Food Friday: Ding Dong Cake

Here is an example of, I don't know, less than ideal?!  Last week I was doing some admin work on Facebook then got drifting off onto my own newsfeed.  There was a recipe for Ding Dong Cake which looked pretty good.  If you remember Ding Dongs, this was supposed to be like them, only lots larger.  Well, we were planning our first lunch potluck in the office and I decided to make the Ding Dong Cake for that.

There are three steps:  the cake,  the filling, and the ganache icing.

Each of these steps came with its challenges in my mission kitchen.  The first issue was that I did not have 2" cake pans to bake the cake in.  Consequently one of the pans spewed batter into the bottom of the pristine oven, and baked on.  Yay!  And I mean that very insincerely!  I have had a bowl of white vinegar sitting in the oven for two days now, hoping that when I get home tomorrow it will prove to have worked at loosening up the mess so I can clean it prior to the next baking extravaganza.

Another issue was that I did not believe that the filling would be any good.  I had seen that sort of filling forty years ago in northern Vermont but still did not believe it would work.  Well, it did work.  Mostly.  I think that the butter and sugar really do need at least 5-6 minutes of beating, if not the ten minutes actually called for.  Maybe in my Bosch mixer at home it would have been better.  I only beat it for 2 or 3 minutes...mainly because my "nice" silicon spatula was eaten by the metal beaters in the Mixmaster and had to be tossed out.  That made me sad...and kind of put my off my stride.  I think that with a few more minutes of beating all the sugar would have dissolved into the butter, or whatever it does.  It was smooth enough that it was edible and not overtly granular, but could have been better.  And it did taste okay.

The final challenge was the ganache.  The recipe called for 2 cups of heavy cream heated to just below boiling in the microwave to be then poured over 16 ounces of chocolate chips to let sit for two minutes before stirring.  Well, I did not have a 16-ounce bag of chocolate chips.  Twelve ounces is two cups but I did not take the time to do the math to figure out how many chips were necessary, so I poured in a few more.  That did not seem to be enough so I poured in more.  By that time the cream had cooled enough that the late chips did not melt all the way, so it was kind of a fiasco.

Here is the ganache hardening in the refrigerator.  You can see that, rather than the silky smooth perfect ganache that it should be, it is rather bumpy with chocolate warts all over it.  Plus I can tell you that the cake weighed about five pounds, mostly chocolate chips!

Despite the not-beautiful appearance (I called it a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree Cake), it did not last long.  In fact there was only enough to take home for Dear One to have a good piece and me to eat a little piece. I had only eaten crumbs at the potluck because there were so many delicious savory offerings.

So, all in all, I suppose it was a success, but I won't make it again until I am home with my own kitchen equipment. I would like to make it and have it be tasty AND beautiful...

Cranapple-Walnut Cake

A quick and easy, very delicious cake with multiple flavors and textures is this cranapple-walnut cake.  The genealogy of this recipe is lost to time, but it is possible that our friend Cathy may have given it to us.

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Cranapple-Walnut Cake

1 3/4 cup light brown sugar

1/2  cup vegetable oil

2 cups flour (you can substitute half whole wheat flour)

1 teaspoon baking soda                                               

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg                                                           

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs                                                                                  

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups  chopped, peeled cooking apples                                     

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

8 ounces fresh, whole, raw cranberries

Cream together the brown sugar and vegetable oil.  Add eggs and vanilla, and beat well.  Sift together the flour and dry ingredients.  Add  flour mixture to the sugar/oil/egg mixture and combine thoroughly.  Stir in apples, cranberries, and nuts.  Bake in a well-greased 9” x 13” pan, 45-50 minutes at 350 degrees F.

Notes:  If you don’t have fresh cranberries, frozen ones work, but don’t thaw them first, just bring them out of the freezer at the last minute and stir them right in with the nuts and apples.  Also, if you are a little short on the additions, you can add a few chocolate chips. Another “also”:  if you don’t have nutmeg, I have used ground allspice and it was very nice.