The Queen of Tarts

A Primer on Funeral Cake

I got a lot more than a college education when I spent 4 years in Dallas, TX for college.  My freshman roommate, Margaret was from Shreveport, Louisiana, and she was not shy about letting people know it. All things that one might attribute to the South and Southern hospitality, I learned from Margaret (and from being in a sorority at SMU...but even Margaret played a huge part in helping with that).

I had my first fish fry with her (and am embarrassed to say that it did not go over as well as her father might have liked), I learned how to two-step at Mama Marias while holding some kind of alcoholic drink in a big red plastic cup.  I also learned that people do in fact drink and drive in Louisiana.  In fact, it is almost sanctioned - there are drive through margarita shacks.  There is a season for alligator hunting, the words "Sir" and "M'am" are ALWAYS used no matter what, and life really is easier if you somehow got yourself into the "right" sorority.  Luckily for us, Margaret and I managed to get into the right greek houses and have fun with it.  So on one weekend, when we drove from SMU in Dallas to LSU in Baton Rouge, we stopped in Shreveport and her mother handed us a cake to take with us on the road.  As we drove through the state, the deep chocolate smell from the still-warm cake permeated Margaret's red VW Fox.  When I asked what kind of cake it was, Margaret simply responded in her sexy southern drawl:

"Why, it's funeral cake."

"Funeral cake?  What the hell is a funeral cake?"

"Well, when someone dies, you have to bring something - you know like a casserole?  My mother also brings this cake.  So it's funeral cake."

I thought about that for a while.  Funeral cake... it was kind of morbid to name a cake after an event associated with death, but then again, we were in the South, and people are just more hospitable in the South, and if you are going to bring a casserole to a funeral, why not bring a cake as well, right?

To this day, Funeral Cake is one of my favorite cakes.  It is incredibly easy, and let me put it out there right now, there is nothing, and I mean nothing that is healthy about this cake.  You are not going to find the words "organic" in the ingredients.  However, it is an honest-to-goodness fantastic cake, and you do not need the sad occasion of a funeral to make it.  However be warned, once this cake comes out of the oven, it will not last long.  I have changed it ever so slightly and boozed it up. However, giving that I have added copious amounts of bourbon to the original recipe, I think that I would only make my friends in Louisiana proud.

Laissez les bon temps roulez - and thank you Margaret and Mrs. Sale!

 

Funeral Cake (adapted from THE SALES)

Preheat over to 350 F and grease a bundt pan

1 Box Chocolate Cake Mix
1 Box Chocolate Instant Jello-Pudding Mix
8 oz sour cream
1/3 cup good quality Bourbon (or rum if it hits you...)
2/3 cup water
3 eggs
2/3 cup oil
1 cup buttermilk
12 oz chocolate chips (about 2 cups)

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Lightly grease the pan.
• Mix all of the ingredients together in a large bowl.
• Tap the pan on the counter a few times to release any air bubbles.
• Bake for about 50-60 minutes or until a cake tester (or thin knife) inserted comes out clean.
• Allow the cake to cool for about 10 minutes in the pan on a cooling rack and then remove the  from pan and cool completely on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

 

Red Velvet Cupcakes

I am not from the South - no where close. I am from quite North of the Mason Dixon line, however I chose quite deliberately to go to college South.  Now I could come up with some amazing story about why I chose to go to the South for college, but really it all comes down the culture, and the culture behind the Belles of the South.  One of the things I learned while living in the South is the importance and the tradition of food - good food (that you Margaret!).  For some reason, whenever I think of Red Velvet Cake, I immediately think of the South even though Red Velvet Cake traditionally comes from NYC (I hear gasps from Belles all around!).

So when my husband told me that Red Velvet was his favorite cake (, I had to find a way to make and perfect it. I searched for recipe after recipe, both in cookbooks and online.  I am sure that I could have made a quick phone call to Georgia, Louisiana, or Texas, and received some passed down family recipe, however I finally settled on Bakerella's recipe, and it was due in large part to her photos, which had me scrambling to my mixer in seconds to whip this baby up.  

The cake is light and moist and not intensely sweet - that is the job of the cream cheese frosting.  However, I have taken out some of the sugar so that there is a bit more tartness to the rich toping and I found that there is more of a balance.  I also made a few adjustments to the recipe to give it a slightly more healthy spin.  No one will notice these subtle changes, but you can feel a little less guilty when you reach for that second (or third) cupcake!

 

Red Velvet Cake (adapted from Bakerella)

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs
1 cup oil + 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
red food coloring (add in enough to give a rich red color - more or less depending on your preference)

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners or lightly grease the pan.
• Beat eggs in a bowl and add remaining liquid ingredients (except for food coloring) and stir together with whisk/mix until blended. Set aside.
• Place all the dry ingredients in your mixing bowl and stir together really good with wire whisk.
• Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on medium-high for about a minute or until completely combined - now add the food coloring.
• Pour about 1/4 - 1/3 cup into each cupcake space and then drop the pan on the counter a few times to release any air bubbles.
• Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
• After about ten minutes, remove the cupcakes from pan and cool completely on a wire rack. 
• Then make the frosting.

 

Cream Cheese Frosting

16 oz. light cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
8 cups confectioners’ sugar

• Beat cream cheese and butter on high until creamy. Add vanilla.
• Slowly add the sugar to the mixture and scrape down the sides of the bowl in between each addition if needed.  It is probably a good thing to taste test along the way... : )
• Place the frosting in an icing bag and through a frosting tip (1M) on it and get going - to make the cupcakes extra fun, push the tip into the top of the cooled cupcake and squeeze out some of the frosting so that the cupcake with be filled inside with the frosting.  You will notice the cupcake start to expand a bit.  Once you have squeezed a little in (about 2 tsp) frost the top.
• It is important to note that this will make more frosting than you need - but I like to have some on hand for late night snacks... a spoonful or two is really satisfying!

DELICIOUS - and very hard to stay away from!