Category Archives: Cakes and Pies

PISTACHIO BUNDT CAKE

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Sandwiched in between Valentine’s Day and Easter, St. Patrick’s Day isn’t a big marketing event for prepared foods.  In fact, the only two items I found were these TastyKake Creme Filled Snowballs covered in green coconut:And these Keogh’s Shamrock and Sour Cream Potato Crisps, which claim to “combine the delicious tangy taste of Sour Cream with the freshness of traditional Irish Shamrock”: 

Stick with sour cream and onion

Taking St. Patrick’s Day matters into my own hands, I made a batch of cereal treats using Lucky Charms, which I found to be magically disgusting:

Should have stuck with Rice Krispies

Undeterred by the Lucky Charms fail, I dove deep into my files and found a recipe for Pistachio Cake that I remembered making many years ago.  The recipe came from a Hollywood Video flyer (for those of you too young to remember Hollywood Video, think of it as a prequel to Netflix).  It was pitched as a St. Patrick’s Day cake for obvious reasons.

If you’re looking for something different for St. Patrick’s Day, this dense, moist, green cake might fit the bill.

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PISTACHIO BUNDT CAKE
Author: 
 
Ingredients
  • For the cake:
  • 1-1/2 sticks butter, melted
  • 1-2/3 cups sugar
  • 5 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 small boxes Jell-O pistachio pudding
  • 4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups milk
  • For the icing:
  • 1 small box Jell-O pistachio pudding
  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • ¼ cup butter, softened
  • ¾ cup whipping cream
  • Green and white sprinkles, for optional decoration
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a bundt pan with cooking spray (alternatively, can use a 9 x 12 baking dish).
  2. Place butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer until combined. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Beat in vanilla.
  3. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, pudding, baking powder, and salt. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture, alternating with milk, and beat on low speed until combined.
  4. Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes, until done and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Allow to call, then turn cake out onto a plate.
  5. To make icing, place all ingredients in a medium bowl, and beat with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Spread icing on cooled cake. Decorate with sprinkles, if using.

A hint of the green inside

Cooled and ready to be iced

Hmmm — needs something more

Sprinkles to the rescue

Oh yes, much more St. Patrick’s Day-like

Ready for St. Patrick’s Day (or Shrek’s birthday)

SOUR CREAM COFFEE CAKE

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I found this fancy mesh cigarette case at an estate sale.

I don’t smoke — hardly anyone I know does.  But when I was a kid, it seemed like everybody smoked — at least pretty much everyone I knew did.

Weekday mornings in my community, women used to gather at neighboring homes for coffee klatsches — “a social gathering for informal conversation at which coffee is served.” The phrase comes from the German kaffeeklatsch — kaffee (coffee) and klatsch (gossip or noise).  These were the real housewives — stay-at-home moms, if you will — of Smithtown, New York.  Make no mistake — these were not dainty tea parties.  These coffee klatsches involved the 4Cs — coffee, conversation, cigarettes, and cake.  Hot coffee, gossipy conversation, clouds of smoke, and cake.  Delicious cake, to be specific.

Leisurely coffee klatsches are largely a thing of the past.  I saw an article suggesting that they still exist today in the form of working women getting together for coffee at a nearby coffee shop.  But it’s not the same thing — it’s a sterilized version.

Maybe when I retire I’ll try having a coffee klatsch at my house, without the cigarettes.  But I can definitely have delicious cake.  And the one that I will have is Sour Cream Coffee Cake.  The recipe is from the original Silver Palate Cookbook, and although I hadn’t made it in probably 20 years, I remembered how good it was.  Inspired by the fancy cigarette case, I made one, and my memory did not fail me — this cake, with its sweet cinnamon and pecan ribbon, is incredible.  Easy, moist, and crazy good, everyone who’s tried it asks for the recipe.  Give it a try, and invite some neighbors to your house to share it over coffee and conversation for a good old-fashioned coffee klatsch (minus the cigarettes).

5 from 1 reviews
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SOUR CREAM COFFEE CAKE
Author: 
 
Ingredients
  • 2 sticks butter, softened to room temperature
  • 2-3/4 cups sugar, divided use
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 cups sour cream
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups chopped pecans
  • 1 tablespoon cinnamon
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Place butter and 2 cups of sugar in a large bowl, and using an electric beater, cream together. Beat in eggs, sour cream, and vanilla. Fold in flour, baking powder, and salt, just until combined.
  3. In a separate small bowl, combine ¾ cup sugar with the pecans and cinnamon.
  4. Sprinkle a few tablespoons of the nut mixture into a well-greased 10-inch bundt pan. Cover with half of the batter and sprinkle with half of the remaining nut mixture. Add the remaining batter and top with the remaining nut mixture. Bake for one hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool before removing from pan.

Ready for the oven

Hot out of the oven

It smells soooooo good

Coffee, cigarettes, and cake — all that’s missing is conversation