Midnight Cake ~ Good and Evil

             

                        

Midnight chocolate chip rum cake.

 

 

 

If you know me at all you know that chocolate is not my favorite.  But as I finally began to sort through, organize, and redo my recipe files which are over fifty years old (some from relatives are even older), I ran into this wonderful cake.  I can find nothing wrong with this recipe and I nearly panicked trying to find it once I was in the cake section of one of my recipe drawers.  As you can see, it has been made many times for many people and even I love it. Naturally it looks even better coming out of my new Nordic cake pan.  Love it too.  It might be the rum that keeps drawing me back to this cake because the sauce poured on top of the hot cake can be poured on many different kinds of cake, all with scrumptious results.

 

Of all the recipes I have given you, this is in the top five.

1 box of chocolate cake mix

1 box instant chocolate pudding mix (4 1/2 oz.)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup rum and 1/2 cup cold brewed coffee

4 large eggs

1/2 cup salad oil (or butter for richness)

1 cup chocolate chips (divided)

1 cup of nuts (divided)

 

Thoroughly combine cake mix, pudding, vanilla, sour cream, eggs, rum and oil. Add half of the chocolate. chips and half of the nuts. Beat five minutes.  Fold in the rest of the nuts and chips. Turn the batter into a well greased and floured bundt or tube pan. Bake at 350 (In my convection oven it takes about 40 minutes.) The recipe calls for an hour--so judge your oven and bake accordingly. Now this is where we differ: recipe says cool in pan 30 minutes and then invert on serving plate.  Puncture with fork tongs on top of the cake and drizzle the glaze evenly over the top. (You can do this, I have.) But now I do not punch holes, I keep it in the pan and while everything is still hot I pour the following rum glaze over the top, taking a sharp knife and moving the cake's sides to let the glaze run freely down into the cake.  While it is still warm, not hot, invert on a pretty cake plate. Most of the glaze will have been absorbed.

 

Glaze (use on many different cakes)

1/4 lb. butter

1/4 c. water

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup rum

 

Melt butter in saucepan. Stir in water and sugar. Boil 5 minutes, stirring constantly.  Stir in rum (off the heat). Done! and Yum!

 

As you can see, we are also rushing spring.  Andy bought these flowers today for our new window boxes made for us by Cincinnati Joe F.  Andy also bought two Belle of Georgia peach trees to expand our orchard.  We are ready to plant!  Andy is taking two organic gardening classes at The Ohio State this semester, so plants are on the minds of the guys here at Many Branches.

 

 

 

 

Fiesta Flats~

These are really good.  Everyone at the table praised these delicious treats filled with taco familiars.

I am working on the things we want to take to Cincinnati for an over night with Glenda and Joe.  Glenda fell on the ice and had to have two rods inserted in her hip and although she is doing well, she is going cabin fever on us. We are going to play cards and I am taking a variety of food to keep them entertained. (Joe strained his back while helping Glenda get around, so they are both hurting.) Andy and I figured we are hail and hearty so we will lend a hand. Also, we miss them.

  One thing I am taking is something new and I am going to the store today to get these:

I want to try the new Ortega Fiesta Flats.  They are like little (long) troughs or canoes. They should hold the taco mixture so much better.  It just seems easier and less messy.

So while the sauce burbles away I am going to find these little boats and surprise them with that treat among others.  I can prep everything ahead and get it on the table so we can get at the card game and cocktails.

I also want to make something sweet.  Glenda and Andy like their sweets, so I am debating about initiating the new Nordic four in one cake pan.  I figure one large batter in four different bowls with four different treatments.  That should be fun to do and delicious.

Then there is always home made pizza, another favorite of Glenda's. With a nice big salad, that should be a tasty treat as well.  I will make the broccoli/cauliflower mixture, put it in a bag and only take out what we need to dress it for the meal.  The rest stays fresh in a bag so she can pull out what she needs for a quick bite.  There is not much to it just clean the vegetables, about anything you want to use but mine is usually shaved sweet onion (or green onions), broccoli florets and cauliflower (small pieces.) and tiny chunks of carrots (not the ready made baby carrots which have no taste.) I dress the salad with mayo if I am in a hurry but you can use any dressing you want on the mixture.  The rest stays really well in a bag in the frig without any dressing at all, or, with mayo for a day or two. It is still good after that, but it gets watery and I don't like that.  So dry in the frig is best.

I am considering soups to take to leave for their meals, but have not decided which ones to put together.  I will probably make an extra big batch of one kind because since we go on Tuesday and that is when we feed the Tuesday's kids;  I can kill two birds with one stone- unfortunate verbiage. LOL

Revisit home made granola~

                                                             Years ago I would not have thought of making home made granola, let alone eating it.  But I made it once and my family fell in love with it and renamed it CRACKola.  It has traveled all over America with friends and family taking some home with them and then feeling let down once it's gone.  I never make little batches.  It's a full on production because it stores beautifully and never lets us down.  Andy has it every morning with milk.  Other people eat it by the handful like popcorn.  I don't care how it is eaten, they always come back for more.  Today is the second way I have made it.  The first time it was all oven roasted to a beautiful brown.  The English Kitchen (blog) had a different take on it and I think I like it more though either way it must be watched or it will get too dark.  Not enough heat and the raw oats will taste like raw oats.  Here is Marie's version, and now mine because I tweaked it a bit since I have made pounds and pounds of it. She also used Goji berries which we discussed and looked up on Google Sunday at dinner.  But I don't know where to buy them and it is good without these berries.

I got out my VERY old and very large iron skillet to make this version and I am pleased with the results.

4 cups of old fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup butter (I had none so I used coconut oil/ some olive oil) I know, how could anyone be out of butter?  Beats me.
1 tsp. vanilla  plus I used 1 tsp. coconut extract
4 tablespoons honey
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup coconut
1 cup of a variety of nuts--what you like, what you have on hand
Save the variety of dried fruit that you like until everything has gone from the heat of the skillet or oven or both--any dried fruit or trail mix that you like.  You can't kill this recipe.

Place a large skillet over medium heat.  Add the butter, brown sugar, honey, vanilla and other extract of choice. Cook and stir, cook and stir and watch it!  When incorporated fully add the oats and nuts and coconut to the skillet.  Stir and coat and stir and coat and watch it until the oats become a golden brown (or put this mass on a lined cookie sheet and finish it in the oven to a golden brown.)  Add the dried fruit and mix.  Do not put the dried fruit in the skillet or on the cookie sheet and then apply heat. The fruit will become hard as stone!  But mixed in after the cooking vessel is off the heat plumps them up to their full glory.  Cool and store in air tight container.

The other recipe that I used was from Barefoot Contessa.  Ina Garten's recipe can be found some where in my 200 posts, in her cookbooks or on line.  It is basically the same thing, however, without the brown sugar.  It's better with. Also, she does not make it on top of the stove.  I make it on top of the stove now, then spread it out and brown it more in the oven on high heat, watching it carefully.  You don't want to waste that goodness.

 

 

          

New Toys for the Kitchen~

                                

                                             

I recently saw the movie Babette's Feast and when she unpanned her lovely dessert, I knew I must have a cake pan like hers.  It's from Nordic and there is a big selection from which to choose.  This morning I made this orange sour cream cake and I must say the pan is heavy and it does what it should.  It's a beauty.  I love the pan with the four shapes and thought with a basic batter one could have four bowls and change each of the cakes to be different yet from the same base recipe.  I'll try that next. Everyone is on a diet and it is difficult to get rid of these sweets, but, somehow in the middle of the night they do disappear.  It's the cake fairy no doubt.

The Danish/French Babette's Feast is based on a story by Isak Dinesen, also the source of the very different Out of Africa (1985). Stephane Audran plays Babette, a 19th century Parisian political refugee who seeks shelter in a rough, poor Danish coastal village.  With religious fervor the towns' people are grumpy, mean and suspicious of one another.  Babette wins a 10,000 franc lottery and makes it all better spending the money to compile a feast like no other for the characters of the town.  Food heals it all in the end and she is then back where she started...poor but now happy.

Sunday: A rum carrot cake to go with the Sunday roast, caramelized onion mashed potatoes and salad.          

                                                                  

I also want to try the new Ortega Fiesta Flats.  They are like little (long) troughs or canoes. They should hold the taco mixture so much better.  It just seems easier and less messy.

Ina's grilled cheese croutons

 

                                                                     Ina's grilled cheese croutons before being cubed..

  Before cutting                                            

I had no white country bread, so I used Everything bagels. Delicious with a dab of multi-grain mustard too.

 

 

 

 

I must admit to being cranky today.  I don't know why, but everything is hitting me wrong for some reason.  I am easing up a bit since Ina Garten's new book arrived in the mail.  I waited to buy it on Amazon for $15. 'used', but does not look like it, rather than paying the $35. which was the original price. By the time I got to page 59, I felt better.  This is Tuesday and I have a big pot of chili ready for the Tuesday kids and when I saw this recipe for grilled cheese croutons, I knew this was the answer to my maudlin mood today.  I will send these with the chili and make many people pleased.

 

I am off to make these, cut them into cubes and take another picture to please you.  Here is her recipe and above is her picture, not mine.  Thank you, Ina.

 

4 (1/2 inch-thick) slices of country white bread

2 tablespoons butter, melted

4 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated

 

Make the sandwiches and put them in you Panini grill for about 5 minutes.  Allow to rest for a minute or so and cut in 1-inch cubes.

 

Pasta Pie

I am always looking for good but interesting food for our
 Tuesday's children. Beth and Mike are part of a group who offers downtown children a good hot meal, some games, and some religion on Tuesday evenings. I provide the meal. The number of children varies according to the time of month, the weather, and the mode of transportation available. I saw pasta pie in the Pinterest section and thought they might enjoy this dish tomorrow night.  I've been away, so they have been fed hot dogs for the month of January, I expect, so this pasta pie might be something to kick things back into gear. It's very simple but the presentation is special because it is made in a spring form (drop sides) pan.
Here’s my Facebook movie. Find yours at https://facebook.com/lookback/ #FacebookIs10


 

 

 

 

 

Pasta Pie

Recipe from: Martha Stewart | Serves: 8

Ingredients

• 1 pound Rigatoni
• 2 Tablespoons Olive oil, divided
• 1 pound Ground beef (I used ground sirloin)
• 2 Garlic gloves, crushed
• 1/4 teaspoon Freshly ground pepper

• 1 can (28 ounces) Good quality crushed tomatoes ~ Muir Glen
• Butter, for pan
• Salt
• 1 cup Parmesan cheese, finely grated
• 8 ounces Coarsely grated mozzarella cheese

Directions

• In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook pasta until slightly underdone (I cooked mine for 12 minutes when the box indicated 14 minutes). One pound of pasta should be cooked in 6 quarts of water, make sure you are using a big enough pot so the pasta doesn't stick together. When done, rinse in cold water and drain again. Toss pasta with 1 Tablespoon olive oil to coat. Set aside.
• Heat remaining 1 Tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add ground beef. Cook, stirring occasionally until browned. Add garlic, 1 teaspoon salt and pepper. Cook 2 minutes more.
• Add crushed tomatoes; simmer until thickened, about 20 minutes.
• Toss pasta with Parmesan cheese. Butter a 9-inch springform pan. Tightly pack pasta into pan, standing each piece on end. Spread meat sauce on top of pasta.
• Push the meat sauce into the pasta holes filling each one up. Stuffing the meat into the holes is a weirdly satisfying task. Enough said.
• Place in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top and bake another 10-15 minutes until cheese is golden. Remove from oven and let stand for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the edge to loosen and then unmold.
• Cut into wedges and serve with any remaining meat sauce you might have.

pictures from Pinterest; recipe from Martha Stewart

 

 

Winter and kitchens go together~

                                     

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,                     

 




What a winter ! We've been back six days and I just don't believe this weather in Ohio. However... it's good to be in the kitchen.

                 

 

 In searching Pinterest after a month away, I've found some interesting things.  Pinterest has to be the best site on the web for people who like to cook, craft, or collect.

 

The coconut cake caught my eye right away because I am wild about coconut in any form.  Now that I have ventured back into the kitchen, I am thinking of making this cake.  By the way I made the orange juice cake for guest in Florida and it was well received although I had to do it in a glass baking dish because there was no bunt pan.  How can people do without bundt pans? I think this coconut cake will be beautiful in such a pan.  It put me in mind of the movie Babette's  Feast when she unpanned the swirled baba au rhum. (Uh oh, I read further and it said a bundt pan was not recommended because the cake is so delicate. ) I can't think why, a pound cake is anything but delicate,  so I might just risk it.

Saturday.  I did risk it.  I took many risks and I like my results.  I used a bundt pan but I also used a French vanilla cake mix, two sticks of room temperature butter, five room temperature eggs and one cup of milk, with a half a bag of Baker's coconut.

 

                                                                  

                                                                   

 

 Recipe as shown of Pinterest:

Coconut Pound Cake Ingredients:

FOR THE CAKE:

 

Coconut Pound Cake - Recipe

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1½ tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter (at room temperature)
• 2 cups sugar
• 5 eggs (at room temperature)
• 1 cup whole (or low-fat) milk
• 1 tsp coconut extract
• 3½ oz Angel Flake sweetened, shredded coconut (used half a bag of Baker's coconut.)

FOR THE GLAZE:

• 2 tbsp unsweetened coconut milk (or regular milk)
• 1/2 tsp coconut extract
• 1/2 – 1 cup confectioners’ sugar

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease and lightly flour a 9- or 10-inch tube pan. This cake is delicate so I wouldn’t recommend using a bundt pan.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
3. In a separate bowl, use an electric mixer (on medium speed) to cream the butter and sugar until fluffy (about 3 minutes). Add in eggs, one at a time, and mix well. Stir in the milk, coconut extract and shredded coconut. Finally, add the flour, baking powder and salt mixture, and stir to combine. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake until golden brown, about 1 hour.
4. Meanwhile, prepare the glaze. Whisk together the coconut milk, coconut extract and confectioner’s sugar until smooth, adding more sugar as needed to thicken the glaze (or more milk if you want to thin it out).
5. Cool cake in pan for 5-10 minutes before removing. Drizzle with glaze while cake is still warm.

I do an awful lot of this~

                                                               


                                                                   A peek into my day...

 I came home to the most amazingly clean and organized house!  Thanks to Beth, Mike, and a woman named Levitt. Even the dogs sparkled.  It was a lovely gift and one I really appreciate.  After a month in the sun and a trip home without incident it is always an adjustment to get back into the thick of activity. During the trip I did a lot of cooking and today, four days later, I am considering turning on the stove if I recall how to do this.  The knobs are so clean, the counter so pristine, the floors so shiny, disturbing things so perfect makes me hesitate, procrastinate, and abdicate.

One thing about the trip before I (perhaps) start to cook.  The motels between Columbus and Florida have suddenly gotten cheaper.  On the way down we paid $53. for a nice room at a Best Western.  We have always paid over $100. On the way back we paid $48. for a night in a Hampton Inn.  Granted what ever was blowing through the air system in that one caused me great anguish with cold like symptoms... that is until I got home, shed what I was wearing, took a shower, washed my hair and suddenly I was cured.  What is it with these heating and air systems--don't they know how to change a filter?  Anyway, once we got to northern Florida we stayed a couple of days to visit family. We were in another Best Western (where we had stayed five times before) and the room price went up to nearly $90. for the same type accommodations.  We asked the( snippy) desk clerk why the price difference and her reply was, "after all, this IS Florida". Really? Gainsville?  That's the way it goes and if one travels, one pays.

Before we left for the month at the beach, Glenda and Joe had a family card party to see us all off the next day. Kathy, their daughter, made a delicious easy dish with a rotisserie chicken.  It was miniature sliders.  The left overs have many uses: on a homemade pizza, on a salad, over a pasta dish, to name but a few. We made it twice in Florida and it will become a must at parties from now on.  It is one of the two dishes that was new to me, the other one from Beth can be viewed on the previous post about Florida with the family pictures.

Buffalo Chicken Sliders

1/4 c butter

1/4 c honey

1/2 c hot sauce

1 Rotisserie Chicken shredded
...
12 slider buns

Bleu cheese dressing.

In small pan combine butter, honey and hot sauce and cook over medium heat until butter and honey is dissolved.

Remove chicken skin and shred the meat. Toss chicken in sauce to coat evenly. Drizzle bleu cheese dressing on sandwich.

It's that easy.

February at Many Branches~and pictures from Florida

                                                           

                           

After a month in the Florida sun, we will be on our way home to Many Branches
 tomorrow, Friday, arriving to yippees and kisses from the dogs, and family too, on Saturday. It was a lovely month with some visitors and lots of down time, cards, cocktails, and good food. Our favorite eat out spot (after Gull House kitchen) is New England Eatery. When I put my foot down, out of the kitchen we go there for seafood. It is usually once a week. It is amazing to spend a month with relatives without a spat or split. I don't know how it happens, especially after seeing so much squabbling on TV reality shows. 
 I think we are an enigma.

I have many pictures and two tried and true recipes for you to try.  I should be able to post on Sunday. I know that you have been snowed and sleeted in and depressed due to the weather. This is happening in the UK as well as many other places.  Here's hoping that all of that is over and that we will bring sunshine home with us.  We have many plans for spring and hope they all pan out. Many blessings to you for 2014.

Doris                                 

 

 

Before the tan~ 

 Cincinnati Lechlers at the New England Eatery~

Feet on the sand...Doris and Andy~

 

 Pork roasts/thick cut fries all roasted together~
 

Hash brown nest in a cupcake pan/and egg and cheese~

 

 Our backyard~

Chee...too much wine or too many cards?

 

 

Andy and JD's dangerous hike.

 

Joe and Glenda

Our every day, all day view.

Kathy's one out of six fish she caught.

 

The back of our beach house.

 

End of the day....end of the stay 

This is a super starter that Beth brought for an event and we took the remains in ball form to a card party later.

This is supposed to go in a ring mold with a dish in the center holding seedless raspberry jelly once it has been unmolded.  But it can be made into a ball with a side of jelly and crackers.

Beth's cheese starter.

Combine all:

1 pound white cheddar cheese shredded or food processed to small rice like pieces
1 cup toasted walnuts
3/4 cup mayo
2 tablespoons chopped green onions
1/4 tsp garlic minced
1/2 tsp hot sauce or more if you wish
Mix it all together and put into a mold or simply a ball and chill.

Once out of the frig. unmold and place the sweet jelly or jam with the cheese item.

 

Orange Juice Cake~

orange juice cake

Me at age six.

                                                     

My niece, Nancy, and her husband, Danny, came to visit today.  Actually hospital visits played a role in their being here, but once that was taken care of for the day, we settled down to a nice visit.  They brought me four lovely things: one was a folk art type water color of our family home on Joe Town Hill--we were actually not on the hill but nestled in the valley on fifty acres that had a lovely home, barn, cottage, two long low chicken houses, a pond and horses. It had a long lane which I drove up and backed down several times a day as a child. (The old black car can be seen in front of the barn.)  It's where I learned to stick shift drive. My parents bought the place when I was seven years old for $1,000.  It was a wreck, but tidy it up they did and it was a show place which my father sold when I was in college for $13,000.  That was a good price back then and now I cannot guess how much it would be worth now.  The picture will hang in a place of honor here at Many Branches.  I can see my bedroom in the picture and the landscape details are clear and honest. The second gift was a big pot of vegetable soup.  She took pity on me since I can't stand to cook since Thanksgiving.  I'll probably get back in the swing of things once I get to the beach house, but right now, not so much.  The third gift was an orange juice cake with the recipe which I will share with you because the cake is easy, moist, and delicious. It's good to have many nieces.  Sadly, we lost one, Nancy's sister, Linda, this time last year. We will always miss her. The fourth gift arrived later. A picture of me at age six. Thank you.

                                         

Orange Juice Cake:

1 box Duncan Hines butter recipe yellow cake mix
1 box instant vanilla pudding
1 cup orange juice
4 eggs
1/2 cup oil
Mix all of the above and pour into a greased bundt pan and bake at 325 for 50-60 minutes depending on your oven.

Frosting/glaze
1 stick butter
1 cup of powdered sugar
1/4 cup orange juice
Mix until smooth (just keep stirring it will eventually dissolve)
Pour over hot cake right out of the oven
Let it sit for 30 minutes and then remove from pan

                                  

 

Aunt Fausta's Pies

 

 

Fausta is an unusual name.  A Saint of mercy was named Fausta and that was one quality my aunt had among many.  She was one of my dad's sisters. My aunt never uttered a complaint as far as I know.  Everything was just fine with her and she saw no evil in anything or anyone. She was known for her pies, her easy going personality, and quilting.  She used to come to our house along with my mother and she would make pies. My mother would make pillow-soft  dinner rolls and also cinnamon (rolls). Mother  fixed chicken with her famous home made noodles, and then they would quilt. They chatted quietly and laughed loudly all day long and it was some how stabilizing to my household. She and my mother were closer than my mother was to her own sister.  That happens sometimes I have found.

 

My Aunt Fausta (we pronounced it Aunt Faustee) was the best pie baker ever!   Her lard crusts were so flaky and delicious one could eat them without the filling.    I had been to her house many times for lessons on pie making, but the lessons never seemed to work once I got home.  Never one to give up on pie, I decided one Sunday afternoon when the house was quiet I would make pies until I got it right.  I had flour from one end of the kitchen to the other.  I tried pounding the dough into submission, but to no avail. I also refused to chill the dough for 30 minutes because I wanted instant gratification...always in a rush. Hence, it never worked.

 

 My aunt died at 93 the year we moved into this current home but not before Andy got her to the Ohio State Fair; a place she had always longed to visit.  I was in London and she was staying for a long visit with Andy and the boys.  Andy got it in his head that she should indeed see the fair, so he and she drove to the fairgrounds on a hot and humid day.   He hustled her hither and yon to see the quilts display and the baked goods contest. It could have killed the poor woman but it didn't and see it she did and she talked about it until she died. I loved her and her qualities and I wish I had them.

                                                         

 

I saw this cute presentation on The English Kitchen.  I don't think these are available in America, but they should be.  This is a wonderful little addition to entertaining. Spoonettes, love this idea and could run with it if we had them.
Note: Oh, you can get them on Amazon, but two packages, coming from the UK cost $50. US.  No thanks. Scoops will suit me.