Nana's 75th Birthday Cake

We threw Nana a surprise 75th Birthday this year.  It was alot of fun...and of course I made the cake.  Nana loves crosswords, so I found a website that you can create your own crossword puzzle.  I entered in 16 clues/answers about Nana and it created a personalized puzzle.  I then made fondant and drew the crossword puzzle and clues onto the fondat using edible markers.  I had been asking Nana for the recipe for her favorite cake and Uncle Chet told me what to fill it with and ice with.  As usual, I made everything from scratch, even the fondant. (which was a pain in the butt, but I did it and thought it tasted great).

Nana's 1-2-3-4 Cake
1 Cup butter or margarine
2 Cups Sugar
3 Cups Cake Flour (if use presto cake flour omit the baking powder and salt)
1 Tbsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
4 eggs separated
1 Cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

Grease the bottom of a 13x9inch pan.  Line with parchment paper.  Grease the parchment paper.
Cream butter and sugar. Add egg yolks and vanilla. Add flour and milk alternating between the two only until incorporated. Set Aside.
Beat egg whites to stiff but not dry peaks. Fold 1/3 into the cake batter and then add the rest gently.
Bake at 350 for about 35 minutes.

Lemon Curd Filling
5.25 oz butter cubed and divided
4.5 oz sugar divided
4.5 oz lemon juice
zest of 1 lemon
4.5 oz egg yolks

Combine half of the butter, half of the sugar, all of the lemon jucie and zest in a saucepan.  Heat until sugar dissolves.

Blend the egg yolks with the remaining sugar.  Temper by adding 1/3 of the hot lemon sauce, stiring constantly with a whisk.  Return the tempered egg mixture to the saucepan.  Continue cooking , stirring constantly with the whisk until the mixture comes to a boil.

Add the remaining butter

Strain the curd into a large shallow bowl.  Cover and refrigerate to cool.


Buttercream Icing
2 extra large egg whites (room temp)

3/4 Cup sugar
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
1/3 tsp salt
3 sticks butter (room temp - not melted)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix egg whites, sugar, cream of tartar and salt in heat proof mixing bowl. Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water and heat until warm to touch - about 5 minutes. Beat with whisk attachment for 5 minutes or until stiff peaks form.

Add 1 T of butter at a time on medium speed mixing until just incorporated. Scrape down bowl and add chocolate and vanilla. Mix until blended. If too soft put in refrigerator for a few minutes and beat again.

Fondant
1 1/2 oz. water
1 package unflavored gelatin
4 1/2 oz light corn syrup (I only had glucose on hand so I used that)
1 1/2 tsp. glycerin (optional)
1 lb 8 oz confectioners sugar

Mix the water and gelatin and heat gently to dissove only.  Remove from the heat and stir in the corn syrup and glycerin (if using). 

Add the sugar and mix until smooth and well combined.  Form into a disc, lightly coat with shortening and wrap in plastic if not using right away.  Best if used the same day. 

I had some trouble getting the sugar to mix into the other ingredients.  So I took out of the pan and put into my mixing bowl with the paddle attachment and let it knead together for a minute.   It worked perfect.

Nana's Pinch Cookies

My Nana has been making these cookies for as long as I can remember.  The recipe is her mothers, so I guess that makes me the fourth generation to make this cookie. (I don't remember my mother ever making these though). They are easy enough to make but time consuming.  I'm not going to give the recipe away, but it is a flour/butter cookie filled with apricot jam and chopped up nuts. (or you can use prunes or poppy seeds - which I don't like so I don't make)  I make them every year for Christmas and everyone loves them.  I use the cutter that my Grandfather made to cut them to give them a zig zag edge.