Whatever you call it, ski cake slides down well

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 23/03/2011 (5620 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

LAST week I asked about a recipe for ski cake, which my mom made in the 1970s. Thanks to the readers who sent in recipes, which involve different shapes and a few different names but all use the same basic ingredients. Marge Failing recalls a cake her grandmother made in the 1940s called a chip chocolate cake because the chocolate is “chipped” into the batter. Donna Wiebe sent in a recipe for a treat her family calls mock Nanaimo bar. Meanwhile, Pauline Rowe and Selkirk’s Lynn Shead wrote in to tell me that ski cake just happened to be the prizewinning readers’ recipe for last month’s Saltscapes, a magazine about Atlantic Canada. Lynn, who sent along that recipe (from Roseanne MacIsaac of Larry’s River, N.S.), remembers enjoying a cake like it when she was growing up in Halifax, except it was called tweed squares, for the flecked appearance of the batter. It’s her family’s favourite celebration cake.

An important note: All of these recipes call for raw egg yolks in the icing. While I tend to be super-cautious about food safety, a Mad Men-like desire for real caesar dressing and homemade mayo keeps me using raw eggs. If you decide to go with the recipes’ raw eggs, exercise basic precautions: Eggs should be fresh, cold and unbroken, and they should not be served to infants, the elderly, pregnant women or people with compromised immune systems. If you don’t feel comfortable using raw eggs, don’t worry. I made one of the icings without the egg yolks and it was a perfectly delicious buttercream: Just use about 28 g (2 tbsp) extra butter and thin with a little cream or whole milk, if necessary.

This week, Linda Moyer is hoping for a recipe for bread like the Keg makes, while recent memories of the much-missed Belgium Bakery — we currently have requests for its frangipane cookies, mocha tarts and meat pies — might have sparked Andrea Iverson’s request for the bakery’s version of mocha icing. And with Easter coming up, I’d love to get recipes for some traditional holiday dishes. If you can help with a recipe request, have your own request, or a favourite recipe you’d like to share, send an email to recipeswap@freepress.mb.ca, fax it to 697-7412, or write to Recipe Swap, c/o Alison Gillmor, Winnipeg Free Press, 1355 Mountain Ave. Winnipeg, MB, R2X 3B6. Please include your first and last name, address and telephone number.

 

Ski cake

(Adapted from Saltscapes Magazine)

114 g (1/2 cup) butter

310 ml (1 1/4 cup) white sugar, divided

500 ml (2 cups) all-purpose flour

15 ml (3 tsp) baking powder

5 ml (1 tsp) salt

250 ml (1 cup) whole milk

3 egg whites

84 g (3 oz or 3 squares) semi-sweet (or unsweetened) chocolate, grated

10 ml (2 tsp) vanilla

Icing:

114 g (1/2 cup) butter, softened

3 egg yolks (see above note)

500 ml (2 cups) icing sugar

10 ml (2 tsp) vanilla

84 g (3 oz or 3 squares) semi-sweet chocolate

 

Preheat oven to 175C (350F). Grease two 22 cm (9 in) round cake pans and line with parchment paper; grease again. Using electric mixer, beat butter and 250 ml (1 cup) sugar until light and fluffy. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Mix dry ingredients and milk into butter mixture in alternate additions, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. In another clean bowl, using an electric mixer, beat egg whites with remaining 60 ml (1/4 cup) sugar until mixture is glossy and holds stiff peaks.

Fold very gently into butter mixture. Gently stir in grated chocolate and vanilla. Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for 25-30 minutes. Cool on racks. To make icing, beat butter and egg yolks (see note above), add icing sugar and beat until smooth and creamy. Add vanilla. Spread icing on one cooled cake layer. Top with second cake layer and ice top and sides. Melt chocolate (either in the top of a double boiler over simmering water or in the microwave on low power), cool slightly and drizzle over icing. If not served immediately, cake should be refrigerated.

 

Tester’s notes: A moist, delicious cake with a great contrast between the dark chocolate and the creamy vanilla. I grated the chocolate using a regular cheese grater. I also used unsweetened chocolate for the cake, which is a common variation in ski cake recipes and one I remember well. (I once snuck some of the grated chocolate while my mom was baking and it tasted awful.) Once it’s cooked, though, the unsweetened chocolate nicely cuts the cake’s sweetness.

 

Mock Nanaimo bars

114 g (1/2 cup) margarine or butter

150 ml (2/3 cup) white sugar

375 ml (1 1/2 cup) all-purpose flour

10 ml (2 tsp) baking soda

2 ml (1/2 tsp) salt

250 ml (1 cup) whole milk

84 g (3 oz or 3 squares) semi-sweet chocolate, grated

2 egg whites

Icing:

76 g (1/3 cup) butter, softened

2 egg yolks (see above note)

500 ml (2 cups) icing sugar

56 g (2 oz or 2 squares) semi-sweet chocolate

 

Preheat oven to 175C (350F). Grease a 22×22 cm (9×9 in) square cake pan. Using an electric mixer, beat margarine or butter and sugar until light and fluffy. In small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. Add dry ingredients alternately with milk, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Gently fold in grated chocolate. In another clean bowl, beat egg whites with an electric mixer until they hold stiff peaks. Gently fold into batter. Pour into prepared pan and bake for approximately 20 minutes. Cool. To make icing, beat butter and egg yolks (see above note), add icing sugar and beat until smooth and creamy. Melt chocolate (in top of a double boiler set over simmering water or on low power in the microwave), cool slightly and drip over icing. Store cake in the fridge.

Tester’s notes: This is a little less work than a layer cake and just as delicious. I might bake at a slightly lower temperature next time, because the middle wasn’t quite done when the edges began to brown up. In keeping with the Nanaimo bar motif, I tried to cover the whole cake with a layer of chocolate and ended up needing a bit more chocolate. Next time, I’ll just drip the chocolate over. Donna sometimes mixes in chopped walnuts with the melted chocolate.