Southern Church Cookbooks and Hummingbird Cake Inspiration

I spent Sunday relaxing and baking with my mom. She brought out her old dusty church cookbooks from the 1970's and we sifted through the stained and torn pages to find the best recipes for some mini pecan pies I was making (three varieties, which I will be posting about very soon). My mom warned me that you had to take the recipes "with a grain of salt" because they're written like the person is talking to a friend. So you have to know when something sounds a little funny, or how hot to preheat the oven since the author assumes you know, or when you should probably cut the sugar in half because you're using that much sorghum molasses. 

I went through a lot of the really gooey recipes, asking my mom, "Have you ever baked a banana cake?", "Have you ever baked sweet potato pie for the holidays?" and so on. She said yes to everything, until I got to, "Have you ever made a Hummingbird Cake?" 

Her response? "No, those are so sweet you can't taste anything but the sugar!" 

So, naturally, my next mission, probably for my mom's birthday, is to make a hummingbird cake that doesn't wipe you out from sugar overdose. So, sorry Paula Deen (1 3/4 cup sugar!), I won't be using your recipe. I'll be modifying one of the ones from my mom's old cookbooks. Maybe we'll even bake it together. Wouldn't that just be so sweet? You wouldn't even need a quarter of the sugar. 

Photo and recipe inspiration by Two Tiny Kitchens

San Francisco Meets Southern Chocolate Shortcake

I know I'm a bit late, but I thought I'd share the dessert I made for July 4 this year. It was a wonderful, gooey yet cakey shortcake recipe that I adapted from Paula Deen's classic chocolate strawberry shortcake. She put RE-DICULUS amounts of sugar in hers, so I toned that down a bit, and I also used sustainable cocoa and King Arthur cake flour. So it was feel-good bad-for-you food. Yummsies.

This flour is the BOMB dot com.

I also used Clover buttermilk. So fresh.

Still in the pan. It cracks a little, but don't be concerned.

I had to summon my strength not to put my face in it.

The final result. Wish I had my nice camera, but my desperation to eat overcame my desire to take photos.

Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake

Recipe Adapted from Paula Deen's Savannah Country Cookbook

Ingredients

2 cups cake flour

3/4 cup sugar

2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup shortening (or butter)

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

3 egg whites

1 quart of fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced

whipping cream (drool)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F. 

2. Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl (except strawberries and whipping cream). Mix it up, scraping the bowl constantly. If you have a mixer, mix on high for 3 minutes after incorporated, otherwise just stir really fast to try to get a lot of air into the batter. Build up those arm muscles!

3. Pour into a greased and floured 13x9 inch pan

4. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

5. Cool completely (the hard part). 

6. Cut into slices with a very sharp knife. Serve with a ton of whipped cream and sliced strawberries. 

I Die for Banana Cream Pie

I wanted to start off my 25 Southern Desserts challenge in the strongest way possible, and nothing is stronger than banana cream pie, my friend. Just about nothin', I tell ya. I started with my mom's recipe, made the pudding myself, and even decided to go with a whole-wheat pie crust to even out the gooey-ness of the cream pie. 

Mmmm, Gooey. Creamy. Pie-y. 

Sorry, I got distracted!

The verdict? A really nice balance between the whole wheat-iness of the crust and the over-the-top sweetness of the filling. If I had to make it again, I might do a nilla wafer crust instead or just go with all pudding. That's the best part, after all. But a valiant effort that even my mom gave the thumbs-up to.

Start with the good stuff... I used half white and half whole wheat flour + Smart Balance

I like bananas as my first layer

...then pudding, then nilla wafers

Drool drool drool. If you let the pie sit in the fridge for about a day, the wafers get soggy and add such an amazing texture to the mushy bananas.

Here, you can see the layers: crust, bananas, pudding, wafers, pudding, bananas, pudding, wafers, whipped cream

The two of us put quite a dent in it in one sitting.

Extreme Close-Up

Recipe after the jump!