Southern Cake Series: Jam Cake

Southern Cake Series: Jam Cake

June 7, 2017

Since I'm an anniversary and birthday baker this series has been slow moving. I started to bake monthly, but my waistline can't handle monthly cakes. 

This particular recipe is brought to you by our 8th wedding anniversary and my need to bake a cake that day. 

So I give you... Jam Cake. It's not the full on real recipe though, it's more of a hybrid between the Southern Living 50th Anniversary recipe and one out of my 1955 copy of Acadian Bi-Centennial. 

Read More

200 Year Old Pound Cake

200 Year Old Pound Cake

December 21, 2016

Today's recipe is one that when I started searching for Southern cakes to try out it just stuck out at me. I initially thought this was a 150 year old recipe, but after reading the cookbook more closely, I realized my grandmother's Acadian Bi-Centennial cookbook was actually from 1955, making this recipe from the early 1800s. 

It was honestly a lot of fun to make a traditional pound cake, although I subbed the requested brandy for vanilla. Who actually had that on hand? Not I. 

The directions cracked me up with how to cook this in your coal burning stove, and then other suggestions in case you have ventured past coal burning. 

Honestly my friends probably got sick of hearing me talk about this recipe the night I made it. I tend to get more excited about older things than other people do. 

In case your wondering, my favorite time to eat this was steaming how straight from the oven when the crust was still crunchy. Jeremy said the flavor reminded him of shortbread. 

200 Year Old Pound Cake Recipe

Ingredients::

1 lb butter
1 lb sugar
1 lb flour (all purpose)
10 eggs (large)
1/2 tsp nutmeg
wine glass of brandy

or skip the nutmeg and brandy and use a few teaspoons of good vanilla

Directions::
Beat butter and sugar until very creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, alternately with the flour. Each egg should be work in for at least 5 minutes (I found that I could get the same outcome in less time with a stand mixer... this was all done by hand in the recipe). Should there be any flour left, add it to the mixture. Add nutmeg and brandy (or vanilla). Put into a deep pan, lined on sides and bottom with greased paper. (I used a bundt pan because I didn't have a pound cake pan and just buttered the pan and dusted it with flour) Bake at 325 for 2 hours. (or on a small stand in the lower part of a moderately slow oven, if you use coal watch the fire carefully) 

I baked mine for 1 1/2 hours, it was ever so slightly damp in the middle, not enough that others would know, but Mary Berry would call me out on it. Go for the full two hours. Even at 1 1/2 a toothpick came out clean, but it was clearly lying to me. 

Another note, be sure to measure out all the ingredients with a scale, you can't always trust the bag or a measuring cup. 

Read More

Lemon Cheese Layer Cake

Lemon Cheese Layer Cake

August 17, 2016

I finally got to make the next cake for The Southern Cake Series, thanks to sickness for keeping me out of the kitchen for ages. 

Luckily I waited until I had a few days at home to start making this one, because it's a doozy of a cake in my opinion. Not that you shouldn't make it, just give yourself time to make it. 

Here's my deal with the Southern Living Lemon Cheese Layer Cake, it tastes amazing, but it isn't an armature cake baker kind of cake. I'm not a huge layer cake maker, they tend to topple over, and this particular cake reminded me of the Southern Living Christmas Cookbook circa 2008 recipe for Bananas Foster layer cake debacle.

That cake tasted amazing, but a cake over 2 layers is just not for me. Plus who on earth needs to eat 3-4 layers of cake?

Other than my issue with 4 layers, the cake wasn't the easiest to frost. Even after freezing to help with what I suspected to be a difficult to frost cake it still had some crumb issues, and the frosting recipe doesn't make enough to do multiple layers to cover the crumb.

Other than that... it tastes amazing. I don't even really like lemon cakes or cookies and I LOVE this cake. I was eating scrapes covered in the curd at midnight last night.

So take that into consideration, this recipe tastes better than anything on earth but is a pain in the but to assemble. I think that partly comes from the type of cake since it has the egg whites folded in. Use the same flavors, the recipe for the curd and frosting and just plop it onto another yellow cake recipe and you'd be in business.

In case you've forgotten... I'm almost reviewing 12 popular Southern cake recipes this year... so expect my opinion on how each came together.

But lemon curd, I could bathe in it.

Lemon Cheese Layer Cake

adapted from Southern Living

Lemon Curd::
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened
4 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon lemon zest
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice (I ran out of lemon and added in orange juice for what I was missing)

Cake Layers::
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 cup butter, softened
4 large eggs, separated, at room temperature
1 tablespoon orange zest
3 cups cake flour (be sure to sift before measuring)
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 cup fresh orange juice
Shortening

Lemon-Orange Buttercream Frosting::
3 cups powdered sugar, sifted and divided
1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup lemon curd

Directions::

1. Prepare Lemon Curd: Beat first 2 ingredients at medium speed with an electric mixer until blended. Add 4 eggs and 3 egg yolks, 1 at a time, to butter mixture, beating just until blended after each addition. Stir in lemon zest. Gradually add lemon/orange juice to butter mixture, beating at low speed just until blended after each addition. Transfer to a large heavy saucepan.

2. Cook mixture over medium-low heat, whisking constantly, 14 to 16 minutes or until mixture thickens, coats the back of a spoon, and starts to mound slightly when stirred. Transfer mixture to a bowl. (This took about 20-25 for my stove)

3. Place heavy-duty plastic wrap directly on surface of warm curd (to prevent a film from forming), and cool at room temperature 1 hour. Chill 8 hours.

4. Prepare Cake Layers: Preheat oven to 350°. Beat 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar and 1 cup softened butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add 4 egg yolks, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition. Stir in orange zest.

5. Sift together cake flour and next 2 ingredients; gradually add to butter mixture alternately with 1 cup orange juice, beginning and ending with flour mixture, beating just until blended after each addition.

6. Beat 4 egg whites at medium-high speed with mixer until stiff peaks form. Fold one-third of egg whites into batter; fold remaining egg whites into batter. Pour batter into 4 greased (with shortening) and floured 8-inch round shiny cake pans (about 1 3/4 cups batter in each pan). Note: This is where I really changed things, I used two cake pans and put a slight bit more and backed for about 8 extra minutes. What didn't fit in my cake pans was placed in a separate pan for scrape to munch on. 

7. Bake at 350° for 17 to 20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks, and cool completely (about 30 minutes). If you use my two layer method add a few more minutes and check with a toothpick to see when it's done.  Cool cake layers and then wrap in cling wrap and freeze for a few hours to make assembly easier. 

8. Reserve and refrigerate 1 cup Lemon Curd. Spread remaining Lemon Curd between cake layers and on top of cake (about 1/2 cup per layer - remember I only used 2 layers so we had extra). 

9. Prepare Frosting: Beat 1 cup powdered sugar, 1/2 cup softened butter at low speed with electric mixer until blended. Add 1/2 cup reserved Lemon Curd alternately with remaining 2 cups powdered sugar, beating until blended after each addition. Increase speed to high, and beat 1 to 2 minutes or until fluffy.

10. Remove cling warp from cake and level the layer with a good knife. Pipe a small border of frosting around the bottom cake layer to keep the curd in place, next spoon the curd onto the bottom layer. Top with upper layer. Spread frosting on sides of cake. Spread remaining 1/2 cup reserved Lemon Curd over top of cake. 

Whoo, there's a lot to this cake. 

Will I make it again, probably not. If someone else mad it I would totally eat it though. 

That curd though, I'll be making that again and again. 

Read More

Hummingbird Cake

Hummingbird Cake

June 2, 2016

This week, with our anniversary as a good excuse, I tested out the Hummingbird Cake from Southern Living as part of The Southern Cake Series.

I have to say, it was the best not chocolate cake I've ever eaten.

And I basically only eat chocolate cake.

The original recipe calls for 3 layers, but my cake dome only fits 2 and I historically have issues with 3 layers. 

So we got a few cupcakes out of it. 

I did make the mistake of baking the cupcakes with the cakes and not really timing them, they were a tad bit dry. I would have baked them separately had it not been after 9PM already, and everyone in this house knows that 8PM is basically 12AM in my world. 

In the event you go the 2 layer route prepare yourself for a bunch of leftover frosting, no one has complained about the leftover frosting though. Who in their right mind would complain about a bag of homemade cream cheese frosting in the fridge?

Hummingbird Cake

adapted from Southern Living 

serves 12 ( I got about 18 servings out of it)

Ingredients::

3 cups all purpose flour

2 cups of sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

3 large eggs, beaten

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

8 oz can crushed pineapple, undrained

1 cup chopped pecans

2 cups chopped bananas

shortening for cake pans

Preheat oven to 350. Whisk together flour and next 4 ingredients. Add eggs and oil, stir until dry ingredients are moistened. Stir in vanilla, pineapple, bananas, and pecans. Spoon batter into 3 (greased with shortening) 9 inch cake pans or 2-9 inch cake pans an 6 cups in a muffin tin. Bake cake pans for 25-30 minutes or until tooth pick can be inserted and removed clean. Cool cake layers in pans for 10 minutes on a wire rack before removing and cooling further. 

At this point I like to wrap mine well in cling film (while they are still warm) and place them in the freezer. Then I removed the cling film and frost them the next day, I find it keeps the crumb down and I typically don't have to do a crumb coat. 

To frost your cake place a small dollop of frosting in the center of the plate and place the first layer on. Top the bottom layer with a cup of frosting (more if you are only doing 2 layers), place subsequent layers on repeating with a cup of frosting. Frost cake with remaining frosting. If you're making cup cakes as well I promise there will be plenty of frosting. 

Cream Cheese Frosting

2 8 oz packages of cream cheese, softened

1 cup of butter, softened

2 16 oz packages of powdered sugar, sifted

2 tsp vanilla extract

Beat cream cheese and butter on low speed until smooth. Gradually add sugar, on a low speed, until blended. Stir in vanilla. Increase speed to medium high and beat for 2 minutes until fluffy. 

Read More

Chocolate Fluffer-nutter Cake

Chocolate Fluffer-nutter Cake

March 5, 2016

 This has quickly become the official birthday cake of our family.

I'm just crazy enough that I need one.

You see, I recall very fondly the birthday cakes my mother made that were yellow cake with chocolate icing. So I had to find a cake that could be mine!

This cake is everything heavenly that I love in a cake, chocolate, peanut butter, amazing frosting. The chocolate cake is super moist, and unlike other cakes I've made it didn't go stale quick. 

I discovered this frosting recipe last year when it was Jeremy's birthday and immediately decided it was my go to frosting. Seriously the easiest ever and insanely delicious. 

Notice that I don't have a photo of the whole cake, we cut into it too fast for that. 

Chocolate Fluffer-nutter Cake

For the Chocolate cake:

adapted from Add a Pinch

Ingredients::

2 cups of flour

2 cups of sugar

3/4 cup cocoa powder

2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp instant coffee powder

1 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

2 tsp Mexican vanilla

1 cup boiling water

Directions::

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease 2 9 inch cake pans and dust with flour. 

In a large bowl, add flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and instant coffee. Stir to combine. 

Add milk, oil, eggs, and vanilla to flour mixture and mix together on medium speed until combined. Reduce speed and carefully add boiling water to the batter. Beat on high for 1 minute to add air to the batter. 

Divide the cake batter evenly between the two pans and bake for 30-35 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before removing from the pan. Cool completely before assembling. 

For the Peanut Butter Filling:

adapted from Picky Palate

Ingredients::

1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temp

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup white sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar, packed

1 cup flour

1 tsp Mexican vanilla

1/4 cup of milk

Directions::

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and set aside while preparing the rest of the cake. 

For the Marshmallow Buttercream:

adapted from Baked Bree

Ingredients::

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

2 cups icing sugar

1 7 ounce jar marshmallow cream

Directions::

Cream butter until it is light and fluffy. Add the Marshmallow cream. Beat for 2 minutes. Add the icing sugar and beat for another 2 minutes. 

Assembly:

Put a dollop of icing in the center of your cake plate. Place bottom cake layer on the frosting, top with all of the peanut butter filling. Be sure to smooth it out evenly so the next layer sits flat. Place second layer on top. Frost the cake with the Marshmallow Buttercream. 

In case you're wondering this is considered my bonus cake for The Southern Cake series. 

Happy cake eating friends! 

Read More

The Southern Cake Series - Sad Cake

The Southern Cake Series - Sad Cake

February 25, 2016

We've officially hit the first recipe in The Southern Cake Series and today is all about Sad Cake!

Why's this cake called Sad? 

Well it's sometimes referred to as desolate cake, and that's because it falls after baking. 

The recipe seems to be the bake bone of an amazing blondie recipe. It's chewy, moist, and the perfect vehicle for any number of add in ingredients you wanted to toss in. 

The original recipes I've found all call for pecans and coconut, or pecans and chocolate chips. 

For this one I opted for just chocolate chips. 

The batter for this is also incredible thick, thicker than a brownie for sure. It was almost like spreading a biscuit dough into the pan. However, even though I couldn't get it to the edges of the pan it still spread out and rose beautifully once it was baking. 

So if you give up on spreading it out like I did, never fear, it will spread it's self out a bit more. 

Sad Cake

Ingredients:
116 oz box light brown sugar
3 eggs
2 cups of Pioneer Baking Mix (biscuit mix)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
2 tbsp butter

Directions:
Combine brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla in a large bowl, by hand. Mix well. Add a cup of biscuit mix, melted butter, and a little of the chocolate chips. Continue to stir and add ingredients until all ingredients are used. Do not use a blender. Grease a 9x12 pan and line with parchment paper. Spread batter into the pan. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes or until done.

*Note - the batter will be hard to stir. I also used a 9x13 pan because I didn't have a 9x12. 

I sent this cake with Jeremy the other night for Celebrate Recovery at church and I'm lucky I grabbed the two funny shaped corners for us to try because it was completely eaten. I really loved the bite I had and from what I heard it was well loved. 

Read More