Grandmothers Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake

Grandmothers Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake

Nothing compares to the baking your grandmother did, and this Cinnamon Streusel Cake is no exception. It's a wonderful cake for a small gathering, or double the recipe for a larger one. It will certainly impress all of your guest.
Ingredients:
STREUSEL
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter, melted
CAKE
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter
1 egg
3/4 cups milk
1 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 9" square baking pan. Combine streusel ingredients thoroughly in a small bowl, set aside.
Cream together sugar and butter in a large mixing bowl.
Beat in egg. Stir in milk. Sift together dry ingredients, add to mixing bowl. Stir until just combined.
Spread batter in pan, and sprinkle streusel over top.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 to 25 minutes, until batter is golden brown and center springs back when touched. Let cool, and serve to your favorite guest!

1941 Black "Midnight Cake" Recipe for your Spooky Halloween Party

I think this black “Midnight Cake” could be just the thing for your Halloween Celebration this year.
It is a strikingly dark and chocolaty, not to mention, very moist, and light cake. This 1941 recipe is great for those who are eager to learn how to make a perfect black Devil's Food Cake, and you can mix it up in no time at all.
The Snowy White frosting makes for a great contrast.

Black Midnight Cake Recipe
Ingredients:
1/2 cup Shortening
1 1/4 cups Sugar
2 Eggs
1 cup Hot Water
1/2 Cocoa
1 1/2 cups Sifted Gold Medal “Kitchen-tested” flour
1/2 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. Baking Powder
1 tsp. Vanilla
Double-boiler icing ingredients:
1 Egg White
3/4 cup Sugar
1/8 tsp. Cream of Tartar
3 tbsp. Water
1/2 tsp. Vanilla (or other flavoring)

Cake Directions:
Cream shortening, add sugar gradually, and cream until fluffy. Blend in well-beaten eggs. Slowly add hot water to cocoa and mix until smooth. Stir to dissolve completely.
Sift flour, salt, soda, and baking powder together, and add to creamed mixture alternately with hot water and cocoa mixture. Blend in vanilla.
Pour into an 8-inch square pan (2-1/2 inches deep) which has been greased and lined with paper. Bake 50 to 55 minutes in a moderate oven (350 F).
When cool, spread Double-Boiler Icing (see below) over top and sides.
Icing Directions:
Combine in top of a double boiler the egg white, sugar, cream of tartar, and water, and beat together just enough to completely blend ingredients. Place over rapidly boiling water, and beat with rotary beater until mixture is white and very light. (Icing is done when it barely holds its shape and is not runny as the beater is pulled out.) This takes 5 to 7 minutes depending on the size of boiler and vigor of beating. Remove from over hot water, and do not beat any more. Fold in the flavoring.
This makes a generous amount of icing for an 8-inch square cake.
Note: If icing becomes “grainy,” add a few drops of lemon juice to make it satiny smooth again.
Fluffy Marshmallow Icing Variation:
Add 3 marshmallows, cut in quarters, to the icing immediately after removing it from heat. Stir until marshmallows are melted and icing is fluffy.

After that, maybe you would like to try a little Snow Ghost Pie!

Old Style Texas Tornado Cake

Texas Tornado Cake

It may go by many names, but this wonderful cake with it's coconut and walnut frosting is moist, delicious, and very easy to make!
Texas tornado cake contains fruit and nuts, with coconut icing. It’s not clear when this cake was invented, or where it’s from. Some insist that “Texas tornado cake” is another name for an “earthquake cake.”

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs 3 cups fruit cocktail with liquid
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup chopped nuts
Frosting:
1 Stick butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup evaporated milk 1 cup flaked coconut

Directions:
Cream together sugar, eggs, fruit cocktail, baking soda and flour. Pour into lightly greased and floured 13x9x2-inch cake pan. Mix brown sugar and nuts together and sprinkle onto unbaked batter in the pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 40 minutes or until golden brown on top. While still hot, poke holes into the cake to allow the frosting to seep inside. Ice cake while hot.
Frosting Directions:
Boil margarine, sugar and milk 2 minutes. Stir in coconut. Spoon over cake as soon as cake is taken from the oven. I am sure you will be enjoying this delicious cake just as much as I, and others did!

Blackberry Coffee Cake

A Very Good, and Old Fashioned Blackberry Coffee Cake.
Light and fluffy, crisp on the top, and filled with blackberries!

Ingredients:
Cake:
5 tablespoons salted butter, cubed, plus more for greasing the pan
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup whole milk
2 cups fresh Blackberries

Topping:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
6 tablespoons butter, cubed
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
Sugar, for sprinkling over top (before placing in oven)

Directions:
For the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 by 9inch baking pan with butter.
Add the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt to a medium bowl and stir to combine. Set aside.
Cream together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer. Add the egg and mix until combined. Mix in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture and milk alternately and mix until totally incorporated. Do not over-beat. Stir in the blackberries until evenly distributed. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

For the topping: Mix the flour, sugar, butter, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl and spoon evenly over the batter. Sprinkle a little suger over the top of that. Bake until the cake is golden brown, 45 to 50 minutes. Until toothpick comes out clean.

Valentines Day: Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake Recipe

Nothing say's valentines Day like chocolate, at least for me, and nothing is baked as well as grandma use to do it. So for your happiest of days why not try this vintage old fashioned Chocolate cake recipe.

Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup Cocoa Powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water
*CHOCOLATE FROSTING (recipe below)

Directions:
Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.
Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin, it's o.k.). Pour batter into prepared pans.

Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost with Chocolate Frosting.
2 LAYER CAKE: Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 8-inch round baking pans. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost.

CHOCOLATE FROSTING
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
2/3 cup Cocoa Powder
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.
I hope you enjoy this made from scratch chocolate cake as much as I did. Personally I think you will love it!

Make an Old Fashioned Plum Pudding for Christmas

Old Fashioned Plum Pudding

Plum pudding, a Christmas pudding, has been served on Christmas day for centuries. The traditional plum pudding is served in a blaze, with a sprig of holly stuck on top. For the plum pudding sauce, a little brandy is poured over the Christmas pudding and lighted at the last moment to produce the desired effect.

Plum pudding is best when made four or five weeks prior to Christmas and can be stored for months. During the Victorian era, a silver coin was baked in the pudding, with a promise of wealth in the coming year.
Many households have their own recipe for Christmas pudding, some handed down through families for generations. Essentially the recipe brings together what traditionally were expensive or luxurious ingredients, notably the sweet spices, that are so important in developing its distinctive rich aroma, and usually made with suet.

Ingredients:
1 Cup light molasses
3/4 Cup melted butter
1/2 Cup warm milk
2 eggs, beaten
1 Cup all-purpose flour, plus more to toss fruit
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1 pint candied mixed fruit
1 Cup raisins
1 1/2 oz. brandy, plus 1 oz. for sauce
Holly sprig, for garnish
1/4 lb. butter
1 Cup sugar
1 pinch salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Prepare wet and dry ingredients
In a mixing bowl, combine the molasses with the melted butter, milk and eggs. In another, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and cloves. Add one third of the dry ingredients to the molasses mixture at a time, combining thoroughly. Add fruit and bake

Coat the candied fruit and raisins with a little flour by tossing, then add them to the batter, along with the one and a half ounces of brandy. Mix well and pour the batter into a greased, sugared steamed pudding mold. Place a rack into a large pot of water and stand the pudding mold on it. The mold should be half submerged in the water. Cover the pot and steam for 2 hours, adding more water if necessary. Prepare the hard sauce and serve

Allow the pudding to cool in the mold for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, beat together the quarter-pound of butter, the sugar, a pinch of salt, the vanilla extract and the remaining ounce of brandy. Turn out the pudding and garnish with powdered sugar and the holly sprig before serving with the hard sauce.

Icelandic Christmas Cake

Icelandic Christmas Cake
This Icelandic cake recipe uses lemon flavoring and cardamom extract in a unique and delicious Christmas cake you'll want to make anytime of the year. I changed the recipe I used just a little substituting Maraschino cherries, and orange extract, instead of raisins, and lemon extract. I had just made a Fruit Cake, so I wanted something different, but the original recipe is below. Either way, it's a wonderful cake.

Ingredients:
1 cup white sugar
3/4 cup butter
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
1/2 teaspoon cardamom flavored extract

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease one 11 inch loaf pan.
Cream the butter or margarine and the sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at time beating well after each one. Stir in the milk, lemon and cardamom flavorings. Stir in the flour and the baking powder.
Sift a little flour over the raisins then stir them into the batter. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 55 to 60 minutes. I promise you will enjoy it!

Old Recipes for Holiday Fruit Cake

The Orgin if Fruit Cake:
The earliest recipe from ancient Rome lists pomegranate seeds, pine nuts, and raisins that were mixed into barley mash. In the Middle Ages, honey, spices, and preserved fruits were added.
Fruit cakes soon proliferated all over Europe. Recipes varied greatly in different countries throughout the ages, depending on the available ingredients as well as (in some instances) church regulations forbidding the use of butter, regarding the observance of fast. Pope Innocent VIII (1432–1492) finally granted the use of butter, in a written permission known as the ‘Butter Letter' or Butterbrief in 1490, giving permission to Saxony to use milk and butter in the North German Stollen fruit cakes.

FRUIT CAKE 1881
One cup of butter, two of brown sugar, one of molasses, one of strong coffee, four and one-half cups flour, four eggs, two teaspoons of soda, two of cinnamon, two of cloves, two of mace, one pound of raisins, one of currants, one-quarter of citron.
Bake in layers and put together with icing. Be careful to cut paper for each pan before putting in the mixture. Leave out the currants if you like.

* Always bake at low temperatures: 250 – 300 degrees is best, but some recipes do go a little higher depending on their ingredients. These recipes do not specify.

Scotch Fruit Cake 1 1/2 lb flour
1lb fine Sugar White
12 eggs
12 oz butter
6 oz each citron, lemon & orange peel
60z Almonds
1 Nutmeg
Wine glass brandy.
Strew Caraway Comfits on top.

Visit the Irish Halloween past with this recipe for Barmbrack

Barmbrack

Halloween festivities are never complete without some traditional Irish treats to help you celebrate. In the weeks leading up to Halloween, homes are littered with the delicious treat known as barnbrack (Barmbrack (Irish: bairín breac), also called Barnbrack or often shortened to brack, is a yeasted bread with added sultanas and raisins), which is an Irish fruit loaf. The title comes from the Irish Gaelic 'bairín breac' which literally means 'speckled loaf.' In traditional Ireland, each member of the family would get a slice of the delicious cake. But you had to be careful when chewing the delicious treat, as there were several charms hidden inside wrapped in baking paper which signified omens for the finder's future.

Barmbrack is the center of an Irish Halloween custom. The Halloween Brack traditionally contained various objects baked into the bread and was used as a sort of fortune-telling game. In the barmbrack were: a pea, a stick, a piece of cloth, a small coin (originally a silver sixpence) and a ring. Each item, when received in the slice, was supposed to carry a meaning to the person concerned: the pea, the person would not marry that year; the stick, would have an unhappy marriage or continually be in disputes; the cloth or rag, would have bad luck or be poor; the coin, would enjoy good fortune or be rich; and the ring, would be wed within the year.

Barmbrack recipe
Ingredients:
3 cups dried fruit
1 1/4 cup cold tea
1 cup self-raising flour
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon mixed spice
3 cups caster sugar
Honey or Golden Syrup (optional – for decoration)
Directions:
Soak the fruit in tea overnight, then drain. Mix together with the rest of the ingredients (apart from the honey/golden syrup) and stir in the charms. Don’t over knead the dough, or your delicately re-hydrated fruit will break up.
Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour or until the top of the cake springs back when lightly pressed. Allow to cool in the pan for 2 hours before removing. Continue to cool to room temperature on a wire rack. Press the objects of choice into the cake through the bottom before serving.

Barmbrack is usually sold in flattened rounds, it is often served toasted with butter along with a cup of tea in the afternoon. The dough is sweeter than sandwich bread, but not as rich as cake, and the sultanas and raisins add flavour and texture to the final product.

Ye Olde Pound Cake History, and Recipe

Pound cake refers to a type of cake traditionally made with a pound of each of four ingredients: flour, butter, eggs, and sugar.

Pound cake is usually baked in a loaf pan or a Bundt mold, and served either dusted with powdered sugar, lightly glazed, or sometimes with a coat of icing. It is believed that the pound cake is a Northern European dish, that dates back to the early 1700s. Over time the ingredients for pound cake changed. Eliza Leslie, who wrote the 1851 edition of Direction for Cookery, used 10 eggs, beat them as light as possible, mixed them with a pound of flour, and added the juice of two lemons or three large oranges. Certain countries and regions having distinctive styles. These can include the addition of flavouring agents (such as vanilla extract or almond extract) or dried fruit (such as currants or dried cranberries), as well as alterations to the original recipe to change the characteristics of the resulting pound cake. Pound cake is more commonly known in Britain as sponge cake, usually made from butter, caster sugar, self-raising flour and eggs in equal parts. Vanilla extract can be added to give a richer taste.

The following is one of those variations, this one uses less of all ingredients, but taste just as good as the traditional Pound Cake.
Ingredients:
1 Cup (2 sticks) of Butter
3 Cups of Flour
1/2 Teaspoon of Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon of Salt
3 Cups of Sugar
1/2 Cup of Vegetable Shortening
1 Cup of Milk
1 Teaspoon of Vanilla
5 Eggs
1/2 Teaspoon of Almond Extract (optional)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
With a mixer, cream butter and shortening together. Add sugar, a little at a time. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition. Stir dry ingredients together in a bowl and add to mixer alternately with milk, starting with the flour and ending with the flour. Mix in vanilla. Pour into a greased and floured tube pan and bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

Original 1963 Lemon Bar Recipe

Lemon Squares Just a little history... Citrus curds have been popular for about 125 years and shortbread for much more than that, but it was none other than Betty Crocker that invented the lemon bar, They published the first known printed recipe in 1963.

Ingredients:
Crust:
1/2 cup (1 stick) of Butter
1 cup All-Purpose Flour
1/4 cup Confectioners' Sugar
Topping:
2 large eggs
1 cup Granulated Sugar
2 tablespoons of Lemon Juice, Fresh is best.
1/2 teaspoon of Baking Powder
2 tablespoons All-Purpose Flour
Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 350°F.
Cut the butter into the flour and confectioners' sugar and press into a 9-inch square pan. Bake 20 minutes or until light brown. Combine the topping ingredients. When the bottom is done, and still hot, pour the topping over it and continue baking for about 25 minutes. Let cool, and sprinkle top with confectioners' sugar.

It's a wonderful treat that brings back so many memories for all of us. Please let me know if you try it out. I think you will be as pleased as I was.