Yellow Caramel POKE Cake

Two missionaries were coming for supper tonight-- 

this quick/easy dessert was our "finisher".

It's what I call a "doctored up" box cake!

For just the cake part of this, I did not follow the directions that are on the back of the yellow "boxed" cake mix.  Instead, I added "things"--  I did with the cake mix what it says to do on the following link, except that I used a YELLOW cake mix, and I added 4 WHOLE eggs instead of just 4 egg whites:  http://www.recipegirl.com/2007/03/16/white-wedding-cake/
I think my 9x13x2" cake baked for almost 45 minutes with how my oven works.  Rather than stick to a certain baking time, check your baking cake by ever so carefully inserting a clean/dry toothpick after 35 minutes-- when the toothpick  comes out clean, it's done.  After my cake was baked, I then "changed course" and followed the recipe directions given on the next website.

Yes,...The rest of the ideas for this easy cake, including
the poked holes filled with caramel topping 
and the wedge of apple used for decoration

came from the Betty Crocker website at...

http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/caramel-surprise-cake/d3baccbc-8531-46b1-bcac-80e80ef7037c

(Or, just google Caramel Surprise Cake)

Rather than prepare individual apple slices for "decoration",  as directed to in the recipe, I just took thin slices off of a store-bought nutty/caramel apple that looked like this...

And,... it ended up 

looking like this...

'tis this time of the year...

Yes!, ...'tis that time of the year to find out what's been happening UNDERground since planting time!   Of all the "findings", this one was the most "affectionate"...

Below:  The hugger from one side...

...and from the other side.

The smaller carrot being "hugged" was just "in there", 

loose and independent.  Was the "hugging" to save the 

"hugged" from being thinned?  

P.S.  The "digger of the carrots" said there were ALSO some 

carrots that looked "too naughty" to be photographed!   

Below:  On the back left, there are quart jars of canned peach halves that came FRESH (directly delivered) from GEORGIA by one of my sister's sons.  In fact, when my husband and I came back from our vacation,  my sister had these canned up for me-- in addition to that, she made those 4 pints of peach jam for us.

In comparison to the "home canner" my mother was, and in comparison to some other "home canners" I know these days, I do NOT consider myself to be any kind of MARATHON CANNER.  But!, there comes a time when an abundant yield of produce must be shared with friends,  OR it comes down to "do THIS" with the extras, OR ... heaven forbid, let 'em go to waste.

Other than the peaches and the peach jam in the above photo, there are pickled beets, and a whole lot of carrots.  Three varieties of carrots... the carrots along the front/left grew in the garden as PURPLE-colored carrots.  But, the purple color went away as I lightly pared (scraped?) them.  Canned up, they look just a little different in the jar.

Yellow "Lard" Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting

This recipe came from the same source as my blog post 

for yesterday...from a compilation of recipes put 

out by the folks at Farm Journal, Inc. way back in 1973.

"This is a 2-egg cake with an old-time 

country taste made in a new way."

(See my personal comments about using 
lard in the blog post I entered yesterday.)

Like the recipe I posted yesterday, this was another recipe with directions that seemed very different to me.   This must have been the "way to go" in those days before we began opening boxes of cake mix and containers of "stir 'n spread" frosting. 

I will say that I am impressed with how "light" 

this cake turned out.  Light, but still not dry!  (I wonder if gently folding the egg whites into the batter at the 
end is what made it so light.)

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 eggs, separated
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup lard, softened to room temperature
• 2 and 1/4 cups sifted cake flour
• 1 additional cup of sugar
• 3 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

DIRECTIONS:

1. Beat only the egg WHITES until frothy.  G-r-a-d-u-a-l-l-y beat into them the first 1/2 cup of sugar. Continue beating until very stiff and glossy.  Set aside.
2. In another bowl, stir softened lard.  Add the sifted-together dry ingredients (cake flour, the last 1 cup of sugar, baking powder and salt).  Stir in the vanilla and only 3/4 cup of the milk.  Beat 1 minute at medium speed on mixer.  Scrape sides and bottom of the bowl frequently.
3. Add remaining milk and the two egg yolks.  Beat for 1 more minute, scraping the bowl frequently.
4. With wide spatula or wooden spoon, g-e-n-t-l-y fold the beaten egg white/sugar mixture into the batter.
5. Pour into a 9x13x2" baking pan/dish that has been greased and floured-- bake at 350-degrees for about 30-35 minutes or only until toothpick comes out clean.  OPTIONAL: Pour batter into two greased and floured 9" round layer cake pans and bake at 350-degrees for about 25-30 minutes or only until toothpick comes out clean.  Cool baked cake(s) on a rack for at least 10 minutes before removing them from pans.
6. Frost with Peanut Butter Frosting.  The recipe for that is below.

PEANUT BUTTER FROSTING:

Whip just 3/4 cup of chunky peanut butter until smooth.  Slowly add 3/4 cup of  cold "Basic Sugar Syrup*".  Continue beating until the frosting looks very creamy and smooth.  Put it on cake.

The recipe for this sugar syrup is also on the posting 

I entered yesterday.  If you don't want to 

look for it there, here it is:

*BASIC SUGAR SYRUP:

Ingredients:  2 cups sugar, and 1 cup water.

Boil sugar and water together.  After it reaches boiling stage, continue for only ONE minute. Remove from heat. Pour into a jar.  Cool, cover and keep refrigerated.  Makes about 2 cups.  

(If you don't think you will be making any more things that call for this, make just a smaller batch of this.) 

Fudge Pudding "Lard" Cake w/Glossy Chocolate Icing

This is a real "from scratch" cake (a VERY "scratchy-scratch" kind of recipe!)  I say this recipe has more "strange" (to me) directions than I have ever seen or followed before today.  I know there are much easier ways to make a cake, but, just for today, I wanted to do this... just the way they said to! 

I got this recipe from an old "freezing and canning" book published in 1973-- it was among a compilation of recipes put together by those at the helm of the old Farm Journal-- a magazine that many of us farmers regularly subscribed to.  Even as a very young girl, I always looked for the "recipe section" in it.  Yes, ...this recipe calls for LARD!!!   

When the use of Crisco and Canola Oil, etc. was being "pushed" (pushed A LOT!), LARD was given a bad rap!  A really bad rap!  These days, that "bad rap" is unraveling (actually, it is reversing!). Today, when I googled "lard benefits", ONLY 1,620,000 sites popped up for one reason or another.  You can read and decide for yourself if you would ever care (dare?) to use lard.  Check it out at:

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=lard%20benefits 

BUT!, ...today's lard which is sold in the old-time and similar-looking green/white-colored Armour brand box is NOT what it used to be.   Read on that container and you're likely to see that the "hydrogenators"  have even "hydrogenated" today's lard-- and, the "hydrogenation" part is what I want to get AWAY from!  

A while ago, to get around that "hydrogenation" issue with most of "today's" store-bought lard, I picked up some pork fat from a local butcher and home-rendered my own.  I store it in glass jars and in the freezer-- just like my mother always did!  (Rendering it out wasn't anything hard to do, but it did take up a good bit of time.)

IF you REALLY like CHOCOLATE, you could pour "extra" of the glossy frosting on top of a piece and let it be all runny like this:

Read through the entire recipe (including the directions) before starting.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/3 cup lard, room temperature
• 3 squares unsweetened chocolate
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 cup milk
• 2 cups sifted flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 and 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

DIRECTIONS:

1. Melt lard in a 3 qt. saucepan over low heat.  
2. Add chocolate blocks to the melted lard over low heat and stir together until melted.  Remove from heat.
3. Separately, mix 3/4 cup sugar and cornstarch thoroughly.  Stir this into chocolate mixture until well blended.
4. Add the first 1 cup of milk; stir and cook over low heat until smooth and thick.  Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.  (Set pan in cold water to speed cooling.)
5. Sift all of the remaining dry ingredients together 3 times.
6. Add 1/2 of this sifted mixture to the thickened chocolate mixture, blend and beat only 1/2 minute (75 strokes).  
7. Add 3/4 cup milk and blend. 
8. Add remaining sifted dry ingredients, blend; beat just 1 minute (150 strokes).
9. Add eggs and vanilla, blend and beat just 1/2 minutes (75 stokes).
10. Bake in a paper-lined 9x13x2" pan in moderate oven (350-degrees) for about 35 minutes, or according to how your oven bakes.  COOL.
11. Frost with Glossy Fudge Frosting (it is more like a ganache).  The recipe is below, but first make this syrup:  

BASIC SUGAR SYRUP

FIRST, while the cake is baking and cooling, mix up this BASIC SUGAR SYRUP which will be used in the frosting.  To make this, you'll need: 1 cup sugar and 1/2 cup water.  Boil sugar and water together for just one minute.  Pour into jar.  Cool, cover and refrigerate this.  This will make about 1 cup of "basic sugar syrup".

GLOSSY FUDGE FROSTING

Actual Frosting Ingredients and Directions:

1. Melt 2 tablespoons butter over hot (not boiling) water.  Remove from heat before the water boils.
2. Add chocolate chips to butter over hot water and stir until melted, and well blended.
3. Add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
4. Add just 1/3 cup of the cooled "Basic Sugar Syrup" very gradually, stirring after each addition until blended.  Mixture will become glossy and smooth.
5. Remove from hot water and cool until of spreading consistency. 
6.  Spread thinly over cake.  Apply quickly by pouring a small amount at a time on top of cake, near the edges; as it runs down the sides, you can leave "as is" or spread it with a spatula.  (Might work better to frost the top of the cake last.)  This frosting recipe should be enough for two 8" layers, or one 9x13x2" pan cake.

P.S.  This recipe makes opening a box of cake mix and a can of ready-made chocolate frosting look super easy and very tempting, huh!!!!

Steve and Megan's Ranch Cheddar Chicken

  INGREDIENTS:

1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1/4 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves; rinse and pat dry.
1/2 cup Hidden Valley original Ranch Dressing.

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350-degrees.
Mix bread crumbs, Cheddar and Parmesan cheese.  Coat the chicken with the dressing.  Dredge ion the bread crumb mixture.
Place chicken on baking sheet and bake for 35 minutes.