Sour Milk Chocolate Cake

So lately, because of this super-annoying heat wave here on the East Coast, we've been getting a lot of already-spoiled milk from the store.
Sour milk = yuck. There's no uses for it, right?
Wrong. A few days ago, we got another already-bad carton. It was too late to return it and wouldn't fit in the fridge. My uncle was visiting and he found this recipe for sour-milk chocolate cake. He tweaked it to make it healthier (but don't let that sway you). I have to say, its superb. It's not sweet, but when you pair it with the chocolate buttercream it is rather amazing.

Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups hot water
• 1 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder 
• 1 cup sour milk (or one cup milk + 1 tablespoon vinegar)

 

• 1 cup olive oil 
• 1 cup (packed) dark brown sugar 
• 3 large eggs 
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

 

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 1/3 cups all purpose flour 
• 1/2 cup wheat germ 
• 2 teaspoons baking powder 
• 1 teaspoon baking soda 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Butter a 13” by 9” cake pan, (or three 8-inch-diameter cake pans with 1 1/2-inch-high sides). Dust pans with flour; tap out excess.  Preheat oven to 325°F.

2. Whisk hot water, cocoa powder, and sour milk in medium bowl until smooth.

3.Cream olive oil and sugar in a (separate) large bowl until smooth. Add eggs and beat until smooth. Mix in vanilla.

4.Mix next six dry ingredients into another medium bowl, then add dry mixture into the large bowl of oil, sugar and eggs in 3 additions alternately with cocoa mixture in 2 additions, beginning and ending with flour mixture and beating just until incorporated. 

A.K.A. Mix last 6 ingredients. Add the following to the oil/sugar/egg mix: 1/3 of the dry mix, then 1/2 of the cocoa/sour milk/water mix, then 1/3 of the dry mix, then the last of the cocoa mix, then the last of the dry mix.

Pour batter into pan and bake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, 50 to 55 minutes. 

Frosting:

Combine (either with a food processor or--if you don't mind some teensy lumps--a spoon)

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• ¾ cup cocoa
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons milk mixed with 2 tablespoons liquid coffee

You can omit the coffee and just add 2 more tablespoons of milk. I also used 1/2 of the powdered sugar and 1/2 butter--it just depends on how much frosting you like on your cake.

Delicious :)

Crepes!

I love crepes. They're a thinner and more versatile (for lack of a better word) version of pancakes. Super delicious for brunch.
The Joy of Cooking seems to have the best recipe. They say it makes 12, but if you make fill-the-pan crepes (like me) you'll probably get 6-8 out of each batch:

1. Combine:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup lukewarm water
• 4 large eggs
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted. (Personally, I thought that this much butter made them taste odd--I use 1-2 tablespoons)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt.
• Optional: add 3 tablespoons sugar if you want sweeter crepes.

2. Cover with plastic wrap and let it sit for about 30 minutes--but you can also refrigerate for up to 2 days.
3. Cook over medium heat in a flat pan and serve...here are my suggestions:

• Nutella and powdered sugar.
• Roll it up with fruit/jam and Greek yogurt inside (my preference is raspberries, homemade/farmer's market raspberry jam and plain Fage yogurt)
• Cinnamon and sugar.
• Maple syrup. Duh.
• Peanut-butter and bananas (and fluff)
• Make scrambled eggs and bacon and roll up like a burrito. (It's like a 3-in-one combo breakfast!)
• Ice cream!