The Amish Friendship Cake

A few years ago, my mother sent me what I thought was going to be a terrible gift. It was a jar of
a smelly liquid that looked as if it had already gone bad. She called it a "Starter" for what she
titled "The Friendship Cake". As I eyed the jar, I continued to read her letter of how this was a
wonderful cake starter and I would love it.
I was not convinced of my "good fortune", so I opened the cake she had baked from this goop,
and proceeded to eat. I don't believe I had ever tasted anything like it. It was actually good -
better than good - it was marvellous. I find that once the initial reaction of disbelief is over, my
friends truly love the gift (and hopefully the giver).

THE AMISH FRIENDSHIP CAKE initial STARTER RECIPE
Day One through day 14

1 cup cubed pineapple (drained)
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons brandy

Combine in a glass gallon jar. Let set it set for two weeks. Cover loosely with aluminum foil with a wooden spoon inserted through the foil to stir daily-DO NOT REMOVE FOIL OR SPOON!

Be sure to stir daily.
Day 15

Add 1 cup marachino cherries including the juice
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons brandy.


Let set two more weeks, stirring daily.

On day 30

Strain the fruit from the juice using a plastic strainer. (DO NOT USE A METAL STRAINER.) The resulting "juice" is the "starter" for your Amish Friendship Cake.

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AMISH FRIENDSHIP CAKE secondary STARTER
First we prepare another starter from the starter above.

1-1/2 cups starter (prepared above)
1 large can sliced peaches (with juice)
2-1/2 cups sugar


Put peaches & juice in a gallon jar. Stir once a day for 10 days:

On the 10th day, add

2- 1/2 cups sugar
1 large can pineapple chunks & juice (Victoria uses a 1 lb - 4oz can).

Stir for ten days

on the 20th Day, add

2 -1/2 cups sugar
1 - 10 ounce jar Marachino cherries & juice
1 large can fruit cocktail & juice. (Victoria uses a 14-1/2 oz to 15 oz can)

Stir daily for ten days

on the 30th Day

Drain liquid from fruit. Divide the juice into 5-6 jars each containing 1-1/2 cups of juice. Give to friends and keep one for yourself. You friends can now start with the starter you have given them and make the 30-day cake directly.

Divide fruit in thirds. You can freeze 2/3 of the fruit to use later.

Note: When putting fruit or juice in jars, leave jars on the counter & DO NOT REFRIGERATE!! DO NOT PUT LID ON TIGHT, set it on top of jar - loosely! DO NOT PUT JUICE IN THE REFRIGERATOR!

Finally - THE AMISH FRIENDSHIP CAKE
4 boxes white cake mix with pudding in the mix
16 beaten eggs
1 1/2 cups oil
4 cups nuts, 1 1/2 to 2 is plenty though

Mix two boxes cake mix with fruit and two boxes with the oil and eggs. Then mix together.

Bake in well greased loaf pans at 350*F for 60 to 70 minutes. Do not open oven.

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Important Note: Do not use a metal strainer when straining the fruit.

When adding fruit and juice to the jar, leave it on the counter & DO NOT REFRIGERATE!! DO NOT PUT LID ON TIGHT , set it on top loosely! DO NOT PUT JUICE IN THE REFRIGERATOR!

Best Ever Cherry Cake

2 loaf pans greased and floured works well with this recipe...

Best Ever Cherry Cake

Ingredients
• 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese
• 1 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 4 eggs
• 3/4 cup maraschino cherries
• 1 tin cream [Nestle's cream ]
• 2 1/4 cup flour
• 1 1/2 tsps. baking powder

Directions
1. Blend butter, sugar, cream cheese, cream and vanilla.
2. Add eggs one at a time. Blend well after every egg addition .
3. Add 2 cups flour with baking powder added. Add 1/4 cup flour to drained cherries.
4. Fold floured cherries into batter. Bake 1 hour at 350F or until toothpick come's out clean.

Prize Cherry Cake

I overheard a cashier in the lounge at work over Christmas talking about a customer. She was saying how when she was checking her in she started to shake her can of Nestle Fussels Cream as you would and misses practically tore it out of her hand and lectured her that she didn't need it shaken as it was for her Cherry Cake. I thought to myself that Cherry Cake must be very moist and delicious with the can cream in it.

So I started asking around at work for the recipe. It comes from an old 1974 Cream of the West Cookbook and is supposedly the best Cherry Cake going! However, there's another recipe with cream cheese in it that must be tasty as well. I will post that recipe as well seperately.

By the way, Nestle Fussels Tin Cream is sold here in Newfoundland, but I'm not sure where else. It's a very thick cream in a tin that is delicious on fruit or toast and jam, my favorite. You have to shake it before using it though which brings back a fond childhood memories fighting over who got to shake the can! Me Me Me!

PRIZE CHERRY CAKE

Preheat oven to 300. Grease a 10-inch tube pan, dust lightly with flour.

Sift together in a bowl:
4 cups Cream of the west flour - I used Favorite flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Set aside.

Cream 1 and 1/2 cups margarine (or butter)

Gradually beat in
2 cups sugar (white)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond flavoring
Beat for 2 minutes.

Blend in one at a time, until light and fluffy
5 eggs

Add your sifted flour ingredients to your creamed mixture alternately with 1 can Fussel's cream
juice and rind of 1 lemon

Make 3 dry and 2 liquid additions, combine ligthly after each one.

Coat 2 packs (8 ounces each) of candied cherries with 2 tablespoons of flour. Fold into the mixture.

Turn into your tube pan.

Bake at 300 for 1-1/2 hrs - 2 hrs. or until your toothpick comes out clean.

Cool 15 minutes, then remove from pan to finish cooling.

Snowball Chocolate Cake

Yes, it's tastes just as good as the picture. I found this recipe in the Kraft Canada Magazine. It took a little longer to bake than the recipe said, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Just keep checking it every 5 minutes until the toothpick comes out clean.

What You Need!

1 pkg. (2-layer size) devil's food cake mix
1 pkg. (250 g) PHILADELPHIA Brick Cream Cheese, softened
1 egg
2 Tbsp. granulated sugar
1 pkg. (4-serving size) JELL-O Vanilla Instant Pudding
1/4 cup icing sugar
1 cup cold milk
2 cups thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping
1 cup flaked coconut

Make It!

HEAT oven to 350ºF.

PREPARE cake batter, in 2-1/2-L ovenproof bowl, as directed on package; scrape side of bowl. Beat cream cheese, egg and granulated sugar until well blended; spoon into centre of batter in bowl.

BAKE 1 hour 5 min. or until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean. Cool in bowl 10 min. Loosen cake from bowl with knife; invert onto wire rack. Remove bowl. Cool cake completely.

MEANWHILE, beat dry pudding mix, icing sugar and milk in medium bowl with whisk 2 min. Stir in Cool Whip. Refrigerate until ready to use.

PLACE cake on plate; frost with pudding mixture. Cover with coconut. Keep refrigerated.

Substitute 3 squares (84 g) Baker's White Chocolate, grated, for the coconut. To grate, first warm the chocolate in microwave on DEFROST 1 min. for each square or until warm. Use a coarse grater for best results.

Festive JELL-O Poke Cake

Today was our friend Bob's birthday. Happy Birthday Bob! His wife Cathy made him a JELL-O Poke Cake for his birthday cake which I believe has become a tradition. It's so good, you'll want seconds. You can have a lot of fun with this cake by picking out your own JELL-O flavors. Although I don't have Cathy's specific recipe, I have made this one a couple of times.



Festive JELL-O Poke Cake


2 baked white cake layers (9 inch), cooled
2 cups boiling water, divided
1 pkg. (85 g) JELL-O Strawberry Jelly Powder
1 pkg. (85 g) JELL-O Lime Jelly Powder
2 cups thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, divided

Make It!

PLACE cakes, top-sides up, in 2 clean 9-inch round pans. Pierce cakes with large fork at 1/2-inch intervals.

ADD 1 cup boiling water to each flavour jelly powder in separate bowl; stir 2 min. until completely dissolved. Carefully pour red jelly over 1 cake layer, and green jelly over remaining cake layer. Refrigerate 3 hours.

UNMOULD cakes. Fill and frost with Cool Whip. Keep refrigerated.

For coloured frosting, gently stir 2 to 3 drops food colouring into the Cool Whip before using as directed.

Molten Dark Chocolate Cakes a.k.a. Lava Cakes

I have made these many times and the recipe never fails. The recipe originates from Kraft Canada. You can also use semi-sweet chocolate. Enjoy!

Molten Dark Chocolate Cakes

4 squares BAKER'S Premium 70% Cacao Dark Chocolate
1/2 cup butter
1 cup icing sugar
2 whole eggs
2 egg yolks
6 Tbsp. flour
1 tsp. icing sugar
12 raspberries

PREHEAT oven to 425°F. Butter four 3/4-cup custard cups or soufflé dishes. Place on baking sheet.



MICROWAVE chocolate and butter in large microwaveable bowl on HIGH 1 min. or until butter is melted. Stir with wire whisk until chocolate is completely melted. Add 1 cup sugar; mix well. Blend in whole eggs and egg yolks. Stir in flour. Pour into prepared custard cups.



BAKE 13 to 14 min. or until sides are firm but centres are still soft. Let stand 1 min. Carefully run small knife around edges of cakes to loosen. Invert cakes onto dessert plates. Sprinkle evenly with 1 tsp. sugar. Top with raspberries. Cut in half. Serve warm.

Boston Cream Cake

Today was Dad's 70th birthday and Mom asked me to make his cake. She didn't want anything too chocolatey. So after looking over several recipes that I have wanted to try, I gave this one a whirl. It tasted like a giant Boston Cream doughnut from Tim's. My sister in law Donna who doesn't eat sweets even had a slice!

Butterscotch Tasty Kakes

Butterscotch Tasty Kakes

For cake

4 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup milk (low fat is fine)
2 tbsp butter, softened
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 17×11x1-in. jelly-roll pan (15×10 is fine) and line the bottom with parchment paper. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat together eggs and sugars until thick and pale, 3-5 minutes. Beat in vanilla.
While that is beating (or before, if you’re not using a stand mixer), heat milk and butter in a small saucepan or in the microwave until the butter has just melted and the milk is steaming, but not boiling. Remove from heat and set aside.
Gradually sift flour and baking powder into the beaten egg mixture and mix at low speed until just combined. With the mixer running, still at a low speed, slowly stream in the milk/butter mixture until batter is uniform.

Pour batter into prepared pan, spreading it out evenly, and bake for 20-25 minutes at 350F. Cake is done when a tester comes out clean and the top is golden and springs back when touched lightly.

Let cake cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn the cake out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

When cake is cooled, spread the butterscotch frosting onto it in a thin, even layer.
Store leftovers in an airtight container.

Butterscotch Frosting

1/3 cup butterscotch chips
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 tbsp milk
1/4 tsp salt

Melt butterscotch chips and butter together in a medium sized, microwave safe bowl. Whisk to combine, and set aside for a few minutes to cool to room temperature.
Beat butterscotch mixture with confectioners sugar, 2 tbsp milk and 1/4 tsp salt. If frosting is too thin, add additional confectioners’ sugar to make it spreadable.

Peanut Butter Tasty Kakes

Peanut Butter Tasty Kakes
(from Gourmet magazine)
For cake
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup milk (low fat is fine)
2 tbsp butter
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder

For topping
1 1/3-1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter (do not use a “natural” kind)
1 pound milk chocolate, chopped

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter and flour a 17×11 1/2×1-in. jelly-roll pan, knocking out excess flour.
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat together eggs and sugar until thick and pale, 3-5 minutes. Beat in vanilla.
While that is beating (or before, if you’re not using a stand mixer), heat milk and butter in a small saucepan or in the microwave until the butter has just melted and the milk is steaming, but not boiling. Set aside.
Sift flour and baking powder into the beaten egg mixture and beat until just combined. With the mixer running, slowly stream in the milk/butter mixture until just combined.
Pour batter into prepared pan, spreading it out evenly, and bake for 20-25 minutes at 350F. Cake is done when a tester comes out clean and the top is golden and springs back when touched lightly.

Let cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then place small dollops of peanut butter on the surface of the cake. Use an off-set spatula to spread the peanut butter into an even layer, covering the entire cake.
Let cool completely, then refrigerate for 1-2 hours to make sure the peanut butter is set.

When chilled, melt the chocolate in a double boiler (bowl over a pan of simmering water), stirring constantly. Once it is smooth, pour it over the chilled cake and spread it evenly with an offset spatula.
Using a knife, cut the cake into 30 bars. It is not necessary to cut all the way through the cake, just into the chocolate/pb layers. Make sure the cuts are clear, so wipe your knife in between each. This will make it easy to divide up the bars when the chocolate has set.
Return cake to fridge and chill until chocolate is firm (or overnight).

Makes 30 bars.

Pizza Cake

This is the recipe for the Pizza Cake I brought to work on Halloween. However, I used a copycat recipe for a Tasty Kake for the cake and a butter cream icing. Tasty Kakes are famous in Philadelphia. Their version of a Hostess Twinkie. When I seen the recipe I knew I wanted to try it. I will post the recipies for the Tasty Kakes and the icing seperately.

The Strawberry Fruit Roll Ups are very narrow, so I joined 3 pieces together and cut them out with a cookie cutter to get large slices of pepperoni. Gummi Worms work great for red and green pepper. Just one note though. Liquid red food coloring will not turn your icing red like pizza sauce no matter how much you add. I gave up after 2 ounces. You need a food coloring paste. I thing you can get at The Bulk Barn.

Individual Chocolate Cake in 5 Minutes

Well, I just gave this recipe a try. I always like a little something chocolaty after pizza usually lava cakes, but these hit the spot. It's a hoot just watching them cook in the microwave as it looks like it going to blow up, but it doesn't. You're kids will love them!

Ingredients:

4 Tablespoons cake flour
4 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons cocoa
1 Egg
3 Tablespoons milk
3 Tablespoons oil
3 Tablespoons Chocolate Chips (optional)
a splash of vanilla extract
1 Mug

Instructions:
Mix flour, sugar and cocoa:





Spoon in 1 egg

Pour in milk and oil, and mix well




Put in microwave for 3 minutes on maximum power (1000watt)


Wait until it stops rising and sets in the mug


Tip contents out of mug onto saucer and enjoy!

Fruit Cocktail Cake

In Anna and Kristina's Grocery Bag, the test-driving twosome from The Shopping Bags narrow their focus to the kitchen and put cookbooks to the test.In each episode, Anna and Kristina try out and review recipes, ingredients, appliances and food prep techniques to see if the average cook can re-create the beautifully photographed meals. At the end of the show, a guest chef or food expert will give a final evaluation of the meal and decide if the cookbook delivers the goods.

A couple of nights ago they test drove the Fruit Cocktail Cake to rave reviews. The recipe came from TheBestOfBridge cookbook. You can check it out yourself at http://www.thebestofbridge.com/ Oh by the way, the Fettuccine with Sambuca and Cranberries sucked!

If you don't have self-rising flour, you can make your own. For each cup of all-purpose flour, add 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

Ingredients
2 cups flour (I think they mean self-rising flour, which I didn't have. AP will work)
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1 regular size can (14 ozs or so?) Fruit Cocktail

Icing:
1 stick butter
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup evaporated milk
coconut (depends on how much coconut you want. Probably a medium sized bag worth)

Preheat oven for 350. Spray a 9x13 inch baking dish with cooking spray. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients for the cake. Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out fairly clean. Start checking around 25-30 minutes. Take the cake out, but don't let it cool for too long before you put the icing on. You want the cake to still be warm when you put the icing on.

To make the icing: Cook the butter, sugar, and milk in a saucepan until they come to a boil, then turn down heat and add coconut.

Poke holes with a fork into the cooked cake and then spread the icing onto the cake while still warm.

Chocolate Fudge Cake

I found this recipe while surfing the net for a dense chocolate cake recipe flavored with coffee. This rich, dense cake resembles fudge. I had to try it. I brought it to work for a treat and everyone raved about it.

Chocolate Fudge Cake

12 oz (3 sticks) unsalted butter c
2 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped (1/3 cup)
10 Tbsp Dutch-processed unsweetened cocoa
1/4 cup boiling water
2 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat over to 350F. Butter and flour cake pan. Line pan with wax or parchment paper.

Place butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl over (not in) simmering water until melted, stirring often. (Or microwave at medium power until almost melted, stirring every 30 seconds. Remove from microwave and stir until completely melted.)

In large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed, combine cocoa and boiling water. Add hot butter mixture, then sugar; beat until combined. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition. Add flour and salt; beat until blended.

Pour into prepared pan; smooth top with a spatula to make it even. Bake 30 to 35 minutes, or until 1 or 2 big cracks appear on top of cake and barely wobbles when you shake the pan. Do not overbake. (Don't bother inserting a toothpick; it will never come out clean!)

Cool cake in pan on wire rack for 20 minutes. If top of cake is uneven, level it by pressing down with your fingers. Loosen sides of cake by running spatula around edges. Invert cake onto rack; cool completely, preferably overnight, before decorating.

P.S. Seriously do not overbake this cake. I left it in 35 minutes waiting for the big cracks to appear and they didn't. The cake was more overdone at the edges. Cooling completely, overnight, is a must. It's how the cake develops the fudge like texture.

I also substitued hot strong brewed coffee for the boiling water.