Tag Archives: Eggs

Recipes - Desserts

Buttermilk Pie

This old southern favorite pie will brighten any day and fill your tummy happily as well.  It’s one of buttermilk’s best uses in my book. The recipe is from my “Missouri to Maui” cookbook and was one of our desserts today at the Mayfield Cafe and it was certainly enjoyed all around.

There is minimal prep once you have rolled out your pie crust. The slightly sweet thickened filling, tempered by the sour milk, provides great contrast to each bite.  Don’t over bake; it will be soft in the middle still when ready to remove from the oven.

It’s a one-bowl pie to mix then just pour into your pie crust and sprinkle with nutmeg. Simple AND satisfying!  It’s SO simple in fact that I can say nothing more about this special pie than if the folks around your table enjoy it as much as folks I know then it’s time to grab your buttermilk and get going! The only decision you have to make about this pie is whether to serve it room temperature or cold. I find it equally good either way. Enjoy with gusto!

Ingredients

½ cup buttermilk
1-3/4 cups sugar
2 large eggs
3 T. flour
Pinch of salt
1 stick butter, melted
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 unbaked 9” pastry shell.

Directions: Preheat oven to 400°. Set pastry shell aside. In large mixing bowl combine all ingredients except the nutmeg and the pastry shell and stir well with a wooden spoon to blend then use a wire whisk to incorporate the liquid ingredients more thoroughly. Pour batter in the unbaked pie shell; sprinkle the top lightly with nutmeg. Bake 15 minutes; reduce temperature to 350 and bake another 45 minutes until the top is nicely browned and a toothpick inserted comes out dry. Cool well, allowing the filling to set. Serve room temperature or chilled.

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Recipes - Desserts

Root Beer Float Cake

Summer has officially arrived and this cake instantly evoked summer memories for me.  Root beer floats are amazing on warm summer evenings and everything about this cake says root beer, from the first whiff of it in the cake batter to its appearance again in the frosting.  The name of the cake alone, when I read the recipe in our local newspaper, evoked the memory of A&W Drive-Ins on warm summer evenings, and it just sounded like a fun cake to make. I certainly immediately remembered enjoying the tang of root beer soda and vanilla  ice cream, eating root beer floats in a convertible with the top down, the stars floating above the treetops, and the sound of persistent peepers croaking everywhere.  Yesssiree, we definitely  have here a cake for summer time, folks!

The recipe is simple and the cake is like every cake made with a good quality cake mix along with oil and eggs.  The batter has a golden sheen to it and it is very thick.  No need allowing this batter to “breathe in the bowl for five minutes”; just mix it up and scrape into a 9×13″ pan.; it serves 15 easily.  Enjoy your own memories of root beer and summer time  and prepare this easy cake tonight! Cool well before frosting.  I placed the cake, uncovered, in the fridge for several hours as I’m saving it for 15 people tonight.  I would store any leftovers in the fridge also.  It’s a keeper!

I did use double the amounts of Dream Whip and root beer for the frosting as I wanted a good deal of that airy concoction topping the cake.  Enjoy!

Root Beer Float Cake

Ingredients

1 (18.25 ounce) package Duncan Hines Supreme white cake mix
1-1/4 cups root beer
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 (1.3 ounce) envelope whipped topping mix
1/2 cup root beer

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9×13 inch pan. In a large bowl, combine cake mix, 1 1/4 cup root beer, oil, and eggs. Beat on low-speed until blended. Scrape bowl, and beat 4 minutes on medium speed. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool.

To make the frosting: In a large mixing bowl, combine the whipped topping mix and 1/2 cup root beer. Beat until soft peaks form. Spread on top of cake.  Best kept in the fridge until ready to serve.

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Bakery Miscellaneous

Summer Rum Cakes

Today’s post is a somewhat of a cheater; I already blogged about this cake on practically the first of these pages, but, because I have orders for eight cakes, and I will be baking cakes and little else all weekend, I’m making another rum cake post today, dedicated to hopefully the ONE individual surfing out in cyberspace somewhere who actually wants to learn to bake a good rum cake, or who is already adept at the process but thinks the sound of having a rum cake, right now, is lovely.  Here you go then; as they say in songs and award acceptance speeches world-wide, “This one is for you!”  The recipe is as listed in my “Missouri to Maui” cookbook; it’s detailed, for the beginning baker, but once you get the hang of mixing up this wonderful cake, you won’t even be using a recipe book at all to put it together.

Most people who love rum cakes associate them with winter and the holiday season, and were surprised that I am taking rum cake orders now, in June, but, the truth is, a rum cake is actually a cake for all seasons. Simple and quick, 10 minutes from greasing the bundt pan to sliding it in the oven and then you’re good for the next 50 minutes!  Prepare the rich buttery-rum glaze 10 minutes before you remove the cake from the oven and you’re all pau (done!).  You only pour the glaze over the cake and paint some glaze on any dry spots before wrapping the cake to sit at least, overnight.

The glaze will sink through the holes you made all over the cake’s surface using the tines of a fork and it doesn’t take long for a person to realize that it is those wet spots in the cake where the glaze has landed and moistened the cake sublimely. That awareness is, apparently,  the art of eating a rum cake as well as baking one.

This is definitely an “it only gets better the longer it sits” recipe.  The best-tasting rum cake to me is the second day after it’s baked when the juices of the glaze have thoroughly permeated the dense cake, but i have friends who swear that these cakes are best enjoyed once frozen for several months then eaten when just thawed or even half-frozen.  For breakfast.  You just can’t go wrong with a cake with THAT many good qualities, folks!

If your family is small, the cake will last for three days, sliced in liberal pieces and eaten at a good clip.  Do invest an hour today and keep this cake tightly covered under heavy foil or a cake cover, sitting on the counter, and then just go on, and, well feel good about spending an hour with such big results for you and your family.

And thanks to you ladies who ordered the eight cakes!  Baking them for you has help fund my vacation in Florida next week.  Not totally funded it, of course, because the rum cake profits alone will go next into buying the jars and the ingredients for the mango chutney Susie and I will be making while I’m there and laying up heavy foil, walnuts, flour and eggs for the many loaves of mango bread we will turn out. What a blessing then that the droves of mangoes we will need are free and husband-picked for us daily! It’s definitely summer again, people, and time to enjoy summer’s bounty: from rum cakes to mangoes!  Enjoy!

Misses’ Rum Cake

Ingredients

1/2 cup pecans, chopped
1 box Duncan Hines Supreme Butter Recipe Golden cake mix
1-(3 oz.) box vanilla instant pudding mix
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup Bacardi Light Rum
1/2 cup Wesson oil
5 eggs

Directions Preheat oven to 325. Grease and flour a 12” bundt pan and sprinkle the pecans around the bottom. In large bowl, stir the cake mix and the dry pudding mix, add the water, oil, and rum. Crack the eggs into your bowl last and mix with electric mixer until batter is glossy, about 2″ on medium speed. Allow batter to breathe in bowl 5-7 minutes then scrape batter into the prepared Bundt pan. Bake exactly one hour.

GLAZE Ingredients and Directions Prepare 10 minutes before cake is finished baking. In medium saucepan, combine 1 cup sugar, 1/2 cup rum, and 1/4 cup water. Bring to a boil then add 1 stick butter. Reduce heat and boil low for 5-7 minutes. When the cake is just out of the oven, poke deep holes all over it with the tines of a fork. Pour the hot glaze into a large glass measuring cup and slowly pour the glaze over cake. Use a spatula to gently pull the cake away from the sides of the pan and pour some of the glaze around the sides so it coats the sides, flowing to bottom of the pan and adding gloss to the top of the cake. Let the glaze sink in slowly then keep pouring until glaze is good and gone. Let cake cool in the pan for 50 minutes then invert onto your serving plate. Cover it tightly with a generous piece of heavy-duty foil tucking foil under edges of platter. You can also make this well ahead and freeze, tightly covered with the foil. On the day you want to serve it, take it out of the freezer and allow to thaw slowly. Never microwave this cake or you will end up with nothing but a puddle of rum and butter. Also do not refrigerate once it has been cut; just keep covered tightly with heavy foil on counter top or well hidden from your hungry spouse and other family members.

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Recipes - Desserts

Mississippi Mud Cake

Perhaps it was watching our beloved St. Louis Cardinals slugging it out in the mud last night at Busch Stadium (only to lose the game) but I woke this morning with a Mississippi Mud Cake on my mind. Whether the State of Mississippi or the mighty Mississippi River as it flows beside the city of St. Louis, I will leave to my readers!

This well-known Southern favorite is rich with melted butter, cocoa, sugar, and eggs.  Make it in a jelly roll pan and cut in squares.  The chocolate cake layer is the perfect complement to a sweet-crunchy topping made of mini-marshmallows and chopped pecans.  Allow the marshmallows to soften for five minutes after returning to the oven. When they begin to brown on top, take the cake out and drizzle the chocolate frosting over the top.  Yum Yum GOOD!  The chocolate frosting recipe makes 2 cups; I saved half of it for another purpose.

A great cake for sharing as it serves 15-18 easily, and a great ball game today: Cards win it 3-1!

Mississippi Mud Cake

Ingredients

1 cup butter, melted
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped pecans, toasted
1 (10.5-ounce) bag miniature marshmallows
Chocolate Frosting

Directions Whisk together melted butter and next 5 ingredients in a large bowl. Stir in flour and chopped pecans. Pour batter into a greased and floured 15- x 10-inch jellyroll pan. Bake at 350° for 20 to 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven; top warm cake evenly with marshmallows. Return to oven, and bake 5 minutes. Drizzle Chocolate Frosting over warm cake. Cool completely.

Chocolate Frosting
Ingredients

1 (16-ounce) package powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 cup milk $
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa

Beat all at medium speed until smooth. Drizzle over warm cake. Store leftover frosting in fridge to be used for frosting cookies.

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Bakery Miscellaneous

Toffee Chip Cookies

Oh, how I have missed blogging! A family situation found me away from my computer, and my kitchen, for the past two weeks, but hopefully we are on a good track again health-wise, and today I couldn’t resist some much longed-for kitchen time! This recipe for Toffee Chip Cookies is a real winner; if you are also desirous of some upcoming kitchen time, do bake up a batch of these fabulous cookies!

The recipe, from HersheysKitchen.com is for a basic sugar cookie with the addition of the toffee bits and, for me, some chopped pecans for even more crunch. Soften your butter before beginning and then cream the butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla and add the dry ingredients. The cookies are chewy inside with crisp outer edges with the buttery-toffee flavor that is so perfect with coffee or a tall glass of milk when you want something sweet and chewy.

If you’re a cookie fan, this one will put a smile on your face! Enjoy!

Toffee Chip Cookies

Ingredients
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1-1/3 cups (8 oz. pkg.) HEATH English Toffee Bits
1/2 cup pecans, chopped (optional)

Directions

Heat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease cookie sheet or line with parchment paper.

Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla in a large bowl until well blended. Add eggs; beat well. Gradually add flour mixture, beating until well blended. Stir in toffee bits.

Drop by rounded teaspoons onto prepared cookie sheet. Bake 9 to 11 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. Makes about 48 cookies. Store airtight.

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