Thursday Recipe - Almond Poppyseed Loaf Cake

This is from an old version of Betty Crocker. It wasn't originally poppyseed or almond, but it turned out so tasty, I wanted to make sure I could duplicate it next time I want poppyseed loaf cake. So, here you go. It's very similar to pound cake. I think next time I make it, I'll try baking it in a bundt pan. The loaves cooked faster than I expected and weren't quite as moist as I like. It was also crumbly, but it tasted delicious.


Almond Poppyseed Loaf Cake

2 c. flour (I used all white for this one)
1 c. sugar
3 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
3/4 c. milk
1/4 c. shortening
1/4 c. butter
2 eggs
1 t. rum flavoring
1 t. lemon extract
2 T. poppy seeds

Put everything except poppy seeds into mixing bowl. Beat on low speed until blended. Beat on high for three minutes. Stir in poppy seeds. Pour into two greased and floured regular-sized loaf pans. Bake at 350°F for 45-55 minutes, until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Let cool in pans about five minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool.

Or pour batter into a greased and floured bundt cake pan. Bake at 325°F for 50-70 minutes, until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in pan five minutes, then invert onto a serving plate.

Great with lemon glaze or cream cheese frosting.

Lemon Glaze

1 c. powdered sugar
2 T. lemon juice
2 T. melted butter
1/2 t. vanilla

Blend together until smooth. If too runny, stir in more powdered sugar. If too thick, add more lemon juice. It should be like a thick syrup. Drizzle over cooled cake.

Thursday Recipe - Tropical Cake

Happy Valentine's Day! It's my wedding anniversary. That makes 27 years, sweetheart. Here's to a lot more.

I've been craving cake lately. No idea why. I've never been much of a cake person. But the last few weeks, cake is the only thing I really crave. Because of my diet, I can't do chocolate cake and I can't do cake mixes and I'm not supposed to have much sugar, so I've been digging through my recipe book collection (30+ cookbooks and counting) looking for inspiration. I found an interesting banana cake recipe and modified it, because I can't follow a recipe the way it's written to save my life.

The cake is sweet, but not too sweet. It tastes better the next day.

Tropical Cake

 1/3 c. butter, softened
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
3 very ripe bananas
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 t. vanilla extract
1 t. coconut extract
1 2/3 c. sifted flour
1/2 c. milk

Topping:
1/2 c. shredded coconut
1 c. sliced or slivered almonds
1/2 c. brown sugar

Heat oven to 350°. Grease a 9x13 cake pan and set aside.

Cream butter and sugar until soft and fluffy looking. Add eggs and bananas. Cream until bananas are mashed completely. Scrape sides. Add baking powder, baking soda, salt, vanilla extract, and coconut extract. Beat on high speed for 1 - 2 minutes, until very fluffy. Add flour and milk. Mix on low speed just until blended. Pour batter into cake pan.

Mix together topping ingredients and sprinkle over unbaked cake.

Bake at 350° for 30-35 minutes, until cake tests done. (Poke it with a toothpick. It should come out clean. You can also jiggle the pan. If it still wiggles a lot in the middle, it isn't done yet. Touching it with your finger doesn't work too well with this recipe. It's a dense, moist cake. Plus, the topping gets in the way. Don't burn your fingers on the sugar!)

Serve warm or cold. It's delicious either way.

Thursday Recipe - Peanut Butter Cupcakes and Chocolate Frosting

This recipe comes from America's Best Recipes 1990 Edition. It's attributed to Créme de LA Coast, Small World Guild—Childrens Hospital of Orange County, CA. Page 105, if you're keeping track. (This book was one of my mom's cookbooks she passed on when she cleaned out her kitchen. And I found it for sale on Amazon? You can find anything on the internet. Except the repair and maintenance manual for a 1970s Wurlitzer electric organ, but that's a different story. If you know where the manual is, please let me know. I'd love to fix my organ.)

This is super easy and very tasty with or without frosting. The cake is moist and tender without being crumbly. It's a different flavor for cake, too.

I thought for sure I'd posted my recipe for chocolate frosting, but I haven't. So here's a good one.

Peanut Butter Cupcakes

1 3/4 c. flour
2 t. baking powder (or use 1 1/4 t. baking soda because you find out halfway through measuring everything that you're out of baking powder and the roads are too slippery and snowy to drive to the store.)
1/2 t. salt
3/4 c. sugar
1 c. milk (If it's going sour that's a bonus. The extra acidity will help if you end up using baking soda. We've gone from 2-3 gallons a week to about 1 gallon a month since my two oldest boys moved out. My hubby is the only one who can still drink it and I rarely use it in cooking.)
1/2 c. peanut butter (The recipe calls for creamy, but I used crunchy. I like the nut bits in the cupcakes.)
1/4 c. butter
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla

Dump everything in a mixing bowl. Beat on low speed for about a minute until blended. Scrape the sides then turn the speed up to high and beat for 2 more minutes. Spoon into muffin tins lined with paper baking cups. (I used a combination of miniature muffin size and regular size. The recipe made 24 mini and 11 regular.) Bake at 350°F for 15 minutes for mini and 18-20 for regular size. Cool on wire racks.

Frost with chocolate frosting or make them PB&J cupcakes:
Drop 1 t. jam into each cupcake before baking. Bake as directed. Strawberry or raspberry would be really good.

Chocolate Frosting

1/4 c. butter, softened
4 oz cream cheese (half of a block)
1/2 c. cocoa powder
1 t. vanilla
2 - 3 c. powdered sugar
1/4 c. milk

Cream butter and cream cheese until blended and soft. Add cocoa powder, vanilla, and 2 c. powdered sugar. Blend on low speed until mostly mixed. It will be dry and probably a bit lumpy. Pour in milk. Beat on low speed until mixture loosens up and starts creaming. Beat on high speed for at least 3 minutes. Add powdered sugar 1/2 c. at a time, beating well after each, until desired consistency is reached. Keep any leftover frosting in the fridge. You can eat it with a spoon and pretend it's fudge if you want.