The UT Recipes: Strawberry Graham Cracker Cake

Back in March I shared my discovery of an old recipe book at an Austin vintage store. In the first post, I made Pistachio Swirl cake (huge hit) and Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies (good but maybe not something I make again right away). I asked for votes as to which recipe I would make next. Since there was no clear winner, I've decided to make all of the other recipes over the course of the next few months. April's recipe: Strawberry Graham Cracker Cake.

This is one of those recipes I assumed would be easy to make. When I first glanced at the recipe, it looked like everything was in order and it would be quick and simple to knock this one out. Upon closer inspection, several "challenges" immediately presented themselves:

1. In the cake recipe, there is an ingredient missing. It says (in very neat handwriting) "1 teaspoon" but then it's blank. 
2. The frosting recipe is missing measurements.
3. There are no strawberries anywhere but in the title of the recipe. They're not listed as ingredients nor are they listed in the instructions of the either the cake or frosting recipe.

Since I bake cakes often enough, I'm pretty sure that I know the solutions to these challenges: the mystery ingredient is probably vanilla, the measurements are cups, and the strawberries are meant to be decorative. Since I like baking for its preciseness, I decided to do some research to confirm my solutions before starting the cake. Graham cracker cakes were a popular dessert in the late 1960s/early 1970s so I was able to find references to recipes that might have inspired the one in the UT Book. Several graham cracker cake recipes (after shifting through hundreds of no-bake and pie recipes) supported my thought that the missing cake ingredient was either vanilla. This recipe is closest to the UT Book recipe so I've decided vanilla is my mystery ingredient. My mother also shared my grandmother's recipe with me; it's her favorite cake but I don't believe I've ever tried it before. It's different from the UT Book recipe since there's flour and shortening in it. It does include vanilla so even though it's not similar it does support my vanilla theory. Now that I have it, I plan to try it at some point in the future too.

As for the frosting, I found lots of whipped cream frosting recipes including one from my own recipe book and they're all pretty similar; ultimately it depends on how "sturdy" you want your frosting. Whipped cream frosting is fairly light and airy (like whipped cream) but it melts quickly and has to be refrigerated until the point of serving. I decided to combine the UT Book recipe with a recipe I found online for a sturdier frosting since I took the cake into work. I like cream cheese based frostings; they're easier to work with and add a layer of flavor that I find complimentary to most cakes.

Final challenge: the strawberries. In looking through recipes for no-bake and pies that use graham crackers, it's pretty clear that the strawberries are for decoration or layering. I decided to incorporate the strawberries into the frosting and use sliced strawberries for the decoration. I'm not a huge improviser when it comes to baking (that's why I like it so much) but I think my choices with the strawberries were the correct ones to make.

Recipe-wise, this one is pretty easy. The "hardest" part of it was crushing the graham crackers; I could have used my food processor to complete this task but crushing them with a meat tenderizer was way more satisfying. Rage baking is a thing after all. I opted to make the cake into two 8 inch pans versus the 4 the UT recipes called four. I don't think such thin cakes would have held up. This created a denser cake but was more in line with the "modern" interpretations of the recipe I found online. The frosting was a breeze to make and delicious. It would be great over angel food cake or something equally as light. I don't know that the vanilla made a difference. There was a hint of vanilla flavor in the finished product but it's difficult to say if that was the extract or the vanilla used in the graham crackers themselves.

My co-workers had pretty consistent reactions to the cake: it's not bad but it's not something they'd think to make or request again. One suggested more graham crackers; she didn't feel it was graham-y enough. Several commented on how dense the cake was but also how airy it actually tasted so that's kind of fun. Jordana would like me to make it again but as a s'mores cake - the filling would be marshmallow fluff and the icing would be chocolate or fudge. This is definitely a possibility. A few people were not pleased with the inclusion of cream cheese in the frosting BUT admitted they really couldn't tell once they tried it. The strawberries were a hit both in the frosting and as decoration. We're all still trying to figure out why the name of the recipe included strawberries but there were zero strawberries in the actual recipe. Somethings will remain a mystery with these recipes.

Overall score for this recipe: B+

I'd make it again but not in the current format and probably only if someone requested it. I'm more inclined to try my grandmother's recipe than return to this one. However, if you want to get out some aggression beat up some graham crackers with a meat tenderizer. You'll feel better when you're done.

May's UT Recipe post will feature a pretty controversial ingredient: tomato soup. In a cake. I have no idea how this one will go but I can't wait to find out. Coming to the Island in mid-May!

It's a Pistachio World

I can't make Jell-O.

I know that's a pretty shocking statement from a woman who makes homemade marshmallows and a cake that takes three days to make and includes making fresh orange curd (I only make this cake every 10 years). I use gelatin when making marshmallows so it's not like I can't use a Jell-O adjacent product successfully. I think my failure with Jell-O is twofold: 1. My water isn't the right temperature and 2. I don't dissolve the packet enough. Yes, these are simple things that can easily be addressed but since I don't really like Jell-O, my inability to make Jell-O doesn't matter. Good thing I wasn't in my mid-ish 30s in any year from roughly 1952-1973; my inability to make Jell-O would count towards my failures as a woman. No children, no husband, can't make a Jell-O salad - I'd be doomed. Lucky for me I live in 2016 and no one judges me on these things. No really, no one judges me. (Insert sarcastic tone here - sarcasm really should have a punctuation mark.)

Fun Jell-O/gelatin facts*:

• The first reference to geletine was in France in 1682 and involved beef bones. 
• Jell-O pudding flavors have been around since the 1930s, not the 1970s as most people believe.
• The person who actually created what we all know and "love" as Jell-O was an unsuccessful cough syrup salesman and he was equally unsuccessful with Jell-O. He sold the product to his neighbor for $450 and that man, Orator Francis Woodward, would go on to make a success with the product.

I've come to terms with my lack of Jell-O making skills by focusing my baking skills on things that really matter: cakes and cookies. I have a pretty solid repertoire of classics like chocolate chip cookies, cutout cookies, chocolate and vanilla cakes, Guinness cupcakes, and the best banana bread of all time to keep everyone happy and sugared up. I like to add in new things now and then to keep things interesting (the Creamsicle cake went over very well this past summer). My co-workers tend to be the recipients of most of my creations and unless they're lying, I haven't made anything that they wouldn't want repeated. There's also some sort of "Erin bakes this" discussion going around the office; my new hires always seem to know about my baking before I meet them. Someone in the March group specifically asked about the peanut butter and jelly bars (popular with the support team). I guess having a reputation for baking delicious things isn't a bad thing.

Last month during my visit to Austin, I found a handwritten recipe/address book in a vintage store on S. Congress Street. It definitely belongs to a woman and is probably from the late 60s/early 70s. The faded, on the border of falling apart UT notebook is a mix of her own handwritten recipes and recipes from other people, either on index cards or random pieces of paper (like an invoice - one of my favorites). There are a few recipes that either came from a package (Knorr) or were cut from a box (the pistachio cake recipes). She stuffed them into pages in the notebook here and there. Some of the recipes have are crossed out with a large "X". Towards the back, the recipes abruptly stop and it's her address book, mostly addresses in Texas. Each one has a check mark next to it. I haven't decided if the marks and checks are part of a transfer system (maybe she got new books) or if the "X" means she didn't like the recipe and the check means she sent that person something. Maybe she was planning her wedding and this was actually the invitation list. Or a Christmas card list. There are endless possibilities. The best part? I'll never know. Other than the addresses, which belong to actual people, there are no identifying marks or notations in the notebook. She references the person who gave her a recipe in the first few pages but it's a notation like "Mrs. Gibson." Mrs. Gibson could be anyone.

This is the sort of thing I dream about finding in a thrift store. It's a little window into someone's life at a very specific time. Did she like any of the recipes in the book? Were any her go to recipes for parties or special occasions? The idea of Tomato Soup Cake makes me a little queasy but her recipe says to frost with chocolate or lemon icing so it can't be all that bad. Were any of the recipes handed down from her mother or her grandmother? Did she get together with other ladies on her street and trade recipes? Was pistachio pudding the cure-all of the early 1970s? Why were some recipes x-ed out and others were not? Why so many recipes including dates? It's all a mystery. A potentially delicious mystery.

When I came home from Austin I decided that I would work my way through as many of the recipes as I could make. A lot of the recipes call for oleo (margarine) and lard (not happening). Others are combinations I'm not totally sold on; the tomato soup cake falls into that group as does the beef and zucchini recipe. There's also one for sesame shrimp and asparagus; it reminds me of something a trendy single woman would make in a 1972 made for tv movie. There are  few recipes that aren't named so I'm not sure if it's a cake or brownie or something else entirely.

I started with two recipes that I thought would be easy and delicious: oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and pistachio swirl cake. My only concern was whether I'd be able to find pistachio pudding but my trusty local Giant grocery store did not fail me. Not only did they have it but they had the Jell-O version and the store brand. I opted for Jell-O for authenticity. I also bought a brand new tube pan which means I can make my Grandma Garland's blueberry coffee cake sometime in the future. It's a magical cake that needs to be made more often.

I don't make oatmeal cookies often although I have a really great oatmeal raisin cookie recipe. The recipe was easy to follow and to make; it was a wetter dough than regular chocolate chip cookies. The result? A crispier cookie, more like a lace cookie than a regular oatmeal cookie. According to one of my co-workers this is literally the greatest cookie of all time. The only change I made was to use the entire bag of chocolate chips rather than half; you can never have too many chocolate chips in my humble opinion. These cookies are definitely on the "make again" list.

Which leaves us with the pistachio swirl cake. I may not be able to make Jell-O but I can make pudding. I also really like pudding, particularly vanilla pudding when I have a cold. It makes me feel better. I don't know why but it does. Pistachio anything also ranks highly in my book; I'm particularly fond of pistachio ice cream. The pistachio swirl cake intrigued me. Everyone I told about this recipe made a comment about it being so 70s because of the pistachio pudding. I haven't been able to find a definitive timeline of when pudding flavors were introduced but it's possible that pistachio was introduced before the 1970s although that is the decade where it's most popular. It's a key ingredient in Watergate salad which was super popular during that time. In addition to the recipe for Watergate salad the mystery lady shared with me, it still appears on Jell-O pistachio pudding boxes. Just in case.

The cake was the sleeper hit of these two recipes. Everyone who tried it loved it and a few asked if I'd make it again. The swirl part is a mix of cinnamon, sugar, and walnuts. I could have added more of that; next time I will. I want a more defined swirl. I hate the word "moist' but it's the only word to describe how perfect this cake turned out to be. The pudding was definitely responsible for that. Even after sitting out, lightly wrapped, it was still fresh and delicious. I was impressed with the cleanness of the cake once it was out of the pan; sometimes bundt cakes don't like to pop out of pans cleanly. This causes a lopsided cake but that didn't happen this time. I hated to cut into such a beautiful creation. 

Pistachio swirl cake is also on the "make again" list. There's another pistachio cake recipe involving chocolate (it's a marble cake); I'll make that one soon enough. Overall, I'm pleased with my the first set of recipes from the book. Granted, I picked two of the easier ones but I had to start somewhere. There are lots more to try although I want to avoid the zucchini recipe for as long as possible. It's one of my least favorite vegetables. Maybe I can make for someone who really enjoys zucchini and I won't have to try it at all.

I have a similar recipe book and my mother has a recipe card box. Both are stuffed with handwritten recipes and recipes we've clipped from magazines or boxes of one thing or another. In my mother's recipe box, she has recipe cards from both of my grandmothers. I love those the most; a keepsake of their handwriting and the food they made. Several of my friends and co-workers mentioned similar notebooks and boxes in their own families. One friend shared that the copy she has of her grandmother's recipes is missing ingredients or has incorrect amounts; she often has to call her mother to confirm things while in the middle of a recipe. She figures her grandmother got tired; her book is the third one her grandmother made (the others are for her mother and sister).

Finding the UT book (as I'm calling it) makes me wonder what will happen to my own recipe book one day. Will it end up staying in the family; maybe with my cousins or one of their children if I don't have my own children? Will whoever inherits it end of throwing it away? Or maybe it makes its way into a donation pile and winds up in a vintage or thrift store (will those even exist?) waiting for someone like me to find it and scoop it up like a vintage designer handbag? The hopeless romantic in me hopes it has a long and wondrous life.

Time for you to help me: Which UT book recipe should I make next? Your choices are:

• Tomato Soup Cake
• Date Nut Loaf
• Pistachio Marble Cake
• Sesame Shrimp and Asparagus
• Strawberry Graham Cake
• No-Name Cake Recipe.

Share your vote in the comments! I'll make the one with the most votes and of course, give you all the details right here on The Island of Misfit Toys!!


*From Linda Stradley, What's Cooking America
Photos by me

Stuff I Love: Friends, Food, and Films

Happy Leap Day! I hope everyone made the most out of this extra day. You only get an extra day once every four years so you gotta make it count. I came back from vacation and went to work so there's that.

I thought we'd close out a month of "Stuff I Love" talking about three things I love separately and together: friends, food, and films. All three played a role in my recent visit to the great city of Austin, TX. I used to think that having friends all over the country (and world - hey Shellie in India!) was the worst part of being an adult who has friends. I have a lot of friends who live more than a 2 hour plane ride away. While I love my DMV friends, I miss my other friends and the ease of going to happy hour or grabbing brunch on a Saturday. Sometimes an event inspires the feeling: With new Gilmore Girls episodes on the horizon, I want nothing more than to schedule pizza and tv with Heather and Mary. Heather lives in Wisconsin and Mary lives in Washington state so that's not going to happen.

Here's what I was ignoring: having friends all over the place means I can go visit them OR they can come visit me. This equals new places to explores and excuses to play tourist in our own cities. If we're feeling really adventurous we might even plan to meet somewhere in the middle for a true adventure. I assume this is how I'll finally make my dreams of visiting the Dakotas happen; one of my friends has to want to do that too.

My friend, Jessica, moved to Austin a few years ago and we've been trying to schedule a visit ever since. We've failed pretty miserably since life and work seem to always get in the way. I've been to Austin before but not really; I was there for a work event four or five years ago and never made it past the gates of the resort where the event was being held. The travel gods finally showed us favor and I bought my ticket back in January. We've been emailing and plotting ever since. Of course the plotting and planning culminated in Jessica creating this:

Yes, that is an Excel spreadsheet planning our activities and meals. This is one of the reasons Jessica and I are friends.

Two themes immediately emerge from this spreadsheet: 1. Jessica takes food very seriously 2. A movie was involved each day. Jessica is a great host. She made sure we had plenty to do while also including downtime (we all need downtime). She indulged my record buying habit and did some very tourist-y things at my request because that's what friends are for. She also instinctively knew that dancing to 80s music at a bar/club called Barbarella was something I needed in my life at this exact moment. Lastly, she decided that the only was to keep us from getting lost on our adventures around Austin was to be guided by Morgan Freeman. No, the actor was not physically with us but his voice guided us around clear and present dangers on the highway and to our destinations as quick as possible. Always trust Morgan Freeman.

(Side note: Waze has a Morgan Freeman option right now in conjunction with the new movie London Has Fallen. Do yourself and your country a favor and use it.)

Austin is definitely a food city. It's a lot of other things too but we don't have time for everything today. When I say food I'm referring to three specific groups: BBQ, breakfast tacos, and queso. This is pretty much what we ate the entire time I was in town. I estimate that I'm 40% taco right now. 

Breakfast tacos are a revelation. I had never had one until this trip. There are subtleties to the breakfast taco that I never considered: flour versus corn tortilla (flour is sturdier, corn has a richer flavor); salsa and salsa combinations, egg to cheese ratio, and the wonder of migas. It's a lot to take in all at once. Everyone has their favorite place. We went to three places:

1. Tacodeli
2. Maria's Taco Xpress
3. Rudy's

I experienced tacos to go (Tacodeli) and sit in tacos (Maria's, Rudy's, and Torchy's - those were dinner tacos).  I built my own (Rudy's). I tried seven different types of salsa (and combined several for even more options) and three distinctly different cups of coffee. I can understand why Autinites (Austintonians?) are so into their breakfast tacos. Breakfast tacos are the best parts of breakfast with the best parts of a taco. I don't know what I'm going to do without them.

My favorite overall was Maria's Taco Xpress. This is one of the few places I was able to add to the list. I saw it on an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives and some Travel Channel show on tacos. The owners is a hoot and they're consistently named one of the best taco places in Austin. The experience is like being in someone's garage where delicious tacos are made. There's a lot of eclectic decor and fun signs. I had the Cactus taco and it was awesome.

Tacodeli wins best salsa. To say that I would like some right now is an understatement. It was the right level of spicy and tasted homemade. We picked up tacos from Tacodeli on our way to Franklin Barbecue, a popular BBQ place where you have to wait in line for hours and may not actually make it in. Jessica (remember she's a great host) planned our day perfectly so that we'd grab our tacos to go and make it to Franklin's by 9:15 am to wait. Yes, we waited in line for three hours for BBQ. Yes, it was worth it. In addition to our tacos, we came prepared with beer (allowed in line), additional snacks, and bottled water (the most hipster bottled water of all time).

The line at Franklin's is part of the experience. As Jessica told me, it's also why a lot of native Austinites (I'm sticking with that) avoid it despite the fact that the food is awesome and the service outstanding. Austin is know for barbecue and there are lots of places you can enjoy it (Jessica and I also went to Rudy's - yes Rudy's for both barbecue and tacos). But you know me, I love an experience. That's part of travel, in my humble opinion. The thing about place like Franklin Barbecue and Rudy's is that you buy meat by the pound. This means that you have to guess how much you want to each and consider sides since you're going to want sides. I'm terrible at ordering this way because I think I want more than I actually can eat. This happened at both places although I feel like I did better about setting expectations at Rudy's.


The line was fun. We got there right on time and it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Jessica prepared me for a long wait in the sun with the potential that we wouldn't even get food. I'm guessing that the fact that we went on a Thursday helped us; most people we at their jobs. We brought chairs and beer and enjoyed eavesdropping on the groups around us. We also found Carmen Sandiego. We didn't make friends but we did learn a lot about whether the girl behind us was a Swiftie or a Bielber (Bielber) and that the guys in front of us were out as part of a bachelor party. Their next stop: the barbershop. Calm down, dudes.

Anyway, the food was excellent but we did order too much. My decision to order potato salad was a poor life choice but ordering pecan pie was not (although I didn't eat until returning to DC). My favorite thing: brisket with pickles and onions and espresso barbecue sauce. It was well worth the three hour wait. I'd do it again too.

After indulging in Franklin's, we decided to make our way to the area near UT Austin. I wanted to see the Daniel Johnston mural at 21st and Guadalupe. It's now attached to a Thai restaurant much to the chagrin of some people. However, if the owner of that restaurant wants to protect the iconic mural, I say let him. We also walked around the area (known as "the drag" or so I'm told) and eventually made our way over to the State Capitol area. Along the way I found some great historical markers for various buildings and some equally wonderful street art. Both Jessica and I had a hard time getting over how creepy the school children of Texas tribute statue is; I'll spare you the photo.

We finished out the day taking in our first film of the week, Deadpool. I had already seen it opening weekend but as I was planning on seeing it again it made sense to enjoy it after a long day of waiting in line, eating all of the food, and walking. The second time around was just as funny so if you haven't seen Deadpool go ahead and do that now.

After excellent tacos at Maria's we head to South Congress Street. It's a cool area filled with vintage shops, made in Austin places, and great coffee at Jo's Coffee home to another famous mural and excellent coffee. I also found the coolest thing in a vintage store: an old UT notebook that a woman (possibly two) used to keep recipes and her address book in. There are handwritten recipes and recipe cards stuck in throughout the pages. At the back is an address list. I'm planning on writing a longer post about this little find; by far the coolest thing I've ever purchased from a vintage store.

I also did what I assume is required when visiting Texas: I tried on cowboy boots and hats. I still believe I was not meant to wear hats but it was still fun. I did find a few pairs of boots I liked but as they are rather expensive, I decided trying them on was enough for one trip.

Which brings us to our third food group: queso.

Why doesn't everything come with queso? I would add queso to the list of perfect foods (along with potatoes, bread of all forms, and cheese). We had queso at Trudy's and later at Torchy's (where I also had a dinner taco which I guess is just a taco). I could have just eaten the queso at Torchy's and I would have been happy but then I would have missed out on peach habanero jam and no one wants that. This also gave Jessica and I ample time to discuss our evening of another movie and dancing at Barbarella.

I've never been to the Alamo Drafthouse here in Virginia so I was excited to go to one in Austin, where the theatres were founded. It's a great experience and coupled with the amazingly funny Master Pancake, my first Alamo experience became the highlight of my trip. If you like MST3K you'll love Master Pancake. It's like a live action version; the cast provides commentary while watching the movie with the audience (this time Mad Max: Fury Road) and there's a skit in the middle. Jessica's pizza was stolen during the skit but she did get a thanks so there's that. I'm not entirely sure I'll ever be able to watch Fury Road without thinking of Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car" or how perfectly "Lost Yourself" fits into the action. If you have a chance to see them, do it regardless of what movie they're showing. The show was at the Alamo location on 6th Street so I got a taste of that craziness too. It's like a tamer, less dirty version of Bourbon Street. We stopped at two places, Easy Tiger and Barbarella. I'm not what you'd call a club person but I do like dive-y bars where you can dance to good music. By "good music" I mean 70s punk, 80s anything, and some stuff from the 90s. It was fun and while it made me feel a little old ("Is that Madonna?" a twenty-something exclaimed when "Lucky Star" played), I was okay with that feeling. I'm not a twenty-something and that is perfectly fine with me.

My last day in Austin included a great view from brunch near the Arboretum before jetting off, with Morgan Freeman's help, to the Domain to see our final film of the week Zoolander 2. The Domain is this super swank shopping mall with a super swank movie theatre called iPic. It's basically a cocktail lounge where movies happen to be screened. We ordered a fancy cocktail for our viewing of one of the most ridiculous movies I've seen in a very long time. Y'all know I have I have a healthy suspension of disbelief but this one pushed it a bit even for me. It was still funny but left me with one very important unanswered question: was Billy Zane the bad guy in this one? I don't want to think that for even a second.

My visit to Austin and with Jessica was a much needed break from the the usual February doldrums of NOVA. Did we do everything we could have done? No, but we did enough and I enjoyed every minute of it. Austin is a cool town and definitely worth another visit soon.

The only thing missing was my impression of Wooderson from Dazed and Confused. You'll just have to imagine driving down the street listening to War's "Low Rider" and me saying "All right, all right, all right."