"We will not eat Fabric!"

So declared my children when I announced that dessert was Chocolate Tweed Cake, recipe compliments of the late, great James Beard. Need I tell you my response was something to the effect of "Oh, shut up and eat!"? Seriously, this cake was good - even for a non-chocolate food person like me - just don't tell them what gives it the "tweed" texture, or they'll bellow "Eeeewwww!!!!" and run away like crazy people.

CHOCOLATE TWEED CAKE

2/3 cup instant mashed potato flakes
1 cup boiling water
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1-3/4 cups unsifted flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1-1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup milk
2 ounces semi sweet chocolate, grated

Combine the potato flakes and boiling water; set aside to cool. Combine the dry ingredients and set aside. Cream the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy; beat in the eggs, one at a time. Gradually beat in the flour mixture, milk and reconstituted potato flakes; beat 2 minutes until well combined. Grate the chocolate on the grating side of a box grater, or cheat (as I did) and use the shredder disc for your food processor to take care of it. Stir the chocolate into the batter, and turn into a greased and floured 13x9 pan. Bake at 350F for about 50 minutes; cool and frost with buttercream frosting.
So, shut up and eat they did. And they all lived happily ever after, until they discovered that the earliest risers polished off the leftover cake in the morning, leaving none for the lazy crowd.

Tonight, we try another recipe from the chocolate cookbook; it will be our way of celebrating the end of Calvert School for this year! A cake report to follow on Friday!