Category Archives: Recipes

February 28, 2025 · 5:01 pm

Soda Cake

The bird flu outbreak in the past year has created an egg crisis. Not only are eggs expensive, but demand exceeds supply.

Across the social media universe I see recipe posts for egg-less cake recipes. Beware. Some work. Some are too good to be true. One such post showed a variety of flavors of soda, promising that 12 ounces of soda would replace the eggs, liquid, and fat when combined with a cake mix. With the exception of an angel food cake mix (which contains egg whites), it does not. Save your money and effort.

I write this from experience. I experimented with orange soda and yellow cake mix, which supposedly makes an egg-and-fat free creamsicle cake. I planned to take it to a potluck luncheon. I added food coloring to my fluffy white frosting and voila! A lovely orange cake was ready to dazzle my friends.

Fortunately, I wisely decided to pre-slice the cake. It wouldn’t slice. It crumbled. It had no structure or texture whatsoever. We ate it with spoons. It was tasty and pretty but unacceptable as a dessert.

Using soda to replace the water in a recipe is a good way to doctor your cake mix. But you still need fat for structure. I still have orange soda and still plan to try creamsicle cake again, but I will add at least one egg and will include the amount of oil according to the cake mix instructions.

Clementine Cake

This isn’t an easy or quick recipe, but I’m in search of a hasty, tasty version. This one is a bit labor-intensive, yet delicious.

First, what is a clementine? It’s the smallest of the mandarin variety of oranges. Some are marketed under the name ”Cuties.®️”

A few things make Clementine Cake unique. First—and this first grabbed me as a hasty tasty feature—clementines are cooked in their peels in the microwave oven for three minutes then drained. They’re puréed whole, not peeled or zested.

Butter and sugar are creamed together before adding dry ingredients. Eggs are added one at a time.

All purpose flour is combined with ground roasted almonds (you could substitute almond flour but you’d lose some of the texture) and puréed whole clementines.

The cake is finished with a dusting of powdered sugar, a dollop of whipped cream, or a glaze. I opted for a chocolate ganache (also prepared in the microwave oven).

This is not a figure-friendly recipe. However, it makes 12 servings so you don’t consume so many calories per serving. When you bite into a slice of the finished cake, it’s a delicious treat, mindful of those orange crème chocolates in the assorted candy boxes.

Recipe:

Clementine Cake With Chocolate Ganache Glaze.

Cake Ingredients:

3-4 Clementines, cooked 3 minutes in the microwave oven then puréed.
Sliced almonds, roasted and ground into 1 cup meal, or 1 cup almond flour.
1 cup all purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp. Baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
5 eggs
10 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened.
1 1/2 cups Granulated sugar.

Ganache ingredients:

1/2 cup cream
12 ounces dark chocolate chips
1 Tbsp. corn syrup

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325°F. Prepare a 9” cake pan with oil and parchment paper.
Combine almond flour and all purpose flour with the salt and baking powder.
In a separate bowl, cream sugar with the softened butter until fluffy.
With mixer running, add each egg separately and blend well.
Gradually add the flour mixture until all is mixed in.
Fold in the clementine purée until combined.
Pour batter into a 9” round cake pan.
Bake 50-60 minutes. Check for doneness.
Cool cake at least an hour before glazing. Carefully loosen cake from pan and remove parchment paper. Move to a plate.

Ganache Directions:

In a microwave-safe bowl, combine cream and chocolate chips. Cover and heat 75 seconds.
Gently stir to combine chocolate and cream. Add corn syrup and whip until glossy and thick.
Spread over the top of the cooled cake.

Enjoy!

Derby Party Essentials

It’s almost Derby Day in my old hometown, which involves at least two weeks of events leading up to two minutes of horse racing. The Kentucky Derby is the oldest continuously running sports event in American history. The parties are a big deal, and I have hosted a few. Through the years, certain recipes and dishes have emerged as essentials to serve at any Derby-theme gathering.

Benedictine Spread or Dip

My favorite recipe for Benedictine Spread is the one published by Southern Living: https://www.southernliving.com/recipes/benedictine-spread

Benedictine spread is easy using a food processor.

Derby Pie®️

If you like a custard pie with chocolate chips and walnuts, you’ll love Derby Pie®️! There are many copycat versions, but buy the real deal if possible. https://derbypie.com/

Mint Julep

There are variations, but basically a Mint Julep requires only fresh mint leaves, Kentucky bourbon (must be Kentucky bourbon!), a simple syrup made with sugar and water cooked ahead of time and chilled, and crushed ice. Virgin Mint Juleps are great, too. My favorite recipe is Paula Deen’s: https://www.pauladeen.com/recipe/mint-julep/ Her recipe starts with a mint-infused simple syrup. Yum.

Kentucky Hot Brown

In listing the essentials, I must include the Kentucky Hot Brown. It’s an open-faced sandwich eaten with a knife and fork. The KHB was created in the mid 1920s at the Brown Hotel to feed the late night dance crowds. Basically, it’s turkey on Texas toast topped with plum tomatoes and a cheese sauce browned under a broiler. An easy recipe is found at A Taste of Home: https://www.tasteofhome.com/article/kentucky-hot-brown/

These are my favorite “essentials” although others might argue that I omitted Bourbon balls, Pimento cheese, and Horseradish Deviled Eggs. However you celebrate the Kentucky Derby, remember to wear your lavish bonnet if you’re a lady and your red rose boutonnière if you’re a gentleman.

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June 15, 2022 · 12:49 pm

Hasty Tasty Apple Cobbler

If you follow me, you’ve guessed by now that I prefer easy yet healthier cooking. I can’t claim apple cobbler is figure-friendly, but I did lighten it a bit. Here’s how to make my HastyTasty Apple Cobbler.

Ingredients:

One Krusteaz Cinnamon Swirl Crumb Cake & Muffin Mix
One can apple pie filling (no HFCS*)
Half tablespoon butter
One serving egg substitute or one egg
Three-fourths cup liquid (water, milk, or buttermilk)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F
Grease a 9X9” baking pan with butter.
Cover bottom of the pan with apple pie filling.
Remove the cinnamon sugar pouch from the muffin mix and sprinkle about one-third over the apples.
In a large bowl, mix together egg and liquid. Add one-third of the cinnamon sugar and stir.
Stir in the batter mix with the egg and liquid. Batter will be stiff.
Drop spoons full over all the apple pie filling.
Sprinkle remaining cinnamon sugar over batter and gently press in until apple filling is completely covered.
Bake 40-45 minutes. Rotate pan after 20 minutes for even baking.
Allow finished cobbler to cool ten minutes.
Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped topping, if desired.

Category Archives: Recipes

Clementine Cake

Recipe: