Old-Fashioned Caramel Cake

I found this recipe on Martha Stewart's website and it is a recipe from Dr. Maya Angelou's cookbook, "Hallelujah." I believe it is her grandmother's recipe. There is a video of Dr. Angelou making this cake with Martha. It's kind of fun to watch. The interesting thing about this caramel cake is that it doesn't contain any brown sugar. The caramel flavor comes from the burnt sugar caramel syrup and from the browned butter frosting. This cake was a big hit when I made it for a dinner party.

Caramel Syrup

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water

Heat sugar (by itself--no water) in a sauce pan over medium heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sugar liquifies and comes to a boil. Continue cooking, with light stirring, until sugar turns a golden amber color. Immediately remove from heat and add 1 cup of water. BE CAREFUL, it is really hot and some water may splatter. The caramelized sugar will harden when it is cooled by the water. Return to medium heat and continue stirring until the sugar redissolves. Remove from heat and allow to cool completely before using.

Cake

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 1 1/4 cups sugar, separated
• 1/4 cup Caramel Syrup (from above)
• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup milk
• 2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease and flour two 8-inch round cake pans.

With mixer on low, beat butter and sugar together for several minutes until light and fluffy. Beat in Caramel Syrup.

In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder and salt.

With mixer on low, gradually add the flour mixture and the milk, alternating with flour mixture being added first and last.

In a separate bowl, beat eggs until foamy (whisk attachment or normal beaters will work for this). Add remaining 1/4 cup sugar to the eggs and continue beating until thickened, about 5 minutes. Stir into the cake batter until well combined.

Pour batter into the two round cake pans and bake for 25-35 minutes, until cake springs back when gently touched in the center. Cool cakes for ~15 minutes and then invert to remove from pan and continue cooling on wire cooling rack. When completely cooled, frost the two-layer cake with Browned Butter Caramel Frosting (see below) and serve drizzled with remaining Caramel Syrup.

(If you baked the cake ahead of time, you can wrap the cake in plastic wrap and store in refrigerator until you are ready to frost it. I find that keeping cake overnight in the refrigerator makes frosting it much easier.)

Browned Butter Caramel Syrup

• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 16 oz. (1 package) powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup heavy cream, plus more if needed
• 1 T. pure vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt

Add butter to saucepan and cook over medium-high heat until nut-brown in color, ~8 minutes. You'll want to watch it closely and continue stirring it to prevent burning it. Once it begins to turn brown, it goes fast! Remove pan from heat and pour browned butter into a heat-proof mixing bowl. Allow to cool.

Once cooled, add powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt to the browned butter. Mix on low (with paddle attachment or standard beaters). Continue to mix on low while adding the cream. Beat until smooth. If frosting appears too thick, add more cream until the correct consistency. Generously frost the cake with this delicious frosting.

Chocolate Mousse Crunch

This is the "Chocolate Mousse" recipe from my mission president's wife. I LOVED it when she would make this dessert for us. I decided to rename this "Chocolate Mousse Crunch" for my blog because it reminds me of a chocolate version of the Coconut Crunch. The recipe that was given to me has the caption, "Men love this!" It's true. My experience has been that women love this, too!

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) melted butter or margarine
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350°F. Blend the above ingredients and press into bottom of 9"x13" pan. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool.

• 8 oz. (1 package) cream cheese
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 of large container of Cool Whip (or 1 carton of whipping cream, whipped)

Beat cream cream cheese and sugar together until smooth, then add the cool whip and mix again. Spread evenly over the crust.

• 1 large box of instant chocolate pudding mix
• 2 3/4 cups of milk

Beat together pudding mix and milk until thick. Spread evenly over cream cheese mixture.

• The other 1/2 container of large Cool Whip (or another carton of whipping cream)

Top with the other half of the large Cool Whip. Sprinkle with some chopped nuts.

(Serves 12 missionaries)

Apple Cider Syrup

This is a recipe from my mission president's wife. I remember having breakfast at the mission home in Japan--thick french toast, topped with yogurt and this syrup. It also goes well on pancakes and German Apple Pancakes.

• 2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 4 cups apple juice or cider (1 liter works also)
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine

Mix all ingredients except for the butter in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring often. Reduce heat and add margarine.

Serve with sour cream or plain yogurt.

German Apple Pancakes

I can't remember where my mom first got this recipe, but for almost as long as I can remember it has been a family tradition to make these for breakfast on Christmas morning. For any who have not had a similar dish before, these are not the typical flat pancakes that most of us think of--they are literally pan cakes, cooked in a 9"x13" pan. All the eggs in them cause them to puff up and make quite the impressive display (show them off to your family quickly, though, because they settle a bit as they cool). Serve topped with powerdered sugar, cinnamon sugar, your favorite syrup (I recommend the Buttermilk or the Apple Cider syrups posted elsewhere on this blog), or all of the above!

• 2 tart apples (peeled and cut into thin slices)
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup flour
• 6 eggs
• 1 tsp salt
• 6 T butter
• Cinnamon sugar

Preheat oven to 400°F. Put butter in bottom of 9"x13" baking pan and place in oven to melt while you mix other ingredients and slice apples.

Add all ingredients (except apples and butter) into a blender and blend until smooth.

When butter is melted and sizzling, line bottom of pan with apples and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Pour batter over apples and bake at 400°F for 25 minutes. Remove and appreciate!Serves 6-8.

Kentucky Butter Cake

This is a delicious and easy cake recipe. Erin's parents discovered it and, after hearing several times how incredibly delicious it was, Erin and I thought we better give it a try. You'll note the use of the word "Butter" in the title. This cake is very rich--which is all the better because it's fun to share with lots of people (spread the calories!). We have now made it several times--it's always good and everyone who tries it seems to agree.

I can't resist making a comment about Kentucky: I visited several times when my brother was attending school there. It's a beautiful state. And if this recipe really originated in Kentucky, then boy-howdy do they know how to eat down there! The other classic Kentucky dish that I am thinking of is called a Hot Brown. When I ordered it at a restaurant is came out so smothered in melted cheese that you couldn't even see anything that was under the cheese. It just looked like a plate of melted cheese! I've never tried making a Hot Brown at home--eating it may have been a once-in-a-lifetime experience--but if you're planning a Kentucky Derby party you could sit down to a Hot Brown and some Kentucky Butter Cake. Your mouth will like it, but I take no responsibility for the cardiovascular consequences!

• 3 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease and flour bundt pan.

Mix the dry ingredients (flour salt, baking powder, soda) together in a bowl and set aside. In a large mixing bowl blend the sugar and butter. Add eggs one at a time and mix well. Gradually add dry ingredients, buttermilk, and vanilla. Beat at medium speed for ~3 minutes. Pour batter into greased bundt pan and bake for ~60 minutes.

Butter Sauce:

5 minutes before the cake is ready to come out of the oven, melt the following ingredients together in a saucepan:

• 1/3 cup butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3 T water
• 2 tsp vanilla

Cook over medium heat until fully melted. Remove from heat just before it comes to a boil.

When cake is done--a toothpick inserted into the cake should come out with just a few small cake crumbs clinging to it--remove from oven and, while still hot, poke lots of holes in the cake. I've found that chopsticks work well. After holes are poked, pour the Butter Sauce over the top of the cake so that it seeps down through the holes into the center of the cake. Allow cake to cool and then turn over to remove from bundt pan. Slice and enjoy!

Gooey Butter Bars

This recipe is from the mother of one of Erin's classmates. After tasting them at school, Erin came home and said, "I don't know what it was, but it was sooooo good!" The recipe was published in a class cookbook and now I bring it to you. They're very easy to make and sooooo good to eat. (How could they not be, with a name like Gooey Butter Bars???)

• 1 package yellow cake mix
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

Mix cake mix, egg and butter (it will be crumbly). Press into bottom of 9"x13" pan.

• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 2 eggs
• 8 oz. (1 package) cream cheese

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Mix together sugar, eggs, and cream cheese. Pour into the pan on top of the cake mixture. Bake for 45 minutes, or until the top is a light toasty brown color.

Variations include using different flavors of cake mix. So far I can only attest to the yellow mix, but I've heard that lemon cake mix works well.

Coconut Crunch (pie?)

Last week Erin and I stayed in Iowa City and had Thanksgiving with my family. We usually have at least some people come and share the meal with us, but I think this year was a record--I think we had at least 30 people there! Erin and I were in charge of bringing pies. Other people were planning to bring pies as well, but I wanted to make sure there was plenty to go around and so we went kind of crazy with the pie-making. We made a chocolate chip pecan pie and a pumpkin custard pie (both courtesy of Emeril; see Good Morning America online for recipes), another pumpkin cream pie (made with pumpkin-flavored pudding, cool whip and graham cracker crust), two buttermilk pies served with raspberry topping (these were a really big hit! see past post for recipe), we bought a frozen mincemeat pie specifically for grandma's consumption, and I made this Coconut Crunch dessert (see recipe below, courtesy of Erin's mom).

I need to tell one quick story about the Coconut Crunch: The first time that my family met Erin's family was out in Utah prior to our wedding. Erin's parents invited us to their home and served us a delicious dessert--Coconut Crunch. We all loved it, especially my mom. I still tease Erin about it because pie is her favorite dessert (and I think this is true of her family as well), and I like to point out that even when serving a dessert that is not technically pie, they still served a very pie-like dessert. So the debate continues...I say Coconut Crunch counts as a pie, Erin says it doesn't. Try this delicious recipe and tell us what you think!

• ½ cup butter, melted
• 1 cup flour
• 1 1/4 cups, flaked coconut
• 1/4 cups brown sugar
• 1 cup slivered almonds
• 3.4 oz pkg Instant vanilla pudding mix
• 3.4 oz pkg Instant coconut pudding mix
• 2 2/3 cup cold milk
• 2 cups whipped topping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine the first 5 ingredients; press lightly into a lightly greased 13 x 9" pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 min or until golden brown, stirring every 10 minutes to form coarse crumbs and prevent burning the edges. Cool.
Press crumb mixture into the same baking pan for crust, reserving about 3/4 cups for topping.
In a mixing bowl, beat pudding mixes and milk together till they thicken. Fold in whipped topping. Spoon over crust. Top with remaining crumb mixture.
Keep Refrigerated.