Honey-Apple Cake Recipe

This delicious recipe is from an old edition of Southern Living. I picked up a jar of local honey at the Downtown Market on Saturday, and I've been eager to try it in a few recipes since then. I must restrain myself from eating too much!

1 cup chopped pecans
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey
3 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups chopped apples

Grease and flour a 12-cup Bundt pan; sprinkle bottom of pan with 1/4 cup pecans. Set aside. Beat sugar, oil, and honey at medium speed with an electric mixer until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended. Combine flour and next 4 ingredients. Gradually add to sugar mixture, beating at low speed just until blended. Stir in vanilla, remaining 3/4 cup pecans, and apple. Spoon over pecans in pan. Bake at 350° for 55 to 60 minutes.

After the cake has cooled for a few minutes, take it out of the pan and top it with some of this delicious honey sauce:

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup milk

Bring all ingredients to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring constantly; boil, stirring constantly, 2 minutes.

You won't need all of the honey sauce for the cake, so you can save some to warm and serve over ice cream. ;)

Couscous - even better this time...

I made my couscous dish again for today's family dinner/birthday extravaganza, and this time I made a few modifications. I didn't cook the sweet onion first, just chopped it. I used corn, petite diced tomatoes, fresh cilantro, and half of the aforementioned onion, plus I used fresh juice squeezed from two limes. I added all of that to two cups of couscous (precooked measurement), and I served it cold, although I think warm would be delicious as well. And they liked it! I was curious to see what the extended fam said about it, and they all responded well (except my dad, who didn't eat me, but he's not exactly food-adventurous) and asked me how I made it. It may have helped that my mom, aunt, and uncle had tried the couscous at the baseball game on Friday (yes, they sat in swanky seats with ritzy food at the Braves game, courtesy of my dad's work connection - did I mention that we could see them on teevee throughout the game?).

Big Girl's cake turned out well, although the caramel icing was a bit thicker than I had intended. I tried a new recipe using sweetened condensed milk, since I couldn't find that can of evaporated milk that I know I bought a couple of weeks ago. It was very sweet, and kind of like candy - a bit chewy, even. I used my rose Bundt pan but the lovely rose shape was largely obscured due to the thickness of the caramel icing. When I make cupcakes for Big Girl's party, I'll aim for a slightly thinner icing, plus I'll serve the cupcakes upside down, since I'll be using fancy bakeware for those, too, and they'll look like rosebuds on the bottom. It'll go with the whole flower theme.

Mind like a steel trap: she's been talking about planting flowers at her party, even though I only mentioned that once when I ran the idea of a flower party by her. My mom already has some pots, and I'll pick up some plants - probably annuals in six-packs since those will be easy for the girls to manipulate - later this week. I don't want to run the risk of buying a flat of flowers only to have them die before next weekend.

In other news, a friendly random black lab, roaming loose in the 'hood, stole Hubs' brown leather dress shoes off the front porch as we were leaving for church this morning. An amusing scene in which I chased the dog, and said dog ran and encouraged the fun game, ensued. We didn't make it to church on time, but the shoes are now safe and intact. The dog chewed into a bag of potting soil (?) while we were gone, and busted open a jug of windshield washer fluid. Hubs shooed him away around lunch, and he apparently went down the street a couple of houses to see if our neighbors wanted to play, and stuck around their house all afternoon. He had a collar but no tags. We're hoping he just escaped from his yard while his people are out of town for the weekend - I hope he wasn't dumped out because his owners got tired of him, but unfortunately that happens all too often. We would have invited him to stay, but we have more than enough canine companionship at present, in the form of two ravenous blond bums. Hubs would be furious, so I squelched the voice in the back of my mind that thought he was a very sweet puppy who needed someone to love him. But I'm still a bit worried and will keep an eye out for him tomorrow.

Cupcakes, cupcakes

I made cupcakes for Big Girl's end of school party, and they were delicious. Devil's Food cake with buttercream frosting (have I mentioned that I excel at making a simple, delicious buttercream frosting?). The kids really enjoyed them, as did the other parents who came to the party. I used my Williams-Sonoma rosebud cupcake pans, which meant that they looked like roses on the bottom. I iced them on top like typical cupcakes, but didn't use paper liners, so when I told some of the girls to look at the bottom of the cupcakes, they thought it was pretty neat. I used these same pans for Big Girl's first birthday party (they've held up great for over three years now), only I served them upside down with a thin pink-tinted glaze, clustered together like a bouquet. But I've observed that the kids in Big Girl's class are kind of picky, and are very hesitant about trying anything new or different, so I went with a more traditional approach this time (given the cool reception given to the Valentine's cupcakes which had pink frosting and multi-colored candies sprinkled on top - the horrors!).

Big Girl had a great time at the party and was thrilled with the plastic bucket and shovel she got. The teachers used the pails like goodie bags, and put candy and little toys in them, and now Big Girl can use it if we ever go to the beach this summer. Or if we get some sand for her, which is more likely.

Two went to the party with me, and had a grand time playing with some other little boys - interestingly, several of Big Girl's friends have baby brothers close in age to Two, so the boys played together while their big sisters partied. Two also got a cupcake, since I made plenty, and he devoured it in a big, crumby, sticky mess.

Family fun this weekend, which means another cake for Big Girl (this time I may try out one of my new shaped pans - I'm thinking the tractor) and tasty food for all. I think I'll revisit the couscous recipe as my contribution, since I don't feel like going to the store just now.

Big Girl's birthday has morphed...

From a single birthday party, it has now grown into cupcakes for her preschool class, a family party one weekend, and a friends party the next. With a bounce house. And a cake for each party, in addition to the cupcakes for school. And I'm actually cool with the whole plan, because I don't have to decide which kind of cake to make for her - I can make all of my ideas! Off to make some cupcakes...

Caramel Icing

from a cookbook published by the women's group at a local church:

2 3/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup evaporated milk
1 stick butter
1 tsp vanilla

Melt and brown 3/4 cup sugar in small iron skillet over medium-high heat. Simultaneously bring 2 cups sugar and evaporated milk to a boil. Pour melted sugar into milk and sugar mixture. Cook to soft ball stage (use a candy thermometer). Remove from heat. Add butter and vanilla. Beat to spreading consistency. Ices 8- or 9-inch cake or 48 small cake squares.

Notes from my latest venture: This recipe works best (as do most caramel icing recipes) if you make it when the weather is good - high pressure systems yield better results. If you're forced to make this when there are thunderstorms beating down on your roof, as I was, be prepared to add some powdered sugar while beating the mixture in order to thicken it up. Also, don't try to heat things up too quickly by turning the stove up to high. Take your time, so it won't splatter your hand and burn it. Results are sinfully delicious.