It all started with "Everything Cakes"

Or did it? Maybe it started with eating. I am told that my first word was not "mama" or "dada" but "more". And that was about food. Maybe a prerequisite for cooking is enjoying eating.

Back to "Everything Cakes". I grew up in Garrett Park, Maryland in the 1950’s. I was lucky, there were lots of girls to play with and lots of friendly, active, liberal adults. Rock Creek Park was in my backyard and my friends and I grew up exploring and playing in the woods and creek. We also played long intense doll games that lasted for days.

Quite early on we were allowed to play in the kitchen- first cake mixes, but also baking real cakes. I don’t remember who’s idea it was to try to make an "Everything Cake". The idea was to bake a cake without a recipe- just use all the good delicious ingredients we could think of. My mom let us try as many times as we wanted. We chose delicious ingredients, the batter tasted good and the finished cake was horrible. This happened again and again even when we tried to use pretty much the same ingredients as in a recipe. My mom stayed out of the kitchen and did not come with either comments or advice. In the 1950’s there was a real childrens world of play which adults stayed out of. We never really figured it out. Why didn’t our cakes taste good?
Now, so many years later, I can tell you the secret of how to make the "Everything Cake" of your desire. It’s all in the chemistry. All you need is the secret formula- the right balance between the ingredients.

BASIC CAKE RECIPE
1 ¾ cup flour (I use exclusively whole wheat flour, sometimes use ½ cup ground nuts – such as walnuts or almonds for some of the flour –here is room for creativity.)
½ - 1 cup sugar (After I discovered the negative side of carbs I cut down to ½ cup sugar and still make delicious cakes. I use exclusively raw sugar)
1 teaspoon baking soda (if made with acid liquids such as orange juice or buttermilk)
otherwise 1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup liquid (buttermilk, orange juice, pineapple juice etc)
1 egg (this cake can be made without eggs or with two eggs)
½ cup healthy neutral oil like sunflower oil or rapeseed oil
Mix all the dry ingredients together thoroughly. Add liquid ingredients and mix well without beating. Bake in a 9" round pan at 350 degrees F or 190 C. for about 30 minutes. Double recipe for two 9" round pans. Sometimes I make a whole large cake that fills the whole oven, and then I quadruple the recipe, but I never use more than 2½ t. baking soda.
ICING
Forget about butter and cooked icings –this is easy and good
2 tablespoons liquid (boiling water or orange juice or pineapple juice etc)
confectioners sugar to make the right consistency.
For chocolate icing, add 2 tablespoons unsweetened cacao powder
Add vanilla if you want, or for pumpkin and spice cakes, cinnamon.
Some of our favorite variations:
CHOCOLATE CAKE
Add ½ cup unsweetened cacao powder to the dry ingredients .
Use buttermilk as a liquid.
MARBLE CAKE
Add ¼ c. unsweetened cacao powder to half the dough and marble.
ORANGE CAKE
Use fresh squeezed orange juice as the liquid.
Add ground almonds to the dry ingredients.
PINEAPPLE RIGHT SIZE UP CAKE
Use 1 can of pinepple rings. Use the juice as the liquid in the cake place the rings on the top- close together and bake.
Use some juice in the icing and just ice the centers of the rings or around them. Sure put cherries in the centers of the rings before baking, instead of icing the centers afterwards.
CRANBERRY ORANGE NUT CAKE
Use orange juice as liquid. Use ground nuts of your choice. Add dried cranberries. Before you bake the cake, sprinkle the top with cinnamon sugar. Do not ice.
RHUBARB CAKE
Chop fresh rhubarb stilks into small pieces and add these to the dough. Use buttermilk as liquid. Before you bake the cake, sprinkle the top with cinnamon sugar. Do not ice.
APPLE CAKE
Peel and slice a couple of tart apples. Use buttermilk as liquid. Add vanilla to the dough. Before baking the cake, cover the top with the apple slices and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar with a little nutmeg added. Eventually, sprinkle with slivered almonds or add nuts to the dough. May need to bake a few minutes longer.
PEAR CAKE
Peel and slice fresh pears. Use buttermilk as liquid. Before baking the cake, cover the top with pear slices and sprinkle with sugar mixed with ginger and cinnamon. Eventually, also slivered almonds. May need to bake a few minutes longer.
More cakes later!