Day 3 - Recipe 4

Apparantly today is dessert day! I was invited to Britteny's for dinner (THANK YOU!) and said that I would bring dessert. I had promised her Butter Pecan Ice Cream weeks ago, so I finally made it. I have made it multiple times before, though, so it couldn't count as my new recipe for the day.

So, I brought 2 desserts! Nothing wrong with that! :) I made a Vanilla Chiffon Cake from a Good Housekeeping Dessert cookbook. The recipe is supposed to bake in a tube pan but I don't have one (need to get one!). I baked it in a bundt pan and it turned out okay, but I think a tube pan would've worked much better and created a prettier final product! Although the "pretty" factor could've been altered due to the fact that I didn't let it cool in the pan long enough. Sometimes I get too antsy!

The recipe suggests dusting the cake with powdered sugar, but I had fresh strawberries in the fridge, so I made a simple strawberry sauce to top the cake with.

The cake was good, but extremely similar to angel food cake. It calls for less eggs though, so if you want to save your eggs, make this cake instead!

Now on to the recipes. I will post the ice cream recipe, too. That one I HIGHLY recommend.

Vanilla Chiffon Cake

2 1/4 cups cake flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 TBSP baking powder

1 tsp salt

3/4 cup cold water

1/2 cup vegetable oil

5 large eggs, seperated

2 additional egg whites

1 TBSP vanilla extract

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Preheat oven to 325. In a large bowl, combine flour, 1 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt. Make a well in the center; add cold water, oil, 5 egg yolks, and vanilla. With wire whisk, stir until smooth.

In a seperate bowl beat the 7 egg whites and cream of tartar until soft peaks form when beaters are lifted. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup sugar, 2 TBSP at a time, beating until sugar has dissolved and egg whites stand in stiff, glossy peaks when beaters are lifted. With a rubber spatula, fold one-third of the egg whites into yolk mixture, then fold in remaining egg whites until blended.

Scrape batter into ungreased 9 to 10 inch tube pan; spread evenly. Bake until cake springs back when lightly pressed, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Invert cake in pan onto large metal funnel or bottle; cool completely in pan. Run thin knife around edges to loosen cake from side and center tube of pan. Remove from pan and place on serving plate.

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Ben & Jerry's Butter Pecan Ice Cream

1/2 cup butter
1 cup pecan halves

1/2 tsp salt

2 large eggs

3/4 cup sugar

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup milk

Melt the butter in a heavy skillet over low heat. Add the pecans and salt and saute, stirring occasionally, until the pecans start to turn brown. Drain the butter into a small bowl and transfer the pecans to another bowl and let cool.

Whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Whisk the sugar, a little bit at a time, then continue whisking until completely blended, about 1 minute more. Pour in the cream and milk and whisk to blend. Add the melted butter and blend.

Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and freeze following the manufacturer's instructions.

After the ice cream stiffens (about 2 minutes before it is done), add the pecans, then continue freezing until the ice cream is ready.

Makes generous 1 quart.