primitives discuss Texas sheet cakes

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=236x66608

Oh my.

As usual, the primitives making things more difficult than they need to be.

grasswire  (1000+ posts)      Tue Jul-07-09 03:09 PM
Original message
 
Sheet cake recipes aside from Texas Sheet Cake?

Anyone got a great recipe?

Should make about 30-40 servings.

No recipe needed, other than what's printed on the side of boxes of Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker cake-mix.

First up, the warped primitive, who for some reason turned up her nose at the rather lucrative practice of registered nursing, for reasons yet to be learned:

Warpy  (1000+ posts)        Tue Jul-07-09 03:17 PM
Response to Original message

1. You'd have to double it but the apple cake recipe in "The King Arthur Flour 200th Anniversary Baking Book" simply can't be beat.

It requires no frosting, just has a crust of cinnamon sugar on the top. The cake is layered with thinly sliced apples (a mandoline is almost a must) and uses oil instead of solid shortening. It's surprisingly light and rich at the same time, a weird but delightful combination.

I've never met anyone who turned up his or her nose at it.

Warpy  (1000+ posts)        Tue Jul-07-09 06:04 PM
Response to Reply #5
 
7. More like this

Mix 5 T sugar and 2 t cinnamon powder and set aside.

Peel, core, and thinly slice 4 crisp, tart apples.

Mix the cake batter:

3 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup vegetable oil
2 c sugar
4 eggs
¼ c apple juice
2 tsp vanilla

Oil a 12x20 or so sheet pan and drop a few spoonfuls of batter in the bottom. Cover with a layer of thinly sliced apples and sprinkle those with the cinnamon/sugar mixture. Repeat twice, ending with a layer of cake batter. Top with remaining cinnamon/sugar mixture. Bake at 375 for 45 minutes to an hour, making sure the center is set and a straw comes out clean. Allow to cool slightly in the pan, cut into serving pieces while still a bit warm. Best served slightly warm but is certainly good cool, especially if you're pairing it with vanilla ice cream.

The batter blobs will spread out as the cake cooks and you'll see what looks like a fine layer cake, separated by layers of sliced apples. A mandoline is best for doing the apples, and I usually use the cheapo Chinese market one instead of hauling out the larger one, peeling and slicing the apples into the pan as I do the layers.

Gild the lily by sifting confectioner's sugar over the whole business, with or without a doily pattern.

A couple of boxes of Betty Crocker or Duncan Hines--or Hell, even store-brand or generic--cake mixes is just as good.  Easier, cleaner, and less time too.

The always embullient Grandma, who waves at franksolich at the end of her comment:

hippywife  (1000+ posts)        Tue Jul-07-09 07:31 PM
Response to Original message
 
8. Now that's something I don't have nor do I have room to store and that's a sheet cake pan. I always make Texas Sheet cake in a 9x13 and it comes out a little thicker but still great. I just can't seem to trust it in my jelly roll pans. Always envisioning a great big mess in the oven when it overflows.

I would think almost any cake could be adapted and the baking time shortened to accommodate a sheet cake pan.

As usual, I recommend the Fanny Farmer Fresh Banana Cake. It's about as old fashioned as you can get and doesn't require frosting, either. When I double it, I get a 9x13 and a 9x9.

I would imagine you could use this basic sheet cake recipe and then add your own flair to it:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/birthday-...

This is for a 9x13 and looks easily adaptable to change out the vegan ingredients:

http://bittersweetblog.wordpress.com/2009/06/05/take-it... /

There's a few here, as well:

http://www.delightful-cake-recipes.com/sheet-cake-recip...

I dunno.  Boxed cake mixes are cheap.

[Servonaut]

My family has lived in Texas for many generations and I've never heard of Texas sheet cakes.

So I googled it.



Looks like brownies to me. 

 

[franksolich]

My family has lived in Texas for many generations and I've never heard of Texas sheet cakes.

So I googled it.

Looks like brownies to me.

I suspect the primitives are trying to be fancy.

A Texas sheet cake is probably just an ordinary sheet cake, nothing more.

The primitives do things like this, trying to appear all fancy and sophisticated.

Like when the sparkling husband primitive uses "sorbet" when he talks about sherbet, so as to appear continental.  Or other primitives who use "chai" instead of "tea."

It's all very childish, but as we know, the primitives never grew up.

[The Village Idiot]

Its just ordinary cake mix, thinner and one layer is all. Toppings as you like.

stoopid. easy.

add choco pudding to the mix, like the box suggests.... its awesome.... (I was gonna say yummy but Frank hates that)

[franksolich]

(I was gonna say yummy but Frank hates that)

So does GOBUCKS.

And when GOBUCKS and franksolich are united on something, woe to the perpetrators.

[BadCat]

hippywife  (1000+ posts)        Tue Jul-07-09 07:31 PM
Response to Original message
 
8. Now that's something I don't have nor do I have room to store and that's a sheet cake pan.

What kind of hovel does this witch live in?  Not enough room for sheet cake pan??

[franksolich]

What kind of hovel does this witch live in?  Not enough room for sheet cake pan??

That's Grandma, who lives out in the sticks somewhere in rural northeastern Oklahoma.

Grandma and her husband are originally from Ohio.

They moved to where they're at because they wanted to live life as life was lived in the olden days.

I've said this many times, but I'll keep saying it--I really doubt Abe and Mary in their log cabin or Joe and Sadie in their sod house had cat-litter boxes, microwave ovens, indoor plumbing, pharmaceuticals, automobiles, internet access, &c., &c., &c.

Dorothy, the snobbish primitive, the "uppityperson" primitive, is just as bad.

Dorothy even has an electric log-splitter.

[miskie]

this confuses me - a 'sheet cake pan' = how about a run-of-the-mill 6 X 9 roasting pan ? Thats what the Miskie household has used for years. - and I would think that everyone who owns an oven has one. Believe it or not DUmmies - it is possible to use one item in multiple ways. I have Pyrex one. cake pops right out, ready for frosting or a second layer. 

[Servonaut]

I suspect the primitives are trying to be fancy.

A Texas sheet cake is probably just an ordinary sheet cake, nothing more.

The primitives do things like this, trying to appear all fancy and sophisticated.

Like when the sparkling husband primitive uses "sorbet" when he talks about sherbet, so as to appear continental.  Or other primitives who use "chai" instead of "tea."

It's all very childish, but as we know, the primitives never grew up.

That makes sense Frank.  I thought about calling my Mom to ask her about "Texas sheet cakes"

but if I call her twice in one week she'll think I'm in trouble.   :innocent:

[AllosaursRus]

So does GOBUCKS.

And when GOBUCKS and franksolich are united on something, woe to the perpetrators.

As long as you don't say "enjoy". Cause then I'd have to hunt you down, and I'm very good at what I do!

[franksolich]

Believe it or not DUmmies - it is possible to use one item in multiple ways.

That, sir, appears to be too complicated of a concept for the primitives to absorb.

It's been a while, but I've written about this before, pertaining to the primitives hanging around in the cooking and baking forum on Skins's island.

The primitives cannot grasp the idea that an item can have more than one use.

It blows the mind away, how much the cooking and baking primitives whine about "lack of storage space".....and then boast about all of the cooking utensils they own.

Primitives, for example, have one 2-quart stainless steel pot for boiling corn, another 2-quart stainless steel pot for boiling peas, a third 2-quart stainless steel pot for boiling beans, a fourth 2-quart stainless steel pot for boiling rice, a fifth 2-quart stainless steel pot for boiling noodles, &c., &c., &c.

It doesn't occur to the primitives that they need only one 2-quart stainless steel pot.

[miskie]

That, sir, appears to be too complicated of a concept for the primitives to absorb.

It's been a while, but I've written about this before, pertaining to the primitives hanging around in the cooking and baking forum on Skins's island.

The primitives cannot grasp the idea that an item can have more than one use.

It blows the mind away, how much the cooking and baking primitives whine about "lack of storage space".....and then boast about all of the cooking utensils they own.

Primitives, for example, have one 2-quart stainless steel pot for boiling corn, another 2-quart stainless steel pot for boiling peas, a third 2-quart stainless steel pot for boiling beans, a fourth 2-quart stainless steel pot for boiling rice, a fifth 2-quart stainless steel pot for boiling noodles, &c., &c., &c.

It doesn't occur to the primitives that they need only one 2-quart stainless steel pot.

That is bizarre - I have a few different roasting pans of different sizes. Ive cooked everything in them from cake, to scalloped potatoes, to.. well.. roasts. Though I did make a mistake earlier - the pan I use is 9 X 12, not 6 x 9. wrong multiple of three..

Our kitchen is uncomplicated. Id say the only 'specialty' item I have is my lobster steamer - and even that has been used to steam several kinds of shellfish, and assorted meats and vegtables that would be found in a typical New England clamboil -  not just lobster. 

[franksolich]

Our kitchen is uncomplicated. I'd say the only 'specialty' item I have is my lobster steamer - and even that has been used to steam several kinds of shellfish, and assorted meats and vegtables that would be found in a typical New England clamboil -
 not just lobster.

That's what separates we decent and civilized people from the primitives, sir.

I myself, well, I have a spatula.  I've used it to turn hash browns, I've used it to turn eggs, I've used it to pry out pieces of cake, I've used it to flip pancakes, I've used it when frying broccoli in butter, I've used it for mixing paint, I've used it to get out a piece of pie, I've used it to turn over french toast, &c., &c., &c.

One spatula, all these uses.

Primitives would have a spatula for each use, a drawerful of spatulae.

[Chris]

I admit, I'm guilty of multiple spatula ownership.  I have a steel one for the grill (plastic would melt), a small plastic one for sheet cakes, a large plastic one for pancakes (the cake one is too small to flip a decent-sized pancake), a high-temperature rubber spatula for omlettes (can't make a decent omlette with a crappy spatula), and another rubber spatula as a backup.

And if I run out of spatulas, I have an assortment of wooden spoons.

[Texacon]

No, no, no, no, no!  You bunch of cretins and SHAME ON YOU Servo!!

A Texas sheet cake is NOT like other sheet cakes.  It has the same ingredients but it is baked in a 62" x 62" cake pan.

 

KC

[franksolich]

You know, back when I was in college, there was some guy on television who used to sell cooking gadgets.  I didn't watch television myself, but in passing by, I'd ask a roommate or a friend what was going on.

The guy's name was Ron popcorn-something, and he sold all sorts of plastic gee-whizzes and whirlly-gigs and whiz-o-matics and whoop-de-dos.

I'll bet the cooking and baking primitives have cupboards, pantries, closets, full of those gee-whizzes, whirlly-gigs, whiz-o-matics, and whoop-de-dos.

[Chris]

You know, back when I was in college, there was some guy on television who used to sell cooking gadgets.  I didn't watch television myself, but in passing by, I'd ask a roommate or a friend what was going on.

The guy's name was Ron popcorn-something, and he sold all sorts of plastic gee-whizzes and whirlly-gigs and whiz-o-matics and whoop-de-dos.

I'll bet the cooking and baking primitives have cupboards, pantries, closets, full of those gee-whizzes, whirlly-gigs, whiz-o-matics, and whoop-de-dos.

Ron Popeil.

My favorite was the combover in a can, the spray-on bald spot remover.  I alway wonder if that dehydrator was any good.

[miskie]

Ron Popeil.

My favorite was the combover in a can, the spray-on bald spot remover.  I alway wonder if that dehydrator was any good.

Ive always been partial to the Presto HotDogger - where hot dogs are cooked via electrocution.



No kitchen gadget ever made has had a more specific use. - Jam hot dogs onto electrodes and zap them - Does it get any better than electrocuted food ? I didn't think so. 

[AprilRazz]

I was always partial to the Pocket Fisherman and MR, Microphone myself.

[Chris]

Ive always been partial to the Presto HotDogger - where hot dogs are cooked via electrocution.



No kitchen gadget ever made has had a more specific use. - Jam hot dogs onto electrodes and zap them - Does it get any better than electrocuted food ? I didn't think so. 

ha ha ha ha ha!!  I never saw that one.  It must have not been very popular.  I think my favorite was the rotisserie... it might have actually been useful.

[Ree]

The dehydrators work....



I like the "set it and forget it" thingy

[Chris]

The dehydrators work....

I like the "set it and forget it" thingy

I think that was the rotisserie.  That infrared/convection cooker that Mister T. hawks is creepy, watching a full-sized roast cook in five seconds.

[kenth]

Primitives, for example, have one 2-quart stainless steel pot for boiling corn, another 2-quart stainless steel pot for boiling peas, a third 2-quart stainless steel pot for boiling beans, a fourth 2-quart stainless steel pot for boiling rice, a fifth 2-quart stainless steel pot for boiling noodles, &c., &c., &c.

It doesn't occur to the primitives that they need only one 2-quart stainless steel pot.

I've wondered if it's related to their basic lack of hygiene. Stuff cooked in the corn pot always comes out tasting like corn. Pea pot the same, and so forth. Introduce cleansers and the pot magically becomes multi-purpose.

[Chris]

I've wondered if it's related to their basic lack of hygiene. Stuff cooked in the corn pot always comes out tasting like corn. Pea pot the same, and so forth. Introduce cleansers and the pot magically becomes multi-purpose.

touche.

[kenth]

Ive always been partial to the Presto HotDogger - where hot dogs are cooked via electrocution.



No kitchen gadget ever made has had a more specific use. - Jam hot dogs onto electrodes and zap them - Does it get any better than electrocuted food ? I didn't think so. 

LOL. That is the source of one of my most painful memories. My grandmother had one, and made us some hotdogs one visit. I made the mistake of not waiting for the cooldown, which had to be on the order of hours. I forked one, threw it on a bun and took a bite. I remember nothing else but excruciating pain. Pizza sauce wishes it could do that much damage.