Heaven on a Plate

Do you have a family recipe that only your family 'gets'. Well, we do and we got to enjoy it tonight. When I said I needed to take a picture before it was cut Mark made some comment about me having to blog about it. I said I wanted to post the recipe, but you really need a picture to understand what it is supposed to look like. He informed me it would scare people away. Apparently he was scared by the look of it the first time he saw it, but he has gotten over it since he enjoyed it just as much as me tonight.

This recipe came from my adorable Grandma Jesperson. It was forgotten about for many years and I don't remember for sure when it was brought back into my family, but I think my Mom started making it more regularly about 20 years ago. It is an Angel Food Cake that is then frosted with a custard that is mixed with whipping cream. The original recipe used real whipping cream, but my Mom discovered Cool Whip holds up much better and makes it much easier to make.

The cake usually shows its face around birthday celebrations. Especially my brother, Brent's. It is a little time intensive, so it is mostly for special occasions. My sister, Kim (welcome to the blogging world finally), is up from Arizona and her birthday is on Tuesday. Mine follows five days after that so tonight was the official joint celebration dinner. As a child it always bothered me to celebrate our party together, but that was because Kim always had more friends than me so she got more presents. I've matured a little since than and can handle combining the event.

In our family it is referred to as "Custard Cake" I'm sure ages ago someone came up with the recipe after making an angle food cake from scratch and wanted to do something with all those egg yolks. But with how easy cake mixes are these days we now just waste all the egg whites.

So you start by making an angel food cake (from a mix). Mom swears the two packet mixes taste better than the easier one packet mixes. When you cool the cake it has to hang upside down. Now the most important step comes next. You must remove the crusty top of the cake before removing it from the pan. The best way to do this is to pick at it a little at a time while it is cooling and enjoy the top. I'm sure the finished cake would not taste as good if you did not sample it at first! Then you make the following Custard Frosting and frost the cake with it.

Custard Frosting
9 egg yolks
1½ cup sugar
¼ tsp salt
2¼ cup milk
2 Tbsp gelatin
3 Tbsp cold water
6 Tbsp boiling water
3 tsp vanilla
1 - 8oz Cool Whip, thawed

In the top of a double boiler, beat the egg yolks and add sugar and salt. Scold milk and slowly stir it into the egg yolk mixture. Cook this mixture over boiling water in double boiler, stirring constantly until the custard lightly coats a spoon (about 4 minutes) DO NOT COOK LONGER, as this will cause the custard to curdle. Remove from heat. Soak gelatin in cold water for 5 minutes. Add boiling water and mix to dissolve gelatin. May have to set container into hot water to get to dissolve completely. Add to custard.

Put in 9 x 13 pan and set in freezer for 10 minutes then stir. Put back in freezer and let stand for 5 minutes repeating until mixture starts to set. Remove from freezer and fold in Cool Whip. If runny then put back in freezer for 5 minutes. Put small amount on cake plate then place Angel Food Cake on top then frost Angel Food Cake with mixture. If extra then put in hole of Angel Food Cake. Place in fridge and let set up about 30 minutes.

I hope your family enjoys this as much as we do.

Let them eat Cake!

I've become obsessed with this chocolate cake. My cousin posted on her blog this picture and story of the amazing cake she made. Then her sister, Eden, raved about it on her blog. Eden even came over to my house and described the cake in great detail. When they FINALLY posted the recipe I was dying to try it out. Of course between trying to get my kids ready to go stay at relatives and getting us ready to leave town there was no time to make it.

A lass, I broke down Thursday night and made it. I could not imagine waiting almost two weeks by the time we returned to try it out. This really is the richest, dense, moistest chocolate cake I've ever had. Thank you Sam! It is so rich you can only eat a very small sliver at a time. But I have enjoyed every bite I have had.

Eden can't say enough about the frosting. And it is a great frosting recipe. But I really think you need to try my Debbi Field's chocolate frosting recipe. Once you see how much butter is involved you'll understand this is the creamiest chocolate frosting ever.

22 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
4 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 cup sifted unsweetened cocoa powder
1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk

Cream butter until fluffy, add remaining ingredients and combine well. This is the full recipe. I always cut it in half for a 9 x 13 cake.

When we return from Florida we will have to make the cake again and try this recipe and see what you think!