In the impressive and delightful What Can I Bring? Elizabeth Heiskell covers a lot of territory. On display her is true Southern food, comfort food to be sure, authentic to the last detail, and powerful in every bite.
This is her recreation of one of her mother’s favorites from the Lowry Motor Court in Greenville, Mississippi. It was a famous byway and you can see antique images if you google. This cake was served in perfect squares wrapped in wax paper. There was a glass dome, carefully raised, and a piece of cake was slowly extracted to eager fans.
I asked Elizabeth, “Is this a cake or a brownie.”
“You’ll just have try,” she told me. “It’s different.”
And indeed it is. If you compare this recipe with Maida Heatter’s Fudge Brownie, you immediately see the “power” inherent in this recipe. Maida’s recipe, a classic, uses 1 stick of butter, 1 ½ cups of sugar, 3 eggs and ¾ cup of flour. Here, everything scales up, even though it’s still going into a 9-inch square pan: 2 sticks of butter, 1 ¾ cups of sugar, 4 eggs, and 1 cup of butter.
Is it cake or brownie? Well, you look at that picture and you can feel the stickiness. It is very, very fudgy. You can call it cake or you can say brownie, but you will surely call it perfect.
Brownies do vary in style. If you want yours fudgy, this is the one.
Oh, you want one that is cakey? Come back here on Friday and I’ll give you one of those.
Fudge Cake
Yield: 16 large squares
Ingredients:
- 8 ounces (1 cup) unsalted butter
- 4 (1-ounce) squares semisweet baking chocolate, finely chopped
- 1 ¾ cups granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
- Dash of kosher salt
- 1 cup chopped toasted pecans
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 300°F. Place the butter and chocolate in a large microwave- safe bowl. Microwave on HIGH until completely melted, about 1 minute, stirring every 20 seconds. Add the sugar, and stir until well combined. Cool 10 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, and stir with a wooden spoon until blended after each addition. Fold in the flour and salt. Stir in the chopped pecans and vanilla.
Coat a 9-inch square pan with cooking spray. Line the bottom and sides of the pan with parchment paper, allowing 4 to 5 inches to extend over sides. Coat the parchment paper with cooking spray. Pour the cake mixture into the prepared pan.
Bake in the preheated oven until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool in the pan on a wire rack 30 minutes. Lift the cake from the pan, using the parchment paper sides as handles, and cool completely, about 30 minutes. Cut into squares before serving. Dust with powdered sugar just before serving.
Source: What Can I Bring by Elizabeth Heiskell [Oxmoor House, 2017]
Photo Information: Canon T2i, EFS 60mm Macro Lens, F/4 for 1/50th second at ISO‑500