Hoax Cake
I’m not superstitious because it might give me bad luck in the future. I’m not keen on sourdough cakes. But a neighbor of mine came to my house last week and gave me a glass with a swett dough and a piece of paper with some instructions to prepare the Cake of the Discalced Carmelites in Seville.
They say this is a very old way to make a cake. The friend that gives you the glass with the sourdough desires you luck and health. You need 10 days to prepare it. You don’t have to use any machine to mix it. Just sourdough and a wooden spoon. You should begin to prepare it on thursday and you should finish it next week on saturday.
Thursday: Put the sourdough into a big bowl and add a cup of sugar and a cup of flour. Do not mix. Cover.
Friday: Mix all the ingredients with a wooden spoon. Cover.
Saturday, Sunday and Monday: Don’t do anything.
Tuesday. Add a cup of sugar, a cup of milk and a cup of flour. Don not mix. Cover.
Wednesday: Mix with a wooden spoon. Cover.
Thursday and Friday: Don’t do anything.
Saturday: Remove 3 cups of sourdough. You will give this 3 cups to 3 friends you wish them health and luck.
Mix the remaining dough with:
- 2 cups of flour
- 1 cup of sugar
- 1 cup of vegetable oil
- 1 cup of milk
- 1 cup of chopped nuts, almonds or hazelnuts
- 1 cup of raisins
- 15 gr of baking powder
- 1 shredded apple
- Pinch of salt
- Cinnamon powder
- 2 eggs
- Orange zest
Mix all the ingredients with a wooden spoon, put it in a mold and bake it 40-45 minutes at 180C (356F).
Have you cut it yet? How is the taste? I'm intrigued to the point where, if I think I have 7 days free (in a row), I just might try it. Thanks!
I'll taste it tomorrow at breakfast time. I've made some changes. I didn't add shredded apples, I added a chopped pear. I didn't add nuts, I added hazelnuts. I did'nt add cinnamon, I added a teaspoon of Speculoos spice mix.
I'll show you the crumb.
Have a nice day.
I have sliced it today in the morning. The taste is similar to any king of sponge cake, but in the case sourdough gives a little bit more of structure to the crumb.
What kind of confection are you trying to achieve here? Because this is a dreadful recipe, way too much sugar and oil and no technique at all. This seems to be basically a chain letter that has been circulating in Spanish and now seems to be making the jump to English, like a virus.
After subtracting the 3 cups of starter given away, here's the baker's percentage I get. It doesn't look too far out of line from other cakes I've seen.
Hoax Cake
Baker's Percent
Pct...........Vol - Item - Grams
100 %.....3 cups of flour (375 g)
29.3........1/2 cup sourdough (110 g)
26.6........2 eggs (100 g)
97.3........1 1/2 cups milk (365 g)
106.6......2 cups of sugar (400 g)
53.3........1 cup of vegetable oil (200 g)
26.6........1 cup of chopped nuts, almonds or hazelnuts (100 g)
40...........1 cup of raisins (150 g)
4.............15 gr of baking powder
26.6........1 shredded apple (100? g)
0.26........Pinch of salt (1? g)
0.26........Cinnamon powder (1? g)
1.3..........Orange zest (5? g)
That's why I started by asking what kind of confection you're trying to achieve, because it's pointless to discuss before specifying that. "Cake" means a lot of different things to different people in different parts of the world.
Parts of this recipe look like a rich yeasted sourdough recipe, something like a stollen and found throughout Europe over centuries. But in that case there is no need for the baking powder and there's no excuse for all that oil. If the aim is a "sponge cake," you don't need the sourdough and you do need to at least beat the eggs ... and there's even less reason for the oil.
This monstrosity is much-copied on the web en Castellano, as a search for "Bizcocho de las Carmelitas Descalzas de Sevilla" will show. You've just translated it, right?
This Hoax Cake is a variation of the Amish Friendship Cake. But there's a mistake in the directions. The three cups of starter are given to the three people you dislike the most.
Yeah! This a chain letter. I've done it because it's funny, but this is not the kind of cake I usually make. I just followed the instructions in the paper that was given to me by a friend of mine.
I'm not keen on adding sourdough to cakes, because this is not bread and it doesn't have to ferment. But the recipe is like this, and you got to do it well if you want to have luck and health. :-)
Abel, your cake looks yummy. It looks very similar to Amish friendship bread, which is really more like a cake than bread too. I searched to see if I could start one with sourdough rather than yeast and stumbled upon this old post.
Colin I don’t know what bit you to leave such nasty comments but I hope that the past few years have allowed your disposition to improve. If not, well, I feel sorry for those around you.