Sumptuous Sour Cream Cakes
Regina Murphy
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Last fall I was invited to speak to the PEO Emporia chapter, and one of the ladies there, Sandy Laird, asked me about an older Hershey’s cocoa sour cream cake recipe.
She said it used to be on the side of the cocoa can, but it was changed a few years back, and the new version isn’t as good as its predecessor. I said I’d look into it.
Attempts to reach the company were unsuccessful. Blake Eyman has an awful lot of cookbooks, so he put his considerable skills to the task. He couldn’t find the Hershey’s book, but he did find a really nice Chocolate Almond Cake from Marlene Swisher, which the Gazette just so happened to publish in the “Foods of the Flint Hills” cookbook (still available for sale). He also found this cake from Lorena Loomis in another “collections” cookbook.
CHOCOLATE SOUR CREAM CAKE
2 cups sifted cake flour
1 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/4 c sugar
1/3 c shortening
1 egg
1/2 cup sour cream
3/4 c milk
3 sq. unsweetened chocolate
1 tsp. vanilla
Grease two 9-inch cake pans and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Sift flour, soda and salt together 3 times. Cream shortening and sugar well. Add egg and beat thoroughly. Add the chocolate and blend. Add about 1/4 of the flour and beat well. Add the cream and beat thoroughly. Add remaining flour alternately with the milk. Add the vanilla and divide batter evenly between the two cake pans. Bake for 30 minutes or until done. Cool on a rack and ice however you want.
To that end, Blake also shared a sour cream icing recipe from “The Joy of Cooking” by Irma S. Rombauer. This was originally published in 1931; and Blake’s mom Dorothy made a notation in the margin on June 1, 1949 that this recipe is “Excellent.” This recipe is “sufficient for the tops of two 9 inch layers.”
SOUR CREAM ICING
1 cup sour cream
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup chopped nuts
Stir the sugar and sour cream together over a medium heat until the sugar is dissolved. Bring mixture to a boil until it reaches soft ball stage (238 degrees). Remove from heat and let cool to lukewarm. Beat until creamy, adding the vanilla and nuts towards the end. Don’t try using a low fat or no fat sour cream on this one — it won’t work.
Ms. Dorothy kept another recipe that just might be as good as the one Sandy is seeking!
DOROTHY’S SOUR CREAM DEVIL’S FOOD CAKE
1 cup sugar
1 cup sour cream
1 egg
1 cup flour
3 Tbsp. cocoa
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla
Mix everything in order. Bake in a loaf or square cake pan in a slow oven (probably 350 degrees).
Not all cakes are chocolate: this cake came to me from a friend who stayed at Lanier’s Bed & Breakfast in Louisville, Kentucky. It’s really nice, and stands in for breakfast as well as dessert.
LEMON BLUEBERRY SOUR CREAM CAKE
3 cups flour
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 sticks butter
2 tsp. lemon extract
3 cups sugar
6 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups blueberries
Grease and flour a bundt pan. Sift the flour, soda and salt together. Using a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and lemon extract, and gradually add sugar. Beat about two minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, thoroughly mixing after each addition.
On lowest speed, add half the flour, beating only until blended. Add all the sour cream, then the remaining flour. Mix until smooth, and gently stir in blueberries. Pour into prepared pan and bake at 350 degrees for 60 to 80 minutes (test for doneness).
Cool 20 minutes in the pan, then turn onto a cooling rack. If you need an icing, just blend a little lemon juice with confectioner’s sugar and glaze the cake.
Here’s another light fruity cake, that you could drizzle with chocolate syrup for a special treat.
ORANGE SOUR CREAM CAKE
1/2 cup shortening
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. orange rind, grated
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts
8 oz. sour cream
1/3 cup orange juice
Topping:
2 Tbsp. honey
1/2 cup orange juice
1 Tbsp. orange rind
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Blend shortening, salt and orange rind together. Gradually cream in sugar and then add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift the dry ingredients together, adding the nuts, and then mix this into creamed mixture. Alternate the dry ingredients with the sour cream and orange juice, mixing until smooth after each addition.
Pour into a greased and floured bundt cake pan. Bake 45 to 50 minutes, then cool 10 minutes before removing.
Make a glaze by heating the honey, orange juice, orange rind and lemon juice in a small saucepan. Using a pastry brush, spread the warm honey mixture on top of the warm cake. If you have some extra nuts, sprinkle them around the top.
So, there’s a few more sour cream cakes to add to your collection. Next week we’re doing nice, steamy noodle bowls. The first recipes on tap for February celebrate Chinese New Year: The Year of the BOAR. What kind of delicious preparations for pork do you have? Send it in to 517 Merchant, or e-mail murphysmenu@yahoo.com. Let’s get cooking!