Eric: When I was a kid, my mom got this recipe from our neighbor, and I distinctly remember the moment when we went over to the neighbor's house for some reason; I was a little kid, and the neighbor showed my mom this recipe for Screwball Cake, which I had never heard of. But this was when we lived in Wisconsin. So it was a really simple cake, and we made it, and it was like fun, and it just tasted good, and it was like chocolate and moist, and it will hold its moisture for a week, if you want it to.
It's not a culinary cake by any means, but I think kids -- it's a lot of fun for kids to make, and it's still a lot of fun for me to make. So this is the perfect thing to throw together, and it will last a while, or you can eat it all at one sitting, whatever you want.
But anyway, it's just one of these childhood memories for me. So I asked my mom to send me the recipe, and she did. And then I looked on the Internet and there is a bazillion of almost the same recipe out there.
So watch, watch and learn, this will be a lot of fun.
So this is really simple, you have just got to put together flour and stuff in a bowl, alright? You have to measure when you are baking. It says to sift everything together. I don't have a sifter, so we are going to use a screen thing instead. I forgot that we didn't have any flour, so I had to raid the neighbor's flour; so John and Alice Ann, thank you for the flour
Back in there. Okay. So you just -- I just take this to sift this kind of thing, I just move it around. Well, if you don't have a sifter, this is what you have got to do. There are some people that just miss sifting, but I am doing what the instructions tell me.
Two cups of sugar. See, that works well. And then half a cup of cocoa. See, look at that, that works just fine. A teaspoon of salt, two teaspoon of baking soda.
Female Speaker: Why is it called Screwball?
Eric: I have no idea. I don't know, maybe Christopher Kimball at Cook's Magazine could investigate this for us and report back. We have the master recipe for Screwball Cake.
Okay. So this just goes in here, and you make three holes. One.
Female Speaker: That's weird.
Eric: Two. It is really weird, but it's a fun cake. I think kids will like this, they get to make holes.
Female Speaker: Kids?
Eric: This is a good recipe to make with your kids.
Two thirds of a cup of oil. Am I doing this right? Yeah.
Female Speaker: You are down a hole.
Eric: Well, what can you do? Well, it's not the end of the world.
It did go in the other two holes, so that's fine. I mean, it's an imperfect cake, but it's a lot a fun. Two tablespoons of vinegar! 1. 2. Two cups of boiling water. Take this, you just take this, and you pour it in
Female Speaker: You mix that up?
Eric: And you mix it altogether. Oh, it smells good. I think a spatula is better than a fork; my favorite tool, the fork. We are just going to mix it, and then we throw it in the oven.
Female Speaker: Is there frosting?
Eric: You can put frosting on it, but I am not a big fan of frosting on Screwball Cake, because it's a very rich cake. So what I would suggest is serving it with some ice cream
Female Speaker: This must be even?
Eric: Well, relative. I mean, even is a relative term. It will settle itself out, gravity does that thing. So it looks good. Looks like when you were kid, and you could lick the egg beaters when your mom was done
Alright. Now, we wait. How is that? How is that?
So this is not exactly how my child -- kind of looking through the fuzzy looking glass of childhood memories. But this isn't exactly what I remember the Screwball Cake being. I think ours had more water in it. It was more kind of a moisture looking cake, but this looks very interesting here.
Bill is banging on the door. It smells good. It's kind of hot. It's good. It's good chocolate cake.
Bill: I am here just in time to see what Eric has created. I should be the test subject. Okay. Let me have a bite, and I will give you bite.
Female Speaker: You be the Screwball.
Bill: Yeah.
Eric: You are the guy with that hat.
Bill: I will give you my edge.
Eric: That's what we are having for dessert tonight.
Bill: I feel like I am cheating. Very Good.
Eric: It's good. When I was a kid we made the Screwball Cake, and when I found the recipe on the Internet. This isn't exactly what we ate, but this is still pretty good. It's really good with a glass of milk
Bill: Well, you have to bring some milk then.
Eric: Okay. So that's our Screwball recipe. Thank you for watching
Bill: It's squary.
Eric: Email us your comments, and visit gardenfork.tv for the recipe information. Have a good day.
Bill: Hey!
Female Speaker: Hey!
Bill: What do you think Henry, you have tasted it?
Eric: You don't feed dogs chocolate.
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