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A Note from the Doctor
A Note from Workman
Hot Last-Minute Gift Tips
Recipe Swap
Doctor the Doctor
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Next Issue: February

I could not help but smile while reading Anna Quindlen's recent column in Newsweek magazine. Quindlen said she felt nauseous this season shopping for sweaters and electronics at the mall, for all she really wanted for Christmas was a friend's homemade peanut brittle and to be able to gather at home with her family.

Simple pleasures such as this seem important again. And there is no doubt that the gift of something homemade like candy and, of course, cake is a simple and true gift of ourselves.

I grew up watching friends and neighbors traipse through our house in those agonizingly long days before Christmas, carting bourbon-soaked fruitcakes, warm whole wheat rolls, pounds of roasted pecans, and crocks of this crazy but wonderful spread we called beer-cheese. They would leave the gifts behind but never go away empty-handed for my mother Bebe would hand out her prized rum balls and in more recent years, her infamous chocolate toffee.

The good old days? You bet. But even in this frantic 21st Century it should still be possible to bake for others. Inside this newsletter I share some last-minute gift-giving ideas as well as two terrific and festive cakes—an Apple Cider Cake and a Japanese Fruit Cake—that are just right for the holiday dessert table.

And since we can't be together for New Year's Eve, I'd like to raise a glass in an early toast:

• To you and your loved ones


• To a strong America, our brave troops in Afghanistan, and to a peaceful 2002


• To the revival of homemade food gifts


• And to the memory of my mother Bebe who passed away over Thanksgiving weekend and who taught me how to bake

Happy Baking,
Anne

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December 23, 2001 The New York Times Book Review
How-To Miscellaneous Paperbacks Chocolate from the Cake Mix Doctor Number 5

Happy Holidays from all of us at Workman!

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• Cut bars or brownies like the Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars (from the first book) and the Marbled Cream Cheese and Kahlua Brownies (from Chocolate) into small squares, tuck into a wax-paper lined white box. You can decorate the box using holiday stencils from Restoration Hardware, or just with festive stickers and red and green raffia ribbon.


• In a recycled basket (we hoard these, much to my husband's dismay, in the attic and the garage) place the makings for a cake—a cake mix, assortment of add-ins like cocoa, vanilla, some fresh oranges, and a nice baking pan if you are feeling generous!


• No time to cook? Shop for jars of apricot nectar and lemon curd from Williams Sonoma. Cover in clear cellophane and tie with a satin ribbon.


• A little time to cook? Prepare Julie's Lemon Curd from the Chocolate book, pour it into pretty jars, chill and give to a good friend with directions to make the Lemon Lover's White Chocolate Cake (Chocolate book). Or, include a sack of gingerbread cookies for eating along with that yummy curd.


• Mmm . . . While we are on citrus, buy those fun, sweet clementines (the seedless tangerines) if they are in your markets. We find them in little wooden crates in Nashville. Include a couple bars of nice chocolate, a pound of whole almonds or pecans, too, and tie all of this together with natural raffia ribbon.


• Line a pretty glass, plastic, or silver ice bucket with plastic wrap and fill with lightly toasted pecans or popcorn. Place a red bow on top and give to the host or hostess on your list.


• And for that hostess, what about a dandy of a coffee cake to serve during the holidays? Bake the Sock-It-To-Me Cake from Cake Mix Doctor or Chocolate Chip Pecan Coffee Cake from the Chocolate book. Better yet, go ahead and wrap the cake for the freezer so the lucky recipient can pull it out when company stays for the weekend.


• I love biscotti, and they are so easy to make when you begin with a cake mix. Try any of the chocolate biscotti from the new book or the Lemon Pecan Biscotti from the first book. Pack into a 1-pound coffee can that you have covered with holiday paper.


• Patti Greek of Athens, TN, owns a gift shop cleverly called Greeks Bearing Gifts. Her best gift idea? Tie a big red bow around the Chocolate cake book and include a box of chocolate cake mix.


• I'll go one better, Patti. For charity fundraisers, I often donate my book wrapped with one of the following: a pretty cake stand or a set of good-quality cake pans. All tied up with a bow, of course!


• And for mailing the cakes in one piece, check out Jessica's tips on the Community Board.

Japanese Fruit Cake

Requested by Leonora del Rosario of Yorktown, VA, this cake is beloved down South. What makes the cake distinctive is that it contains three layers, and the middle one is always a spice cake, often studded with minced raisins and nuts. The scratch version dates to the 1920s in my old cookbooks, and the name was given because Southerners must have thought this was quite an exotic cake in its time. You spread a lemon- or orange-flavored coconut filling between the layers and either frost the top with more filling (make a double batch) or with a white frosting such as the Marshmallow Frosting on page 433 of The Cake Mix Doctor.

Makes 16 servings
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Baking time: 20 to 25 minutes
Assembly time: 15 minutes

Cake:
1 package (18.25 ounces) plain white cake mix
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
4 ounces finely minced raisins, if desired

Orange-Coconut Filling:
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon grated fresh orange zest
2 cups sweetened flaked coconut
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup boiling water
1 tablespoon cornstarch dissolved in 1/2 cup fresh orange juice

Marshmallow Frosting:
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons water
2 large egg whites
1 jar (7 ounces) marshmallow creme
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut, if desired

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease and flour three 9-inch round layer pans with solid vegetable shortening, then dust with flour. Shake out the excess flour. Set the pans aside.

2. Place the cake mix, sour cream, oil, eggs, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more. The batter should look well combined. Measure out one-third of the batter and transfer to a small mixing bowl. Stir the cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and raisins (if desired) into this batter. Pour the white batter evenly into two pans. Pour the spice batter into the third pan. Place the pans in the oven, placing one of the pans on a higher oven rack if needed. This layer may bake more quickly.

3. Bake the cake until it is light brown and springs back to the touch, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove the pans from the oven and let them cool 15 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, prepare the filling. Place the 1/2 cup orange juice, zest, coconut, sugar and boiling water in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir constantly, and when mixture comes to a boil, stir in the cornstarch that has been stirred and dissolved in another 1/2 cup orange juice. Bring back to a boil, stirring, and cook until the mixture thickens and can drop from a spoon. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside. Invert the cake layers onto racks to finish cooling.

5. For the frosting, place the sugar, water, and egg whites in a medium saucepan. Cook over low heat, beating continuously with an electric hand mixer on high speed until soft peaks form, 2 to 3 minutes. Keep the hand mixer cord away from the burner. Remove the pan from the heat and add the marshmallow crème. Beat on high speed for 2 minutes. Set the frosting aside.

6. To assemble the cake, spread the filling between the layers, stacking the white layers on the bottom and top and the spice layer in the center. Frost the top generously with the Marshmallow Frosting, and if desired, garnish with another cup of sweetened coconut.

Apple Cider Cake

This is a lovely Bundt cake, either for serving at home or giving to a friend. It is perfect for serving all winter as long as you can get your hands on good apple cider. Feel free to glaze or if you are in a hurry, just dust with confectioners' sugar.

Makes 16 servings
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Baking time: 42 to 48 minutes
Assembly time: 5 minutes

Cake:
1 package (18.25 ounces) plain yellow cake mix
1 package (3.5 ounces) vanilla instant pudding mix
4 large eggs
1 cup apple cider
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Glaze:
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons apple cider
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly mist a 12-cup Bundt pan with vegetable oil spray, then dust with flour. Shake out the excess flour. Set the pan aside.

2. Place the cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, cider, oil, cinnamon, and cloves in a large mixing bowl and beat on low speed for 30 seconds to incorporate ingredients, then scrape down the sides of the bowl. Increase the mixer to medium and beat two minutes or until lightened. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and place pan in the oven.

3. Bake the cake until the top is firm and the cake tests done, 42 to 48 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and let cool for 20 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, place the confectioners' sugar, cider, and lemon zest in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir and heat until mixture is smooth.

5. Turn the cake out onto a rack or cake plate, and while it is warm, pour the glaze over the cake. Slice and serve.

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Susan Plaster of Smyrna, GA, could not wait to try out the Ever-So-Moist Cake in the Chocolate book, but in a Bundt pan instead of layers. "I baked it in a Bundt at 350 degrees for 35 minutes, and I took it to the local fire department just to say thanks for all their hard work." Kudos, Susan! And she adds that she frosted the cake with the same Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting suggested in the layer cake recipe.

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We are still looking for the cake with instant potato flakes as requested by Muriel Hendricks of Lakewood, NJ.

And D. Polly Kendrick has made me hungry describing what she called the Tucson Lemon Cake. It is something like the Susan's Lemon Cake in the first book, except baked in a 13- by 9-inch pan. "You poked holes in it straight out of the oven and poured a mixture of powdered sugar and fresh lemon juice over and let it cool." If you have this Tucson Lemon Cake recipe, please do share! Send any of these recipes to anne@cakemixdoctor.com.

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Taking the fat out of cake, plus Valentine cake ideas, and more reader Q&A.