If you can't decide what you want for the anniversary cake, try making Betty Nunemaker's sponge cake with bittersweet chocolate frosting, a favorite in the Nunemaker household. Recipe courtesy Ann (Nunemaker) Hartman.
Sift together:
1 1/4 cups cake flour,
1 cup sugar, and
1/2 teaspoon baking powder.
Beat with an electric mixer at high speed until soft mounds form:
6 or 7 egg whites,
1/2 teaspoon salt, and
1 teaspoon cream of tartar.
Combine:
6 or 7 egg yolks,
1/4 cup cold water,
1 teaspoon vanilla, and
1 teaspoon almond flavoring.
Blend the egg yolk mixture into the dry ingredients by beating at medium speed for 1 minute.
Fold egg yolk mixture 1/4 amount at a time into the softly beaten egg whites with a wire whisk. Fold gently until the egg whites are completely blended. DO NOT STIR.
Pour into an ungreased tube pan and cut gently through the batter with a knife to remove air pockets. Bake in a moderate oven (350 F) for 40-50 minutes on a rack low in the oven for electric or high for gas. You do not want the batter too near the heat source. Invert immediately to cool for an hour.
(To make the cake by hand, beat egg whites with a rotary beater or wire whip. Beat egg yolks 150 strokes. This would be quite a job!)
Melt:
4 to 5 one ounce squares unsweetened chocolate
and remove from heat. Mix in
2 1/4 cups sifted confectioners sugar and
1/4 cup hot water.
Beat in
one egg.
Add
6 Tablespoons butter or margarine
a tablespoon at a time. Beat well after each addition. Frost cake.
It was not only my family's favorite birthday cake, but Mom often made if for guests as well. Once she had our elementary teachers over for tea and made the cake. While it was waiting to be frosted, my brother, age 5, came in and took out a hunk from the top for himself. When Mom came back there was no time to make another, so she filled up the hole with frosting. She then put a decoration there so that she could be sure to give herself that piece! Charlie got none.