Recipe Catch-Up - Week of 10/6 - Cola Cake

This recipe was inspired by a trip to Cracker Barrel. We went for breakfast one day, and Alec noticed a card on the table advertising their Coca-Cola Cake. Since we were there for breakfast, he didn't get it, but I mentioned I thought I'd made one before. I remember my friend J. had a Coca-Cola cookbook, and we tried a few recipes from it the summer I lived with her & her family. Anyway, all this led to the suggestion that I should make the cake for Alec's birthday, which was coming up. (If you don't know, Alec is a huge fan of Diet Coke and Coke Zero!)

So, I set out on a quest to find a recipe. Ultimately, I found it in the place I should have looked to start with - the Coca Cola website! They actually have a great section of recipes using their products.

I decided I was not about to make a brand-new kind of cake for a party without testing it out first. Since we were going to Kansas to see M.K. and some friends, I decided to make one and take it with us.

Cola Cake
from Coca-Cola Recipes

Ingredients
For cake:
2 c. sugar
2 c. all-purpose flour
1 1/2 c. small marshmallows
1/2 c. butter or margarine
1/2 c. vegetable oil
3 T cocoa
1 c. Coca-Cola
1 t. baking soda
1/2 c. buttermilk
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla extract

For Frosting:
1/2 c. butter
3 T. cocoa
6 T Coca-Cola
1 box (16 ounces) confectioners' sugar (note: this is 4 cups)
1 t. vanilla extract
1 c. chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl, sift sugar and flour. Add marshmallows.

In saucepan, mix butter, oil, cocoa and Coca-Cola. Bring to a boil and pour over dry ingredients; blend well.

Dissolve baking soda in buttermilk just before adding to batter along with eggs and vanilla extract, mixing well.

Pour into a well-greased 9 x 13-inch pan and bake 35-45 minutes. Remove from oven and frost immediately.

To make frosting, combine butter, cocoa and Coca-Cola in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and pour over confectioners' sugar, blending well. Add vanilla extract and pecans. Spread over hot cake. When cool, cut into squares and serve.

The Verdict
One thing I read on the AllRecipes website while I was looking for the recipe was that this cake is very sticky, and it does best baked in the 9 x 13 pan and served from there. I really wanted it to look like a real birthday cake, though, and use my new cake-decorating skills to decorate it. So, I came up with the idea of using a springform pan. For good measure, I lined the pan with parchment paper, which I "glued" to the sides of the pan with cooking spray. I wanted to spray it with Baker's Joy, but my canister was all clogged up so I skipped that on the test cake & hoped for the best, but it worked fine. The cake was a little lopsided on top, but it still looked okay.

I only used 3/4 c. of pecans, because that's how the brand I like to buy is sold, and I had a coupon for buy one, get one free of that size. But, it was more than plenty!

I didn't take any pictures of this version, but I will have some to share in the post about Alec's party!

Recipe Catch Up - Week of 7/12 - Mystery Chicken & Neiman Marcus Bars

So, it turns out that I actually made two things the week of 7/12. I kinda thought I had, but I could only specifically remember the Neiman Marcus Bars. But, a look in the camera revealed a picture of a chicken sandwich. I could only guess it was Mexican-style, since the photo showed chips & salsa as a side dish. So the question was, where did the recipe come from? I checked my "recipe box" on the Food Network website and my "starred items" on my Google Reader. Nothing looked familiar. I glanced through a couple of cookbooks. Didn't see anything. I checked in all the spots (other than where they belong) where I stash the recipes I print out. I didn't find it. So, I have picture with no recipe. I guess I might never know. It sure looks like it was good, though, doesn't it?

So on to the Neiman Marcus Bars. My first experience with this delicious dessert was several months ago. Alec and I went to a small town nearby for a sausage festival. In addition to the sausage (which I of course didn't eat) there was a bake sale. We had received free tickets for the sausage meal, so we decided to buy something from the bake sale to support the organization. Okay, that's not the only reason. We picked out a yummy looking plate of something called "Neiman Marcus Bars." We had never heard of them, so we decided to give them a try.

They were delicious! I started looking for a recipe, and I found quite a few, but none of them sounded exactly like what we bought. I never made them, and I kind of forgot about them for a while.

Until I was getting ready for my mom to come visit and trying to pick out some recipes to try while she was here. I pulled out a cookbook she gave me a long time ago, but I had never used, called "An Appetite for Art" which was published by the NC Museum of Art. As I was leafing through it, what did I see but a recipe for Neiman Marcus bars! So, I decided to give them a try.

Neiman Marcus Bars
from "An Appetite for Art" complied & edited by Elizabeth K. Norfleet for the NC Museum of Art.

Ingredients
1 box pound cake mix
1/2 c. butter
3 eggs, divided
1 c. chopped pecans
1 lb. confectioner's sugar
1 8-oz block cream cheese

Directions
Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9-inch x 13-inch pan with butter.

In medium bowl with electric mixer combine cake mix, butter, 1 egg and pecans. Press mixture into pan bottom.

In another bowl, beat with mixer to combine: sugar, cream cheese and 2 remaining eggs. Spread over cake mixture.

Bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown.

Cool and cut into bars. Makes 16 bars.

The Verdict
First of all, it made way more than 16 bars! I sent Alec to the office with about 1/2 of them! They tasted yummy, but I vaguely remembered a different texture from the ones we bought. It seems like maybe those had pecans in the cream cheese mixture as well as the base, or maybe just sprinkled on top. I will probably try another version next time!