FRUIT COCKTAIL FRUITCAKE
By Gloria Pitzer (from her Dec. 2002 Christmas Card)
Pineapple Upside Down Cake
PINEAPPLE UPSIDE DOWN CAKE
By Gloria Pitzer, as seen in… The Best of Gloria Pitzer’s Better Cookery Cookbook (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; February 1990, 11th Printing, p. 97)
INGREDIENTS:
3 cans (8-oz. each) sliced pineapple, in juice
1 C. packed, light brown sugar
1/3 C. butter or margarine, melted and cooled
7 red Maraschino cherries, cut in half
½ C. chopped pecans
18-oz. box yellow or white cake mix
1 pkg. Dream Whip powder
4 eggs
1 C. cold water
[bottled/jarred pineapple sundae topping for glaze]
INSTRUCTIONS:
Drain pineapple, reserving 2 TB of the juice. Combine brown sugar and butter, spreading it in a 9”x13”x2” baking pan. Arrange pineapple slices in single layer to fit the pan, cutting slices, if necessary. Place cherry halves, cut side up, in middle of each pineapple ring.
Drizzle in the reserved juice. Sprinkle on a layer of chopped pecans. Combine dry cake mix with Dream Whip powder. Beat in eggs and water for about 5 minutes or until batter is smooth. Carefully spread batter over pineapple [cherries and nut] layer in the pan.
Bake at 350°F for 55 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let it stand in the pan for about 5 minutes, [placing pan] on a wire rack. Place a greased jelly roll pan over top of cake pan and carefully invert cake onto pan, holding pans securely in place as you turn it over.
Let stand 1 minute before removing top [pan]. Scrape down any excess topping, rearranging pineapples and cherries, if necessary. Drizzle the top with the sundae topping to give it a glaze. Serve warm or cold topped with ice cream and/or whipped cream.
Hopeless Pecan Tarts
HOPELESS PECAN TARTS
By Gloria Pitzer, as seen in… The Original 200 Plus Secret Recipes© Book (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; June 1997, p. 14)
FILLING – INGREDIENTS:
Homemade (or store-bought) pie crust dough
½ C. butter
1/3 C. dark corn syrup
1 C. powdered sugar
1 C. chopped pecans
1 C. chopped peanuts
4 eggs, well-beaten
INSTRUCTIONS:
Make up your favorite pie crust recipe [or use store-bought dough), enough to roll out and cut to fit 36 well-greased cupcake tin wells, like tart shells.
In a heavy saucepan, mix rest of ingredients and bring to a boil. On low, cook and stir constantly for 10 minutes.
While filling cools, bake tart shells at 425°F for 10 minutes. Remove and fill hot shells half-full with filling. Put back in oven to bake at 375°F for 12-15 minutes or until filling is “set”.
Cool and refrigerate leftovers to use in a few days or freeze to use in a few months. Makes 36 tarts.
Iacocca Cake – Beer Fudge Spice Cake
IACOCCA CAKE [aka: Beer Fudge Spice Cake]
By Gloria Pitzer, as seen in… Gloria Pitzer’s Cookbook – The Best of the Recipe Detective (Balboa Press; Jan. 2018, p. 210). [A revised reprint of Gloria Pitzer’s Better Cookery Cookbook (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; May 1983, 3rd Edition).]
From my ‘Ask Your Neighbor’ recipe journal, I offered this cake to Bob Allison’s listeners (October 1972), in response to a listener’s request for a good, rich, feathery-light spice cake made with beer.
INGREDIENTS:
9-ounce box devil’s food cake mix
1 envelope Dream Whip powder
1 teaspoon apple pie spice powder
½ cup light beer
4 tablespoons oil
2 eggs
INSTRUCTIONS:
Combine dry ingredients in one bowl. Combine liquid ingredients in another bowl; then, beat liquids into dry mixture with electric mixer on high-speed for about 4 minutes. Pour into greased and floured 9-inch layer pan or 10-inch, fluted-rim, Pyrex pie plate. Bake at 350°F for 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes. Cover with topping and then drizzle with frosting (recipes below) and decorate with walnut halves.
IACOCCA CAKE TOPPING: mix well – ½ cup chopped walnuts, 1 tablespoon sugar and ½ teaspoon cinnamon. Sprinkle over layer before applying frosting (below.)
IACOCCA CAKE FROSTING: combine, in top of double boiler, over simmering water – 6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips, 1 ounce (solid) unsweetened chocolate, 1/3 cup Half-&-Half light cream and 2 tablespoons light corn syrup. Stir until melted and smooth (about 12 to 15 minutes.) Beat in 1 ½ cups powdered sugar. Drizzle over topping-covered layer (above.)