Farmhouse Buttermilk Brown Sugar Cake

Cake:
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups light brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs
2 cups buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Topping:
6 tablespoon melted butter
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup milk
1/8 teaspoon salt
2/3 to 1 cup diced pecans

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350-degrees. Lightly grease a 9"x13" pan.
2. Beat the butter and brown sugar together until smooth.
3. Add the eggs, beating until smooth.
4. Stir in the buttermilk and vanilla extract.
5. Add the baking soda, salt, and flour to the wet ingredients, beating until thoroughly combined.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
7. Bake the cake for 35 minutes.  Towards the end of the baking time, prepare the topping by following these directions...
8. Stir the melted butter and the sugar together.  Add the milk, pecans, and salt.  The glaze will be thick but pourable.
9. Top the baked cake with the topping, and return to the oven for another 10 minutes. 
10. Remove the cake from the oven.  The topping will look very runny. You can eat the cake hot, with the glaze still gooey, or let the cake sit at room temperature for a few hours, by which time the glaze will have set.
11. Yield:  24 servings.

Zucchini Chocolate Cake** 

w/Toasted Pecans and 
Mini-Chocolate Chips

This recipe is for the cake on the left side...

  Below:  More of a close-up of this cake...

Before starting to make this cake, toast 
the pecans* (the directions are at the bottom).

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 and 3/4 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup canola oil (I use the Smart Balance brand of blended oils)
• ---
• 2 large eggs
• 2/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ---
• 2 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• ---
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• ---
• 2 cups shredded zucchini
• ---

• 1 cup (or 6 oz.) miniature semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted (directions below)*

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350-degrees.  Lightly coat a 9x13-inch baking pan with cooking spray (I used a glass dish)
2. In a large bowl, beat sugar and oil on medium speed for 1 minutes.
3. Add eggs, applesauce and vanilla; beat 1 minute longer.
4. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa (sifted to eliminate lumps), baking soda and salt; add to the sugar mixture alternately with buttermilk, beating ONLY until blended.  
5. Stir in the zucchini.
6. Pour into prepared pan or dish.  Bake 20 minutes.
7. Remove from oven long enough to sprinkle on chocolate chips and toasted pecans on top.
8. Bake 10-15 minutes longer or until a toothpick inserted into a spot without chocolate chips comes out clean. To retain moistness, do not over-bake.
9. Completely cool in pan on a wire rack before cutting.

 * TOASTING PECANS: Lightly spritz a baking sheet with non-stick spray. Spread the coarsely chopped pecans on the pan and toast them in a 350-degree oven just until they become aromatic, about 5 minutes.  Watch the time carefully so they don't end up being scorched. Set aside and let them cool while you prepare the cake batter.

(The specks showing in the ice cream 
are from the vanilla beans.)

** This recipe came from here:  

http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/yummy-zucchini-chocolate-cake

"Spiced" Zucchini Cake 

w/Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting**

(This posted recipe is for the cake shown in the middle!)

Because of having a lot of zucchini, I made

three cakes yesterday.  This is the third time

I've made the one in the middle (shown below).

In other words, this one is already a favorite of

those who have had a piece.

Because I took this cake to a picnic, I do not 

have a photo of it after it was cut.  

CAKE INGREDIENTS:

• 1 box Betty Crocker SuperMoist yellow cake mix
• 3/4 cup milk (I used whole milk)
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 3 eggs (I used large eggs)
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (This amount is not overpowering.)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 cups coarsely shredded zucchini (about 2 medium)
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts

FROSTING INGREDIENTS:

• 1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 and 1/2 cups powdered sugar (I first run it through a sifter, or screen strainer to get rid of any lumps.)

DIRECTIONS for the CAKE:

1. Heat oven to 350-degrees.  Spray only the bottom of a 9x13" pan (I used glass) with cooking spray.  (Doing it this way and the regular way, I had equally good results with spraying the bottom and the sides of the glass dish.)
2. In a large bowl, beat cake mix, milk, melted butter, eggs, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg with an electric mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes.
3. By hand, stir in the zucchini and walnuts.
4. Pour batter into pan.
5. Bake 35-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  (Don't over-bake.)  Remove from the oven to cooling rack.  Cool cake completely-- at least for one hour.*

DIRECTIONS for the FROSTING:

1. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and butter with electric mixer on medium-high speed until smooth.  Beat in the cinnamon and vanilla.  
2. On low speed, beat in the "sifted" powdered sugar until frosting is smooth and creamy.  Spread frosting on cake.
3. Cut into 4 rows by 3 rows. 
4. Cover and refrigerate any remaining cake.

* Not following the instructions about letting the cake cool in the normal way, and because it was bedtime, I put a cover over the cake when it was still sitting on the cooling rack and barely out of the oven for 15 minutes.  As you can guess, condensation formed on the underside of the cover and that "rained" onto the cake.  What looked like a "mistake" ended up to be something we like-- I ended up with a very dense, very moist cake that goes so well with the cream cheese frosting!  I intend to make that same "mistake" each time I make this cake.


**I found the original recipe for this cake right here:  http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/zucchini-cake-with-cinnamon-cream-cheese-frosting/8e2f59f5-2766-47e7-80e1-b930cc559912?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=07_2016_standard

Zucchini Chocolate Cake *

w/Hershey Chocolate Frosting

Blame it on the ZUCCHINI!!-- because of the 

extra zucchini I had here, I got a bit 

carried away with baking 

cakes yesterday.  You think?  

I took two of these to a picnic last night.  

(All three are zucchini-laced cakes!)

Our new family favorite of the three is 

actually the one in the middle with the "whitish" 

frosting which starts with a yellow cake mix and 
spices, topped with a cinnamon'y 
cream cheese frosting (I will post that
recipe separately).

For this post,...

HERE is the recipe for the one 

on the right (shown below) which is also a 
"keeper/repeater" kind of cake recipe.

(OOPS!-- Because I took this cake to the picnic, 

I did not get a picture of a cut piece!)

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened

----

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil (I use an oil called Smart Balance)
• 1 and 3/4 cups granulated sugar

---

• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup buttermilk OR 1/2 cup sour milk (I used buttermilk)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

---

• 1/4 cup cocoa (I run through screen strainer to make it lump-free)
• 2 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt

---

• 2 cups zucchini, grated
• 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 coarsely chopped walnuts (optional).  I added these.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cream butter, then add oil and sugar-- beat together at least one minute.
2. Add the Eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla (mix well)
3. Whisk together and then add the cocoa, flour, baking soda, and salt.  Mix ONLY until blended in. 
4. By hand, stir in the grated zucchini. 
5. Also, by hand, fold in the chocolate chips and walnuts.
6. Pour into greased/floured 9x13" pan (I used a glass dish).
7. Bake at 325-degrees for "about" 1 hour, or until a "toothpick test" shows no cake batter on it.  (To retain moistness, be careful to not over-bake.)  

``````````````````````````````````````````````````````

FROSTING:  My favorite chocolate frosting recipe which I added is as follows--

 "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Frosting-- this is also found on the back of the Hershey cocoa container:

Ingredients:
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened
2/3 cup sifted Hershey's cocoa
3 cups sifted powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract.

Directions:
1.  Melt butter.  Stir in cocoa.
2.  Add powdered sugar, milk and vanilla, beating on med. speed until it is of spreading consistency.  Add more milk in very tiny quantities, if needed (I didn't need more milk.)  Makes about 2 cups of frosting.

This recipe was adapted from the following site:  http://www.food.com/recipe/zucchini-chocolate-cake-18693

PIE Filling Cake

INGREDIENTS:

4 cups miniature marshmallows
1 chocolate cake mix
1 can cherry pie filling
1 large container of Cool Whip-- OR 8 oz. whipping cream, whipped.

DIRECTIONS:

Pour four cups of mini-marshmallows a greased 9x13-inch cake pan,
Prepare cake as directed on box.  Pour over layer of marshmallows.
Spoon cherry pie filling evenly over cake batter.
Bake at 350-degrees for about 50 minutes (or until toothpick inserted comes out clean).
Cool cake.
Top with Cool Whip (or whipped cream)

Note:  Could try peach, strawberry, blueberry, or raspberry pie filling with a white (vanilla) cake mix;  OR try apple pie filling with a spice or carrot cake mix.

Serves 15.

Nadine's Fresh Apple Cake (stays SO moist!)

Apple cake frosted with browned butter cream cheese frosting...

 Above and below:  Recipe baked in bundt pan.

 Below:  Recipe baked in 9x13" pan, 
frosted with "quicker" browned butter frosting.

If you happen to own an apple peeler like the one shown below

you will be able to get this cake into the oven with 

little effort and less time spent doing it.

My sister Nadine often brought a pan of this apple cake for us when she'd come up from Arkansas.  It is SO moist, and SO good!  Here's the recipe for it.  I'm happy that she shared it with me.

Ingredients and Directions 

Combine, set aside and let soak for 1 hour (some bakers skip this actual "soaking step" and just proceed as if they had "soaked" them):

4 cups peeled and chopped apples
1 cup "Omega" kind of vegetable oil (OR you favorite vegetable oil).
1 and 1/2 cups sugar  (Original recipe calls for 2 cups, but I did not miss the 1/2 cup I left out.)

~~~~

After the "soaking time" is up for the chopped apples in the oil and sugar, slightly beat 2 eggs and add to the apple mixture.  Also, add 1 teaspoon Vanilla, and stir in.

In a separate container, combine the following dry ingredients: 

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon allspice (Opinion:  For the best tasting cake, do not substitute with any other spice.)
1 and 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt

Blend the dry ingredients into the apple mixture.

Fold in 1 cup raisins OR chopped dates and 1 cup chopped pecans OR walnuts.  (OR you can add flaked coconut, too!)  Tip:  If my raisins or dates seem too firm, I would just add them to the apple/sugar/oil soak at the beginning of this recipe.

Bake at 325-degrees for "about" 1 hour if you choose to bake this in a greased and floured Bundt pan.  

Optional baking method:  I sometimes bake this cake in a 9x13x2-inch greased and floured pan for just under one hour-- but check your cake for doneness with a toothpick or very clean/sharp knife at just under 1 hour.  If knife/toothpick comes out clean, it should be done.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

If you really want to put something on this cake and want a topping that seems  made-to-order for just this kind of cake, see the two options below... 

Apple Cake GLAZE

Bring just to a rolling boil 1 can sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk), 1/2 stick butter and 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed.  Add 1 teaspoon vanilla or rum flavoring and stir well.  Pour this hot mixture on hot cake fresh from the oven and sprinkle with slivered almonds or pecans.  Cool.

OR

A "QUICKER" BROWNED BUTTER FROSTING:

Heat ½ stick butter in pan over medium heat and watch closely while stirring until the butter turns golden brown in color.  Then,...quickly add to the hot/browned butter about two tablespoons of milk to stop the browning, and then stir in some SIFTED powdered sugar till you have the amount and consistency of frosting you need.  It may be necessary to add tiny amounts of more milk to get a smooth texture.   I poured "ribbons" of this frosting from end-to-end over the still warm (but not hot) cake.   Once this kind of frosting hits the cake's surface, it cannot be spread without making a mess.  Again, you have to get this type of frosting onto the cake very quickly before it thickens too much to pour it on.

Oh, my goodness!!!!!-- this cake is so 

delicious with a browned butter cream 

cheese frosting, too!

This cake freezes well, too.

Polish Cream Cake (AKA Karpatka)

With all the talk about this being Fat Tuesday, and the TV coverage of all the paczkis being made/sold in Pulaski (they sold 30,000 of these treats on this day in 2014), I figured I'd make my "Polish" husband something Polish, also. I figure he "qualifies" because he quite often gets mail (sometimes, even checks) with his name spelled "Jeski"!  (Here, I made what is called Polish Cream Cake-- AKA Polish Carpathian Mountain Cream Cake, or Karpatka.)  There are SO many recipes for this kind of "cake" on the Internet.  For the most part, I followed a recipe given by a cook named Ania.

This reminds me of two 9x13-inch layers 

of ECLAIRE dough filled with cream custard filling!

Advance Preparation:  Using a non-stick spray, spray bottom and sides of two of 9x13-inch pans.  Set aside.  Preheat oven to around 375-degrees.  (Some say 400-degrees, but that's a little too high for my oven.)

Ingredients and Directions for the two "cake" layers (yes, these amounts make enough for both of the 9x13-inch layers)-- this first step is like what you do to make cream puffs, or eclaire dessert, etc.:

• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup butter

++++++++++++

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

++++++++++++

• 5 whole eggs

++++++++++++

1. First, combine the flour, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.
2. Heat the water and butter until boiling.  
3. Take off heat and stir in the flour mixture.  Keep stirring until the dough leaves the edges of the pan and sort of forms a ball around your spoon (a wooden spoon works best!).  Let this cool for about 5 minutes.  
4. Then, add the eggs (only one at a time), beating after each addition until the dough gets smooth (about 30 strokes?).  The thing to avoid is putting a raw egg into the hot water/butter/flour mixture and having the first raw egg start to 'cook' if you don't stir it in rapidly enough!
5. Patiently, spread 1/2 of this dough mixture into each of the prepared pans.  It takes a little "doing" because the sprayed pan surface is "slippery".  (While this is baking, go ahead and make the custard filling, because that, too, will have to cool down to room temperature before adding to the baked and cooled crust.)
6. Bake for about 25 minutes-- the top of this will end up being all "bubbly/humpy" and that is how it is supposed to look.  (You don't have to press the "humps" down.)
7. Remove from oven, and cool in pans until it is for sure at room temperature.  (We're having sub-zero temperatures right now, so I cooled these pans out on the enclosed and unheated porch.)

INGREDIENTS FOR CUSTARD FILLING:

• 3 cups milk

++++++++++++

• 1 cup sugar

++++++++++++

• 1 ADDITIONAL cup of milk
• 5 large egg yolks
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 6 tablespoons cornstarch combined WITH 4 tablespoons flour.
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

+++++++++++

• 1 cup butter, softened. (This butter will be mixed in only AFTER the custard sauce has been made and cooled a bit.  See below.)

DIRECTIONS FOR CUSTARD FILLING:

1. Whisk together only 1 cup of the milk, the 5 egg yolks, vanilla, corn starch and flour...and salt.  Set aside.
2. Pour first 3 cups of milk into saucepan and, while stirring and watching carefully, heat until little bubbles start to form around the edges.  
3. Add the 1 cup of sugar to the hot milk.  Return to heat and stir just until sugar is dissolved (you'll be able to tell this when your stirring spoon doesn't "feel" any grains at the bottom). Remove from heat.
4. VERY SLOWLY, add the combined egg yolk/milk/corn starch/flour/vanilla mixture--  whisking rapidly all the while.  (We do NOT want any of the egg mixture to "start cooking", nor do we want the sauce to end up being lumpy*.) 
5. Stirring constantly, and scraping the bottom of your pan, cook this totally combined mixture over med. heat until it cooks enough to become thick and smooth. 
6. With waxed paper, cover the surface of this custard sauce so that it doesn't form a "skin" while it is cooling down to at least room temperature.  I used my very cold (sub-zero) porch to get this done in a hurry. 
7. When the custard is cooled to "room temperature", it is time to combine it with the last ingredient-- the 1 cup of softened butter.  BUT,... first of all, beat the butter alone until it is fluffed up and very smooth.  Now,...
8. Add the cooled custard to the butter in the mixer, only one heaping tablespoon at a time and beating for a little while after each addition.  After all the custard has been incorporated, mix for about another 30 seconds.   DONE!

ASSEMBLING DIRECTIONS:

1. If you want to leave the "cake" in the pans to transport, or serve from, remove one of the layers of baked "crust" from its pan and set it off to the side.  
2. In that now empty pan, insert a sheet of parchment paper and leave "lifter" tabs above the edges.  
3. Put the removed layer back into that paper-lined pan.  
4. Spread all of the custard over the "bumpy" top of it.  
5. Now, carefully remove the other "cake" layer and from its pan and put it on top of this first layer ("bumpy" side up) that you have topped with the custard.  Done.  Now, it's just time to ... wait.  
6. Refrigerate for a minimum of two hours to allow the custard to firm up just a bit.  
7. Then,...just before serving, dust with confectioners (powdered) sugar.  The addition of the powdered sugar is intended to make it look like the snow-covered Carpathian Mountain tops in Romania.  
8. Using the "lifter tabs" of the parchment paper, you could now lift the VERY cooled "cake" from its pan and move it to your serving dish/tray. 

How I did it for mine:

Instead of putting the parchment paper down and assembling everything in the pan, I just lifted the first "cake layer" out and put it on my serving plate right away-- spooned the custard on it, and then put the second layer on top of that (the puffed up edges of the baked layers kept the custard in place even without being in a pan).  Since each step was followed and all was cooled as it was supposed to be, this worked great for me.  

*If your custard sauce should happen to get "lumpy", I've read of cooks running the warm sauce through a screen-type strainer to de-lump it;  others have put the hot/warm mixture in a heat-proof kind of blender and let it run for a very short while.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Just for my own memory, these are the facebook postings about this dessert:

"With all the talk about this being Fat Tuesday, and the TV coverage of all the paczkis being made/sold in Pulaski, I figured I'd make my "Polish" husband something Polish, also. I figure he "qualifies" because he quite often gets mail spelled "Jeski"! (I made what is called Polish Cream Cake-- AKA Polish Carpathian Mountain Cream Cake, or Karpatka.)"

There were 13 "likes", but comments left by those below...

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  Amy Yummy!

  February 17 at 11:08pm · Like
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  Annamae whoa, awesome! Can I get the recipe for this, mom? Can you post it on your website?

  February 18 at 2:03am · Like
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  Pat Looks yummy! Recipe please!

  February 18 at 8:04am · Like
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  Doris Pat, check your inbox for the recipe I used. : )

  February 18 at 8:41am · Like · 1
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  Nancy They look so Yummy ....

  February 18 at 8:45am · Like
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  Doris  Annamae, until I post it elsewhere, it's in your "inbox".

  February 18 at 8:49am · Like
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  Pat Thanks for the recipe!!! Way to keep the dairy industry in business!lol!

  February 18 at 9:00am · Unlike · 1
• 

  Doris  ... and, with five whole eggs plus another 5 egg yolks, the chicken farmers, too!! : )

  February 18 at 9:02am · Like · 1
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  Nise  Looks delish

  February 18 at 1:45pm · Unlike · 1
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  Doris  Speaking of things Polish, I can't forget to add this Polish Boyfriend song: " ♪ ... we won't be long, now-- my Po-lish boy-friend-- our names will be . the . same! ♪" (For me, that "name changing" happened almost 52 years ago, already-- oh, how flies!) I sure do miss the days when polka dances were regularly held in a lot of communities that had a dance hall! Life felt more "safe and peaceful" back then.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03pHyxM41U8

  

  The Polka Family (2013) - I Have A Polish Boyfriend Polka

  YOUTUBE.COM

  February 18 at 2:17pm · Edited · Like · Remove Preview
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  Sarah P. (UK) I'm going to Poland for a girly holiday next Friday! Will see if I can find this. Looks lush. X

  February 18 at 2:18pm · Unlike · 1
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  Doris Thanks! And, ...WOW, that sounds like a special trip for you. Be safe, and have fun!

  February 18 at 2:20pm · Like · 1
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  Sarah P. (UK) Thank u Doris. X

  February 18 at 2:21pm · Like
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  Clint Hey, you can't just post that on your wall and not share some... 

  February 19 at 8:02am · Like