Monday, February 02, 2009

Just in Case you Didn't Stuff Yourself Silly Yesterday

It's the day after the Super Duper Bowl. Whoopee do. Ask me how much I care. It's also Groundhog Day and if Punxatawny Phil sees his shadow thus predicting 6 more weeks of winter I may need to hunt him down and cook him. I can't even bear to think about 6 more weeks of winter since we got 6 extra weeks of it before the solstice ever occurred. (Update: As soon as I hit publish and went back to my homepage and saw this. The rodent must die.)

Therefore today I am going for comfort...in food form. Saturday night I went to a gathering where I knew there would be someone in attendance who cannot eat chocolate. Since I was responsible for dessert I figured I should haul out a recipe that person could enjoy too. Lacking genuine post inspiration I thought I'd share the recipe with you lovely folks. In the process I will demonstrate that not every confection I prepare is dripping with chocolate.

Today's recipe is Bellybutton Cake. It is made from the collected navels of a rare breed of....no, never mind. No bellybuttons were harmed during the production of this cake. It's a recipe my mom made when I was bit a wee lime. Just follow along and you'll understand the name shortly.

First the ingredients.

Batter
1 1/2 cups of sugar
1 egg
1 egg sized blob of shortening (Yes, that's the measurement given on the recipe. You can manage. I have faith in you.)
1 cup of milk
2 1/2 cups of flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder

Topping
butter
cinnamon
brown sugar

-Mix up the batter ingredients, you know...cream up the sugar, egg and shortening, blah blah blah, then add in the milk and flour/baking powder alternately...standard procedure here.
-Pour the batter in a greased and floured cake pan and dot the top of it with little chunks of butter like so...



I realize there are those of you who need to know how much butter and how big the chunks should be. I don't measure. I grab a stick of butter and start cutting off bits of it until I am happy with the amount on the top of the cake. Ok, ok, ok already....I probably used about a half a stick of butter and the chunks were a little bigger than fingernail sized. Let's get one thing straight....NO MARGARINE. Butter only here. I take no responsibility for the failure of your bellybutton cake if you choose to disregard this.


Next you'll sprinkle the cinnamon and brown sugar on top. How much? Whatever floats yer boat. Make yourself happy. A generous dusting of cinnamon and about two handfuls of brown sugar makes me happy. You may be easier or more difficult to please. It's your business as to what you do with your cinnamon and brown sugar. No one from the Department of Homeland Baked Goods will come harass you over the amount you choose to use. The Federal Butter Agency is watching though so heed my earlier warning...


Finally, slide that thing into a 375F oven for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Voila! Belly Button Cake! Now, do you see where the name comes from? All those chunks of butter melt into the batter and make innies that are all full of buttery, cinnamony, sugary happiness. I apologize if your significant other does not have an equally appealing innie. If that's the case I really don't need to hear about it. Even if they do have a particularly delectable navel, I really don't need to hear about it. Just eat the cake and have fun ok?
I will also tell you that a few years ago when a video of Veggie Tales Silly Songs came out with a song lauding the love of bellybuttons we planned a special Navel Night with friends. The menu consisted of Tortellini (since the shape of that pasta is said to be shaped after the Venus De Milo's navel), navel oranges, and belly button cake. We sang the belly button song and took pictures of each other's belly buttons. Yes, we are strange people. No I will not be sharing the picture of my navel. Just eat the cake, ok?

21 comments:

truckdriver_sefl said...

Good Monday morning! Just wanted to stop by the House of Lime and say I have jumped back in the world of blog. Hope all is well in the House of Lime:-}

Jazz said...

Kill the rodent! Kill the rodent! Kill the rodent!

g-man said...

Mmmmmmmmmmmm....Cake.

Desmond Jones said...

Oh my, that cake is just incredibly decadent-looking. . .

And I'm sorry, Jazz, but you left visions of Elmer Fudd dancing in my bwain, uh, brain. . .

Gledwood said...

You just had the Superbowl? Seriously??
I know it's meant to be a big deal Stateside but it passes totally unnoticed over here...
The ((soccer) football) world cup, however, THAT is something else... about a billion people tune in for that. Across Europe, South America and Africa especially soccer is HUGE... "the beautiful game"....
(I'm not really into that either. Resented the fact I was "supposed" to like it as a little boy and have avoided anything to do with kicking, batting, hurling or doing anything with balls ever since haha!)

Gledwood said...

hey could you email me some of that dinner? it looks really yummie... mmmmMMMMMM!!

Logophile said...

There's something missing in my middle and it's hard to ignore,
There's this thing about himself he's never told you before!

tee hee
Best boy band song EVAH!

That cake looks delish

Bijoux said...

I made a cake similar to that last week, only I added chopped pears and apples to the batter. I like to delude myself into thinking that makes it a "healthy" cake!

Anonymous said...

LMOA!!! But I wanna see the belly button!! :)

And yes, I am very ready for no more cold. :)

Craver Vii said...

I was SO ready to make the change to a lighter coat!!! Blast that groundhog!

snowelf said...

You can never have too much butter.

Never.

Or too much cake for that matter.

--snow

tsduff said...

That looks like a fabulous version of a coffee cake I must try. I love the differentness of its innies :)

Anonymous said...

It really does look good enough to eat.

BTExpress said...

Your too funny. How about an anatomical recipe for a guy that doesn't eats sweets or desert?

Anonymous said...

YOu guys should have had fuzzy navles (OJ and peach schnaps) to drink with the food.

Elle Dubya said...

YES! I just checked and I have all the ingredients. Making it tomorrow night!

The Zombieslayer said...

I'd definitely rather eat that then watch this Super Bowl. The last one sucked. Pittsburgh and Arizona? Jeez, two teams I don't want to watch.

That looks yummy by the way.

Anonymous said...

Are you suggesting that we eat Phil?
Yeah! Not raw...bit of broccoli, horseradish sauce..
I do feel a bit peckish...
Tell you what, we'll eat Phil, and if you feel bad afterward we'll dig a grave and you can throw up in it...

Moosekahl said...

The bottom left hand corner has a great inny in it! I want that piece! Looks very good.

Mona said...

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM....

stephen Hayes said...

The cake looks delicious, but it's sad you're forced to bribe people with goodies just to get the help you need.