Whew! Well, I have to admit that this Halloween post is more of a treat than a trick, but after the scary gelatin countdown last week, I figured we could all use a little breather.
So I made a cake.
This is Black Cat Cake!
AuthorRetroRuth
From Betty Feezor, 1962
Tested Recipe!
Cake
½ cup shorteningI recommend subbing butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggsbeaten
2 oz unsweetened chocolatemelted
1 ¾ cups sifted flour
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
¾ cup orange soda
½ tsp vanilla
Orange Frosting
¼ cup butter or margarine
2 cups sifted confectioner's sugar
2 tbsp orange soda
2 tbsp grated orange rind
Yellow and red food coloring
Chocolate Frosting
1 cup sifted confectioner's sugar
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp orange soda
¼ tsp vanilla
1 oz unsweetened chocolatemelted
1
Cream shortening (or butter) and sugar together. Add beaten eggs and melted chocolate.
2
Sift dry ingredients together and add alternated in thirds with the carbonated beverage (mix vanilla into orange soda). Beat thoroughly until batter is smooth.
3
Bake in a greased, floured 8x8x2inch or 9-inch square pan in the oven at 350 degrees or 40-50 minutes. (*note: my cake was baked in 32 minutes, so check early!)
Orange Frosting
4
Cream butter, and add sugar a little at a time alternately with the orange soda. Add orange rind and yellow food coloring. Add a few drops of red until the frosting is orange. Beat vigorously until light and creamy and can spread easily.
Chocolate Frosting
5
Cream a small portion of sugar with butter. Add orange soda drop by drop alternately with remaining sugar. Add vanilla and melted chocolate. Stir until spreading consistency. Lay cut-out of a cat on top of frosted cake, draw around it with a toothpick. Remove cut-out and outline with thin line of frosting Fill center of cat and spread out with thin knife to the edge of the outline. Add two bits of orange frosting for eyes or use two small green gumdrops.
CategoryCake, Desserts, Halloween, Cooking MethodBake, CakesTags#butter, #flour, #orangerind, #orangesoda, #powderedsugar, #shortening, #unsweetenedchocolate, #vanilla
Ingredients
Cake
½ cup shorteningI recommend subbing butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggsbeaten
2 oz unsweetened chocolatemelted
1 ¾ cups sifted flour
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
¾ cup orange soda
½ tsp vanilla
Orange Frosting
¼ cup butter or margarine
2 cups sifted confectioner's sugar
2 tbsp orange soda
2 tbsp grated orange rind
Yellow and red food coloring
Chocolate Frosting
1 cup sifted confectioner's sugar
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp orange soda
¼ tsp vanilla
1 oz unsweetened chocolatemelted
Directions
1
Cream shortening (or butter) and sugar together. Add beaten eggs and melted chocolate.
2
Sift dry ingredients together and add alternated in thirds with the carbonated beverage (mix vanilla into orange soda). Beat thoroughly until batter is smooth.
3
Bake in a greased, floured 8x8x2inch or 9-inch square pan in the oven at 350 degrees or 40-50 minutes. (*note: my cake was baked in 32 minutes, so check early!)
Orange Frosting
4
Cream butter, and add sugar a little at a time alternately with the orange soda. Add orange rind and yellow food coloring. Add a few drops of red until the frosting is orange. Beat vigorously until light and creamy and can spread easily.
Chocolate Frosting
5
Cream a small portion of sugar with butter. Add orange soda drop by drop alternately with remaining sugar. Add vanilla and melted chocolate. Stir until spreading consistency. Lay cut-out of a cat on top of frosted cake, draw around it with a toothpick. Remove cut-out and outline with thin line of frosting Fill center of cat and spread out with thin knife to the edge of the outline. Add two bits of orange frosting for eyes or use two small green gumdrops.
Orange Soda & Chocolate Black Cake Cat
IngredientsDirections
This recipe is from a cookbook called “Betty Feezor’s Best” that was put out in 1955. I have the 1962 version of this book, which has an extended recipe addendum in the back that includes a series of holiday foods, like this fun cake. If you aren’t familiar with Betty Feezor, she was the host of a fantastic homemaking television show. Ms. Feezor filmed almost 6000 shows from 1953-1977, and she passed away in 1978. You can see a few episodes of her show on YouTube, but most of these shows have sadly been lost. Which is tragic, because she seems like she was a wonderful and very knowledgeable woman. Betty wrote about her battle with cancer in her book, “A Life That Mattered”, which was published in 1978. From the WBT Memories website:
Every weekday at lunchtime, across a large swath of the Carolinas, thousands of housewives would stop whatever they were doing and turn on Channel 3’s “Betty Feezor Show.” For nearly a quarter century, Betty was consistently WBTV’s most-watched personality.
Ah, Betty. This Halloween we all raise a measuring cup full of orange soda to you and your black cat cake!!
The batter even turned out on the orange side!
Though Betty gave directions for a chocolate frosting for the Halloween kitty on top, I had Alex helping me with this cake so I decided to keep it as simple as possible. The original directions have you trace around a pattern with a toothpick and then fill with frosting on top of the cake, but I decided to do a little chocolate work while the cake was baking instead.
I made a quick photocopy of one of my vintage decorations and then covered with some wax paper.
Then I just had Alex help me trace over it with some chocolate melts I warmed in the microwave. She really had fun doing it, and I let her make more chocolate designs while we waited for the cake to cool.
Perfect!
I didn’t get a shot of the frosting and decorating phase, mostly because I had my hands full of frosting-and-chocolate covered toddler. But in the end Alex decided that a melted chocolate border would go nicely with our kitty decoration.
“Special cake!”
“Do you want to try some special cake, Alex?”
“Yes! Special kitty cake, pwease!”
“It’s yummy! It’s yummy special cake!”
“What do you think, Dad?” I asked, “Is it yummy?”
“It is! I especially like the cat decoration!”
“Then why are you coughing?”
“This is really sweet. And very orange-y. What’s in this?”
“About a cup of Orange Crush and two tablespoons of orange zest.”
“Seriously?”
The Verdict: Delicious, but Very Orange-y
From The Tasting Notes –
If you love the combination of orange and chocolate, then this is the cake for you. Very pronounced orange flavor in the frosting and in the cake. And even though the cake flavoring is just the soda, it still all blends well together with the chocolate. However, the cake was very, very sweet. Which is fine if you like your cake that way. The other issue we had was that the cake, while moist, was very crumbly. Probably due to the shortening. If you are going to make this cake, I would recommend substituting butter in place of the shortening in the batter. And the frosting recipe just barely covered the outside of the cake in a thin layer of frosting. If you like lots of frosting, I would recommend doubling the frosting recipe. Other than that, it was a quick, fun cake to make. Would recommend making it with kids!
Erik Stutzmanon October 28, 2015 at 4:20 am
What a cute kid-are you going to include her in the less terrifying tests in the future (obviously no liver pate horrors)?
Sara In AZon October 28, 2015 at 10:24 am
Oh my gosh…..is Alex ever getting big!!! WOW! She looks SO much like you…..an adorable “mini-me”! 🙂
Jeanineon October 28, 2015 at 10:52 am
This cake looks like so much fun – and bonus child photo too – it’s been a long time since you’ve shown her to us! Very enjoyable post.
Keikoon October 28, 2015 at 1:25 pm
The cake looks yummy but your daughter is an absolute doll baby! I think she should be your consultant for the “less traumatic” recipes. What beautiful memories you are creating with her-my best memories are with my “mid century mom” in the kitchen or flower garden 🙂
Eartha Kitschon October 28, 2015 at 2:32 pm
Come on with how much of a little Ruth that child is! 🙂 This cake is also a delight. Well done on the cat! And I’m with Alex on the chocolate border.
RetroRuthon October 29, 2015 at 1:46 pm
Thanks! I’m going to try! It is hard to get clear photos of her at this age – she is always moving around. 🙂
RetroRuthon October 29, 2015 at 1:47 pm
Thank you! 🙂 I can’t believe how fast she is growing!
RetroRuthon October 29, 2015 at 1:47 pm
Glad you enjoyed it!
RetroRuthon October 29, 2015 at 1:51 pm
Thank you, Keiko! I am going to see if she would like to try more things the future. She is finally at the stage were I can explain to her what new foods are and she actually understands me. She was very excited when I told her the cake would be flavored with oranges and chocolate together. 🙂
RetroRuthon October 29, 2015 at 1:59 pm
Thank you! 🙂 The chocolate border was an excellent idea. She pointed to the edge of the cake and said, “Choc-o-late here, pwease,” with a very serious expression on her face.
Anneon November 25, 2015 at 2:31 pm
My mom still has those same “cooky” cutters – I remember the box. At Halloween, she would cut our PB&J sandwiches with them. Thanks for the memory!
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