Blog

Caramel Puffed Rice Cake

The Boy, of "Get a Bigger Wagon" fame, loves this treat!

Measure six or seven cups of puffed rice (not Rice Krispies) into a large mixing bowl.

Mix the following ingredients in a saucepan, bring to a boil over medium heat, and boil for two minutes.

½ cup corn syrup

½ cup butter

1-cup brown sugar

1-teaspoon vanilla

Pour the brown sugar sauce over the puffed rice and mix well. 

With damp hands, press the puffed rice mixture, evenly, into a buttered 9 by 13-inch cake pan. If you prefer a thicker cake, use a smaller pan. Cool the cake, then cover it with plastic wrap to keep it moist. 

Tip:

This sauce is lovely over puffed wheat as well. For contrast, try Best Chocolatey Puffed Wheat Cake Ever.  

Best Chocolatey Puffed Wheat Cake Ever

My son-in-law had a childhood memory of the perfect puffed wheat cake. After decades of sampling and searching, he was interested when one of his employees brought a pan of very chocolatey puffed wheat cake to a potluck lunch at work. My son-in-law tried it, and there it was – the texture and taste he remembered. The young man emailed the recipe to my son-in-law who shared it with me. 

This puffed wheat cake is gooey, chocolatey, and memorable. The gentleman found it on line at a site called Mennonite Girls Can Cook, but they credit the Best of Bridge ladies, who credit their Auntie Edith. My auntie made a similar one, so I am sharing it today in case any of you are looking for some chocolatey goodness this summer. The recipe comes with a caution to resist the temptation to cut just a little piece for yourself because you’ll never stop nibbling. It even happened to me, and I usually prefer a caramel puffed wheat cake.  

Best Chocolatey Puffed Wheat Cake Ever

Ingredients:

½ cup of butter

1 cup of Roger’s Golden Syrup

1 cup of white sugar

¼ cup of brown sugar

6 heaping tablespoons cocoa powder

1 teaspoon of vanilla

10 cups of puffed wheat

Method:

Combine butter, syrup, sugars, and cocoa powder in a heavy saucepan. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. It is important to take at least ten minutes to bring the sauce to a boil over medium heat. Rushing the process, using a higher temperature, can result in a slightly gritty chocolate sauce. As soon as it boils, remove the pot from heat and add the vanilla.

Pour the hot chocolate sauce over the puffed wheat and stir until all of the puffed wheat is coated.

Press into a greased 9 by 13-inch pan. Dampen your hands to press mixture evenly. 

Vintage Boiled Raisin Cake

Vintage Boiled Raisin Cake

I have always credited my father’s mom for our family’s boiled raisin cake recipe. My mother’s handwritten recipe book, dated 1947, features her auntie’s boiled raisin cake recipe on the first page. Looking further, I see a star beside a similar cake, credited to a Mrs. Hardy.

Mrs. Hardy always slathered her raisin cake with chocolate buttercream icing. My mother tried it, loved it, and that’s how we ate it, ever after. My older daughter didn’t like the combination of chocolate and spice and suggested we top this recipe with cream cheese icing. Lately, I prefer this cake topped with Vintage Caramel Fudge Frosting. Sigh!

I assure you that any boiled raisin cake is a thing to savour. I encourage you to make one soon. Even my husband Gord, who has Crohn’s, is able to digest this cake because the raisins are twice cooked. On occasion, I have replaced the all-purpose flour with oat flour to accommodate my gluten sensitive daughter. It’s a pioneer recipe, after all, and you can’t ruin it.

As for the icing controversy, I look forward to hearing your opinions.

Vintage Boiled Raisin Cake

Preheat the oven to 350°F

Step one:

Place 1 cup of raisins in a medium size saucepan and cover with water. Bring the raisins to a boil; boil gently for 20 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Step two:

Select a pan; 7 by 11 inches or 9 by 9 inches will work.

Butter the pan and line it with parchment paper.

Step three:

¾ of a cup of white sugar

½ cup of butter

1 egg

Cream white sugar, butter, and egg in medium size bowl

Step four:

½ a teaspoon of cinnamon

½ a teaspoon of allspice

1½ cups of all-purpose flour

½ a teaspoon of baking powder

A pinch of salt

Mix dry ingredients in another medium size bowl.

Step Five:

Drain the raisins, retaining ½ a cup of the raisin juice

Add 1 teaspoon of soda to the juice.

Step Six: Put it all together

Add the flour mixture, in two parts, to the butter and egg mixture, alternating with raisin juice, ending with flour. 

Add the cooled raisins

Spread the batter into the prepared pan and bake in the preheated oven for about half an hour.

Cool the cake and ice with your favourite icing. Try my Caramel Fudge Frosting, HERE. Lately, I prefer to make this amazing icing with dark brown sugar.  

Beet and Carrot Cake

I love October! The colours in my home reflect the colours outside. Whenever I look at our Saskatchewan riverbank in autumn, I am reminded of my late aunt’s delicious beet-carrot cake.

There are many ways to enjoy beets and carrots, but they are most versatile when grated. If you are going to grate vegetables, grate extra. They will keep in the fridge for a day or two until you put them to good use. Always wear a dark colour when grating beets, because, inevitably, a bit will land on your clothing. If you just can’t find an hour for processing vegetables, pre-grated carrots and beets are now available at grocery stores.

I suggest you start using your stash of grated veggies by making several beet-carrot cakes. This recipe has been in my file since the early sixties. The recipe came to me from my aunt who had enjoyed it for decades.

I remember, as a young mother, freezing nine or ten of these cakes, double wrapped for perfect preservation. You can bake them in your preferred shape – layers or loaves. I sometimes freeze them iced and store them in appropriate cake or pie savers. If you pre-cut the cakes and store the slices separately, you can share a piece, with a friend, at a moments notice.

Beet and Carrot Cake

Preheat oven to 350°F

In a large bowl, mix

3 egg yolks (Set the whites aside, to add later)

1½ cups of white sugar

1 cup of your favourite salad oil (In the 60s, we used corn oil)

1 teaspoon of vanilla

3 tablespoons of hot water

Add the following ingredients to the bowl, mixing until just moistened. 

1 cup of grated raw beets

1 cup of grated raw carrots

½ cup of chopped nuts (Pecans or walnuts)

2 cups of all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

2 teaspoons of baking powder

½ teaspoon of salt

In a medium glass bowl, beat the three reserved egg whites until stiff peaks form.

Fold the stiffly beaten egg whites into the mixed cake batter. Spread batter into two well-greased loaf pans, or two eight-inch rounds.

Bake the loaves at 350°F for 45 minutes, or until the cakes pull away from the sides of the pans. 

Ice with your favourite cream cheese icing or try my Mind Blowing Caramel Coconut Icing.

These cakes freeze well.

Other Ideas For Enjoying Your Grated Vegetables 

1.Mix beets and carrots together with salad dressing for a beautiful slaw.

2. Add half a cup of each vegetable to hot rice when it is cooked. Replace the lid. In about ten minutes stir the cooked veggies into the rice. I freeze this mixture in small containers for a quick lunch. 

3. Add grated vegetables to chicken broth and microwave for a minute or two. 

4. Mix 1 cup of grated vegetables with a tablespoon of olive oil or butter and microwave-cook on high power for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring at two-minute intervals. 

5. Make Madame Benoit's famous Carrot Oatmeal Cookies. 

6. Add eggs and grated onions to beets and carrots and make vegetable fritters. 

Most Memorable Marguerite Cake

I am about to share an heirloom recipe for a mind-blowing cake that is best described in the language of wine connoisseurs. This silky-textured cake has a full-bodied flavour -- not too sweet, yet comforting to the palette. It is a perfect blend of molasses and caramel, with a hint of brown sugar. While appearing complex, the recipe fits into modern lifestyles, because it can be prepared in stages. If you make it once, you will be begged to make it again.

I have made this cake at least 80 times, and when my returning guests see it under one of my glass domes, there is always a gasp of enthusiasm. My husband loves to come in the door and inhale the aroma of this cake baking. 

Marguerite Cake was the birthday cake of preference in our home when I was growing up and also in the home of several of my aunts and uncles. What is interesting is that each family has developed a different version of the cake. One family purees the raisins in the filling. Perhaps this was to trick someone who disliked raisins. Some folks fold in fluffy whipped egg whites, but most have decided that it’s fine to add the unbeaten egg whites to the wet ingredients. If you make this, you will thank me for the recipe!                                                    

Most Memorable Marguerite Cake

Prepare two 8” round layer cake pans by buttering and lining with wax paper circles. Preheat oven to 350°F.

Cream the following ingredients; beat until smooth.

½ cup of butter

1 cup of brown sugar

3 egg whites

3 tablespoons of cooking molasses

Mix the following ingredients in a small bowl.

1¾ cups of all-purpose flour

1¾ teaspoons of soda

Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture, alternating with buttermilk and ending with flour.

¾ of a cup of buttermilk

Scoop the batter evenly into the two prepared pans. For precision, you can weigh the uncooked cakes, although it is not necessary. Bake the cakes for 30 minutes in a preheated 350°F oven. Test for doneness with a toothpick.

Cool completely in pans on wire racks; turn out when cool.

Marguerite Cake Filling

In a medium saucepan, over medium heat, mix the following ingredients:

¾ of a cup of raisins

¾ of a cup of milk

3 egg yolks

1 tablespoon of butter

1 teaspoon of vanilla

¾ of a cup of brown sugar

Cook, stirring, constantly, until the mixture comes to a boil. Continue cooking and stirring until the mixture thickens. This takes four or five minutes.

Cool completely.

Assemble cake by placing one cake upside down on a plate. Spread the filling over the cake and top with the second cake, right side up. Cover the cake until you are ready to ice it with Brown Sugar Seven Minute Frosting.

Tips:

If you keep the iced cake refrigerated, it can be made a day ahead.

You can also make the cake ahead, freeze it, and fill and ice it at a later date.

For a large crowd, make a layered slab cake. Each recipe for cake batter fills one 9 by 13-inch pan. Make two separate batches, rather than doubling the initial recipe. Don’t forget to double the recipe for the filling. This can be done in one pot. Double or triple the icing recipe.  This will easily serve 24 guests.

Marguerite Cake Seven Minute Frosting

I often double this recipe even for the round layer cake.  

Ingredients:

1 cup of golden brown sugar

1 egg white

2 Tablespoons of water

Pinch of salt

Have ½ a teaspoon vanilla and ¼ teaspoon of baking powder ready to add when the icing is thickened.

To Prepare:

Put brown sugar, egg white, water, and salt, into the top of a double boiler over boiling water and beat the mixture with a hand mixer until stiff. It will take almost seven minutes. Once the icing is cooked, remove the pot from heat and add the ½ teaspoon of vanilla and the ¼ teaspoon of baking powder. Stir using the mixer for a few seconds.

Tips: Make sure the boiling water in the base isn’t touching the bottom of the icing pot, as this can lead to a more granular icing.

For Marguerite Cake, I double this recipe, ice the cake, and store leftover icing in an airtight container in the fridge.  For a treat, spread it on a muffin or graham wafer. It keeps for a couple of days.   

This icing elevates a cake mix to a fancy dessert.

Easy Heart Shaped Cake

This heart-shaped cake requires simple ingredients like fresh eggs, cake flour, real butter, and love. The finished cake will be close to 13 inches across when assembled, so it is best to build it on a large foil-wrapped surface. I foil-wrapped the lid of a storage box. I served this cake at my mother-in-law's 94th birthday party. In an attempt to honour her 94 years, I placed nine candles around the perimeter and a line of four down the middle. It looked great, and the boy from the Get a Bigger Wagon books, my husband, said it was delicious. 

This cake is best iced with my favourite brown sugar seven-minute frosting. The recipe is easy, fail-proof, safe (no raw egg whites), and delicious.

Making this cake, complete with icing, will leave you with 6 egg yolks. There are many ways to use egg yolks, creatively. My husband, the boy from the Get a Bigger Wagon stories, loves homemade butterscotch pudding, which calls for four yolks.  

Easy Heart Cake

Preheat the oven to 350ºF

Cake Ingredients:

½ cup of soft butter

1½ cups of sugar

2½ cups sifted cake flour

2½ teaspoons of baking powder

1 teaspoon of salt

1 cup of milk

1½ teaspoons of vanilla

4 egg whites, stiffly beaten

Method:

Grease and flour one 8-inch round pan and one 8 x 8 x 2-inch square pan.

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy.

Sift dry ingredients together and add to creamed mixture alternately with milk and vanilla.

Fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites.

Divide the batter between the prepared pans and bake for 30 to 35 minutes. Cool. Remove cakes from pans.

To Assemble:

Cut the 8-inch round cake in half. You can make an 8-inch wax paper circle, fold it in half, and lay it on the cake, to provide a guideline.     

Put the cut sides of the eight-inch round cake next to two adjoining sides of the square cake, creating a heart. Ice with pink frosting and decorate.

Brown Sugar Seven-minute Frosting

My mother believed this icing could make any cake special, even a mix.

Ingredients:

1 cup of brown sugar

1 egg white

2 tablespoons of water (Plus a few drops of colouring, if desired)

Pinch of salt

Have ½ a teaspoon vanilla and ¼ teaspoon of baking powder ready to add when the icing is cooked. Add a few drops of red food colouring to the cooked icing to achieve a soft pink shade.  

To Prepare:

Put brown sugar, egg white, water, and salt into the top of a double boiler over boiling water and beat the icing with a rotary beater until stiff. This will take almost seven minutes.The icing is ready when it will form stiff peaks. When taken off the heat, add the ½ teaspoon of vanilla and the ¼ teaspoon of baking powder.

I usually double this recipe. A double recipe will generously cover the top and sides of a layer cake that is filled with something else. The leftovers will cover an 8-inch square cake on top and sides.

I often ice the cake the night before, and, if refrigerated, the icing keeps very nicely. It almost seems to improve with the extra day.

It's easiest to slice the two halves of the round cake first. 

As I mentioned, If you make the heart cake with the double recipe of my favourite frosting, you will have 6 egg yolks remaining. I suggest you use four of them in the Boy's Favourite Butterscotch Pudding. 

My mother kept clipped recipes in scrapbooks. This one dates back to the late 1950s. 

Chameleon Cake Can Take Any Shape

Whether this recipe becomes a loaf, a layer cake, or a cupcake, you will find it versatile, moist, and delicious. Make it the day ahead if you plan to cube or slice the cake. Once cut, feel free to freeze it. It has been served in my family since the 1950s. This one recipe can provide the start for a dozen different desserts. The boy from the Get a Bigger Wagon stories enjoys it smothered in maple syrup or topped with one of the sauces I have shared in Let's Get Saucy. The cupcakes featured in Prairies North Magazine, 2021 summer issue are Chameleon Cupcakes.     

Ingredients:

½ cup of oil (canola or corn oil)

1 cup of sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon almond extract

½ teaspoon of salt

2 cups of all-purpose flour (oat or spelt flour works too)

¾ cup of milk

3 teaspoons baking powder

Instructions:

Add the sugar to the oil in a medium-size bowl and mix with an electric hand mixer. Beat the eggs into the sugar and oil. Then add vanilla, almond extract, and salt. Set this batter aside. In a separate bowl, combine the baking powder with the flour. Add portions of the flour mixture to the batter, alternating with portions of milk, ending with flour.

Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan and bake for 60 minutes at 325° F.

OR

Spoon batter into well-greased or paper-lined muffin tins (makes 14) and bake at 375° F for 20 to 30 minutes.

OR

Pour batter into two well-greased eight-inch layer cake pans and bake cakes at 375° for 25 to 30 minutes.

Note:

Chameleon loaf is delicious served with fruit and whipped cream, covered in maple syrup, or glazed with caramel icing. Slice this cake into fingers to serve plain with tea or cube it for dipping into a chocolate fondue. Freeze it in slices for a quick dessert at a later time.

For a fun family dessert, serve a platter of cake slices and a tray of sauces, fruit, ice cream, and sprinkles. Tell the children it is “make your own dessert” night. To follow a special grown-ups' dinner, splash a little rum over the cake, then top with whipped cream and pineapple. Yum!