Maida Heatter Cake Recipes

MAIDA HEATTER'S BUDAPEST COFFEE CAKE

Steps:

• In a small bowl, mix together all of the ingredients. Set aside.
• Preheat the oven to 350° F and butter a 10-inch Bundt pan.
• Into a large bowl, sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Using a paddle attachment of a stand mixer, cream the butter. Add 2 teaspoons of the vanilla and the sugar and beat on medium speed for a minute or two.
• Add eggs, one at a time, beating each until just incorporated. Scrape down sides of bowl, as necessary, to keep mixture smooth. Beat at high speed until mixture is light and creamy, about 1 minute.
• Turn mixer to low speed. Add dry ingredients in three additions and sour cream in two additions, beating only until smooth after each addition.
• Spread a thin layer of batter in bottom of prepared pan. Sometimes it's easier to use a small spoon to drop some batter into pan, and then to smooth it together. Top with 1/3 of nut mixture. Repeat until you have 4 layers of batter into pan and smooth it together. Top layer will be batter.
• Bake 50 to 60 minutes, or until cake tester inserted in center of cake comes clean. Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes, then turn out and re-invert on a rack.
• Combine confectioners' sugar, hot milk, and remaining 1 teaspoon vanilla extract in a small bowl. Mix well, Mixture should have the consistency of a thick cream sauce. Place a sheet of wax paper underneath a cooling rack. Pour glaze over cake, letting it run down the sides, while still hot. When glaze is set, transfer cake to a serving plate.
• Serve cake warm or at room temperature.

MAIDA HEATTER'S 86-PROOF CHOCOLATE CAKE

Steps:

• Adjust rack one-third up from bottom of the oven and preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter and dust the inside of a 9-inch bundt pan (called a minibundt pan), or any other fancy tube pan with a 10-cup capacity, with fine dry breadcrumbs. Invert the pan over a piece of paper and tap lightly to shake out excess crumbs. Set aside.
• Place the chocolate in the top of a small double boiler over hot water on low heat. Cover and cook only until melted; then remove the top of the double boiler and set it aside, uncovered, to cool slightly. (You can also melt the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl, just keep a close eye on it.)
• Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt and set aside.
• In a two-cup measuring cup dissolve the coffee in a little boiling water. Add cold water to the 1 1/2 cup line. Add the bourbon. Set aside.
• Cream the butter in the large bowl of an electric mixer. Add the vanilla and sugar and beat to mix well. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until smooth after each addition. Add the chocolate and beat until smooth.
• Then, on low speed, alternately add the sifted dry ingredients in three additions with the liquids in two additions, adding the liquids very gradually to avoid splashing and scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula after each addition. Be sure to beat until smooth after each addition, especially after the last. It will be a thin mixture.
• Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Rotate the pan a bit briskly, first in one direction, then in the other, to level the top. In a minibundt pan the batter will almost reach the top of the pan, but it will not run over and you will have a beautifully high cake.
• Bake for one hour and 10 to 15 minutes. Test by inserting a cake tester in the middle of the cake and bake only until the tester comes out clean and dry.
• Cool in the pan for about 15 minutes. Then cover with a rack and invert. Remove the pan, sprinkle the cake with a little optional bourbon, and leave the cake upside down on a rack to cool. Before serving, if you wish, sprinkle the top with confectioners' sugar through a fine strainer.

MAIDA HEATTER'S EAST 62ND STREET LEMON CAKE

Steps:

• Adjust oven rack 1/3 from bottom of oven. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter 9x3-1/2-inch tube pan and dust it lightly with fine, dry bread crumbs.
• Sift flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside. In large bowl of electric mixer cream the butter. Add the sugar and beat for 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in the eggs individually, scraping the bowl as necessary with a rubber spatula to keep mixture smooth. On lowest speed alternately add the dry ingredients in three additions and the milk in two additions, scraping the bowl with the rubber spatula as necessary and beating only until smooth after each addition. Stir in lemon rind. Turn the batter into prepared pan. Level top by rotating pan briskly back and forth.
• Bake for 1 hour and 10 to 15 minutes until a cake tester comes out dry.
• Let cake stand in pan for about 3 minutes and then cover with a rack and invert. Remove pan, leaving the cake upside down. Place over a large piece of aluminum foil or waxed paper and prepare glaze.
• The glaze must be used immediately after it is mixed.
• Stir the lemon juice and sugar together and brush all over the hot cake until absorbed.
• Let cake cool completely. Use two wide metal pancake turners or a cookie sheet to transfer it to a cake plate.
• Do not cut for at least several hours.

EAST 62ND STREET LEMON CAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 325 degrees. Butter a 9‐inch tube pan. Coat it with the bread crumbs.
• Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.
• Cream the butter and sugar together. Beat in the eggs one at a time.
• Fold in the dry ingredients alternately with the milk. Stir in the lemon zest. Pour the batter into the pan and smooth the top of the batter. Bake 1¼ hours, or until the cake tests done.
• While the cake bakes, make the glaze. Warm the juice and sugar in a small saucepan over medium-low heat until all of the sugar is dissolved. Cover and remove from heat.
• When the cake is done, immediately unmold the cake onto a cake rack and apply the glaze with a pastry brush to the top and sides of the cake until it is all absorbed.