I was really intrigued by he recipe's requirement for a "cupcaker". My initial searches came back with all kinds of silicone baking pans of course, but let's be honest, the pre-1995 world didn't have a lot of silcone bakeware. Deeper searches revealed an ad on this newspaper page from 1976 (!) featuring a (damn expensive) microwave oven that came with a "cupcaker", but I didn't find anything more. So without a time machine and a plane ticket to Spokane, how could I make this recipe? More on the ultimate resolution to this conundrum below.
Then of course there was the 1-ounce envelope unsweetened no-melt chocolate. Searches revealed that Nestle makes a product that matched this description. The first supermarket I checked in had no such item, of course. What about K Roger? Nope. And even though I try not to go there, I visited Whole Paycheck (late on a Friday afternoon, even), but no joy. Yes, I know it's listed at Amazon, but a) I don't need six, eight ounce packages and 2) if I pick a recipe on Wednesday to be cooked/baked on Saturday, online shopping isn't going to cut it. (No, I don't have Prime and besides, this item isn't eligible). So no chocolate cake.
On to the preparation...
I had to ask an important question - sift then measure or measure than sift? Maybe it's common knowledge, but this is all about teaching myself new things. It's the latter, just in case anybody else needs to know. I was supposed to sift the baking powder with the flour, but I misread that part, so I stirred it into the sifted flour separately. In another bowl I creamed the butter then added the sugar and creamed some more. The very exacting directions in the recipe then called for adding the dry ingredients (i.e. the flour and baking powder), then the milk mixture (i.e. milk and vanilla), alternately, ending with the dry ingredients. Seemed very fussy but I did as told, and beat it all until smooth.
Then it was time to bake, and here is how I resolved that cupcaker situation.
I had bought this package of silicone "LCD Segment" dealies at least a year ago from Think Geek, but had never used them. There's a recipe on the back of the box, but like many items from Think Geek, these came from the UK, and the recipe was all in grams and stuff, and I never got around to trying to figure out the converstions. Also like many items from Think Geek, they don't seem to be available anymore.
The directions called for three to five minutes, and I ended up using two 1:30 cycles. The little cakes came out OK, if a bit lopsided and unevenly sized. I did end up with a dozen of them, so the yield was right on.
I did some half-hearted searching for frosting recipes, but wasn't really happy with the ingredients listsI found, or trying to modify "32 servings" to 12 cupcakes (what's a serving of frosting anyway?). So I tried to wing it. Yeah, well, the less said about that the better.
There was going to be a photo here with the "frosted" cakes arranged into some digits, but upon review, the photo looked like crap, so I'm sparing myself the embarrassment.
How were they? Well, not so great, actually. A little dry and dense. Rubbery. No matter what syndicated columnists were trying to peddle back in the day, I don't think microwave ovens are made for baking. That said, I still might try to recipe from the back of the "cake mould" box, since I have a fairly new kitchen scale that I can use for European style weight based recipes.
Lessons Learned - old recipes may include items that are not readily available. Luckily that chocolate stuff was optional, and I had alternate baking vessels on hand. Not sure how this might play out in the future.
Tools needed - I had to buy a sifter.
Skills needed - I could probably improved my technique when creaming butter and sugar. That might account for the denseness of the resulting cakes.
Late breaking news - I had occasion to visit the fabulous Atlee Virginia Kroger this afternoon, and lo and behold, they stocked the Nestle pre-melted chocolate. So I bought some to have on hand.
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