I Make Hobo Bread

Shortly after we arrived at the Henry Ford, I was feeling a wee bit peckish and said to Dick:
"Time for coffee Dick?"


 ...And his reply was of course and always: "Sure! I could use one too!"


So into the restaurant we went and the search for something snack-ish to go along with the nectar of the gods began. No muffins, no croissants or bagels of note and then my eyes landed on a rack full of what was labeled "Hobo Bread." Baked in tin cans and you could buy a soup can size or big pie filling can size. It was sliced and so...


 It was divine!  I got some packets of butter and a knife and we ate the whole thing!


So, when I came home, I had to Google the recipe and came up with a couple of versions. This is mine, but next time I would like to use a heartier flour and make it denser than mine turned out.


 My ingredients:

1 cup water
3/4 cup boiling water
1/8 cup sour cream
2 tbsp soft butter
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup walnuts
2 cups flour


 Soak the raisins in the boiling water and let cool,

Add a couple of tablespoons of flour to the baggie with the nuts in it to coat them.  (If you don't they sink in the batter to the bottom!)

 Mix all the dry ingredients and the stir in the stirred egg, butter and raisin / water. Mix until moistened, but don't worry if there's a few strings of flour in the batter.


 Pour into several greased tin cans or I just poured the whole batch  into my silicone loaf pan.

 Bake at 350 for 45 minutes to an hour, or longer for the loaf pans.

If you haven't yet bought silicone pans, you'll never believe how long you put up with the old kind and trying to pop your baked goods out! I didn't even grease my pan and look how it comes out?

 We always out butter on something like this....


 I don't know... Just seems right is all!


These photographs were shot with my Nikon P-90 digital camera and downloaded directly from the camera and then to this blog. My aim is to take my reader along with me on the journey, so although I am aware of my framing of the shot, content and quality, I am most interested in sharing the experience.

Mother's Day Rhubarb Cake

There's several postings of this cake on the recipe web sites and I imagine they're all  delicious, but I, (of course,) think my version is best!  It is very much a comfort food. Light and delicious, but something you can sit down and eat a whole pan full of!


1-Yellow Cake Mix of your favorite brand, I used  Betty Crocker.
1- Box of Vanilla Pudding that has to be actually cooked.
4-cups chopped fresh rhubarb, (I like the fresh stuff! It's so plentiful here.)
1, 2/3 cup granulated sugar
2-cups whipping cream, from carton, Do Not Whip! (In Canada, we have a half liter size. It's just less than a pint and I just use the one.)


I slice my rhubarb up very thinly. About a quarter of an inch wide pieces. If the stuff is thick and old, I'll slice it lengthwise first so my pieces are about the size of a dime and three times the thickness. Nothing I hate worse than a rhubarb something that'll pucker a goat! so I mix in the sugar and let it set up like you would sliced strawberries.

Preheat oven to 350*F
Prepare cake mix as directed on box. I use all milk instead of water and sometimes change up the oil for sour cream. 
Don't scrimp on the beating.
Pour into a buttered 13 x 9 pan or you could use a glass dish. 
(I'd like to try this one as cupcakes?)

Spread / distribute the chopped rhubarb on top of cake mix batter. The best way I've found is to simply droozle it with your fingers on the top. Do it in small enough bits so it sits on top of the batter.
 
Now, for Momma's day, I squirted a few drops of red food coloring into the cream jug and shook it. Then, poured the 2 cups of whipping cream evenly over the rhubarb/sugar mixture by pouring onto a spoon or spatula so it didn't disturb the cake batter. The first time I made this, I thought: Oh My Gosh! this is going to be a mess!

Bake at 350*F about 55 minutes or until center springs back SOFTLY. Don't bother sinking a toothpick in it, 'cause all the goopy part is now at the bottom!

Great served warm, but it needs to be stored in refrigerator.

 

Last weekend I gave this a test run and sent the most of it to work with Dick. His friends said I needed to quit work and just stay home and cook for them! 


So! Wouldn't it be great made as cupcakes and then turned out on a serving platter cold and then let warm?
  

I have a little goof to admit! 

     Yesterday, I had taken my normal bunch of photos of the process of making this cake and I threw the cake and camera into the Magnum to drive the hour and a half to Cambridge, Ontario, where my mother in law and sister in law live. We stayed overnight in our favorite hotel there and then after a leisurely night, morning and breakfast, drove over and picked mom up and drove over to sis' place for lunch.
     We got Kentucky Fried, (which mom loves,) and after lunch and cake, I had to run to the car to get my camera to take the expected mother's day photos of mom with her two kids. 
   Here's where the goof was. I turned my camera on and hit menu delete and then proceeded to take wonderful shots of my sweetheart, his only sister and his darling 85 year old mom. I didn't realize until half way home....
   ...... I had deleted all the pictures of the cake making!


         I don't care though.... My own mom's been gone these three years and I'm just so glad to still have my mom in law to take pictures of!


       Since we've driven back home tonight, I've had my little cry within the safety of Dick's arms (I do miss my mom so much...) and even though her favorite was always pie, I am so happy to post this cake that she would have loved. 

All of these photos were again shot and loaded directly from my Nikon P90 and then posted without alteration of any kind.