Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Sarah Cornish Debraski's Jelly Cake


Please welcome my friend and YALSA President Sarah Cornish Debraski. Sarah and I met on the Board a few years ago and both love cookbooks. She mentioned she made one of my recipes, and I knew she had to guest blog...
Hello! I share Amy’s love of vintage cookbooks and recipes (though not her passion for collecting them!) and often write about cooking and baking on my own blog, So What? Sew Buttons. I recently made one of Amy’s recipes and she invited me to share my comments about it with her readers, so here goes:
Last week was my husband’s 40th birthday. I’m planning a big party for him this weekend with a fancy cake, but I didn’t want to let the real day pass without a cake of some kind. When I read Amy’s recipe for Mississippi Delta Jelly Cake I knew I had to try it. I have to say I was intrigued by the sifted cake flour part of the recipe, as well as the vegetable oil in addition to butter, and most especially by the promise that it would stick in my cake pans no matter what. I halved this recipe, so when it got to the part about some of the flour being mixed with salt and some with baking powder (which was also intriguing and not something I caught on my first read through of the recipe, so I’m happy I did actually follow the instructions) the fractions got too complicated, so I just went with “mix most of the flour with…” Left to my own choice of pan size I opted for an 8 inch square pan (the one I usually make brownies in) and sprayed it with Pam. The batter itself was extremely fluffy (if one can use that word for a liquid batter) and it ultimately translated into a fluffy cake.
End result? Delicious and simple. We were all enamored by the texture and crumb of the cake, and I liked the simple jelly-sugar topping. I think this cake would be great with almond extract in it, also with whipped cream and fruit on top. I have to say it wasn’t so great the next day-a bit dry-though that didn’t prevent us from finishing it!

No comments: