Persimmon Holiday Pudding
Going through Mother’s recipe stash I found this simple Persimmon Pudding recipe written up by her friend Dorothy Hoffman. These two gals (now gone) knew each other since the 40’s. Dorothy was a good cook and Mother only kept recipes she thought delicious … usually making notes on the recipe card about the outcome. No notes this time but decided it must have been a keeper. Yep!!
Quick word about Persimmon pudding. It’s not a pudding at all just as a figgy pudding isn’t. The texture is of a very moist nutty cake. The prep is quick and the baking is longer than the usual. This gives you time to prepare a hard sauce. Serve this with hard sauce or chantilly cream. I like both (of course). Dorothy’s hard sauce recipe is very quick and tastes heavily of brown sugar. I love the taste but you may wish to try another version of hard sauce here.
You taste one Spice Cake and you’ve tasted them all. Not true! A cake that will surely become a favorite! Looking for new birthday cake recipes! This was sent to me by my eldest as a possibility. Directly from Bake From Scratch Magazine but not exactly. The ingredients being advertised in this recipe were Heilala Pure Vanilla Extract (one of the best bourbon vanilla’s, so they say) which kinda gets lost in the spicy cake, and Heilala Vanilla Bean Paste. I can’t wait to try this vanilla extract in my 
Yep, I’m old school. Please, no waste! It’s hard for me to discard ingredients as they approach the expiration date. Buttermilk is an ingredient I use frequently but sometimes not fast enough to avoid the dreaded use by date. If you know about buttermilk you know you can go beyond that use by date a bit without consequences. But then the pressure is on. Not to worry, buttermilk does freeze. If you’re like me you’ve got quite a bit going on in your freezer. I just prefer to bake a cake. Buttermilk just adds the most incredible moistness to a cake. With a little over two cups of buttermilk to use I was on the prowl. And here’s what I found. It is amazing!
The moistest chocolate layer cake you’ll ever bake! Not too sweet and just the right amount of chocolate taste. So says my taste tester! What’s the secret? Sour cream and brown sugar add the amazing moisture, and the chocolate … use your very best unsweetened cocoa along with the best vanilla to achieve the just right taste.
Whether making dessert for 25 or 50, let me make it fast and easy for you. These two cakes made 48 generous slices. They could have been sliced a bit smaller making 30 servings per 1/2 sheet cake pan, 60 total. I love gatherings but used to get exhausted trying to do it all. I found not only is organization key but recipes that look and taste delicious with the least amount of effort are best when serving a large group. I do fall into the believers … deliciousness comes from not only the palate but the visual too. For these cakes I chose attractive gold colored half cake pans. I knew I wasn’t going to remove the baked cakes to another dish. Side by side, they looked lovely on the self-serve dessert table. If you wish to perfect this further, a la Martha Stewart, use a ruler when slicing the entire cake to give the eye the beauty of exactness, and use attractive, sterling perhaps, serving utensils.
Apples I didn’t want to go to waste. What a great choice if I do say so! The ingredients list is minimal … producing this beautiful and tasty cake. Oh yeah, have it for breakfast! Heavy with apples surrounded by a slightly sweet vanilla cake. Try it today!
Lemon is my flavor of choice for the last weeks. It really isn’t random. I have a houseguest who’s into lemon cakes, breads and cookies. And I love to see someone enjoy a favorite. This recipe is a revision of James Beard’s Huckleberry Cake. First, huckleberries are hard to find and I’ve substituted blueberries, a similar berry. But most importantly I’ve added a big lemon taste!