Bisquick Velvet Crumb Cake

The Food Companies often include recipes on their product packaging. That's where some of the best recipes come from. On some produts these recipes stay the same and on others they're rotated fairly frequently.

The Campbell's red and white soup cans always have recipes on the labels and they're examples of package recipes that rotate quite often. Don't take them for granted. Sometimes you never see them again!

I can remember my mother preparing a skillet dish called Meatballs and Rice off the back of the Campbell's Onion Soup label when I was in the fifth grade. (I remember that I was in the fifth grade because that was the year we had a house fire and my fishnet stockings burned up AND I had a broken arm from roller skating. A traumatic time that was, losing all my fishnet stockings like that.)

Anyway, I remember my mother cooking this at the loaner apartment--and, coincidentally it's also the first time I noticed her using a recipe off the can (did her cookbooks burn up along with the stockings?). So time goes by and I'm cooking for myself, and I'm searching for that recipe. To this day, I have never been able to find that recipe that was on the can in 1968, not anywhere.

The Bisquick box is an example of one whose recipes mostly stay the same (thank goodness!) The boxes always have the recipes for pancakes, waffles, strawberry shortcake, biscuits and dumplings. If they ever took the dumpling recipe off the box I wouldn't be able to make Chicken and Dumplings. (That's stretching it--I did clip the recipe many years ago, but it's easier to just look on the box.) I know it's simple, but it's always THERE so I don't have to remember it or look for it anywhere else. They do sometimes feature other recipes, which is okay as long as they leave the old regulars on there along with the new ones.

I had an inquiry tonight from someone looking for the Bisquick Velvet Crumb Cake recipe. That one used to be on the box too, but I guess they finally took it off.

She had clipped hers, but had lost the clipping. So I found it for her in the So Quick with New Bisquick (1967, 2nd Edition, 120 pp) cookbook.

Notice that this particular recipe calls for New Bisquick (they reformulated it in the 1960s), but I just use the Original Bisquick now. Later printings of the recipe just call for plain old Bisquick.

BASIC RECIPE FOR VELVET CRUMB CAKE

1-1/2 cups New Bisquick
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup cold water or milk
2 tablespoons shortening
1 teaspoon vanilla

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a square pan, 8x8x2 inches, or a round layer pan, 9x1-1/2 inches. In large mixer bowl, blend all ingredients on low speed 1/2 minute, scraping side and bottom of bowl frequently. Beat 4 minutes on medium speed. Pour into prepared pan. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until top springs back when touched lightly. If desired, while warm spread cake with Broiled Topping (below) or other topping.

BROILED TOPPING

Mix 3 tbsp. soft butter, 1/3 cup brown sugar (packed), 2 tbsp. light cream, 1/2 cup coconut and 1/4 cup chopped nuts. Set oven control at broil and/or 550 degrees. Place cake about 3 inches from heat; broil about 3 minutes until mixture is nicely browned.

Note: 9-inch square pan can be used. Bake cake 25 to 30 minutes.

Variations:

VELVET CRUMB CAKE WITH BROILED PEANUT BUTTER TOPPING

Prepare Velvet Crumb Cake from basic recipe. While warm, spread cake with Peanut Butter Topping (below). Set oven control at broil and/or 550 degrees. Place cake about 3 inches from heat; broil about 3 minutes or until mixture is nicely browned.

PEANUT BUTTER TOPPING

In small bowl mix thoroughly 2 tbsp. soft butter, 1/3 cup brown sugar (packed), 2 tbsp. milk or light cream, 1/2 cup chopped peanuts and 2 tbsp. peanut butter.

ARICOT JAM CAKE

Prepare Velvet Crumb Cake from Basic Recipe. While warm, spread with 1/2 cup apricot or peach jam. Serve warm.

If you're one of those people who fix Green Bean Casserole off the Cream of Mushroom Soup can--better go clipthe recipe now. You never know when it will disappear.

Last Minute Gifts

It's getting down to the wire and time is running out. If you're in need of any last minute Christmas gifts and your holiday gift recipient is fond of cooking then I have two gift suggestions that you can get right now without even leaving leaving the chair you're sitting in this very minute.

These are great gifts for anyone--a spouse, son or daughter (young college students or newlyweds), aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers and sisters; a neighbor, or a friend or acquaintance whom you wish to remember. They make great stocking stuffers too! These gifts also ensure that your recipient will think of you several times during the upcoming year!

A subscription to Pillsbury Classic Cookbooks or the Betty Crocker Recipe Magazine is an inexpensive, useful gift and may just be something that your recipient wouldn't think of doing for themselves!

Pillsbury Classic Cookbooks have been published since the 1970s and have quite a faithful following judging by the amount of requests I get for both old and new out-of-print issues. They are handy, compact and will fit neatly into a space in the kitchen or a desk, making them an easy reference for recipes, recipe ideas and shopping lists.

The Betty Crocker Recipe Magazines have been around quite awhile too and are about the same compact size as the Pillsbury issues, illustrated with the same type of great color photographs of the completed dishes.

Both of these magazines use their respective brand name products in the recipes. Sometimes the issues will contain only recipes that focus on one particular product; at other times there are a mixture of recipes that revolve around a certain theme. Most are also filled with tips and suggestions to make cooking a meal or a snack even easier.

Yes, they're available at supermarket check-out stands, but many people won't indulge for themselves, or are erratic in their purchases, making it easy to miss an issue.

You can use your computer to print out a gift card showing the magazine subscription has been made in the recipients name and enclose it in a Christmas card or, if you want to have something to wrap up, you can easily find the latest issues of these publications at the supermarket, the drugstore or the Wal-Mart.