Sweets – Cakes

Peppermint Frosting

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Pretty for Christmas.  And it uses up some of those candy canes.

Ingredients:

  • ½ c butter
  • 3 c powdered sugar
  • 1/3c milk
  • ½ tsp peppermint extract
  • 2 drops red food coloring
  • 5 candy canes, crushed

Directions:

  1. Combine butter and sugar in the bowl of a standing mixer until smooth.
  2. Mix milk, food coloring and peppermint.
  3. Add to butter/sugar in mixer and mix until fluffy
  4. Transfer all of the frosting to the cooled cookie dough and spread evenly.
  5. Immediately sprinkle with the crushed candy canes and chill.
  6. Cut 6 x 10 to make 60 pieces.

Serves: makes enough for a 9 x 13 pan

Source: heathercristo.com

 

Cheese Cake – Cheese Torte (with Zwieback)

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Not your traditional cheese cake – no cream cheese.  This is one of Jim’s favorite cakes – usually his birthday cake.

Ingredients:

  • 1 pkg Zwieback (6 oz)
  • 2 c sugar (divided)
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 c butter, melted
  • speck of salt
  • 1/2 lemon, juice and grated rind
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1/2 pt cream (1 c) or canned milk
  • 1 1/2 lb cottage cheese (24 oz)
  • 1/4 c flour (4 Tab)
  • 4 eggs
  • 1/4 c pistachio nuts, chopped (optional-never used)

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 300°
  2. Roll zwieback fine. (food processor works great)
  3. Mix with 1 cup sugar, cinnamon, and melted butter.
  4. Set aside 3/4 cup of this mixture to sprinkle over top.
  5. Butter a 9 inch spring-form pan well.
  6. Spread and press mixture on bottom and sides of spring-form pan. (or spread fresh unmelted butter on the bottom and sides of the form, and press cinnamon and zwieback mixed, into the butter.)
  7. Beat unseparated eggs with remaining cup of sugar until light.
  8. Add salt, lemon, and vanilla.
  9. Stir the cream in well.
  10. Then add cheese and flour.
  11. Mix all together.
  12. Strain through a sieve (I never do this).
  13. Stir until smooth.
  14. Pour into zwieback lined pan.
  15. Sprinkle remaining mixture over the top.
  16. Add nuts.
  17. Bake in 300° oven 1 hour.
  18. Turn off heat and let stand in oven until cooled. (overnight).
  19. Remove rim of spring form pan place tin bottom on serving plate.

Serves: 12

Source: Winnifred Kleerup – contributed to the Kenilworth Cookery (original edition)

Revised 9/2022 when I discovered the original typed recipe, almost unreadable, in a book.

Cherry-Fudge Cheesecake Dessert

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So- company for dinner, what for dessert??? Only thing in the cupboard is brownie mix.  Not brownies again!  Bless the internet.  This is delish! fast and easy.  I, of course did not have cherry pie filling, but I did have some cream left, powdered sugar, cocoa powder and almond extract.  Vola! Magic topping.  Thank you Betty Crocker.

Ingredients:

  • 1 box (1lb 2.4 oz) Betty Crocker Original Supreme Premium brownie mix (or equivalent weight of Ghirardelli’s brownie mix with chocolate chips)
  • 3/4 c flour
  • 1/3 c butter, melted
  • 2 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese softened
  • 1 1/2 c whipping cream
  • 1 can cherry pie filling

Directions:

  1. Heat oven to 350°.
  2. Stir together 3/4 cup brownie mix, flour, and butter.
  3. Press in the bottom of ungreased springform pan (9×3 inches) or a square pan 9×9 inches.
  4. Beat cream cheese in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed about 2 minutes, scraping bowl frequently, until smooth.
  5. Add remaining brown mix and whipping cream.
  6. Beat on medium speed, scraping bowl frequently, until smooth. (Ignore chocolate chips)
  7. Pour over crust in pan.
  8. Bake 45-50 minutes for springform pan, 35 – 40 minutes for 9 inch square pan, or until set. (barely set, slight wiggle in the middle)
  9. Run (narrow) metal spatula along side of cheesecake to loosen before and after refrigerating.
  10. Spread pie filling over cheesecake.
  11. Cover and refrigerate until chilled, about 2 hours.
  12. Cover and refrigerate any remaining cheesecake.

(Topping: Mix 3 Tab cocoa powder, 1 cup powdered sugar, add 2 Tab melted butter, 3 Tab warm water [cream], and 1/2 tsp almond extract.  food.com, Junebug)

Serves: 16

Source:  Mostly Homemade Mom from a Betty Crocker recipe

Chocolate French Pastry Cake

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THE Kleerup family birthday cake.

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 c Dutch cocoa
  • 3/4 c boiling water
  • 2 c sugar
  • 1/2 c butter (1 cube)
  • 3 eggs, separated
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 c sour cream
  • 1/4 tsp instant coffee
  • 2 c sifted cake flour
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • pinch of salt

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven 375°.
  2. Mix cocoa in boiling water and let cool.
  3. Cream butter and sugar.
  4. Add beaten egg yolks.
  5. Add sour cream in which soda and coffee have been dissolved, cooled cocoa mixture, flour, and salt.
  6. Fold in beaten egg whites and vanilla.
  7. Bake in 3 layers or a 9×12 pan 20 – 25 minutes in a 375° oven.

Frosting

  • 2 1/2 c confectioners sugar (powdered sugar)
  • 5 Tab Dutch cocoa
  • 5 Tab butter
  • 5 Tab hot water (or hot coffee)
  • 1 tsp vanilla

(No directions were included for the frosting – everyone knows you cream the sugar, cocoa, vanilla and butter and add enough water/coffee to make it spreadable.)

Serves:  12

Source:  Kenilworth Union Church Cook Book, contributed by Mrs. Bertel J.  Kleerup

 

Orange Chocolate Cheese Cake

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This is an old recipe from the 60’s – not instant but worth the effort.  Cheesecakes are good because they can be made the day before.

Ingredients, crust:

  • 1 1/2 packages chocolate wafer, finely ground (food processor does great)(or use OreoToday cookie bits -1 lb of bits=2 heaping cups = 4 c crumbs)
  • 3/4 c butter, melted
  • 1 Tab sugar
  • 1/8 tsp grated orange peel (micro-plane for the win!)

Ingredients, filling:

  • 3 eggs
  • 1 c sugar
  • 24 oz cream cheese (the block kind.  Do not use whipped/spread kind.)
  • 12 oz semi sweet chocolate, melted
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 1/4 c frozen orange juice concentrate
  • 1 c sour cream

Ingredients, topping:

  • 1 c heavy cream
  • 2 Tab powdered sugar

Directions, crust:

  1. Preheat oven 400°.
  2. Combine ground wafers, melted butter, orange peel and sugar.
  3. Mix well.
  4. Press into a well greased 10 inch springform pan.
  5. Bake 10 min.

Directions, filling:

  1. Beat eggs with sugar until light.
  2. Beat in cream cheese until smooth.
  3. Add melted chocolate, vanilla, salt and sour cream.
  4. Turn into crumb crust and bake at 350° one hour or until the cheesecake is just firm when the pan is gently shaken.
  5. Cool and refrigerate covered, over night.

Directions, topping:

  1. Whip cream and sugar until firm enough to hold shape.
  2. Decorate cake with pastry tube.

Serves:  16

Source:  Ladies’ Home Journal

 

 

 

 

Golden Rum Cake

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“My family requests this rummy Bundt cake from me at all our get-togethers. The butter rum glaze makes it special. An easy way to glaze your cake is to pour half of the glaze into Bundt pan, reinsert cake, then pour the rest of glaze over the bottom of the cake. Let absorb well then invert back onto platter.”

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
1 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
4 eggs
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup dark rum
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup water
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup dark rum

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. Grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt pan.
3. Sprinkle chopped nuts evenly over the bottom of the pan.
4. In a large bowl, combine cake mix and pudding mix.
5. Mix in the eggs, 1/2 cup water, oil and 1/2 cup rum.
6. Blend well.
7. Pour batter over chopped nuts in the pan.
8. Bake in the preheated oven for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.
9. Let sit for 10 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto serving plate.
10. Brush glaze over top and sides.
11. Allow cake to absorb glaze and repeat until all glaze is used.

To make the glaze:
1.In a saucepan, combine butter, 1/4 cup water and 1 cup sugar.
2. Bring to a boil over medium heat and continue to boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
3. Remove from heat and stir in 1/2 cup rum.

Serves: 12

Source: allrecipes.com, submitted by Jackie Smith

Notes: At KOA we cooked the cake in round cake pans.  1 10″ Bundt pan = 2 9″ cake pans.
We used instant lemon pudding and lemon rum.

Coconut-Caramel Cheesecake

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Of course, you buy a lot of Girl Scout cookies to freeze so you can have them all year.  However, you can substitute a caramel, chocolate, coconut cookie.

Ingredients:

  • 2 boxes Girl Scout Caramel deLites cookies (sometimes called Samoas)
  • 1 ¾ lb block cream cheese (28 oz)
  • ¾ c sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 3 eggs
  • ½ c whipping cream
  • 5 ½ oz chewy caramel candies, unwrapped
  • 3 Tab whipping cream
  • 4 oz flaked coconut
  • 3 oz semisweet chocolate
  • 3 Tab whipping cream
  • 2 oz flaked coconut, toasted

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven 225°.
  2. Heavily butter the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan.
  3. Crush 5 cookies.
  4. Place whole cookies, bottom down, in the springform pan.
  5. Fill in gaps with crushed cookies.
  6. Set aside.
  7. Blend cream cheese, vanilla and sugar. Beat until smooth.
  8. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating between additions.
  9. Add ½ cup whipping cream.
  10. Set aside.
  11. In a double boiler, melt caramels until soft.
  12. Stir in 3 Tablespoon whipping cream to make a smooth mixture.
  13. Stir in 4 ounces of coconut.
  14. Pour cream cheese mixture into springform pan.
  15. Pour caramel coconut mixture, stirring lightly to swirl.
  16. Place pan on rimmed baking sheet.
  17. Bake for 2 hours.
  18. Remove from oven and chill thoroughly in the refrigerator.
  19. Melt the semisweet chocolate over water, until soft.
  20. Stir in 3 Tablespoon of whipping cream.
  21. Spread over top of cheesecake.
  22. Sprinkle with toasted coconut.
  23. Refrigerate over night.

Serves: 12

Source: Orange County Register, March 17, 1993

Comment: The whipping cream totals about ½ pint.
Be sure to use the block cream cheese, the whipped spreadable will not work  –  trust me, I have tried!

“Champagne” Buttercream Frosting

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This is from the “Champagne” cup cake recipe – good on any white cake or sugar cookie.  

Ingredients:

  • 3¼ c powdered sugar
  • 1 c butter, softened
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 5-8 tbsp sweet champagne (Asti Spimante)

Directions:

  1. Mix the powdered sugar and butter together over low speed until well blended then ramp it up to medium.
  2. Add the vanilla and champagne at medium speed for a minute. Vary the amount of “champagne” to thin the frosting.
    Frost the cupcakes

Serves: 24 cupcakes

Source:  Adapted from GiveMeSomeOven.com

“Champagne” Cupcakes

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Time consuming but really good!

Ingredients:

  • 2 ¾ c flour
  • 3 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2/3 cup butter, softened
  • 1 ½ c sugar
  • 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp Asti Spumanti or Moscato
  • 6 egg whites (save yolks)
  • Sabayon filling (recipe follows)
  • Frosting (recipe follows)
  • Colored sprinkles for garnish

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°.
  2. Prepare 24 cupcake pan with liners.
  3. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
  4. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl.
  5. Alternate adding the dry ingredients and Asti Spumanti into the creamed mixture at low speed . Be careful not to over mix.
  6. Beat the egg whites with until stiff peaks form. Make sure the bowl you’re doing this in is dry or this will affect the peaks. Firm peaks are key.
  7. Fold 1/3 of the egg whites into the batter to get it started then fold in the remainder. Be careful not to deflate too much.
  8. Fill the liners 2/3 full with batter. This batter will rise a lot, so try not to over fill.
  9. Bake for 16-20 minutes or until the toothpick test comes back clean. Rotate the cupcakes halfway through.
  10. Let cool on wire racks.

Make these cupcakes the day before.

Comments: The cake portion is incredibly light and fluffy with a wonderful champagne aroma and flavor. Be sure to get your egg whites firm so the cake maintains this fluffiness. If not, they will end up dry and crumbly. Also, the champagne (or sparkling wine) is extremely important. You want something that is sweet but also cheap since you’re using it to bake (and drink from the bottle while you wait for them to finish). After testing several bottles (it’s a rough life), I decided on Martini & Rossi Asti which was far sweeter than the usual brut and extra dry varieties that are everywhere on New Year’s.

“Champagne” Sabayon Filling

From Emeril Lagasse

 

Champagne Sabayon Filling Ingredients:

  • 4 large egg yolks (save them from the cupcakes)
  • 4 Tab sugar
  • 1/2 c Asti Spumanti

 

“Champagne” Sabayon Filling Directions:

  1. Bring water to a simmer in a half-full saucepan.
  2. Whisk the ingredients until smooth in a metal bowl.
  3. Create a double boiler by putting the the bowl over the saucepan and whisk constantly until the sauce is thick and doubled in volume (about 5 minutes).  (or use a double boiler if you have one.)
  4. Chill in the fridge for half an hour to thicken it more or just let it cool on the counter to room temperature before filling. Be sure to stir it after removing it from the fridge.
    Poke a hole in the center of each cupcake and spoon in some sabayon.

Comment: For being such a simple recipe, I was shocked by how incredible the sabayon was. I couldn’t stop dipping my finger in it until I realized I wouldn’t have enough for the cupcakes. The “champagne” really pops in this creamy presentation (which would also go great on top of berries).  In fact, my favorite part of these cupcakes was the wonderful center.

 

“Champagne” Buttercream Frosting

Adapted from GimmeSomeOven.com

“Champagne” Buttercream Frosting Ingredients:

  • 3¼ c powdered sugar
  • 1 c butter, softened
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 5-8 tbsp sweet champagne (Asti Spimante)

 

“Champagne” Buttercream Frosting Directions:

  1. Mix the powdered sugar and butter together over low speed until well blended then ramp it up to medium.
  2. Add the vanilla and champagne at medium speed for a minute. Vary the amount of “champagne” to thin the frosting.
    Frost the cupcakes

Serves: 24 cupcakes

Source: My Mess Their Kitchen adapted from GiveMeSomeOven.com and AllRecipes.com