I'm looking for a recipe and not having any luck.

[Arkansas Granny]

Years ago (as in 40+) a neighbor of our made a chocolate cake she called a Crazy Cake that had a cooked, brown sugar frosting. It was a quick, easy recipe as you could mix the cake in the pan you baked it in, cook up the frosting and have a really good dessert in almost no time.

I can find lots of recipes for the cake, which is also known as Wacky Cake, but none of them that I've seen so far include the frosting that she used. I've made this before as a teenager from a copy of the recipe that my mother had. A search of her recipes and cookbooks has yielded no results.

As I mentioned, it was a cooked frosting made with brown sugar that had a caramel color. It had a kind of smooth pudding-like consistency that never formed a skin or absorbed into the cake. It didn't use any powdered sugar, that I can recall, and I can't remember if it used flour or cornstarch to thicken it. It seems like you just dumped all the ingredients in a pan and brought it to a boil and spread it on the cake when it cooled.

Here's a link to the cake recipe for those who might like to try it.
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Crazy-Cake/Detail.aspx

[Tesha]

1. Hmm - maybe 2 separate recipes?

found this...


when I searched for brown sugar frosting - it was 2/3s of the way down the page...

and a whole bunch of them at http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/cat/1423/

hope this helps :hi:

[Arkansas Granny]

2. It could have been two separate recipes that she used together.

Some of the recipes you link to sound really good, but I don't think they are exactly what I am trying to find.

As I recall, this icing/frosting/topping had a kind of translucent look similar to lemon pie filling, but it never set up really solid. Like I said, it's been over 40 years, but my sister and I both have similar memories of the taste and consistency on this.

[Tesha]

3. maybe made with

gelatin?

like this - except with brown sugar?

Ingredients for Frosting With Gelatine
1 level teaspoon of gelatine
¾ cup of confectioner's sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon of cold water
2 tablespoons of boiling water
½ teaspoon of vanilla extract
Instructions
Soften the gelatine in the cold water and dissolve in the boiling water; stir in the sugar and flavoring and beat until of the proper consistency.
This frosting may be used with pastry bag and tube.
If it does not flow freely, set the bag in a warm (not hot) place for a few minutes.

[MagickMuffin]

4. See if this sounds familiar ;=D

This might be what you're looking for, I hope so. This one is like the Italian Meringue, except with brown sugar.

Brown Sugar Boiled Icing

Ingredients

* 1 1/2 c Brown sugar
* 1/3 c Water
* 2 Egg whites
* 1/8 ts Salt
* 1 ts Vanilla


Preparation

Boil together sugar and water until soft ball forms when tested in small amount of cold water. Beat egg whites stiff and gradually add syrup in a steady stream beating constantly, until frosting holds shape.Add salt and vanilla.

[Arkansas Granny]

5. I don't think that's the one, but I'll bet that would be wonderful on a spice cake.

I'm going to keep it and try it. Thanks!

[grasswire]

6. agh....you know what?

After you originally posted this query, I was searching cookbooks for something else and I DID see that flour-thickening technique used in some recipes for frostings. Try looking for burnt sugar frostings, as that is what I was looking for when I saw it. I had never previously read of using flour in frosting.

If I get some time later today I might be able to search.

[kfred]

8. Look for the Red Velvet Choc. Cake Recipes

The first one I ever had was started with a flour roux that stayed soft. It's been years since I had or made the real thing but it really made that cake. It used powdered sugar in the next step, but I bet a warm brown sugar melted with butter would do the trick (or a dark corn syrup). It's an idea!

[Arkansas Granny]

10. I'll try that. Thanks for the tip.

[lisa58]

7. My Mother used to make a Crazy Chocolate Cake...

...Here is the recipie:

3 Cups Flour
2 Cups Sugar
1/2 Cup Cocoa
2 Tsp Baking Soda
Dash Salt
----------------------- Do not Mix - Pour Over:

3/4 Cup Salad Oil
3 Tbs Vinegar
1 Tsp Vanilla
2 Cups Water

Mix with electric mixer about 1/2 minute - do not grease pan.

Bake in 9" x 13" pan at 350 for 30 - 35 minutes


I don't remember every having a brown sugar frosting, but she said it was called a Crazy Cake because there were no eggs. Hope this helps.

[Arkansas Granny]

9. That's basically the recipe I have for Crazy Cake. When I first made the

recipe I was in my teens and used a hand written recipe that a neighbor had given my mother that included the frosting that I'm looking for. I haven't made it in 40+ years and the original recipe has been lost. I don't know if the cake and the icing recipes were originally published together somewhere, or if our neighbor had paired them up herself. The icing was quite unique and very good.

[lisa58]

12. Silly me...

...I thought you were looking for both recipies.

My mother also made a boiled icing (I'll have to hunt to see if I can find that recipie) I'm sure you can use brown sugar instead of the granulated.

I'll be back if I can find it.

[hippywife]

11. See if any of these sound right.

It seems others are having similar issues. :hi:

http://old-recipe-detective.blogspot.com/2005/08/in-search-of-boiled-frosting.html

[Arkansas Granny]

13. No, those don't sound like the one I'm looking for. As I've said, it's been

many years, but I can kinda remember mixing brown sugar and flour in a pan, adding some other ingredients, including a liquid, and just cooking it all together until it got thick. Maybe my memory is playing tricks on me.

I may just have to start experimenting and see what I can come up with. It was really good and I hadn't thought about it for years until I saw someone here or another website mention Crazy Cake.

[lisa58]

14. Was the frosting sticky as opposed to creamy?

[Tesha]

15. Maybe this is it...

http://www.cooks.com/rec/search/0,1-0,flour_frosting,FF.html

there are quite a few
maybe like this one?

FLOUR FROSTING
1/2 c. milk
2 1/2 tbsp. flour
1/2 c. shortening
1/2 c. granulated sugar ( use brown?)
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Cook milk and flour until thick, cool and refrigerate. Cream well shortening, sugar, salt and vanilla. Add this creamed mixture to cooked mixture. This frosting remains soft and creamy. Be sure cooked mixture is COLD before adding.

[kfred]

16. Soft Chocolate Frosting

I found this in a book discussing depression era cooking by Rita Van Amber (her series is on Amazon and I highly reco them - just plain fun with anecdotes woven in about life back then from those that lived it plus the original recipes).

Soft Chocolate Frosting:
Melt 6 oz choc in saucepan over hot water
Beat: 3 egg yolks in heavy saucepan until very thick
Add: 1 - 1/4 cup sugar, beat 'till smooth
Add: 3/4 cup milk and 1-1/2 T butter or margarine, stirring well.

Cook over low heat, stirring constantly. Bring to boil and boil *1 minute only*. Remobe from heat, stir in chocolate; add salt and vanilla. Beat until spreading consistency. This icing stays soft and is sufficient for a large pan cake.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
OK - to get what you were looking for, I'd use dark brown sugar instead of white. I would guess if you eliminate the chocolate but increase the butter a bit you could equate the fat lost from the chocolate. It doesn't specify cocoa, bitter, milk chocolate, baking or whatever. Note there is no thickening other than the egg yolks. The recipe was submitted to the book by Dorothy Van Amber of Alexandria, MN. THe book itself focuses on Wisconsin, Iowa, MN and some NoDak stuff. Definitely upper MidWest.

[pengillian101]

17. The book itself focuses on Wisconsin, Iowa, MN

Thanks for for the tip! Just bought a copy at Amazon thanks to you and welcome to DU's C&B group :hi:

[kfred]

18. Me? I've been around

I read and copy techniques and learn and only comment if I think I have something to offer. But thanks! I tend to be a head down foodie when reading.