Give History a Taste, and You Will Never Be the Same Again!

My husband and I have been watching Tasting History on YouTube lately. We love food, and we love history. Put the two of these together, and you have us completely enthralled. This guy really gives you a fun lesson and the things he is working on in his kitchen. Be is Spam, or Tomato Soup Cake, he had us laughing and scratching our heads. After all, some of these things just never would have crossed our minds. 

The most recent video we watched was for Tomato Soup Cake. The name caught us. No way did someone think that could work, right? Right?! Well, wrong. Not only did someone create this recipe (as early as the late 1920's even), but I gave it a try for us. And let me tell you, I was absolutely impressed! I don't normally like carrot cake or spice cake, but this was fabulous! I'm not a fan, and could not eat a while slice myself. But I was able to have a couple bites of my husbands slice. It was moist. It was flavorful. He said the nuts and raisins were the perfect addition as they provided the finishing touch for texture that really did it for him. 

Oh, and I cheated by using a spice cake mix. I figured I would go as easy as possible for the first round. Especially since I don't usually keep cake flour on hand. Next time, I think I will go by the full recipe. 

What you will need:

1 spice cake mix

1/2 cup of water

2 eggs

1 can of Campbell's Tomato Soup (if other, make sure it is 10.75 ounces)

1/2 cup of raisins

1/2 nuts of your choice (I used chopped walnuts)

I like everything easy. So I threw everything except the last 2 ingredients into the bowl and gave it a good stirring. Then I tossed in those last 2 ingredients and gave it a final mix. Pour the batter into a greased (or buttered) pan. Pop it in the oven until cooked through and the wetness test is perfect. I cooked it at 350 degrees for... I believe 25 minutes?  

I also chose not to use cream cheese frosting as my husband is not a fan. I had buttercream frosting on hand instead.  

I'm now looking forward to trying something else from history. What about you? Would you dare? 

Gotham's vigilante comes in cake form

A friend posed a challenge to me. He knew I loved baking and that I did it quite well. So he sent me a picture of a cake with the Batman silhouette and a skyline silhouette along the sides.

He needed it for his brothers bachelor party. Of course I agreed to take his challenge. How could I not?! It's Batman, chocolate and cake all in one. First of all, it took more money and time than I anticipated. Fondant comes in a box for $10 a pop. Seriously?? And its like a brick that takes a muscled arm to get flat. I work out. I work hard. And yet, I wanted to cry. It took two days with interruptions to get everything done. And there were several bumps along the way. 
First I went searching for the images I'd need to use as stencils. 

Batman was hard to find. Everyone had protected images... Then the skyline... 

I had to re-size the images to make them cake ready. I did this two nights before needing the cake ready because I'd had practice before and knew what a pain it would be.

It takes a lot of time to get so much detail done right. 

Then came making the chocolate cake. That is usually easy. Find your favorite recipe and make it as you normally would.

My problem? The cake didn't want to exit the cake pan. Even though I sprayed it with non-stick cooking spray HEAVILY. What do my cakes do? Crumble out of the pans in pieces. 

So start over I did. Made two more round cakes. 

Finally I had two rounds to work with. I found a tip on putting fondant on cakes that said if you lightly frost the cakes, the fondant would hold better. So that's what I did. Plus it adds flavor and sweetness to a bland fondant cover. First comes the black cover. Then the white shapes over it. I also added decorating gel to the backs to hold the cutouts in place. I found that heat makes the fondant melt slightly so that it sticks better. Granted I discovered this by leaving a cake like this in a hot car while watching a movie. But still... 

It was an experience I won't soon forget. And I'm not in a rush to try again. I hope the guys enjoy it. My hands and arms are paying for it this morning. 

As a bonus, I salvaged some of the cake that I plan to enjoy later. 

Caramel Apple cake, oh my!

Its the wonderful season of caramel apples and fall flavors! I was wanting to try something new in cake form to bring to work. The last treats I made looked like Easter ones.

They were colorful with several different flavorings for the icing.

 

I went searching for recipes and found this one: Moist Caramel Apple Cake. That wasn't quite the recipe for me though. So I decided to experiment with that one and my Plain White Cake recipe. I wanted to create something a little more special. I came up with the following!

 

Caramel Apple Bundt Cake

 

What you will need: 

 

Cake batter

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup butter

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup milk

2 Granny Smith apples, peeled and coarsely chopped

1 pkg. (3.4 oz) Jell-O Vanilla Instant pudding

3/4 cup water

 

Drizzle

1 can (13.4 oz) Nestle Le Lechera caramel

3 tablespoons milk

 

Mix it up:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

 

In the same order as listed, mix your ingredients together for the cake batter. Spray your bundt pan with cooking spray and put some larger chopped pieces of apple in the bottom.

Then pour your batter on top.

I had enough extra batter to make some cupcakes as well, since I doubled the recipe. I put the batter in the paper cups and put a piece of apple slice on top of each one.

Bake 25-30 minutes or until the knife comes out clean.

It make take longer depending on your stove.

Loosen the cake from the pan and flip over onto your cake serving dish. Let it cool completely. Mix the caramel and milk together to make the drizzle.

Warm in the microwave until smooth. Let it slightly thicken and pour over the top of your cake just before serving.

 

Enjoy!