A Few of Our Favorite (Fast) Foods

Around 1750 the Earl of Sandwich put some meat between two slices of bread and gave fast food a good name. It was several hundred years before American ingenuity came along to ruin its reputation.

But fast food doesn’t have to mean a hapless piece of meat or produce that’s been fried to a frazzle, wrapped in layers of paper and plastic and sold for the cheapest possible price. Fast food can be made from scratch, served with pride and consumed with pleasure. The following recipes, a few of our favorites, prove the point.

Even if you’re not a very good cook, after you master a couple of easy cakes people will think you are.

A Real Cakewalk

This cake is about as easy as a cake can be. You can mix the batter right in the pan that you melt the chocolate in, so there’s no bowl to wash. The cake needs no frosting. Best of all, it tastes completely wonderful. It’s dark and dense with a sophisticated flavor that no mix ever had.

UNION HOTEL MUD CAKE

(From the Fanny Farmer Baking Book)

4 (1-ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate

6 tablespoons butter

3/4 cup strong brewed coffee

2 tablespoons bourbon

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup cake flour

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon salt

Unsweetened whipped cream or vanilla ice cream

Combine chocolate, butter and coffee in heavy saucepan. Heat over very low heat until chocolate melts, stirring until smooth and blended. Cool 10 minutes. Beat in bourbon, eggs and vanilla.

Sift cake flour with sugar, baking soda and salt. Add to chocolate mixture, beating until smooth. Pour into greased and floured 8x4-inch loaf pan. Bake at 275 degrees 45 to 55 minutes. Cool in pan 15 minutes, then turn out onto rack to cool completely.

Serve with unsweetened whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. Makes about 8 servings.