Black Forest Cake with 7 Minute Frosting

When I am home alone, lunch is usually leftovers.  Today there is salad, with grilled chicken from last night - and leftover cake.

Lunch in reverse!

Surely, there will be room for salad later.

We do love our birthdays! 

Every fifth year you age up for XTerra.  That's a good thing. 

And even better, there's a built in family activity. 

A challenge. 

Bake the best, special request, chocolate cake ever! 

But, no matter what kind of cake is underneath it all, every September Popeye always asks for his childhood favorite, 7 Minute Frosting. 

Mmmm, 7 Minute Frosting....  

My Mom made it for my birthday one year and I never forgot it. 

I'm not sure where Mom's recipe came from - Betty Crocker, Fanny Farmer, or Alice-next-door - but I got mine from the best ever research professional, my friend Merry Ann. 

As the owner of a collection of classic cookbooks, Merry Ann is my automatic go-to on all nostalgic recipes.  And just in case you are wondering, she is indeed married to The Professor.  And yes, they do live on a tropical island.  This 7 Minute recipe is one she found in Fanny Farmer's Cookbook.

Popeye's Special Request for 2010
Black Forest Cake with 7 Minute Frosting 

First the cherry filling. 

(I would have tried using fresh cherries if I hadn't pigged the last of them on Thursday while Popeye was in DC...  Oh well.)

But canned is fine - and easy!

Filling:

2 cans of cherries in their juice.
1/2 cup sugar
4 tablespoons cornstarch

Drain the juice and put it in a saucepan with the sugar and cornstarch.  Cook on medium, stirring constantly, until the mixtuire thickens.  Take it off the stove, stir in the cherries, and let it cool while you put the cake together.

Make your favorite chocolate cake recipe. 

Don't have one?  OK, you can use my new favorite then, kind of a cross between the old Chocolatetown Special and page 192 of this September's Cooking Light.

Best Ever Chocolate Cake

Stir together in a large bowl:

1 and 3/4 c. flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened Hershey's Cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

In your mixer bowl, whisk together:

2 cups skim milk
4 tsp apple cider vinegar (this makes the milk into buttermilk)
1/4 cup light olive oil (or any very mild flavored oil)
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs

Put the dry ingredients in with the wet, and mix on low just until well-blended.  The batter will be thin.

Using a little more oil, coat 2 (9" round) cake pans. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes - test for doneness.  Let cool for a few minutes then remove them from the pans.  Cool completely, on a rack.

Once the filling has cooled and the cake layers are cool, it's time for Popeye's special request, the frosting.  

If you are a Cool Whip fan, and the cake is all for you, go no further!  Slap this cake together right now and enjoy. 

But before you pry the lid off that plastic container, consider...

It's only 7 minutes. 

Who knows?  In 7 short minutes, you might just be creating a memory to last 40 years!

7 Minute Frosting

(You are going to need a double boiler and a hand held electric beater for this one.  If you have a couple pans that fit inside each other, it might be worth a shot too.  Otherwise go out and buy a DB while the cake is cooling.  OK, so you'll be up from 7 minutes to an extra hour to make your 40 year memory cake, but trust me.  You will be so happy you did!)

Mix well in the top pan of your double boiler:

2 egg whites

1 and 1/2 cups white sugar

1/4 tsp. Cream of Tarter

1/8 tsp salt

1/4 cup water

Have your bottle of vanilla and a teaspoon out and ready.

Get the water boiling in the bottom pan, put the pan with the egg white mixture on top and plug in the electric mixer.

Set your timer for 7 minutes.

I won't lie.  This is a real test of stamina. 

Well, maybe not a real test.  More like, a pop quiz.  Mom did it, hand cranking an egg beater.  

Beat constantly with the electric beater while it cooks - for 7 minutes - or until the frosting stands in peaks when you lift the beater up.

Remove from heat.  Stir in 1 tsp vanilla.

This supposedly fills and frosts a 2 layer, nine inch cake.  

It never seems to have quite the coverage promised.  

(I expect however, if you are the sort of person who can resist a sample spoonful - or two - right out of the pan, or if you don't mind your frosting less than an inch deep, it will do nicely.)

Assemble the cake:

Put one layer on a plate. 

Spoon half the Cherry Mixture on top, leaving about an inch border around the edges.

Spread a third of the frosting on top of the cherries.

Put the second layer on top of that.  Spoon on the rest of the cherries, and then the rest of the frosting.

 

And if you can't eat it all?

Tomorrow is another day...

Believe me.  Your salad will wait.