Sneaky Pie's Cookbook For Mystery Lovers

Human

MOM’S BIRTHDAY CAKE

Serves 8 to 10

This recipe is for people who love chocolate. Veterinarians say chocolate is bad for dogs. (Don’t give me ideas.)

¼ cup (½ stick) unsalted butter

¼ cup Crisco

5 egg whites

1 ½ cups sugar

1 cup milk

3 cups all-purpose flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 recipe unsweetened Chocolate Icing (recipe follows) Toothpicks

Preheat the oven to 350°G F.

In a small bowl, cream together the butter and Crisco and set aside.

In a medium bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff, then gradually add the sugar. Beat in the creamed butter and Crisco. Gently stir in the milk, followed by the flour and baking powder, mixing until well blended and no lumps remain. Stir in the vanilla.

Pour into 2 greased and floured 9-inch round cake pans. Using a rubber spatula, spread the batter out evenly in each pan.

Bake on the third rack up from the bottom for 25 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.

These layers will not be fluffy. This is a heavy, moist cake. When you bring them out of the oven, put a dish towel over them and cool to room temperature.

Once they’re cool, turn the first layer onto a wire cake rack and cover the top and sides with ⅓ of the White Cream Icing. Once it’s set, pour ⅓ of the Unsweetened Chocolate Icing on top of the already frosted layer. Let harden (in the refrigerator if necessary). To anchor the second layer, place toothpicks half in and half out of the first layer.

Carefully place the second layer on top of the first, pressing down until the toothpicks are completely hidden (they will keep it from sliding off). Spread the remaining White Cream Icing over the entire cake. Finally, cover with the remaining Unsweetened Chocolate Icing. Let harden (again in the refrigerator if necessary). Transfer the cake to a cake plate.

If the day is warm, put the cake in the coolest spot you have or the refrigerator, covered with a cake dish. It’s important for the chocolate to harden.

When you serve the cake, whoever gets a toothpick gets a kitty kiss.

WHITE CREAM ICING

¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) butter, softened

2 cups confectioners sugar, sifted

2 tablespoons milk or cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a mixer, cream the butter, then gradually add the confectioners’ sugar until fully blended.

Stir in the milk or cream and vanilla until smooth and thick enough to spread on the cake.

UNSWEETNED CHOCOLATE ICING

4 ounces dark unsweetened chocolate

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler, being careful not to let it bubble. Spread (or drizzle) over the cake immediately.

I LOVE THIS cake. It’s hard to make. Juts Brown, Mom’s mother, made this every year on November 28, Rita Mae’s birthday.

The trick is to put the cake in the refrigerator so the unsweetened chocolate will harden over the creamy vanilla icing. The combination of tastes is what makes the cake.

However, it’s so slippery that after she spread the unsweetened chocolate over the bottom layer, Juts put toothpicks in to hold the top layer in place. If she didn’t, the top layer would look like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Once, she spread the vanilla and unsweetened chocolate icings over the entire cake without anchoring it with toothpicks or even putting it in the icebox (Juts never called a refrigerator a refrigerator just like she never said zero; she said ought) and the top half slid off the bottom half, skidded across the table, and then slid onto the floor. Delicious. I’m still waiting for that to happen again.

Juts gave prizes to whoever got toothpicks in their cake slice. Usually the toothpicks were visible because Juts put in colored ones. It’s odd what humans cherish; Mom still has some of her prizes: a little mechanical pencil, a rabbit’s foot keychain, and a toy truck. Aren’t people funny?