food & dining
It’s a Piece of Cake!
1½ cups flour
hese two recipes are very differ-
ent but equally delicious.

The first, a vanilla riff on a classic
Italian lemon ricotta cake, leans heavily
into dairy and requires a bit of effort
but is truly delicious.

The second, a pareve/vegan choco-
late cake designed to feed one or two,
is a classic pantry recipe that is surpris-
ingly tasty. Most reasonably stocked
kitchens will be equipped with the
ingredients needed for the chocolate
cake, and it is simple to make.

For the glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon vanilla paste
2-3 tablespoons milk (adjust for
proper consistency)
T Vanilla Ricotta Cake | Dairy
Makes 1 9-inch cake
I had a surplus of ricotta cheese in
my fridge recently; I’m a sucker for
“buy 2, get one free” promotions. I
used two containers for lasagna and
mulled the third.

One rainy Saturday, I had the urge to
bake, and this cake suggested itself.

The original recipe calls for lemon
instead of vanilla, and I had no lemons
but, given the weather, I was loathe
to venture out. I had plenty of vanilla,
both extract and paste, so I went with
that. If you don’t have vanilla paste, just
use an extra teaspoon of extract.

The results were great; over the next
several days, two guests who claim to
“not like cake” came back for seconds.

If you prefer the lemon version, simply
omit the vanilla from both the batter
and the glaze. For the cake, use the
zest and juice of 1 whole lemon or 1
tablespoon of lemon extract. For the
glaze, use the juice and zest of ½
lemon or 1 teaspoon of lemon extract.

Butter and powdered sugar for the
pan 1½ sticks butter, softened
1½ cups sugar
1 15-ounce container ricotta
cheese 3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon vanilla paste
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
22 MAY 18, 2023 | JEWISH EXPONENT
Heat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease a 9-inch springform pan with
butter, then dust it with about ¼ cup of
powdered sugar. Set it aside.

Cream the butter and sugar in a
mixer, then add the ricotta and beat
until fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add the
eggs, one at a time, and blend, then
add the vanilla extract and paste, if
using. Add the baking soda and salt,
then add the flour and mix briefly until
just combined (do not overmix or the
cake will be heavy).

Pour the batter into the prepared
pan and bake it for 45 minutes until
the center springs back and the cake
is a light golden brown. Cool the cake
for 10 minutes in the pan, then remove
the rim.

While the cake is cooling, make the
glaze: Mix all the ingredients with a
fork or whisk it until smooth. When the
cake is completely cool, drizzle the
glaze over the top.

Wacky Cake | Pareve
This cake lived up to its name. I teach
a monthly cooking class at JCHAI, an
organization that supports individuals
with disabilities to live independently.

We have a great time, and the students
leave with the fruits of their labor to
enjoy in their apartments.

Recently, one of the students
requested a chocolate cake for the
next lesson. Because of the logistics,
we always create individual portions
for the participants to take home, so I
sought a single-serving recipe.

I found this “wacky cake,” a rich
chocolate cake that is reputed to date
to the World War II era when cooks
had to work around rationing. I scaled
it to a small quantity, and it was shock-
ingly delicious.

When I introduced the recipe, I
explained the cake’s history and the
need for cooks at the time to be
creative due to shortages of staple
ingredients such as butter and eggs.

We made the cakes, put them in the
oven, and one of the participants
remarked about the sugarless cake
and asked about other cakes that had
similar substitutions.

I was like, “What do you mean
‘sugarless’?” and then I checked the
recipe … somehow I had omitted the
sugar from the written recipe. Even
though I had brought a bag of sugar
to the demo kitchen, it never made it
into the batter. Rut-roh.

I semi-panicked; there wasn’t
much to do now that the cakes were
baking. But cooking requires the
ability to pivot, and that’s what we
did. I ransacked the demo kitchen
for remedies, and we found Nutella,
chocolate syrup, milk, Marshmallow
Fluff, a can of frosting and sprinkles.

We mixed the chocolate syrup with
the milk and, when the cakes came
out, soaked the cake with it, tres
leches style. Then we offered the
students the other ingredients to top
and decorate the cakes. It wasn’t
the goal, but it worked out pretty
well. And now I have a plan for next
month’s class: chocolate cake with
sugar. Mini Chocolate Cake
Serves 1 or 2
One beautiful thing about this cake
is the lack of mess — you mix the
batter right in the pan!
½ cup flour
¼ cup sugar
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
powder Pinch salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons oil
¾ teaspoon white vinegar
⅓ cup hot water
Grease a mini loaf pan. Heat your
oven to 350 degrees F.

In the pan, mix the dry ingredients
with a fork or a small whisk. Make 3
little wells in the mixture. In one well,
place the vanilla, another the oil and
the last the vinegar. Pour the hot water
over the whole mixture. Whisk until
blended. Bake it for about 18 minutes
until the middle of the cake is done
and no longer wet.

Let the cake cool slightly, and top as
desired with frosting, chocolate syrup,
caramel, butterscotch, jam, whipped
cream, ice cream, etc. ■
Keri White is a Philadelphia-based
freelance food writer.

Photo by Keri White
Keri White