Aunt Tootle ends Wacky Cake hunt

Recipes that appear in Idea Alley have not been tested by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Ruth Rowell shares this recipe in response to Marylin Ledbetter’s request for Wacky Cake.

“This is my great-great-Aunt Tootle’s famous chocolate cake recipe,” Rowell writes.

“It is wonderful.”

Tootle’s Chocolate Cake

3 cups all-purpose flour

6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

2 cups granulated sugar

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups cold water

¾ cup vegetable oil

2 tablespoons vinegar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Grease a 9-by-13-inch pan.

Heat oven to 300 degrees.

Sift together the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda and salt into a large bowl. Add the water, oil, vinegar and vanilla and mix at medium speed for 3 minutes.

Pour into prepared pan. Bake 40 minutes or until a tester inserted near the center comes out clean.

May be iced with chocolate icing.

Makes 1 cake.

If you need a recipe for chocolate icing for the above cake, this one is from the Food section’s recipe file. It is dated Oct. 6, 1977.

Chocolate Frosting

2 tablespoons vegetable shortening

1 tablespoon butter

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate

1 ½ cups sifted confectioners’ sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

5 tablespoons hot milk

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt shortening, butter and chocolate in the top part of a double boiler.

In a mixing bowl combine the sugar and salt. Pour in the hot milk, stirring until sugar dissolves. Add the vanilla, then add the melted chocolate mixture and beat until smooth and thick.

A reader who wishes to remain anonymous sends this minestrone recipe.

“The substitutions I have made are to use crushed tomatoes in place of the puree and one can diced tomatoes for the fresh, adding these at the same time as the bell pepper, zucchini, etc. I also omit the salt.” The recipe is from a 1990s edition of the Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen.

Minestrone

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 cups chopped onion

5 medium cloves garlic, minced

1 ½ teaspoons salt

1 rib celery, minced

1 medium carrot, diced

1 cup diced eggplant

1 teaspoon oregano

Fresh ground black pepper to taste

1 teaspoon basil

1 small zucchini, diced

1 medium bell pepper, diced

3 to 4 cups water

1 (14 ½ -ounce) can tomato puree

1 to 1 ½ cups cooked pea beans, chickpeas or kidney beans

½ to 1 cup dry pasta (any shape)

1 or 2 ripe tomatoes, diced

½ cup minced fresh parsley

Parmesan cheese

Heat the oil in a Dutch oven.

Add the onion, garlic and salt.

Saute over medium heat for about 5 minutes, then add the celery, carrot, eggplant, oregano, black pepper and basil. Cover and cook over very low heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the zucchini, bell pepper, water and tomato puree. Cover and simmer 15 minutes.

Add the beans and simmer 5 minutes more.

Bring the soup to a gentle boil. Add the pasta, stir, and cook until the pasta is tender.

Stir in the diced tomatoes and serve right away, topped with parsley and parmesan.

Makes 8 servings.

REQUEST

Sweet dill pickles for Phyllis (last name not given).

Send recipe requests, contributions and culinary questions to Kelly Brant, Idea Alley, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, P.O. Box 2221, Little Rock, Ark. 72203; email: kbrant@arkansasonline.com Please include a daytime phone number.