Thursday, April 14, 2011

Old-fashioned Vanilla Wafer Cake
will never go out of style!

Vanilla Wafer Cake (click for the recipe)*, I’m told by doing a little research online, is a recipe that has been around for a long time.
   Luckily, delicious never goes out of fashion, so this cake stands up as much as it did years ago.
   It’s a crowd-pleasing, family-friendly cake, with no unusual flavors lurking within. It slices nicely, and pieces work just as well packed away for lunches as they do for after-dinner dessert.
   My husband, who is cuckoo for coconut, loved that the cake was packed with it – two cups of the sweetened, shredded stuff to be exact.
   So many vanilla wafer cookies (seven cups!) are used that no extra flour is needed. I used Nabisco Nilla wafers.
   *The recipe for Vanilla Wafer Cake that I used is a version from Cook’s Country magazine. The recipe I linked to above is on the NBC Today website. Chris Kimball, founder of Cook’s Country and America's Test Kitchen, demonstrated making Vanilla Wafer Cake on the show one day. Just scroll down until you find the recipe.
   The cake is a snap to make.
   Vanilla wafer cookies are processed in a food processor in two batches until fine crumbs form. The crumbs are transferred to a bowl and salt is added.
   Sugar, butter and eggs are mixed together with an electric mixer. The cookie crumbs are mixed in alternately with whole milk.
   Sweetened shredded coconut and toasted, chopped pecans are folded in. (I bought the pecans already chopped and toasted them in a frying pan on medium for about four minutes.)
   The batter is scraped into a nine-inch springform pan and baked until the cake is golden brown, one hour 20 minutes to one hour 40 minutes (my cake only needed the lesser cooking time of one hour 20 minutes.)
   After the cake is cooled in the pan for a few minutes, it is inverted on a wire rack to cool to room temperature before serving.
   The cake will keep at room temperature covered in plastic for three to five days.



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