Let them eat cicada cake
Brian DeNeal
German chocolate cicada cake anyone? How about some cicada cheese wontons?
Since we have a three-day weekend coming up and since many of our yards are filled with singing cicadas this is the perfect weekend to try out some cicada recipes, like this one:
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German Chocolate Cicada Cake
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<u>Ingredients:</u>
1 4-oz package German sweet cooking chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/3 C water
1-2/3 C all-purpose flour (or 1 cup flour and 2/3 cups finely ground dry cicadas)
50 Female cicadas (blanched)
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ tsp salt
½ C butter or margarine
1 C sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3 egg yolks
2/3 C buttermilk
3 stiff beaten egg whites
coconut-pecan frosting (homemade or from the grocery)
<u>Assembly:</u>
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Grease and lightly flour two 8 × 1½ in round baking pans, and set aside.</li>
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In a small saucepan combine the chocolate and water, cook and stir until chocolate melts, then cool.</li>
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Stir together the flour, baking soda, and salt.</li>
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In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter or margarine on medium speed of an electric mixer for about 30 seconds.</li>
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Add the sugar and vanilla and beat until fluffy.</li>
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Add the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well on medium speed, then beat in the chocolate mixture.</li>
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Add the dry ingredients and buttermilk alternately to beaten mixture, beating after each addition.</li>
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Fold in the beaten egg whites.</li>
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Turn cake batter into prepared pans.</li>
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Bake in a 350° F oven for 30-35 minutes or until the cake tests done.</li>
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Place the cake layers on wire racks and cool for 10 min.</li>
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Remove the cake from the pans and cool thoroughly.</li>
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Fill and frost top with coconut pecan frosting.</li>
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After the frosting is on, line up female cicadas in a circle around the bottom base as well as the top the cake for that elegant decoration that makes this cake delicious.
Makes about 12 servings.</li>
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<font size="2"><i>- Steven Hogel</i></font></td>
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This recipe and more come from the cicada recipe Web site of the University of Cincinnati Clermont College Biology department at http://biology.clc.uc.edu/steincarter/recipes.htm
There are recipes for such exotic dishes as cicada-portobello quiche, cicada sauerbraten with spatzle, cicada cheese wontons and cicada granola chews.
Bon appetit!