Question Of The Day, Sunday, November 12, 2017

[margecat]

micknsnicks2mom we love that peanut butter frosting. It's not really too sweet and I think that's why we like it so much. I use the Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Cake recipe. If you try it, let me know what you think. We really do like it around here. I make that cake every year for my GF's husband's birthday; he has come to expect it.

My absolutely positively best dessert on earth is a white coconut layer cake. With lots of lots of snowy white coconut slathered into the frosting between the layers and all around the outside of the cake. That's my Christmas (and sometimes Easter, too) dessert. And yes, I do know how to make a decadent white coconut layer cake; I use a recipe from Cook's Illustrated that is just TDF and when I make it, I will always toast the coconut. The cake is so pretty with the various colors of the coconut.

But for Christmas, since I'm always so busy with everything else, I order a ten-inch white coconut layer cake from a local restaurant/bakery in town. It's about $30 with the extra coconut in the frosting between the layers.....and yes, it's worth every single penny. My sister, brother, and I will devour the thing.

Poor Rick; he despises coconut with a passion. His favorite dessert is definitely cheesecake. So while I order the coconut cake for Christmas, I always make him a cheesecake for his Christmas dessert. I use one of the recipes from Junior's Cheesecake Cookbook and everybody tells me that the cheesecake is truly decadent. I wouldn't know....I refuse to eat cheesecake.

i LOVE coconut cake!!!

 

[betsygee]

Whiskey cake

A friend makes whiskey cake for all her friends every year and we are the lucky recipients of one. For a couple years, though, she got so carried away with the whiskey we had to tactfully tell her to back off the booze a little. Now they're back to being delicious.

 

[betsygee]

At Thanksgiving, I like to make a frozen pumpkin parfait squares recipe that my mom used to make every year. It used to be on cans of Libby's canned pumpkin.

 

[amysuen]

For me it depends on the special occasion. Thanksgiving is pumpkin, cherry and pecan pie. Christmas is cookies - lots of cookies. It used to be fruitcake too but the place we used to get it closed. Valentine's Day is chocolate. Soccer goals earn ice cream (that's a special occasion in our house!). I'm not a big cake person so for my birthday I prefer ice cream or cookie cake.

 

[muffy]

A friend makes whiskey cake for all her friends every year and we are the lucky recipients of one. For a couple years, though, she got so carried away with the whiskey we had to tactfully tell her to back off the booze a little. Now they're back to being delicious.

Can I get on your friends list? A lady I used to work with made whisky cake every Christmas and would bring one in for the office. I really looked forward to it. I don't like the taste of alcohol but I think it is delicious when it is baked into a desert (cake, cookies, candy).

Muffy

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

Any holiday at our house involves chocolate. However, yesterday DH and I met our daughter for lunch in the city and we had a delectable, savory squash pie with coconut whipped cream. It was superb and made me rethink my traditional chocolate dessert(s).

you love chocolate desserts!!! very nice!!

mmmm......a savory squash pie, and with coconut whipped cream! that sounds wonderful!! i absolutely adore squash, pretty much all kinds!

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

Whiskey cake

Whiskey cake!!! most excellent!!

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

I'm not a dessert person. At all. I don't like cake, I don't like pie and I really don't like cheesecake.

I never order dessert at restaurants. I used to make apple pie for Thanksgiving because DH liked it but have not since he passed. DD doesn't like it either. I just don't get the hype about stuff like that. Give me some good cheese and crusty bread any day.

If I am in the mood for something sweet, it's high quality dark chocolate or high quality ice cream. Coffee is my favorite favor. I could also sit down and eat a bowl of whipped cream with a spoon. No Cool Whip please. the good stuff.

ahhh, some good cheese and crusty bread!! that does sound heavenly!! i really like fresh fruit with cheese too.

very nice! there's such a big difference when it's high quality (dark) chocolate and ice cream too! and real whipped cream......

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

@Columbine, that sounds wonderful! I've been trying to find a nice English Christmas cake w/ marzipan online to order; not had one in some years. Mum always had to have the pudding as well- I remember Dad would 'light' it for her. Mmmm, now I am hungry ha haaa.

an English Christmas cake w/marzipan!!! that's sounds great!!

it sounds like maybe it isn't easy to find one to be able to order online. doing an internet search, i came up with some results. there were some that their country of origin is the UK, and then there are some that are made here in the US but that may not be traditional or what you're looking for. here are two examples of what i found--

Gold Crown Iced Christmas Cake - 24oz (681g)

Rich Traditional British Fruit Cake with Fondant and Marzipan.

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

If you decide to try it based on my recollection of how I made it, you should also make the bread dough with honey rather than sugar, and add extra honey to it. The bread itself should be sweeter than usual. If dried fruit makes it too chewy, try soaking the fruit overnight in fruit juice first.

Margret

thank you! yes, i think i'd soak the dried fruit in juice overnight. honey, can do! i always have honey on hand.

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

i LOVE coconut cake!!!

...and @Winchester 's recipe makes a very, very good Coconut Cake!

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

At Thanksgiving, I like to make a frozen pumpkin parfait squares recipe that my mom used to make every year. It used to be on cans of Libby's canned pumpkin.

View attachment 205095

Frozen Pumpkin Parfait Squares, which you make at Thanksgiving!!! oh my!!! those look like they'd taste awesome!! i do love pumpkin, dearly.

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

For me it depends on the special occasion. Thanksgiving is pumpkin, cherry and pecan pie. Christmas is cookies - lots of cookies. It used to be fruitcake too but the place we used to get it closed. Valentine's Day is chocolate. Soccer goals earn ice cream (that's a special occasion in our house!). I'm not a big cake person so for my birthday I prefer ice cream or cookie cake.

mmmmm...... those are all great desserts!!!

 

[blueyedgirl5946]

My cousin's wife makes a 25 layer chocolate cake. She sells them for $30. I asked her if she would make me one using gluten free King Arthur cake mixes. It takes 2 of them. She will and she wants me to come to her house and we will do it together. So that will be our Christmas dessert. My family is dealing with the first Christmas of my brother in law being gone. He early in the year. He always made the chocolate cake which they all loved. I am hoping this will fill the empty spot where his cat would sit.

 

[Margret]

If you want a really decadent dessert, try baked Alaska. You start with an un-frosted sheet cake, a carton of ice cream, and a carton of eggs, and you make the dessert at the last minute; it must be served immediately after preparation.

1. Separate the egg whites from the yolks, setting aside the yolks for whatever else you may want to do with them, and make meringue from the whites (I'm sure you can find instructions online; just be careful that you don't end up with a recipe for meringues the cookies -- you want meringue the topping).
2. Slice the sheet cake up into individual servings.
   
3. Slice the carton of ice cream into slabs a bit thinner than the thickness of the sheet cake; then slice the slabs into individual servings a bit smaller than the size of the sheet cake individual servings. You should be able to put a slice of ice cream on top of a slice of cake and see cake all the way around the ice cream.
4. Cover with a thick layer of meringue, making sure to get plenty on the sides as well, all the way down to the cake and a little past. Get as fancy with swirls and things as you like, but it's important that the ice cream be completely covered with meringue; it serves to insulate it.
5. Stick in the oven just long enough for the meringue to begin to brown.
6. Serve immediately. The ice cream should still be frozen, the cake should be a little above room temperature, and the meringue should be warm to hot.

Totally delicious, astonishingly easy to make, and the temperature contrast is a large part of the attraction.

Margret

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

My cousin's wife makes a 25 layer chocolate cake. She sells them for $30. I asked her if she would make me one using gluten free King Arthur cake mixes. It takes 2 of them. She will and she wants me to come to her house and we will do it together. So that will be our Christmas dessert. My family is dealing with the first Christmas of my brother in law being gone. He early in the year. He always made the chocolate cake which they all loved. I am hoping this will fill the empty spot where his cat would sit.

i'm so very sorry for your loss.

wow! a 25-layer chocolate cake!!! that sounds incredible!!

please let us know how the cake turns out! i mean, using the gluten free cake mix. if my memory serves, there are at least a few other members here who have tried some baking using gluten free ingredient(s), with mixed results.

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

If you want a really decadent dessert, try baked Alaska. You start with an un-frosted sheet cake, a carton of ice cream, and a carton of eggs, and you make the dessert at the last minute; it must be served immediately after preparation.

1. Separate the egg whites from the yolks, setting aside the yolks for whatever else you may want to do with them, and make meringue from the whites (I'm sure you can find instructions online; just be careful that you don't end up with a recipe for meringues the cookies -- you want meringue the topping).
2. Slice the sheet cake up into individual servings.
   
3. Slice the carton of ice cream into slabs a bit thinner than the thickness of the sheet cake; then slice the slabs into individual servings a bit smaller than the size of the sheet cake individual servings. You should be able to put a slice of ice cream on top of a slice of cake and see cake all the way around the ice cream.
4. Cover with a thick layer of meringue, making sure to get plenty on the sides as well, all the way down to the cake and a little past. Get as fancy with swirls and things as you like, but it's important that the ice cream be completely covered with meringue; it serves to insulate it.
5. Stick in the oven just long enough for the meringue to begin to brown.
6. Serve immediately. The ice cream should still be frozen, the cake should be a little above room temperature, and the meringue should be warm to hot.

Totally delicious, astonishingly easy to make, and the temperature contrast is a large part of the attraction.

Margret

Baked Alaska!! that sounds really good!

and i had never looked into how to make it. it's a very interesting and, yes, surprisingly easy to make process. thank you for sharing the recipe!!

years ago, i did make an Ice Cream Bombe. pretty much just because it would be interesting to make. it was not hard to make and turned out really quite good.

 

[Margret]

The recipe for Baked Alaska is one of the two things I actually learned in high school Home Ec. class, and the other one came from the magazine they subscribed us to, Seventeen?, something like that.

I've seen recipes for it that say to use a pie shell instead of sheet cake, but I'm pretty sure that would melt the ice cream. And I forgot to mention that the oven should probably be pre-heated, so the ice cream isn't sitting out too long.

Margret

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

The recipe for Baked Alaska is one of the two things I actually learned in high school Home Ec. class, and the other one came from the magazine they subscribed us to, Seventeen?, something like that.

I've seen recipes for it that say to use a pie shell instead of sheet cake, but I'm pretty sure that would melt the ice cream. And I forgot to mention that the oven should probably be pre-heated, so the ice cream isn't sitting out too long.

Margret

hmmm...... i think i'd use the sheet cake too.