White Chocolate Cake

I spent last week in Rabun Gap with Mom and had a very nice time. You can really tell the seasons are beginning to change. Cool in the low 60's in the mornings and around 85 for the high. Low humidity was great. Planning on being there as much as possible over the next few months.  A couple of pictures from the back porch.
We thought it was funny that the our neighbors up there call this side of the house the front of the house. The entry of the house next to the driveway to them is the back of the house! We refer to the entry to the house as the front.  We love our neighbors though and they always leave us with a smile saying "Youin's have a nice day and come visit us soon!" Love Love Love Rabun County!!! There was a faint smell similar to lavender in the air up there. Maybe mountain laurel. Not sure but it was wonderful to be there with Momma and relax a little. Friday I went back to the Farm  and spent some time with Tricia, and Lee Ann. Tricia was ending her second week of vacation and Lee Ann just came home from Auburn for the weekend.

I came home to Destin Sunday around 11A.M. As I crossed midbay bridge I did see a couple of Brown Pelicans! Water looks great but Destin is very very slow. No one out and about.  Wish the work on Mountain Drive would finish. Louie and Gizmo look like Grey blobs of dust when they come home from their walk. Lots of baths lately......

Pictures of "Baby" my sweet bob tail kitty! She is spoiled rotten and has the sweetest personality of any cat I have ever known!

I think our Gulf Shores, Al. neighbors are really hurting. I hope that the stimulus money will help, if they get it, but it really may be too late for most of them. The break is not just in the billfold of these people. It's their spirits too. Hurricanes Ivan and Dennis were a big blow and all of the others that followed added to the misery and loss. Everyone was beginning to get back up and move through a more normal life. Then the oil came. Then it just disappears after a small hurricane comes through. I call B.S. on that one. It's there and BP needs to remove it. Will they?  Will President Obama be a man of his word?  We will see......

I tried one of the recipes from Granny's clippings yesterday. It was really old and I think when it was written the cook had a wood stove! The timing is wrong for an electric stove. I am going to attach the clipping so you can have it, and I will rewrite it as I made it yesterday. Great cake. Lots of butter so don't eat too much of it.

"You will see that I didn't make the cake frosting the same as the above recipe. Mainly because Wade loves chocolate. So I added cocoa and substitued hazelnut flavored creamer for the evaporated milk and vanilla called for in the original recipe. Taste great!

The cook time in above recipe is also different for my electric oven and I didn't split the layers in half. They are so moist it would have been a little difficult to do. Tasted good anyway! 

I am also going into detail that most of you already know, but my girls are learning to cook so I am being more detailed than normal for them."

White Chocolate Cake

For the cake layers:

1/2 cup of white chocolate pieces melted

3 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp salt

4 tsp soda

2 sticks unsalted butter

2 1/2 cups sugar

6 eggs

1 cup 1/2 and1/2 cream

2 tsp vanilla

For the filling:

1 1/3 cup evaporated milk

1 1/3 cup sugar

4 egg yolks

2/3 cup butter

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup white chocolate pieces melted

1 1/3 cup coconut

1 1/3 cup  chopped walnuts

For the frosting:

2  cups powdered sugar

1 stick of butter softened

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1-2 tablespoons Carnation brand liquid hazelnut creamer...... or milk along with 1 tsp vanilla



Directions:

It's always a good idea to get all of your ingredients measured and ready to assemble before you start.

Take the butter and eggs out of the refrigerator and let them sit at room temp for about an hour.

Meanwhile gather all your ingredients together, measure the evaporated milk and let it sit at room temp until you are ready for it.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Grease and dust with flour 3 cake pans. Set aside. ( I broke my layers yesterday when I took them out of the oven! But I was able to use some toothpicks and keep it all together once I started stacking it. Just remember when you grease and flour to cover the entire surface with the flour. I don't think I did that and they stuck in places. When you get the pans greased with butter or crisco whatever you have, lightly sprinkle the pan with flour and then holding the pan in your hand tap the pan from side to side and dust the entire pan with flour. Discard any loose flour.)

Measure all of the other ingredients and have them at hand for mixing.

Sift flour, salt and soda together. Sometimes if my flour is not too lumpy I will cheat and use a whisk and mix the three together and forgo the messy sifting process.  Set aside.

Measure 1/2 cup white chocolate pieces and place in a heavy saucepan. Over medium heat stir until melted. Remove from stove and allow to cool slightly. You can also do this in the microwave start with 15 sec. on high and stir and then another until melted be sure to use a microwave safe glass bowl.

Ok you are ready to start mixing:

In bowl of mixer beat the butter until light and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat until smooth.

Add the eggs one at a time. Beat until the bright yellow yolk disappears and then add another. After the eggs are mixed in beat in the cooled white chocolate.

Alternately add the flour mixture and the 1/2 and 1/2 cream, beginning and ending with the flour. Therefore you add 1/3 of the flour, add half of the cream, beat in well, add another 1/3 of the flour and last half of the cream, beat well, add remaining flour and beat untill smooth. Beat in vanilla.

Pour into greased and floured pans. Bake in 300 degree preheated oven for apporx. 20 min. When you place the pans in the oven don't let the sides of the pans touch each other or the inside of the stove. This will help them cook more evenly.

To test for doneness insert toothpick in center of cake if it comes out clean it's ready to take out and allow to cool.

Leave the layers in the pan and take a knife and go around the edges and loosen the cake from the sides. Lay out a clean dish towel on the counter and turn each pan upside down on the towel. Tap the bottom of the pan and cake should come out onto towel. If not you may have to coax it out with a spatula or butter knife being carful to not break.

Directions for the filling:

Seperate the yolk from the white of the eggs. Over a small bowl break the egg in half. holding the egg in the shell move it from one half to the other allowing the whites to fall into the bowl. Place the yellow yolks in another bowl. Slightly beat.

Melt white chocolate set aside.

In a heavy sauce pan add the evaporated milk, butter, sugar and slightly beaten egg yolks. Cook over medium high heat slowly stirring constantly until mixture reaches boiling point. When boiling point is reached set your timer for 12 min. and reduce the heat to medium low. Still stirring constantly for the entire 12 min.......pull up a stool! After 12 min. remove from heat mix in vanilla. Add melted white chocolate, coconut and walnuts stir and allow to cool for about 5 -10 min.

Before you begin stacking your layers take some wax paper cut about 3 inches long and lay it around the edges of the cake plate. This will allow you to keep a clean edge on your plate when the filling drips down the sides. Stack the first layer in the center of your cake plate and cover with 1/3 of the filling followed by the second and third layers.

Directions for the frosting:

After you have stacked all 3 layers and covered each with the filling. In mixing bowl mix the confectioners sugar, room temperature butter, cocoa powder and creamer, until smooth.  If you are using milk or cream instead of flavored creamer add 1 tsp vanilla. Then with a cake spatula or large butter knife spread the frosting only around the sides of the stacked layers. Before I did this I used a spoon and picked up the icing that dripped from in between the layers and spread it back on the top layer.

You can now slowly pull the wax paper out from under the bottom layer of the cake and you have a fairly clean cake plate.

         White Chocolate Cake

Have a good week.