Even though these are modern recipes, I thought some of you might enjoy trying them. They are the ones I used to make the Wedding Cake, Groom’s Cake and Pumpkin Tarts for my son’s wedding at the end of June.
This is the basic cake recipe that I started with. It’s one I got years ago that was printed in the local newspaper when we lived in Minnesota.
Title: Cream Cheese Pound Cake
Description:
I like this best with ground vanilla beans. I buy mine from The Vanilla Company.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups butter
1 pkg. (8oz.) cream cheese
3 cups sugar
6 eggs
3 cups flour
pinch of salt
3 tsp. vanilla
Directions:
Cream butter & cream cheese. Add sugar and cream well. Add eggs one at a time and beat well. Stir in flour and salt. Add vanilla. Bake in a 10 inch tube or bundt pan. Start with a cold oven and bake at 300 degrees for 2 hours.
For Colin and JungHwa’s wedding cake I used this recipe, then I brushed the baked cake layers with Creme de Violette. I made the frosting using this basic recipe:
Cream Cheese Icing
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- 4 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
I omitted most of the vanilla and added Creme de Violette instead. The cake was decorated with organically grown wild and cultivated violets that I gathered, then pressed and dried. I was forced to abandon all plans for intricate decorative icing when the heat soared into the 90’s on the day before the wedding. As it was I was lucky to even keep the frosting on the cakes!
Chocolate Groom’s Cake
When I made the groom’s cake I took the same pound cake recipe, but this time I exchanged 1 cup of the flour for one cup of Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa. I also splashed in a generous measure of Chambord and used liquid vanilla rather than ground vanilla beans. The baked cake layers were brushed with additional Chambord.
For the frosting I used the Especially Dark Chocolate Frosting recipe from the Hershey’s website. I added more Chambord to the frosting as well. This cake was decorated with a white and dark chocolate groom that was made in a vintage 1920’s chocolate mold.
Because Colin loves pumpkin pie and often asks for it instead of a birthday cake, I made a tower of pumpkin tarts for him in addition to his groom’s cake.
I love the molasses in the following recipe, so it’s the one I chose to use. I did bake a real pumpkin, rather than using canned pumpkin. Fortunately I had one Long Island Cheese pumpkin left in my pantry from last fall. Did you know that pumpkins will often keep for over a year if stored in your house at room temperature. Basically if it’s the right temperature for you then it’s right for pumpkins too 🙂 There is a photo that I love of Tasha Tudor’s house, showing pumpkins stored under one of her beds.
Title: New England Pumpkin Pie
Description:
This is the recipe from the back of the canned pumpkin canned by the One Pie Canning Co. of W. Paris, Maine 04289. It is a little different than other recipes, mostly because of the molasses and the individual spices rather than using pumpkin pie spice. I really like this version.
Ingredients:
1 can pumpkin
1 tbsp. cornstarch
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tbsp. melted butter
1 1/2 cups milk or 1 12 oz. can evaporated milk
1/8 cup molasses
1/2 cup sugar
2 beaten eggs
Directions:
Add dry ingredients to pumpkin, mix. Stir in wet ingredients. Pour into unbaked pie shell (9 inch) and bake in a preheated 450 degree oven for 15 minutes. Reduce temp. to 350 degrees and continue to bake for 50 minutes.
I baked Colin’s wedding tarts in a heart shaped Nordicware muffin pan, which may have been discontinued, since I no longer see it on their website. The tarts took about 30 minutes to bake at 350 degrees, but I would check them closely because this is going to vary depending on the pans you use.
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The flavor is wonderful! I think it works especially well with vanilla.