Saveur Cooks Authentic American - Editors Of Cook's Illustrated Magazine [63]
FOR THE FROSTING:
1½ cups sugar
1¾ cups unsalted butter, softened
1½ tsp. vanilla extract
4 egg yolks
1 12-oz. can evaporated milk
1½ cups roughly chopped pecans
7 oz. package sweetened shredded coconut
FOR THE CAKE:
1 cup unsalted butter, softened, plus additional butter for greasing the pans
4 oz. German’s Sweet Chocolate, chopped
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. kosher salt
1½ cups sugar
4 egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
4 egg whites
Serves 12–14
1. Make the frosting: Combine the sugar, butter, vanilla, egg yolks, and evaporated milk in a 2-qt. pot over medium heat. Bring to a simmer and cook until thick, about 12 minutes. Strain through a sieve into a bowl and stir in the pecans and coconut. Chill the frosting in the refrigerator until firm.
2. Meanwhile, make the cakes: Heat the oven to 350°F. Grease three 9-inch round cake pans with butter and line the bottoms with parchment circles. Grease the parchment and set aside. Put the chocolates into a small heat-proof bowl, pour in ½ cup boiling water, and let sit for 1 minute. Stir until smooth, then set aside. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt and set aside.
3. In a standing mixer, beat together 1¼ cups sugar and the butter until fluffy. Add the egg yolks, one at a time. Add the melted chocolate mixture and the vanilla and beat until smooth. On a low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk until just combined; set the batter aside.
4. Whip the egg whites to soft peaks. Add the remaining sugar and whip to stiff peaks. Fold the egg whites into the batter; divide between the pans and smooth the batter. Bake until the cakes are set, 25–30 minutes. Transfer the cakes to racks and let cool in the pans for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes and invert them onto a rack to cool to room temperature.
5. Place 1 layer on a cake stand or a platter and spread one-third of the frosting over the top, leaving the sides bare. Repeat with the next 2 layers to assemble the cake. Slice into wedges and serve.
Drinks
A group of friends drink masala chai at a dhaba, or truck stop, in Delhi, India.
A good drink revives and refreshes us, warming or cooling us from the inside out. The best drinks—a glass of milky-sweet masala chai, fragrant with cardamom; a spicy bloody mary spiked with vodka and horseradish; a rich black-and-white malted milk shake—complement the foods on the table, but they are just as wonderful when sipped on their own.
Spiced Tea
Masala Chai
A far cry from the so-called chai drinks sold at chain coffee shops in the United States, this sweet, milky tea gets its invigorating piney fragrance from the crushed pods of green cardamom.
½ cup evaporated milk
5 tsp. sugar
6 black tea bags
5 pods green cardamom, crushed
Makes 4½ cups
Bring milk, sugar, tea, cardamom, and 4 cups water to a boil in a 2-qt. saucepan. Remove from heat and let steep for 5 minutes. Strain and serve hot.
Precious Pods
Of the two main varieties of cardamom, green cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum) is the one that’s more common. Its floral perfume penetrates all sorts of invigorating beverages, both hot and cold, from Indian masala chai and frothy yogurt lassis to potent Turkish coffee; many gins are flavored with it, too, and some bartenders keep a bottle of simple syrup infused with cardamom on hand for mixing into cocktails. It brightens chicken curries throughout South Asia and dozens of Scandinavian sweets and pastries, like pulla, a braided challah-like loaf, and semlor, Finnish cream puffs filled with rich cardamom-scented pastry cream. Green cardamom pods