St. Ambrose and the Bees Honeycomb Cake

The feast of St. Ambrose, patron saint of beekeepers, bees, and candlemakers, is celebrated on December 7th. Here is a recipe for Honey Bun Cake baked in a Honeycomb Cake Pan in honor of St. Ambrose, the honey-tongued doctor.

St. Ambrose and the Bees Honeycomb Cake

adapted from The Cake Mix Doctor

Cake:

• baking spray for cake pan
• 1 package (18.25) oz plain yellow cake mix
• 1 cup sour cream
• 3/4 cup canola oil
• 4 large eggs

Filling:

• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans (optional)

Sugar Glaze:

• 2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Note: I only used half of the glaze after baking the cake in the Honeycomb Pull Apart Cake Pan. This cake can also be baked in a 13-by-9 inch baking pan. 

Honeycomb Pull Apart Cake Pan

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350˚F. Coat pan with non-stick baking spray. Set the pan aside.

Place the cake mix, sour cream, oil, and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes more, scraping the sides down again if needed. The batter should look thick and well blended.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing it out with the rubber spatula.

Tip: If using the Honeycomb Pan, don't fill the pan more than 3/4 of the way full, otherwise you may end up needing to remove a scoop or two of batter while it's baking to prevent it from overflowing! ;) 

Add the filling. Drizzle the honey on top of the batter, then sprinkle on the brown sugar, cinnamon and pecans if desired.

With a dinner knife, swirl through these ingredients blend them slightly. Place the pan in the oven. 

Bake the cake until it is golden brown and springs back when lightly pressed with your finger, 38 to 40 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes while you prepare the glaze.  

For the glaze, place the confectioners' sugar, milk, and vanilla in a small mixing bowl and stir until the mixture is well combined. 

Flip the Honeycomb Cake onto serving platter and pour the glaze over the top of the hot cake. 

Note: If you used a 9x13 pan, leave the cake in the pan and pour the glaze over the top of the cake, spreading it to the sides with a spoon. 

Allow the cake to cool for 20 minutes more before serving warm. 

Saint Ambrose and the Bees from Brother Wolf, Sister Sparrow: Stories about Saints and Animals

I shared additional pictures over at Shower of Roses. 

You can scroll through the archives for additional recipes in honor of St. Ambrose. 

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Watch the weather on St. Swithin's Day

A sweet sister in Christ sent me a link, a few weeks ago, to this feast day recipe at Catholic Culture.

July 15, the feast of St. Swithin, is, apparently a day to watch the weather. It is said of this very popular English saint:

Saint Swithin's Day, if thou dost rain, for forty days it will remain; Saint Swithin's Day, if thou be fair, for forty days 'twill rain nae mair.

Saint Swithin's connection with the weather, and particularly with the rain, doubtless comes from the legend that in his humility he asked to be buried outside his cathedral, where passers-by would step over his grave and raindrops from the eaves would fall upon it. 

source 


Rain or shine, it would be a lovely day to bake a summer cake in honor of this memorable saint (and as July 15 is also the feast of St. Bonaventure, you have a doubly good reason to celebrate). The thought, however, of baking an spiced apple cake (as the recipe at the link suggested) in the middle of July, when apples are hardly in their prime in the Midwest of the United States, did not sound quite right to me. Thus, I turned St. Swithin's cake into a delicious shortcake-like cake with wild blueberries on top. It could not be an easier cake to bake, with the aid of baking mix, and for me, a one-pound bag of frozen wild blueberries. Blueberries are in season in much of America right now, but my bushes are not producing well this year, so a bag of frozen berries did the trick. (If you choose to use fresh berries, your baking time should be quite a bit shorter so set the timer for about 30 minutes and then check it every five minutes or so until it's done.)

My family enjoys any fruity cake, warm from the oven, with just a drizzle of cold heavy cream, but it would be delightful, as well, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a squirt of sweetened whipped cream. It would be a wonderful coffee cake for breakfast, at tea time, or for dessert.

I modified the recipe to accommodate my frozen blueberries, but refer back to the original recipe if you'd like an apple cake, and remember to shorten your baking time if you use unfrozen (fresh) berries.

St. Swithin's Summer Cake

(will it rain or will it shine?)

2 cups biscuit mix*

1/3 cup sugar

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 lb. frozen wild blueberries, thawed 

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup melted butter or margarine

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine biscuit mix and 1/3 cup sugar. 

Combine eggs and cream; stir into biscuit mix with fork. 

Spread dough in bottom of greased 8-inch springform pan. 

Pour thawed blueberries on top of the dough, spreading to an even layer, but avoiding touching the pan if possible. 

Sprinkle with sugar. Pour melted butter evenly over all. 

Bake at 350 degrees for about 60 minutes, testing just before timer goes off. 

Cool slightly and remove sides of the pan. Serve warm, cut into wedges with cream or ice cream.

*I use this recipe for a foolproof homemade version of standard Bisquick -- just a quick whirl in the processor and I store it in a glass jar.

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Golden Peach Coffee Cake for Easter

Back in 2008 I shared the recipe for our favorite Cherry Cheese Coffee Cake.  It is always one of the first things requested, especially by my husband, every holiday!  This year my aunt asked me to include it in our Easter Menu and so I decided to try a variation as well, incorporating the liturgical Easter colors of "white" and "gold!"   The cherry is still my personal favorite, but the peach was  also very good!  

Golden Peach Coffee Cake

adapted from Cherry Cheese Coffee Cake

Ingredients: 

Cake & Filling
2 (8 oz. each) pkgs. refrigerated crescent rolls
8 oz. cream cheese
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla or almond extract
21 oz. can peach pie filling

Glaze
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2-3 teaspoons milk

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Unroll crescent dough and arrange 12 of the triangles in a circle with wide ends toward the outside edge of the Large Round Stone or Baking Sheet - the points will not meet in the center.  Lightly flour and roll out the seams making a 14" circle with a 3" hole in the center. 

Note:  I use my Pampered Chef Large Round Stone, though any 16" stone or pizza pan will work.  You may need to reduce the bake time by a couple minutes if you are using a metal pan instead of the stone.

Combine the cream cheese, powdered sugar, egg & vanilla and spread over dough. Top with pie filling. 

Cut each of the 4 remaining triangles into thirds (starting at the wide end opposite the point and cutting lengthwise to the point). Arrange over filling evenly in spoke-like pattern. Press ends to seal at center and outer edges. Bake 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool slightly. 

Mix powdered sugar and milk until glaze consistency and drizzle over coffee cake.

Enjoy! 

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Candy Cane Coffee Cake

I wanted to make Jessica's beautiful Candy Cane Coffee Cake as a special St. Nicholas Day treat this year but also had some crescent rolls left over from Thanksgiving to use up. So I decided to combine the shaping of that treat with the recipe for her Cherry Cheese Coffee Cake.

I opted for strawberry pie filling since I'm the only one here who likes cherry and only ended up using half a can. I made the cream cheese filling just like the recipe called for but didn't use all of it on the candy cane. I used two rolls of crescent rolls. The first one and a half I used to make the shape of the candy cane and then the other half, I used for the stripes. You can see the stripes better in this pre-cooked photo. It was delicious!!!

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Cherry Cheese Coffee Cake for Christmas

I wanted to take a second, even though it is already Christmas Eve, to share one of our favorite recipes for Christmas morning. It is very simple to put together, looks very festive, and tastes delicious! We have been making it for years, and I'll be putting another together tonight to pop in the oven as soon as we get home from Mass in the morning. I hope you all have a very Blessed Christmas!

Cherry Cheese Coffee Cake

Source: Pampered Chef

Ingredients: 

Cake & Filling

• 2 (8 oz. each) pkgs. refrigerated crescent rolls
• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla or almond extract
• 21 oz. can cherry pie filling

Glaze

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 2-3 teaspoons milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 
2. Unroll crescent dough and arrange 12 of the triangles in a circle with wide ends toward the outside edge of the Large Round Stone - the points will not meet in the center. 
3. Lightly flour and roll out the seams making a 14" circle with a 3" hole in the center. 
4. Combine the cream cheese, powdered sugar, egg & vanilla and spread over dough. Top with pie filling. 
5. Cut each of the 4 remaining triangles into thirds (starting at the wide end opposite the point and cutting lengthwise to the point). Arrange over filling evenly in spoke-like pattern. Press ends to seal at center and outer edges. 
6. Bake 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool slightly. 
7. Mix powdered sugar and milk until glaze consistency and drizzle over coffee cake.

UPDATE:  You can also turn the above recipe into 2 Candy Cane Coffee Cakes, using 3 cans of crescent rolls instead of two.   I made the bottom of each candy cane with 1 1/4 pkgs. of crescent rolls, using the remaining 1/4 package to cut strips to lay over the top. I topped each candy cane with half of the cream cheese mixture and half of the pie filling.  You can see additional pictures over on my other blog.

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Candy Cane Coffee Cake

"According to legend there was a candy maker who wanted to invent a candy that was a witness to Christ.

First of all, he used a hard candy because Christ is the rock of ages. This hard candy was shaped so that it would resemble a “J” for Jesus or, turned upside down, a shepherd’s staff. He made it white to represent the purity of Christ.
Finally a red stripe was added to represent the blood Christ shed for the sins of the world, and three thinner red stripes for the stripes He received on our behalf when the Roman soldiers whipped Him. Sometimes a green stripe is added as a reminder that Jesus is a gift from God.

The flavor of the cane is peppermint, which is similar to hyssop. Hyssop is in the mint family and was used in the Old Testament for purification and sacrifice. Jesus is the pure Lamb of God, come to be a sacrifice for the sins of the world.

So, every time you see a candy cane, remember the message of the candy maker: Jesus is the Christ!"

Candy Cane Coffee Cake

Coffee Cake

• 1 16-ounce package of hot roll mix
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup very warm milk
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 1/2 cup pecans, chopped
• 3/4 cup dried cranberries or cherries
• 1/2 cup cherry preserves
• 1 tablespoon water

Glaze

• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 2-3 teaspoons milk

Preheat oven to 375°F. For coffee cake, combine hot roll mix, yeast packet and granulated sugar in a bowl. Separate 1 egg white from yolk; reserve white. Add milk, butter, whole egg and egg yolk to a bowl. Stir until mixture forms a ball.

Turn dough out onto well-floured surface. With floured hands, knead dough 5 minutes. Sprinkle additional flour over surface as needed to reduce stickiness. Cover; let dough rest 5 minutes.

Chop pecans; combine with the dried fruit in a bowl. Place dough in center of lightly floured rectangle stone; roll into 12 x 15-inch. Spread preserves in 6-inch strip lengthwise down center of dough to within 1/4 inch of each end; sprinkle fruit mixture evenly over preserves.

Cut 1-inch-wide strips on each side of fruit filling to within 1/2 inch of filling. Lift strips of dough across filling to meet in center, twisting each strip one turn; pinch together in center to seal. Tuck ends up to seal. Lift and stretch one end of shaped dough using spatula; curve to form cane. Cover; let rise in warm place 30 minutes.

Lightly beat reserved egg white with 1 tablespoon water; brush over dough using a Pastry Brush. Bake 20-23 minutes or until deep golden brown.

For glaze, mix powdered sugar and milk until smooth; drizzle over warm coffee cake. Cool 15 minutes. Cut into 1-inch slices.

Yield: 15 servings (This is a modified Pampered Chef Recipe) Pin It