Graham Cracker Cake

    Happy Friday! I am going to take a look at the new camera this weekend and see if I can get it all set up. In the meantime, how about a recipe?
    There are so many to choose from and I know what you're thinking, "Why don't you ever bake a cake?" Well, okay, you've twisted my arm. A cake it is!
    The cake: Graham Cracker Cake. The cookbook: 15 pages of typed recipes that I suspect somebody took from one of those community cookbooks and stapled together. That's what it looks like anyway. I would date it from sometime in the 1970's. The sections include: Breads, Cakes and Frostings, Candies, and Cookies. Why these were removed from the original book I cannot guess. Nevertheless, it intrigued me so last night I gave it a whirl.
        

        Graham Cracker Cake

1/2 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla

3 beaten egg yolks

1/2 cup flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

24 graham crackers (2 1/4 cups crushed)

3/4 cup milk

1/2 cup walnuts

3 stiffly beaten egg whites

    Soften shortening, add sugar, cream together

until fluffy. Add vanilla and egg yolks, beat well.

Add dry ingredients and cream. Add alternately

crushed graham crackers and milk. Beat after each

is added until smooth. Add nuts, then fold in egg

whites. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes.

        Frosting for Graham Cracker Cake

1 cup milk

4 Tbs. flour

Cook until pasty; let set until cool. Mix the

following in bowl:

1/2 cup butter

pinch of salt

1/2 cup shortening

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup sugar

Add milk sauce and beat until fluffy.

    I know, I know, the frosting sounds kind of gross. In fact I found that it really didn't suit me at all. I am pretty much a die-hard buttercream frosting gal. The cake on the other hand, I loved. It had a great flavor. I almost left out the nuts because Auntie doesn't like them but when trying out a recipe for the first time I generally like to have it as it is meant to be. I'm glad I did, because the combination of the graham cracker batter and the nuts was so good, especially near the edges. Mmmm. 

    Now, the problem with the frosting for me was the consistancy. It uses granulated sugar and is whipped up into a light airy spread. I am not a fan of whippy airy frostings. Auntie preferred the frosting to the cake (sacrilege!). She doesn't care for nuts in things, as I mentioned previously, and she said the frosting reminded her of the "Dream Whip" her grandmother used to make.
    Oh, by the way, this recipe comes from a lady named Donna Mayo and a quote on the bottom of the page tells us that "Manners are the happy way of doing things." That's all for now; enjoy your Friday!