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Thursday, March 7, 2013

A week of recipes #3 and 4..Vanilla Cake and Caramel Icing and a poem..


Good Evening all.. 

Another March evening has rolled around here in Eastern Canada.. 
It is definitely warmer but we still have snow.. 

Yesterday as I posted about the Keepers meeting I did not do the recipe challenge I set for myself..
And that was making a new recipe each night from Donna Hay's cookbook called OFF THE SHELF.. 

I did do the cooking just not the posting.. smile.. 
Therefore, tonight you will receive 2 recipes.. 

The first one is called 
Simple Vanilla Cake.. 

Here is the recipe for the cake which is very good.. 
8 ounces of butter
1 cup of caster sugar (I used granulated)
1 tsp. vanilla extract (I used pure)
3 eggs
2 cups of all purpose flour sifted
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. 
Line and grease an 8 inch pan with baking paper.. 
Place the butter and sugar in a bowl and beat until creamy.. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat well.. Sift the flour with the baking soda and fold into the egg mixture.. 
Pour into tin and bake for 1 hour or until skewer comes out clean.. 
Cool on a wire rack.. 

Now to confess my guilt.. 
I used my confection oven and did not turn it to 325 as stated but to 350 degrees.. 
So my cake was a bit hard on the edges but still delicious.. 
I must have been having a spas day as I also beat in the flour mixture for about 2 or 3 minutes like I usually do to this kind of cake.. 
It still was good.. grin.. 
Next time I will do it correctly, I hope.. 
Yes, there will be a next time for this recipe.. 

Okay.. 
This is the best caramel icing I have ever made.. 
Seriously.. 
And I am a sweets expert.. (sorry to say) 
Not that I am an expert baker but an expert taster.. 
Oh yeah.. 
Here is the recipe.. 


Caramel Icing.. 
In a small saucepan place 1/2 cup of brown sugar with 1 cup of cream (I used whipping cream as that was all that I had)
1 Tablespoon of butter and 1 Tablespoon of water.. 
Stir over medium to low heat until sugar is dissolved. 
Then simmer for 7 minutes (it took longer.. about 10 minutes) 
or until thick.. 
Cool until the icing is thick and then spoon over the cake.. 
OK.. 
Guilt confession..
 I did not realize until I typed this that I was supposed to wait until it cooled.. sigh.. 
I was having an off day.. 
Oh well.. 
As you can see it is a lovely thing.. 


And this morning the icing was still soft and delicious and not a hard type that breaks when you cut it.. 
Soft... 

So that is the recipe thing for tonight.. 

I do want to share one thing with you though.. 

Notice the empty bird feeder.. 
It is the time of year when you cannot keep them filled because of the invaders.. 

My friend, Elaine who blogs at OUR COUNTRY COVE CREW
once posted this poem and I have loved it so much ever since.. 

I'm a Starling Me Darling.. 

We're starlings, the misses, meself and the boys,
We don't go round hopin', we walks.
We don't go in for this singing all day,
And twittering about, we just squawks.


We don't go in for these fashionable clothes,
Like old Missel Thrush, and his spots,
Me breast isn't red, there's no crest on me head,
We've got sort of, hardwearing...dots.


We starlings, the misses, meself and the boys,
We'll eat anything that's about,
Well anything but that old half coconut,
I can't hold it still. I falls out.


What we'd rather do, is wait here for you,
To put out some bread for the tits,
And then when we're certain, you're there by the curtain,
We flocks down and tears it to bits.


But we starlings, the misses, meself and the boys,
We reckon that we're being got at,
You think for two minutes, them finches and linnets,
You never sees THEM being shot at.


So the next time you comes out to sprinkle the crumbs out,
And there's starlings there, making a noise,
Don't you be so quick to heave half a brick,
It's the misses, meself and the boys!

 by Pam Ayres..

When I first read it on Elaine's blog I called up my Mom and 

read it to her.. We both laughed so hard.. Thanks Elaine.. 

And thank you, dear hearts for dropping by.. 

God bless.. 

17 comments:

  1. I am SO making this tomorrow. After reading the recipe and thinking about it for a little bit, I remembered my grandmother used to make a cake very similar to this. I have the recipe written down somewhere and I was going to compare the ingredients but I couldn't find it. Anyway, it looks delicous and I love caramel sauce on just about anything. Thanks for sharing. God bless.

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  2. I got so excited about the cake I forgot to mention how much I loved the poem. So funny! We have that same problem here. God bless.

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  3. Oh does that cake ever look YUMMY ! I will have to give that a try for sure . Thanks for sharing the recipe and the lovely photos . I am so glad you enjoyed that poem and read it to your mum , it has been a favorite of mine since I was kid , my mum and I used to say look it's the misses, meself and the boys, to each other when we saw Starlings . Yes they can be a nuisance but they are all part of nature aren't they ? they are also hogging my feeders here to lol ! Thanks for including me in your post today I am honored my dear friend ! Have a wonderful evening !

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  4. Hi Faye, I came to the computer to write down some things you had written on last night's post for homework. Then I realized you are here again to night! Wonderful.I will be making that cake this weekend. I love anything caramel and so does Jim. This will be a wonderful treat. Love, Love the poem.....the starlings?....not sure! They are really bugging me lately!

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  5. the cake looks great! esp. the icing!

    saw the starlings here a couple of days ago,
    they are marauders but I grin & bear them!

    but esp. don't like them in the fall when they swam the dogwood trees, what a mess!

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  6. you're making me hungry! I must go find a snack-LOL

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  7. Dear Faye,
    Oh the cake looks so delicious!!
    I put out a feeder awhile ago and I dont think that anything has came to it. I wouldnt care what as long as something did. LOL!
    Love Ya,
    Char

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  8. I love the starling poem. I will think of it tomorrow as I scatter the crusts to the starlings. I think they are prettiest when they sit hunched in the feeder sheltering from the snow. They are not so bold then. It is 12:30 and I just dropped off my Sussex bound boy in Ottawa. Goodnight! Anita

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  9. Oh my, Faye~ that poem is PERFECT!! I especially love the part about the "hardwearing dots" *hahaha* I once raised a baby starling from a chick... it hatched out in a stove pipe and was abandoned by it mother, and well, you know how I am about those things... *grin*
    Your cake looks sinfully delicious... how dare you post that. *haha* I think I gained 5 pounds looking at it~ but I will be trying it soon... *giggle*

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  10. Squirrels are our invaders! They will do whatever they have to to get into our feeders. Even the squirrel proof ones will be figured out eventually. Vanilla cake with caramel icing is a tradition in South Carolina where we live. It is traditionally 6 thin layers with the caramel icing between every layer. So sweet! Families have secret recipes for their particular icing. Our DIL received one of these secret recipes as a bridal shower gift along with the needed candy thermometer. She obviously knew what a treasure she had received by her reaction. Your cake looks lovely and a lot less sweet which is a good thing!

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  11. HI Faye;

    Your cake looks delicious!

    I loved the poem! Our invaders are the deer - a neighbor took some pictures of a mama deer and some young ones eating from our bird feeders last winter.

    Laurie

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  12. So, this is calorie free...right?? Looks so tasty!

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  13. That was a great poem Faye. I am expecting the raccoons to be around before long and will have to take in the nyjer feeder at night but it's still pretty cold and snowy yet. The brown sugar frosting sounds so yummy and on top of a scratch white cake or even chocolate would be delicious. Thanks for sharing these recipes and I hope you have a nice sunny weekend. Hugs, Pam

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  14. Oh my, you sound like me! I am always getting ahead of myself when I'm following, or supposed to be following a recipe! But, your cake looks DELICIOUS! I may try that one, thanks.
    Love and hugs, Cinfy

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  15. That is a funny poem! Your recipe looks so yummy even if you did make a few "mistakes" :) I bet it tastes so delicious too! Hope you have a wonderful weekend, Faye.

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  16. HMMMM! Looks so good with the caramel icing!
    I have come across a few of Pam Ayres' poems and they are really funny!
    Thanks for sharing that one as it was new to me!

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  17. yummy looking cake for sure. Phil likes pies better but I made a oatmeal chocolate chip cake a few weeks ago cuz there wasn't birthday cake for my day...could have but was too full at restaurant to eat dessert. But it was so good when I did make it. Pam Ayres is funny. I got a book of hers when we were in England. Thanks for sharing the poem.

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