Chocolate Birthday Cake

This cake recipe comes with a story. 

A long time ago when McKay and I were dating, I celebrated my 19th birthday. McKay decided to surprise me with a chocolate birthday cake. The recipe came from his Japan Fukuoka Mission cook book. He baked the cake and then put some candles on top in the shape of the Japanese kanji symbol that stands for love. (I know, very romantic!)  He left it outside my Campus Plaza apartment door on his way to work at 8:00 am. I was happily sleeping the morning away (my classes didn't start until noon) and the cake sat outside my door until I went to class. I am very lucky that it didn't get taken and I got to enjoy it. I think he had to explain the kanji candles to me later.  I don't think that he has missed making this cake for my birthday since that time (32 years). It is always fantastic! Now this cake is requested by quite a few of the family members for their birthdays and McKay is usually the one who makes it.


Crazy Cake
from McKay S Matthews

2 cups sugar
2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup cocoa
2 tsp. vanilla
2 Tbs. vinegar
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 cups cold water
3/4 cup oil


Mix the dry ingredients together and add the others. Stir well with a rice spatula. Bake in 9 x 12 pan at 350° for 25 – 30 min.

That is the “official instructions” from the cookbook. Here is what he really does.

Mix the dry ingredients together and add the others. Mix with mixer until well blended. (We don’t have a rice spatula) Line bottom of two 9” round pans with parchment paper. Trace the pan with pencil on the paper, then cut out. Fill each pan with half the batter. Cook at 350° for 25 – 30 minutes. To test for doneness, insert toothpick in center of cake, if it comes out clean it is done. Or gently touch center of cake, if it bounces back it is done, if it leaves an indent, cook for a few more minutes.

After removing from oven, let cake cool for 10 minutes in pan, then move to cooling rack to finish cooling.

Trace pan size

Cut out and line pan

Cool in pan 10 minutes, then move to racks

This is our current favorite chocolate frosting recipe:

Chocolate Frosting

From Esther Prestwich

3 ½ cups powdered sugar

½ cup butter (softened)

½ cup cocoa

¼ cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

Mix together with mixer until smooth. Add a little more milk if the frosting is too stiff to spread easily.

Here is another yummy frosting for this cake.

Coconut Frosting

6 oz. canned milk (3/4 cup)

2/3 cup sugar

¼ cup butter

1 slightly beaten egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/3 cup coconut

½ cup chopped nuts (pecans are my favorite)

In saucepan combine milk, sugar, butter and egg. Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture thickens and bubbles, about 12 minutes. Remove from heat and add remaining ingredients. Let cool a little before using.

Floating Island Pudding (Apple)

Here is a copy of my original recipe:

I love the card that it is written on. So 70's!

Here is a more measured and precise recipe that I can really follow:

6 medium apples (cored, peeled and sliced)
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp cinnamon

Mix together in bowl. Set aside.

Biscuit dough:

2 cups flour
1 Tbs baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup oil (I use olive oil instead of shortening like the original recipe said)
3/4 cup milk (or 2 Tbs dry milk and 3/4 cup water)

Mix dry ingredients. Add oil and milk: stir with fork just until dough is mixed. Too much handling makes the dough tough.

Put half of the dough into the bottom of a large casserole dish and spread with fingers. Add apple mixture on top. Put the rest of the dough on top of the apples.

Dough on the bottom

Add apples

Dough on the top

Sprinkle with 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 tsp cinnamon. Cut 1/2 Tbs butter into little pieces and place on top of dough. Pour 2 cups hot water (just from the tap) over the whole thing. Bake for 45 minutes at 375 degrees.

Note: If you like a little more "pudding" you can put it in a deep oven proof dish and add 3 cups hot water.
Some of my family likes more, some like less.

This is good served hot with ice cream or whipped cream on top.

Tomato Basil Soup

After the last not-so-good tomato soup I made, Lindy shared this recipe with me. It did not disappoint! It tastes so good. She got it from allrecipes.com. I have made a few changes from that recipe to be lower fat. The original called for 1 cup cream and 1/2 cup butter. That was too much for me, and this version was tasty.

From Lindy

Makes 4 large bowls of soup

4 tomatoes – peeled, seeded and diced

4 cups tomato juice

14 fresh basil leaves

½ cup cream

½ cup milk

2 Tbs butter

½ tsp salt

pepper to taste

Place tomatoes and juice in pot over medium heat. Simmer for 30 minutes. Puree the tomato mixture along with the basil leaves and return to pot. Stir in the milk, cream, butter, salt and pepper. Heat, stirring until the butter is melted. Do not let it boil.

Note: I didn't really see the advantage of the fresh tomatoes because you cook them anyway. I think that next time I make this I will just use 5 cups of tomato juice, delete the 4 tomatoes and skip the simmer 30 minutes step. I believe it would turn out just as good and would be much quicker to make.

Also - I serve this with toasted cheese sandwiches and call it a meal. I also served fresh strawberries with it last night.

Breaded Chicken Strips

Serves 4

1 ½ cup bread crumbs

1 egg (beaten)

8 chicken strips

Put bread crumbs in one dish and egg in a different dish. Add salt and pepper to egg. Dip each strip into the egg, then into bread crumbs. Press the crumbs onto the chicken piece. Put in baking dish. Bake for 30 - 45 minutes at 375°.

I baked this chicken with the roasted potatoes and vegetables so everything was in the oven together.

Roasted Potatoes

3 medium potatoes (scrubbed and cut into bite sized pieces)

1 bell pepper (cut into bite sized pieces)

10 asparagus stalks (cut the bottom inch off and discard, cut the rest into 2 inch pieces)

1 cup cubed butternut squash

Place all ingredients in a casserole dish or 9 x 13 inch pan. Sprinkle 1 Tbs olive oil over vegetables and stir to coat. Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper.

Bake uncovered for 45 – 60 min at 375°.

Other vegetables could be used: corn, carrots, onions, whatever you have.

Brownie Muffins

From Jaynann

Makes 12 brownies

1 pkg brownie mix

4 fun size candy bars

Follow the instructions on the box to make brownie batter. Spray muffin tin with Pam. Pour a little batter in each cup, about ¼ inch deep. Slice each candy bar into 3 pieces. Place a piece in each muffin. Fill cups with the rest of the batter. Cook for 18 minutes at 350°. 

I was really glad Jaynann shared this recipe with me tonight. I needed something good to post. I was excited about a fresh tomato soup recipe that I had found, but I made it tonight and it wasn't that good. I was disappointed. I wanted to love it.

Jaynann said that she wanted to make brownies, but didn't have a pan, only a muffin tin. She decided to make them in the muffin pan and added the candy bar. They are good. They are cute. I wasn't disappointed with these.

Clam Chowder

Serves 10

I got this recipe from one of McKay’s co-workers about 20 years ago. I don’t remember her name so I can’t give credit.

Warning: This is a high fat recipe! It is so good it is worth it though. I usually make it when there are plenty of people over to eat.

2 small cans minced clams

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup chopped celery

2 cups diced potatoes

¾ cup flour

¾ cup butter

1 quart milk

1 cup cream

½ tsp sugar

1 ½ tsp salt

pepper to taste

Combine potatoes, celery and onions in saucepan. Drain clams and add juice to vegetables. Add enough water to vegetables to just barely cover them. Cook vegetables over medium heat until potatoes are tender.  (about 25 min) In the meantime, melt butter in large pan and add flour. Cook the flour 3 or 4 minutes at medium heat, stirring constantly. It is important to make sure the flour is cooked and that there are no lumps. Add the milk and cream to the butter/flour mixture. Stir well and continue to stir so the mixture will not scorch. It should suddenly get very thick after a few minutes. Do not let the white sauce boil. When the vegetables are ready and the sauce has thickened well add the vegetables to the sauce (do not drain them), add the clams and seasonings and keep warm for about a half hour to allow the flavors to blend.

IMPORTANT: Once the sauce has thickened to not allow it to boil as the cream will separate. When reheating the chowder, warm it slowly but don’t let it boil.

You can make this a day ahead and it almost tastes better the next day. I don't cook it for the last half hour if I am serving it the next day.

Better Bread

I was looking for a recipe to make jam with Clear Jel A and found a tip for adding clear jel to bread. I thought I would give it a try and really noticed a difference in how long the bread stays soft and fresh in the cupboard. I've used it for the last two batches of bread that I've made and even McKay noticed the bread stays softer.
Check out the bread recipe to see how to add it.

Butternut Squash Soup

Terri, this is for you as promised :)

Serves 4 – 6

1 medium size butternut squash

3 ½ cups water

1 Tbs butter

1 small onion (chopped)

1 cored and chopped apple (I leave peel on if apple is yellow)

½ cup water

2 tsp salt

1 ½ tsp ground cumin

pepper to taste

½ cup cream (or milk, but cream is best)

Slice squash in half and scoop out the seeds, put it in a baking dish flesh side up with ½ cup water and bake until soft; about 1 hour at 325°. Let cool and remove skin.

Mine ended up in 3 pieces.  I think it is hard to cut.

Cut cooked and peeled squash into small pieces. A medium squash will have about 3 ½ cups of flesh to use.  Put 2 cups of squash and 2 cups of water into blender and blend until smooth. Pour into saucepan. Blend the rest of the squash with 1 ½ cups water. Add to pan.

In fry pan sauté onion and apple in the butter. When onion is clear and apple is soft put in blender with ½ cup water. Blend until smooth. Add to pan with squash. Stir in salt, cumin and pepper. Heat until hot, then stir in cream and serve.

3 - 4 cups squash pieces

Add the cream

I like to serve with a wedge of  The Laughing Cow Creamy Swiss cheese.

Ham and Lima Beans

This is really good. We all like it.

Serves 4

2 Tbs butter

¾ C. chopped onion

½ tsp granulated garlic

½ tsp salt

Pepper to taste

¾ C chopped ham (can use a small can of ham)

1 ½ Tbs flour

1 can baby lima beans with juice (or follow instructions below to cook from dried baby lima beans)

Melt butter in frying pan. Sautee onions in butter, when they turn clear, add garlic, salt, pepper, ham and flour. Stir. Add to baby lima beans in saucepan and simmer for 10 minutes.

Ready for the lima beans

I served this with breadsticks last night. We ate half and I froze the other half for a later meal.

To cook dry lima beans:

Pressure cooker:

Cook 1 cup dry lima beans and 3 cups water 15 minutes in pressure cooker, then quick release (cool pressure cooker with water)

Stovetop:

Put 1 cup dry beans and 3 cups water in saucepan. Bring to a boil. Turn off heat and let soak 1 hour.

Drain and rinse beans. Put back in saucepan with 3 ½ cups water and 1 tsp salt. Simmer for 2 ½ to 3 hours.