The "Famous" Butternut Cake

I had only been married to my Alabama born late husband John a week or so, when his mother baked a butternut cake.

"What is butternut?" I asked.

"Butternut is YUMMY!" Was the answer.

My mother-in-law baked this cake for every birthday and special event I can remember (although for Christmas she always baked fresh coconut cake.) I continued the tradition and butternut cake became the "official" birthday cake for our family. My sons always ask for butternut cake and now the recipe has been passed to another generation.

I give it to you, dear Readers so you can try it for yourselves. Let me know what you think! Enjoy.

BUTTERNUT CAKE

Oven 350 degrees

1 Cup butter
2 Cups sugar
4 eggs
1+1/2 Cups self-rising flour
1+1/2 Cups all purpose flour
1 Cup milk
1 Tablespoon butternut flavoring (see note below)

Cream butter and sugar together then add eggs, cream. Sift flours together and add to the creamed mixture, add milk, alternating with flour. Add flavoring last and beat until smooth. Bake in 3- 9 inch round baking pans (sprayed with pam and lined with waxed paper.) Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until done when an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan.

BUTTERNUT ICING

1/2 Cup real butter, softened
1-8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
1-1 pound box of powdered sugar
1 teaspoon butternut flavoring
1 Cup chopped pecans

Cream butter and cream cheese. I use a mixer and beat until creamy. Gradually add the powdered sugar, beating after each addition. Beat in flavoring and chopped pecans.

TO ASSEMBLE CAKE

Turn a cooled cake layer out on a plate, frost with butternut icing. Continue adding second and third layers and frost top and sides of cake.

Note: When I am in a hurry, I use a good yellow cake mix and add a tablespoon of butternut flavoring to the liquid in the mix. I sometimes make a sheet cake instead of a layer cake.

Note: Butternut flavoring is sometimes a little difficult to find. I once made the mistake of picking up a bottle of butter and nut flavoring in the grocery store that was not the same thing. Butternut flavoring is a bright neon ORANGE color which produces a bright sunny yellow cake and icing. Superior "The Original" vanilla, butter and nut flavoring is one brand and I can sometimes find Happy Home brand (Southern Flavoring Co. out of Bedford, VA) at some stores and produce stands in Virginia. Happy Home will say "Imitation Butter & Nut" on the label. Remember: it has to be bright orange in color.

Steve McQueen's wax image in L.A. at the House of Wax

Steve McQueen's THE BLOB from 1958

Do Y'all like the old movies on TCM? I do! Last week I watched "The Blob" from 1958 starring one of my favorite movie stars, the late Steve McQueen.

The movie opens with a very young Steve McQueen kissing a so-young-I-almost-didn't-recognize-her, Anita Corsaut. Anita is best known at "Helen," girlfriend of Sheriff Andy Taylor on the Andy Griffith Show.

Anyway, back to The Blob. A meteor hits the earth and some old reclusive guy comes in contact with it. Some kind of "goo" gets on his hand. Uh Oh!

Meanwhile, Steve and Anita come up for air and head to town for a burger. BAM!!! They accidentally run over the old guy who is now up to his elbow in goo. They put "gooey guy" in the car and drive to the doctor's office in town where the Dr. gives him an injection, of who knows what, for his condition. Penicillin? Vitamin C?

Steve and Anita leave and end up in a crazy backward driving drag race with a bunch of wild teenagers. Uh Oh- enter the cops!

Sidebar: In 1958, the girls wore dresses, crinoline petticoats and headbands. In The Blob, the boys and girls had perfectly combed hair, crisp pressed clothes and wore penny loafers; quite a stretch from the casual clothes of today. There was no cussing in the movie, no fresh talk, only silly kid stuff. I remember it well, those innocent times of the 50's. OK, back to the movie.

"Gooey Guy" has become a big ball of red slime and is growing and moving across the Doctor's office floor. Look out nurse! Uh Oh, she is now a goner and the blob has doubled in size.

Steve returns just in time to see the doctor killed and absorbed! That blob is really big now. One person after another becomes part of the blob and the teens try to warn the town. No one believes them- after all they are teenagers!

In the end, the town is saved due to the courage of the teens and a lot of CO 2 which freezes and kills the Blob.

My comments:
I have seen The Blob a dozen times over the years. The first time I saw it (I was 12), I didn't sleep for a week. Since then, The Blob has become a cult classic and more comedic than horror. It is pure corn and that is what I like about it. The dialog was full of "shucks," "Land sakes," and "boy oh boy." The bad acting, cheesy dialog and amateurish special effects aside, The Blob was scary in 1958.

Steve McQueen didn't want to star in The Blob, but as a young struggling actor, he needed the work. He was offered either a $3,000 salary or a percentage of what the picture made in the future. To keep food on the table, he took the $3,000, a decision he regretted the rest of his life. Who knew The Blob would become a huge success and make so much money.

Of course Steve McQueen became a big movie star with his later films like: Bullit, The Thomas Crown Affair, Papillon, The Magnificent Seven, and my favorite: The Great Escape. He was married three times, his second wife was actress and model Ally McGraw. He was a troubled teen who matured in the Marines, raced motorcycles and cars. He was a talented actor, father and a patriotic, spiritual man. He died at age 38 (way too young) and would have been 81 today. What a guy.