Graham Cracker Cake
Ok so I have been a total slacker the last couple weeks. I worked really hard to photograph and prepare a bunch of posts so I could post while on vacation and theeeennnn….. I didn’t bother to post them.
I just felt like I needed to relax and enjoy my vacation with my family. When I say family, I mean FAMILY. Everyone was there except my brother and his family (well actually, his oldest, Ben hitched a ride with my parents…) but Mr. Chemist’s brother and his family came so body count-wise that almost makes up.
So we had a large-ish crowd.
We camped in the Grand Tetons and did the Yellowstone thing and swam in the lake and hiked and generally had a fabulous time. Then we all packed up an left.
I did not go home however, but followed my sister, Rachel, to her house in Wisconsin. Where we continued the party for a few days.
This morning I dragged myself out of bed at 4am to start the long trek home (20+ hours). After I had been on the road all of about 10 minutes my brother-in-law called me and said I had forgotten something and by the way did I know there was a rather large oil puddle where my truck was parked?
Lovely. So I pulled over and checked my oil, sure enough, nothing on the dipstick. Let it sit a few minutes while trying to decided if I could keep going and just keep an eye on it or if I should get it into a shop. After about 10 minutes I peeked under the truck and there was already a size-able puddle. So my decision was made, I hoofed it back to my sister’s to drop off my children and then went to the mechanic.
A couple hours later it is sounding like it’s going to potentially be very expensive and take some time to get it fixed. The Ford dealership had a shuttle so I caught that back to Rachel’s and as I am coming down to the house my oldest, Linus and his cousin Christopher come to find out what the scoop is and then rejoice when they hear it. Apparently they were praying for another day together. Oh the power of answered prayer – and the expense.
So here I am waiting to find out what this trip is truly going to cost so I thought I should probably post some kind of recipe or something.
Which leads me to the Graham Cracker Cake.
Admittedly it doesn’t look to fab. I was in a hurry and it was crazy hot and the custard was melting all over and I was trying to do about 15 things at once (as usual). But looks can be deceiving right?
Oh momma. This cake is so so so so so yummy. When I saw the recipe in my book I was pretty excited about it, just had a feeling you know.
I was right!
I am sure I will make this again once it is a little cooler cause I would like to eat it again (and again, and again, etc.).
FOR THE VANILLA CUSTARD- 1½ cups heavy cream
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2½ tablespoons flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 3 egg yolks, slightly beaten
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
FOR THE CAKE - ½ cup sifted cake flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
- ¾ cup chopped pecans
- 1 cup butter, soft
- 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 egg yolks, well beaten
- 1 cup milk
- 3 egg whites
- ½ cup granulated sugar
FOR THE VANILLA CUSTARD- Scald 1 cup of the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat (until you see small bubbles around the edges).
- Sift together into a medium saucepan the sugar, flour and salt. Gradually stir in the scalded cream. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly for 3 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Pour cream mixture into a double boiler and place over simmering water, covered for 7 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Stir a few tablespoons of the hot cream mixture and then slowly drizzle the egg mixture, while vigorously stirring, into the cream mixture.
- Cook over the simmering water about 3-5 minutes, or until thick.
- Remove from the heat and add the butter and extracts.
- Chill in the refrigerator.
FOR THE CAKE - Preheat your oven to 350˚ and prepare your cake pans (I used 6" but the recipe is for 8") by smearing with soft butter and then cut out a piece of parchment to fit the bottom of the pan and place that in the pan. Set aside.
- In a medium mixing bowl sift together the flour baking powder, salt, cracker crumbs and pecans, set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar, then add the vanilla extract.
- Add the egg yolks in three additions, beating well after each addition.
- Alternately add the flour mixture and 1 cup milk to the butter mixture.
- Then using a clean beater (I just used my hand mixer) beat the whites to until frothy and then gradually add the sugar as you are beating until rounded peaks form.
- Spread egg whites over the cake batter and then gently fold them in with a spatula. Divide the batter between your cake pans.
- Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Allow to cool 10 minutes in the pan
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