Tag Archives: cake

Butter Rum Caramel Cake

Posted on September 21, 2009 by Veronica

This cake originally started out as the base for my dulce de leche bars (I use a cake mix in the crust) but I added too many eggs and instead of throwing out the mixture, I turned it into a rum cake, froze it to use later, and finally removed it and frosted it today. What began as an “oops” has now officially turned into a “yum!”

Butter Rum Caramel Cake

Cake
1 pkg Golden Butter Recipe cake mix
1/3 cup butter, softened
3 eggs
1 cup rum (I used Meyers)

Filling
1 cup dulce de leche

Frosting
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 lb. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

Garnish
Black Walnuts

Mix cake ingredients & bake according to package directions. Cool completely.

Cream and butter and brown sugar, add the remaining ingredients and beat until creamy & fluffy.

Spread 3/4 of the dulce de leche on one cake layer, top with the second, then frost the top and sides. Sprinkle black walnuts over the top and embellish with the remaining dulce de leche and frosting. I put mine in a pastry bag, cut the tip off and squeezed it all over the edges. You could also use a ziploc bag and cut the corner out.

The cake was still frozen when I cut this slice, but that didn’t keep me from gobbling it in under a minute!

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Fresh Apple Bundt Cake

Posted on September 18, 2009 by Veronica

Update: I won first place for this cake at the 2012 state fair!

This is my most requested recipe and the only one I’ve ever purposely not blogged. It has always been raved over to such a degree that I felt it was the best weapon in my dessert arsenal and, just like I used to keep the name of the perfume I wore secret so I could be special and no one else would smell like me, I wanted to keep this to myself as well so I could be the only person supplying the joy it induced. (OK so it’s available on Paula Deen’s website, but no one had to know that! Teehee!) I’ve now come to my senses and realized joy should be shared on a much wider plane. I think if everyone made and shared this recipe, the world would be a happier place. And who am I to keep us from achieving world peace?!

Fresh Apple Bundt Cake

Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

Cake
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
3 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1/4 cup orange juice
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 cups peeled and finely chopped apples
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup chopped pecans

Glaze
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10” bundt cake pan. Set aside.

For the cake: in a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt & cinnamon. Add the eggs, oil, orange juice, flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and vanilla extract and mix well with a whisk. Fold apples, coconut, and pecans into batter.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a tester comes out clean, about 1 1/2 hours.

Shortly before the cake is done, make the glaze: Melt the butter in a large saucepan, stir in the sugar, buttermilk, and baking soda, and bring to a good rolling boil, stirring constantly. Boil for 1 minute. Pour the sauce over the hot cake in the pan as soon as you remove it from the oven, making sure that it runs down the sides & middle to soak. Let stand 1 hour, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.

Recipe source: Paula Deen

This cake will stay fresh in the fridge up to a week–the glaze really helps it retain its moisture perfectly. It also freezes extremely well. Wrap the cake in several layers of plastic wrap before freezing. If you plan to keep it in the freezer longer than a week or two, I would put a couple layers of foil over the plastic wrap. To thaw, remove all wrapping and let sit at room temperature overnight in a container.

It’s very important that you don’t let all the sauce sit on top. Spread it around, making sure it goes down the sides and down the middle of the pan so that it is all covered and soaks in evenly. (Your pan will not be this full unless you’re like me and can’t resist putting in some extra apples.)

This was a best seller at the Flying Pig last fall and I just got another order today from someone who just couldn’t wait until October to get another!

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Lemony Orange Cake

Posted on August 4, 2009 by Veronica

We recently celebrated my Dad’s 61st birthday and I meant to only provide a Banoffee Pie, but I’ve been in an experimental baking mode lately and we ended up having a dessert-athon with three cakes in addition to the pie…all for only 8 guests!

The surprise favorite turned out to be this Lemony Orange Cake. It is heavier than a regular cake, but lighter than a pound cake and extremely moist with a wonderful orange glaze that locks in the moisture. The citrus flavors make it the perfect summer treat.

Lemony Orange Cake

Printable recipe

Cake
1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
1 (3 ounce) package instant lemon pudding mix
3/4 cup orange juice
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1 tablespoon orange zest
1 teaspoon lemon extract

Glaze
1/3 cup orange juice
2/3 cup white sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter

Grease & flour a 10 inch Bundt pan. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).

In a large bowl, stir together cake mix and pudding mix. Pour in the 3/4 cup orange juice, oil, eggs, orange zest, and lemon extract. Beat on low speed until blended. Scrape bowl, and beat 4 minutes on medium speed. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 50 to 60 minutes. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

Once it’s cool, fit the Bundt pan back over the cake and flip it over so the cake is back in the pan. In a saucepan over medium heat, cook 1/3 cup orange juice, sugar and butter until it comes to a boil and continue to boil for two minutes. Pour the glaze over the bottom of the cake and use a spatula to spread to the sides so that it drips down evenly on all sides and on the inside circle. You don’t want all the glaze sitting on top, you want it to drip down so it can soak into the cake evenly. Allow to soak for 10 minutes, then place a serving plate on top of the pan & flip it over so that the cake comes out on the plate. Glaze will dry so that the cake can be covered with plastic wrap until serving. If made more than two days in advance, store in the fridge. Don’t worry–it will stay moist even if made several days ahead!

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Coconut Poke Cake

Posted on July 20, 2009 by Veronica

I love recipes that start with a cake mix. I guess that’s because I love cake, love the ease of using a cake mix, and love adding anything to it that makes it seem more home made. This one really is over-the-top indulgent but sooooo good. Dennis is taking the leftovers (1 slice…) to work tomorrow so I’m not tempted to polish it off!

I only had an 8 oz tub of Cool Whip on hand this time, that’s why the “frosting” layer is so thin.

Coconut Poke Cake

1 (18.25 oz.) package white cake mix
1 (14 oz.) can cream of coconut (NOT coconut milk)
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (16 oz.) package frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 (8 oz.) package flaked coconut

Prepare and bake white cake mix in a 9″x13″ pan according to package directions.

While it is baking, toast the coconut in a skillet over medium heat, stirring frequently, until browned. Set aside. Mix the cream of coconut and sweetened condensed milk together in a bowl and set aside.

Remove cake from oven and immediately (yes, while it’s still hot–very important!) poke holes all over the top of the cake. Pour the cream of coconut mixture over the hot cake–it will soak in through the holes.

Let cake cool completely,then frost with the whipped topping and top with the toasted coconut. Keep cake refrigerated.

Veronica’s notes: The only cream of coconut I’ve found has enough to make two recipes. Instead of saving half for later (I saved the last half for a couple months in the fridge–it apparently lasts forever), next time I will just omit the sweetened condensed milk and use all the cream of coconut. Cream of coconut is the same consistency & is just as sweet as sweetened condensed milk but has a coconut flavor, so I think this would have the same result except with a slightly more coconutty flavor!

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1955 Almond Burnt Sugar Cake

Posted on July 11, 2009 by Veronica

I found a 1955 copy of Household magazine at my parents’ house recently, and the beauituful coconut cake gracing the cover compelled me to flip through the pages. Once I found the section of cake recipes that the cover promised, I scanned them over and came to an “Almond Burnt Sugar Cake” that caught my interest because I remembered reading that the use of burnt sugar began during the Great Depression. Indeed, this burnt sugar cake is a perfect example of the resourcefulness and creativity that was stimulated during those lean times. Expensive ingredients were nearly unattainable and to keep things from getting redundant, housewives invented new ways to flavor desserts without actually having to purchase anything extra, such as burning sugar & turning it into a syrup before adding it to a cake. Sadly, we have nearly forgotten this inexpsensive and tasty flavoring because many of us rely on mixes and fast fixes in this age of convenience & cheap substitutes. Before stumbling upon this magazine in my Dad’s abundant collection of old books, I’d never in my life tasted burnt sugar and when I found the recipe for the burnt sugar cake, I knew it was high time I bring this tiny piece of history back to life.

The cake I made is in the lower left corner, and I obviously had more trouble with mine than whatever chef whipped that beauty up.

The funny thing about burnt sugar is that it doesn’t particularly smell or taste good in its syrup state, but once added to cake or turned into frosting, the slight bitterness subsides and what remains is a flavor very similar to caramel and brown sugar, but different enough that I wanted to keep tasting it to try to ascribe it some elusive adjective. It was a pointless endeavor because burnt sugar is its own flavor & the only way to describe it is, “burnt sugar.” And it is wonderful. I have to admit that the cake as a whole was somewhat disappointing. The velvety light batter, so silky I wanted to lie in a bed made with it, held such promise! Alas, though I pulled off a series of time-learned stunts to ensure a glorious result, I still ended up with a cake that was slightly dry & crumbly, and with icing that was more like a grainy liquid caramel (seriously, half of it ran off the cake and I had to keep scraping off the growing pool around the bottom) than the fluffy/creamy stuff most cakes are frosted with. Don’t get me wrong, the flavor was divine, but the textures weren’t. If you are a baking pro, perhaps you can pull it off with greater success than I, but even if your result is similar to mine, I think you’ll appreciate the flavor & your loved ones most likely will not be complaining (mine aren’t). In fact, it’s probably just the cake snob in me that finds anything wrong with this recipe at all. As for me, I won’t be trying this recipe again (I plan to incorporate the burnt sugar syrup into another cake recipe to see if I can enhance the crumb) but I feel I should share the original with you, to fulfill my objective of keeping this piece of history alive. *Pictures of ads from the magazine follow the recipe.

My cake is pictured on a reproduction of the Depression-era Madrid-pattern crystal glass cake plate, a gift from my father.

Almond Burnt Sugar Cake

From Household Magazine, March 1955

3 cups sifted cake flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
¾ tsp salt
¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) butter
1 ¼ cups sugar
3 eggs, unbeaten
1/3 cup burnt sugar syrup
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup buttermilk

Prepare burnt sugar syrup as directed in recipe below. Sift cake flour with baking powder, soda and salt. Cream butter until fluffy. Add sugar gradually, beating until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition. Stir in 1/3 cup of burn sugar syrup and the vanilla, blending well. Add sifted dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk, stirring until smooth after each addition. Pour into 2 oiled and wax-paper-lined, round 9-inch layer cake pans 1 ½ inches deep. Bake in moderate oven (350 F) about 35 minutes. Remove to cooling rack and cool in pan about 10 minutes. Remove from pans, peel off wax paper carefully, and complete cooling. Frost with Burnt Sugar Frosting.

Burnt Sugar Syrup: Place 1 cup sugar in heavy saucepan. Stir over medium heat until sugar melts and turns golden brown. Lower heat and gradually add ½ cup boiling water. Stir until sugar dissolves and syrup is slightly thickened. Cool. Blend in water, if necessary, to make 2/3 cup syrup.

Burnt Sugar Frosting

1/3 cup burnt sugar syrup
½ cup almonds, blanched and halved
2 ¼ cups sugar
¼ cup butter
½ tsp soda
¼ tsp salt
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

Place 1/3 cup burnt sugar in 4-quart, heavy saucepan. Add almonds and stir over low heat for one minute. Remove almonds from syrup to cookie sheet, separating them with fork. Add sugar, butter, soda, salt and milk to syrup in saucepan. Cook to soft ball stage (234 F). Cool. Sir in vanilla. Beat until creamy. Spread on top and sides of layers. If frosting gets too stiff, add few drops hot water. Decorate with the caramel-coated almonds.

*Veronica’s notes: be sure ALL your cake ingredients are at room temperature (including the syrup). When cooking the frosting, I recommend using a dutch oven or stock pot as the mixture boils up 2-3 times it’s uncooked volume. It boiled over in my 3-quart saucepan and probably would in a 4-quart as well.

Household Magazine’s 10 Tips for Better Cakes

1. Begin with high quality ingredients.
2. Have all ingredients at room temperature.
3. Be sure baking temperature is correct.
4. Use the pan size specified in the recipe.
5. Measure ingredients exactly, using standard measuring cups and spoons.
6. Always sift flour before measuring.
7. When using an electric mixer, scrape sides of bowl and beaters often during mixing.
8. Use low speed to blend and medium speed for beating.
9. Cool butter cakes in pan (upright) on cake rack for 10 minutes; then remove from pan.
10. Before frosting, cool cake thoroughly and remove excess crumbs from surface.

Now you know when instant oatmeal was invented–1955! Also, the picture is too small to see it (darned Picassa), but Quaker Oats used to also make “Mother’s Oats” which had a picture of a mother with her son on the canister, pictured to the right of the Quaker Oats container we still see today.

I wonder when Kellogg’s got the idea that putting the word CONSTIPATED in bold black letters at the top of their Allbran ad wasn’t the best way to appeal to someone’s appetite?

Karo makes it “extra good?” Well, isn’t that swell!

This is one part of history I’ll happily leave behind!

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Butterscotch-Toffee Chocolate Cake

Posted on July 2, 2009 by Veronica

Kim, Krista, & Pillsbury inspired this recipe. Kim posted a “Butterfinger Cake” recipe on her MySpace blogrecently, which reminded me of the cake my friend, Krista, made for her birthday last year (she used toffee instead, along with a different kind of cake). Then I found a recipe on the side of my German Chocolate Cake mix that was basically Kim’s Butterfinger cake but with caramel instead of butterscotch. I figured all these similar recipes was a sign that meant I was to make the cake and FAST. So I did.

And it was good.

I will post the recipe I made up, then put the Pillsbury recipe below it since that one is probably better. Guess it depends on what kind of flavors you prefer! If you love butterscotch, you will love this cake.

Butterscotch-Toffee Chocolate Cake

1 German Chocolate cake mix (I used Pillsbury)
1 (20-oz) bottle butterscotch ice cream syrup (I used Smuckers)
1 8-oz container Cool Whip
1/2-3/4 of a bag Heath bits (or you can chop up several candy bars)
Chocolate ganache or chocolate fudge ice cream topping to drizzle on top
Reserve ½ cup of butterscotch syrup & set aside.

Prepare cake according to package directions in a 13×9 pan (my picture shows a small pan b/c I chose to make two small cakes so I could give one away). Squirt 1/2 cup of the butterscotch syrup out and set aside. As soon as the cake’s out of the oven, poke it all over with a fork and squirt what remains of the bottle of butterscotch syrup over the top, spreading with a spatula so it can absorb while the cake cools.

Fold the ½ cup reserved syrup into the cool whip and spread over the cake once it is COMPLETELY cooled. Sprinkle Heath bits over the top and drizzle with ganache or fudge topping. Keep refrigerated until serving.

*Veronica’s notes: the reason I left out the sweetened condensed milk is that I used syrup instead of the thick ice cream topping and figured it was thin enough to soak into the cake without adding the milk. I would recommend using the thicker butterscotch topping in a jar & mixing it with sweetened condensed milk (like in the recipe below) b/c it only soaked in partially and there’s a thin layer of syrup resting on top of the cake still, a day later. Of course, that could be b/c I poked it with a fork instead of making big unsightly holes with a wooden spoon as directed below, but I couldn’t bring myself to uglify the cake that way, even if it was going to be covered up. I’m weird. Either way, you’re probably better off following Pillsbury’s instructions vs. mine. The cake is still REALLY good (so good my gut is about to burst from overeating it), but if you want all that gooey butterscotch really soaked in well, don’t follow my directions.

PILLSBURY® CHOCOLATE CARAMEL WOW

1 18.5 Pillsbury® German Chocolate Cake Mix
1 12-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 jar Smucker’s® Caramel Topping
1 8-ounce tub Cool Whip®
2 to 4 chopped Butterfinger® candy bars

Bake cake in 13×9-inch pan as directed.
Cool for 5 minutes.

Using the handle of a wooden spoon, poke holes in the cake.
In a small bowl, mix condensed milk and caramel topping, reserving 1/2 a cup.
Pour remaining caramel mixture over cake; cool completely.
Place whipped topping in medium bowl and fold in remaining caramel mixture.

Spread evenly over cake.
Sprinkle with chopped candy.
Cover loosely and refrigerate until served.
Store leftovers in refrigerator.

Old-Fashioned Carrot Cake

Posted on June 21, 2009 by Veronica

Dennis’ Grandma Joy turned 90 this month, and when I found out there was going to be a family celebration, I immediately volunteered to make the cake. I jump at any opportunity to aid in a celebration, especially if baking is involved!

She requested carrot, and I was tempted to make The Best Carrot Cake, since it’s my favorite, but I opted to make a more old-fashioned cake because I thought Joy might appreciate a cake that brought back memories. This is my own recipe, adjusted from several I found in cookbooks.

*Update 9-22-09: I received many compliments on the cake at the party, but Grandma Joy recently told me that people at her Church are still talking about that cake and how good it was. So please take their word for it and not my awful, hastily-taken picture’s representation!

Veronica’s Old-Fashioned Carrot Cake

Printable recipe

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon cinnamon
4 eggs
2 ½ cups finely shredded carrots
¾ cup vegetable oil
½ teaspoon freshly grated ginger
½ cup crushed pineapple, well drained & juice reserved
1 cup raisins
1 cup chopped walnuts
Cream Cheese Icing (recipe follows)

Add enough water or rum to the reserved pineapple juice to equal 1 cup. If you already have a cup of juice, you can add as much rum as you want—you just want at least one cup of liquid. Heat to boiling, remove from heat, and stir the raisins into the hot liquid. Leave to soak.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 8 or 9-inch round cake pans & set aside.

Stir dry ingredients together in a large bowl: flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda & cinnamon.

Strain the liquid off of the raisins. Whisk eggs in a medium bowl & stir in remaining ingredients: oil, ginger, carrots, pineapple, raisins (but not the soaking liquid) & walnuts.

Stir the wet mixture into the dry and stir until combined. Divide the batter between the two round pans and bake for 25-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool completely on wire rack, then frost with cream cheese icing.

Cream Cheese Icing
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
2 packages (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened
8 cups (2 lbs.) sifted confectioners’ sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

Cream butter and cream cheese, then add the sugar and vanilla. Use milk or additional sugar to change the consistency to thinner or thicker as needed. (Most people would use half this amount of sugar, which makes a more creamy frosting, but I make it thick for decorating.)

Makes: About 5 1/2 cups of icing.

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Honey Bun Cake

Posted on May 21, 2009 by Veronica

It’s the height of spring here in Kansas and today was our warmest yet, 84 degrees. I had the day off for a routine doctor appointment so I got to enjoy a bit of the sunlight today, and had enough time to try out a few of the recipes I’ve gotten from fellow foodies.

Since I had a bit more time in the morning than I usually do, I actually cooked breakfast rather than dumping it into a bowl. I chose to make the French Toast that my friend, Kimberly, posted on MySpace (you can get it here), which has brown sugar and nutmeg in the batter with cinnamon sprinkled on top. It was delish! Next time I will add vanilla and possibly some orange zest. I love French Toast!

French Toast with melted butter (ate it as soon as the syrup was on):

I stopped at my Mom and Dad’s house to drop off some eggs (I have a local supplier) and Dad was out back so I went to go see what he was up to. He had just picked some garlic and was cleaning it off to give to his girls (I’ve got two sisters). Like how he’s labeled for easier identification?

Dad loves to be outdoors and chat, especially now that he’s not working, so he kept me there as long as he could, showing me around his “garden.” I put that in quotes b/c it’s not a traditional garden, by far. In any case, I was glad to stay, glad to feel the sun, glad to smell the herbs & weeds and soil, glad to spend some time with my father for no particular reason. (He had a stroke last October, leaving him without the ability to read, and although I visit once or twice a week–it’s usually b/c I have to fill his medicine container, read to him and pay his bills….Mom doesn’t do any of this b/c…well, she’s a long story.)

Here’s what I meant when I said his isn’t a traditional garden. In this photo, there are so many things to notice that you really don’t see anything.

This is his garden–a mishmash of scattered herbs, dead poppies, weeds, grass, all lined with concrete blocks with toilet lids & rocks on top and a compost pile in front.

I asked him to show me where his garlic was and he pointed to about seven different places. I thought the funniest one was amongst the iris. You probably can’t see it, but the tops are thinner than the iris leaves.

He also has comfrey, which you can make tea with to help heal broken bones (I used this when I broke my tailbone):

Horseradish (the big leaves behind all the grass, garlic & various weeds)

A goji plant (he says he’s the only one in KS that has one but I wouldn’t believe him unless he actually had to travel to China to get it)

And, thinking of our dinner tonight, I picked some tarragon:

And some sage:

I had a good chuckle over the “volunteer” squash and broccoli plants that had cropped up in Dad’s old compost pile (right next to the new one–ewwww!)

Here’s a close-up of the broccoli

And over what Dad considered “lawn decorations,” like the toilet tank lids (some broken) and his seashell collection in the bowl of an antique sink.

I call him “Alta reincarnate” when I see stuff like this b/c his mother (Alta) would never throw anything away and used a lot of crazy stuff like this to decorate with (including plastic soda bottles). He’s also got an old cement mixer & toilet in his yard. I do like these huge chunks of glass, though:

Oh yeah, and laughed a little over the lamb’s quarters too:

Apparently this is just a weed but can be eaten. He didn’t plant them, they just sprung up as weeds do, but since he’s got so much Alta in him, he’s going to eat them b/c otherwise it would be “wasting” (wasting weeds!?!). Oh no, I just realized I do the same thing with food–I can’t waste it! It’s in my blood! But I don’t know if I’d be eating weeds.

On the way home, I stopped at Food For Thought for some local ground bison. The Whole Foods by us ran out and hasn’t had it for a while (it’s just a local store, not a part of the big chain) so I took advantage of being uptown to stop at the health-food store I grew up with. It started out in this rinky dink little place (where it says Central Food Mart)

And then moved across the street to this larger location (though probably still laughably small by big-city standards).

I didn’t take many pictures, but this is an adorable store with lots of fascinating things for sale–they’re not just about the vitamins and gluten-free products. I liked this one, though I managed to refrain from purchasing (I prefer poking my enemies with real pins):

Here’s their organic produce section.

I headed home with four pounds of bison and actually took time to prepare myself a decent (late) lunch rather than slapping a sandwich together. I had a Morningstar Farms Hickory Barbecue Riblet (it’s actually meatless) with what has become my new favorite side dish–green bean salad (recipe here).

Instead of making my own vinaigrette, I just use Kraft Sundried Tomato Vinaigrette and sprinkle on some dried basil. It might not be as delicious as originally intended, but I love it. And I love the riblets too–they’re the bomb. They have a really meaty texture and are kind of like shredded brisket that has been compacted.

I’ve been wanting to make Tucky‘s Honey Bun Cake ever since she posted her Mom’s recipe for it on a bulletin, but I haven’t had the time until today. I headed out to get some sour cream and then whipped it up into two shallow pans b/c I wanted to keep one and give the other away. Doing it this way, there wasn’t quite enough batter to cover the filling layer, but it still worked out and baked up nicely.

For dinner, I made Sweet Bacon Chicken Wraps (recipe here) using my friend Kim‘s idea of leaving the breasts whole and adding in herbs between the chicken and bacon (and then I couldn’t help sprinkling it over the top too). This is where Dad’s sage & tarragon came into play, and I also added some basil and rosemary.

If I hadn’t used fake chicken breasts, this would have probably killed me, but I only suffered a mild aneurysm. Thank goodness for fake poultry! This was so incredible, it’s almost enough to make me try it with real chicken. Brown sugar and chili pepper on bacon-wrapped chicken–what could be wrong with that?! And if you’re wondering why I would bother using fake chicken if I’m going to use real bacon, then you’ll have to ask b/c I don’t feel like getting into it (and you are probably better off staying out of my head, anyway).

As good as dinner was, we could hardly wait to clear the table for dessert–the sweet cinnamon smell was calling to us!!!! I served up two therapeutic-sized slices and we gobbled it up in silence–the only sounds being our forks scraping the plates. Then we both looked at the rest of the cake and then looked at each other. And smiled. I nodded and served us up another slice. Then the cake seemed to be a little bit crooked so we evened it up with a thin sliver. And then another. The cake is more than half gone now, but I’m consoling myself with the fact that if I’d made the cake in one pan, only a quarter of it would be gone. Is there something wrong with me for thinking that a quarter of a cake isn’t that much? :)

All in all, a very nice & relaxed day (even the Dr. visit wasn’t bad–he was very happy that I’ve lost 15 pounds–and we parted with our usual hug) and the cake was…well, the frosting on the cake (though it might have undone some of my weight loss efforts)! To make the ending as sweet for you as it was for us, I’ll leave you with the Honeybun Cake recipe, compliments of Tucky & her dear Mother.

Honey Bun Cake

BATTER:

1 box yellow cake mix
3/4 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1 (8-oz) container sour cream
MIX WELL

FILLING:
1 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp cinnamon
MIX WELL

ICING:
1/2 cup milk
3 cups powdered sugar
MIX WELL WITH MIXER

TO PREPARE:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9×13 pan. Pour HALF the batter into the pan and sprinkle with filling. Pour remaining batter on top and bake at 350 degrees for 40 min. While cake is hot, poke holes in the top of the cake with a fork and then pour & spread icing onto the cake. Chill and serve!

*Veronica’s Notes: I used two disposable 12.25×8.13×1.13 pans and divided everything between them. I did double the icing, but that wasn’t necessary. Also, I served it at room temperature and it was delicious. I’m chilling it now to see if it’s better that way b/c I think the cake is still in need of some trimming.