Hungarian walnut torte

Double Icing – Day 637

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Carol’s Chocolate Cake with Double Icing – Photo: L. Weikel

Double Icing

It’s been a running request for years now. Whenever I asked Karl what he wanted for his birthday (meaning which confection would he like me to bake), he’d blurt out, “Double icing!” He didn’t care which of the two in my vast culinary repertoire I baked (Aunt Grace’s Walnut Torte or Carol’s Chocolate Cake) as long as I made ‘double icing.’

This request is a throwback to the days when my sister and brother-in-law would bake one of Aunt Grace’s Cakes for Karl’s birthday – and would whip up an extra batch of icing for him, plopping generous multiple tablespoonsful into cupcake liners for him to hoard in the freezer. Ah yes, the hedonistic pleasures of youth.

Those particular indulgences took place in what now feels like another time, another era. As our lives unfolded (and our waistlines expanded) a time came when Karl realized that icing ‘cupcakes’ were unbelievably indulgent and not exactly the healthiest thing to consume on an even fairly infrequent basis. (In other words, his requests for these icing nuggets came to a reluctant end after both of us lost a good chunk of weight 30 years ago.)

The Request Renewed

Slowly over time, though, as these things tend to wriggle their way back into our consciousness, Karl started espousing the, “if the icing on the cake is scrumptious, then twice as much would be even better” approach to life. But I held firm.

For a long time, in fact, I held firm. Part of me vaguely recalls giving in maybe once as his annual requests grew more plaintive – but I can’t be sure. If I did, it was probably a year or two after Karl (our son) passed away, figuring I could assuage some of the sadness by dosing it with butter and sugar. This is especially true since there were only four days between the two Karls’ birthdays.

Fast Forward to Today

Perhaps as a result of the pandemic and wanting to surprise him with a guilty pleasure, or perhaps as a result of the stunning fact that Karl didn’t even once yelp, “Double icing!” in my general direction as August started unfurling its katydid nights, I decided to indulge his desires this year.

Without even asking for it, Karl received Carol’s Chocolate Cake with double icing. (Rest assured that was the cake he requested this year – I’d never deign to make that decision for him.)

Speaking for myself, double icing is too much of a good thing. Gobs of butter cream icing drown out the deliciousness of the dark chocolate, coffee-infused cake. And besides that, my whole body starts to buzz.

Karl practically passed out after eating his massively generous slice tonight. I wonder if he’s now cured of asking for “double icing!” or if next year he’ll just ask for Aunt Grace’s Walnut Torte (and the obscene icing cupcakes of our misspent youth).

Yeah. Double icing is evil – Photo: L. Weikel

 

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Aunt Grace’s Cake – Day 336

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Aunt Grace’s Cake – Photo: L. Weikel

Aunt Grace’s Cake

As I predicted almost seven months ago, I’m finally writing about the cake that was the ‘official’ birthday cake in my home when I was growing up.

First of all, let me just state for the record that I find it absolutely astounding that it’s been almost seven months (just five days shy, so close enough in my book) since I first wrote about Aunt Grace’s Cake. I first brought it up in the post I wrote about Carol’s Chocolate Cake – the cake I traditionally baked as the ‘go to’ birthday cake while my sons were growing up.

As mentioned in that post, my son prefers Carol’s Chocolate Cake because he’s a traditionalist, and that’s the one he grew up on.

But my daughter-in-law just goes for the gold. And if you recall, she’d lobbied for my son to ask for ‘the walnut cake’ when I asked him which cake he wanted me to bake him for his birthday back in in the spring.

Tiffany’s Birthday

Today is Tiffany’s birthday. Yea!

Needless to say, I had no question which cake she was hoping I’d make for her birthday. I didn’t even need to ask.

It’s interesting, though, to observe how Aunt Grace’s Cake is making a resurgence into the lead as birthday cake of choice in our household. I guess a walnut torte is more of a refined taste than a totally decadent chocolate cake. But honestly? I really don’t think it’s a case of walnuts vs. chocolate.

The biggest reason I don’t think so is because the icing of the walnut torte (aka Aunt Grace’s Cake) is made with three bars of melted chocolate, half a pound of butter, a pound of confectioner’s sugar, three eggs and three tablespoons of a secret ingredient.

Bottom line? It’s a nearly orgasmic chocolate buttercream icing. Until you’ve tasted it, you haven’t really lived.

And the walnut torte itself is, well, the perfect complement.

I may not offer a vast repertoire of birthday menu selections. But even I have to admit: the couple of options I do offer have stood the test of time. These confections also make it exceedingly difficult to write a blog post after ingesting a generous piece of either, for a sugar coma lurks dangerously close by as a result, especially this late at night.

I have to say: baking either of these cakes is a wonderfully satisfying way to express my love for my family. I hope they feel it and know it with each luscious bite.

Birthday Girl with Cake – Photo: L. Weikel

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Carol’s Chocolate Cake – Day 126

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Carol’s Chocolate Cake (with green icing to celebrate our Irish) – Photo: L. Weikel                                                                                       (Missing from Photo: A big glass of ice-cold milk)

Carol’s Chocolate Cake     

We had some pre-birthday cake tonight. My middle son’s birthday is this week, and even though we decided not to officially celebrate until next weekend, I baked him a chocolate cake with buttercream icing on it this weekend anyway. Just because.

The cake I baked today was the ‘official’ cake of my sons’ childhoods; my ‘go to’ cake recipe that I baked for birthdays (and only birthdays) for years and years.

Officially, in the household I grew up in, this cake was known as ‘Carol’s Chocolate Cake.’ This was not because my sister Carol came up with the recipe. In fact I doubt she even knows where the recipe originated. I’m sure I don’t know. But it was called Carol’s Chocolate Cake because she was the one who baked it.

This wildly popular darkly chocolate and seductive confection was a dessert we would have only on rare, celebratory occasions – although while I was growing up, this chocolate cake was not the official birthday cake.

NOT the Official Birthday Cake of My Youth

No, the official birthday cake while I was growing up was ‘Aunt Grace’s Cake.’

Inasmuch as I have 985 more posts to write in order to fulfill my 1111 Devotion commitment, I’m going to save a chitchat about Aunt Grace’s Cake for another post.

Although, truth be told, I really can’t talk about one without mentioning the other. You might think it odd that I did not carry on the legacy of having Aunt Grace’s Cake be ‘the’ birthday cake for my kids, but there are a couple of reasons why that happened.

How the ‘Official’ Designation Shifted

First and foremost, since my sister Carol is 13 years older than I, she grew up, went to college, and married well before I was out of the house. As a result, Carol was gone but the cake needed to be baked. And so I was tasked with becoming its baker. It was a recipe I ‘brought to the marriage,’ so to speak, and since I knew how to bake it from having taken up the reins when Carol grew up and moved to Massachusetts, and the recipe was easy, it became our official birthday cake.

The second reason was because Aunt Grace’s Cake was never one that was baked in our house. As can be gleaned from its name, it can also be deduced – and you would not be wrong in making that deduction – that it was baked at Aunt Grace’s house. Indeed, all I ‘knew’ about Aunt Grace’s Cake was that my mother would buy what seemed to be vast numbers of Hershey’s bars, walnuts, and eggs, and would drop them off at Aunt Grace’s house days before any of our birthdays.

I never saw the recipe, nor did I ever think I could master this feat of orgasmic culinary wizardry. This was mostly because my mother would just rave and rave over it – not once did she even feign an interest in baking it herself. (Smart woman, my mother.)

A Cake’s Daunting Legacy

As a result, I had it in my head for the longest time that it was something only an expert in the kitchen could bake. Or a Hungarian – as it was a recipe my Aunt Grace (who was an aunt by love and affection, not blood) had brought in her head as a child when she emigrated here from Hungary.

So I never even tried. Not until, oddly enough, about eight or nine years ago.

Instead, through pretty much the first 30 years of Karl’s and my marriage (and consequently our sons’ lives), I remained loyal to the achingly delicious, tried and true, now Aunt Carol’s Chocolate Cake. It was the official birthday cake of the Weikel household.

And I’ll tell you the secret to why this has always been exquisitely pleasing: it has a robust cup of coffee in it. Yum. So not only do you get the caffeine hit of cocoa, but also of coffee. Add sugar, butter and flour and you have a hit. But top it off with homemade buttercream icing?

Yeah, you get the picture.

An Impossible Choice

Fast forward to Son #2’s 31stbirthday: When asked which cake he wanted me to bake for his birthday (which again, he opted to celebrate next weekend, since it falls in the middle of the week), he asked for ‘the walnut cake’ – which is another name for Aunt Grace’s Cake.

I could tell from the lightning-quick looks that flashed between him and his wife that my son’s choice may have been slightly influenced by my daughter-in-law’s unabashed passion for Aunt Grace’s Cake. Not that any of us suffer for that selection, mind you. (Smart son I have.)

But what the heck.

Especially considering what I wrote about last night and the preciousness of making our ‘time’ count by virtue of the experiences with which we choose to fill it, I decided we all needed a pre-birthday fix of Aunt Carol’s Chocolate Cake.

Just for old times’ sake.

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