Cakes
Applesauce Cake
Applesauce, nuts n’ spice make this cake a real taste treat for all the family. It has that “let’s eat” aroma and “stay-fresh” quality. You’ll find however, this cake won’t last long enough to worry about its freshness. For the glamorous flavor cap on this Applesauce Cake use Browned Butter Frosting. (Frosting recipe follows at end of Applesauce Cake recipe - Editor)
3 cups sifted enriched flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon allspice
1 cup shortening
1¾ cups brown sugar
4 eggs
1 cup thick unsweetened applesauce
¾ cup milk
½ cup chopped citron, if desired
1 cup chopped nuts
Sift together flour, baking powder, soda, salt and spices. Cream together shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and beat thoroughly. Stir in applesauce. Add flour mixture to creamed mixture alternately with milk, mixing well after each addition. Fold in citron and nuts. Pour into 2 greased paper-lined 9-inch layer pans. Bake in moderate oven (350 degrees) about 45 minutes. When cool, frost with Browned Butter Frosting. Makes two 9-inch layers.
Browned Butter Frosting
¼ cup butter or margarine
4 cups sifted confectioners sugar (about)
1 egg
3 tablespoons cream
dash salt
Brown butter or margarine in heavy saucepan. Stir in 2 cups confectioners sugar. Add egg, cream and salt and mix thoroughly. Add enough more sugar to make spreading consistency. Beat until light. Spread on cake. Makes enough frosting for 9-inch layer cake.
Old-Fashioned Sour Cream Spice Cake
If you know how special a spice-flavored dish can be, you’ll be eager to try this light-as-a-feather Sour Cream Spice Cake. (Recipe for Butter Frosting follows at end of recipe for Sour Cream Spice Cake- Editor)
1 cup sour cream
¼ teaspoon soda
1 package instant yellow cake mix
½ cup water
2 eggs, unbeaten
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon allspice
¼ teaspoon cloves
Combine sour cream and soda, blend, and set aside. Then empty cake mix into bowl. Add water, eggs, spices and sour cream mixture. Beat 3 minutes until smooth and creamy. Pour batter into two round 9-inch layer pans, which have been lined on bottoms with paper. Bake in moderate oven (350 degrees) 30 to 35 minutes. Cool. Frost with Butter Frosting.
Butter Frosting
½ cup butter or margarine
dash of salt
3½ cups (1 pound) sifted confectioners sugar
5 tablespoons milk (about)
1 teaspoon vanilla
Cream butter with salt; then add part of sugar gradually, blending after each addition. Add remaining sugar, alternately with milk, until of right consistency to spread, beating vigorously after each addition until smooth and creamy. Add vanilla and blend.
Campaign Molasses Cake
This moist, rich Campaign Molasses Cake is a duplicate of the ones the soldiers stationed near Washington, D.C. during the Civil War were served by a patriotic baker. It’s safe to assume that many wives and sweethearts learned to bake similar molasses cakes when their men returned after the war.
5½ cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ginger
4 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon cloves
1 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
2 cups molasses
4 eggs
2 cups hot water
Mix and sift flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon and cloves. Cream shortening and sugar. Blend in molasses. Stir in ½ cup flour mixture; beat in eggs. Add hot water alternately with remaining flour mixture. Turn into greased and waxed paper lined pan (8 x 12 x 2-inches). Bake in moderate oven, 350 degrees, 50 to 60 minutes. Cool. Cut into squares.
Sunshine Cake
¾ cup butter or margarine
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon grated Florida orange rind
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs
1 cup orange marmalade
½ cup raisins
3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1½ teaspoons soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
Cream together butter, sugar, Florida orange rind and vanilla until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in marmalade and raisins. Sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Add to first mixture alternately with buttermilk. Turn batter into a greased and lined 9-inch tube pan. Bake in a moderate oven (350 degrees) 1 hour. Cool cake in pan for 10 minutes; remove from pan. Yields 12 servings.
Raisin Honey Fruit Cake
As the key to fruit cake success is in ripening, allow 6 weeks or longer for the cake to age. Actually, it’s a boon and a blessing that fruit cakes improve upon aging. This way, they can be made with care when there’s more time to devote to the project.
A flavorful way to age fruit cakes is to sprinkle brandy or rum over the cooled cake before it is wrapped in aluminum foil, plastic or Saran wrap for storing. Allocate one of your coolest, driest hiding places for mellowing your raisin fruit cake treasury until it’s ready for the first fragrant slicing.
1 (15-oz.) package dark seedless raisins
1 (15-oz.) package golden seedless raisins
2 cups diced candied orange peel
1 cup diced citron
1 cup diced candied pineapple
1 cup halved candied cherries
1 cup chopped almonds or walnuts
1½ cups honey
1 cup soft shortening (half butter)
2 teaspoons grated orange peel
2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
6 eggs
2½ cups sifted flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Combine fruits and nuts. Beat honey, shortening and grated orange and lemon peels together until creamy. Beat in well beaten eggs. Re-sift flour with baking powder, salt and spices. Add to honey mixture. Blend in fruit mixture until well distributed. Spoon batter into 2 well greased and floured 6½-cup ring molds. bake in slow oven (300 degrees) with shallow pan of hot water on bottom oven, about 2 hours or until cakes test done. Let cakes stand in pan about 1 hour before turning out on wire rack to cool.
Pineapple Cheese Cake
For the hostess who likes to get her desert done early, this refrigerated pineapple cheese cake doesn’t even require baking. Some of the canned pineapple syrup lends a piquant flavor to the creamy cottage cheese custard filling.
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons sugar
¼ cup softened butter or margarine
1 (1 lb. 4½-oz.) can pineapple slices
2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
2 eggs
½ cup milk
1 cup sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 cups creamed cottage cheese
1 cup whipping cream
Thoroughly blend together graham cracker crumbs, 2 tablespoons sugar and butter. Firmly press onto bottom of a deep 9-inch cake pan. Reserve a few crumbs for top of cake. Drain pineapple, reserving ½ cup syrup. Stand pineapple slices around sides of pan. Soften gelatin in reserve syrup. Separate eggs. Beat yolks and stir in milk, sugar and salt. Cook over hot water, stirring constantly until thickened. Add lemon peel, softened gelatin and lemon juice; stir until gelatin is dissolved. Chill to consistency of unbeaten egg white. Press cottage cheese through sieve and blend into gelatin. Refrigerate, stirring occasionally, until mixture mounds slightly when dropped from spoon. Beat egg whites stiff; whip cream. Fold egg whites and cream into gelatin mixture. Refrigerate until firm. Makes 1 (9-inch) cheese cake.
Cherry Valentine Coffeecake
What could be a nicer way of saying “Happy Valentine’s Day” to your family than by serving a bright Cherry valentine Coffeecake? This yeast coffeecake with its topping of cinnamon-spiced cherry pie filling will start this special day in the sweetest way possible.
1 package yeast, compressed or dry
¼ cup water (lukewarm for compressed yeast, warm for dry)
1 cup milk
½ cup shortening or oil
¼ cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups enriched flour (about)
1 egg, beaten
1 can (1 lb.) cherry pie filling
½ teaspoon cinnamon
Dissolve yeast in water. Heat milk until almost simmering. Into large mixing bowl measure shortening or oil, sugar and salt. Stir in milk until shortening melts and sugar dissolves. Cool to lukewarm. Stir in about 1½ cups flour and beat until smooth, about 1 minute by electric mixer or 150 strokes by hand. Beat in yeast and egg. Stir in enough more flour to make a stiff batter. Beat until batter is smooth and elastic, about 1 minute on electric mixer or 150 strokes by hand. Cover and let rise in warm place (80 to 85º). until light and bubbly, about 1 hour. Meanwhile, you grease 2 9-inch heart-shaped pans or two 9-inch round pans. Stir batter down. Divide in half; spread in pans. Let rise double, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake coffeecakes 35 to 40 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from oven. Combine cherries and cinnamon; spread half on each coffeecake in heart pattern, leaving 1-inch border. Serve warm. Makes 2 coffeecakes.
Milky Way Layer Cake
¾ cup shortening
½ cup sugar
6 eggs
4 Milky Way candy bars
2 cups milk
3¼ cups flour
3¼ teaspoons baking powder
vanilla flavoring
pinch of salt
Cut up Milky Way bars and melt slowly in ¼ cup milk. Set aside to cool. Cream shortening and sugar until smooth. Add egg yolks and mix well. Combine Milky Way bars to the above mixture. Sift flour and baking powder and add alternately with the balance of the milk to the above. Beat the egg whites until stiff, but not dry, adding a pinch of salt and mix carefully with other ingredients. Bake at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes.
Return to "Delicious Recipes and Food For Thought" Home Page
