Butternut Cake

This is a go-to recipe in our family. It's a favorite of several relatives, so it tends to show up on special occasions.

A few years ago we had a bit of drama when, suddenly, stores around here stopped selling butternut flavoring. My Mother was distraught. My Aunt started a massive search. She located a store two towns over that still carried butternut flavoring. I wonder if the store manager ever understood why he had a sudden run on butternut flavoring. At least, he was smart enough to order more and continue stocking the popular product.

Some people add chopped pecans to the frosting. Suit yourself. Some people love nuts and some don't. Personally, I prefer a small amount -- maybe 1/2 cup of chopped pecans -- so you get the taste but the nuts don't overwhelm the cake.

Butternut Cake

2 cups sugar
1 cup Crisco oil
4 eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup self-rising flour
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon butternut flavoring

Beat together sugar, Crisco and eggs. Add other ingredients, alternately.

Cut wax paper to fit bottoms of round cake pans. Grease both sides of wax paper and place in bottom of cake pans. Grease sides of pans. Divide batter evenly between the four pans. Bake in a 350 degree oven until done. Cake will brown and pull slightly from sides. A wooden toothpick inserted in the center will come out clean.

Carefully remove from pans and cool.

Icing

1 8-oz. package cream cheese
1 stick margarine
1 box confectioners sugar
1 tablespoon butternut flavoring

finely chopped pecans 

Blend all ingredients thoroughly. If you like pecans, stir chopped pecans into frosting. Smooth frosting between cake layers, on top of cake and on the sides of the cake.

Butter-Nut Cake

All of us have a special food that we enjoy making. Butter-Nut Cake is my mother's special. She makes it for birthdays and holidays and deaths and potlucks. You get the idea. The good thing is that she doesn't mind sharing the recipe. She even wrote out several copies to attach to recipe holders she's made for a craft show. (The little pink pigs are so cute!)

So here's the recipe!

Butter-Nut Cake

1 cup Crisco Oil
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup self-rising flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon butter-nut flavoring

Beat together sugar, Crisco oil and eggs. Add the flour and milk, beating well. Place in four round cake pans. Be sure to grease and flour the bottoms and sides of the pans. Mother cuts little circles from wax paper and puts those in the pans, greasing both sides.
Bake at 350 degrees until the layers start to pull away from the sides. I know. You want a nice, neat little time. But ovens vary and Southern cooks don't generally do a lot of timing in the kitchen. We're fortunate she measures she measures the ingredients.

Frosting

1 8-oz. package creme cheese, softened
1 stick margarine, softened
1 box confectioner's sugar
1 tablespoon butter-nut flavoring
3/4 chopped pecans

Mix all ingredients except pecans until it is creamy. Stir in pecans. Frost cake.

Enjoy!