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The Corrected Neverfail Cake Recipe

In Issue 2, October 2007, author Steven Frank presented an essay called "Writing to Remember: The Neverfail." We made several editing errors in printing the recipe for "Marty Frank's Neverfail Cake." Find the correct version below, with our apologies.

Happy New Year! We hope that 2008 brings young writers many opportunities to improve their skills. In this issue, we offer tips for essay writing. Our fun and fresh look at the topic should provide students with just the encouragement they need. Inside, students will find:

  • An article about This I Believe, the personal essay project that’s sweeping the nation.
  • Examples of inspiring personal essays written by teens.
  • The article “ Can This Essay Be Saved?” which provides a prescription for fixing that essay.
  • Five writing resolutions to make and keep.

As always, we bring students writing prompts, quizzes, and reading recommendations. Let us know your plans for 2008. Write to Writing. Check out our blog at www.readandwriting.com

Best to you for 2008,

The Editors

Writing magazine

 

Marty Frank's Neverfail Cake

1 1/2 cups cake flour (Softasilk or Swans Down)

3 level teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 cube salted butter, softened

2 extra large eggs

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

A generous 1/2 cup whole milk (1% is okay if that's all you have)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cream butter and sugar in a Kitchen-Aid or other mix master on medium-high speed, about five minutes.

3. Measure the flour, baking powder, and salt onto a sheet of wax paper. Combine them by mixing back and forth with an ordinary kitchen knife. No sifting necessary.

4. Crack the eggs into a 1-cup glass measuring cup. Add the vanilla and mix, don't beat, with a few turns of a fork. Fill with milk to just below the brim of the cup (above the 1-cup line.)

5. With the mixer on low, add the liquid mixture and the flour mixture to the bowl in at least four stages, alternating between liquid and flour. Begin and end with liquid.

(Note: to avoid a blizzard of flour in your kitchen, turn the mixer off when you add the flour. Pulse (turn it on and off a couple of times) to get the flour combined before you make the next addition of liquid.

6. Prepare two 8-inch round baking pans as follows:

a. Cut two circles of wax paper or parchment paper to fit the pans. (hint: put a thick section of newspaper on the countertop, then lay the parchment on top followed by the pan. Use an exacto knife to trace around the bottom of the pan. You'll have a perfect circle every time, and it's easier than using scissors.)

b. Smear the pans with soft butter. Don't forget to coat the inside sides.

c. Lay the circles of parchment or wax paper into the bottom of the pans. Coat them, too, with butter.

d. Sprinkle a tablespoon of flour into the center of each pan; distribute it evenly by tapping the sides and turning the pans; tap out excess flour into the sink.

7. Divide the batter evenly between the two pans. Tip: use a kitchen scale. The two pans should weigh about 1 1/4 pounds each, pan included. (1 lb. for the batter, 1/4 for the pan.) Use a spatula to spread the batter evenly around the pan.

8. Bake in the preheated oven for 22-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cake comes out dry, OR until the cake begins to pull away from the edges of the pan. DON'T OVERBAKE!!!!

9. When the cakes are done, remove them and let stand 5 minutes on wire racks. Then, separate the cakes from the sides of the pans with a knife. Invert the layers onto the wire racks. Use a knife to tap the bottoms, then slowly lift off the pans. Remove the parchment or wax paper and let the cakes cool another 20 minutes before frosting.

(Don't wait more than a half hour to frost them; cakes dry out if left unfrosted too long.)

The Neverfail Frosting

1/2 cube butter

1 box confectioner's (powdered) sugar

1/3 cup milk (more or less to get the right consistency)

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 heaping tablespoon Ghiradelli chocolate powder (the sweetened kind)

1 square unsweetened chocolate (2 if you like a more chocolatey frosting)

2 tablespoons (2 oz.) cream cheese (optional but quite yummy if you throw it in)

Melt the square of chocolate in a metal bowl over a pan of simmering hot water

Cream the butter for one minute

Slowly add the powdered sugar

Add the milk until creamy, not lumpy

Add the melted chocolate and the chocolate powder and mix.

Add the salt, the vanilla, and the cream cheese, if using.

Whip it all together for one minute.

When the cake is ready to frost, invert one layer onto a cake stand or festive plate, cover its top with a thin layer of frosting, and then invert the second layer onto the first. Then frost the whole cake.

My father says, "Consistency is King. The frosting should barely plop off the beater."

He also says, "To give your cake a professional look, dip a knife in warm water and smooth it over the surface of the frosted cake."

And, "Extra frosting on graham crackers makes a weeklong treat for kids after the cake is gone."

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