Month: August 2012

Oriana makes me smile. Rachel makes me giggle. Together they are just plain old fun.

Anyway, sometimes Oriana bakes. She makes the most amazing cupcakes. Rachel swears up and down that Oriana’s Kahlua cupcakes are the best. But then I tasted her “dirty girl scout” cupcakes. Oh my, amazing!

So continuing on Oriana’s theme of creating baking goods with a taste of Kahlua and her current fascination with using shots as inspiration and my belief that Rachel is half sprite, I present the Oriana Rachel – based on a White Leprechaun shot.

The Oriana Rachel

2 sticks butter, softened
1/2 cup Crisco
3 cups sugar
6 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3 cups flour
1/3 cup plus 2 Tablespoons Kahlua
1/3 cup plus 2 Tablespoons heavy cream
2 Tablespoons Irish whiskey

Preheat oven to 325*. Grease and flour a bundt pan.

Cream together the butter, Crisco and sugar. Add eggs one at a time. Beat thoroughly between each addition. Add vanilla. Sift together the salt, baking powder, cinnamon and flour. Add flour mixture to batter in thirds, alternating with liquids. Pour into bundt pan and bake for 65-75 minutes. Let cake cool for 10 minutes before inverting onto cake plate.

Sometimes I think all wrestlers (and former wrestlers) do is train, cut weight and eat. Some of the things they eat are rather intriguing though. Recently Ben posted a picture of sweet potatoes and bacon. For some reason this looked delicious to me.

Then again bacon was involved.

Ben’s House of Bacon Pound Cake

2 sticks butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 cups sweet potatoes, baked and mashed
5 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 cups flour
8 – 10 strips of bacon, baked and finely chopped*

Preheat oven to 350*. Butter and flour a bundt pan.

Cream butter, sugar and sweet potatoes. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each egg. Add vanilla, salt and baking soda. Mix in flour 1 cup at a time. Stir in the bacon. Pour batter into prepared bundt ban and bake for 1 hour. Test to make sure cake is done. Let cake cool for 10 minutes, then invert onto cake plate. If you wish, you may pour maple bacon glaze over the cake.

Maple Bacon Glaze

4 tablespoons butter, melted
2 cups powder sugar
1/2 to 3/4 cup maple syrup
3 slices of bacon, finally chopped

Stir the melted butter into the powdered sugar until as smooth as you can get it. Add the maple syrup 1 Tablespoon at a time until the glaze is the consistency that you like. Mix in bacon. Pour over cake. (I had to head the glaze for 20 seconds to get it to pouring consistency.)

*We always argue over the proper way to cook bacon. Is it better crispy and crunchy or chewy? Well, for this cake, it is better that it is … as my kids call it … floppy.