Kids Cuisine

Do you know a little one who loves trains? When my husband was a child, he was fascinated by all things that rode the rails, and he’s never entirely grown out of that love. This year I found the perfect cake for the train lover in any family — a bundt pan that can make a 9 car train, complete with engine, tender, and caboose! The pan, available from Williams-Sonoma, is heavy weight and nonstick.

We were hosting a dinner this weekend that included a few young train lovers, so this was the perfect occasion to test out our new pan!

The pan came with a recipe for a golden vanilla cake. But we had a problem: trains are not golden brown! Clearly, we needed a much darker batter. The closer to black, the better! My mother-in-law was kind enough to pass along a recipe she found almost 20 years ago — Vulgar Cake, so named because it is extremely rich.

Vulgar Cake

Mix together:

• 1 box Devil’s Food Cake Mix
• 12 oz. chocolate chips or chunks
• 2 eggs
• 1 3/4 cup sour cream
• 1 small box instant chocolate pudding

This batter is extremely dense, with a texture almost like fudge. I was very grateful for our new Kitchenaid standing mixer.

Another great and crucial new product is the Pam spray with flour for baking. This stuff eliminates the greasing and flouring process. The Pam with flour works great at getting into all of the weird little crevices in the elaborate pan. Liberally spray Pam with flour into each car, and lightly coat the top surface of the pan as well.

Spoon the batter into the cars. Fill the cars completely and press each one down with your fingers to makes sure there is batter in all the crevices.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes. The cakes are ready if they bounce back quickly when you poke them in the center.

Let cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then carefully upend onto another wire rack. The cars should slide right out.

As you can see from the picture above, the batter will have risen a bit. Just use a very sharp knife to trim off the extras. Arrange the train cars in a row on a counter or serving tray.

We ate ours unfrosted, but they would look great with some black or dark brown icing, and they are great fun for kids to decorate. Best of all, each person gets their own car, so no fighting about who got the bigger piece!