tried some recipes.
The chocolate cake was extremely fragile. The first 6 I cooked in foil liners, and the process of removing the liner caused the cupcake to disintegrate in my hand. I tried the second 6 in a silicon pan, thinking that might produce a crust to aid the structural integrity. But those would not even come out of the pan. Cake crumbs everywhere.

The "birthday cupcake" which they brag about on the cover, was also a disappointment. They had better structure then the chocolate, but felt dry. After a bite or two you felt like you needed a glass of milk. And the flavor was ... odd. It calls for melted white chocolate and sour cream. White chocolate is in effect: oil, butter and milk. The recipe calls for more oil, but this 4 oz of white chocolate is the only butter. This seamed odd.  The book explained that because there was no butter, they used the sour cream. But I thought the exchange was not an improvement in flavor. I have had decent sour cream coffee cakes, but this should have been a birthday cake. So I felt like it was not a good match.

I tried these recipes TWO times each. Just to be sure it was not an error on my part. Same results.

Basically, the Betty Crocker cake mixes are better tasting, better structure, easier, faster and cheaper then either of these recipes.

I was about to toss the cookbook into a box with my other disappointing cookbooks, and then I tried the chocolate chip cookie recipe.
It was perfect.
So I might give a few other recipes form the book a try.

Gluten free Chocolate Chip Bacon Cookies recipie

I though I should post the recipe used in last weeks baking sheet comparison.
I'ts adapted from America's test Kitchen "how can it be gluten free"
More on that later.

These cookies are rich, crisp exterior and chewy center.

Chocolate Chip Bacon Cookies
1 3/4 cup Pamela's artisan flour blend
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp Xanthan gum
1/4 tsp salt
--- Put these in a quart sized zip lock bag, and shake it well. (the original recipe said to whisk it together, but I felt I lost a lot of flour into the air, made me cough)
4 TB (half a stick) MELTED butter
4 TB Bacon fat (left over from cooking bacon)
3/4 cup Brown sugar (I prefer dark brown in this cookie)
1/3 cup white sugar
1 egg
2 Tb whole milk
1 TB vanilla extract
-- Blend these well.
---Then, add the dry to the wet, using a big rubber spatula. Stir until a consistent texture.
1 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup cooked bacon, crumbled.
-- Folded in.
-- Let the dough sit the int fridge, for a least 30 min. It HAS to chill!! or the cookies will be one big puddle.
--Pre heat oven to 340. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
-- Ping pong sized balls. about 8 on a sheet.
-- Bake one sheet for about 12 min. (the centers should be a little soft still)
-- Let the cookies cool on the first pan while you cook the second pan. Too finish firming the exterior.
-- Put the dough BACK in the fridge when not in oven.
-- It's about 2 dozen cookies.

nuttie cookies

I though I should post the recipe used in last weeks baking sheet comparison.
I'ts adapted from America's test Kitchen "how can it be gluten free"
More on that later.

These cookies are rich, crisp exterior and chewy center.

Nuttie Cookies

1 3/4 cup Pamela's artisan flour blend
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp Xanthan gum
1/4 tsp salt
--- Put these in a quart sized zip lock bag, and shake it well. (the original recipe said to whisk it together, but I felt I lost a lot of flour into the air, made me cough)
8 TB (a stick) MELTED butter
3/4 cup Brown sugar (I prefer dark brown in this cookie)
1/3 cup white sugar
1/2 smashed ripe Banana
1 egg
2 Tb whole milk
1 TB vanilla extract
-- Blend these well.
---Then, add the dry to the wet, using a big rubber spatula. Stir until a consistent texture.
1 cup peanut butter chips
1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts
-- Folded in.
-- Let the dough sit the int fridge, for a least 30 min. It HAS to chill!! or the cookies will be one big puddle.
--Pre heat oven to 340. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
-- Ping pong sized balls. about 8 on a sheet.
-- Bake one sheet for about 12 min. (the centers should be a little soft still)
-- Let the cookies cool on the first pan while you cook the second pan. Too finish firming the exterior.
-- Put the dough BACK in the fridge when not in oven.
-- It's about 2 dozen cookies.