Recipe can be found in Nancie McDermott’s book “Southern Cakes.”

Ingredients:

• 8 oz very soft cream cheese
• 8 oz very soft butter
• 3 cups granulated sugar
• 6 eggs-room temperature
• 3 cups (12 3/4 oz) all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

Mixing:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
2. Grease and flour one large (10″) tube pan or two 9″ x 5″ loaf pans
3. Beat cream cheese and butter in stand mixer for 3 minutes
4. Slowly add granulated sugar and beat 3-5 additional minutes
5. Add eggs, one at the time, until well mixed
6. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt
7. WIth mixer at slowest speed, add dry mixture gradually to butter/sugar mixture
8. Add vanilla
9. Scrape mixer bowl well throughout mixing process.
10. Pour batter into prepared pan.
11. Original recipe instructed 1 hour 15 minutes baking time (my oven required 1 hour 30 minutes baking time)
12. Remove cake from oven
13. Let cool in pan 10 minutes then turn out onto wire rack to cool completely

(@30 minutes out of the oven / slice with serrated knife very slowly / delicious–top of cake is crunchy and center of cake is velvety soft)

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reflections

dark, moist chocolate date espresso cake, yet not overly rich

Sunday afternoon Moka coffee, chocolate date espresso cake, and “Jane Eyre”

iPhone images

The recipe yields four small, though very rich, chocolate lava cakes.  The simple ingredients stir together in minutes.

12 minutes in the oven

1 minute to cool

flip – dust with powdered sugar – enjoy

(A special thanks to K, the birthday girl, for mixing, stirring, baking, and flipping the cakes.)

CHOCOLATE LAVA CAKES

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 4 T butter
• 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted to remove lumps
• 2 eggs
• 6 T all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Mixing:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
2. Melt chocolate chips and butter together slowly in microwave; remove bowl from microwave
3. Stir in the sifted powdered sugar
4. Stir in the eggs
5. Add flour and stir to remove any lumps
6. Add vanilla
7. Divide batter evenly between 4 small oven safe dishes that have been generously buttered along sides and bottom to prevent sticking
8. Place on baking tray.
9. Bake 12 minutes; the chocolate lava cakes will appear wet in the center when removed from the oven
10. Allow to cool 1-2 minutes, then flip onto serving plate
11. Garnish with fruit, sifted powdered sugar, and / or chocolate syrup

(Thanks for inspiration from bloggers who have posted similar recipes.)

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One Serving Baked Chocolate Chip Dessert

(adapted from chocolatemoosey.com)

Ingredients:

• 2T butter, melted
• 1T granulated sugar
• 1T dark brown sugar
• splash of vanilla
• pinch of salt
• 4T all purpose flour
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 2T chocolate chips

Mixing:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Melt butter in microwave safe dish
3. Remove from microwave and stir in granulated sugar and dark brown sugar
4. Add vanilla and salt
5. Stir in flour and soda; the mixture will be thick
6. Stir in chocolate chips
7. Spoon into an oven safe, single serving dish; it’s not necessary to grease the dish
8. Bake for 14-15 minutes
9. Remove from oven and cool 10 minutes

You could drizzle with chocolate syrup or caramel sauce or top with a scoop of ice cream….

Enjoy!

(Hipstamatic photos)

(instagram photo)

Kitchen’s temporarily closed.  Hut’s FIRST birthday party is today!!!

Mama began baking this cake for our family when my brothers and I were children. (Notice Mama’s cake pans in the picture.)

Five plus pounds of rich, chocolate cake.  Slice the servings very, very thin.

Pretty icing on the top of the cake.

(iPhone images)

Just baked, and slightly cooled, the tea cakes are crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside.

The flavor takes me back to the late 1970s. I can vividly remember Rosemary baking tea cakes, and I graciously thank her family for sharing the recipe.

As with many old recipes, the ingredient list is simple and the mixing/baking instructions are often missing.

My ingredient comments are added in ( ).

Tea Cakes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sugar (14 oz) (Domino prue cane granulated )
• 2 sticks butter (8 oz) (unsalted butter, Land of Lakes)
• 2 eggs (large brown)
• 3 cups flour (13 1/2 oz) (1 cup White Lily self rising and 2 cups White Lily all purpose)
• (1/8 teaspoon Kosher salt – my addition)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Mixing:

1. Stir together sugar and softened butter
2. Stir in slightly beaten eggs, one at a time
3. Sift the flour; then add salt to flour
4. Add flour/salt to sugar/butter/egg mixture, one cup at a time
5. Using #100 scoop (slightly less than 1 teaspoon), drop tea cake dough onto parchment lined baking sheet
6. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven 11 minutes (my oven; yours may vary)
7. (tea cakes will rise, then begin to fall at about 10 minutes baking time)
8. Remove from oven and cool 2 minutes on cookie sheet; transfer to wire rack to cool
9. Tea cakes become crunchy on the outside as they cool

Notes:

I used a wooden spoon and then my hands to completely mix in the flour.

The tea cakes I baked on a buttered iron skillet were much more ‘rustic’ in appearance. They were crunchy inside and out, and equally delicious.

Recipe as shared with me:

Ma Browder’s Tea Cakes:
Cream together 2 cups of sugar and 2 sticks of butter. Add 2 eggs, 1 tsp of vanilla, and 3 cups of flour. Bake until just browned around the edges. She couldn’t remember the temperature exactly, but it was somewhere between 350-400 degrees.

finally…..coffee success using the Moka Pot

ready for the next brew

rinse with warm water; don’t wash away the oils accumulating inside the pot (think cast iron skillet care in the coffee world)