Sunday, January 24, 2010

Cake

I have been baking cake for the family every Sunday for the past couple of weeks. It is nice for Sunday's dessert and provides a treat for the upcoming week's lunches.

I hate using plastic containers or wrapping the cake in plastic wrap, so I checked out Ebay and won a lovely vintage aluminum cake saver. The top has an acorn handle and around the side it is embossed with oak leaves and acorns. I can't wait to use it for today's cake!


Today's recipe was found on Uncle Phaedrus, Finder of Lost Recipes and is a white cake with pineapple filling.

WHITE CAKE
Ingredients :
1 1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. Crisco or oil
4 egg whites
2 1/4 c. plain flour
1/4 tsp. salt
3 tsp. baking powder
1 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla flavoring

Preparation : Cream sugar and Crisco together, add egg whites one at a time. Sift in 2 1/4 cups plain flour, add salt, baking powder and milk; mix well. Add the vanilla flavoring. Bake at 325 degrees until done (approx 30 minutes). Makes three layers (I made two 9" cake layers).


PINEAPPLE FILLING:
2 c. crushed pineapple
3 tbsp. plain flour
1/2 stick butter
1 c. sugar
Preparation : Cook in double boiler until thick enough to spread between the layers.

WHITE ICING:
2 egg whites
1/3 c. water
1 1/2 c. sugar
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. vanilla flavoring
Preparation : Put egg whites, sugar, water and cream of tartar and mix thoroughly in double boiler. Place over reapidly boiling water and beat constantly with rotary egg beater until mixture will hold a peak (about 7 minutes). Remove from fire, add vanilla, and beat until cool and thick enough to spread.

I had some difficulty with the icing as the original recipe was very imbiguous - they must have assumed the reader would know how to prepare it. I was about to throw it out as I couldn't get it to thicken. I began looking through another cookbook and realized it had the same ingredients as Seven Minute Frosting. So I put it back in the double boiler and followed the instructions for this frosting and it worked! The icing instructions above are for the Seven Minute Frosting.


The Finished Product


This is a very yummy cake! The icing was very sweet, but the cake itself had a very nice flavour.

4 comments:

Darla: Retro Ways said...

Love your cake holder & the cake looks so yummy.


♥Darla

Carpe Diem said...

Thanks Darla, unfortunately the once the icing was on the cake it didn't quite fit under the holder! I have 9" cake pans and I should most likely be using 8". Oh well, once a few slices were missing it fit under no problem.

Unknown said...

I really love the cake holder too, makes you wonder where it lived in its previous life or lives.

Homestead State of Mind said...

I love your cake holder! I found one almost exactly like it in an antique store.