Heavenly Cake Bakers: Chocolate Strawberry Cake

One of the reasons I enjoy Rose Levy Beranbaum's cookbooks, (aside from precision and enthusiasm, that is), is her Ashkenazi/Eastern European palate, which leans toward apricots, and poppy seeds, and almonds. This week's cake, though, couldn't be more all-American, making it perfect for both today, Flag Day, and Memorial Day weekend, which is when I actually made it.

I was at my parents' house in Northampton, so I asked my mother and sister to choose my free choice cake. Despite my sister's stated avoidance of fruit-with-chocolate things, and the fact that the cake was already next up on the make list, somehow the Chocolate Strawberry Cake was selected. This involved some shopping, as the cake uses three kinds of chocolate alone--bittersweet, unsweetened, and white--and a raft of butter and eggs. I then went at the thing like one possessed, pushing through my task even as dinner guests arrived, people sat down to eat, and life went on around me.

The cake is a fluffy white cake, with melted white chocolate in the batter. The batter also contains what appears to be an inordinate amount of baking powder, but it seemed to work. Ignoring Rose's instructions to make two layers and two cupcakes, I poured all the batter into the 9" layer pans, where it billowed up but remained just contained. I was rushing a bit, so the layers didn't get a chance to cool through, and they were so tender that that meant that I broke one, leaving a plate of cake bits that was gratefully consumed.

The whole huge thing was eventually done, and it didn't last long, despite the protests of some guests that they only liked chocolate, and my sister that she didn't want the chocolate, the cake was deservedly popular, and lets just say it didn't make it to be dessert the following day.