My Daily Recipes

Just the thought or a picture of a chocolate cake is enough to make most of us mouths water.  And for us chocoholics, there’s nothing much better.  Remember the wonderful old-fashion chocolate cakes your mother and/or grandmother used to make?  Now you can make them too.  Here are some delicious chocolate cake recipes that could have come straight from that little old recipe box that sat in your grandmother’s kitchen.

 Miz Maxine’s Chocolate Fudge Cake

2 cups sugar

3/4 cup butter (margarine)

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 1/4 cups flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp soda

1/2 cup cocoa

1 1/2 cups boiling water

Cream sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla, and buttermilk together. Sift dry ingredients together. Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture alternately with the boiling water. Bake in a 9 x 13 inch pan in a 350 degree oven for 30 to 35 minutes.

CHOCOLATE SAUERKRAUT CAKE

2 1/4 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 cups sugar

2/3 cup shortening or butter

3 eggs

1 1/4 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 cup water

1/2 to 2/3 cup sauerkraut, chopped, rinsed, drained

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream together shortening and sugar. Add eggs; mix well. Add vanilla, salt and cocoa. Sift together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Alternating, add flour mixture and water. Fold in sauerkraut. Bake in a greased and floured 9×13-inch pan at 350 degrees for 35 to 45 minutes. Frost with your favorite frosting.

MARTHA’S CHOCOLATE CAKE

1/4 lb butter

1/2 cup shortening

1 cup water

4 tbsp cocoa

2 cups sugar

2 cups flour

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup pecans

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Mix butter, shortening, water, and cocoa in pan and bring to a boil. In bowl, mix sugar and flour. Pour liquid mixture over dry ingredients and ten add eggs, milk, vanilla, and pecans. Cook in a greased and floured loaf pan 20 to 30 minutes at 325 degrees.

ICING

1 1/4 lb butter

4 tbsp cocoa

4 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

1 box powdered sugar

Five minutes before cake is done start the icing. Melt butter, cocoa, milk in pan. Add vanilla and powdered sugar. Mix in 1/2 cup pecans. Ice cake while it is hot.

Enjoy!

One of the biggest complaints we diabetics have about cakes, is that they are so dry.  Baking without sugar is a challenge as things don’t brown well without sugar and they are too dry without sugar.  I took a great recipe I had for Mandarin Orange Cake and tweaked it until I came up with a diabetic version that is moist and pleasing to the palate.  By adding Stevia*, you add some extra sweetness.  Stevia is rather expensive but two packets is all you need.  The addition of mayonnaise adds moisture and texture.  When you remove the cake from the oven and ***** it with a fork, be generous with the picks.  This allows the wonderful sauce to run into the cake, thus increasing the moisture.  Even my husband, who hates anything made without sugar, ate two or three pieces of this cake.  My sixteen-year-old grandson loved it, too.

DIABETIC’S MANDARIN ORANGE CAKE

CAKE:

1 cup Splenda granular + 2 packets Stevia

1 cup flour

1 tsp soda

1/2 tsp salt, optional

1 tbsp mayonnaise

11 oz can Mandarin oranges

Topping:

1/4 cup + 2 tbsp Splenda Brown Sugar Blend

2 1/2 - 3 tbsp butter

3 tbsp milk

To make the cake:  Drain oranges and rinse with tap water; draining again.  Put egg in a large mixing bowl and break it up with a fork.  Add Splenda and mix well.  Add Stevia, flour, soda and salt, if desired.  Mix all together to blend.  Add mayonnaise and oranges.  Beat on low speed with an electric mixer for 3 minutes.  Spray an 8×8-inch square pan with nonstick cooking spray.  Pour batter into pan and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Remove from oven.  Using a fork, puncture all over the top of the cake.  Pour hot topping over the cake.  Serve warm.

To make the topping:  Combine all topping ingredients and bring to a boil in a small saucepan.  Pour at once over the hot cake.

Note:  Add 1/2 cup chopped pecans to the cake batter before baking, if desired.

Enjoy!

The baked New York style cheesecake recipe, on its surface, looks like one of the more simple dessert recipes. It’s a fairly simple set of ingredients, and the mixing and baking is fairly straightforward.

So why does it so often go wrong? Well, part of the problem is in the name: cheesecake. Right there, you expect it to act like a cake in the baking process. The problem is, it’s not really a cake at all. If you were to take a hundred cooking school graduates who had never heard of cheesecake and present each of them with a slice of baked New York style cheesecake, all of them would most likely identify it as a pie… or at best a custard.

Let’s start with the crust. Cakes don’t normally have a crust other than what bakes up when they cook, right? Well, your cheesecake needs a crust or you’re going to have containment issues. This is not usually a traditional piecrust, but rather a blind baked mashed-together construction made of graham crackers, cookies or other baked goods.

Then there’s the composition of the cheesecake itself. The baked New York style cheesecake begins life as a very thick batter that bears a vague resemblance to traditional cake batter, except for the fact that it contains little or no flour depending on your recipe.

The baking is different, also. One of the secrets to New York style cheesecake success is a fairly moist baking environment, which means using a water bath. Have you ever seen a cake recipe that called for the pan to be placed in a larger pan with water in it?

So, for cheesecake success, you might want to stop thinking about it as a cake. Think of it as a pie-cake hybrid, or better yet as custard that needs some extra care in the preparation, but will yield sweet rewards when it’s done. The baked New York style cheesecake recipe is simple, but can be unforgiving if you don’t treat it right.

Chocolate is one of the most popular type of cakes around the world.  Remember the wonderful chocolate cakes of your childhood?  Perhaps one of these great recipes will bring back that taste and wonderful memories for you.  Here are three varieties, you’re sure to find one to please.  Cherry Devil’s Food Cake is simple enough for a beginning baker.  It uses a box mix and a few simple steps to make a great cake.  Bittersweet Chocolate Cake is a buttermilk chocolate which is always tasty, and Dutch Mocha Chocolate Cake is sure to please the coffee lovers in your circle of family and friends.

CHERRY DEVIL’S FOOD CAKE

1 box Devil’s Food cake mix

2 cups frozen whipped topping, thawed

1/2 cup chopped maraschino cherries

1 recipe of your favorite chocolate frosting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9-inch layer cake pans. Prepare cake mix as directed on package. Divide the batter evenly between the two pans. Bake and cool as directed on the package.

Fold the maraschino cherries into the whipped topping. Spread over the top of one of the layers. Top mixture with the second cake layer. Frost with the chocolate frosting. Store cake in the refrigerator.

BITTERSWEET CHOCOLATE CAKE

1 1/2 cups cake flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup buttermilk

1/3 cup shortening

3 egg whites

3 squares unsweetened chocolate, melted

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease and flour two 8-inch round cake pans. Into a large mixing bowl measure all ingredients; mix with electric mixer at low speed, beat until well mixed, constantly scraping bowl. Beat at high speed for 5 minutes, occasionally scraping bowl. Pour batter into pans and bake 30 to 35 minutes. Cool layers in pans on wire racks for 10minutes. Remove cakes from pans and cool completely on wire racks. Frost with your favorite frosting.

DUTCH MOCHA CHOCOLATE CAKE

3 cups sifted cake flour

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 cup cococa

2 3/4 cups sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup hot coffee

1 cup sweet butter

1 cup sour cream

2 tsp vanilla

5 egg whites

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Thoroughly grease three 9-inch cake pans. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt together and sift three times. Combine cocoa, 1/2 cup of the sugar, and coffee. Cool. Cream butter and 1 1/2 cups of the sugar until light and fluffy. Add cocoa mixture, sour cream, and vanilla. Add flour mixture, stirring until smooth. Beat egg whites with remaining sugar until stiff. Fold into the batter. Pour batter into pans and bake for 30 minutes. Cool and remove from pans. Frost with your favorite frosting.

Enjoy!

The rum cake recipe may originate from the early 1800’s, but the taste is always the same, whether then or now. The Denver Pie Company provides an authentic treat that have long pleased mountain men, cowboys and travelers across the Rocky Mountains. Made of the finest ingredients, the rum cake symbolizes all things great in Colorado history.

 

Created by a small family-owned business, The Denver Pie Company, this unique gift product is available for the more than 27 million annual travelers to Colorado and the surrounding states. The Rum Cake is packaged specially in natural earth-tone packaging combined with regional graphics and custom labeling. Ultimately, the rum cake provides retailer with a unique product to provide its customers.

 

Jason Kline, owner of The Denver Pie Company, says that each cake is still made the old-fashioned way - in small batches. The combination of vanilla and other secret ingredients and then a generous hand glazing with gold rum (straight from one of the oldest distilleries in the world) make this a mouth- watering experience. In addition, each cake is individually vacuum sealed, ensuring a shelf life of 6 months or indefinitely, if refrigerated or frozen.

 

“Visitors to this beautiful region of the U.S. deserve a high-quality, gourmet souvenir,” Kline said. The original Denver Pie product line originated with Peanut Butter and Key Lime variations. “We wanted to create a product to encourage the state’s millions of tourists to take home a piece of the Rocky Mountains.”

 

The story of the Rum Cake begins in early 1800s where beaver trappers and traders explored the expansive wilderness of the Rocky Mountains; they encountered American Indians and built forts that still stand today. It was not uncommon for these fur traders to carry a supply of rum with them through their travels. Not only was it used for trading, but cooking too.

 

The creation of the rum cake stems from a legend where on one cold winter’s night, a mountain man was enjoying some cake, but found it to be too dry. He doused the cake with some rum; it was so good that he later developed a method of immersing the cakes in rum syrup, and used it for trading at outposts all along the Rocky Mountains. This creation is enjoyed and sold today!

 

Kline’s enthusiasm toward his hometown is apparent. Many shop owners have found success with Rum Cakes as well. “These Rocky Mountain Rum Cakes convey a very warm and inviting feeling. They are a delicious and thoughtful gift. The flavor is exceptional! After all, it’s Rum and Cake! What could be better!” said Christine Shamrell, Gift Shop manager St. Regis Resort, Aspen

Don’t throw out those over-ripe bananas!  Use them to make this delicious banana walnut cake.  This old recipe is from an old Iowa church cookbook, I believe.  I found this recipe in a collection of recipes I purchased on ebay.  This banana cake will remind you of going to grandma’s house, family reunions, church pitch-ins, etc.  Remember those tables laden with mouth-watering desserts?  This cake could have been on one of those tables.  Bake one today and share it with your family and friends.  Each bite is sure to bring memories.

RHEA LOU’S BANANA CAKE

This recipe was found in an old church cookbook.

1/2 cup shortening

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 large eggs

2 cups flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1/4 cup buttermilk

4 ripe bananas

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, cream shortening and sugar together. Add eggs to mixture and mix until creamy. Mash bananas with a fork and add to the creamy mixture. Add buttermilk and mix well. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add to the creamy mixture, beating well after each addition. Stir in chopped walnuts. Grease and lightly flour a 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

BANANA CAKE FROSTING

2 cups confectioners’ sugar

2 tbsps butter

6-oz cream cheese

3 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla flavoring

In a mixing bowl, beat together the butter and cream cheese. Add confectioners’ sugar and mix. Add milk to thin to spreading consistency. Stir in vanilla and mix well. Frost cake.

Enjoy!

Hummingbird cake history

Southern Living magazine generally is credited with the first referenceto Hummingbird Cake. It published the recipe in its February 1978 issue, submitted by a Mrs. L.H. Wiggins of Greensboro, N.C. But Mrs. Wiggins did not include an explanation of the cake’s unusual name, which remains a mystery however folklore has it that the hummingbird is a symbol of sweetness.

The hummingbird is known to drawn to intensely sweet sources, they are able to assess the amount of sugar in the nectar they eat; they reject flower types that produce nectar which is less than 12% sugar and prefer those whose sugar content is around 25%.

the most searched for recipe, the perfect cake to take to gatherings, it’s easy, freezes well, serves many. There have been other versions of the recipe since the 1978 version, such as a lighter version, a organic version, but not a low carb version to date that I am aware of. Of course any recipe can substitute some of the ingredients. If you really want to impress your friends and family imagine a Hummingbird cake for your wedding.

It’s a southern delight that gives you the essence of the tropics with it’s bananas and crushed pineapple. Restaurants from the east coast to the west coast have made this delightful cake for it’s southern transplant customers. The cake has won many awards, The Kentucky Derby Cook Book[Kentucky Derby Museum:Louisville KY, 1986] contains a recipe for Hummingbird Cake on p. 204.A note printed in this book states “Hummingbird Cake. Helen Wiser’s recipe won Favorite Cake Award in the 1978 Kentucky State Fair.”

Cooks in 1978 baked the cake when they had overipened bananasit was the perfect way to use the bananas.The recipe and the cake has many names.Never Ending Cake is the name turned in by Pauline Isley. A Benton respondent supplied Jamaican Cake,a title that might not be far afield considering the ingredients.Ella Sheets knows it as Granney’s Best Cake.Nothing Left Cake is the name supplied by Patricia H. Downes of Jacksonville, who, with her 8-and 11-year-old sons, prefers it sans icing.

More than 75 copies of the recipe have been received, most of them identical. The variations _ notably in mixing directions,oil measurement and additional fruits _ are incorporated in the recipe that follows. Cake That Won’t Last.” —Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock, AR), April 3, 1985

Here is the 1978 recipe

Mrs. Wiggins’ recipe [1978]

“Hummingbird cake

3 cups all-pupose flour

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 eggs, beaten

1 1/2 cups salad oil

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple, undrained

2 cups chopped pecans or walnuts, divided

2 cups chopped bananas

Combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl; add eggs and salad oil, stirring until dry ingredients are moistened. Do not beat. Stir in vanilla, pineapple, 1 cup chopped pecans, and bananas. Spoon batter into 3 well-greased and floured 9-inch cakepans. Bake at 350 degrees F. For 25 to 30 minutes; remove from pans, and cool immediately. Spread frosting between layers and on top and sides of cake. Sprinkle with 1 cup chopped pecans. Yield: one 9-inch layer cake.

Cream Cheese Frosting

2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

1 cup butter or margarine, softened

2 (16 ounce) packages powdered sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Combine cream cheese and butter; cream until smooth.Add powdered sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Stir in vanilla. Yield: enough for a 3 layer cake.–Mrs. L.H. Wiggins, Greesnboro, North Carolina” —”Making the most of bananas,” Southern Living, February 1978 (p. 206)

PER SERVING: Calories 1,245 (50% fat) Fat 71 g (24 g sat) Cholesterol 130 mg Protein 13 g Sodium 548 mg Fiber 4 g Carbohydrates 149 g

These cake recipes will take you back to the days when mom and/or grandma baked delicious desserts just for you.  Perhaps the ‘never-fail cake’ will remind you of a birthday cake she made for one of your early birthdays.  Or a delicious piece of white cake topped with fresh fruits or berries from your backyard garden or orchard could be a favorite memory.  Perhaps the apple cake will remind you of picking apples in the fall and coming in from the cold to the scents of apple desserts coming from grandma’s kitchen.  One of the best things about vintage recipes is the memories they bring to mind.  Of course the tastes are special, too!  Get the kids in the kitchen and let them bake up some memories of their own with you.  While working together, you can share some of your poignant memories with them.  It’s a great thing to pass family stories down to your children or grandchildren. 

OLD FASHION NEVER FAIL CAKE

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter or lard

1 egg

3 tbsp cocoa

3/4 cup sweet milk*

1/2 cup boiling water

1 tsp soda

1 rounding cup flour

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream sugar and butter, add unbeaten egg and beat. Add cocoa to egg mixture, blend well. Add flour and milk alternately. Last add hot water with soda dissolved in it. (Batter will be thin.) Pour into a 9×13-inch prepared baking pan. Bake 35 to 40minutes at 350 degrees. Frost with your favorite frosting.

*This is regular milk; not sweetened condensed milk. The old-timers referred to regular milk as sweet milk vs buttermilk.

GERMAN APPLE CAKE

This recipe is said to be from an old church cookbook. I have no way to trace its origins.

2 large or 3 small eggs

1 cup salad oil (butter flavored)

2 cups sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 tsp cinnamon

2 cups sifted flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

4 cups thinly sliced apples

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat eggs well, then add oil. Continue to beat while adding 2 cups sugar. Add vanilla and the sifted dry ingredients, mix well. Add the thinly sliced apples and walnuts. Pour into a 9×13-inch baking pan that has been greased and lightly floured. Bake 40 to 60 minutes until done.

ICING:

2 small packages of cream cheese

2 tbsp melted butter

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup powdered sugar.

Mix all ingredients well with an electric mixer. If too thin, add powdered sugar until of the right consistency to spread. Sprinkle with chopped walnuts, if desired.

Enjoy!

Coffee cakes are great not only with coffee but as hostess gifts, welcome to the neighborhood gifts, new baby gifts, etc.  They are also perfect to share with co-workers, Bible study groups, etc.  Following are a couple of recipes from my vintage recipe collection.  They are sure to become favorites.

CRUNCHY BRAN COFFEE CAKE

1 1/4 cups boiling water

1 cup 100% bran

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

TOPPING:

3 tbsp butter, melted

1/4 cup 100% bran

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup broken walnuts

Combine boiling water and bran in small bowl; let stand for 2 to 3 minutes. In another bowl, cream together butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition; add vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt; mix into creamed mixture until blended. Add bran mixture; stir to blend. Pour into a greased 9-inch round cake pan or 8-inch square pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes. Combine topping ingredients; sprinkle over coffee cake. Broil for 2 to 3 minutes or until bubbly.

COFFEE CRUMB CAKE

2 cups sifted flour

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 egg, beaten

1 cup milk

1/3 cup oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Mix and sift flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder. Make a well in center of mixture and put in egg, milk and oil. Stir only enough to dampen all the flour mixture. Pour into a square baking pan that’s been greased.

Topping:

1/4 cup flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp butter

Mix flour, sugar, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Cut in butter. Sprinkle topping on top of batter. Bake for 35 minutes at 375 degrees.

Note: A quick, easy coffee cake that’s not overly sweet.

Enjoy!