Chocolate Wacki Cake - A Family Tradition

When my friend Gloria mentioned to me that her son Michael had asked her to make a Wacki Cake for his upcoming birthday, I was intrigued. What is a Wacki Cake? When I asked her to tell me, Gloria started listing the ingredients. But, somewhere between the six tablespoons of cocoa and the two tablespoons of vinegar (the wacki part), she took a detour and began to tell the story of the origins of the cake.


When Gloria was about eight years old she would walk to school every day with her friend, Betsy. One morning, when Gloria went to Betsy's house before school, Betsy's mother was wrapping a piece of cake for Betsy's lunch bag.  When Gloria asked her mom what kind of cake was going to be Betsy's dessert that day, Mrs. Thatcher said, "oh, that's wacki cake" then sliced and wrapped a piece for Gloria.  Gloria loved the cake, and begged her mother to get the recipe, which she did. Wacki Cake then became a favorite family tradition, which Gloria passed along to her own children, Lauren and Michael.
Gloria has baked many a Wacki Cake over the years, occasionally substituting chocolate whipped cream frosting for the original vanilla, but always stayed true to the cake recipe.


Gloria's story really got me thinking about my own childhood favorites. As an adult looking back, I think that those home-baked treats we loved as children had little to do with how they tasted, and much more to do with the memories that surrounded them.


All these years later, I can almost taste my mother's egg bread right out of the oven, almost too hot to eat, slathered with butter and my mother warning us to "let the bread cool before you slice it"  -- which of course we ignored. 
So the next time your children ask you to make a special cake, remember . . . you're not just baking a cake -- you're baking a memory. Just ask Gloria's son Michael, now 29 years old.


Submitted by Sharon

WACKI CAKE

For the cake:

3 cups flour

2 cups sugar

6 tbsp. cocoa

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. baking soda

10 tbsp. shortening

2 tbsp. vinegar

2 cups cold water

2 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 325°

Grease & flour a 13" x 9" pan

Mix together dry ingredients in large bowl of electric mixer.  Add remaining ingredients and beat until combined.

Bake for approximately 30 minutes.  Cake is done when toothpick comes out clean.

For the icing:

1 cup milk

2 (heaping) tbsp. flour

1 stick butter (at room temperature)

½ cup crisco

1 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

In a small saucepan combine milk and flour over medium heat until thickened slightly.  Cool completely.

Beat together butter & crisco.  Gradually add sugar and beat until well combined.  Add vanilla and cooled flour mixture until just combined.

Finkrals' Fish Chowder: Simple & Delicious

Our guest chef, Linda Finkral of Lambertville, NJ
 assembles the ingredients for her favorite Fish Chowder recipe.

One of the reasons that we decided to start a food blog was our belief in, and understanding of, the influence and importance of our food culture in shaping our lives. Food, and more specifically our Italian American cuisine, was at the center of every personal or family milestone: we celebrated with feasts during good times such as birthday, weddings and holidays;  consoled our neighbors during times of mourning with deliveries of lasagna; and comforted an ailing child with pastini soup. Understanding our food culture is a way of understanding our own personal history. 

Not only do we enjoy sharing our history with others, we love learning more about the food culture of our friends and fellow foodies. So when our friend Linda agreed to share her popular Fish Chowder recipe, I asked her to include a little history along with the ingredients and "how to" steps. When the recipe arrived, it included Linda's unique perspective of someone who grew up on a farm in land-locked Iowa and became (along with other family members) what she calls "water seekers" - lured to life along riverbanks and shores."

I have been cooking since I was five years old on a farm in Iowa. I have 10 siblings and we had farm hands who lived there and we cooked for everyone.  I did not know fish was available in anything but a frozen block until I left home . Fish in Iowa came in frozen blocks and it was mystery fish.  To this day I do not know what kind of fish it was. Not a surprise  when you know my mother always called both pork and beef roasts "roasts", never describing which one it was, pork or beef.  It was after I left home that I had this awakening that her "roasts" were from two entirely different animals.

We had tuna fish casserole, or "block of fish" on Friday and always McDonald's fish sandwiches if we were away from home. That was the only seafood we had.  

Linda didn't encounter "real" seafood until after moving to Connecticut and attending a "Lobster Night" at a local restaurant. The "2 for $10" meal was a revelation.  Currently Linda has homes in both the river town of Lambertville, NJ and Eastham on Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

When at her vacation home on Cape Cod, Linda often sources
fresh fish directly from the docks, and digs for her own clams.
(She's licensed in Mass.) 

Access to high quality fresh fish is paramount to creating great chowder. When in Jersey, Linda purchases her seafood from ShopRite in Flemington, NJ, where she often finds excellent deals on lobsters. The Friendly Fisherman in Eastham is her go-to place when on the Cape. On occasion she arrives before the fish, and waits for the boats to arrive with their catch. 

Lobster is often the centerpiece of the extensive entertaining Linda does at the Cape. So much so, that she purchases direct from a wholesaler. A license to clam allows for a hands-on approach to sourcing her her ingredients. 

 I dig claims pretty much every week.  I get steamers, quahogs and little necks on the bay beach a few steps from our house.  I also go to the ocean side to dig clams and mussels.  I make clam chowder that is full of fresh clams and real cream.  I strain the clam juice  through a cheese cloth to make sure there is no sand in my chowder.   I freeze clams and clam juice to use in the winter. 

As mentioned earlier, Linda is not the only family member to enjoy life near the water. 

I have a sister who lives on the water in St. Pete's Beach, Florida, one on a lake in the Ozarks, Missouri, one on a lake in Minnesota, one has a beach house in Corrona Del Mar, California, one lives on a river in Stillwater, Minnesota.  I also have a brother who has a house on a lake in Spirit Lake, Iowa. My son has a house across the street from us here on the Cape (he lives in Chapel Hill, NC) and my daughter has a house in Nantucket (she lives in Mexico).  So we are all water seekers.  It is in our genes.

Linda states that this Fish Chowder, a combination of a few recipes, is the best she has ever made and a staple of many gatherings of family and friends.  She uses large (21-25 count) shrimp  that she often cuts in half and recommends a rough cut on the vegetables.


Thank you Linda for a delightful family "food" story and a great recipe. 

This creamy chowder is a sure-bet crowd-pleaser.

Finkrals' Fish Chowder

8 slices bacon

4 Tbs butter

3 large onions

3 stalks celery

5 cloves garlic

4 large potatoes (rough chop)

1 Tb. chicken bouillon

2-- 13 oz cans evaporated milk

2 cups half and half

2 TBS Worcestershire sauce

1 TB salt

2 tsp white pepper

½ tsp Tabasco sauce

1.5 lbs cod cut in small pieces

1 lb shrimp- cut in half depending on size (21-25 count)

½ lb scallops  (cut smaller if necessary.)

Cook bacon until very crisp.  Leave 3 TBS bacon grease in pan.  Add butter and sauté onions, and celery.  Add garlic and cook until celery is soft.    Add potatoes and enough water to cover. Stir in chicken bouillon. Cook until potatoes are done and most of the water is gone.  Leave the lid off.   You have to watch them at the end when the water gets lower.

Add the rest of the ingredients and cook just below boiling point for about 5 to 10 minutes.  Do not over cook the seafood.  Do not let it boil.   Cool and refrigerate overnight or serve immediately.