Cake

It's the last week of 2023, and maybe we should Celebrate (with a little help from Kool & The Gang). Go ahead, get this bit of music out of your mind today, if you can.

Meanwhile, cake is frequently a go-to dessert for celebrations. Check out today's cake recipes, including Chocolate Guinness Cake and Red Velvet Cake. Enjoy!

ROCKY ROAD CAKE

This is one of the recipes from Off The Wall Cooking.

I was taking a speech class at a local junior college. One week we had to give a demonstration speech; one lady demonstrated how to make this cake, passing out copies of the recipe along with pieces of cake. It’s absolutely delicious. The icing can be used on almost any kind of cake; it would be really good on carrot cake!

Ingredients

1 C chopped nuts

4 eggs

1 C raisins

1 C mayonnaise

1 C mini-marshmallows

1 C water

6 oz. package of chocolate

1 package (18.25 oz) Devil’s Food cake mix w/pudding

Directions

Grease & flour 2 9" pans. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix first four ingredients in medium-size bowl. In large bowl at low speed, mix cake mix, eggs, may & water until blended. Increase speed to medium & beat for 2 minutes. Stir in nut mixture. Pour into greased & floured pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes. Cool in pan 15 minutes on cooling rack.

Icing (for Rocky Road Cake)

Ingredients

1 tsp. vanilla

1 stick butter

8 oz. cream cheese

1 box confectioners sugar

Directions

Place ingredients in bowl & cream together. When cake is cool, ice. ENJOY!

POOR MAN'S CAKE

My friend Maryann and I went to high school together, then wrote back and forth for years. She managed to visit twice, two years apart. In one letter, she sent along this and the next recipe. "Maybe my cousin’s recipe," she wrote. We've since lost touch, but I've often wondered why ever happened to her.

This, and the next one (Poor Man's Cake #2) are also from Off The Wall Cooking.

Ingredients

1 C brown sugar

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 C water

2 C flour, shifted

1/3 C oil

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 C raisins

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. salt

Directions

Mix brown sugar, water, oil, raisins, nutmeg & cinnamon in pan. Boil 3 minutes. Cool thoroughly. Add remaining ingredients. Bake in square pan in moderate oven (350 degrees) for 35 minutes.

POOR MAN'S CAKE #2

Aunt Sammy’s Depression Days

Maryann wrote, "Mom’s recipe. 1931 era. Don’t know if it’s (era) important or not."

Ingredients

3 eggs

1 C sugar

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. vanilla

2 C bread crumbs

Directions

Mix all ingredients together, blending well by hand. Grease 8X8" baking pan. Press mix into pan. Bake at 300 degrees for 30 minutes. Add raisins, fruit, or wine if available.

RED VELVET CAKE

Another one of the recipes from Off The Wall Cooking.

We lived in Connecticut for several years while I was growing up. During this time, a lady called the local radio station and said she’d recently returned from a trip. During a stay in a fancy hotel with her husband, she had this cake in their restaurant. Returning home, she wrote to the hotel and requested a copy of the recipe, saying she’d pay for it. She received a copy of the recipe, along with a bill for $300. (This was during the mid-1960s.) Furious over the bill, she proceeded to read the recipe over the air.

Ingredients

1/2 C butter (note)

1/4 tsp. salt

1-1/2 C sugar

1 C buttermilk

2 eggs, well beaten

1 T vinegar

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. baking soda

2 T cocoa

2-1/4 C flour (sifted)

2 oz. red food coloring

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease & flour two 8" round pans. Cream butter & sugar. Add eggs. Make paste of food coloring & cocoa. Add to 1st mix. Add salt & buttermilk alternately with flour. Add vanilla. Dissolve soda in vinegar & add this last. Blend all ingredients, as little as possible. Pour into pans & bake for 30-40 minutes. When cool, split each layer horizontally.

Frosting For Red Velvet Cake

Ingredients

1 C butter (note)

1 C milk

1 C sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

5 T unbleached flour

Directions

Cream butter with sugar. Cook flour & milk in saucepan until very thick, stirring the whole time. Cool. Combine 2 mixes & add vanilla, using electric mixer. Spread on cake.

Note: Butter must be used in the frosting, otherwise the frosting will liquefy & refuse to harden. In the cake itself, though, margarine may be used. Also, if two 9" round pans are used, layers don’t need to be cut in half.

CHOCOLATE BANANA CAKE

This comes from the July 2004 issue of Vegetarian Times. It begins, “This cake is as moist as it is healthful.” Serves 16.

This can be viewed online by clicking here.

Ingredients

2 cups spelt flour

1/4 cup soy flour

2/3 cup low-fat cocoa

2 Tbs. oat bran

2 Tbs. cornstarch

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. non-aluminum baking powder

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. sea salt

1 12.3-oz. pkg. lite silken tofu

1/4 cup prune purée

3/4 cup (2 medium-sized) mashed bananas

1-1/4 cups evaporated cane juice

1/2 cup enriched soymilk

1 Tbs. pure vanilla extract

Dusting of organic powdered sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F. Spray 9×13-inch baking pan with cooking oil spray.

Combine spelt flour, soy flour, cocoa, oat bran, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in large mixing bowl. Set aside.

Place tofu in food processor, and blend. Add prune purée and bananas. Blend, add remaining ingredients and process thoroughly. Make a well in dry ingredients, and fold in liquid mixture without overbeating. Pour into prepared pan.

Bake for 35 minutes, or until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven, and set aside to cool. Sprinkle with organic powdered sugar, and serve.

nutritional information Per SERVING: Calories: 150; Protein: 5 g; Total Fat: 1 g; Saturated Fat: 0 g; Carbohydrates: 35 g; Cholesterol: 0 mg; Sodium: 195 mg; Fiber: 4 g; Sugar: 18 g; Vegan

CHOCOLATE GUINNESS CAKE

This is from Nigella Lawson at The New York Times cooking enewsletter. For this recipe, Nigella wrote, "For me, a chocolate cake is the basic unit of celebration. The chocolate Guinness cake here is simple but deeply pleasurable, and has earned its place as a stand-alone treat."

Time: 1 hour 15 minutes; Yield: One 9-inch cake or 12 servings

This yumminess was featured in "AT MY TABLE; A Feast for a Holiday, Or Everyday Exulting", and can be viewed online at the bottom of the article or at https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1875-chocolate-guinness-cake.

Note: Take time to read the article; very interesting!

Ingredients

For the Cake

Butter for pan

1 cup Guinness stout

10 tablespoons (1 stick plus 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

2 cups superfine sugar

3/4 cup sour cream

2 large eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

2-1/2 teaspoons baking soda

For the Topping

1-1/4 cups confectioners' sugar

8 ounces cream cheese at room temperature

1/2 cup heavy cream

Preparation

For the cake: heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch springform pan and line with parchment paper. In a large saucepan, combine Guinness and butter. Place over medium-low heat until butter melts, then remove from heat. Add cocoa and superfine sugar, and whisk to blend.

In a small bowl, combine sour cream, eggs and vanilla; mix well. Add to Guinness mixture. Add flour and baking soda, and whisk again until smooth. Pour into buttered pan, and bake until risen and firm, 45 minutes to one hour. Place pan on a wire rack and cool completely in pan.

For the topping: Using a food processor or by hand, mix confectioners' sugar to break up lumps. Add cream cheese and blend until smooth. Add heavy cream, and mix until smooth and spreadable.

Remove cake from pan and place on a platter or cake stand. Ice top of cake only, so that it resembles a frothy pint of Guinness.

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