Maddy Cakes

I felt a need to bake tonight.  Well, actually, my kids felt a need for me to bake tonight!  I was happy to oblige.  The weather outside was cold and rainy, a typical fall day for Michigan, and it just seemed like it was time to have a real comfort meal for dinner, complete with dessert.  Dinner had been simmering all day long, so it wasn't like I had a whole lot of other cooking to do.  Out came the batter bowl!  At the end of this post, I will give the recipe for this lovely treat, but for now I'll tell you how I adapted it.  I am a big fan of madeleines, but didn't really want to make them.  The girls were requesting cake, and I conceded to them.  So I pulled out a favorite recipe for devil's food cake and mixed it up.  Then I took a large soup spoon and filled my madeleine forms with the batter.   It worked perfectly!  They only had to bake about 12-14 minutes in this pan; once they cooled, I just slipped them out and put them on a plate to be dusted with powdered sugar.  MMMMMMM!!!!  So simple, yet so decadent all at once!  And they went perfectly with dinner.  Last night, right before bed, I took a rump roast* out of the freezer and popped it in the crock pot with a cup of water and an envelope of french onion soup mix (organic, of course!).  I set it on high and let it cook.  Then this morning, around 8, I turned it down to low and let it go all day, turning it over occasionally.  Then for dinner tonight it was falling off the bone and so so so so tender!  Served with steamed broccoli and mixed vegetables and a glass of skim milk.  With the chocolate cakes for dessert, it was a hit with young and old alike! 

Devil's Food Cake

3/4 cup milk

1 tbsp vinegar

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup shortening

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup cocoa

1/2 cup warm water

Mix together milk and vinegar.  In a small bowl sift together flour and salt.  Cream together sugar and shortening.  Add eggs one at a time; beat well.  Stir vanilla into milk mixture.  Add to creamed mixture alternately with dry ingredients, mixing well after each addition.  Mix together baking soda, cocoa, and water;  add to batter, mixing well.  Pour into pans and bake at 350 degrees 30 - 35 minutes.  Cool before frosting  (recipe below).

Frosting

3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup cocoa

1/8 tsp salt

1/3 cup butter

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

4 to 5 tbsps hot cream

In a small bowl sift together sugar, cocoa, and salt.  Cream together butter, egg, and vanilla.  Alternately add dry ingredients and hot cream.  Beat well until spreadable.

*as for the roast:  we buy beef from a local organic farmer.  His beef is 100% certified organic, and he sells us a whole cow.  We then have it butchered at a local meat processor and split it with some good friends of ours.  Half a cow fills our freezer, but it lasts a year or so.  The beef was 90cents per pound before butchering, and then after the cutting and packaging costs, it worked out to $2.98 per pound.  Not bad considering that includes everything from burger, to roasts, to steaks, to tenderloin!  All the same price! You can't even get the antibiotic and hormone filled hamburger at the store for that little anymore.  I highly recommend finding a way to get your meat this way.  Yes, it's around $1200 at the time, but that is still WAY less than you would spend at the grocery store over a year or two.  And if it's properly packaged and frozen solid, it will last that long!  It has really cut down on our grocery bill as now I only need to buy the basics such as flour, sugar, cereals, milk, and any other ingredients for meals.  What used to be four to five bags of groceries each trip is now only about 2.  We don't purchase the box meal kits anymore or any convenience foods.  With the meat in the freezer, we always have something to bring out to thaw and cook.  Occasionally we purchase chicken or pork or fish, but the basic grocery shopping is much lighter now.  We also purchase all produce at the farmers market in order to keep our consumption and our dollars local.  This has also been a big savings to us.  With four kids to feed, every cent helps!

Comments

[gina in RI]

That was really wonderful--thank you for the recipe! I'm able to get unpasturized milk from a nearby farm, but so far the meat search hasn't been successful. You've motivated me to keep searching, though!

[Lisa]

I was just looking into buying a cow at the county fair with a friend. I don't know if I'll be able to deal with putting a face to my food, though! It does make sense both economically and conveniently.

[Swati]

If it's an enamel butathb you can probably use paint thinner or stripper.If it's a fiberglass tub, I don't know. Find a knowledgeable person at your local hardware store to advise you.

[John]

RSS feed for updates on this topic.Powered by WP Greet Box WordPress PluginWhen I grduaated from college, I never had the opportunity to move back home and save money like most of my friends did. My