In the Service of the Doughboy

How do you give away a million dollars?

First, you pray.

“I don’t care if you’re religious or not,” said New Orleans restaurateur Leah Chase, one of 12 judges who would determine the million-dollar grand prize winner of the Pillsbury Bake-Off, “With a job this important, we should ask for guidance.”

And so, God blessed the Pillsbury Doughboy--or at least the all-female crew of journalists and food experts from around the country who had gathered under heavy security in a Dallas hotel banquet room to lend credibility to the food world’s biggest P.R. event.

The next day, Pillsbury CEO Paul Walsh, otherwise known to his colleagues as doughboy-in-chief, would bless the first man to win the Pillsbury Bake-Off, Kurt Wait, with a lottery-sized purse for baking a cake. Never before would so much money be given away in an amateur cooking contest.

But on that Monday a week and a half ago, those of us in judging room had no idea who had cooked the cutely named inventions that were solemnly placed on doilies before us. Photographers were the only people from the outside world allowed into the room, and even bathroom visits were monitored by Pillsbury. “I feel like I’m back in school,” one judge said.

When the last entry was brought into the room just before the 2 p.m. deadline, we had no idea that Greta Eberhardt from San Pedro had been rushed to the emergency room after slicing the tip of a finger and that she barely made it back in time to finish her Fiesta Chicken Salad. Those of us judging the 30 Minute Main Dish category figured that her timing was strategy--a way to impress the judges. It almost worked--she won $2,000.

At the end of the afternoon, after our unanimous decision for the grand prize was in--it’s like a jury trial; there can be no holdouts--Pillsbury officials told us we had made Bake-Off history.

“It’s a man!” one of the judges screamed.

Of course, if you were a judge with a say in the outcome, what everyone wanted to know the next day was this: Is a chocolate cake made by a single dad from Redwood City worth a million bucks?

Well, yes.

Even before the last Bake-Off entry was carried into the judging room, before Curt Wait’s Macadamia Fudge Torte was chosen as a finalist for the grand prize, the three food editors in charge of judging the dessert category had come up with the phrase that would be used nationwide the next day to describe Wait’s dessert: “It’s the Tunnel of Fudge cake of the ‘90s.”

The buzz was on. As the judges rooted for dishes in their assigned categories, we knew that there was a chocolate monster in Special Occasion Desserts to beat.

Tunnel of Fudge, a chocolate bundt cake with a soft fudge center, is Pillsbury’s most famous Bake-Off dessert, a $5,000 runner-up for the grand prize (then just $25,000) in the 1966 contest. It’s the cake that sold a million bundt cake pans and provided Pillsbury with a new way to market cake mix.

Wait’s cake should give Pillsbury another boost. Some years the Bake-Off winner is merely a good recipe, nicely executed but quickly forgotten. The talk in the judges room was that Macadamia Fudge Torte would become what the company likes to call “a Pillsbury classic.”

Not only did the cake taste good, but the technique was also intriguing. To make his cake, Wait mixes part of the batter with pureed pears--a trick he learned from reading low-fat cake recipes in food magazines--to form the base of the cake. Next, he drops spoonfuls of melted chocolate chips over the batter to form pockets of filling. Then he mixes the rest of the batter with chopped macadamia nuts to form a crunchy streusel-like topping.

“Hey,” said one of the judges, thinking like a product development person, “Pillsbury can package the chocolate streusel topping and have a new cake mix!”

The Pillsbury contest coordinators in the room tried to look busy and hide their smiles of pleasure.

I have to admit that when I tried a bite of The Times Test Kitchen’s version of the million-dollar cake last week I was disappointed. It didn’t have the moisture of the cake that so impressed me in Dallas, and it didn’t look right either. Interestingly, the recipe from Pillsbury is slightly different than the one Wait submitted for the contest and made at the Bake-Off. Home economists--and some judges--felt that the cake was too rich the way it was made originally. Their solution was to cut the filling in half. Our suggestion is to try the Pillsbury recipe as is, then if you want to push the chocolate envelope, double the filling next time you make it.

MACADAMIA FUDGE TORTE

FILLING

1/3 cup low-fat sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated)

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

In small saucepan, cook condensed milk and chocolate chips over medium-low heat until chocolate is melted, stirring occasionally.

CAKE

1 package Pillsbury Moist Supreme Devil’s Food Cake Mix (or pudding-included devil’s food cake mix)

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/3 cup oil

1 (16-ounce) can sliced pears in light syrup, drained

2 eggs

1/3 cup chopped macadamia nuts or pecans

2 teaspoons water

In large bowl, combine cake mix, cinnamon and oil; blend at low speed until crumbly, 20 to 30 seconds. Puree pears in blender or food processor until smooth.

In large bowl, combine 2 1/2 cups cake mix mixture, pureed pears and eggs; beat at low speed until moistened. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed. Spread batter evenly in 9- or 10-inch springform pan that has been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Drop filling by spoonfuls over batter. Stir nuts and water into remaining cake mix mixture. Sprinkle over filling.

Bake at 350 degrees until top springs back when touched lightly in center, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool 10 minutes. Remove sides of pan. Cool 1 1/2 hours or until completely cooled.

SAUCE

1 (17-ounce) jar butterscotch caramel fudge ice cream topping

1/3 cup milk

Vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt, optional

Chocolate curls, optional

In small saucepan, cook ice cream topping and milk over medium-low heat until well blended, 3 to 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. To serve, spoon 2 tablespoons warm sauce onto each serving plate; top with wedge of torte. If desired, serve with vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt and garnish with chocolate curls.

Makes 12 servings.

Each serving contains about:

460 calories; 490 mg sodium; 35 mg cholesterol; 16 grams fat; 73 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams protein; 3 grams fiber.