Saturday, October 23, 2010

Of commanding generals and tasty cakes

Just a couple of quick things on this brisk Saturday evening. After a few years of being dogless we amended that situation and brought this



home today. Our neighbors raise Black Labs to sell but have a few from a recent litter that didn't sell due to the economy. We bartered a grassfed Tamworth ham for him, a good deal I think! The boys now have a hunting dog and the girls have a pet. He is fairly calm and easy going, even when Asa bit him. :-) I have to protect the dog from the baby, ha ha. We haven't settled on a name just yet, but I think it will be either Ashby or Patton.



In other news we are celebrating Tabitha's birthday this weekend. No pictures other than her cake which is *so* good. It tastes like Autumn should taste.




Pumpkin Spice and Pecan Cake


  1. 1 box of yellow cake mix

  2. 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (I didn't have this so I used cinnamon, ginger and cloves until it tasted good)

  3. 2/3 cup pureed pumpkin

  4. 1/4 soft butter

  5. 3 large eggs

  6. 1 cup ground pecans

  7. 2/3 cup water

Mix ingredients and bake at 350 in a buttered and floured bundt pan until done. When cool frost with:

Honey and Spice Buttercream


  1. 1/2 teaspoon unflavored knox gelatin

  2. 1/4 cup honey

  3. 1/4 cup sugar

  4. 1/4 teaspoon salt

  5. 1 teaspoon cinnamon

  6. 14 soft tablespoons butter

Combine gelatin with 1 tablespoon of water and let set for 10 minutes. Bring honey, sugar and 1 tablespoon water to boil and then simmer for 5 minutes. Let cool and then stir a tablespoon or so of honey mix into the gelatin water, mix well and then dump back into the rest of the honey mixture. Add salt and cinnamon and beat until fluffy, add the butter 2 tablespoons at a time while beating, stir in vanilla and use immediately.

4 comments :

  1. The dog is beautiful - I guess I should say handsome. I love labs - they are my favorite breed. We have had three over the years, our last one is now 13 years old.

    The cake looks and sounds wonderful!! Thank you for sharing the recipe. I may make it tomorrow. They had cake mixes on sale this last week so I stocked up.

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  2. Copying this receipt! Sounds delicious and, I agree, like Fall should taste. We love how you use your spices, too. That's us...a dash of this, a dash of that until it tastes like we want it. So many folks are so rigid about cooking ingredient amounts.

    Cute puppy, too.

    Blessings,
    Pamela and Frank

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  3. Yummy yummy yum! My Baby's been craving cake this week; I definately think I will invest in the ingredients when I do my shopping!

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  4. Robin, Frank & Pamela, and Jenny, I hope you do get a chance to try the cake, it's really yummy! The frosting would pair perfectly with cinnamon rolls too, oh the possibilities! :-D

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