Objective Proficiency p 36. Before You Bake Brooklyn's Legendary Cake, Heed A Warning. Extra Listening

Gap Fill. You will hear a radio report about about a famous dessert. You will hear the recording TWICE. For the questions below fill in the numbered gaps with a word or a short phrase according to what you hear.

Before You Bake Brooklyn's Legendary Cake, Heed a Warning

The report is part of series that usually concerns the stories behind (1)____________ food.

The woman says that Ebinger’s famous Blackout Cake was a(n) (2)____________ to chocolate and at the same time a big, fat pain in the (3)________

The cake in question is very rich and a big part of (4)____________/ ____________ for New Yorkers of a certain age.

Despite the difficulty in making the cake, it’s worth the (5)____________ .

At the height of its success, Ebinger’s had (6)____________ /____________  in Brooklyn.

The Blackout Cake was an Ebinger’s (7)____________ /____________ .

Brooklynites were nuts about this cake, and its following was (8)____________ .

It was thought that the recipe for the cake was lost because in 1972 Ebinger’s (9)____________ /____________ .

When the recipe was found again, the woman says she just had to make it for her      (10)____________ /____________ .

Making this cake means spending time (11)____________ /____________ and (12)____________ the whites.

The filling of the cake is essentially a chocolate (13)____________ in its (14)_________/_________. 
(15)____________ needs to be dissolved in water.
Then it needs more (16)_______________ cooking.

Making the frosting to cover the cake involves adding a tablespoon of butter and whisking, and the process has to be (17)____________ /____________ /____________ .

The cake recipe says it must be consumed within (18)____________ /____________ .

Ironically, while eating the Blackout Cake, the woman’s grandfather, holding his fork (19)__________, announces that what he really likes is (20)____________ .

The woman says that making the cake again was like having a(n) (21)____________ / ____________.

It is reported that making the Blackout Cake is perfect for someone with a(n) (22)____________ /____________ .

Key

 1.   no-fuss

 2.   ode

 3.  butt
pain in the butt: (also pain in the neck) a person or thing that is very annoying.



4. local lore

 5.   trauma

 6.   fifty-four bakeries

 7.   best seller

 8.   rabid

rabid: 1 (of a type of person) having very strong feelings about something and acting in an unacceptable way. E.g. rabid right-wing fanatics. The rabid tabloid press. 2 (of feelings or opinions) violent or extreme. E.g. rabid speculation.


 
 9.   went bankrupt

 10.   grandfather’s birthday

11.  separating eggs

12.  whipping
whip: to stir cream, etc. very quickly until it becomes stiff. E.g. whip something Serve the pie with whipped cream. Whip something up Whip the egg whites up into stiff peaks.

13.  pudding



14. own right
in your own right because of your personal qualifications or efforts, not because of your connection with somebody else. E.g. She sings with a rock band, but she's also a jazz musician in her own right. 



15. cornstarch
 cornstarch: Br. Eng. cornflour. Fine white flour made from corn ( maize ), used especially for making sauces thicker.



16. stovetop
stovetop: (Br Eng. hob)the top part of a cooker where food is cooked in pans; a similar surface that is built into a kitchen unit and is separate from the oven. E.g. stovetop cooking.

 17.  repeated twelve times

whisk something: to mix liquids, eggs, etc. into a stiff light mass, using a fork or special tool. Beat. E.g. Whisk the egg whites until stiff.



18.  twenty-four hours

19.  aloft
aloft: high in the air. E.g. She held the glass aloft.


20. lemon

21.  second child

22.  sadistic streak
streak: a part of a person's character, especially an unpleasant part. E.g. a ruthless/ vicious/ mean streak. A streak of cruelty.
Vicious: /ˈvɪʃəs/ violent and cruel. E.g. a vicious attack. A vicious criminal. She has a vicious temper. 

Transcript:
ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:
Our Found Recipes series is usually about no-fuss food and the stories behind them. Not today.
KATIE WORKMAN: Today, we're going to talk about Ebinger's Blackout Cake. This cake is an ode to chocolate: chocolate cake, chocolate filling, chocolate frosting...
SIEGEL: And this dessert, with those three separate elements: cake, filling, frosting, is...
WORKMAN: Oh, my God. It's a big, fat pain in the butt.
SIEGEL: That's Katie Workman, creator of the Mom 100 blog and cookbook. She says making Ebinger's Blackout Cake has left her with PTCS.
WORKMAN: Post-traumatic cake syndrome.
SIEGEL: But Workman says the cake is so rich and such a part of local lore for New Yorkers of a certain age that it's worth the trauma. First, the back story.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG)
UNIDENTIFIED SINGER: Brooklyn boogie...
SIEGEL: Ebinger's opened in 1898 and grew to 54 bakeries in Brooklyn. If you lived in the borough, you lived near an Ebinger's, and their Blackout Cake was a best seller.
WORKMAN: The following of this cake was rabid. Brooklynites were nuts about it.
SIEGEL: But in 1972, Ebinger's Bakery went bankrupt, which meant no more blackout cake. Well, then, 20 years later, a recipe surfaced in The New York Cookbook. And that's where Katie Workman's post-traumatic cake syndrome begins.
WORKMAN: I thought, I have to make this for my grandfather's birthday. He was in his 80s. He had grown up in Brooklyn, and I knew that he would remember this cake. So I get started. It's not a simple cake. It involves separating eggs. It involves whipping egg whites. It involves melting chocolate, creaming, folding. Then you get to the filling. You're essentially making a chocolate pudding in its own right - dissolving cornstarch (cornflour) in water, whisking, thickening, refrigeration. Then the frosting. More stovetop (hob) cooking, tablespoon of butter, whisk. Tablespoon of butter, whisk. Tablespoon of butter, whisk. Repeat 12 times.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
WORKMAN: You assemble the cake. Layer of cake, top with filling. Layer of cake, top with filling. Layer of cake, top with filling. Then you frost it. Now, the kicker. It must be consumed within 24 hours, so says the recipe. So I carefully bring it to my grandfather's apartment in Great Neck, Long Island, holding it on my lap, my dad's driving the car. We have dinner. I light the candles, present the cake, and I'm so excited, I'm explaining this is the Ebinger's Blackout Cake of his youth. This is the cake. This is the recipe. I have made this for you, Grandpa. So how do you like the cake?
Do you know what I like, he asked, holding his fork aloft - he always had something aloft. It was a fork or a finger, there was always something aloft. What, I said, wondering would he single out the flavor, the texture, the delicate layering of the different components? Lemon, he said. Really? You like lemon, old man? I'll give you a lemon.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
WORKMAN: So I'm thinking about this cake and this memory, which was over 20 years ago, I decided to go back and make the cake again, to see if it really was as big a pain as I remembered. And you know what? It was. It was just as big of a pain, kind of like having a second child. Doesn't hurt any less, but you know what you're getting yourself into.
SIEGEL: That's Katie Workman. She was talking about Ebinger's Blackout Cake. She says it is perfect to make for someone with a sadistic streak who really loves chocolate. You can find that recipe on the Found Recipe page at npr.org.






kicker: (North American English, informal) a surprising end to a series of events.  A disadvantageous point or circumstance, usu. concealed or unnoticed.