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Incredibly moist Dark Chocolate Cake iced with a Whipped Cappuccino Buttercream icing and served with chocolate ice cream drizzled with chocolate syrup… 

We used to have this great restaurant in Huntsville called Darryl’s. Everyone loved that place. As a teenager, anytime homecoming, birthdays, or any other eating out occasion rolled around, we all went to Darryl’s. It got to be kind of funny because you’d show up with a date or a group of friends and it would turn out more like a class reunion with practically every other table filled with folks you know.

Unfortunately, Darryl’s closed a good while back. There is only one remaining in North Carolina, but I live in Alabama so I’ve spend over ten years pining away for my very favorite thing on their menu – Cappuccino Cake.

Cappuccino Cake was one of their signature desserts and they always brought out a huge wedge of it for birthdays and special events. My sister got her first job working there as a hostess and we’d never been more proud of her than when we’d come home on the rare occasion and find an entire cappuccino cake in our refrigerator! They served it cold (I think it is better that way) with a side of chocolate ice cream and generously drizzled chocolate syrup over the whole thing.

This is a deep dark chocolate cake iced with a whipped cappuccino buttercream icing. Does it get any better than this? Maybe, but not right now because right now, we’re focusing on this little side of heaven .

After pining away for over a decade, I decided it couldn’t be that difficult to duplicate the recipe so I set out to do just that. You can’t find a copy anywhere on the internet so I went by memory and a basic starting point of dark chocolate cake, coffee infused buttercream – and we have a winner. We have  grand prize winner. This puppy deserves one of those 6 foot tall trophies.

If I didn’t share this recipe I could retire and just bake Cappuccino cakes the rest of my life. But it’s not nice not to share recipes and I don’t really want to wash that many dishes. 

I hope you get to make this soon. It is definitely a showstopper cake perfect for any special occasion.

Come to think of it, today seems pretty special to me, doesn’t it to you? 

For the cake part, you’ll need: 

Chocolate Cake Mix*, milk, sour cream, eggs, dutch process cocoa powder (dark cocoa powder), and oil. 

*You can use any dark chocolate cake mix such as devil’s food, dark chocolate, or even regular chocolate if you like. You can also use your favorite chocolate cake recipe if you like but I like this one because it is dense and extremely moist.

In a mixing bowl, place all of your ingredients. 

Mix that with an electric mixer until well blended and smooth, about 2-3 minutes, scraping down sides as needed. 

Some folks have you add gradually but unless you’re just now joining this party, you know I’m really not a gradual person. 

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While that is mixing, grease two or three 8 inch round cake pans. I’m only using two. 

To grease my pans I fold up a paper towel and dip it in vegetable shortening and then smear it around real good.

Instead of flouring our pans, since this is a chocolate cake, I like to use cocoa powder. Just put a tablespoon or so in your pan and then…

 tilt your pan all around while patting it to distribute it evenly like this. 

Dump excess out into the trash or back yard. Squirrels need chocolate too. Just kidding. It may be bad for squirrels and then I’d get all sorts of squirrel rights activists boycotting my website and such, which is utterly ridiculous considering I’m practically running a squirrel wildlife refuge here at my house considering I have two of the biggest pecan trees you’ve ever seen in my yard but have gotten a grand total of two pecans in the past three years. The squirrels sure are plump though. And happy. In fact, I don’t think they could be any happier unless I started giving them chocolate…

Then you divide the batter evenly between your two baking pans.

This batter is going to be really thick and will likely remind you of jello.

Remember, never ever eat raw cake batter. 

But I don’t count licking it off the spatula as eating it. 

So many things are all about perspective…

~grins~

Bake cake layers in the oven at 350 for about 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. 

Note: If you are making more than two layers, check on them after twenty minutes. Mine are thicker since I’m only doing two layers so they will need to cook longer.

Once they are finished baking, remove from oven and let sit in the cake pans for ten minutes. 

After ten minutes, turn cakes out and allow to cool completely. 

I like to let mine cool and then wrap them really well and refrigerate overnight for easier icing the next day

Time to make Cappuccino Buttercream Icing!

You’ll need: Butter, milk, instant coffee, vanilla, and powdered sugar. 

I only use instant coffee for recipes such as this so I got those neat little packets that have a sleeve you open for each cup. They were just $1.00 for a box of seven so that seemed like a pretty good deal to me and my instant coffee stays fresh for whenever I need it.

When it comes to my daily coffee, I need the hard stuff. The real stuff. I’m talking coffee so strong you’d have to put quarters on your eyelids if you wanted them to shut anytime in the next eight hours. 

Take the instant coffee and stir it into your milk until dissolved.

 This may take a minute. 

You don’t have to heat your milk first though.

Place your well softened butter in a mixing bowl. 

Important: Don’t be tempted to soften your butter in the microwave, on the stovetop, or any other trick we use to soften it when we’re in a hurry for this recipe. We really want to just leave our butter on the countertop for a few hours until it softens on it’s own for this recipe. Normally, I’m all about shortcuts but this one is important because we’re gonna have us a whipped icing in the end so bits of melted butter won’t help us achieve our purpose

.

Beat for a minute or two, until fluffy like this. 

Add in all other icing ingredients. 

and beat until smooth, scraping down the sides as needed (like in this picture)

Now crank up that mixer again and beat this icing until it is fluffy, 5-7 minutes. 

If you haven’t tasted this icing by now, I’d sure like to know where you get your willpower from.

Time to ice the cake!

This cake is best if made ahead and refrigerated until good and cold. 

I know that is torture but just try it for me once, it’s totally worth the wait!

Serve with chocolate ice cream, chocolate syrup (I used Hershey’s) and a strawberry.

Eat the strawberry last – your body might get confused and think you just finished a fruit plate

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 “Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.”

Proverbs 16:24

The honeycomb is one of the strongest structures designed. Strengthen those around you with uplifting speech. Everyone needs cheerful words these days. Life and death are in the power of the tongue, Choose LIFE.

~Submitted by Marilyn Miller. Click here to submit your quote.

Baking for folks is a great way to show appreciation. Have you baked for anyone lately? Tell me what you made and who it was for in the comments on this post!

I just love this time of year. After our sweltering summers I can’t help but feel a rush of excitement when a cool breeze begins to blow. The cotton is in full bloom now and they just sprayed the defoliant this past week which means all of the green has died away and we now drive by fields that look like they’re filled with suspended balls of snow. It also means we have one jim dandy of a sinus headache with all of that defoliant in the air but we can pop a few sudafeds and still enjoy the beauty of those fields

Do you remember being a kid in the fall? I remember wearing my brother’s hand me down jacket, pulling the hood up over my head to block out the wind, and me and my sister would rake up every leaf we could find into a huge pile and then spend the day jumping in it, burying ourselves in them, and raking them up again once the pile was depleted from all of our antics. You can sure bet our neighbors didn’t have any stray leaves hanging around their yard when we were done!

I always looked forward to Mama getting out our fall clothes because that meant a fresh crop of my brother’s flannel shirts from the year before were handed down to me. I’d rather have an old worn flannel shirt than a new one any day. The soft worn flannel and slightly too large size were like being wrapped up in a hug from sun up until we were called back into the house at supper time. Most of my childhood was spent wearing my brother’s old clothes, which I have to laugh at now because I know my daughter would be mortified at the very thought of putting on “boy clothes”. But for us, we were just proud to have what we had and I thought he’d hung the moon so I was proud to be following in his footsteps, even if it was just because I was wearing his old shoes.

I experienced fall more back then than I do now, because as a child I absolutely lived in it. Whereas now, I’m sitting here looking at it through my living room window. But you know what? A ray of sunshine is calling my name and the breeze just floated an orangish red leaf by. I think it’s time to pick the kids up from school and show them how to build a jim dandy of a leaf pile…

First, let me show you how to make pumpkin roll cupcakes.

All the flavor and goodness of a pumpkin roll but with a lot less fuss.

You’ll need: All purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, eggs, sugar, pumpkin, and pumpkin pie spice.

Goodness gracious, this looks like a commercial for Great Value brand! The ironic thing is that I’ve gotten in the habit of shopping mostly at Krogers nowadays, mainly because the people are so very nice there. I love it when you can shop someplace and get to know folks. When you walk in the door and they say “Hi” and you know they recognize you. It just feels like a community. Like the good old days.

I know a lot of the folks at my Wal Mart are very friendly as well, but with the size of the store and turnaround and such, it’s just harder to get to know people there. Just wanted to clarify that I like people at both places!

In a mixing bowl, place your flour, baking soda, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, salt, and sugar.

Okay, so basically just measure out all of your dry ingredients and toss them in a bowl.

Stir that up with a spoon just to mix it up a bit.

Now add in your eggs and pumpkin.

And mix it up until well combined and smooth.

Yes, it will be this horribly putrid orange color. This always looks like bad baby food to me, but I promise it will taste amazing. In fact, it tastes pretty dern good right now. Not that I want you to taste it, because it has raw eggs in it, and everyone knows that if folks taste anything with raw eggs they’ll keel over and die within the hour.

So don’t do that. And just ignore that I said it tasted good in batter form because, you know, there is no way I could POSSIBLY know that without tasting it and with those raw eggs, had I of had even the smallest taste, I would have met certain doom and obviously would not be here typing to you now after doing such a reckless thing.

~breathes~

Now that we’ve got that settled…

Divide batter evenly among the cups of a twelve cup muffin tin, that has been lined with cupcake papers.

I was trying to decide if I wanted to make mini cupcakes or regular cupcakes for this tutorial so as I was getting ready to photograph it I texted my friend Jyl:

Me : “Full cupcakes or minis?”

Jyl : “I say full because I don’t just want a mini. I want more. And it sounds better to say I ate one cupcake than it does to say I ate five mini ones.”

Her wisdom made sense so we have full size cupcakes in this tutorial

Bake those at 350 for 20 minutes, or until the center springs back when lightly pressed.

Allow to cool completely.

I stick mine in the refrigerator so I don’t have to wait as long. Patience is a virtue but I’m afraid it isn’t one I often possess.

Now we’re gonna make our icing.

This icing is the traditional filling for a pumpkin roll and you’ll notice that it doesn’t use near as much sugar as traditional cream cheese icing does, and I actually like that better. It still tastes plenty sweet though.

You’ll need: Confectioner’s sugar, butter, a brick of cream cheese, and vanilla.

You don’t need this gallon looking thing of imitation vanilla that I have but that was the best deal at Sam’s club and you know how I am about buying in bulk…

Okay, you probably don’t know how I am about buying in bulk, but trust me, my husband (who recently had to load and unload six months worth of tomatoes and apple juice from my car) thinks you are better off NOT knowing how I am about buying in bulk.

Toss all of your icing ingredients into a mixing bowl.

You know a lot of recipes want you to add things gradually, sift things, and hold your pinky toes a certain way while making them. I’m not like that. Dump. Mix, Bake, Eat. If I’m gonna treat something with that great of care it needs to be cute, bald, have teeny tiny feet, and my last name.

I have no idea where my final icing picture went. So just beat this up until smooth and creamy and then imagine a photo of it being all smooth and creamy.

While you’re at it, imagine my house is clean, too!

~grins~

Alrighty, now we’ve got our icing mixed up and we’re ready to fill come cooled cupcakes.

Note: You can TOTALLY skip this step if you want and just put a big old gob of icing on the top of these puppies. Half the time I skip this step, but I went the extra mile for you today on accounta I love you so much.

What I do is get a gallon freezer bag and then I place a big piece of tape over one corner of it before snipping off the point. Insert whatever icing tip you can find, preferably one with a point on it, and you’re ready to go.

Okie Dokie, now fill you bag with icing and seal it shut really well. Take the pointed tip and stick it down as far as it will go into the cupcake like this. Give it a good squeeze.

Or just skip ahead to the part where we put a big old gob of icing on these things

Note: My plastic bag went kapoot after about six cupcakes and icing went all over tarnation. Clearly, some plastic bags are made better than others and clearly, if plastic bags were people I’d not be a very good judge of character.

Some will end up with more icing in them than others but it is the thought that counts.

Top each cupcake with a big dollop of icing and spread slightly.

I think these are prettier if you leave a bit of the edges showing. Enjoy!

I store these in the refrigerator. They’d be beautiful topped with a pecan half.

Enjoy with a cup of coffee or as a special after dinner treat

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“If you treat every situation as a life and death matter, you will die a lot of times.”

~Dean Smith

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Today one of our family’s dear friend, Kate Burhop, was gracious enough to share her Grandmother’s Peanut Butter Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting recipe with us. She even brought me a piece, too! It was absolutely amazing and I’ll soon be making one of my peanut butter loving family. This is similar to my Old Fashioned Yellow Cake With Peanut Butter Fudge Icing but the from-scratch cake and cream cheese twang in with the peanut butter icing really differentiate it and I know you’ll love it as much as I do! Thank you so much, Kate!

Gratefully, Christy

From Kate:

My mamaw passed away when I was just a little girl, but since then there are two major things I’ve learned about her from my family.

1. She was shorter than your average woman.  She was 4’11’’ if she stood up as straight as she could, which was a big difference from Papaw’s height of 6’6’’. But just because Mamaw was short didn’t mean she couldn’t hold her own. Papaw would call her “Banty Rooster” because she had red hair and a temper to match.
2. She could cook like no one’s business.  Mamaw was a true Southern cook with a natural know how in the kitchen. She knew all of her recipes by memory and was never once seen with a measuring cup.  Intuition was a large part of her cooking, which made it difficult for anyone to borrow her recipes.

Mamaw was particularly well known for making a to-die-for peanut butter cake and frosting.  When asked to write down the recipe with ingredient measurements, she never could.  She would say, “Just do it ‘til it looks right.” Finally, people realized that the best way to copy her cooking was to watch her firsthand.  That’s how the family finally managed to get her “Peanut Butter Cake” and “Peanut Butter, Cream Cheese Frosting” recipes on paper.

This is the first cake that I learned to bake from scratch, and I can say that it is absolutely the most requested dessert recipe from my family. It’s stick-to-your-mouth good and never leaves a crumb to spare!

For the cake and frosting you’ll need: Self Rising Flour, Sugar, Baking Soda, Peanut Butter, Cream Cheese, Powdered Sugar, Butter (Mamaw liked Blue Bonnet), and 2 eggs.

Place sugar, butter, peanut butter and eggs in a mixing bowl and mix up with an electric mixer until well combined and smooth.

Mix self-rising flour with baking soda. I don’t sift. Neither did Mamaw. A spoon works just fine for this. Add flour to wet mixture alternately with the buttermilk.

Frost your cake however you wish!

I assure you it will taste just as good if not better slopped on the cake as it will neatly decorated.

Don’t forget your glass of milk!

I’d like to hear from you in the comments below!

Kate’s Family calls it “Frosting” and my family usually calls it “Icing”. What does your family call it?

If you aren’t grateful, you’re not paying attention.

This is the second coconut cake recipe on SouthernPlate.com. To see my recipe for Daddy’s Coconut Cake, please click here.

Today I had planned on impressing you with my detailed listing of the name of every teacher who has ever taught me. I even had the entire post written up in a rough draft, weaving a storyline in betwixt of the impact all of my teachers have had on who I am today. But sometimes, just because you are ready to tell a story, doesn’t mean it is time for that particular story to be told.

You see I just returned home, and now I have another story.

This morning Brady had to go take a placement test at his school so I took my computer up there with me, thinking I’d sit and work on my blog post while I waited – but apparently that wasn’t what I was meant to do today. I just love it when our own plans are pushed aside for something better, don’t you?

I learned back on my book tour how important it is to pay attention to people who are placed right in front of you, or in many cases beside you. Up until last October, I was not well acquainted with traveling by myself and had never thought I would be. But I found myself on countless flights that month, each time traveling alone, and just about every time sitting  right next to the exact person I needed to be sitting next to. At the start of my tour I would carry a book as a backup plan but by the time the end of my tour rolled around I would just get on the plane, situate my stuff, and sit and wait to see what was in store for me. I’d watch the door  as other passengers boarded and got so in tune with the ebb and flow of fate that oftentimes I instantly recognized who my seatmate was the moment they came on the plane. “Well, lets see what I’m gonna learn on this leg of my trip” I’d think to myself.

Sometimes it would be a person I would have an opportunity to help in some way, sometimes it would be a person who was there to help me in some way, but each time I sat beside someone with an open and receptive heart, I was able to glean the wisdom they were there to give and as a result, each time I got off an airplane, I was a better person than when I had boarded.

Interesting point: Every time this has happened to me, it has always begun with the other person looking me straight in the eye and smiling. Perhaps that single gesture is the divine prompting or introduction saying “Alright Christy, here we go..”

It’s amazing how many people like this are put into our lives every single day. It’s like a fishing pole with bait is placed right before us all throughout the day and whenever we bite, whenever we pay attention to it, we get the benefit of the worm. I shudder to think of how many times I’ve waded right through water infested with worm filled hooks just waiting on me and I never noticed a single one because my mind is too busy with tasks at hand or worries of the day.

Like most other fish in this big ocean of ours, I’ve suffered some severe malnutrition in my time simply by not taking notice of the worms around me.

And so, as I’ve grown in years and lessened slightly in my own foolishness, I’ve learned to be more receptive.

Such as today, when a lady walked into the empty art room I was busy typing away in and sat down, looking into my eyes with a smile and a whispered “I’m sorry, is it okay to wait in here?” I smiled back and said “Oh sure, and don’t worry about being quiet. I’m so used to having kids hollering about that the quiet actually bothers me to work in anyway.”

Her smile had come just as easily as my own and over the next few minutes we struck up a conversation that had me closing my computer and leaning in on it as she spoke. It was one of those conversations where a stranger begins suddenly sharing their heart with you and every word seems to echo one that was already in your head. Definitely not a coincidence, but a meant-to-be.

Teresa and I were both still talking when her son got finished with the test and came in to patiently wait on us. We were still talking several minutes later when Brady came in and sat down to patiently wait on us. When we finally rose to exit, we continued talking down the hallway, down the stairs, into the lobby, and down the front walkway of the school. She encouraged me, she enlightened me, she shared with me words of wisdom that echoed thoughts already in my head and words of wisdom that turned on light bulbs.

I had expected to get some work done but I didn’t realize when I woke up this morning and someone else was planning on orchestrating an encouragement session for me through the guise of a stranger waiting in an empty classroom.

I don’t believe in coincidences. I believe in meant-to-be. It’s not only early birds who get the worm. It’s the person who has the sense to see it when it looks them in the eye and smiles.

I think we’re all offered worms each day. It is our own fault if we go away hungry.

This cake is from another gem of a person who was placed into my life, Miss Patsy McGough. We had a ladies meeting at church this past Sunday and everyone was asked to bring a dish. Lo and behold, I ended up with a piece of one of the best coconut cakes I’ve ever had on my plate and guess who should make it but Miss Patsy herself!

I chatted with her a few precious minutes and it turns out she follows Southern Plate. I said, “This cake is wonderful” and she replied “Aw honey, I hate to tell anyone the recipe because it’s just too easy!”. I assured her that the recipes I always thought of as “too easy” were the ones that were the biggest hits on Southern Plate and when she shared it with me I remarked about how it was very much like my Butterfinger cake, which is one of the most popular recipes on the website. She was kind enough to give me permission to share her recipe with you and I know you’re going to enjoy the ease and amazing coconut infused taste of this light tasting cake.

Miss Patsy, just getting to talk to you those few minutes made my step a little lighter and my heart a little happier. I hope you read this post and understand that when I say you were definitely a worm for me that day, I mean that in the best kind of way!

You’ll need: Yellow Cake Mix (which you will prepare according to package directions), Cream of Coconut, sweetened flaked coconut, sweetened condensed milk, and some whipped topping*.

I’m using Dollar General generic whipped topping because I’m all elite like that ~grins~

Prepare your cake according to package directions.

Normally, we’d make a 9×13 cake but with only four of us and all of the baking I do, that is just too much cake. So today I’m dividing it up and making two 8×8 cakes instead, then I can send the other one to a neighbor, friend, or family member. Whoever picks up the phone when I call

Pour your sweetened condensed milk in a bowl…

You know, any time a recipe calls for a whole can of sweetened condensed milk, I always add almost a whole can…because I have to have a little bit for myself! I love this stuff.  A few folks have posted on Facebook and in comments that they use it in my iced coffee concentrate to make the perfect cup of coffee and that is at the top of my to do list to try one of these days.

Add your cream of coconut.

Give that a good stir

As soon as your cakes are done, poke holes all in the top of them with a fork.

I am using a plastic fork because I was photographing this and sent Brady into the kitchen to get me one and this is what he brought back.

For a moment I paused and thought about “Now it won’t look very nice if I’m using a plastic fork in the photos on Southern Plate”. Then I immediately got over myself and just used it. We’re all family here, anytime we feel the need to put on airs we’re just wasting energy that can best be spent cleaning our kitchens anyway.

Pour the mixture over your hot cake.

Like so.

It’ll all soak in there real good over time. Now cover your cake and let it cool, then put it in the refrigerator until it is completely cold.

Once your cake is good and cold, ice with whipped topping.

If you want, you can make this from scratch but I usually opt for doing it the easy way because it saves a lot of money and is one less dish to wash.

My recipe for homemade whipped cream is on this post (click here).

Now we need to toast our coconut. You can add it on there as it is but toasting it gives it a neat, nutty texture and a beautiful color. Either way, just go with what you’re in the mood for but I’m gonna show ya how to toast it just in case.

Place coconut on a baking sheet and put it in a 350 degree oven.

Watch this carefully and stir it often until it is nice and uniformly brown, anywhere from 10-15 minutes.

Here it is, all done! You can toast it more or less, depending on the level of patience you have at the time you are fooling with it.

Let it cool for a few minutes when you’re done before moving on to the next step.

Sprinkle that on top of your cake and you’re ready to go!

Enjoy – and share!

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

This recipe format and the “save recipe” feature (see top of recipe above) is brand new to Southern Plate! You can now save Southern Plate recipes to a recipe box and use that box to add ingredients to a grocery list as well. There is even a free corresponding iPhone app that allows you to access your recipe box on your telephone (Just search for ZipList in the app store). I am in the process of coding every single recipe on SouthernPlate.com to work with this great new feature so in the meantime you may notice that some recipes do and some don’t as of yet. I hope to have them all converted in the next few weeks so stay tuned!

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”

~ Melody Beattie

Submitted by Michelle. Submit your quote by clicking here (I always need more quotes!)

]]> http://www.southernplate.com/2011/08/miss-patsys-too-easy-coconut-cake-and-a-tale-of-meant-to-be.html/feed 97 http://www.southernplate.com/2011/05/srawberry-bread.html http://www.southernplate.com/2011/05/srawberry-bread.html#comments Tue, 17 May 2011 14:58:26 +0000 Christy Jordan http://www.southernplate.com/?p=14673 Pin it

Before the show, I wasn't dressed for the show yet because I didn't want to spill coffee on my shirt! Lol. For reference, I am 5'5"

I had a great time at QVC this past weekend and want to thank everyone who tuned in to watch! I have never seen a more organized television station in all of my life, those folks have it down to an exact science! Everyone is so nice, too, you could not ask for a friendlier group of people. I gave David multiple hugs for you all, just as I promised I would!

Did I mention this is gonna make one loaf of bread? Oh I didn’t? Well this is gonna make one loaf of bread

If you can talk you can sing.

If you can walk you can dance.

Submitted by Megan Hache. Submit your quote or read others by clicking here.

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This is one of my Grandmother Lucy’s favorite cakes so she often has it sitting under a dome on her counter whenever folks come to visit. It is very moist and flavorful, just the right thing for a hot summer’s day or a picnic.

Grandmama was a career woman, working as a secretary for Morton Thiokol where she met my beloved Grandaddy (the one I talk about at the start of the last chapter of my cookbook). For extra income she got up early each morning and  made a big batch of sausage biscuits, which she sold from her desk for fifty cents each. She did this for as long as I can remember and the men who worked there filed in every day to get them. Her biscuit money was used for all sorts of things, but more often than not it went to help out various folks who might need “a little something extra”. Grandmama says “I made a whole lot of money through the years with those biscuits…”

Most of her food was given away though, and her aluminum cake carrier made countless trips to work toting this Orange Supreme cake. If you’ve never had it before, you’re in for a treat. If you have had it before, you’re probably making out your grocery list now ~grins~. You won’t be disappointed!

You’ll need: Orange Supreme Cake Mix*, Apricot Nectar* (I couldn’t find it so I am using Mango Nectar), Oil, Sugar, and 4 eggs.

*Duncan Hines has an entire line of supreme cake mixes but not all grocery stores carry them. I was not able to find this at Wal Mart but did find it at Krogers.

*Nectar is commonly found on the fruit juice aisle.

Place all ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix up with an electric mixer until well combined and smooth.

Using cooking spray, grease a bundt pan. If you have a bundt pan that tends to stick, you might want to grease and flour it instead.

This bundt pan is my Mother’s Day gift. I baked with one like it when I cooked with Paula Deen and thought I’d get one for myself as a little souvenir.

It really releases cakes like a charm! Here is a link in case you’d like to get one for yourself. I just love the blue color

Paula Deen Stoneware Sunflower Fluted Mold, Aqua

There is a funny story about me, Paula Deen, and this dish. I loved the dish the moment I saw it and during a break in filming I asked Paula where she got it. She replied “Oh, it’s mine.” I thought that was an odd answer. I mean, of course it was hers, we were in her kitchen. I didn’t realize until the next day that she meant it was from her line! ~snickers~

Pour your batter into the bundt pan.

Of course, this is called a “fluted mold” because the term “bundt pan” is trademarked but I’m just gonna call it a bundt pan because I feel like walking on the wild side today.

Bake at 325 for one hour. Allow to cool ten minutes in pan before turning out to cool completely.

Now, if you want we can make a glaze for it.

Glazes are super simple to make so lets just whip up a confectioner’s sugar glaze real quick because it will make our final picture prettier.

Place about a cup of confectioner’s sugar in a small bowl. Add in two tablespoons of softened butter (or margarine)

Add in a tablespoon of milk.

Cut all of that together with a fork and add a weeeee bit more milk.

Add the milk just a tablespoon or so at a time because we want this to be the consistency of glue and it can get too thin really fast.

No worries though, if it gets too thin, just add more confectioner’s sugar.

You should also add a teaspoon of vanilla or butter flavoring too, but I don’t have a photo of that so use your imagination

This is the consistency I want. It is like school glue and will go over the cake really well. Drizzle that over your cooled cake.

And serve to those you love

Each morning at my son’s school, after the Pledge of Alligance (which includes “One nation under God” : ) ), the children say the school promise which is:

I promise to make all my actions, positive actions. Failure is not an option.

Submitted by Debi. Submit your quote by clicking here.

]]> http://www.southernplate.com/2011/05/grandmamas-orange-supreme-cake.html/feed 76 http://www.southernplate.com/2011/02/pufkys-hot-milk-cake-guest-kitchens.html http://www.southernplate.com/2011/02/pufkys-hot-milk-cake-guest-kitchens.html#comments Sun, 27 Feb 2011 16:16:05 +0000 Christy Jordan http://www.southernplate.com/?p=13886 Pin it

I dearly love getting to hear about your treasured recipes and the wonderful people who made them for you. A few months back I sent out a call for submissions to Southern Plate subscribers with a special email address to submit these to. I’m not currently taking submissions but will send out another call to subscribers when I open it up again (I have so many I want to share already). Today Susan Spencer shares her dear mother’s greatly anticipated recipe for Hot Milk Cake.

Dear Family,

I hope you’re all having a wonderful Sunday. We’re enjoying the tail end of a visit from my mother and father in law so the kids are getting in a few more hours of play with their grandparents before they have to head back to the great state of Georgia. I hope you find time today to enjoy with friends and family. In today’s unpredictable economy, the only investment that will yield definitive lifelong returns is the time you invest in your family!

With that in mind, I’m sharing with you a final recipe from Susan Spencer who was kind enough to share several of her dear mother’s recipes. Her mother was affectionately known as “Pufky” and today’s recipe is one of Susan’s favorites as she mentions below”

Mom was an amazing cook and baker.  There were five of us kids at home, so with seven people around the dinner table every night, and grandparents every Sunday, she had plenty of people to practice on!  One favorite family tradition was that on your birthday, you were able to choose the menu.  My birthday dinner was always the same:  Picnic Chicken, Macaroni & Cheese, string beans, and Hot Milk Cake, with strawberries and Cool Whip!  Her Picnic Chicken is so delicious, and is wonderful served either hot or cold.

If you’d like to view the other two recipes I posted from Pufky, you can visit the following:

• Blue Ribbon Brownies
• Picnic Chicken

This one has been greatly anticipated since Susan first mentioned it in the Blue Ribbon Brownies introduction. I’ve enjoyed sharing Pufky’s recipes with you and hope you will enjoy this final one. My next Guest Kitchens post will feature another wonderful recipe from one of your dear ancestors.

I hope you get to make this soon. I think my mother plans on making it this week! Have a wonderful Sunday.

Gratefully,

Christy

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“Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter which fork you use.”

~ Emily Post. Submitted by Mary in MN. Add to our collection of uplifting, wise, and motivating quotes by clicking here.

This is a post I have dreamed of doing but never had time to get to until today. Join me as I live my dream today!

~Queue angelic choir~

A CHEESECAKE BAR!

Just look at that photo. If you are a cheesecake lover, I bet one of those pieces is just screaming out for you to reach into the computer and pick it up. We had one of these back in the day when I was living in the ladies dorm at the University of North Alabama.

I've got a lot to say today so I'm going to throw random photos of cheese cake into this post just to keep it lively..

About once a month the cafeteria in my dorm would host a special night where they had steak and other “fancy food”. I usually skipped the night in lieu of studying because as an “older” student I didn’t really feel like I fit in with the rest of the crowd so I mostly stayed in my room and kept my nose in the books. When they boasted a cheesecake bar, though, I was unable to resist. They used store bought cheesecakes but today I’m going to show you how to make your own low-maintenance baked cheesecake at home. Yes, I just said low maintenance baked cheesecake and we’re even doing it all from scratch!

As a Home Economics Degreed person with a minor in foods and nutrition, I feel compelled to remind you that cheesecake is a dairy

 See, where cheesecake throws the most people is you think you have to have a special springform pan for it because just about every cheesecake recipe known to man calls for one. I just refuse to allow my cheesecake to be that high maintenance. I think the main reason a lot of our food gets “uppity” is just because we let it. So today, lets we’re just gonna make us a good old home-grown country cheesecake and if you treat it like it’s a good old country dessert, it’ll act like it’s a good old country dessert!

Dairy=Calcium=Strong bones! This is practially a health food!

I think a lot of hoity toity desserts grow tired of their hoity toity lives from time to time. They get used to being served on fancy plates in uppity restaurants day in and day out and what they really wanna do is just kick their shoes off, feel some worn carpet between their little toes, and hang out with the people.

I don’t know about you, but right about now I feel like I’m doing a real public service to cheesecake by making it in my old 9×13 pan.

And I also think its cool that I just managed to somehow give toes to fancy desserts. Hey, as long as I manage to amuse myself we’re good .

The filling itself is pretty simple. Cream Cheese, eggs, little bit of lemon juice, vanilla, and some sugar.

There, pretty straight forward, huh?

Nothing intimidating here, folks!

The crust is even easier: Graham cracker crumbs, butter (or margarine), and sugar.

To make the crust, melt your butter in a bowl and add your sugar.

Then dump in your crumbs.

Stir that up until it’s pretty well blended.

You can add a little more melted butter if you like but don’t worry if it’s still a little crumbly, it’ll be just fine.

Now press that into the bottom of a 9×13 inch pan.

Bake at 350 for about ten minutes, or until lightly golden.

Okay, now put our cheese in a mixing bowl.

It’s important that you soften your cream cheese and butter at room temperature for a while. This is the one thing I really do reccomend at least trying to do. I am the world’s worst at forgetting to get it out and then trying to creatively soften it myself at the last minute. I do a little microwave sometimes, place it on a warm stove top, place it in a gently warmed oven, etc.

Even though I do that when I have to, the absolute best thing to make your life easier is to just put it out on the counter top and let it soften a few hours.

It’s just that this requires advance planning though and therein lies my problem.

I’m not so good at the advance planning part. I’m more of a “Hey, what do I want to make RIGHT NOW and have ready to eat in half an hour?”

~shrugs~ It works for me though because I decided a long time ago to take my persistent character flaws (disorganization, spontaneous burst of excitement, overuse of cosmetics, chattiness, etc) and declare them to be… (wait for it…wait for it…)

Part of my charm.

~winks and grins~

(Oh and that is key. Whenever you declare anything to be part of your natural charm you simply must wink and grin afterwards to prove that you do, after all, have charm. It also helps if you type things in pink from time to time.)

So now that I’ve taught you how to excuse away those nagging character flaws, lets get back to cheesecake.

Add in your sugar and mix that up til it gives in to your will and…

Becomes all creamy. Now add in your eggs, vanilla, and lemon juice.

Now if you are new to Southern Plate, you need to know that I am a huge advocate of using the cheapest ingredients you can find so just head on out and buy that .98 bottle of imitation vanilla and we won’t ever tell. I know a lot of you are diehard-make-your-own-only-pure-vanilla-will-work-for-me type folks and that is perfectly alright to.

You see the cool thing about the Southern Plate family is that we come from all kinds, with all sorts of opinions and ideas about what is ideal in our kitchens, but be us cheap or extravagant, steadfast or go with the flow, we’re all family and we love each other anyway.

~sighs happily~

I just love you!

I’m using a Mexican vanilla because it’s pretty cheap and you can find it on the aisle with all of the yummy Mexican ingredients. Interesting fact here, did you know that sweetened condensed milk in the Mexican section of my grocery store is over a DOLLAR cheaper than sweetened condensed milk on the baking aisle? It has the identical ingredients, same stuff on the nutrition label, and is made by Nestle, but the label is in Spanish and the sweetened condensed milk on the baking aisle is generally put out by Eagle Brand or some such, but is a DOLLAR more! You know what this tells you?

Spanish speaking folks are smarter than us – and a dollar richer every time they buy sweetened condensed milk

You can’t take anything for granted shopping. I price check just about everything each time I shop for groceries.

Oh okay! I’ll get back to the cheesecake again…

Beat that until its all smooth and creamy, or until you get tired of fooling with it – whichever comes first.

Give you one guess which came first for me

Smear that into your pan, spreading it over your crust.

Like so

Place this in a 300 degree oven and bake for 55 minutes, or until set in the center.

Now here is another part about making a cheesecake that folks have little frantic fits over: how to prevent cracking.

There are all sorts of things you can do to avoid the center of your cheesecake cracking. You can place a dish of water beneath it in the oven. You can hit the pan gently a few times on the counter to get out any air bubbles that might have gotten trapped while you were mixing it. You can also make sure your cream cheese is really softened because if there were lumps in it (you know, those little bumpy things you see in my picture right above here) they may cause a crack to form as well.

Or you can just do like I do and cook it and not worry about it because in the grand scheme of things, how important is it? I mean, if someone hands me a piece of homemade cheesecake, the last thing on my mind is taking time to pause and critique it. I bet your family is the same. Seriously, I’m starting to think there has been a vast conspiracy among some people to make the rest of us think cheesecake is high maintenance just so they can keep it to themselves. To them I say “Pfft!”

Alright, now lets talk toppings while that cheesecake is baking.

Here are some topping ideas I came up with but the possibilities are limitless.

Toppings ideas:

• Any type of canned pie filling (blueberry, strawberry, cherry, etc)
• Canned mandarin oranges (drain the juice)
• Caramel topping
• Super easy praline sauce*
• chocolate syrup
• chocolate chips
• Whipped cream

Did you catch that *super easy praline sauce up there? Want the recipe? Here it is and it is sooooooooo very complicated..

place pecans in a jar, fill about halfway.

Pour in some store bought caramel topping, whatever is cheapest

and There ya go!

Pecan Praline Sauce.

Don’t tell anyone how easy that was and we’ll just keep it between us.

Now for the cheesecake photos!

This is our pecan praline sauce

Cherry Pie Filling

Blueberry Pie Filling

Mandarin oranges

They are just canned ones that I drained but really pretty and delicious on top of cheesecake

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Cheesecake Bar

Ingredients

• 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1 stick butter, melted
• 4-8 ounce packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup sugar plus 1/4 cup for crust
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 4 eggs

Instructions

1. Combine melted butter, crumbs, and 1/4 cup sugar. Stir until well combined and crumbly. Press into bottom of a 9x13 pan and bake at 350 for ten minutes, or until very lightly browned.
2. In mixing bowl, combine cream cheese and sugar. Beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs, lemon juice, sugar, and vanilla. Mix until well combined and creamy - or until you get tired of fooling with it. A few lumps won't kill anyone. :)
3. Pour over crust and bake at 300 for 55 minutes or until set in the center. *Notice I lowered the temperature from when I baked the crust - that's one of those important steps :).
4. Cool and then refrigerate several hours before serving. Cut into twelve squares.
5. Serve alongside your toppings bar for a dessert everyone is sure to love!

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Louise submitted a great quote that seems just like something my mother would say

and is definitely something my Mama has always taught me to live by.

It is easier to leave angry words unspoken

than to mend a heart those words have broken.

Thank you Louise! Submit your quote by clicking here and visiting our Give A Penny Page

]]> http://www.southernplate.com/2010/11/cheesecake-bar-make-everyone-happy.html/feed 146 http://www.southernplate.com/2010/08/jeanne-robertsons-7-up-pound-cake.html http://www.southernplate.com/2010/08/jeanne-robertsons-7-up-pound-cake.html#comments Thu, 26 Aug 2010 13:25:10 +0000 Christy Jordan http://www.southernplate.com/?p=10406 Pin it

Have you pre-ordered the Southern Plate Cookbook? Be sure and click here to find out how you can get a free signed book plate!

I had this great psychology professor my first quarter of community college who used to talk about how his grandmother had worried about him going to college. “Don’t you get to being one of those educated fools now” she’d say, her only experience with educated folks being that of them looking down on her or seeing them without any common sense at all.

It is a theory held by some folks that you can educate yourself to an extent that you lose all common sense.  While I’ve known folks who could fit that mold but I don’t think its so much the extensive education as it is the detachment from your roots that causes you to lose sight of what life is like on the other side of the tracks. Still, I think it takes all kinds of folks to make the world go round and maybe some of us need to be a little detached to be able to do the hard math ~winks~.

Some of the most educated folks I know are as down home and unpretentious as they can be. “Just plain old thangs” as folks would call them, meant as a compliment when referring to someone who was generally highly regarded but didn’t put themselves up on a pedestal or treat anyone as if they were better than them. “She’s got a PHD and all but she’s still just a plain old thang”. That’s about the loftiest praise and were I to ever achieve anything to that extent its what I hope folks would say about me.

This is a wonderful comedian called Jeanne Robertson and today I’m bringing you her talk about why you shouldn’t send a man to the grocery store, a story about her husband, a man who, in her own words ” has over educated himself”. I have seen this countless times and yet I still go back to watch it again every now and then. She got me curious about the cake she talks about in this routine so I mosied over and found it on her website. The tutorial follows.

Lawd, I love this woman.

Now, when you are done laughing and have finished calling your Mama, your neighbor, and a few of your closest friends to tell them about this video, you’ll probably get to thinking about the pound cake she talks about in the video…read on

You’ll need: Flour, Sugar, Shortening, Butter or margarine, 7-up (or generic “Twist Up” like I’m using), eggs, vanilla, and a bit of lemon flavoring.

Here is a bit closer shot of the flavorings.

I usually use the cheap vanilla but if you swear by the real stuff or homemade or whatever, knock yourself out and I’ll still be happy.

You just need a little bit of the lemon lime coke so you can get one of these cute little baby cans if you like.

Place your sugar, shortening, and butter in a mixing bowl.

Mix that up until well blended.

Add your lemon extract or flavoring or whatever it is you found in your pantry or went out and bought.

Cooking isn’t rocket science. If it were, we’d all be a lot skinnier.

Add in your vanilla.

and all of your eggs.

Mix that up really well

Add in your flour.

and your 7-up-ish type beverage.

Mix all of that up.

Then you’re going to pour that into a greased and floured bundt pan.

Bake at 300 for one hour, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

After it has baked let sit in pan for ten minutes and then turn out.

Goodness, can you smell that?

Now we need to make our glaze. Place your confectioner’s sugar in a bowl. Add a wee bit of lemon flavoring.

And a wee bit of milk. Stir that up until it looks kind of like school glue. Don’t worry, it won’t taste like glue If it is a bit thin, just add more confectioner’s sugar. I always end up making mine too thin to begin with and have to add more.

If you end up with any bad spots because you had a friend who was about to leave and you needed to turn it out sooner so you could send some with her, don’t worry about it. We’re here to eat our food, not build a shrine to it.

Enjoy your cake!

Now for more fun, click here to watch Jeanne’s video on why you shouldn’t go rafting with a Baptist. You can visit Jeanne’s website by clicking here.

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Jeanne Robertson’s 7-Up Pound Cake

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter or margarine
• 1?2 cup shortening
• 3 cups sugar
• 1-1/2 teaspoons lemon extract
• 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract*
• 5 eggs
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 7 fluid ounces 7-Up (Can use diet)
• 1-1/2 cups confectioner's sugar (glaze)
• 2 tablespoons milk (glaze)
• 1/4 tsp lemon extract (glaze)

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, place butter, shortening, and sugar. Beat until it is fluffy and well mixed. Add in lemon extract and vanilla flavoring. Add in all of the eggs and beat again until blended in. Add in all of your flour and then seven up. Mix until smooth and creamy. Pour into greased and floured tube pan (Jeanne just uses Baker's Joy to spray on her pan to make this easier). Bake at 300 for one hour, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Jeanne says to let it sit for thirty minutes before turning out. I let mine sit for ten because that is just what I'm used to but I'll give thirty a try next time!
2. Combine all glaze ingredients and stir until smooth. Add more milk if too thick, more confectioner's sugar if too thin. Pour over cooled cake.
3. *Y'all saw how I do this in my Peanut butter pie tutorial. I just give a pour and leave it to God decide how much vanilla goes in there!
4. **I added the glaze but the original recipe didn't have it on there. If you make these to freeze, don't glaze them first, wait til you thaw 'em!

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A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs. It’s jolted by every pebble in the road.

~Henry Beecher

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