Hot Fudge Pudding Cake

Dateline: Sat 22 Aug. It was a Saturday night special a couple of weeks ago to have Amy on hand, and I was ready to celebrate her return with a tempting dessert offering. This time around, I was nudged into nostalgia and reached for one of my Hershey’s cookbooks, wherein might be found a recipe for a hot fudge pudding cake. We’re pretty fond of pudding cakes around here, mind you. And it was all the better and a bit on the overwhelming side that I had homemade vanilla ice cream to go with it.

That probably spurred the delightful 4-mile stroll that night, around a very lively and happening downtown, outdoor music at a number of venues, and tons of people enjoying these last days of summer. And as if it sensed the need to let it all ride long enough, but then send people home to bed at a decent hour, in rolled a storm system of tight-packed intensity with quite a lightning show and a moderate amount of rain, in and out in a flash (or two or twelve), we might say.

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Hershey's Hot Fudge Pudding Cake," from 100 Years of Hershey's Favorites. Lincolnwood, IL: Publications International, Ltd (1994), p. 8.

Vanilla Bean Pudding Cake

Dateline: Mon 20 July. With the latest visit of fellow Tar Heel Chris late last month, some dessert was called for, and I went with the marvelous vanilla bean pudding cake. Simple enough to throw together while I'm making the rest of dinner, so that it can be ready soon after the evening meal, this sweet explosion of vanilla comes across as a real treat, even though it's not a grand production. But the end result is worth even small efforts, for sure.

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"Vanilla Bean Pudding Cakes," from Susan Reid. Published by King Arthur Baking. Recipe printed July 2017.

Bailey's Irish Cream Chocolate Pudding

When we enjoyed the overdue return of dear friend Amy for her regular Wednesday evening visit last week, I was ready for a special dessert. In this case, it was special in part because it's been about five years since I made it. This was Bailey's Irish Cream chocolate pudding, an easy and tasty concoction that conducts itself with a slight air of specialness. I returned to the recipe and followed it as written, having forgotten that I'd liked it better when I skipped over the Bailey's and cinnamon. Still: was it a fine finsher for our food wade that night? Sure it was.

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Based on "Baileys Irish Cream Chocolate Pudding," from Ashley Manila of BakerByNature.com. [Published 07 March 2020]

Speculoos Mousse in Carrot Cake Shells

When National Carrot Cake Day rolled around Tuesday a week ago, I knew I didn't need to make a whole layer cake...even though we do enjoy a perfect recipe for it around here, from time to time. Instead, with three at dinner that night, I reached way back into the pandemic era for something I'd made just once before: carrot cake shells filled with speculoos cookie butter mousse. I'll blame my lack of practice with dessert shells of this sort for the unfortunate structural complications of the finished shells: my special pan does not come with a set of recipes or enough guidance. So I was experimenting. Still: that mousse is sort of addictive, and once one begins to dig into this, the well-formed shellscape is quickly compromised anyway, right? Plus: sugar.

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"Speculoos Cookie Butter Mousse," from Erin Vasicek of TheSpiffyCookie.com. [Published 23 February 2015]

Based on "Copycat J. Alexander's Carrot Cake," from Jamie Lothridge of MyBakingAddiction.com. [Updated 19 April 2019 / 28 March 2024]

Gooey Chocolate Pudding Cake

Sometimes dessert must be a wee bit overdone, as in: it was all too much. That seems to have been the collective view on Monday evening last week, when the three of us with already full bellies still found a way to conquer bowls of chocolate pudding cake with vanilla ice cream. If one can be happily miserable, that’s what you could put beside my senior superlative.

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"Gooey Chocolate Pudding Cake," from Holly Nilsson of SpendwithPennies.com. [Published 13 May 2020 / Updated 07 July 2020]

Based on "Sweet Milk Ice Cream," published in the King Arthur Flour catalogue some years ago, but the recipe is no longer available on their website.

Pouding Chômeur (Québécois Maple Pudding)

Sunday's gathering of the usual suspects for dinner was perfect for once again subjecting them to a dessert experiment. This time it was pouding chômeur, a Quebec-style maple pudding cake. I have been very much into pudding cakes over these last few years, and I'd made a maple-buttermilk pudding cake for our 2024 Election watch night. This more recent version of maple pudding cake was voted into the Office of Pretty Darned Good.

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"Pouding Chômeur (Québécois Maple Pudding)," from Audrey Le Goff of PardonYourFrench.com. [Published 18 October 2024]

Old-Fashioned Banana Pudding

The start of last week brought me back to a long-time favorite dessert: old-fashioned banana pudding. While the whole dish is a combo of goodness, a nice orchestration of tastes and textures, it usually pleases me more when I make a bonus pot of vanilla pudding, which is the absolute best part of it. This time, I felt shorted in that department! But taking the extra step of making a true meringue topping, and browning it a bit, when this served as last Monday's dessert? That's a partial compensation.

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"Murray's Old Fashioned Nana Puddin'," from the Murray Vanilla Wafers [now discontinued] package. Also found online at http://melissaannbrook.blogspot.com/2011/04/banana-and-vanilla-wafer-with-pudding.html.

Hot Fudge Chocolate Pudding Cake

While dear UNC friends Margaret and Tathy were here for the Bookmarks Festival, and we had dinner together on Saturday night, I also scrambled to throw together a dessert. Quick enough and certainly up to the taste expectations was a hot fudge chocolate putting cake, with plenty of tempting goop and a siren call for more of it once we'd planted spoons deep into the devilish goodness.

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"Hot Fudge Chocolate Pudding Cake," from Zoha Malik of Baking with Zoha. [Published 13 September 2023]

Butterscotch Budino with Vanilla Bourbon Salted Caramel

A diversionary tactic with inclusionary goals has been to pay occasional attention to the “National Day of...” lists; playing along propels me to make dishes and desserts that I’d otherwise overlook or ignore. As variety is destined to spice up our lives, the gimmick asks little of me, but I’ve not been as invested in it lately. Ah, but Friday September 19 was National Butterscotch Pudding Day, and I was ready for it.

Mixed results over the years did not dissuade me from once again using the New York Times Cooking recommendation for the base pudding. This latest attempt lacked structural integrity—the pudding-like consistency was mysteriously absent—but the flavor was still there. I finally decided to just throw out that NYT recipe, though, so that I’m not tempted to try—and fail again with—it in the future.

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"Butterscotch Budino with Caramel Sauce," by Frank Bruni of New York Times Cooking; adapted from Dahlia Narvaez of Pizzeria Mozza, Los Angeles.

"Vanilla Bourbon Salted Caramel," from Jennifer and Trevor Debth. [Published 22 April 2015]

Useful guidance also found in "Stabilized Whipped Cream," from Alyssa Rivers of TheRecipeCritic.com. [Published 02 November 2023]

Homemade Chocolate Pudding

After putting together a pretty rewarding supper on the first Friday of September, there was time for a quickly-whipped-up dessert: chocolate pudding. With a recipe I'd only tried once before, it was a bountiful potfull and I slurped up my serving while it was still hot. Between the household and some neighbors, the portions were quickly distributed. I really should've undertaken another walk in penance.

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Adapted from "Homemade Chocolate Pudding," by Carrina Cooper [McAlpin, FL], from TasteofHome.com. Tested and approved by the Taste of Home Kitchen. [Updated 23 May 2024]

Vanilla Bean Pudding Cake

It's part of a boys' night pattern to have some simple and scrumptious supper, which last Thursday was mushroom and Swiss burgers...but we also have to have something sweet to finish with. When I've not planned ahead, I have my go-to choices, and that evening it was vanilla bean pudding cake. And most of the time it comes out pretty good although occasionally I'll stumble in some way with it. That night? It was pretty good.

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"Vanilla Bean Pudding Cakes," from Susan Reid. Published by King Arthur Baking. Recipe printed July 2017.

Meal No. 3893: Emeril's Skillet Beef Stroganoff

The latest three-diners dinner for a midweek boost occurred Wednesday of last week, and it featured a long time comfort dish: skillet beef stroganoff. The hearty beef, the soft egg noodles, and the balanced spice in the slightly creamy broth base put tasty temptations in our sights.

Dessert was also required, of course, and I whipped up (as I often do, at the last minute) a vanilla bean pudding cake. It wasn't as soft and pudding-y as I've become accustomed to, so I may have botched some part of the recipe this time. But was it still good? Yeah. C'mon: sugar, vanilla, cake, sauce. It was good.

If you’ll forgive the quick cell phone photo through the window (and its screen), I had to capture a remarkable convergence on the fence of this central urban downtown lot: a bluebird and a goldfinch just inches from one another. The bluebird family has been here for weeks but goldfinches are rare! Given that I have not been caring for or cultivating the bird population here, I’m glad to have witnessed this happy coincidence.

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Based on "Beef Stroganoff Hamburger Dinner in a Skillet," by Emeril Lagasse. Found online at The Food Network and also on Emerils.com.

Meyer Lemon Pudding

With our foursome for vittles last Sunday night, I was ready to bring back a dessert treat that we find to be pretty marvelous: Meyer lemon pudding. While I mostly missed the "season" for Meyer lemons over the winter, I was glad to stumble on a bag on a rare trek to Publix. So, why not? Oh, I still had to supplement with regular lemons. Nonetheless, we were all happy and pleased.

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"Meyer Lemon Pudding," by Sue Moran from The View from Great Island. [Published 10 January 2020]

Meal No. 3751: Tomato & Corn Galette

While the Roediger House dinner table was filled to a happy capacity in the lead-up to Thanksgiving, we gathered to dig into tomato and corn galettes last Monday night. I leaned on store-bought pie crusts this time and probably did a bit too much experimenting and license-taking when I put the pie-like pair all together. Still, with an herbed pre-roasting of the abundance of tomato slices, and extra shakes of cheese at various layering stages, we were likely to be seduced by these extra touches if they'd only come together in concert with one another. Some herbed roasted whole green beans went alongside but we wanted to still save room for dessert, which goes without saying.

And what was that dessert? Well, although there were still plenty of lemon bars left from the previous evening, I detected a hint that those had not proved universally satisfying. Some rather delicious bananas were on hand, in abundance, and I always love to make some pudding. My faithful stand-by recipe from Murray's Old-Fashioned Vanilla Wafers set me up for a fine batch of banana pudding. And this time it seemed worth it for our good guests to have a toasted meringue topping, instead of that old stand-by of Cool Whip.

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Pulled together and based on the following evolving recipe history:

• "Tomato Pie," from the Swamp Rabbit Café in Greenville, SC.
• "Tomato and Corn Pie," from Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen. [Published 27 August 2009]
• "Tomato and Corn Pie," by Maggie Ruggiero in Gourmet, August 2009, p. 42-43. [Published Online 15 July 2009]

"Murray's Old Fashioned Nana Puddin'," from the Murray Vanilla Wafers [now discontinued] package. Also found online at http://melissaannbrook.blogspot.com/2011/04/banana-and-vanilla-wafer-with-pudding.html.

Meal No. 3743: Roasted Salmon and Broccoli

On a dreary exceptionally chilly day of rain and downpours last Thursday, when it was a white-knuckled 3-hour return trip in torrential rains and minimal visibility, coming back from a day of work in the southern tip of Sampson County, I was content to take the easy way out with dinner. And the reward was doubled, since I could feast once again on roasted spiced salmon together with roasted spiced broccoli florets. Oh, just a smidge (or more) of dessert remained: homemade vanilla bean pudding. Too good for my tongue and too bad for my waistline.

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"Vanilla Pudding," from the Food Network Kitchens.

Maple-Buttermilk Pudding Cake

I tried out a new recipe for the Election Night watch party: maple-buttermilk pudding cake. I've been into pudding cakes lately, and this variation was pretty pleasing to us all. And I appreciate that some could be saved as leftovers, which I happily tackled the next day!

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"Maple-Buttermilk Pudding Cake," from Sam Heyward. Originally published in Food & Wine, November 2005.

New Orleans Pecan Pie Bread Pudding with Whiskey Butter Sauce

Last Saturday night's dinner had a rather special conclusion: New Orleans pecan pie bread pudding with whiskey butter sauce. With all that round challah I'd made looking for some clever employment, bread pudding seemed like the smart move for using it all up in a fell swoop. Cut into cubes and staled up a bit on the counter, those heavenly morsels soaked up the sweet creamy custard like gangbusters. While it ended up being far from my best bread pudding to date, that whiskey butter sauce is quite capable of covering all manner of sins.

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Recipe was an amalgamation of two different versions of bread pudding:

• "New Orleans Pecan Pie Bread Pudding," from Marzia Aziz of Little Spice Jar. [Published 14 November 2016 / Updated 17 May 2020]
• "Emeril's New Orleans Style Bread Pudding," from Emeril Legasse.

"Whiskey Sauce," based on a recipe from Mimi's Cafe. [Recipe no longer available on Mimi's website.]

Meal No. 3713: Mushroom and Shallot Salisbury Steak

Hot off the presses, once the latest issue of Bon Appétit showed up in the mailbox, came a new recipe for mushroom and shallot Salisbury steak, and when Kristen and Mookie came for dinner last Friday, we all got to find out how exceptionally delicious it was. My gracious, what glory: incredible flavors in the steaks themselves, a mushroom sauce to please us, the special treat of mashed skin-on red potatoes (this time with chives and bacon along with the sour cream and tons of butter)...and the fall-back to canned green beans.

The latest hurricane of 2024 had come ashore at the Big Bend of Florida overnight, and Helene proved to have a massive reach of unbelievable rain amounts. Here in Winston, we just got the brush-by, with steady rain fall and random occasional gusts of wind. By mid-afternoon, we were clearing. Those in the mountains to our west were not so lucky. No major damage around the house, and not as many small limbs and twigs to collect as I might have expected...but the second floor at the front of the house definitely had plenty of water coming through into the drip buckets.

About a block-and-a-half from the house, on the corner of West Fifth and Broad Streets, a tree took out the gas pumps awning and crushed a vehicle and landed on a beer truck:

The housecleaning ladies drove up as the weather was calming down, which was also well-timed because dear friends Margaret and Tathy arrived at day's end to spend the weekend taking in the awesome events of the annual Bookmarks Festival of Books and Authors. It was a quick in-and-out once they got here: dropping luggage, briefly visiting while I was doing dinner prep, and then off they went for the opening night activities at the Convention Center. Margaret and Tathy were excited to meet Stacey Abrams and Michael Eric Dyson, among others, for book-signings and meet-and-greet opportunities.

With all that activity, my plans around dinner for the visiting Mookie and Kristen had me making a quick return to vanilla bean pudding cake: after the more extensive clean-up from supper it was something I could throw together quickly enough to make sure we treated our dinner guests right.

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”Mushroom and Shallot Salisbury Steak,” by Jesse Szewczyk. In Bon Appétit, October 2024, p. 18.

The return of late to this take on mashed red potatoes still being inspired by "Sour Cream and Onion Smashed Potatoes," by María del Mar Sacasa. In Cook's Country, February/March 2009, p. 9.

"Vanilla Bean Pudding Cakes," from Susan Reid. Published by King Arthur Baking. Recipe printed July 2017.

Meal No. 3710: Pappardelle with Bolognese Sauce

Last Tuesday saw the marvelous return of an out-of-town house favorite: Bradley. As mentioned in relation to his other recent visit, he's much closer now, thanks to the wise hiring decision of Appalachian State University. It will be a high priority to try to be at the ready whenever he says he's got time to run down here from Boone. For our dinner, I'd prepped a few days before a hearty bolognese sauce, and then tucked it away to set up for a day or so. Leading up to dinnertime, I boiled the pappardelle to serve as the wide-noodled receivers of that meaty goodness. A mess of salad went along with the main feature, with a choice of homemade Thousand Island or honey mustard dressings.

With high hopes and great anticipation, I chose a new recipe trial for dessert: Boston Cream Pie. It was a multi-day affair to put it together, beginning with pastry cream that I whipped up and stowed in the fridge on Sunday. On Monday night, I made the cake layers, giving them time to cool before letting them join the pastry cream for an overnight chill. Tuesday morning I assembled the cake and put it back in the fridge. Later that morning, I made the ganache for the topping, applied it, and once more put it away to fully chill before serving that night after dinner.

This version was a disappointment, which may have in part been the fault of my lesser kitchen equipment. The sweet cake layers were tasty but had gone a bit dry, becoming battle-pitched in resisting the slicing and serving function required to present it to the diners. I'll give kudos to the pastry cream and ganache, though: I was sold on 'em both.

And why this dessert? Well, the latest D&D dice roll to force more variety in kitchen endeavors dictated an April 2011 issue of either Cooking Light or Quick Cooking magazines...but I only have issues of those from around 2003. My rule is to go either to my top-tier and fullest sets—Cook’s Illustrated or Cook’s Country—for any dice roll misfires like this, and CI won out. Hence, this choice of Boston Cream Pie.

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"Homemade Bolognese Sauce," from Holly Nilsson of SpendwithPennies.com. [Published 17 January 2023]

"Thousand Island Dressing," which was based on a version from Graybert on GeniusKitchen.com.

“Boston Cream Pie,” by Andrea Geary. In Cook’s Illustrated, Number 109 [March & April 2011], p. 14-15.

National Butterscotch Pudding Day

Just over a week ago, it was National Butterscotch Pudding Day, and I celebrated by making it and then tucking it away in the fridge to properly set up. A couple of days later, on Saturday, I chilled a bowl and beaters so that I could make a slightly-sweetened stiff batch of homemade whipped cream. With a mason jar still holding some butterscotch sauce, as a final topper, you can see that this was quite the serving of butterscotch pudding. Creamy but with imperfections, balanced out with the whipped cream, boosted with that butterscotch sauce, this was a heavy load to assume but sometimes you gotta step up.

After all that sugary goodness, I ought to have gotten in a good walk that evening. But the final few hours of summer brought about a surprise storm concentrated right in a teeny-tiny burst on top of Winston-Salem (the blue marker on the map). You can hardly see it but we had quite the very localized downpour. So I stayed in and went to bed early!

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"Luxe Butterscotch Pudding," from Deb Perelman of SmittenKitchen.com. [Published 02 March 2018]