Vera Stewart is taking a hiatus for a few weeks to gear up for Season 11.
This week’s reshow at 12:30 p.m. Thursday and 7:30 p.m. Saturday features Aiken’s Cold Creek Nurseries and a yummy steak recipe.
While Vera is recharging, I thought it would be a great time to go on another adventure in Vera’s cookbook.
July is birthday month in my family.
My mother, brother and I have birthdays during the month, and my uncle and grandfather also had July birthdays. So, an Independence Day celebration isn’t complete in our family without birthday cake.
I started my journey through Vera’s recipes in November 2021, making my first cake from Vera’s cookbooks. And while I keep saying I won’t be opening up a bakery, I have gained confidence with my cakes as time has passed. I’ve also learned a few things to make it easier for me.
MORE: In The Kitchen With Vera: Carnival
The first is – this is not a Food Network show, and I don’t have a blast chiller. Baking show chefs may be able to make an incredible cake in two hours, but I’m not a baking show chef.
When I decided to make Vera’s hummingbird cake, I did so knowing I would take my own sweet time with it. This was the first four-layer cake I’d attempted. To this point, I’d only made three-layer ones.
Hummingbirds make me think of summer, and that’s what immediately sprang to mind when I read the ingredients that included bananas and pineapple. The ingredients were easy to find, although pecans were even pricier than usual.
Since the cake was four layers, I baked two layers at a time, and I didn’t rush the icing. I baked the layers on Sunday, saving the frosting for Monday.
I wouldn’t call myself an expert with cream cheese frosting, but by now, it’s become much easier to make. Four simple ingredients and the hardest part is making sure I don’t add too much confectioners’ sugar to the cream cheese and butter. That causes quite a mess, and when you’re baking a cake in your mom’s kitchen, I don’t recommend it.
We were eating at her house on the 4th, so I didn’t have to transport a tall cake.
In addition to the cake, I wanted to make some type of side dish to go with the grilled chicken and burgers we had planned.
MORE: In the Kitchen with Vera: Healthy options
July also means tomatoes – juicy, luscious, fresh off the vine. While I was making my frosting, someone stopped by with a bagful of them. My mother and I love tomatoes. I have a small garden and a lot of the cherry and grape tomatoes I have out there don’t make it in. I pick them, eat one and put one in my receptacle.
My girls aren’t huge tomato fans. I blame my husband; he’s not a tomato fan.
I found Vera’s tomato pie recipe. We never did much cooking or canning of the tomatoes. They never lasted long enough. Even now, my mother still makes tomato sandwiches for lunch every day.
But back to tomato pie.
Vera’s recipe includes two cheeses — parmesan and cheddar — I like sharp cheddar so that’s what I used. Those ingredients along with the green onions created a pungent odor during the baking process. It didn’t bother me, but it did bother my non-tomato-loving daughters.
I liked the way the pie tasted. It’s good hot or cold. I’ve had it both ways. And if you’re a fan of tomato pie, head over to Boondock Farms in Jackson this weekend for its first Tomato Pie Festival from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.
As for the cake, with four, gigantic, moist, decadent layers, most of Monday’s guests couldn’t eat a whole slice. Four layers makes for a lot of cake in one sitting, but I know it was good. It was incredibly moist, not overly sweet and so good. My husband, who has lost 37 pounds on Weight Watchers, knew it would wreck his points total for the next month, so he had a bit that day and took the leftover cake to work Tuesday, where he said it vanished in no time.
I still don’t make the prettiest cakes, although I’m working on that, but I know they are tasty.
I haven’t decided what I’ll make next week, but I’ll update you Thursday. I can promise I won’t be baking a cake though. I think I’m almost ready to attempt Vera’s award-winning carrot cake.
