Sweet Buttermilk Glaze

Please forgive the out of focus picture. I was tired. I was not into it. My mind was elsewhere. Like getting this cake in my mouth as fast as possible.

My mom has made an Amish Carrot Cake for years that, instead of being topped with icing, is topped with what is called a Buttermilk Glaze. It is to die for. It's comes out almost like a caramel sauce. This cake has been requested by many a child for their birthday. Now, the above cake is not the Amish Carrot Cake. (I WILL share that with you guys sometime.) It is a mixture of a carrot cake mix and a spice cake mix. 

Here's the deal.

I was making some carrot cupcakes for a friend's birthday. While I LOVE the above Decadent Carrot Cake mix from Duncan Hines, it's just a bit too dense for cupcakes so I mixed in some of the spice cake batter. 

After the cupcakes were done I had some of the combined batters left and since I LOATHE wasting food I poured the mixture into a 9 x 13 dish to make a cake.  I didn't want to make icing for it, but remembered that glorious buttermilk glaze and knew it would be perfect for this cake.

And it's so easy. Just boil together some sugar, butter, buttermilk, corn syrup and baking soda until it becomes amber in color. Stir in some vanilla.

Transfer to a pourable container.

Once the cake is out of the oven, poke holes in it with a skewer or straw.

While the cake is still warm, pour the glaze slowly over the top. The slower you pour the better. That gives the glaze time to get down in all the little nooks and crannies.

Lastly, cut a slice and prepare to be wowed.

Sweet Buttermilk Glaze

1 cups sugar

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1 TB light corn syrup

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla

-In a medium saucepan, bring all the ingredients (except the vanilla) to a boil over medium high heat stirring constantly, Continue to boil until it reaches an amber color. 

-Turn off heat and stir in vanilla. 

-Pour over warm cake.

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Happy Halloween!!!

Caramel Peanut Butter Chip Brownies

Do you say "Kar-mul" or "Care-a-mel?" I say the latter. And I say it often. I just love caramel anything. It's my favorite flavor, if you will. So when Leslie, The Hungry Housewife, made some super-simple and oh-so-tasty caramel stuffed brownies, I had to get on that bandwagon.

These are incredibly easy to make. Just prepare a box mix (I used a family size Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge mix), pour half of it into the pan then arrange a layer of some sort of chocolate covered caramels. I used these:

Feel free to use any kind you want. These come wrapped individually. They make me feel a bit spoiled.

I prepared a  the brownie mix, poured half of the batter into a 9 x 9 pan and strategically placed the unwrapped candy.

I topped it with the remaining batter. Next, because I had some on hand, because they are fantastic with chocolate and most of all because I CAN, I topped the batter with some Reese's Peanut Butter Chips. I baked them according to package directions until they were set in the middle. 

Today one of my other favorite food bloggers, Kristan (Confessions of a Cookbook Queen) posted some Caramel Brownies that have a bit of a different approach but same end result.  Feel free to check our her recipe or Leslie's and decide which one appeals to you most. If you don't want a ton of caramel going on, use mine. If you like more, go with one of theirs. (The candies they used had a bit more caramel punch.)

Enjoy!

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My New "Can't Do Without"

So I have never owed a cast iron skillet until now. I know. A southern cook without a cast iron skillet? That's like Superman without his cape, Linus without his blanket or Pee Wee without his bike. Those references totally date me. I'm okay with that. 

My mom found this beauty for me at the Peddler's Mall. Are you familiar with these places? We call it a Peddler's Mall in Kentucky but I am sure there are similar set-ups all over the world. Basically sellers rent booth space to sell their wares which consist of antiques, yard sale type items and even new things. No one mans the booths and there is one check out at the front so you can feel free to browse without pressure. It's an amazing treasure hunt. You never know what you will find. One time I found a book called The Professional. It was a very short book published at the turn of the century about a man who installed out houses. I could kick myself for not getting it.

My mom makes this AMAZING deep dish pizza in her cast iron skillet and now I do the same. There is something about this skillet that just makes things taste better. You see, cast iron skillets are like fine wines. They get better with age. But, they have to be treated with the utmost care.  They can't be put in the dishwasher and in fact they can't be soaked or left in water for very long at all. Each time I am done with mine, I wipe it out real good with a wet washcloth (not much of anything ever sticks to it) and wipe the inside down with an oiled paper towel. This is called "seasoning" the skillet. A cast iron skillet is the treasured item of a southern cook.

So for the pizza, I just press my dough into the skillet, add sauce, cheese and toppings and bake at 450 until the cheese is bubbly and a bit brown. I will NEVER make regular pizza again. This stuff is phenomenal.

My mouth is watering right now. I am a HUGE pizza lover. If I had to choose one thing to eat for the rest of my life it would definitely be pizza.

Obviously there is SO much more you can do with a cast iron skillet. Martha Stewart swears by it for frying chicken. My mom uses it for many cooking jobs. It has a ton of uses from frying up bacon or sausage to sauteing veggies to chicken pot pie. I even found an apple upside-down-type cake online the other day that turns out beautiful from one. It was touted to knock your socks off. I hope to try it soon.

So my advice when it comes to a cast iron skillet? As Turtleman would say, "Getcha some!"