Fender feasting! Photo by Holly Covey.
Welcome to part 3 of the Tailgates and Fender Feasts series! Today: Cakes, beverages and something for the four-legged beastie. The recipes I’ve included usually work well when you can’t use a knife and fork and don’t have a table to sit down and eat formally but are tired of eating gas station junk! (See “Part 1: Pack and Plan” here and “Part 2: Dips, Sandwiches, Wraps, Cookies and Breads” here.)
I’ve included recipes for: Blueberry Pound Cake, Cranberry Scones, French Apple Cake, Easy Wine Cake, Sara’s Pumpkin Cheesecake Danish, My Mother’s Irish Coffee, Hot Cocoa Mix, and Horse Cookies.
Bundt cakes are great for tailgates and fender feasts, because they can be sliced into chunks that can be eaten with fingers rather than forks. Cakes for tailgates need to be finger-friendly, so I’ve looked for recipes aren’t crumbly, don’t have sticky frosting over them, yet satisfy a sweet tooth.
Blueberry Pound Cake
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons of butter, divided
2 cups plus 1/4 cup of sugar, divided
4 eggs
1 teaspoon almond extract
3 cups of self-rising flour, divided
2 cups blueberries
Grease a Bundt pan with 2 tablespoons of butter and sprinkle it with the quarter cup of sugar, set aside. Cream remaining butter, add remaining sugar, beating well. Add eggs one at a time, beating well. Add the almond extract. Gradually add in 2 and 3/4 cups of the self rising flour, beating until blended. Drop blueberries into the remaining 1/4 cup of flour, dredging until coated, then gently fold into the batter. Pour into prepared pan, bake at 325 degrees until done and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in the pan 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. 16 servings.
Cranberry Scones
2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries, thawed
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup milk
1 large egg
1 large egg, 1 tablespoon milk, 2 tablespoons sparkling/turbinado sugar for tops
Lightly spray non-stick spray on baking sheet. Stir together the first four ingredients in a large bowl. Stir in cranberries. In a separate bowl, whisk together butter, 1/2 cup milk, and 1 egg and add to the flour mixture, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened, and a soft dough forms. Drop dough by about 1/3 cupfuls onto prepared baking sheet. Whisk together the remaining egg and milk, and brush the tops of the dough with the mixture, sprinkling with the sparking sugar. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes until golden brown. Remove and cool on wire rack.
French Apple Cake
French Apple Cake
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup granulated sugar plus more for sprinkling
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons of dark rum
2 cups peeled and chopped apples, cubed about 1/2 in. – Granny Smith, Honeycrisp best
Prepare a 9 in. cake pan or square pan, by spraying with non-stick spray and dusting. Whisk together the dry ingredients. Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Beat in vanilla and rum. Batter will be grainy but it’s OK. Fold in the flour mixture, then add the apples with a spatula. Scrape batter into the prepared pan, and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 350 degrees about 40 minutes until golden brown. Cool on a rack, run a butter knife around the edges and remove cake to serving plate; sprinkle with sugar. This is not a very large cake but it’s easy to make and serves about 8 pieces. Better after it cools!
Easy Wine Cake
1 box of yellow cake mix
1 4.5 oz. box of instant vanilla pudding
4 large eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup Riesling or white wine of your choice
1 teaspoon nutmeg
Coat a Bundt pan with non-stick spray. Combine all ingredients, mixing for 5 minutes at medium speed. Pour batter into pan, bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes until done. Garnish with powdered sugar before serving if desired, but this cake is sweet enough without it if you like. Serves 8.
Sarah’s Pumpkin Cheesecake Danish
Sarah’s pumpkin cream cheese danish. Photo by Sarah.
This recipe is from Sarah at Fair Hill Saddlery and it is terrific!
1 roll of refrigerated crescent rolls
6 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla
For the glaze: 2 tablespoons of flour, 2/3 cup of powdered sugar, and either 4 tablespoons of heavy cream or 1 tablespoon of milk, stir til blended. Combine the first six ingredients and set aside. Unroll the crescent rolls into a rectangle on a baking parchment on a baking sheet. Here comes the tricky part: cut one inch diagonal slices down each side of the rectangle. These will be folded up over the filling. (Sort of like quartermarks – take your time and get it right so it looks cool when you’re done!) Spread the filling down the center, then fold up the slices and tuck over each other, and when you come to the ends just fold up a little. Bake at 375 for 15 to 20 minutes until crescent roll is golden. Cool on wire rack, and glaze before serving. About a dozen servings.
My Mother’s Famous Irish Coffee
1 cup chilled whipping cream,
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Beat whipping cream until stiff with vanilla and powdered sugar. Save for the top.
My well used recipe. Photo by Holly Covey.
3/4 teaspoon or a single cup serving of instant coffee
1 cup hot water
2 tablespoons (or so) Irish whiskey or brandy
1-2 teaspoons of sugar
Heat the mugs by rinsing with hot water first. Then put the whiskey and sugar into the cups first; add the instant coffee and hot water, mix well, and top with whipped cream. Instead of real whipped cream, just throw a can of the spray type in the cooler. Or you can skip the whipped cream. Heck, you can skip the hot water and the coffee, too. This recipe is very old and so used, that there are water spots all over it and the amounts of the ingredients have been lost to smudging of the ink…so sort of add ingredients as you wish, and kick on!
Hot Cocoa Mix
Yes, you can make your own. Don’t forget the marshmallows (they do come in small single serving packs now, look for these in the baking aisle.) This recipe makes 24 cups, so you can cut it down if you need less, but it keeps in an airtight container in for a few months. For sugar-free, substitute Splenda for the sugar.
2 1/2 cups instant non-fat dry milk
2 cups (8 oz.) confectioners sugar (substitute Splenda for sugar-free)
1 1/2 cups unsweetened powdered cocoa
1 tablespoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
Sift all ingredients together. To prepare a cup, put 1/4 of a cup of the mix into the bottom of a mug. Heat 1 cup of milk to simmer. Stir milk into mix in cup well, then add 3/4 of a cup of the dry mix to it, stirring constantly. This makes awesome hot chocolate! It’s hard to pack hot milk, so it’s something you can make if you have a way to heat the milk (microwave in the living quarters, pan over the firepit or camp stove, etc.)
Horse Cookies
1 cup uncooked quick oats
1 cup flour
1 cup finely shredded carrots
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon brown sugar
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1/4 cup molasses
Mix all ingredients and add a little more molasses or oil if mixture is thick. Form 1-inch balls with your hands, place on cookie sheet, bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack to cool. These are a bit crumbly but they like them! Makes about 2 dozen.
