Angel Food Cake

Hollis and Joy Miller with baby Mary (Miller) Bryan.

As my Mom's birthday is fast approaching I thought I would share with you the angel food cake recipe from my Grandma's handwritten cookbook.

Maurice Miller, Max Miller, and baby Mary (Miller) Bryan.

Every year for my mom's birthday my Grandma would make her an angel food cake and ice it with cool whip. Last year she requested the Brown Stone Front cake so this year I thought that I would go back to tradition and try to make her an angel food cake from scratch. I am going to keep my fingers crossed on this one!

-Jennifer Figgins
daughter of Jesse Figgins and Mary Bryan

Angel Food Cake

From Sunbeam Mix Master Book

Joy Miller's handwriting.

Ingredients: 

1 1/8 cups cake flour

1 3/4 cups sugar divided

1 1/2 cups egg whites

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp almond extract

Sift together cake flour and 3/4 cup sugar.

Sift mixture four more times.

Beat egg whites and salt together on number 10 speed until foamy (about 1 1/2 minutes).

Add cream of tartar.

Continue beating until stiff peaks form (about 2 1/2-3 minutes).

Rapidly sprinkle in 1 cup sugar while beating on number 8 speed (about 1 minute).

Then turn to number 2 speed and add vanilla and almond extract.

Sprinkle in sifted flour mixture evenly and quickly.

Beat for about 1 1/2 min.

Pour into tube pan and bake.

Wacky Cake and Fudge Frosting

Guess what I just had to do? Find the recipe for Wacky Cake! :-)
I will attempt to write it here from memory now, but I have the recipe card just in case.

I remember making this cake ALOT, and it was easy to do because I just mixed it up in the cake pan. Michael and I would make roads and holes and hills, and when we added the liquid ingredients to mix in, the roads and holes became rivers and lakes! The hills sometimes turned into volcanoes and erupted, spilling lava down to the rivers. It was great fun, so the recipe was easy to remember.

When I was in Kindergarten, Mom came home from Parent/Teacher Conferences and said that my teacher, Mrs Combs had not believed me when I said I'd made a cake the night before. I then recited the entire recipe for her! I guess she had to double check with Mom about the recipe, because she couldn't write it down as quickly as I said it! Ha. She just didn't believe me!

-Donna Joy Hendrickson
daughter of Maurice and Marie Miller

(Now to see how my memory is 40+ years later!)

Wacky Cake

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
6 tbsp Cocoa
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

(YES! So far so good...)

2 cups water
2 tsp vinegar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla

(Okay, I only messed up on the vinegar. I knew something was 3/4 cup, but it sure wasn't the vinegar! :-+ Oh, I'd also only written 1/3 cup oil...wouldn't do so good on a test, would I?)

Mix all dry ingredients in the cake pan.

Don't forget to make roads and hills!

Mix liquid ingredients in a pitcher, then pour into cake pan and mix well.

Tap the pan to get rid of bubbles, and wipe the edges clean. 

(I guess we were messy!)

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

This recipe will make 2 and 1/2 dozen cupcakes.

Bake cupcakes 20 to 25 minutes.

Now, this Wacky Cake was not complete without the fudge frosting on top!

Fudge Frosting

Ingredients:
3 cups sugar
4 Tablespoons cocoa
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp Karo syrup
1 cup milk
1/4 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla

Cook to a soft ball: sugar, cocoa, salt, Karo syrup, and milk.

Cool. Add butter and vanilla.

*Note: That was all that the recipe card said, but...

We cooled the first part by placing the hot pan in a larger pan or bowl with cold water. Changing the water often, or keeping the cool water running into the outer pan/bowl.

Tip fudge pan away from running water, being careful not to let any water get into the fudge. We had to stir this vigorously and continuously with a wooden spoon. Then add the butter and vanilla, and mix thoroughly. When it starts to stiffen, pour on top of cooled cake, and spread out.

You can make fancy swirls too! If you wait too long to pour, the frosting will clump up really stiff all in the center of the cake! It still tasted good, but didn't look so pretty.

Grandma Ridlen's Coffee Cake

Every Christmas my mother would make Grandma Ridlen’s Coffee Cake, which was made in a loaf, like a quick bread. Because it is made with molasses and coffee it can be rather strong flavored and some people don’t like it.

- Mary Bryan   

daughter of Hollis and Joy Miller

Margaret Ridlen's Coffee Cake
  

Joy Miller's handwriting. Grandma (Margaret) Ridlen's recipe.

Ingredients: 

2 cups sugar

1 cup butter

3 eggs, beaten

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

½ tsp allspice

½ tsp cloves

1 cup warm molasses

1 cup strong coffee

2 tsp soda

2 tbsp boiling water

1 pound raisins or currants

1 cup nut meats

4 cups flour

Cream sugar and butter together.

Mix in beaten eggs, spices, molasses and coffee.

Dissolve soda in boiling water and stir into mixture. 

Then add flour, raisins and nutmeats.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

Cool.

Wrap and place in an airtight container.

Makes 2 loaves.

Improves with age!

Friday Night Homemade Ice Cream & Cake

When I was growing up we spent every Friday night (it seemed like, anyway) with Jack and Gertrude Holmes and their family. One Friday Mom and Gertrude would clean our house and we'd have supper and make homemade ice cream and the big folks would play pinochle. The next week it was cleaning the other house and supper and ice cream and pinochle.

We kids all loved summer nights when the darkness was warm and lit up by fireflies. We would run around playing hide and seek while my Dad and Jack sat on the front step and used the flat side of an axe to smash big chunks of ice in a gunny sack. They broke the ice into small pieces perfect for packing around the round metal cylinder holding the creamy mixture that would become the yummy ice cream. They would turn the handle until the ice cream froze and then sometimes we got to lick the inside paddle while the ice cream was dished up for everyone to share.  There were always big pieces of chocolate cake to go with the ice cream.

Hollis Miller breaking ice with his axe

We always petitioned the adults to make chocolate ice cream, but they wouldn't. Leroy and I, being the oldest of the youngest four children, figured out that mixing chocolate cake in vanilla ice cream made a nice substitute for chocolate ice cream. It was working very well until the younger two kids started to imitate us and made some messes. We were banned from mixing cake and ice cream after that. Until we came up with the argument that sometimes the cake just fell into the ice cream and we were certainly willing to eat the result rather than throw it away. Again, that worked well until the younger two kids started to imitate us. <sigh>
 

- Mary Bryan

daughter of Hollis and Joy Miller 

Brownstone Front Cake

Recipe by Margaret Ridlen (Mama) in Joy Miller's handwriting

Ingredients: 
1 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup lard
2 eggs
1 tsp soda
1 cup sour cream
2 heaping tbsp cocoa
1/2 cup boiling water
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla 

Cream 1 1/2 cups sugar and 1/2 cup lard.

Add 2 eggs (unbeaten) to the creamed mixture and beat well.

In a separate bowl mix 1 tsp soda 1 cup sour cream .

Mix 2 heaping tablespoons cocoa with a 1/2 cup boiling water.

Add cocoa mixture to batter; then stir in 2 cups flour and 1 teaspoon salt.

Add 1 teaspoon vanilla and beat well.

Pour batter into an 8" x 11" pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes. You can also divide the batter evenly between 2 or 3 round layer pans.

Once the cake is cool to the touch frost with cooked fudge frosting. 

 *Note from Joy Miller: I have never been able to make this cake successfully using an electric mixer.