On Sunday we had a picnic at church.  It was a very special picnic, celebrating the dedication of the building.  One of these days I will get some pictures so you can see how beautiful it is.

Anyway.  I wanted to take something wonderful and this was it.  I have heard it referred to as Holy Cow Cake but we call it Butterfinger Cake. You can use your favorite chocolate cake recipe or even a mix cake to do the base.  Bake in a 13x 9 inch pan according to directions.  Remove from the oven and poke holes in it with a fork or even a small dowel.

Now, pour 1 can of Eagle brand condensed milk over it. Let that soak in.

While that is soaking make the caramel:

1/2 c unsalted butter

1/2 c brown sugar

1/4 c heavy cream

Melt sugar and butter together until smooth.  allow to begin to bubble and add cream, stirring it in. Cook for about 30 more seconds and remove from heat.

Allow to cool slightly to thicken up.  Now pour THAT over the cake just like you did with the Eagle Brand.

Let cool in the fridge, covered.

You will need to get 6 Butterfinger bars.  Chop up four of them in small-ish pieces.  Sprinkle them over the cake.

Whip a pint of heavy cream until it starts to thicken and then add sugar to taste.  Continue to whip until soft peaks form.  Add 1 teaspoon of instant vanilla pudding powder to stabilize the whipped cream.

Spread that over the cake.

Chop up remaining Butterfingers and garnish the top with that.

This cake is incredibly moist, rich and delicious. Guaranteed to give you a sugar rush with the first bite.  It is so easy, and so fantastic that it is great for potlucks!

Images:Marye Audet 

Post from: Baking Delights

Cakes are spectacular without much gilding the lily but sometimes it is fun to do something a little bolder. I don’t knwo if any of you have ever used a checkerboard cake pan but I love mine! It is so much fun to cut into the cake and see people’s faces when they see that checkerboard pattern show up. I have done them in pink and white, in blue and white (baby showers), and the traditonal chocolate and white..but you could do them in any combination. The trick is not to spread the frosting thickly between the layers but use only a thin layer, just enough to hold it together. Otherwise hte checkerboard will be messed up. Now, of course since I was making htis for a post, and I was in a hurry, I did not get the batter put in evenly and the squares are imperfect. I hope you won’t hold htat against either me or the cake but will try this! You can get the pans at almost any baking supply. It takes 3 9 onch pans and a plastic form that you put in the pans while you are adding the batter.

You can see that I got the batter in messy but you can get an idea of how it looks before it bakes. Afterwards it looks like this:

Normally the squares of color are perfectly squared off. :/

Anyway, try this. It is fun and sort of retro. And delicious.

Checkerboard Cake

3 oz bittersweet chocolate (or semisweet)

4 c cake flour

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 sticks unsalted butter

2 c sugar

4 eggs

1 Tbs vanilla

1 1/3 c milk

Melt chocolate. Set aside.

Combine dry ingredients.

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla.

Add milk, alternating with flour mixture, to butter mixture. Beat at medium speed for 1 minute.

Divide batter in half. Add chocolate to one half and stir well.

Grease and flour cake pans. Using the plastic insert pour in batter in designated areas. You will use 2 with the same pattern. ie: 2 with chocolate center circles, and 1 with vanilla center circle. See picture for details. Remove the plastic insert and rinse. Do the next two pans the same way.

Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes and turn out to let cool completely.

To frost-

Use the chocolate frosting recipe here

Cover each layer with a thin layer of frosting. Stack, alternating outside colors. Frost with the rest of the frosting.

Serves 8-10, 12 if you cut thin slices.

Post from: Baking Delights

  Just want to mention really quick that Marc is in the hospital with severe knee pain..the doctors have him on morophine…We are unsure what is happening next but have great faith that all will be well. Good wishes, prayers and  positive thoughts all appreciated!  I am dividing my time between the library (to blog) the house, and the hospital and I am feeling a bit ragged lately!

2 c flour

1 3/4 c sugar

1/2 c cocoa

1 Tbs soda

1/3 c butter

1 c sour milk or butter milk

1 c strong coffee

  Cream the butter and the sugar.  mix flour and soda into sugar mixture and then milk and coffee. Mix well. Mixture will be very liquid. Pour into greased and floured 13 x 9 inch pan and bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes. Frost as desired.

Post from: Baking Delights

Paula used this curry frosting with a chocolate cake but I think that I am going to try it with an apple spice cake. The combination of curry buttercream and moist apple spice cake seems to me to be exactly the kind of thing I like, comfort food with a unique twist.
Curry powders vary wildly so experiment to find one you like. We have a natural foods store near by that has spices and herbs in bulk and you buy as little or as much as you like. I prefer this since I can always have very fresh spices at a very small cost.

Curry Frosting
1 1/2 sticks salted butter
3 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp vanilla
2 tsp curry powder (use your favorite)
4-6 Tbsp milk*
Combine the butter and sugar. Add vanilla and curry, blend. Start with about 4 of the tablespoons of milk. Add more to get the consistancy you need. I needed quite a bit.

*note from Marye, personally I would probably use heavy cream here…I usually have quite a bit of it around since we have our own small dairy goats.

Post from: Baking Delights