triticale - the wheat / rye guy

Second Best?

When my wee wifey posted this "tried and true" recipe to her Blue Ribbon mailing list, she received an enthusiastic response from people who knew and loved the cake, but had lost the recipe. One of them offered the interesting tidbit that this cake had come in second to the original Tunnel of Fudge in the 1966 Pillsbury Bake-Off. Funny thing, tho. This week, shortly after herself promised to upload this recipe, I happened upon the book Cookoff : Recipe Fever in America, by Amy Sutherland, at the library. Turns out that the Tunnel of Fudge was itself the second place winner. First prize went to the Golden Gate Snack Loaf, a bread enhanced with process cheese spread and powdered onion soup mix. So all I can say for sure is that this cake has a well deserved reputation as a winner.

Kentucky Butter Cake TNT

3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup butter
4 eggs
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 10" tube pan. Blend cake ingredients at low speed till moist. Beat 3 minutes at medium speed. Bake 55-70 minutes.

Butter Sauce: 3/4 cup sugar 1/3 cup butter 3 tbsp water 2 tsp vanilla

In saucepan, combine ingredients over low heat until butter melts. Do not boil. Prick cake, 10-12 times with a long tined fork. Slowly pour hot sauce over cake. Let cool before removing from the pan. Sprinkle powdered sugar on before serving.

By the way, the original Tunnel of Fudge still works. You just have to make your own box frosting mix. Cocoa powder and sugar, in the proportions from your favorite frosting recipe. Extra fine sugar is best; look for generic beet sugar.

Posted by triticale at December 9, 2004 09:14 PM