• About

Photos and migraines

~ a blog in search of creativity

Photos and migraines

Tag Archives: Old fashioned recipes

Lemon (Cup) Cake

16 Tuesday Sep 2014

Posted by lewstories in Baking, Food, Photography, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Baking, Cake decorating, Frosting, Lemon Cupcakes, Old fashioned recipes

Lemon Cupcake

I used a Lemon Cake recipe from my great grandmother’s cookbook, “Rumford Complete Cookbook,” but I made cupcakes instead. I haven’t made cupcakes in….. about 40 years. I made a mess. I over-filled most of the cups, and they spilled over and baked to the top of the muffin tins.

The second batch came out a little better. I had a lot of fun at any rate. And they taste really good.

Lemon Cake

2 scant cups sugar
1/2 cup butter
3 eggs
1 cup milk
2 rounding teaspoons baking powder
Grated rind of 1 lemon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups flour

Beat the butter with half of the sugar; add gradually the remainder of the sugar together with the well-beaten eggs. Next, put in the grated lemon, then the milk, and then lastly the flour sifted with the salt and baking powder. Bake about 40 minutes in a moderate oven, (350 degrees) and cover with lemon frosting. (See below)

Lemon Frosting

Juice of 2 lemons
About 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Strain the juice of the lemons into a bowl and add the sugar, finely sifted, until thick enough to spread. The exact quantity of sugar will depend on the size of the lemons. Pour over the top of the cake, and spread smooth with a thin-bladed knife that has been dipped in water.

Yeah, forget that.

It did not work. That is the second time I’ve tried to make frosting from this cookbook.  The cake is very good, but the frosting was just a thick paste that did not taste good at all. And forget trying to spread it. And to top it all off, there wasn’t enough to cover a cake, or all of the cupcakes, anyway.

So! I went to the internet in search for what ingredient might be missing, and I found it – BUTTER. I added 1 stick of butter and a small amount of almond milk and a little bit more powdered sugar to thicken it back up – and it turned out perfectly. Oh, and I decided to get wild and add yellow food coloring since it was supposed to be lemon frosting.

After I iced the cupcakes, I sprinkled them with shaved coconut I bought at the Fresh Market. They look good, but I think the cupcakes would be better without the coconut. . . and I like coconut. It was just too much texture for those moist cakes.

Lemons for cupcakes

Lemon Cupcake

Lemon Cupcakes with FlagsLemon CupcakeLemon Cupcakes with Flags

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

Mama’s Recipes – a tribute to my great grandmother

28 Monday Apr 2014

Posted by lewstories in Food, Photography

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Great grandmother, Oatmeal Cake Squares, Old fashioned recipes

MamasBroachReadyThis is a photo of my great grandmother, Louise Putnam Wilcox. It’s actually a pin with her photo on it, and I’ve always thought I favored her when looking at it. She is the only other family member – that I know of – who is small like I am. She lived with us when we were kids, and I loved her very much. She taught me how to play solitaire and poker, and I remember sitting in her lap in her rocking chair eating candied orange slices. Funny what you remember from so long ago.

Anyway, I really remember she was a great cook. Her angel biscuits were what I remember the most. Hot out of the oven, slathered with melted butter and honey. I always ate them at the end of the meal because I considered them the best part and I wanted to savor them.

I went through her recipes recently and have decided to pay homage to Mama for a little while. I’m going to attempt to make some of the recipes she found to be worth cutting out of the newspaper or writing down on her index cards to kind of keep her with me again for a while.

My first attempt did not turn out so hot. Oatmeal Cake Squares. How can a person undercook AND burn something all at the same time? Well, I’m not sure, but I did accomplish it. Part of the problem was there was little explanation in the directions. And our oven cooks too slow, so when it said to cook the cake for 15 minutes, it actually should have been 25 to 30. I did cook it 7 minutes longer, but it still was not enough. It was still liquid in the middle. To my defense, I thought cooking it 10 minutes more after the topping was put on there was going to cook it the rest of the way. No. Still soggy in the middle after the additional 10 minutes. So back in the oven for a couple of minutes……when I thought to myself, “What’s that burning smell?” The coconut topping burned a bit – but, in the end – the cake was really good – the done parts, that is.

Anyway, my great grandmother died in 1976 when she was 92. I hope you enjoy her recipes and the stories, I’m sure, I’ll have to tell in trying to prepare them. I will always include the recipes for those who are interested in trying them yourselves.

OatmealCakeSquaresREADYOatmealCakeSquareWForkReadyWhitePlateReadyOatmeal Cake Squares

1 1/4 cup boiling water
1 cup quick-cooking oats
1 stick butter
1 cup white sugar
1 cup (packed) brown sugar
2 whole eggs
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/3 cups sifted flour
1 teaspoon baking soda

Pour boiling water over oats and let stand for 20 minutes. Cream together butter, white and brown sugars. Add unbeaten eggs, cinnamon and vanilla. Mix well; add oats and combined flour and soda mixture. Pour batter in greased 8″x16″ pan or two 8″x8″ pans and bake in preheated 350-degree F oven for 15 minutes. (Just make sure the cake is actually done in the middle, so it may take your oven a little longer)

Then spread with topping:

3 tablespoons butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 can coconut (Ok. Here is another problem. What size can? I happened to have some shredded coconut, so I just used 2 cups of it. It seemed to work)
1 cup chopped nuts
3 or 4 tablespoons cream ( I used Half and Half because that’s all I had)
2 egg yolks

Mix well and spread over hot cake. Return to oven and bake for about 10 minutes. Let cool and cut into squares.

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

Subscribe

  • Entries (RSS)
  • Comments (RSS)

Archives

  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • January 2016
  • November 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • November 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • March 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • September 2011

Categories

  • 4×5 Camera
  • Baking
  • BCS football
  • Birds
  • Cats
  • Clothes shopping
  • Cooking
  • Dessert
  • Dog in snow
  • ferns
  • Food
  • gold fish
  • Grace Kelly
  • Groundhog day
  • Gwyneth Paltrow
  • Home improvement
  • Hydrangeas
  • Insects
  • inspiration
  • Magazine
  • Masks
  • Nature photography
  • People watching
  • Photography
  • Portraits
  • Produce signs
  • Product shots
  • Recipes
  • Recipes gone wrong
  • Renovation
  • Restaurant
  • Self-portrait
  • spiders
  • Still life
  • Stories
  • Street photography
  • Trains
  • Uncategorized
  • Vegetarian chili
  • Vivian Maier photographs
  • Walk in the rain

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in

Blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
%d bloggers like this: