Napoleon squares (untested)

This recipe is written in ballpoint pen in my Grammy's handwriting.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cup sifted flour
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 3/4 cup milk
• 1 package (3.25 ounce) vanilla pudding mix
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate pieces
• 1 teaspoon shortening
• 1 cup sifted confectioners' sugar
• 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions for pastry dough:

1. Cut butter into flour with pastry blender
2. Stir in sour cream with a fork
3. Divide dough into 4 equal portions
4. Wrap each portion
5. Refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight
6. Roll out one portion of dough on well-floured board into a 12-inch by 6-inch rectangle
7. Place on ungreased cookie sheet
8. Repeat with other 3 portions of dough
9. Bake at 350°F for 15-20 minutes or until pastry is puffed and golden brown
10. Transfer carefully to wire racks
11. Cool completely
12. Trim sides carefully with a sharp knife so all layers are the same size
13. Place one layer, puffed side up, on a separate wire rack set on a piece of wax paper to be decorated for the top of the Napoleon

Instructions for fillings, frostings, and assembly:

1. In a saucepan, combine milk, pudding (or pie filling mix) and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2. Cook mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture comes to a boil
3. Cool
4. Chill mixture well
5. In a double boiler set-up, combine chocolate pieces and shortening and heat over hot water until chocolate melts
6. Stir to blend
7. In a saucepan, combine confectioners' sugar, syrup, water and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
8. Cook mixture over low heat until frosting is smooth and shiny and coats a wooden spoon. Don't overcook or frosting will be too hard
9. Remove from heat, pour over top layer immediately and spread evenly
10. Pour chocolate mixture into pastry bag or tube with small writing tip
11. Pipe lengthwise strips 1-inch apart over frosting
12. With a toothpick make chevron marks 1-inch apart pulling the toothpick left to right, then right to left
13. Set top aside to assemble
14. Place an undecorated layer, puffy side up, on serving platter
15. Spread layer with 1/3 of chilled vanilla filled
16. Top with frosted pastry layer
17. Chill at least 1 hour before serving

Makes 6 servings

Tomato Cake (untested)

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

Ingredients for cake:

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup nuts
• 1 tablespoon lemon skin
• 1 cup raisins
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 can Campbell's tomato soup

Ingredients for filling:

• 1 package Philadelphia cream cheese
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 tablespoon cream (if desired)

Instructions for cake (incomplete):

1. Sift all dry ingredients together
2. Add raisins and nuts
3. Add soup last

Instructions for filling:

1. Mash cream cheese well
2. Add powdered sugar and vanilla
3. If too thick, add cream

There are no instructions for baking temperature or time. Also, I'm curious if the filling is supposed to be used as frosting or if another frosting is supposed to be used.

Pineapple Cream Filling (untested)

This recipe is written in Grammy's handwriting and probably pre-dates 1941 (the year she got married).

Ingredients:

• 1 cup grated pineapple and juice
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon butter
• 1 egg

Instructions:

1. Heat pineapple and juice in a saucepan
2. Add flour and sugar
3. Cook until no starchy taste
4. Add egg and butter
5. Cook until no egg taste
6. Cool before spreading on cake

Frangipan Cream (untested)

This appears to be a recipe is a multi-use cream filling. It is written in fountain pen in Esther's handwriting.

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup powder sugar
• 3 egg yolks
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2/3 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/3 cup flavoring
• 1 egg
• 1 cup scalded milk
• 2 tablespoons macaroons (dried and "rolled" [probably means crushed])
• 1/3 teaspoon lemon extract

Instructions are sketchy and seem slightly incomplete:

1. Make a cream filling of powdered sugar and sugar
2. Add butter, macaroon and extracts

Cream Filling (untested)

This recipe is written in fountain pen and may be Esther's handwriting. The number in the upper right corner written in pencil appears to be "67". This recipe certainly predates 1967 so this could be the date that Grammy made it later.

This appears to be a versatile recipe for cream filling to be used between cake layers or in pastries. I noticed that this cream filling can be made to be vanilla flavored or lemon flavored depending on the last ingredient. I suspect that many other flavors could be made by swapping out that last ingredient. I'd be interested to know if any of you come up with some yummy alternatives.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups scalded milk
• 1/3 cup flour
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla or 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract

Instructions:

1. Mix dry ingredients
2. Add eggs slightly beaten
3. Add scalded milk gradually
4. Cook 15 minutes in double boiler, stirring constantly
5. Flavor

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.