Heirloom Pumpkin Cake

From my former MIL, Mrs. C

This is one of our most-requested favorites.  Addition of ginger is my own, and I include plenty of pumpkin pie spice till wonderfully fragrant.  Do not overcook.  Is best the next day, keep sealed in airtight container after fully cooled.  Enjoy!

Family Favorite Pumpkin Cake


3 cups sugar
2 sticks butter
2 cups cooked pumpkin (pulp well drained, or 1 Libby’s can of pumpkin)
3 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon vanilla (I use 2)
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (I use 1-2 Tablespoons, to taste)
1 scant teaspoon powdered ginger (optional)


Preheat oven to 325 degrees (300 if your oven runs hot). In large heavy bowl, cream butter and sugar; add eggs. Mixing with mixer, add other dry ingredients alternately with pumpkin. Add vanilla. Batter will be very thick. Butter and flour a Bundt pan, and pour in batter. Tap filled pan lightly on counter a couple times to settle any air pockets. Bake for @ 1 hour 25 minutes, or till straw inserted near center comes out clean. Be sure not to overbake. Allow to cool completely, then store in sealed plastic container or wrapped. Best after first day, if it lasts that long

:)  Watch it disappear!

Polish Apple (Szarlotka) Our Favorite Apple Cake

Tried this to serve at a get-together, and it got eaten down to the crumbs.  It's sweet but not icky sweet, so is really good with coffee.

It's definately a keeper!

I ran across the recipe on Alla's blog Cooking with Yiddishe Mama http://www.allastar.net/blog/archives/2006_11_01_archive.html, which is originally from Jewish Cooking by Marlena Spieler.

Here was the blog hook I couldn't resist:

"It's one of the best recipes. Always successful! You will stick with this recipe FOREVER!!!"

Yeah, well, it's really that good.


Here's the recipe. If I can make it, you can, too!


Polish Apple Cake (Szarlotka)



3 large apples, unpeeled, cored and sliced into thin slices (I used Fujis, DONT use regular red delicious)

1 t. ground cinnamon

1 c. sugar

4 lg. eggs

1 c. vegetable oil

1/2 c. orange juice (I squeezed up some fresh)

1 t. vanilla

3 c. all purpose flour

3 t. baking powder (fresh!)

1/2 t. salt



Grease 9x11 inch pan and dust with flour, shaking out excess.

Place apples in large bowl and mix with cinnamon and 2 tablespoons of the sugar.

In separate bowl, beat eggs and gradually add remaining sugar, oil, orange juice and vanilla.

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt.

Combine with egg mixture and mix until blended.

Pour 2/3 of the batter into prepared pan.

Layer with the apples.

Pour the rest of the dough over the top.

Bake at 350 degrees 45-50 minues until golden on top.

Let stand a few minutes and then unmold onto rack.

Cool completely.

Dust with powdered sugar if desired.  I don't bother.


I heeded the advice of Susan http://foodiefarmgirl.blogspot.com/ , and went and bought FRESH baking powder, since learning that this makes a big difference in the end product. Also, I followed the recipe exactly, which is something I rarely am disciplined enough to do. I cut my apple slices paper thin when preparing the ingredients, and those came out very well.


The cake is delicious, and if you can wait long enough for it to cool to sample it, you'll find it comes out with a slightly crisp top and cakey soft moistness beneath, with just the right sort of sweetness. I sliced the cake into squares, arranged the slices on a platter, and covered the whole thing tightly with foil overnight. The next day, they were moister and there was no longer a crispness to the top.


This one's going into the permanent file, for sure.

Naughty, Naughty Matzoh Crunch

Here's the recipe...or you can find it almost anywhere on the web, from folks who've nibbled on a piece, likely at Passover, and found they had a sudden sassy compulsion to tuck away a few more...you know...far far from the madding crowd..."just in case."

Even if you're not eating for two, doing extreme sports with your blood sugar levels, or trying to invent the first edible chocolate mortarboard for graduation, you'll enjoy trying this, truly! It's just so easy to make.

A little TOO easy...

Here's the site where I nabbed the recipe, which was sequentially nabbed prior to that by millions who decided Marcy Goldman was onto a great thing. David Lebovitz tweaked it with the addition of vanilla and a pinch of sea salt...other than that, it's pretty much the real McCoy.




Here 'tis:

Matzoh Crunch



4 to 6 sheets of matzoh
2 sticks butter
1 cup (firmly-packed) light brown sugar (I used dark because that's what I had)
optional: pinch of coarse sea salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips
1 cup sliced almonds or other nuts, toasted and coarsely chopped

Line a 11" x 17" baking sheet completely with foil (cover the sides) and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Then line with parchment paper over the foil...it'll help everything be easy to remove.

Line the bottom of the sheet completely with matzoh, breaking extra pieces as necessary to fill in any spaces.

In a medium-sized heavy duty saucepan, combine the butter and brown sugar and cook over medium heat until the butter begins to boil.



Boil for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Remove from heat and pour over matzoh, spreading with a heatproof utensil.
Put the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes, until the syrup darkens and gets thick. (While it's baking, make sure it's not burning. If so, reduce the heat to 325 degrees.) I just set the oven right on 335 degrees, a good compromise.

Remove from oven and immediately cover with chocolate chips or chunks. Let stand 5 minutes, then spread smooth with a spatula and sprinkle with nuts or desired topping.

Cooling can be expedited by placing in fridge in single layers till set, or briefly in freezer. Break into pieces and store in sealed containers. Will keep for up to a week. (As if they'll last that long...!)

Sounds pretty straightforward. I do have to give credit where credit is due, since this recipe survived my every attempt to thwart its success. And I do have a few suggestions to make...

First, when toasting the chopped nuts, you MIGHT want to not get lost in a pleasant reverie, humming to yourself (as they sit in the pan roasting), sentimental about how your kitchen is smelling nostalgically like pan-popped popcorn...remember the days when you made it in a pot on the stove??

Yes, mmmm, that smell takes you back...and back...and then you start to also remember that some of those popcorns in days of yore DID scorch now and then. Hmmm. Yes, and they smelled a bit like...like...(jolt back to the present), well DRAT. Yes, they smelled exactly like that nice little pile of chopped nuts that's now charred into a lump of coal in the bottom of your pan.

Grrrrr....

Secondly, when measuring ingredients, you MIGHT want to actually READ the measurement amounts on the utensils instead of PRESUMING that anything in the miscellaneous junk drawer utensil drawer is going to be a standard measure amount. That way, you'd avoid assuming the measuring cup hold a cupful, after all, instead of 2/3 of a cup. Theoretically...

Thirdly, you might (and this is only a suggestion) NOT want to procrastinate making 6batches of a recipe you've never tried, with a cooking deadline of only 4 hours till quittin' time. 'Cause when shabbat gets here, it's quittin' time! and you MIGHT not want to be left with multiple layers of Matzoh Crunch cooling in your fridge just then, especially when you notice there's a strata of nut, chocolate, and cracker crumbs layering all your countertops and every crevice of your floor...you might need to excavate before your husband walks across it all and bestows baking compost throughout the house. Except for the bits that are STUCK onto the floor and wont come off without scrubbing, of course.

All this before dinner...you DON'T want to leave EVERYTHING for the last minute, do you, huh, huh?? (bit o' sarcasm at my failed lack of planning in that department and its habit of repeating itself now and then...) :)

And of course, fourthly, you might want to set your timer for the CORRECT times to cook this and that, instead of panicking about 10 minutes into a step and wondering just HOW long that thing was SUPPOSED to boil?? My timer is shaped like a chicken, and is slightly deformed due to an unfortunate past misjudgement in stovetop-proximity ( a fact I try to subtly mask by taking blurry, overexposed pictures of it)

In moments of cooking duress, such as when I find I never SET the chicken timer, I confess all to the chicken timer. The chicken timer is myfriend. The chicken timer knows MUCH. Or maybe it's a rooster? Even if he's androgenous, he hears my most dire kitchen confessions, and he never tells. (But he sits a little uneasily the closer I move him to the hot stovetop these days...)

Before this gets any more disturbing, back to the food...

This treat is basically a sort of brickle or toffee in its hot liquid form before being poured over the matzah crackers and finished in the oven. The chocolate layer spread over it can be very thin. Here's a pic of the chocolate chips getting melty before being spread. They're going through that awkward teenager phase, sort of like chickens do between chickhood and adulthood. Not. So. Pretty.

Never fear...It looks like a mess while you're making it, but it finishes off nicely!

And thankfully, it's hard to mess up....even when you TRY :)

The only downside is the 42 pounds you can amass on your hips in a single night if over-indulging in this dessert. Don't even try to hide them...(remember, the chicken timer KNOWS...)

But if you're looking to store up some heat reserves in case winter really DOES last well into July this year, this is the recipe for you!

Enjoy!