Tortilla Torte

Our California Girl turned twenty eight this week.


Twenty Eight.


How is that even possible? Wasn't it just yesterday that she was in Mrs. Garrison's fourth grade class? And just the week before that, that all the kids in the neighbourhood crowded into our bedroom to hang over the sides of her crib and coo at the wonder of her, all curvy lips and petal-soft ears folded around her tiny-ness like a little pink rosebud? Not that life racing by me at breakneck speed is news....


Since I'm not there to bake her a cake, she decided to make one herself. One that doesn't even require baking. One she has loved since her teens. In a word [or two...] Tortilla Torte!

I searched and searched through my admittedly disorganized recipe "files." I almost gave up, but then it appeared, in a fairly predictable place. So without further ado, here it is, for California Girl, and you......



Tortilla Torte


1 12 oz. pkg. semisweet chocolate chips

2 8 oz. cartons sour cream

10 8" plain flour tortillas


In a medium saucepan melt chocolate over very low heat, stirring occasionally.

Stir in sour cream.

Remove from heat and allow to cool.


Place`one tortilla on a plate.

Spread a scant 1/3 cup chocolate mixture on top.

Repeat until all the tortillas and chocolate are used.

Chill, covered, several hours or overnight.


Decorate the top with whipped cream [or 1/2 cup sour cream mixed with 2 tablespoons powdered sugar] and strawberries.



While I was typing this on here for her, I got a call from California Girl.


"So mom, where's the recipe?"


"I'm typing it onto my blog for you, even as we speak! This way, next time you want to make it, and I have once again lost the recipe, we'll both know where to find it."


She had gone grocery shopping earlier in the day, knowing that she needed, at least, tortillas, sour cream and chocolate chips.


I started to tell her how to make it when, suddenly, she stopped. Silence.


"You're not going to believe this mom! I got the sour cream; I got the chocolate chips; I even got the strawberries, but I forgot the tortillas!"


Kind of like trying to build a house without the bricks!


This cake looks like one of those expensive European tortes with the multiple layers of paper-thin sponge cake! And it tastes surprisingly good for something requiring so few ingredients and so little time.


So, Happy Belated Birthday, Cali Girl! Don't eat it all at one sitting!

Cake-n-Cheesecake

This is one of my all time favourite dessert recipes. Got it from a neighbour when we lived in Montana, waaaay back in the mid 1970s. So. Thirty plus years. And I've easily made it a minimum of six times each of those years......Giving us a total somewhere in the 200 cake range? It's simple to make and it's always a hit!

Read the recipe all the way through before you start.

Filling:

1 8 oz. pkg. of cream cheese
2/3 cups of sugar
1/2 cup of sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs

Cream the cheese with the sugar.
Add sour cream and vanilla.
Blend in the eggs.
Mix well and set aside.

Cake

Sift together:

1 cup of flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

In a large bowl cream:

1/2 cup of butter with 2/3 cups of sugar.
Add 2 eggs, one at a time, beating well after each.
Add 1 Tbsp milk and 1 tsp vanilla.

Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture and blend well.

Turn into a greased 10" pie plate [I use Pyrex.]Spread batter evenly over the bottom and up the sides.

Pour the cheese mixture over the batter.
Bake at 325 degrees for 40-45 mins. until no longer jiggly in the center.
Cool on a wire rack. Top with strawberry glaze and chill until ready to serve.
Sometimes I skip the strawberry glaze. It's yummy all by itself! But for company it looks prettier with fruit on top....

Strawberry Glaze

You can keep this as simple as slicing strawberries and arranging them on top, if it's going to be served right away, and if your strawberries are nice and sweet. Or you can make a glaze from

2 cups of crushed or chopped berries
1/2 - 3/4 cup water
2 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp cornstarch

Stir sugar and cornstarch together. Add water and berries. Cook and stir over medium heat until liquid thickens and becomes clear. Let cool slightly before pouring over the pie. Cool completely. After serving [if there's any left!] cover and refrigerate. As you can see from the picture, I wasn't quite fast enough with the camera....

Apple Cake

Poor long-suffering Molly, typed this recipe up for us when she was visiting in October after our apple picking excursion left us with a bounty of apples which led us into all sorts of baking adventures.

Molly would dearly love for me to give you the details on the recipe. I got it from Beth Schultz in Nashville, TN, a lovely gal who hosted a lovely cooking themed wedding shower for me and with whom I am no longer in contact -- as happens over and over again because I am a BAD communicator. The recipe came with an angel food cake pan and I do think fondly of Beth each time I make it. Unfortunately, I don't make it often because I am the main consumer of baked goods in our house and I don't need to eat that much apple cake.

So, please, enjoy a slice for me when you make it.

Apple Cake

Before you start preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and grease an angel food or bundt cake pan.


3 large or medium apples,peeled, cored and thinly sliced

2 tsp cinnamon and 5 Ttbsp sugar---mix together and set aside.


Combine:

3 cups flour [unsifted]

2 cups sugar

3 tsp baking powder

4 eggs

2 1/2 tsp vanilla

i cup of vegetable oil

1/4 cup orange juice


Beat together until smooth.

Pour half the batter into the greased pan.

Arrange half of the apple slices on top, and sprinkle with some of the cinnamon/sugar mixture.

Cover with layers of remaining batter, apples and cinnamon mixture.

Bake for one hour and fifteen minutes, or until done.

Apple Torte

While visiting Lily, in Ohio, we went apple picking, which led to apple baking, so when I came home, with the heavenly aromas still in my nostrils, I did it all over again, here, for the OC and the Bean. Apple Torte is easy and delicious. I can't remember where I got the recipe, but it's on a newspaper clipping taped inside the cover of my favourite, bulging recipe book, with a note to myself to slice the apples thinly.





Apple Torte

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

For Crust:
1 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup of well chilled butter, cut into pieces

Combine flour, sugar and vanilla in medium bowl. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender [or two knives]until mixture resembles coarse meal.
Press into bottom and sides of a 10" springform pan.
Bake until golden, about 5 mins. Cool to room temperature.

Increase oven temperature to 450 degrees F

For Filling:
2 8 oz. pkgs. cream cheese at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs

Beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla with electric mixer until smooth. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Spoon into crust.

For Topping:
2 large green apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup coarsely chopped nuts

Mix apples, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla. Spoon over cream cheese layer, spreading evenly. Sprinkle with nuts.

Bake 15 minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Continue baking about 45 minutes, or until tester comes out clean. Cool torte completely in pan on a rack. Refrigerate.

Let stand 30 minutes before serving.