Frying Pan Fudge Cake

Thanks to Ron Popp  of Wheat Fields Catering  in  Omaha, Nebraska for sharing the following recipe with us for Cooking Across America.  If you bake you will keep saying to yourself, "This doesn't look like anything I have ever prepared before?!"  But I can guarantee that after tasting it ~  you will preparing it again and again!  I would describe it more as a "Pudding Cake."

Serves: 6-8 

Cake

2⁄3 cup white sugar

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temp.

1 cup all-purpose flour

½ cup milk or heavy cream

3 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted

Topping

½ cup brown sugar, firmly packed

2⁄3 cup white sugar

3 rounded tablespoons cocoa

1½ cup boiling water

1 tablespoon pure vanilla

Cake

Preheat an oven to 350°F. In a mixing bowl, mix the sugar and butter thoroughly. Then add flour and milk (or heavy cream), and mix, again. Fold in chocolate and mix thoroughly. Place this mixture evenly in the bottom of

a well-greased, deep, iron frying pan (7  inches) with iron handle for baking.

Topping

In a small bowl, mix together sugars and cocoa. Place this mixture atop the first mixture.

Mix water with vanilla, and pour atop the second mixture. Place in the preheated 350°F oven. Bake for about 40 minutes or until the top mixture sets up like a stiff pudding. Serve warm and top with fresh whipped cream. 

Country Cooks Across America - Carolina Sour Cream Pound Cake

"Since moving to South Carolina, I feel that the most Southern item that I have had the privilege to enjoy (besides great barbecue) is pound cake. Pound cake is everywhere in the South, and this recipe is from a dear friend, whom I have had the honor to meet since moving here. The top and side crust on this pound cake is crisp and crunchy—it is the perfect balance to the moist crumb of the cake. It is delicious and very different from my grandma’s  Northern pound cake". Chef Sherri Beauchamp

Yields: 2 loaf pans

2 sticks (1⁄2 pound) unsalted butter, room temperature
3 cups sugar
1 cup sour cream
3 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
6 eggs
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon pure almond extract
 

Preheat an oven to 325°F. Cream butter and sugar together, and then add sour cream. Sift the flour and baking powder together. Alternate adding the dry mixture and eggs, one at a time, to the cream mixture, beating after each one. Add vanilla and almond extracts. Pour into "spray-paper-spray" pans*, and bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes.

*  Spray bottom  and sides of pan generously with baking spray, place parchment paper on bottom of pan (cut to exact size) Spray bottom and sides of pan again. 

Story and recipe is taken from  Country Comfort: Cooking Across America cookbook. 

The Weekend Cook ~ Pastry Crust

My Mom, "Lena T. Raiser" prided herself on baking everything from scratch.  Some of my fondest memories are waking up on  a Sunday morning to find a home baked pie which include her  flaky pie crust.  The ground nuts give it another dimension!  

¼ teaspoon salt
2 cups flour
1½ sticks unsalted butter (sweet cream butter)
5 tablespoons ice water
2 teaspoons sugar
¼ teaspoon fresh orange or lemon zest
⅓ cup walnuts, finely chopped

Mix flour, salt, sugar, and zest in a bowl or a Cuisinart. Cut in butter by pulsing, using the blade until crumbs have formed. While the Cuisinart is running, add ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, through the chute. Once the dough has formed into a ball, remove and place in wax paper. Refrigerate for 1 hour before rolling out.
Fill and bake as directed (you do not have to grease the pie plate).

Appears in Country Comfort: Harvest Cookbook

Country Cooks Across America ~ Whoopie Pies

I  LOVE making whoppie pies! Everyone is always impressed by them but the fact of the matter is they are really easy to make!  I especially enjoy coloring the filling to coordinate with the occasion … these are Robin’s blue for Spring! One of my favorite saying is, “ Sharing recipes makes lasting memories!” This recipe brings two of my dearest friend to mind, Lorraine, who shared the whoppie pies with me and Carol who shared the Mock Butter cream!

Yield: 20 pies

For Cakes

2 cups AP  flour

½ cup cocoa powder (Droste Brand or Ghiradelli’s)

1 ¼ tsp salt

1 cup buttermilk

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 large egg

Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, whisk flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt (set aside).  In a small bowl stir together buttermilk and vanilla (set aside). In the bowl of a mix master, beat butter and sugar on medium-high until pale and fluffy  (about 3 minutes). If using a hand mixer, beat about 5 minutes (scrape sides often). Beat in egg until well combined.

Reduce to low and alternately mix in flour mixture and buttermilk mixture in thirds, until batter is smooth.  *Begin and end with the flour mixture.

*Place parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Using a small cookie scoop, scoop up batter and level off with knife (this will give you consistent shaped cakes). Place each mound about 2 inches apart. Bake approx 12 minutes. Using a spatula, transfer cakes to a wire rack to cool.   NOTE: these can be made 3 days ahead, stored in an air-tight container, at room-temperature, separate layers of cakes with wax paper.

For Filing

Mock French Butter Cream

1 lb. sifted confectioner’s sugar (sift before measuring **)  

¼ lb. Crisco

½ lb margarine (good quality)

¼ cup cold water

½ tsp. pure vanilla extract

1 tsp. almond extract

¼ tsp. salt

Place all ingredients in a large bowl and beat for 15 minutes.  Place in piping back with large bore tip and pipe a generous amount in the center of one side of the cooled whoopie pie and cover with another one. OR  use your favorite butter cream recipe.  Fill a few hours before serving and refrigerate. 

See other recipes featured in Country Cooks Across America 

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