Glazes for tarts or fruit (untested)

This recipe is written in ballpoint pen in Grammy's handwriting. It is dated 1971 and attributed to "Norfolk".

This is one of the treasure trove recipe cards. It contains three glaze recipes. The recipes included are:

• Apricot or red-jelly glaze [a great way to use preserves that you may have in your pantry] 
• Fruit juice glaze
• Syrup glaze

Although the title says the glazes are for tarts, the text indicates that they can also be used for glazing fruit. I'm certain they are versatile in their uses and could probably be applied to other foods as well.

Ingredients for apricot or red-jelly glaze:

• 1 cup strained apricot jam, strawberry jam or raspberry jelly
• 2 -4 tablespoons of fruit juice OR water

Instructions for apricot or red-jelly glaze:

1. Melt jam or jelly with fruit juice or water
2. Cook, stirring, 2-3 minutes
3. Paint on top of fruit [or pastry] while hot

Ingredients for fruit juice glaze:

• 1 tablespoon corn starch
• 3/4 cup fruit juice
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice

Instructions for fruit juice glaze:

1. In a small saucepan, blend corn starch and fruit juice
2. Cook, stirring, until smooth and thickened
3. Add lemon juice

Ingredients for syrup glaze:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• unsweetened cream

Instructions for syrup glaze:

1. In a small saucepan, boil sugar and water together until it reaches 232°F
2. Pour hot over berries or fruit [or tart]
3. Serve at once with unsweetened cream

Sweet dough rosebuds (untested)

This recipe is written in ballpoint pen in my Grammy's handwriting. The recipe uses half of the basic sweet dough recipe found here. Once the dough has been prepared, the following instructions are followed to produce baked rosebuds.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup raspberry, strawberry or apricot jam
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tablespoons milk

Instructions:

1. Make half the sweet dough recipe (found here)
2. Roll dough to 12-inches by 12-inches
3. Spread dough with your choice of jam
4. Roll dough as for a jelly roll
5. Cut into 12 slices
6. Place each slice cut side up in a greased muffin pan
7. Cut crosses 1/2-inch deep in tops of slices
8. Cover and let rise for 1 hour (if using quick dough variation let rise for 30 minutes)
9. Beat together egg yolk and milk in a separate bowl
10. Brush tops of each slice of dough with the yolk and milk mixture
11. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes
12. Ice with icing (see below)

Icing Ingredients:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Icing instructions:

1. Combine all ingredients and stir until smooth
2. Drizzle onto rosebuds still warm from the oven

Palm leaf rolls (untested)

This recipe is written in ballpoint pen in my Grammy's handwriting. The recipe uses half of the basic sweet dough recipe found here. Once the dough has been prepared, the following instructions are followed to produce 16 palm leaf rolls.

Ingredients:

• Melted butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup raisins

Instructions:

1. Make half the sweet dough recipe (found here)
2. Roll dough to 12-inches by 12-inches
3. Brush dough with melted butter
4. Mix sugar, cinnamon and raisins in a separate bowl
5. Sprinkle cinnamon mixture onto rolled dough
6. Roll dough as a jelly roll
7. Cut in 8 slices
8. Make 2 slit-cuts through each piece halfway to the other side
9. Turn each leaf on its side and spread 3 leaves apart into fan shape
10. Cover and let rise until doubled in size for about 1 hour (if using the quick dough variation let rise for 30 minutes)
11. Bake at 350°F for 35 minutes
12. Ice rolls with icing

Icing Ingredients:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Icing instructions:

1. Combine all ingredients and stir until smooth
2. Drizzle onto rolls while rolls are still warm from the oven

Raisin Nut Bread (untested)

This typewritten recipe is undated and has no attribution.

Ingredients:

• 1 package active yeast
• 1/4 cup warm water
• 1 1/2 cup milk, scalded
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup shortening
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 4 1/4 to 4 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 1 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Instructions:

1. Soften yeast in warm water
2. Combine milk, sugar, shortening, and salt
3. Cool to lukewarm
4. Add about 2 cups flour and beat well
5. Add the softened yeast
6. Stir in raisins and nuts
7. Add enough of the remaining flour to make a moderately stiff dough
8. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and satiny (about 5 to 8 minutes)
9. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease surface of dough
10. Cover
11. Let rise in a warm place until double in bulk (about 2 hours)
12. Divide dough in half
13. Shape each half into a loaf and place in two lightly greased 9-inch by 5-inch by 3-inch loaf pans
14. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double in bulk (about 1 hour and 15 minutes)
15. Bake in moderate oven at 375°F for 25 to 30 minutes
16. Remove loaves from pans
17. While slightly warm, brush tops with confectioner's icing

Confectioner's Icing

1. Slowly add 2 tablespoons milk to 1 cup sifted confectioner's sugar
2. Stir until smooth

Confectioners Sugar Icing

This icing is very simple to make. It is included in several of the recipes in Grammy's box, but the instructions aren't always written down. I found a couple of sets of of instructions written on recipes in the box, so I decided to give the icing its own entry.

For a larger quantity of icing

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sifted confectioners sugar (aka powdered sugar)
• milk

Instructions:

1. Gradually add milk to the confectioners sugar while stirring it into a creamy mixture
2. Add enough milk to make it a good pouring consistency

For a lesser quantity of icing

Ingredients

• 1 cup sifted confectioners sugar (aka powdered sugar)
• 2 tablespoons milk

Instructions:

1. Slowly add milk to the confectioners sugar
2. Stir until smooth

Pumpkin Raisin Loaves (untested)

This recipe is written in Grammy's handwriting. It is dated January 1970 and attributed to Better Homes & Gardens. It is noted as being one of their "Fast Bread Ideas".

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1-14 ounce package apple cinnamon muffin mix
• 1/2 cup raisins

Instructions:

1. Combine pumpkin, water, egg, and spice
2. Add muffin mix and raisins
3. Stir until just moistened
4. Turn into 3 greased 5.5-inch by 3-inch by 2-inch loaf pans (one 9-inch by 5-inch by 3-inch loaf pan)
5. Bake small loaves in 350°F oven for 35-40 minutes (bake large loaf for 50 minutes)
6. Turn from pan; cool on rack
7. Drizzle loaves with confections sugar icing

Confections sugar icing
Add enough milk to 2 cups sifted confectioners sugar to make it a good pouring consistency

Lemon Supreme Special

This recipe is written in Grammy's handwriting and is attributed to Connie Sherwood.

Ingredients for cake:

• 1 Duncan Hines Lemon Supreme cake mix
• 1 cup apricot nectar
• 3/4 cups salad oil
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup sugar

Ingredients for icing:

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

Instructions:

1. Mix cake mix, sugar, oil and nectar
2. Add one egg at a time, beating them in
3. Bake in tube pan at 350°F for 1 hour
4. Cool right side up for 15 minutes
5. Mix powdered sugar and lemon juice separately
6. Pour icing mixture over cake while still warm to make a glaze

Lemon Loaf Cake

This recipe is written in a handwriting I don't recognize. Since it says it is from the kitchen of Gae Barker, I suspect it is her handwriting.

Ingredients for cake:

• 1 package white or yellow cake mix
• 1-3 ounce package of lemon Jello
• 1/2 cup water
• 3/4 cup oil
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup undrained crushed pineapple (do not drain)

Ingredients for icing:

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup lemon juice

Instructions [pretty vague and do not include mixing steps]:

1. Bake at 350°F in 13-inch by 9-inch by 2-inch greased and floured pan until done [again, very vague without a specific baking time]
2. While cake is warm, poke fork in it all over, then pour icing over cake slowly

Fruit Cocktail Cake (untested)

This recipe isn't written in Grammy's handwriting. The name "Alberto" is in the upper right corner of the card. Grammy's handwriting appears on the upper left corner of the card with the date and attribution "FRDH 4-74".

Ingredients for cake:

• 1 can fruit cocktail (303 size)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 cube oleo [I would use butter]

Ingredients for icing:

• 1/2 cube oleo [I would use butter]
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup canned milk [I would assume this means sweetened condensed milk instead of evaporated]
• 1 cup coconut

Instructions:
Mixing instructions are missing on this recipe. Baking temp and time are 350°F for about 30 or 40 minutes or until brown. Icing should be poured on warm cake.

Got leftover mashed potatoes? Bake a cake!

This recipe is written in fountain pen in my Grammy's handwriting and has attributed her aunt Esther's name in the top right corner. The title is written simply "Potato Cake".

Okay...

Well, let's see what the recipe says (my editorial comments are in red italics):

2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
1 cup mashing potatoes (warm)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 Tablespoons chocolate [Ahhhh! So it's a chocolate cake?!?!]
1 teaspoon each of ground cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg
1 cup chopped walnuts [Can't put those in because Hubby is allergic.]

Cream fat [I guess this means the butter], sugar, yolks, and potatoes. Add milk and dry ingredients. Add stiffly beaten whites and bake in layers. Temp 350 degrees 15 min., 400 degrees 3 min., 350 degrees 30 min. [HUH?] Serve with chocolate fudge filling and walnuts. [Can't find the recipe for the chocolate fudge filling... darn!]

The first thing I did was discard the baking times because I decided it was easier to make this into cupcakes. Then I realized I was out of cupcake wrappers, so I went to the store to buy some. That's when I found the mini cake pans by Wilton that let you put filling inside the mini cakes. Bingo! That's what I wanted!

Everything went smoothly once I got back into the kitchen. I used unsweetened cocoa powder for the chocolate that the recipe called for. Once the batter was made up, I filled the cupcakes and the mini cake pans and baked according to the instructions for the cake pans. The cupcakes baked for about 15 minutes. The mini cakes baked for a little over 20 minutes.

Hubby wandered into the kitchen after the cupcakes had cooled for over a half an hour. He said, "Mmmmm! These smell good!" I told him to try one of the cupcakes without any icing on it. These are his exact unedited words:

"They sure knew what they were doing back then... Nice chocolate flavor and then you get the cloves... That's good! The cloves thing kinda stays with you... And now I want more... And they're fluffy and moist... It tastes very autumnal!"

The cake is a hit! It is a very dense cake although moist and fluffy (as Hubby said). I'm sure that it would work well in a bundt pan best. The cupcakes have the weight of light muffins.

Now what to do about an icing and filling...

I dug through the recipe box and found another recipe for "Caramel Icing & Frosting".

It sounded like a possible match. The recipe reads:

• 1 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 4 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon butter
• Put sugar in saucepan, add milk and stir until dissolved. Boil 3 minutes. Take from fire, add butter. Turn into a cold bowl and beat until creamy. Add vanilla. May add chopped nuts.

I followed the recipe as written. Everything was going along fine until I started beating the mixture to make it creamy. The mixture started to cool and become more of the consistency of real caramel candy!

Thinking quickly, I decided to add a little more milk and a little more butter. That solved the problem but it was more of the consistency of a glaze then the filling I needed. Realizing that the fat content of our 2 % milk is almost assuredly lower than the fat content of the milk Aunt Esther used, I added a bit of half-and-half, whipped it for a few minutes, and then I added a full cup of powdered sugar. That made the consistency more like a filling I could use with the mini cakes.

With the mini cakes cooled and the caramel icing/filling fixed, I filled the wells of the mini cakes, stacked the two layers, iced the whole little cake, and then put it in the refrigerator to chill. Then I garnished it with whole walnuts (Hubby can easily pick those off).

Both Hubby and I agree that the combination of the flavors, spice and caramel, are a perfect match. Yum! But I'm sure that there are a lot of other combinations you could think up for this classic vintage recipe. Let me know if you come up with one and make it. I'd love to hear what you paired Aunt Esther's "Potato Cake" with. I still can't believe it has leftover mashed potatoes in it.