Yellow Cake with Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Icing
Today, we’re going to do a quick and easy recipe with a big old root system behind it. The cake we’re going to use is just a boxed mix because, well it’s not the cake that is important here, it’s the icing. My Grandmother’s old fashioned peanut butter icing. This is another boiled icing, identical to the one we used for the fudge glaze on our chocolate pound cake, only with peanut butter instead of cocoa. This cake will forever me endeared to be for one reason, my great aunt Red.
Red was my great grandmother’s sister. Her given name was “Stella” but I took to calling her Red when I was just a girl due to her insisting that her hair be dyed red at all times. She used to come and stay with my Grandparents often and I was pretty close to both her and my great grandmother, whom we all called simply by her name, “Lela”.
Red was a young one, having been born sixteen years after Lela in the modern year of 1918. Red and Lela were very close and I was their tag along. Whenever Red was visiting, my mother would always be sure to take me by there and allow me to spend a day or two with the them. Their birthdays were one day apart and Mama even started checking me out of school so that I could go take them gifts and be there for cake on the day they both celebrated (I still don’t think my siblings know about this!).
Lela passed away in 1991, when I was seventeen. I didn’t get to see Red nearly as much after that. She got in a “bad way” as folks say it and wasn’t able to get out much. Six years went by, I did see her some, but her health was declining and her birthday was coming up.
She had a daughter in California who wanted to visit and it was silently understood that Red might not be with us too much longer. Her daughter wanted to make a big event out of her birthday, so she rented a banquet hall at a hotel and invited a large crowd for a grand celebration.
As Red’s daughter went about making plans for the party, she asked Red what kind of cake she wanted. Red, with a defiant streak to match her hair color, stated plainly “Lucille makes my cake”. Her daughter apparently had missed the tradition which had grown over the years of my grandmother making Stella’s favorite cake for her birthday each year and Red growing ever fonder of it, looking forward to this fudgy peanut butter icing on her special day. So in the end, Red got her way.
I was going to college and living with my Grandmother at this time (Lucille, Lela’s daughter and Red’s niece). Granddaddy had just passed away so it was just Grandmama and myself living together as “roomies”.
The day of Red’s party arrived and I drove Grandmama the two hours to the hotel where the party was held. The two of us walked into this hotel lobby, to this fancy banquet hall with flowers and balloons, folks all dressed up and Red there with a corsage.
Enter my Grandmother carrying a glass 9×13 Pyrex dish with a Duncan Hines yellow cake and homemade peanut butter icing.
Red was thrilled. It was just what she wanted.
Red and Lela aren’t really gone, neither is Granddaddy for that matter. They all still hang around us and I know they’ll be sniffing this icing and wishing for a bite today.
Place sugar in pot…
Along with shortening and margarine…
and salt…
and milk…
Stir well and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Once it comes to a boil, stop stirring and allow to boil for one to two minutes.
Stir until blended and creamy. Act fast because this is going to be hardening up right about now.
Pour over cake and spread quickly. If it hardens too much just return to heat for a minute and stir to make it runny again.
Then give the stirring spoon to one of the waiting kids who have been drawn to the kitchen by the amazing smell.
Happy Birthday, Red. Lucille says “hi”. Yellow Cake Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Icing
Duncan Hines yellow cake mix, made according to package directions and cooled
1- 1/2 C sugar
7 T milk
2 T Shortening
2 T margarine
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 C creamy Peanut Butter
Combine sugar, milk, shortening, margarine, and salt. Bring to a rolling boil in a heavy saucepan, stirring constantly to prevent scorching. Once it reaches a boil, let boil for one ot two minutes without stirring. Remove from heat and add vanilla and peanut butter. Beat until smooth and quickly spread onto cake.
Stella “Red” and Lela, circa 1988Great Aunt and Great Grandmother
Yeah, this post choked me up too…
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Now I have always made Peanut Butter frosting like buttercream to like yours but no cooking. I am going to try to cook it though! It sounds like it might intensify the flavor!! Plus my hubby is a HUGE PB fan anything with Pb he will eat! I think I could slather PB on dog hair and serve it to him!
Oh and I have looked for a real buttermilk biscuit recipe for a while now. Since I buy buttermilk for my banana breads….and let me say this one was so easy and YUMMY Loved it!
I am def. going to have to be a blog addict for this one! Thanks for the PB icing recipe! ~Pinky aka Cristal~
*Ps re-vamping my blog today but I will be adding you onto my stalked blog list so be prepared for some visitors LOL *
Thank you so much for letting me know you tried the biscuits!!!! I’m glad they worked out for you!
Now I need your PB Buttercream frosting icing recipe if you share it!! I love buttercream!
Ten thousand “thank you’s” for coming back again and again to my blog!
We shall be mutual stalkers then! ~muhahaha~
~grins~
I would love the PB Buttercream Frosting also! I love these
That was such a beautiful post! I will definitely be making this frosting. Maybe for my little boy’s birthday this Saturday…
I love your blog!! (and thanks for saying kind things about mine, even tho I’m a novice). I’ve always loved Southern Cooking, so I’m very excited to try your recipes. Will try the PB frosting this weekend. And home made biscuits Yum!! And apple butter. I could go on and on… it’s great. I’m getting hungry now. (and it’s late, I really should go to bed)
What a wonderful story! I got a little teary eyed!And the cake looks out of this world!!!!
Thanks for you nice comment on my blueberry pancakes.
As for my photos..I ditched the point and shoot digital camera and my hubby bought me the Canon xti(digital SLR)..it make ALL the difference in the world..and I take all of my photos outside with the natural light. Any cameras built in flash just KILLS the picture. Some of the really good blogs outthere use the Lowel Ego light for the photos. I need to order one..its a table top light that makes the photos look great..Closet Cooking uses that light and all of his photos are fabulous .
Stephanie:
Thank you! My son went ga-ga over it and my three year old ate nothing but the icing off the cake, then asked for another piece! I hope your son likes it! Thank you for taking the time to read my post!!
Debbie:
~Grins really big~
You are so kind! Thank you very much for all of your compliments, I’m glad everything looks good and yummy to you!! I just love trying out new recipes, don’t you?
If you have any questions or requests, just give me a holler!
(and posh! your blog is FAB!)
Leslie:
I cannot tell you how much I appreciate you pointing me in the right direction for my photos! I won’t be able to get a camera for a while, but at least now I know what to research! The lighting is a huge help too. Ugh! I want a better camera! It breaks my heart to do this entire tutorial on something and not be able to get a good pic of the finished product!
I’m glad you liked my story, I have to admit that I am getting teary eyed just thinking about it again. I think Red would have liked me sharing that recipe.
This was a given at my grandma’s house! She made other cakes, maybe coconut sometimes, but peanut butter was IT! I had her recipe once upon a long time ago, tried it once and lost it! But I am going to give yours a go round, see if my room mate likes it. (I am sure he will) It sounds a lot like grandma’s did. Yeah, you have to move fast because it can harden pretty quick. Hey, do you or your folks put white beans over their cake when they eat it? Also, it is nice to hear someone else call it peanut butter cake, even though only the icing is peanut butter!!
Oh Topcat, I’m so excited to have this recipe here for you!!! I know how heartwrenching it can be to lose yet another recipe which links us to our past. Yes, the icing is definitely “it”! This same icing is made with cocoa to produce chocolate fudge icing in my chocolate pound cake recipe on this site as well.
White beans over cake? Not sure if I’ve seen that, but honestly, what doesn’t taste great with white beans? Now I’m hungry!
Its so good to have you here! Please let me know if you have any questions or special requests!!!!
~Christy
Yeah, beans over cake, sounds odd but my grandma and dad and his brothers and sisters swore by it! I never did indulge in that one. I had an aunt from up north (married into the family, to one of my dad’s brothers) and she thought it was the awfulist looking thing around, but after a while she started eating her cake that way too! BTW, fixing to fry up some green tomatoes. Hadn’t done that in a while but seeing them here got me wanting some. And I have the chicken dressing in the crock pot right now! Thanks for the help. (Also love your name. Not many spell it that way anymore.)
Topcat
(Christy, also!)
Topcat (Christy), first I simply must gush over what a lovely name you have! ~grins~ The spelling is simply perfect as well and only adds to the overall magnificence! ;D
WOW, you are getting off to a grand start. The only thing I love more than people commenting is people trying my recipes AND commenting!!!
Do let me know how it all turns out and thank you so much for letting me know!!!!
~Christy
Well, I had made the dressing before, but only around the holidays. After seeing how much the stove (stovetop and oven, both) have been keeping the temperature up here in the house and making the AC run constantly, I figured I better put the crock pot to use.
So, the dressing turned out great, I hadn’t put boiled eggs in it before and really like it like that. The fried green tomatoes were good, too, and I sliced them pretty thick, like you suggest, but then my roommate asked for them to be thinner in the next batches. But he ate them anyway! Just like a man!
Will probably give the cake a go this week sometime, maybe tues or wed. Wish me well and I will let you know how it turns out!
topcat
Oh Christy (topcat), you know I’m going to have to make me more dressing this week now ! LOL
I’m glad you liked it!!
Hehe, thick sliced tomatoes, thin sliced tomatoes…at least you live with someone who likes them fried!! You know, umm…no one in my family eats them but me ~sighs heavily~. I mean, my kids and dh, my extended family has much better sense!
If you have any questions whatsoever on the cake, just let me know! It makes me so happy to see folks making this particular recipe, so much nostalgia for me!
We don’t really have such a cake as ‘yellow cake’ here, we have regular butter cake but I found a recipe for a yellow cake online so I made it two weeks ago for my birthday. People loved it! I will have to try it with your peanut butter icing. I can’t believe we don’t have yellow cake here because it is sooooo good…such buttery egg yolk goodness! lol
And now I feel like I have this great secret recipe now because no-one knows what yellow cake is!
Su, that is so interesting! I would have never imagined a place not having yellow cake! When you do get to come to the states, you oughta hop into any grocery store and pick up a few boxes of Duncan Hines Yellow Cake Mix. It is DIVINE!!!
Also, anytime you need a recipe for something or are not sure what I am talking about (because y’all don’t have it there), please don’t hesitate to ask. I will gladly hunt you down whatever recipes or substitutions you need!!!
I am glad you loved it!!!!
Christy
I wish I would’ve found you sooner!! I’ve found a few of your recipes that I’ve been looking for. So many are from my grandmothers and I only have one of them left now. Every time I look for a real southern recipe my Gran used to make, all I can find are ‘gourmet’ types and Gran’s were simple and oh so good!!! I’m not done lookin at what u have but I do have some comments on the ones I’ve checked out so far.
First off, my Maw Maw was the only one I’ve ever known to make peanut butter icing. However, her’s is basically sugar water(2 parts sugar..you know) then add the peanut butter. She does hers as a 3 layer, though. My uncle and I came up with a variation, instead of yellow cake, try chocolate.(Can you tell we like reese’s cups?)
For those who want to get someone to try chocolate gravy but worried they won’t for the sake of the name, tell ‘em it’s breakfast chocolate.
I do have a question for ya though. My Gran’s biscuits were always from scratch and I remembered them to be so light they’d melt in your mouth but they had a light dustin of flour on top but I don’t remember her doing anything to them after they came out of the oven. Why is that?
I reckon I’ll leave you alone now, but I’ll be back.
Welcome to Southern Plate, cookie!
I’m thrilled to have you here!
That icing is what my grandmother puts on a three layer cake a lot also. I prefer to use a sheet cake because it hardens up so fast and only the “veterans” (grandmothers) are really good at getting it on a three layer in time!! LOL
Chocolate would be great, you’ll love my Reeses Trifle when I post that!
The biscuits……..this is an easy one. When we pat or roll the dough out, you have to sprinkle (liberally) flour over your surface so it doesn’t stick. most likely your grandmother used a rolling pin on hers, which would call for a liberal dusting of flour on top of the biscuits as well. This would keep the rolling pin from sticking as well as the biscuit cutter or drinking glass, whichever she used.
When I get mine out of the oven, they also have flour still on top. i usually brush butter over them and that hides it but I really like them just as is, the flour on top reminds me that they are homemade!
Great question! Please don’t hesitate to ask if you have any questions or special recipe requests!
Thank you again, so glad to have you here!
Christy
thanks for answering so quickly. you just verified what I always suspected…lol.
i have yet to try that p.b. cake for that exact reason, although i’ve seen her do it a million times..lol.
don’t worry, i’ll be back, i’m makin a list…he he
You’re very welcome, Cookie! I love to help! Hope you become a fixture on the Southern Plate front porch!
I have around thirty to forty web sites. Thats my business. So as you can tell I have to surf alot to stay in the loop on the net. But more importantly I am also my families cook and housewife. Which is kinda funny couse I am a guys guy except when it comes to my home. I was raised sourthern and my first wife and Mother of my daughters Has the greatest old southern traditional Georgia family you could ever imagine. I loved them then and I love em now. We married when I was 19 and she was 32 years old. Sorta broke a few traditions there. But She and her mother are the greatest old souothern cooks. Her mother could make anything. Men were expected to know how to help out and handle themselves around the kitchen so I took to learning with a zeal. She made the greatest desserts and one of the things that hurts the most about the divorce is not be able to call on MeMaw for help every now and then with a recipe or too. It was the happiest 18 years of my life. So thanks for having the recipe just like Memaw used to make it I have been looking for this for a while.
I’ve been torn about which part of your blog I like better: the recipes or the stories. Today, I’m thinking it’s the stories. The tale of Red & Lela was lovely. Whether I make the peanut butter frosting recipe or not, I’ll remember the reason it’s so special. Thanks for sharing!
I just made this and I don’t think it came out perfect. I don’t think it’s horrible. It just doesn’t look as thick as yours. Perhaps I didn’t boil it long enough. I boiled it while stirring for about 20 seconds. I set the timer for a minute after I stopped stirring it and then shut the heat off and left it there for several more seconds so I would estimate it boiled for a good 1 1/2 minutes. Once I stirred the peanut butter in, I didn’t have to worry about it hardening at all when I put it on the cake. In fact, it was so runny, I kept having to pull it up from the edge to get it back on the main part of the cake. Could you give people who are new to boiled icing an idea of what consistency they are looking for when they stop boiling it?
Meant to say, I shut the heat off after the mixture boiled a minute. It reads as if I shut it off right after I set the timer! It’s early!
oooh girl thats some yummy stuff! I just made it for Kevin’s birthday and cant wait til he gets home to taste it…hope it lasts til then!
This is my first time on this website and when I saw this I just had to try it. I’m sure glad i did because it was DELICIOUS! My 28 month old (who is the pickiest eater in the world and absolutely hates cake) gobbled this up (he even said mm mm mm after every bite). Thank you so much for such a wonderful recipe!
I love that all of your ingredients are from Wal-Mart– a true Southern girl!!
oh I am SOOOO making this right now, the cakes in the oven. Ran to Target to get the shortening!
well Christy, I just finished frosting the cake. My son is at the dentist, and Im such a BAD momma…. I couldnt just wait and let HIM lick the bowl…. I feel like a total slob! LOL! its DELISH! cant wait for it to cool down so I can chow on a full piece of cake and have it slap those calories onto my butt!!! awesome recipe, loved the story …
Just got around to trying this frosting on a Duncan Hines Butter Recipe yellow cake. OMG! After eating half the cake(in less than 24 hours), it had to leave the house. My Dad really enjoyed helping me out. Keep the receipes and the good ole southern humor coming.
Thank you for this recipe! My grandmother passed away and this was one of her signature “sunday specialties”. I had all of the ingredients written down in hopes to continue the tradition one day, but she passed away before I was able to ask her about the details. Thank you!
I just had to try this cake when my sister-in-law came to spend a couple of days with us. Everyone thought it was pretty good when I made it Friday evening. Then, we had to go work at the farm and didn’t get back home until Sunday evening. Hubby had to have another piece and could not stop raving about the cake. He said that the peanut butter flavor had permeated the entire cake. We have decided that when I make this again (and I will be making it again!), I’ll do it a couple of days in advance and just let it sit and “marinate”!
Thanks for the recipe!
Denise
Dallas, TX
I am going to try this with Blackberry Jam filling. I think it will be so good. PB and Jam Cake. What’s not to like?