7-Up Cake (Revisited)

Since it’s midsummer, hot as blazes, and this is just about the best dessert I know of on a hot day…

Since I messed up the last time and left out a major ingredient in the recipe…

And since…well, just because. Here’s a (corrected and updated) recipe for…

7-Up Cake

CAKE
Pineapple Cake Mix
1 package Vanilla Instant Pudding
8 oz 7-Up
¾ Cup Vegetable Oil
4 eggs

Mix all ingredients with mixer. (I beat it on medium about 2 minutes) Pour into 2 8-inch pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, until toothpick inserted near middle comes out clean.

ICING
1 stick Butter
1 ½ Cups Sugar
4-5 Tablespoons Flour
2 Eggs
1 can Crushed Pineapple

While cake is in the oven, mix all ingredients in top of double boiler and cook until thickened. (This will take some time. Probably longer than you think.) Once it’s thick, let it cool. (This will also take some time, which is why you start immediately after putting the cake in the oven.)

Once both cake and icing are cool, assemble the two together. I like to make a 2-layer 8-inch square; it cuts neatly into little square pieces that are much easier to deal with than the triangles you get with a round cake.

Store in refrigerator. On a hot day, a chunk of this cold cake is perfection on a plate.

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Cake by the Book

Sally’s having a baby and she wanted a book shower…so naturally Team Cake (Kerri & me) decided to make a book cake. And since it’s a girl, we needed a little princess bling, so we added that, too.

We started with two squares of lemon pound cake, plus one cupcake and an ice cream cone. I forgot to take a picture of the filling, but it was raspberry jam with a little almond flavoring and a pinch of salt mixed in. (Don’t tell Kerri that I told you, the filling was her secret recipe.)

Once the cake was crumb-coated…

Not quite so naked cake

. . . we rolled out fondant for the cake.

We used Duff's fondant, it's tasty & easy to work with

The green went around the top and one side, the white around the other three sides. I scored the white part for the pages, then Kerri mixed food coloring “paint” and added that nice aged look.

Artist at work

Meanwhile, I made white chocolate letters for the cover.

It's not your eyes, they're backwards. The good side is the other one.

We were both too engrossed in covering the hat—the cupcake topped with the ice cream cone—in fondant to take any pictures. It was something of an ordeal and the finished product tended more towards the Hogwarts sorting hat than a princess chapeau, but we decided to go for a ‘faded elegance’ vibe, so what the heck.

Mad millinery skills

We tucked cotton candy around the base of the hat—we wanted to use it for a veil, but it was too clumpy—added little pearly things, painted the whole thing with shimmer dust, added a lock and key (these are dangerous fairy tales) and called it a day.
The next day the cotton candy had sort of melted, so I added another layer at the WoFfice. It also melted, but remember that faded elegance thing? It worked.
And just so you know, this is what my kitchen looked like after 5 hours of cake decorating. Beauty has its price.

wreckage

But that’s OK, because it was a hit at the shower–and once we cut into it, that book was gone in no time flat. And they lived happily ever after.

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And More Cakes…

Until I figure out a good way to post most all my pics, here are a few more faves from the Oklahoma Sugar Arts Show.

Here’s a close-up of the amazing map painted on the cake above:

Detail from cake above

Lighthouses were a popular subject

Must be a prevailing wind; note the list of this lighthouse

Notice the beautiful blue swirls. That's fondant marbling at its finest.

This one strikes me as more groom's cake than wedding cake

Speaking of groom’s cakes, I gather in other parts of the country (north of the Mason-Dixon line, say) they don’t have ’em. How sad for the wedding guests. When I find myself at a wedding reception, I generally skip wedding cake (it’s usually boring white cake) and go for the luscious chocolatey goodness of the groom’s cake. Which reminds me, doesn’t this one look delicious?

Where's my fork?

Oh my. More tomorrow!

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Cakes. Lots & lots of Cakes.

I’m visiting (for real, not virtually) the Oklahoma Sugar Arts show. I don’t even aspire to making cakes on this level…although I was able to look at some of them and find flaws, which gave me a warm squishy feeling inside.

The theme this year is “under the sea.” Some of the entries were obvious. . .

Just one of many lovely entries.

Some not so much (but still pretty!).

I spent a lot of the day watching three 28-year-old stars of cakedom, James Rosselle, Jason Ellis and Joshua John Russell. They’re making an enormous “extreme” Christmas piece.

SORRY about the guy's head in front!

James Rossell grouting the chimney. It's TALL--he's on a chair

Plus there was a timed competition where 4 contestants had 1.5 hours to create a Halloween cake. This one was my fave, but she came in 3rd. My neighbor & I think it must have been a rules violation; she did a bunch of different techniques and it was darling. Look at that witch w/the broom going all the way through the cake!

My fave Halloween cake

Look how cute she is! And all edible.

This is the cake that one. It’s quite nice, too. They had to have 1/8% of the cake be visible Rice Crispies.

Halloween Horror Cake Competition winner

I’ve met a number of fun people, learned some inside skinny about Food Network Challenge, and seen a lot of great cake. And that’s just today. There’s another whole day tomorrow. Meanwhile, I’m pooped. Watching all those people work is exhausting. More pics to come!

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Chocolate

Chocolate. Do I really need to say anything else? As my favorite chocolate shop (Wiseman House Chocolates in Hico, TX) says, “Chocolate is proof that God is good. Very good.”

As I write I’m sitting on the floor of my bedroom closet with my cats prowling around me. According to the radio, there’s a whopper of a storm—possibly including tornadoes—just down the road and headed our way. Charlie is taking our self-imposed isolation personally and rarely lets a moment go by without complaining about it. He’s not happy. Henry’s not happy. I’m not particularly thrilled myself. And the worst part is (aside from that whole imminent danger thing) I’m stuck in here without any chocolate.

What WAS I thinking? Still, it might be for the best. As comforting as chocolate can be, it’s also dangerous—and not just to our hips. It’s so tempting to turn to that dark, delicious flavor for comfort in times of crisis. But really, shouldn’t we be looking for comfort from God? Do you think He might get his feelings hurt if we blow Him off and ask a slice of chocolate cake to solve our problems instead of the One who can actually do something about them?

Ah, but when you put God and chocolate together—each in His/its proper place—that’s a beautiful thing. Remember, He invented that wonderful flavor and it’s only right to show our appreciation?

So here’s my favorite chocolate cake recipe: it’s moist. It’s delicious. It has just a touch of cherry flavor. It’s fantastic as a sheet cake or in luscious layers. It’s perfect for Valentine’s Day. Enjoy—and remember to give credit where credit is due. Tell God how much you love Him today. He already sent you a Valentine; His name is Jesus.

Chocolate Cherry Cake
1 box chocolate fudge cake mix
3 eggs
1 can dark sweet cherry pie filling (be sure to get pie filling, not just cherries)
½ teaspoon almond extract
½ teaspoon butter extract

Mix together the cake mix, eggs, butter, cherry pie filling, and almond and butter extracts. Beat at medium speed for the amount of time indicated on cake mix.

Bake at 350 degrees in greased and floured pans until cake tests done in the middle. For a 9×13 pan it will be about 40 minutes.

Let cake sit about 5 minutes; frost wit Fudge Frosting while cake is still warm.

Fudge Frosting
6 Tablespoons milk
4 Tablespoons cocoa
1 1-lb box powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped pecans

Melt butter; stir in mild and cocoa. Bring to a gentle boil. YOU MUST STIR FREQUENTLY to prevent scorching.

Remove from head and add powdered sugar, vanilla and pecans. Mix well by hand with spoon. Spread carefully on warm cake. (NOTE: If you’ve taken your cake out of the pan this step will be messy—take precautions to avoid frosting spillover onto your counter, floor, etc.)

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