Beef Bourguignon on high fiber egg noodles, with butternut squash and Broccoli Dessert German Chocolate Cake

Kim Ann Vollers Full Proof Chocolate Cake with German Chocolate Frosting

I am having a small dinner party tonight and thought that German Chocolate Cake would make a nice desert. I usually buy desert for my parties because, I do not like to bake.

Last night at spinning class as my body was melting onto the mat below me, I turned to my friend Kim Ann who was barely even breathing hard and asked for her German Chocolate Cake Recipe. After class while I was in the shower she wrote it down from memory (pretty impressive I think) and left it at the front desk. Kim has an incredible skill for baking and cooking, so before I could grab the recipe people were making copies of it.

I got all my ingredients out to make my cake this morning. My first dilemma- to sift, or not to sift? It is like asking if you should tell the truth, of course I know when baking a cake you should sift your flour. But why? The bag of flour say’s pre-sifted. I sifted the flour and followed the directions. Kim said the cake is fool proof, I don’t know if this fool will prove her wrong.

The final direction before baking, was to add a cup of boiling water. Why boiling? I did it anyway, and it looked really watery but good thing I did not add a bunch more stuff because, I just took the cakes out of the oven and they look perfect. I had one annoying thing happen, the batter dripped out of the bottom of  the spring-form pan and smoked the whole kitchen up while the cake was baking and then I was trying to get the little cake, burn bubbles, out of the oven with a spatula. I ended up putting tin foil under the pan and this worked pretty well. Luckily the smoke detectors did not go off. I did have a message from Kim after the cake was baked, you should have 1 1/2 tsp of baking powder and baking soda. And she uses 1/2 of the cooking oil and the cake is still very moist.

Chocolate Cake (Kim Ann Vollers)

Grease and flour 2 round cake pans

Mix Together:

2 C. of Sugar

1 ¾ C. of Flour (Sifted?)

¾ C. of Cocoa

1 tsp. of Baking Soda

1 tsp. of Baking Powder

1 Tsp. of Salt

Add

1 C. of Milk

2 Eggs

1 Tsp. of Vanilla

½ C. of Vegetable oil

Beat on high for 2 min

Then add slowly 1 cup of  (boiling) water.  This will be a very runny batter but it is suppose to be.

Put in your round pans and bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

Cool  completely.

German Chocolate Cake Frosting:

1 can of evaporated milk

2 c. of  sugar

1 ½ sticks of butter

4 egg yokes (beaten slightly)

Bring up to boil stirring for 12 minutes. Important  advice from Kim Ann. “Do not get distracted during the 12 minutes, stir constantly until golden in color and thick.

Turn off heat and add  1 ½ cups of chopped pecans and 7 oz of unsweetened coconut.

Frost cooled cake.

 We had friends over for dinner  Melody, Dorothy  and David Stauffer, John Bledsoe from next door, Betty Anne and David McGuire and Linda Thomas. John Bledsoe made an appetizer of sesame encrusted tuna served on wilted arugula, drizzled with a wasabi mayonnaise.

 I served Beef Bourguignon on high fiber egg noodles, with butternut squash and Broccoli.

Marinade the beef in wine the night before. Drain in the morning. Dry and shake in flour. Brown 4 pieces of bacon in skillet and brown the stew beef.  Put in large Dutch oven and cover with wine,. Cook at 300 for 3 hours. Thicken with a rue, add salt to taste , some fresh basil and cooked pearl onions.

Steam your broccoli.

Steam Squash, when tender mash with cream cheese.

 

Serve the beef over egg noodles with broccoli and squash on the side.