I don’t know about you, but whenever I have company coming, and decide to bake at the last minute, I’m inevitably out of one or more of the ingredients I need to make whatever it is I want to make. With 18″ of snow on the ground and a 2WD pickup, there was no way I was going out for eggs or white sugar today, so here’s the recipe for the no-egg company cake that is cooling on my dining room table as I type.

In the absence of eggs, the reaction of baking soda and vinegar provides the leavening needed for a light, fluffy cake. This recipe can be used as a base for any number of mix-ins – add chocolate chips for a chocolate chip cookie cake, cocoa or melted baking chocolate for a simple chocolate cake, cinnamon, nutmeg, and raisins for a spice cake, or galangal, pepper, coconut, and ginger for an eastern flavor.

No-Egg Company Cake

Ingredients:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups dark brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 cup half and half
• 1 cup whole milk
• 3/4 cup melted butter
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350° F; lightly grease a 13×9″ pan. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda. Set aside. In a separate bowl, stir together remaining ingredients. Add wet ingredients to dry, stirring until just combined. Pour into pan and bake for 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Set aside to cool.

Quick Chocolate Spice Frosting

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup softened butter
• pinch salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 5 cups confectioner’s sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup strong brewed coffee, cooled
• 2 tablespoons whole milk

Mix together butter, salt, cinnamon, sugar, and cocoa until ingredients are well-combined and butter is evenly distributed. Slowly add coffee and milk, adding more milk if needed to achieve desired consistency. Spread on cooled cake.

I’ve posted my personal funny cake recipe on this site before, but this week my Aunt Beth sent me a scanned copy of my Grammy’s recipe, complete with a “good luck” note at the bottom. Almost all my memories of Grammy are from the kitchen, whether she was cooking or sitting at the kitchen table being outspoken and fabulous. I’m proud as hell to be able to share this here. (Click to enlarge)

This traditional Penna. Dutch cake within a pie shell is dense, chocolatey, and oh-so-yummy. (I’ve yet to find anything funny about it, though.) Without fail, this cake always overflows its shell during the baking process every time I make it – you might want to stick a sheet pan on the bottom rack just in case you have the same luck.

Funny Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 9″ pie shell (store-bought or your favorite recipe)
• 7 tablespoons plus 1/4 cup unsalted butter, divided
• 1 -1/4 cups sugar
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 3 tablespoons hot water
• 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla, divided
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 pinches salt
• 1/2 cup whole milk or light cream
• 1 egg, beaten

Melt 7 tablespoons butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir in cocoa, 1/2 cup sugar, and a pinch of salt and cook, stirring often, until mixture comes to a gentle boil. Whisk in water. Continue to cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Set aside and preheat oven to 350° F.

Combine flour, baking powder, and remaining sugar and salt in a large bowl. Whisk to combine thoroughly. Cut in remaining butter with fingers. Stir in milk and vanilla. Stir with wooden spoon or electric mixer for 2 minutes. Add egg and continue to beat for 45-60 seconds. Pour into pie shell. Gently reheat fudge sauce if necessary and pour evenly over batter.

Bake for 40-50 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean and cake is springy to the touch. Serve warm or room-temperature.

I enjoy collecting old cookbooks, and pick them up at yard sales and flea markets whenever I can. Each Saturday, I post excerpts from my collection. Today’s post comes from Kate Smith’s Favorite Recipes.

Kate Smith, voluptuous songstress and radio star, appears to have had quite a few opinions on this recipe, or at least her publisher did. At the bottom of the page is Ms. Smith’s disembodied head with a note about urgent requests (see below). That may be my favorite part of the book.

I like this recipe because it’s not a normal (chocolate/vanilla) marble cake; instead, the darker batter is flavored with molasses and spice. Try adding ground walnuts to the “plain” batter for a little extra kick.

Marble Spice Picnic Cake

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sifted Swans Down Cake Flour
• 2 teaspoons Calumet Baking Powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter or other shortening
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs, well beaten
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 tablespoons molasses

Sift flour once, measure, add baking powder and salt, and sift together three times. Cream butter thoroughly, add sugar gradually, and cream together until light and fluffy. Add eggs and beat well. Add flour, alternately with milk, a small amount at a time, beating after each addition until smooth. Divide batter into two parts. To one part, add spices and molasses. Put by tablespoons into greased loaf pan, 8×4x3 inches, alternating light and dark mixtures. Bake in moderate oven (350° F.) 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until done. Spread Clever Judy Frosting (page 40) on top and sides of cake.

Or bake in greased pan, 8×8x2 inches, in moderate oven (350° F.) 50 minutes. Spread Seven Minute Frosting (page 40) on top and sides of cake. Decorate top of cake with chopped pecan meats and raisin clusters.

I don’t know where the recipe originated, but I do know it is one of the very few things I will make that starts off as a boxed mix. I always make this in a silicone bundt pan – it’s far too sticky to come cleanly out of a metal pan, even a well-greased one.

Chocolate Cavity-Maker Cake

Ingredients:

• One 18.25 ounce package dark chocolate cake mix
• One 3 ounce package instant chocolate pudding
• 16 ounces sour cream
• 3 eggs
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup coffee liqueur
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place silicone bundt pan on a baking sheet for stability. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients except chips with a wooden spoon, stirring until batter is mostly smooth but still contains small lumps. Stir in chips. Pour into pan and bake for 1 hour.

Cool completely on rack before unmoulding.

One of the most decadent desserts in the world, flourless chocolate cake is a treat to make, and is best served fresh with a raspberry coulis or vanilla bean ice cream topping. Make sure to plan on small portions — the cake is so rich that it can be overwhelming after a few bites.

One of the big advantages to this dish is the low sugar content and absence of flour — it’s a great treat for those on a low-carb diet that want to splurge just a little bit.

I use miniature bundt molds for this dish, but any small molds (including these silly cupcake molds) will do. Make sure to double-butter your molds for this dish, even if you’re using non-stick pans: brush the insides with melted butter, freeze, and brush a second coat of butter on top of the first. This technique ensures that your gooey cakes will slide right out of their pans.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

• 6 eggs, separated
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 400 grams bittersweet chocolate, grated or finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon coffee-flavored liqueur, such as Kahlua

Special Equipment:

• Lasagna pan or flat roasting pan
• 6 small cake molds
• Clean kitchen towel

In a small bowl or saucepan, melt chocolate and allow to cool slightly. Set aside, and preheat oven to 250 degrees.

Combine egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl and mix with an electric mixer until ribbons form when batter falls from beaters. Slowly add melted chocolate, whisking continuously to prevent the eggs from cooking. Stir in liqueur.

In a separate bowl, whisk whites until they form stiff peaks. Divide the whites into thirds, and gently fold each third into the chocolate batter. Pour into 6 double-buttered cake molds. Place a clean kitchen towel in the bottom of a lasagna pan, and set the molds on the towel so that they are evenly spaced and not touching. Set the pan on the oven rack and add hot water to the pan so that the water level rises 1/2 up the sides of the molds.

Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes at 250 degrees, then turn oven off but leave the pan in the oven, cakes still in water bath, with oven door ajar, for 1 hour. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before turning out of molds.

Serves 6.