Saturday, October 24, 2015

Butternut squash cake with whipped maple topping

Hello everybody!! The Fresh Pioneer is back and I have a sweet little something for your Fall! I don't know about you but I LOVE this weather. I love the apples, the leaves, the cool air, the fires in the evenings. Most of all, I love Fall food!

For once, an actual picture of the food I will be cooking and cyber serving. (See, I'm so smart I always post the first pic of something really pretty because that shows up on the link. Crazy like a fox, I am. If I posted a picture of the actual food no one would ever click.)
                                              

 So, first you need 4 cups of butternut squash, cooked and blended. (I'll pause while you get that done... *taps toes impatiently* Wait, you can buy them in little packages that go in the microwave?? Huh.)
 Preheat the oven to 325F. Rub tummy and say , "This is going to be delicious!" Positive thinking matters.
Blend one cup of sugar, 1/4 cup of butter, 3 eggs, 3 tbs lemon juice and the 4 c of cooked squash together with ONE CUP of flour. Edna went to town with this. Squash was flying everywhere! But she was happy so I let her go...

 (Mmmmm. Edna says that butternut squash is VERY GOOD FOR US! Lots of Vitamin A and C and fiber. Of course, I think she meant it's really good before we put all that butter and sugar in, but we'll just pretend it's still going to make us super healthy!)

Next add in a small bowl ONE MORE CUP of flour plus :

2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ginger
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 allspice

Mix well and add into the main mixture. Pour into small ramekins (I love those things!) or a shallow baking dish.

Place the ramekins in one inch of water and bake for about 30 minutes. They seemed to take a long time to cook. Maybe I was hungry. Maybe it was all the small people clinging to my legs and pleading with their big, googly baby eyes for SQUASH CAKES.
So, finally they're done (the tops are cracked, which is what one recipe said, but even then they were coming out goopy when poked, so I gave them more time). 
So, the original recipe said the topping was sabayon flavored with Jack Daniels, which had been left alone for three weeks with two vanilla beans 'infusing the flavor'.
  Got all that???
So, I went to my local supermarket, paid $15 for two whole beans, bought some whiskey, plopped in the beans, and left it in the laundry room for three weeks...


 Fine, I did no such thing. Honestly, I think that part of the recipe was a test to see who was paying attention.
So, heavy cream whipped by a strong man, while the bowl is held by a small boy. (How's that for specific??)
Add 2TBS sugar, 1TSP vanilla and 2 TPS maple flavoring.  One dash of cinnamon for pretty.
 
Here's Edna all cleaned up and enjoying her serving of squash cake. She asked for just a few bites because she's watching the sugar. 
I think this was one of the best things to ever have emerged from my oven. The smell was amazing and the taste was perfectly light, not too gooey or heavy, and definitely not just pumpkin flavor. Even without the Jack Daniels-vanilla bean pod- sabayon, it was delicious.
 
 
 Until next week! I have some great apple recipes coming up and can't wait to share them! Feel free to pop by my facebook page at Pride, Prejudice, and Cheese Grits or my blog at The Things That Last!
 

8 comments:

  1. So glad to see Edna back in action! And did you notice that one of your cakes is smiling? I expected it to break out in song in Disney fashion. Maybe it did in your kitchen?

    The Irish in me is slightly scandalized at the notion of flavouring whipped cream -- but the maple and cinnamon mix is tempting. Maybe I'll go rogue some day and try this.

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    1. That's so funny! One of my oldest friends is Irish (born in Ireland and her parents have thick accents) and she makes whiskey whipped topping all the time. It's not my favorite, though. I don't mind a little flavoring, but whiskey is not a great flavor for me.

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  2. I found some of that frozen butternut squash at our store this week! I can't wait to try it.

    Now I love, love, love fresh squash...but it's SO spendy around here this year that I opted for the frozen version.

    And these cakes! Oh, they look so good! And I'll go for the flavored whipped cream. :)

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    1. They're really SO easy to make! And not heavy at all. A lot of pumpkin breads can be so heavy.

      The whipped topping is one of the tastiest things I've made, I think/. And such a small, small alteration.

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  3. Ooh, I think I will love this! I just need to find the squash. Or just roast one and scoop it out. :)

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    1. Funny, a friend gave me a butternut squash and I still bought the cubes! I just didn't have time for it to roast, and then make cakes out of it. But I'll roast it this week.

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  4. When I need to cook the squash in a hurry, I cube it and steam it. I love butternut squash so this recipe looks fabulous!

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    1. Oh, that's a great tip. I've only oven roasted it before.

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