Let Them Eat Cake

I learned at an early age that baking is an art. Baking also says a lot about a person. Ma-ma loved to bake and we loved it when she baked.

Ma-ma was the ultimate homemaker. She kept a perfect house, had dinner on the table each night when gramps came home, had control over a sewing machine like nobodies business, made homemade Christmas decorations and never had a hair out of place or smudge on her clothes while doing it.

Ma-ma was a domestic goddess.

As much as she was a master around the house, the thing I took from her was the love of baking. She always had cookies, cobblers, or cakes fresh out of the oven when you would stop by.

When birthdays would roll around, she would have a special cake designed just for the occasion.

Christmas brought an assortment of cookies and candies and treats to rival the finest confectioner. Most any occasion would warrant some sort of sweet.

I learned this appreciation for baking from ma-ma, in my mind something baked with love is one of the greatest gifts a person can give. There is something comforting about a fresh baked cake or pie.

I am not as good as ma-ma was in the baking department, but I can hold my own and like to give baked goods for friends on their birthdays or in times of need.

This past week, my neighbor Gayle lost her mom. Granny had lived with Gayle for a couple of years and was a sweet lady. She always sat out in the driveway to smoke and we would speak to each other whenever I would see her. Last Saturday, Granny fell and hit her head, she died a few hours later.

I didn't know about Granny passing until Monday, when Gayle came over to tell me. It all happened quickly and she didn't suffer, I am glad for that.

Gayle and her family had a memorial service this morning and I knew there would be a crowd at her house after the service, so I decided to bake a cake.

One of my favorite cakes ma-ma used to make is a Pound Cake.

Pound Cakes are a traditional delicacy that are about as basic as you can get, but not as easily made as you would think.

I loved ma-ma's basic pound cake, but several years before she died she began making Cream Cheese Pound Cake which I like even more.

Today, while I was baking a cream cheese pound cake for Gayle and her family, I thought back to all the hundreds of cakes ma-ma had made for our family and hope that the simple gift of a pound cake will bring Gayle and her family some relief during their time of grief.

Cream Cheese Pound Cake:

3 Sticks of Butter

3 Cups of Sugar

3 Cups of Sifted Flour (I just use self-rising, some people say you shouldn't but I say it is easier, so I use it.)

1 (8 oz.) Package of Cream Cheese

6 Large Eggs

Dash of Salt

1 1/2 Teaspoons Vanilla

Directions:

Cream butter, cream cheese and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Add vanilla and a dash of salt. Add flour. Pour in a bundt pan. Put in a cold oven. Bake at 325 for 1 hour, 25 minutes.

Today I added a raspberry glaze over the finished cake. It isn't the pretties cake in the world, but it is one of the best!

Notes from a Southern Kitchen, 10 Questions..... Jan Norris

Jan Norris is a foodie's foodie! For years, Jan was the Food Editor for the Palm Beach Post. Last year when the media world turned upside down, Jan left the Post.

I was not happy about Jan's departure as I enjoyed her columns.

A few months ago I was enjoying lunch at my favorite sandwich shop "Brown Baggin' It" in beautiful Lake Park, Florida, when my friend Leila started talking about Jan. Leila informed me that Jan now had her own website. I couldn't wait to check it out and now am an avid reader getting my Jan fixes! Check out her site http://www.jannorris.com/

Jan's site is filled with stories of her southern Florida life, restaurant reviews, great recipes and most anything else a foodie could want, it is a good read and I recommend it to anyone!

I recently learned that Jan and I live about 2 miles from each other, we are going to get together for coffee soon and regale each other with stories of our southern lives and the joys of sharing our thoughts with the world through the Internet.

I hope you enjoy this edition of,

10 Questions with Jan Norris...

1) Where were you born?

Miami Beach. I'm an adoptee, into a Southern LA (Lower Alabama) family. My kin trace back five generations in Florida.

2) Who is the greatest influence in your life and why?

My parents. Nearly all the values they instilled in me from day one are what I follow today.

3) What is the one thing that you cannot do without in your Southern Kitchen?

Simple: My iron skillet.

4) What is your favorite holiday food?

Probably the fresh orange cake my mother made at Christmas and New Year's.

5) What makes you a Southerner?

The easy answer might be because I can make a mean biscuit and can put up the fig preserves to eat with them.The more complex answer is another question: How does one define DNA? Being Southern isn't an talking with an accent (I lost my thick drawl the minute I went to public school), or rocking on a porch while drinking sweet tea, or knowing how to tell a good story. It's how you're brought up -- with Southerners, family (blood kin or not) is sacred; you respect others and are polite nearly to a fault; you always know your place but are fierce about your beliefs. And food along with college football -- is darn near a religion.

6) Biscuits or Cornbread?

Biscuits AND cornbread (absolutely no sugar in the latter).

7) What is your favorite memory?

I can't pick just one, so I'll pick a favorite food one.

It involves my Aunt Eleanor's buttermilk biscuits -- she made the best in our family. One night at her table as a girl, I was handed one. My Uncle Bill leaned over and said, "You know your Aunt Eleanor's biscuits will kill you, dontcha?"I shook my head, wide-eyed at this revelation. My favorite food on earth would kill me?

"That's right," he said. "They're so good - just set one on the top of your head, and your tongue will slap your brains out to get to it!"Everyone just roared.

This became a tradition to tell with anyone new at Aunt Eleanor's table, and it makes me laugh to this day.

8) Who taught you to cook?

I'm self-taught -- from cookbooks. My mother had zero patience for anyone in her kitchen who wasn't fast - and I was deliberate -- almost compulsively. It took me three minutes to spread one slice of bread with mayonnaise just to get it perfectly even and precisely to the edges. She rarely baked - so I took that task on even as a child, reading recipes, of course. After I was married, I read and cooked from every cookbook I could find. It was quite a surprise to my mom and the rest of the family when I turned out to be a really decent, and now very improvisational cook.

9) Banana Sandwich or Tomato Sandwich?

You left out pimento cheese - my favorite.

10) What would you serve, or have served to you, for your FAVORITE Southern meal?

If I could have them again, a giant pot of my mother's chicken and dumplings.

Jan was kind enough to share one of her favorite Southern Recipes with us and I can't wait to try it!

A recipe for my mom's fresh orange cake.

Simple, but time-consuming

As for the orange cake, I’m giving you a “best guess” recipe. Use any yellow sponge cake recipe you like; I use the same tender cake batter I use with my coconut cake. Make 3 or 4 layers. Soak it with the orange zest syrup. That’s it — simplicity, or so it sounds.With all the grating, juicing and soaking, however, it’s somewhat labor intensive – and you need room in the fridge for it so plan far enough ahead to do this. (Jan’s Rule: Don’t waste your time on this homemade beauty for unappreciative guests who’ll eat anything – bake them a fast box cake or just go buy something.)

Here’s a written recipe; but know that y0u must make a few to get the sugar/orange zest/juice ratio just right.

Nellie’s Orange Cake

For the cake:

■3 cups all-purpose flour, sifted

■2 teaspoons baking powder

■1/2 teaspoon salt

■1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

■1 cup milk

■1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

■2 cups sugar

■4 eggs, separated

For the orange syrup:

■juice of 8 Florida juice oranges (see note), strained

■grated rind of 8 oranges

■1 small can frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed

■1-1/2 to 3 cups granulated sugar, or more (see note)

Note: Thin-skinned backyard juice oranges are key to this cake. You can buy them at fruit stands and occasionally supermarkets. Do not use thick-skinned varieties or those from California.

Sugar: I can’t tell you how much to use; this will depend on amount of juice from the oranges.

Make cake layers.

Prep: Grease and flour 3 or four 9-inch round cake pans. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Measure the milk into a glass measuring cup and add the vanilla. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form in clean medium bowl. Set all aside.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and add the sugar to continue creaming on medium speed. Scrape sides and beat again. Add the egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each is added. Add dry ingredients alternately with milk and vanilla, beating well after each to incorporate. Scrape bowl well. Remove bowl from mixer stand and with a rubber spatula, fold in the egg whites until no whites show; batter should be light and foamy.

Divide batter evenly among pans; bake at 350 degrees until tops are lightly browned and cakes spring back slightly to touch in center of cake, approximately 25 minutes. Cool on racks; set aside.

While cakes bake, make orange zest syrup: Wash oranges very well. Grate rinds on fine grate of box grater or with Microplane zester into a medium mixing bowl. Juice and strain oranges into bowl with zest. Add thawed orange juice concentrate; stir well.

Begin adding sugar and whisking to dissolve sugar. This may take some time – be patient. Add enough sugar so that mixture is very sticky and runs slowly off the tip of a spoon.

Assemble cake: On a cake stand with a lip (essential), layer first cake layer, and poke surface well with thin round skewer. Use a large spoon to spoon syrup over cake. Repeat with each layer. Use several spoonsful per layer, giving time between applications to allow syrup to soak into cake – this will take about 1 hour.

Allow syrup to run down sides and onto plate. As needed, spoon up syrup off the plate edge and spoon over cake again. Use as much syrup as possible. (Reserve remainder in refrigerator and use on cupcakes or orange quick bread.)

Add orange zest curls to top of cake as garnish, if desired.Serves 16-20 (cake is very rich).

Keep cake refrigerated; cake freezes very well.

A Recipe from My Southern Kitchen....Cornbread

What is the deal with cornbread? Why are people afraid of it? I used to have the same problem, while I love eating cornbread, it just seemed so complicated to make.

Before I learned just how simple it is, I used to buy mixes. Now after learning the secrets to a good cake of cornbread I wouldn't dream of using a mix, it is just too easy to make yourself.

A couple of years ago, while on my summer pilgrimage to God's Country, I finally broke down and asked daddy to show me how to make cornbread.... he did and now I probably eat it more than I should!

One of the most important lessons I learned when making cornbread is, you must have the right pan. As we learned in a previous post, the preferred pan in any good Southern Kitchen is the black iron frying pan, or as we may refer to it in this instance.... a skillet. There is just something magical about those old iron pans that transform food like today's new fangled metallic pans can't.

The first step in making good cornbread is to heat the pan. After spraying your iron skillet with no-stick spray, place it in the oven to heat to 375 degrees.

Cornbread is made with just three ingredients..... yeah, three, how could it be any simpler?



Ingredients

Self Rising Cornmeal
Eggs
Buttermilk

(Some people like to add ingredients to their cornbread and that is all well and good. Peppers, onions, chilies, cracklins, and cheese can all be added to the mix, I just like to keep it simple.)

Mixing the cornbread is where people get confused and it really is just a trial and error kind of thing. In a bowl pour about 1 cup of cornmeal, add one egg and buttermilk. Mix together and you are looking for a "not to wet", "not to dry" consistency to your batter. If you need to add more meal then do so, or buttermilk to take your batter the other way. When adding eggs, I have found that one egg per cup of cornmeal works best.

After you have the right consistency for your cornbread batter, pour it into the hot iron pan. Bake at 375 until golden brown, approximately 30 - 35 minutes.

Serve with butter, crumbled up in a bowl of soup, dripping with syrup, or as daddy likes it in a glass of buttermilk.

Cornbread is an easy accompaniment to any meal!

A Recipe from My Southern Kitchen.... HOT, Healthy Wings

This afternoon I was craving hot wings. I didn't feel like going out for dinner, so I decided to make them myself.

I have never made hot wings before, so the whole thing was an experiment. An experiment that turned out AWESOME!

Not having a story to share today, I decided to share with you a recipe from My Southern Kitchen.

With thanks to The Neely's from Food Network, I took a recipe of Pat's and modified it to my taste.

I hope you enjoy my version of HOT, Healthy Wings!

Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon Salt
1 Tablespoon Red Pepper Flakes
2 Teaspoons of Black Pepper
2 Teaspoons of Poultry Seasoning
2 Tablespoons of Hot Sauce

12 Chicken Drumettes

Prep:

In a small bowl combine the dry ingredients and hot sauce. Stir until you have created a rub.

Place the drumettes in a Tupperware container and spread the rub over. Work the rub onto the chicken and place in the refrigerator for 1 hour to marinate.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Cooking:

After the chicken has marinated for one hour, place it in a baking dish allowing the chicken pieces to touch. Pour the remaining rub over the chicken, cover with foil and place in the oven.

Let the chicken bake ate 350 for 35 minutes.

At the end of 35 minutes, remove the foil and turn the oven to 425. Allow the chicken to bake at 425 for an additional 15 minutes.

Serve:

After the chicken was cooked, I served with Blue Cheese Dipping Sauce.

In addition to the wings, I had an ear of steamed white corn on the cob. (Or as we call it in our family, sweet corn.)

Rounding out the meal was Publix Diet Sweet Tea. An ingenious invention of Publix pre-brewed tea made with Splenda, almost as good as mama used to make......almost!

This was a simple filling meal, but remember it is HOT, so if you can't handle the heat, you may want to pull back on the ingredients.

I hope you enjoy, this recipe from My Southern Kitchen!

P.S.... see those "ads" over on the right side of the page? Click on em, there is some good stuff there, lots of times with discounts and when you click, I get a little something in return from the companies represented!

Thanks and have a great week everyone!

Short Notes....

From time to time I will post "Short Notes," these are follow-ups to previous post or quick questions.

• Several of you have mentioned that you don't use soap in cleaning your Black Iron Fry Pan. You are right.... I was wrong! Water only.
• Banana Sandwich.... Mayonnaise? Peanut Butter? or You have never had one?
• Thank you so much for all the positive comments I have been receiving on the Blog, I am thoroughly enjoying writing it and sharing these stories with you.

Staple of the Southern Kitchen ~ Sweet Tea

Every Southern Kitchen has staples and one of the most important is Sweet Tea. In the south, Sweet Tea is a delicacy, you don't have to even ask if it is iced, because when the temperature is 86 degrees and the humidity is hitting 117% it is a given.

The art of making sweet tea has been passed down from generation to generation. My mama made it and her mama before her and her mama before her, likewise with my father's side of the family. No good southern meal is complete without sweet tea.

Growing up our family would go through a gallon of sweet tea each day, we didn't have Coke or water in our fridge, we had sweet tea!

Mama had one pot she made the tea in, it was old beat up tin pot that was only used for making sweet tea. I assume the flavors of the tea somehow stayed in the pot after hundreds of preparations because mama made it clear, that pot was ONLY for tea, nothing else. Not a kettle, a pot. Through the years that pot got beat up, the handles came off and the tea stain couldn't be removed, but it always remained the sweet tea pot.

Some people add a swig of lemon juice or a squirt of lime juice to their glass and on special occasions when pineapple was used in a dish, the juice was saved for individual glasses of sweet tea, but most often sweet tea spoke for itself, nothing else was needed, just the nectar of a refreshing glass of sweet tea.

With the invention of the microwave, tea making evolved as well, no more steady boil, just 4 minutes in the microwave and it was done. For years I told mama that it was a scientific fact that water should not be boiled in the microwave as the waves were damaging to your health, unfortunately she didn't listen to me and changed her brewing habits forever. I still contend, stove top brewing makes the best tea and when I really want to transport myself back to my roots, I put on a pot and boil away.

As I said, sweet tea is a staple, just like butter, eggs, meat and vegetables, no meal or family gathering is complete without a big ole glass of sweet tea.

Recipe:

1 Pot

4 Family size Lipton Tea Bags (it really does make a difference, Lipton is best!)

1 Cup of Sugar

Boil one pot of water (about 2 quarts with the tea bags)

Add one cup of sugar to a gallon pitcher (yes, one cup per gallon)

After the tea has boiled for about 5 minutes remove it from the stove and pour the tea into the pitcher.

Using the same pot with the tea bags still in the pot, add more water and pour into the pitcher until you have filled the gallon jug.

Stir until sugar is dissolved

Refrigerate

That's it today from Notes From a Southern Kitchen, email me or send me a comment and until next time, pour yourself a glass of sweet tea and enjoy.