Red Velvet Ho-Ho Cake

I love the bundt pan-type cakes for making  easy summer (or anytime!) desserts.  Here, I made a red velvet cake batter, baked in a bundt pan. (If you have limited time, just mix up a box of red velvet cake mix according to directions!). As the cake cooled, I mixed up the filling.  To serve it, just slice the cake and put a dollop of filling between the slices!  So easy!

~Red Velvet Cake~

1/2 C Crisco

1 1/2 C sugar

2 eggs

1 oz. red food coloring

1 tsp vanilla

2 TBSP cocoa

1 tsp salt

2 C flour

1 C buttermilk

1 tsp baking soda

1 TBSP vinegar

Directions:  Beat Crisco and sugar.  Add eggs, food coloring and vanilla and beat again.  Add cocoa, salt and flour, alternately with buttermilk to the sugar mixture.  Fold in soda that has been mixed with the vinegar.  Bake at 350 degrees until it tests done in the middle (30-45 min.).  Loosen cake edges and invert the cake onto a cake plate to cool.

~Filling~

1 8 oz. pkg. of cream cheese

1 8 oz. tub of whipped topping

1/3 C confectioner's sugar

Using a hand-held electric mixer, beat until light and fluffy.  Chill.

YUM!!

Gooey Pineapple Upside-Down Dump Cake

I literally threw this dessert together last night!  It took just a few minutes (the longest part of assembling was melting the butter in the microwave).  We had rented a movie from Redbox, and although I wanted to have a warm dessert to enjoy, it was Friday evening, and I had just finished loading the dishwasher!  Time to get creative...in a non-messy way!  Here's what I did:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Get out a large pan or glass casserole.  Melt 2 sticks of butter(or margarine)in a glass measuring cup in your microwave.

2.  Mix 1 can of crushed pineapple plus the juice with 2 C brown sugar in the bottom of your casserole.

3.  Sprinkle a box of yellow cake mix over the pineapple mixture.  Finally, pour the melted butter on top and distribute evenly with the back of a large spoon

.

4.  Bake in a 350 degree oven until the top is golden brown.  Let cool a little and then serve pieces inverted onto dessert plates.  A cherry on top would be pretty, but I didn't have any in the pantry.  This is a very rich dessert and so vanilla ice cream would be nice on the side, too.  We really enjoyed the buttery pineapple taste warm...right from the oven!

Spicy Apple Butter Cake

  Here's a quick, spicy, dense cake that your family will love!  It's moist and delicious with a pecan topping, raisins, and a cream cheese filling!

  I  concocted this recipe one time when I was craving a heavy fruit-type cake, but wasn't wanting to make the time investment of a traditional fruit cake.  (Hubby doesn't care for carrot cake, so that was out of the question!)

  Now, this recipe starts with a box of spice cake mix, but that means we're done in half the time!  Stick with me, here!

1.  Make a box of spice cake mix.  Follow  package directions, except, substitute the oil with an equal amount of your favorite cinnamon apple butter (homemade is best!). Add 1/2 C of raisins that have been coated with flour.  Place whole pecan halves in the greased Bundt pan before you pour your prepared batter in the pan. 

 2.  Bake at 350 degrees until it tests done in the middle.

3.  When cake is done, let set for 5 minutes and then invert onto cake plate to finish cooling.

4.  While the cake is cooling, mix a tub of Cool Whip with an 8 oz. package of cream cheese and 1/2 C of powdered sugar.  Beat until smooth.  

5.  When the cake is completely cooled, cut in half horizontally with a serrated bread knife.  Spread creamy filling, replace the top of the cake and sprinkle with powdered sugar (looks like snow!)

6.  Refrigerate any leftover cake.

Easy Cajun Coconut Pecan Cake

Today, I'm posting a previously- written entry because a reader has requested an easy coconut cake recipe...also...I forgot to publish this entry back when I wrote it, it's a great cake recipe...and, well,  I've had an unusually busy week!  There!  Full disclosure!  Hope you enjoy this rich, easy cake.  (I didn't include a picture of the cake, but a picture of my middle son, instead!  I'm a typical mom!). This post was written in November of 2012, so I'm talking about Thanksgiving desserts, but this cake would be beautiful on your sideboard for Christmas, as well.

I've had a great week!  Our middle son, Blake, has been here for a visit!  He's getting ready to move states-away to a new job. Kudos to Blake for accomplishing a couple of his major life-goals, lately.   At the beginning of fall,  he was awarded his Masters degree in Industrial Psychology and will soon begin his  new job (it involves analyzing statistics, which he enjoys).  I'm so proud of his hard work and determination;  There... all done with the Mom-bragging!

IEven with a visitor in town, I had time to look through recipes, and if coconut is one of your favorite dessert ingredients, you're in luck this week!   I dug through some of my old community cookbooks this week and found a very promising recipe for a unique cake.  The little ragged book was a group effort by the Whistling Pines Garden Club of Cypress, Texas in 1977.  This cake sounds moist and delicious.  Both the cake and icing recipes have few ingredients...I love that!  This might be a great cake to set alongside the pumpkin pies at Thanksgiving.  I know it's hard to believe, but some folks would rather have cake than pie!  My husband's in that cake-eating group, bless his heart (More pecan and pumpkin pie for me!)

Cajun Cake and Easy Coconut- Pecan 
(Gaynelle Pucek)
2 C flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 lb. can crushed pineapple
1 1/2 C sugar
2 eggs

Mix at medium speed until combined.  Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes.  Makes a 13x9 inch cake.

Easy Coconut Pecan Icing

1/2 C sugar
1 stick margarine
1/2 C chopped pecans
1/2 C evaporated milk
1 C coconut

Bring sugar, milk and margarine to a boil.  Add coconut and pecans.  Pour over warm Cajun Cake.

Swaps:
We are That Family
Raising Homemakers
Deep Roots at Home
A Wise Woman Builds Her Home

Blackberry Spice Cake

I've had a busy week!  In the midst of the hustle and bustle, I made a Bundt cake.  I had promised to bring dessert to a luncheon with some neighbors.  I chose to make my Blackberry Spice Cake and took vanilla frozen yogurt to put on the side.  I was asked to share the recipe, so I'm sharing it on here :)

Blackberry Spice Cake

1 box of Spice Cake Mix

3 eggs

1/3 C vegetable oil

1 (21 oz.) can blackberry pie filling

1 C chopped walnuts (or Black Walnuts!)

1 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare Bundt pan.  Combine cake mix, eggs and oil in a large bowl.  Pour in chopped nuts and canned pie filling and cinnamon.  Stir until thoroughly combined.  Pour into bake pan.  Bake at 350 for 40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  Cool in pan a few minutes.  Invert onto cake plate.  Cool completely.  (I put a light vanilla glaze over the top.)

Southern Cakes 1947 from Arkansas

Since my last post I have relocated, well, make that semi-relocated.  We have sold our home (very quickly) in Texas and have moved into temporary housing while we house-hunt in Arkansas.  Although we will miss Texas, we're very excited about this new chapter in our life.  This location and job opportunity were too good to pass up!  I'm already in love with the Ozark Mountains that surround me;  it's so similar to West Virginia!  I've had the chance to search a couple of antique places here, and I'm happy to report that I've found an old cookbook, already.  A new place to live, for me, means researching its history and its food history, as well.  Look for my upcoming "Adventures in Arkansas" and snippets from vintage local cookbooks (as I find them).  This little red soft cover book was discovered in a Siloam Springs antique consignment shop (where I also found a rose Fiesta pitcher to match my set...for $12.00!!  Sorry, but I was so excited to find that deal;  there was also one in orange, but I only have the rose Fiesta.  The Selected Southern Cakes book was printed in 1947 by The Progressive Farmer.  Enjoy this traditional recipe from page 33:

One Egg Cake

1/3 C fat
2/3 C sugar
1 egg
 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/3 C light corn syrup
1 C milk
2 C flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder

Cream fat, and beat sugar in slowly.  Mix well.  Add beaten egg, vanilla, and stir well.  Blend syrup and milk.  Sift together dry ingredients and add alternately with liquid to first mixture.  Bake in greased square pan in moderate oven at 350 degrees for 1 hour, or in two greased 8-inch layer cake pans at same temperature for 30 minutes. Cool and frost.

Look forward to our guest post next time!
My next post will be a guest post by  Jack Meyers, writer of Nannybackgroundcheck.com.  Mr. Meyers contacted me and offered to do a guest post.  He asked me to choose some topics that might be of interest to my readers .  I think the topic he wrote about  is crucial to all child caregivers:  Ways to Protect Our Children form Negative Internet Circumstances.  I know that you will find his information helpful in protecting your children, grandchildren or any children in your home when they use the internet.

Swaps:
We are That Family
Raising Homemakers
Deep Roots at Home
Cuisine Kathleen
Rose Chintz Cottage

Old Southern Fruitcake Recipe

'Tis the season for a really good fruitcake;  nothing tastes better with a hot cup of  tea or coffee!  I have a recipe from a friend (Freda Handley), given to me years ago, called Texas Lizzies, but they are fruitcake cookies.  I may share that recipe with you  before the holidays are over.  However, if you are a true fruitcake-lover, as I am, you have to have the loaf type cake filled with nuts and candied fruit at Christmas. If you don't bake, Claxton White Fruitcake can be a semi-homemade substitute.  I would also like to add that many locally-owned  restaurants often bake fruitcakes for sale, but you must order early!   My dear mother-in-law, Louise, used to order each of us a fruitcake from The Wren's Nest, a Mom and Pop Restaurant near St. Albans, WV,  that was known for good food (and jazz night)!  We were a small fruitcake-loving club of  2 at the Davis' when Christmas time came;  thoughtful Louise had ordered the cakes for us to enjoy way before she got busy at Thanksgiving!
 So many jokes have been made about gifting unwanted fruitcakes, but if it's a great homemade fruitcake with the right ingredients, there is no better food gift!!  Here's a wonderful old recipe from a southern family;  it's the only Christmas cake that the lady who cooked for their family  made for decades.  Enjoy!

Big Mama's Fruitcake
(Shreveport, Louisiana) 

1 C butter
2 C sugar
6 eggs, separated
4 C flour (save 1 C for flouring the fruit)
2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 C good Kentucky bourbon
2 tsp freshly-grated nutmeg
2 tsp vanilla
1 lb. candied cherries
1 lb. pitted dates
1 lb. raisins
1 lb. pecans
1/2 lb. English walnuts
1 lb. candied pineapple

-Cream butter thoroughly, then add sugar gradually.  Beat until light and fluffy.  Beat in egg yolks one at a time.  Sift and measure three cups flour;  resift three times with the baking powder and salt.  Add alternately (flour first and last) with the whiskey.  Add nutmeg and vanilla.
-Flour fruit with remaining cup of flour (sifted) and fold into the batter.  As this needs a very large container, you can use a roasting pan, and use your hands to mix the fruit into the batter thoroughly.  Finally, fold in egg whites, which have been beaten stiff but not dry. 
-Put batter into tube, loaf, and other deep pans, greased and lined with waxed paper.  Bake at 275 degrees for 2 or more hours.  Test with a toothpick or clean broom straw for doneness of batter;  you do not want cake to be too dry!
Makes wonderful Christmas presents
Yield:  1 large and 2 small cakes

Swaps:
We Are That Family
Tammy's Recipes
Raising Homemakers
Love Bakes Good Cakes
Deep Roots at Home
A Wise Woman Builds Her Home

Crock Pot- Tortillas, Steak and Pound Cake

One of the most enjoyable parts of writing a cooking blog is receiving feedback from readers.  I often receive requests, questions and comments.  Friends of Frugalhomekeeping have contacted me through my Facebook page, the Frugalhomekeeping Facebook page or even my email. Most recently, I had a request for an electronic copy of the original Rival Crock Pot pamphlet (from the 60's) that I had featured in a previous post .  While I would love to fill that request, I am unable to.  I will happily share some recipes from it, though.  Enjoy!

Chicken Tortillas
(Rival Crock Pot pamphlet)

1 fryer, cooked and boned
6 to 8 tortillas, broken into pieces
1 medium onion, chopped
1 10 oz. can cream of chicken soup
1/2 can (1/2 cup) chopped tomatoes and chilies
2 TBSP quick-cooking tapioca
2 C grated cheddar cheese

Cook and cut chicken into bite-size pieces. Mix well with soup, tomatoes, chilies and tapioca.  Line bottom of Crock Pot with tortillas.  Add 1/3 of chicken and soup mixture;  sprinkle with onion and cheese.  Repeat layers of tortillas, chicken soup mixture, onions and cheese.  Cover and cook on LOW for 6-8 hours.  (HIGH:  3 hours)  Recipe may be doubled if desired.

Smothered Steak

1 1/2 lbs. chuck or round steak, cut into strips
1/3 C flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 large onion, sliced
1-2 green peppers, sliced
1 lb. can tomatoes
1 4 oz. can mushrooms, drained
2 TBSP molasses (optional)
3 TBSP soy sauce
1 10 oz. pkg. frozen green beans, French style (optional)

Put steak strips, flour, salt and pepper in Crock Pot.  Stir well to coat steak.  Add all remaining ingredients.  Cover and cook on HIGH for 1 hour, then turn to LOW for 8 hours.  (HIGH:  5 hours).  Serve with rice.

Golden Lemon Pound Cake

1 pkg. yellow cake mix (2 layer)
1 pkg lemon jello
4 eggs
1/2 C oil
1 C water

Beat all ingredients 2 minutes in large mixing bowl.  Pour into greased and floured 3-pound coffee can.  Place in Crock Pot;  cover top of can with 4-6 paper towels.  Put lid on Crock Pot and cook on HIGH 3 1/2 to 4 hours.  DO NOT PEEK until last hour.  Note:  Bake 4-5 1/2 hours in 4 1/2 qt. Crock Pot.

Swaps:
Blessed with Grace
All the Small Stuff
My Sweet and Savory
33 Shades of Green

Stone Gable
Flour Me with Love
Homemaker on a Dime
Make Ahead Meals for Busy Moms
Skip to My Lou
A Southern Fairytale
DIY Home Sweet Home

Delightfully Dowling
Beyer Beware
Mandy's Recipe Box
It's a Blog Party
Balancing Beauty and Bedlam

Abe Lincoln's Favorite White Cake

Last night, I was quickly looking through some old recipes that I bought out of an estate auction in the early 80's in the Ohio River Valley Area (WV, KY, Va and Ohio). This folded piece of very fragile letterhead stationary caught my attention. It appears to be the stationary of maybe a publication. The top is printed in a beautiful old font and declares: Country Gentleman; Service Department; Independence Square, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Readers: If you can provide further information about the history of "Country Gentleman" please leave it in my comments box so we can all benefit. It would be interesting to me!)

Abraham Lincoln's Favorite White Cake

Long, long ago, a certain little French caterer in Lexington, Kentucky, made a wonderful white cake in honor of his countryman, Lafayette, who was to pay a visit to the city. The cake was beautifully decorated with flags made of colored sugar, and with marvelous icing, but the cake itself contained only the whites of eggs, and when cut was snow white. Thereupon, every cake baker in the Blue-Grass region immediately began making white cakes; and the recipe for the most famous of all was originated in the household of the ancestors of Mary Todd, who many years afterward, made it for Abraham Lincoln. Later, when she became his wife, he declared this white cake was the best in Kentucky. Here is Mary Todd's recipe with modern baking powder included:

1 Cupful of butter
2 Cupfuls of sugar
1 Cupful of milk
3 Cupfuls of flour
3 Teaspoonsful of baking powder
Whites of 6 eggs
1 Teaspoonful of vanilla or other flavoring, as preferred
1 Cupful of chopped, blanched almonds

Cream the butter well, add the sugar and cream again, sift flour and baking powder together, add to butter and sugar, alternately with the milk. Then stir in the chopped nutmeats and beat well, finally fold in the stiffly-beaten whites of the eggs, pour into a well-greased, paper-lined pan and bake one hour in a moderate oven. Ice with boiled icing to which you have added half a cupful of candied pineapple and cherries cut in very small pieces.

Personal note: Many years ago, Hubby took me on a trip through Virginia (I was missing my sister, Becky, who lived in Manasses at the time). One of our side trips was to tour a plantation owned by some distant ancestors of Mary Todd (and the Lees). Shirley Plantation is known for its beautiful, suspended staircase. It is a fond memory of one of our summer trips that we took as a young couple, all because "Nana and Pappy" were willing to keep two little boys for a week. God bless grandparents!

Butterfinger Candy Bar Cake

Last night, as I was cleaning up the dishes after dinner, I got a bad whiff of some nasty smell. I soon realized that I had a bad potato in a bag of them. It's amazing how one bad potato or apple can have such a strong odor. I tossed the spoiled potato and stored the others away (to have with a turkey later in the week). As I was searching through my recipes for new ways to use my excess of potatoes, I found this delicious-sounding cake recipe. I thought someone who reads my blog might like Butterfinger candy bars as much as we do. Here you go:


Butterfinger Candy Bar Cake
(Marsha Loiacona)

1 boxed angel food cake mix (or store-bought, bakery cake!)
1 large container Cool Whip
2 Butterfinger candy bars

Prepare angel food cake mix according to package directions. Crush the 2 candy bars and mix into the Cool Whip. (Candy bars crush better when chilled.) When cake is completely cooled, frost with the Cool Whip mixture. Enjoy.

Book I am reading: The Shack by William P. Young

I'll be at these swaps today:
-LifeasMom
-Prairiestory
-MizHelenscountrycottage