[CAKE-RECIPE] Canasta Cake

Virginia Butterfield Sun, 09 Jun 2013 13:18:50 -0700

  Canasta Cake

from http://lostrecipesfound.com/recipe/canasta-cake/

Michael Weber told me with pride he only uses pure chocolate "jimmies"
(those little sprinkles) for this cake. I found a lovely pure milk
chocolate box of sprinkles by Dutch maker DeRuijter at the Fresh Farms
International Market on Touhy in Niles, IL. While we're on the
topic...I'm sure professional bakers have a nifty way of applying
jimmies. Here's how I've been doing it at home: I put the cake--resting
on two criss-crossed sheets of waxed paper with several inches of
overhang on each side-- on a cake-decorating swivel stand that is also
standing on plenty of waxed paper. I use the criss-crossed waxed paper
sheets (directly under the cake) to maneuver the cake on the stand while
decorating. Carefully pull the sheets to move the cake side you are
working on a little over the edge of the stand, which will make applying
the jimmies a little easier. Loosely cup a handful of jimmies in your
palm and starting at the top edge of the cake, gently pour and press the
jimmies on to the frosted side you are working on. A lot will fall down
on to the waxed paper, but don't worry--you'll scoop those up and
reapply as you go. Repeat several times, moving along the side of the
cake until you've got that side covered. Continue adding new jimmies and
scooped up/recycled jimmies that fall down on to the waxed paper, as you
move forward, turning the cake to cover all four sides.

My image

Created in the 1930s by two Uruguayans---one an architect and the other
an attorney, canasta came to the U.S. in 1948 and soon rivaled bridge
as one of America's favorite card games. In the '50s, canasta clatches
were the rage. And in Chicago? This quadruple-chocolate canasta cake was
the hostess-with-the most-est treat to have on hand.

<http://lostrecipesfound.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/fingerhutsbakeryforweb-e1347605493940.jpg>Originally

created in the early 1950s by the Charles Fingerhut bakery, which
operated for 82 years at Cermak and Central, the canasta cake eventually
migrated to other Chicago area bakeries that---like Fingerhut's---were
part of a retail bakers idea-exchange group called the Baker's Dozen.
(The group still meets today.) While I was not able to reach Herb
Fingerhut for comment in California, at least one Baker's Dozen member,
third-generation baker Michael Weber ofWeber's Bakery
<http://www.webersbakery.com/>on Chicago's Southwest side--still makes
the canasta cake, and was willing to share the recipe. Two 8-inch square
chocolate layers, with chocolate buttercream filling, chocolate fudge
frosting and milk-chocolate jimmies trimming the sides, the canasta cake
is built on the premise that you can never get too much chocolate. The
original is a high-volume, production cake recipe, using professional
baking ingredients such as nulomoline (a type of invert sugar) and
chocolate flavoring, plus non-home-baker methods.

<http://lostrecipesfound.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/CanastaCakeJimmies450.jpg>Our

version adapts that, using a more-readily-available invert sugar (corn
syrup), whole milk instead of powdered-plus-water, a little buttermilk
for tenderness, and plenty of cocoa. The chocolate buttercream filling
and garnish Weber uses is a recipe handed down from Daniel Hedeker, who
was another of the Bakers Dozen. Interestingly, the ingredients for the
original canasta cake, very closely resemble another production cake
Lost Recipes Found reduced to home-baker proportions last year from Max
Spoth's 1930's bakers manual, Best Wishes for Your Success, A Reference
Work for Bakers.

Once you've got this cake assembled, give it a little chill in the
fridge to set up. That will give you time to get out the canasta decks
and make the coffee (!) let us know how that all goes. Cake tastes best
eaten the same day you make it.

Makes one, two-layer, 8-inch square cake

Canasta Cake Ingredients

* 1/2 cup whole milk
* 1/2 cup cane sugar
* 2 Tbsp light corn syrup
* 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
* 3 Tbsp vegetable oil
* 1 1/2 cups cane sugar
* 1 stick softened unsalted butter
* 2 Tbsp shortening
* 3 large eggs, room temperature
* 1 tsp. vanilla
* 1/2 cup buttermilk
* 2 1/4 cups cake flour
* 1 tsp baking soda
* 1/4 tsp each, salt and baking powder

Chocolate Fudge Frosting Ingredients

* 1, 3.5 ounce bar of Lindt Bittersweet Swiss chocolate
* 2, 1-ounce squares unsweetened chocolate
* 5 Tbsp unsalted butter
* 3 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
* 1/2 cup milk
* 1/4 tsp salt
* 1 tsp vanilla

Chocolate Buttercream Filling and Garnish Ingredients

* 1 and ¾ sticks (14 Tbsp) unsalted butter
* ½ cup plus 2 Tbsp powdered sugar
* 1 tsp vanilla
* 3 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
* 1 1/2 cups milk chocolate jimmies

Instructions

1. Make cake: In a medium-sized pot, heat 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup and 2
Tbsp corn syrup to boiling--this will happen quickly. Set aside.
2. Combine cocoa powder with vegetable oil and stir until smooth. Stir
chocolate mixture into sweetened milk mixture.
3. Cream together 1 1/2 cups sugar with softened butter and shortening
until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla.
Add buttermilk. (Do not worry if this curdles the mixture--it will
sort itself out once you add the dry ingredients.)
4. Heat oven to 375. Spray two 8-inch-square pans with cooking spray.
In a medium bowl, whisk together cake flour, salt, baking soda and
baking powder. Add dry ingredients alternately with the chocolate
mixture into the egg mixture. Pour batter into prepared pans. Tap
pans to ensure bubbles escape. Bake for 25 minutes or until a
toothpick comes out clean. Cool cakes on wire rack for 10 minutes.
Invert layers onto racks to cool completely.
5. Trim off any "dome" on each layer to ensure layers are level.
6. Make chocolate buttercream filling:In the bowl of a stand mixer,
cream butter and sugar together at medium speed until light and
fluffy. Melt chocolate over double boiler and cool to lukewarm. Add
vanilla to creamed butter mixture. Fold in chocolate mixture with a
spatula, or at low speed. Cool slightly.
7. Make chocolate fudge frosting: Melt butter and chocolates together
at 50% power on microwave, or, in double boiler. Cool slightly. In
bowl of standing mixer, combine powdered sugar with milk and
vanilla. Add chocolate mixture and whisk until spreading consistency.
8. Frost cake: Cover bottom layer with buttercream filling. Place the
rest of the buttercream in a pastry decoration tube and set aside.
Place top layer on cake; cover top and sides with chocolate fudge
frosting. Garnish sides of cakes with milk chocolate jimmies.
Garnish top of cake with buttercream rosettes or squiggles.

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This entry was posted in Cake Walk
<http://lostrecipesfound.com/recipe-category/cake-walk/> by Monica Kass
Rogers <http://lostrecipesfound.com/author/monica/>.

*Ginny Butterfield
Cranberry Twp, PA

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

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[CAKE-RECIPE] Canasta Cake

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