Category: Desserts

 

Having a party soon?  A great treat that will make any party a success is chocolate cake.  Everyone (who likes chocolate) will love the rich, moist texture of this cake.  It has a delicious flavor and it’s very easy to make.  So here’s your chance to WOW with some made-from-scratch cake.  Your friends will say that this is the best chocolate cake they’ve ever had, and you will never go back to the box chocolate cake again! 

Mix 1 1/2 cups of sugar, 1/2 cup of softened margarine, 1 cup of buttermilk, 2 eggs, and  6 Tablespoons of cocoa.

Slowly add in the 2 cups of flour.

Add 1 teaspoon of baking soda to 1 cup of boiling water and mix into the first mixture.

Pour batter into greased cake pans.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes.  Bake until a toothpick inserted into the batter comes out clean.  Let the cakes cool in the pan so they come out easier when you are ready to frost them.

Next it’s time to make the chocolate buttercream frosting.  In a mixer blend 1/3 cup of softened butter, 3 3/4 of powdered sugar, 1/4 cup of milk, 1 tsp. of vanilla, 1/4 tsp. of salt, and 1/4 cup of cocoa powder until smooth. Add a little more milk if the frosting is too thick.

Now you can frost your cake.  Carefully remove the first cake from the pan and set it on the cake stand.  One trick to keep your cake stand free of extra frosting is to place a piece of wax paper just under the edge of the cake while frosting.   Then you can pull it away when you are finished.

Frost the top of this base layer and then add on the top layer of the cake.Frost the top and sides of your cake.Remove the wax paper from the edge.  Now pour yourself a tall glass of ice cold milk, sit back, kick your feet up, and enjoy a slice of your delicious cake.

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Summer is here!  Or it will be tommorow.  And what’s summer without our favorite summer foods like peach pie?  The other day my sister gave me a delicious peach pie recipe that has a wonderfully flaky crust.  So, I decided to get some peaches to make my first pie of summer.  This recipe is an easy one that even a begining pie maker can succeed at.  So drop all of your fears about not knowing how to make a good pie, go out and get the ingredients for this recipe, and let’s get baking!

First start with eight peaches.

Peal peaches and remove the pits.

Slice the peaches into thin uniform slices.

Put your sliced peaches in a bowl and add 2/3 cup of sugar.

 Add three tablespoons of flour.

Mix in 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon.

Mix everything together thoroughly.

Now set the peaches aside and start mixing up your pie crust. Put two cups of flour in a bowl and a 1/4 teaspoon of salt.

 Add 1/2 cup of vegetable oil and 1/4 cup of water to the flour.

Mix together until it looks like the dough is ready to be rolled out. You can add a little more water or oil if the dough is too crumbly.

Roll the crust out between two pieces of waxed paper. Roll out until very thin. 

Form the dough in the bottom of a pie plate.

Pour the peaches in the pie plate.

Now you can make the crumble top. Mix 1/2 cup of flour with 1/2 cup of brown sugar in a bowl.

Now cut in 1/4 cup of butter till the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Sprinkle over filling. I also cut out 3 small hearts out of the extra pie crust and set them on top of the crumble and brushed them with milk and sprinkled them with brown sugar.

Now bake the pie in a 375 degree oven for 50-60 minutes or until the pie is golden brown.

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Here is the best cinnamon roll recipe you will ever find. This was my Grandma Dow’s special recipe.  I am sharing this recipe today in honor of what would have been my grandma Elma Dow’s 100th birthday. She lived a long, full life; 95 years of baking, crocheting, and crafting. This is a recipe she made often to share with neighbors, friends, and family.  She knew the recipe by heart, without measurements, just by the look and feel of the dough. It was not until about eight years ago that Elma and my sister Angie put this recipe down on paper in the form it is in now.  This cinnamon roll has a delightfully light and soft dough that is wonderful and has a fresh yeasty flavor. Very different from the rolls you buy in the store, there really is no comparison. Be prepared to eat two or three when they come fresh out of the oven.   

This is a picture of my Grandma Dow, holding me, sitting next to my cousin Christie.  

To start the cinnamon rolls, mix the following ingredients to make the yeast mixture in a bowl: 1/2 cup warm water (temp. the water to 100-110 degrees), 1 tablespoon sugar, and 2 tablespoons yeast (or two packages). Stir it in the bowl until just mixed and let it sit for 10 minutes. It will foam up quite a bit. The reason you check the temperature of the water is to make sure that it is not too warm so it does not kill the yeast, but that it is warm enough to activate it.

Next, on the stovetop in a saucepan you can make your butter mixture, you warm 2 cups of milk, 1/2 cup of softened butter, 1/2 cup of sugar with it heaping in the cup and 1 teaspoon salt. Heat the mixture until warm about 100-110 degrees.

After your yeast mixture has sat for 10 min (it will be foamed up) and your butter mixture is warm, stir the two mixtures together in a mixer with dough hooks.

Now beat two eggs in a bowl and pour them in your mixer and mix until combined.

Now it is time to add the flour to your mixture. Slowly add 8 cups of flour, mixing as you add the flour.

Put the dough into a large, butter greased bowl and flip the dough around so the butter gets on all the sides of the dough.

Cover the bowl with a clean dish cloth and put the bowl with dough in it in a warm spot in your kitchen and let it rise for 1 hour or more. After the hour has passed, the dough will have rose up in the bowl like this.

Knock the dough down. That means use your hands and hit the air out of the dough. Sprinkle some flour on your counter and start rolling out the dough. Roll it out to about 24 inches in length.

Butter the dough with your softened butter.

Sprinkle sugar all over the buttered dough.

Then sprinkle with cinnamon.

Roll the dough up.

Cut the dough in one inch slices.

Put the slices on a greased cookie sheet to rise.Let the dough rise one hour or more in a warm spot until the rolls are light. They will look like this.

Bake the rolls in an oven preheated to 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes. When the rolls are done, they will be golden brown.Now it is time to frost the rolls. You can make a batch of Buttercream Frosting. All you need to do is mix your 3 3/4 cups powdered sugar, 1/4 cup milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1/3 cup butter and 1/4 teaspoon salt.Mix until it is smooth.Frost your rolls with a butter knife while they are hot.

Now it is time to sit back with a cold glass of milk and enjoy your rolls.

Remember these rolls are preservative free, which means you need to freeze what you don’t eat that first day so you can enjoy them for days to come with the same fresh taste and soft texture.

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