At Lunch With Friends

Three decades of knowing one another, these two neighbors lived in the next block. One still does. We reunited today to share stories of past times remembered.

Fresh berries, grilled peach, on mixed greens with Gorgonzola, light balsamic dressing
Flourless Chocolate Mousse cake (Shared)

Gato de Muez de Pesah Walnut and Orange Passover Cake

I am at my sister’s in NYC and sifting through old recipes and photos. This is from 2011.
When I googled this recipe title, from the one she wrote down on a piece of composition paper, I discovered that it is from The Book of Jewish Food: An Odyssey from Samarkand to New York by Claudia Roden who says it is the Passover Cake of Istanbul and it is imperative to use walnuts that are not stale! You can see the actual recipe in the link above, if you have trouble viewing the handwritten version

Here is a  link to a Youtube Video with
Claudia Roden an Interview on Jewish Food from the British Library 

The photo of the recipe cuts off the word STIFF but that is how you need to beat those egg whites.

 

It’s Tuesday 2/22/2022

You know how much I wanted to write that date 2/22/2022. I’m not waiting til 2:22 am to post though.

P.S

Did you know that today’s date is a Palindrome and an Ambigram? The date will read the same from left to right , from right to left AND upside down! Won’t happen again for millions of years. 22022022

Oranges in winter throughout the years. In fact I had Oranges and Orange as tags.

2022 Orange in Winter

Past posts featuring oranges-

One Good Thing in Winter

Sinking Light Through Citrus

Fresh Squeezed

Cranberries and oranges

Portuguese Orange Olive Oil Cake

My Happy Place

How to Relieve Stress Make marmalade

At First the Oranges Seemed Hard snd Uninviting

Silent Sunday (orange)

Fruit Still Life 1and 2

The Zest of an Orange

Post from 2011
2016
The Portuguese Orange Olive Oil Cake

The Complete Prune Cake Recipe

Yesterday’s post recipe link had a very strange symbol when there was a fraction involved in the amount of a few ingredients.

Sorry about that.

Good thing I have several eagle eye readers to alert me. Here’s the the entire recipe.

I’m thinking the baking is 325 degrees and not 300 as recipe says but that cookbook was from 1984.

Bake until done.

(Also I’ve used a stick of butter and 1/2 c of olive oil together when I didn’t have good vegetable oil in the pantry) I omit the nuts as my kids didn’t care for them but they are in the original recipe.

Here I’ve declared n kno this recipe COMPLETE. Yikes, I don’t see the 1 tsp allspice in this recipe I’m posting today. Be sure to include it.

Still best the second day after baking. I see I wrote “Best cake you’ll ever eat.” I would say now, “that’s debatable!”

Prune Cake- tastes better than it sounds, Promise

Prune cake recipe is from The Beaumont Inn Harrodsburg, Kentucky. I saw it in a newspaper when we lived in Fort Knox.

I’ve baked this recipe for decades. It’s a moist spice cake. Even better the second day.

Be sure you cook and mash the prunes first!

I shared the Prune Cake recipe and the person said later her cake didn’t taste or look like mine. I asked her about it – she didn’t like cooked prunes so she thought she’d improve the recipe by just cutting them up. The prune mash needs to distributed throughout the batter. Doesn’t work her way!

I omitted the warm sauce this time, cutting the calories of extra butter and sugar but it’s delicious that way. Keeps it extra moist.

Many blog viewers baked a spinach pie and reported great success. Not sure how many will be tempted to bake a prune cake. If you do, please let me know.

Dry ingredients with spices. Cooked prunes (mashed)

And buttermilk is key to success.

Happy Day Cake Recipe

HAPPY DAY CAKE RECIPE

It’s my sister’s birthday today.

The Happy Day Cake Recipe post is from a birthday post I made for her ten years ago.  For many family  birthdays it was the 1-2-3-4 Cake recipe or the Happy Day Cake recipe on the back of the Swan’s Down Cake Flour box, frosted with Penuche icing.  My mother would put the saucepan filled with boiling brown sugar and butter, into a sink of cold water and then beat it by hand once it cooled.She’d add Confectioner’s sugar to it. I can hear the ring of the metal loop at the end of the pan’s handle.  She added a dash of vanilla extract.  My dad would pour milk over a stale slice of cake and eat it with a spoon.   Cake and frosting recipes below photo.

Mary bought me this vintage cake pan when we were visiting our brother in Okanogan Washington

Happy Day Cake

2½ cups sifted cake flour

1½ cups sugar

3 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1/2 cup shortening, at room temperature

1 cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 eggs

Sift flour with sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir shortening to soften. Add flour mixture, ¾ cup of the milk and vanilla. Mix until all flour is dampened, then beat two minutes at medium speed. Add eggs and remaining ¼ cup milk. Beat one minute longer. Pour into two 9-inch layer pans that have been lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pans; remove from pans and cool thoroughly on racks.

This cake also may be baked in three 8-inch layer pans for 25 to 35 minutes, or in a 13- by 9-inch pan for 30 to 35 minutes. Batter may be spooned into 36 medium paper baking cups in muffin pans, filling half full. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes.

Penuche Frosting   Butter is Key

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1 cup brown sugar, packed
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar, more or less
  • hot water, optional
  • vanilla extract

PREPARATION:

In a saucepan, melt 1/2 cup butter. Add the brown sugar. Bring to a boil and lower heat to medium low and continue to boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the milk and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Cool to lukewarm. Gradually add sifted confectioners’ sugar. Beat until thick enough to spread. If too thick, add a little hot water. Frosts top and sides of a 2-layer cake or a 13×9-inch cake.

Happy Birthday Mary.

 

I didn’t count the cake posts I’ve created in the last 12 years but if you have time on your hands and like cake  you can look at some photos from theblog tagged CAKE here

Two Dilemmas/ Dilemnas (sp?) Solved

One:  It’s dilemma.  The correct spelling. Perhaps you already knew that it was never dilemna. But you might have been taught the incorrect spelling in school from what I researched.  Etymology at English Language and Usage here  

Two:  Lemon Raspberry or Chocolate Mousse Cake?

Solution

In Millvale

 

Solution: