Cakes

Some of my favorite recipes are in the Paula Deen & Friends: Living It Up, Southern Style cookbook. It’s honestly one of the best cookbooks ever put together.

I posted the recipe for Pumpkin Bars from this cookbook before (HERE!) and have heard back from a lot of people who tried them and loved them. I also heard from a great deal of people who’d bought the book and thanked me for telling them about it.

I made these pumpkin bars again this past week (for, like the bazillionth time), but this time instead of one pan, I bought two disposable, shallower pans and divided the recipe between them. The result was, of course, thinner pumpkin bars. We actually prefer them thinner, so the next time I make them (probably this week!) I’m going to divide them between two pans again. You have to watch the baking time, however, I found that they were ready almost 10 minutes earlier than the recipe states when you’re making them thinner.

Needless to say, if you go this route, keep an eye on them and do the whole toothpick test to make sure they’re through.

These Pumpkin Bars would make ideal Halloween Treats. If they were cut into small enough servings, they could be placed in small boxes - the ones you can buy in bulk in kitchen stores or party supply outlets.

I keep wanting to try these topped with whipped cream rather than the cream cheese icing, but I’m much, much too into cream cheese icing to commit.

Okay, how delicous does Chocolate Cake look?!!

The Paula Deen 32-oz. Double Chocolate Gooey Butter Cake is waiting for you - all chocalatey, gooey, nutty, and delicious! Cooking.com ships this glorious cake frozen, so all you have to do is meet it at the door and invite it in for dinner!

From the Website:
Paula’s Double Chocolate Gooey Butter Cake is made with only the finest and the freshest ingredients using Paula’s “signature” recipe. This dense chocolate cake, with soft walnuts and crusty topping, is richly enhanced with gooey chocolate filling.

Shipped to arrive during the business week–orders placed on Fridays and the weekend are not shipped until the following business day.

This cake and a little vanilla ice cream (extra points if it’s homemade) could spell out a ridiculously delicious way to end a meal.  Oh, heck, it could spell out a ridiculously good reason to just skip the meal and pig out on cake!

I am so there.

Barefoot Contessa Set of 2 Brownie Mix Set

Product Description: Nobody remembers what they had for dinner, but everyone remembers what they had for dessert. Here are some favorite Barefoot Contessa desserts - made really easy! This Barefoot Contessa brownie mix is rich, dark and chewy…these brownies are incredible! And this box mix makes them easy to bake. Great to have on hand to make a fabulous dessert for guests or when you are craving a sweet treat. Set Includes: Outrageous Brownie Mix: “I tested this recipe so many times I am positive it is the best brownie recipe you will find.” - Ina Garten (20.8-oz.) Peanut Butter Swirl Brownie Mix: Chocolatey brownies with peanut butter swirled into them…nothing can beat that! Easy to make, these brownies will rival any baker’s recipe! (27.2-oz.)

Barefoot Contessa Set of 2 Lemon Pound Cake Mix

Product Description: This intensely flavored, rich pound cake is wonderful served with Lemon Curd or Raspberry Sauce. Served with a cup of freshly brewed tea it makes the perfect afternoon snack. Set includes two 22.4-oz. Lemon Pound Cake boxes. (Look how deliciously beautiful they look!)

Barefoot Contessa Set of 2 Jam Thumbprint Cookie Mixes

Product Description: A traditional crisp cookie dabbed with our finest preserve. Serve with a piping hot cup of tea or a glass of milk. Kids love helping to make these delicious cookies. Included in the box is an 8.9-oz. jar of Barefoot Contessa Raspberry Preserves.

Barefoot Contessa Set of 2 Peanut Butter & Jelly Bar Mix

Product Description: The best of two classics, peanut butter and jelly in a dessert bar that is easy to make and simply delicious. Rich peanut butter and sweet jam are swirled together to create the perfect after school snack. Along with top-selling cookbook author and Food Network star Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa, Stonewall Kitchen has developed this line of specialty foods. With this collection of Ina’s favorites, you can make her delicious recipes in minutes. How easy is that?

Barefoot Contessa Set of 2 Homemade Marshmallow Mix

Product Description: Forget everything about those rubbery marshmallows from the grocery store. These are melt-in-your-mouth delicious, light and fluffy. Easy to make, you’ll love them in cocoa or as a quick vanilla flavored snack. Along with top-selling cookbook author and Food Network star Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa, Stonewall Kitchen has developed this line of specialty foods. With this collection of Ina’s favorites, you can make her delicious recipes in minutes. How easy is that?

Barefoot Contessa 3-pc. Barbeque Collection With Gift Box

Product Description: With these products on hand, great meals are minutes away. One of Ina’s most requested recipes is her Favorite BBQ Sauce. The Mango Chutney is perfect served with grilled fish or chicken. Try the Balsamic Onions on a fresh green salad or use them to top a grilled sirloin for incredible taste. The festive band around the gift is laser die-cut poinsettas with a coordinating gift card. Gift Set Includes: Mango Chutney Ina’s Favorite BBQ Sauce Balsamic Onions. (!!!!!!!!!)

When you click through for any of the above products, you’ll be able to find even MORE. I don’t know about you, but I’ve got shopping on my mind….

…..shopping and those Lemon Pound Cakes.

You’ve officially bought your last plactic container of icing, right?! Right??? Maybe?

I’ll settle for maybe.

The recipes below could wipe out the entire “prepared frosting” industry. They’re just about as easy to pull off as opening a lid. But the taste, that’s where the real incentive lies. You simply can’t buy icing as good as the kind you can make.

I think it’s a law or something.

Decorator Icing
2 boxes (0r small bags) powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 cup water
1-1/3 cups shortening
1 tsp vanilla

Cream the shortening with sifted sugar. Add the water and vainlla and blend well. Add food color, if desired.

Whatever you don’t use actually freezes very nicely. Make a note, if the Icing recipe calls for “shortening,” it’s going to be just this side of Heaven. If you’re icing sugar cookies (which kicks them up to a whole new level of YUM), using an icing recipe that calls for shortening is the only way to go.

Caramel Icing
1 cup buttermilk (whoot whoot!)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 Tbs. vanilla

Combine all of the above and cook to a soft ball stage (238 degrees). Beat until creamy and dreamy after it’s cooled.

If the icing is too thick to spread on your cake, you can thin the icing with a little cream. That or toss the cake out the door and glob the thick caramel icing on top of vanilla ice cream, toss on some chopped pecans and have yourself a merry little moment.

Chocolate Icing
2 cups sugar
2 sticks butter
1 small can evaporated milk
7 Tbs cocoa

Combine all of the ingredients in a pan. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Cool, then spread over a two layer cake (or cupckaes, or a large rectangular cake or bundt…)

Another Delicious Icing that Calls for Shortening
1/2 cup shortening
1 lb confectioner’s sugar, sifted
1/4 cup water
dash of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

Place the shortening into a large mixing bowl and blend briefly. Sift in the powdered sugar. Mix. While mixing, gradually add the water and flavoring. Introduce them slowly - not all at once. I’m sure Alton Brown could explain the specifics more scientifically (and I wish he would, I’m curious) - but suffice to say, adding it all at once makes a saggy, baggy, nasty little icing that you wouldn’t want to serve to anyone.

No, not even her.

This is deliciously cool. One of the causes/charities I support the most is Make a Wish - there’s something special about putting a smile on a face that may have forgotten how one even feels. In a nutshell, it makes life worth living. So what does one of the most amazing organizations have to do with cakes? As it turns out, Plenty!

Bake Me A Wish! would be a sweet deal even if they weren’t a proud sponsor of Make a Wish. Bake Me a Wish provides gourmet cakes for every ocassion from (get this) an award winning New York City bakery. The special cakes are delivered to the lucky person overnight in an elegant box along with a personalized card.

From the website:
Birthday Cake, Holiday Cake, Anniversary cake, or just because - Bake Me A Wish! offers 15 flavors, from Chocolate Mousse Tort to Tiramisu. Our online showcase also includes New York Cheesecake, Triple Enrobed Brownie Cake, and Crumb Cake! You choose the cake, the occasion, and we send it overnight to the location of your choice. Finished off with a decorative Belgian Chocolate plaque, it’s the perfect treat. Excellent for individuals, parties, or as unique corporate gifts.

The best part of the deal? A percentage of every cake you order is donated to Make a Wish in your honor.

I was reading through the testimonials on the web site and I kept reading things like “heavenly,” “fabulous,” and “delicious.” My favorite sentiments were, “You’ve got to be kidding me!”

Sign me up - it’s all good.

Black & White Crumb Cake

One of my favorite magazines (believe me, this is an honor for a magazine…I buy so many it’d depress me to count them all), Tea Time, ran the following recipe in their Fall 2005 issue. It’s a winner and you’ll absoulutely love it.

BLUEBERRY COFFEECAKE

4 tablespoons butter, softened (don’t even think about using margarine)
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup milk
1-1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

TOPPING

1/3 cup flour
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9 inch Springform Pan.

Cream butter and sugar until thoroughly blended. Add and and vanilla and mix well.

Stir flour, baking powder, and salt together. Add dry ingredients to butter-sugar mixture; add milk. Using a hand mixer, beat until batter is smooth.

Spread batter into prepared pan and sprinkle blueberries over the top.

For the topping, combine flour, butter, sugar, and nutmeg using your fingers or a Pastry Blender until mixture is crumbly. Spread over the blueberries.

Bake for 55 to 60 minutes.

Run a table knife around the edges of the pan and remove the springform edge from the bottom. Serve warm.

Enjoy!

Buttermilk Press Store!

AMISH BLUEBERRY CAKE

3/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. vegetable oil
1 egg
1/2 c. milk
2 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 c. blueberries, well drained

TOPPING:

1/4 c. butter
1/2 c. sugar
1/3 c. flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Cream together sugar, oil and egg until lemon colored. Stir in milk.

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt and stir into creamed mixture. Gently fold in blueberries. Spread batter into greased and floured 9×9 square pan.

Combine the topping ingredients with a fork or pastry cutter. Crumble over cake batter. Bake for 45-50 minutes at 375 degrees.

6 (1.55 ounce) milk chocolate bars (like Hershey’s!)
1-1/2 cups chocolate syrup (again, like Hershey’s!)
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2-1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup buttermilk (!!!)
2 tsps vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees and grease and flour a tube pan or two bundt pans. Set aside.

In the top of a double-broiler, over hot but not boiling water, combine the candy bars and the syrup. Stir until melted. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add melted chocolate, beating well.

In another bowl, sift together flour and baking soda.

Add dry ingredients alternately with buttermilk to sugar mixture. Beat well after each addition. Add vanilla.

Pour batter into prepared pan(s).

Bake for 1-1/2 hours, then cool in pan for 10 minutes. Invert onto wire rack.

Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream.

This is a Paula Deen recipe, so you can bet on it being amazing. It’d make an outstanding cake for Father’s Day….at least we’re counting on it!

The recipe ran in an issue of “Taste of the South” in the summer of 2006. There were some unbelievable Okra recipes from the same issue that I’ll type in later today: Fried Okra, Cajun Fried Okra, Batter Fried Okra, and Chili Okra Pods with Dipping Sauce.

If you love cooking and appreciate the kind of recipes that were born in the south - you should honestly consider a subscription to Taste of the South. Each issue is LITERALLY packed with recipes that I can’t wait to take for a test drive.

Here’s a reason for Bobby Flay fans to smile ear to ear and chin to forehead: There’ll be back to back “Throwdowns” tonight. The first one is called “Wedding Cake” and features a new Wedding Cake Designer from Brooklyn. The recipes sound like something out of one of my most delicious dreams: Cinnamon Vanilla Wedding Cake with Mexican Hot Chocolate Buttercream and Chocolate Blackout Wedding Cake with Coconut Buttercream. Are you kidding me?!

The second Throwdown is a favorite of mine (It’s a Kentucky thing, or rather thang). The episode’s titled “Breakfast” and takes place in a beautiful, off beat city we used to live in: Louisville, Kentucky. One of the recipes featured on the show is Kentucky Farmhouse Scramble. For some reason, we Kentuckians love to get all kick-y with our eggs - we’re liable to try just about anything in there!

One of my favorite ways to fix scrambled eggs is to include chopped green onions, a chopped Roma tomato, crumbled, cooked bacon, good shredded cheddar cheese, and pepper. It’s absolutely out of this world. In fact, I find myself wanting some pretty badly right about now.

Below is the Kentucky Farmouse Scramble Recipe featured on the show:

1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon canola or vegetable oil
8 ounces diced boneless country ham
1/2 cup diced roasted red peppers
12 large eggs, whisked until well blended
4 ounces grated Jarlsberg cheese (recommended: Kenny’s Country)
Salt and pepper

Heat a nonstick 12-inch saute pan over medium heat. Add butter and oil and swirl around the pan until melted. Add the country ham and saute until it begins to brown, about 3 minutes. Turn heat to low. Stir in roasted red peppers and beaten eggs. After the eggs begin to set, stir slowly from edge to edge with a heat-resistant rubber spatula until large curds form. This will take 5 minutes or so. When eggs are still moist and slightly runny, fold in the grated cheese and season with salt and pepper.
Remove the pan from the heat and serve with fried green tomatoes and buttermilk biscuits with sorghum butter.

Click HERE for the rest of the recipes from this episode.

Okay, for all my preaching about healthy eating and watching red meat, etc….I have to admit, every now and again you just have to have a big fat juicy burger. HAVE to! Look at this beauty to the left and tell me it can be refused. It’s one of the Bleu Cheese and Bacon Burgers that Sandra Lee will be making on today’s Semi-Homemade and one of the Bleu Cheese and Bacon Burgers that Joi Sigers will be making in tonight’s kitchen in Kentucky.

The Bleu Cheese topping calls for Bleu Cheese crumbles and butter (My mouth’s watering already!) The burgers, themselves, include lean ground beef, real bacon pieces, Montreal steak seasoning, and more crumbled Bleu Cheese. It’s all served with condiments on toasted onion rolls. Click HERE for the Recipe.

A perfect side dish would be the Portobello Mushroom “Fries” that Rachael Ray will make on one of her 30 Minute Meals this afternoon. Unfortunately there wasn’t a picture available, so you’ll have to use your imagination. This recipe calls for large Portobello mushroom caps, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, pepper, eggs, flat-leaf parsley, Italian bread crumbs, and grated Parmesan. Click HERE for this recipe.

A second side dish could be a pasta or tossed salad, or spaghetti squash with tomatoes and basil. With the heaviness of the burger, and the extravagance of the Portobello fries, I’d say something fairly light would be best. Otherwise, I’d go with Tyler’s Potatoes Gratin. As it is, I think I’ll save them for another day. Maybe for brunch this weekend, with ham and biscuits.

For dessert, you can never go wrong with chocolate OR with Ina, so we’ll finish the meal off with the Chocolate cake she’ll make on today’s Barefoot Contessa. “Beatty’s Chocolate Cake” is a cake after my own heart - the recipe calls for three of my very, very, very favorite culinary joys: Chocolate (of course), buttermilk, and coffee. How could it miss?

Ironically, on another one of my blogs I just wrote about exercise - then I turn right around and post about a meal like this. Oh, well… the weather’s getting gorgeous and my tennis shoes are dying to get busy, so bring on those burgers!