{"id":2282,"date":"2018-07-07T13:34:22","date_gmt":"2018-07-07T13:34:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wagsfp.urop.lsa.umich.edu\/?p=2282"},"modified":"2020-08-28T14:10:56","modified_gmt":"2020-08-28T14:10:56","slug":"free-blog-smith-island-cake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/wagsfp\/2018\/07\/07\/free-blog-smith-island-cake\/","title":{"rendered":"Free Blog: Smith Island Cake"},"content":{"rendered":"

[su_heading size=”30″ margin=”60″]PSA: This cake will change your life[\/su_heading]<\/p>\n

That may seem dramatic. But no joke, this cake is amazing, and that’s coming from someone who usually isn’t a big cake fan. My family makes this cake at least twice a year. Just look at her:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

8 delicious, dense layers of yellow cake. In between, a decadent chocolate fudge frosting and a dusting of peanut butter cups. All topped off by coarsely chopped peanut butter cups. This cake has it all. I wish my life was as put together as this cake.<\/p>\n

Smith Island Cakes are the pride and joy of Smith Island, an island 10 miles off the shore of Chesapeake Bay. While each resident has their own take on the classic, each cake features thin layers and a fudge frosting. Cakes with fudge frosting last much longer than those with buttercream, and this allowed wives on the island to send these cakes to their fishermen husbands during the oyster harvest. I don’t know the first thing about oystering, but I’d be willing to learn if it meant I could have more of these cakes in my life.<\/p>\n

So how can you get this cake into your life? Here’s the recipe my family loves, courtesy of Smith Island resident Mary Ann Marshall, featuring peanut butter cups.<\/p>\n

Ingredients<\/h3>\n
\n
8 large Reese’s peanut butter cups, frozen<\/div>\n
1<\/sup>\u20444<\/sub>\u00a0cup flour<\/div>\n
1 (18 1\u20444-oz.) box yellow cake mix, preferably Duncan Hines<\/div>\n
2 cups plus 3 tbsp. evaporated milk<\/div>\n
16 tbsp. butter, softened<\/div>\n
1 tsp. vanilla extract<\/div>\n
1<\/sup>\u20442<\/sub>\u00a0tsp. salt<\/div>\n
4 eggs<\/div>\n
6 cups confectioners’ sugar<\/div>\n
1<\/sup>\u20444<\/sub>\u00a0cup unsweetened cocoa<\/div>\n
Nonstick cooking spray<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Instructions<\/h3>\n
\n
Pulse 4 peanut butter cups in a food processor into small chunks; transfer to a bowl. Pulse remaining peanut butter cups into a fine powder; transfer to another bowl. Chill both until ready to use.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
Heat oven to 350\u00b0. Grease four 8″ round cake pans with cooking spray, dust with half the flour, and knock out any excess. Set aside. Put cake mix, 1 1\u20442 cups evaporated milk, half the butter, vanilla, salt, eggs, and 1\u20443 cup water into a large bowl; beat with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, 10\u201312 minutes. Divide half the batter between prepared cake pans. Set remaining batter aside. Using the back of a spoon, spread out batter so that it covers the bottom of each pan, making it slightly thicker around the edges than in the middle. Bake until cooked through and golden around edges, 12\u201314 minutes. Set aside to let cool slightly, then loosen cake layers with a knife and invert onto cooling racks. Wash and dry cake pans. Repeat process a second time with cooking spray and remaining flour and batter.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
When all 8 cake layers have cooled, make the icing. Combine remaining milk, sugar, and cocoa in a medium pot; stir well, then add remaining butter. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until butter is melted and icing is shiny, 4\u20135 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes. Stir well.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Spread a cake layer with about 1\u20444 cup of icing; sprinkle with about 1 tbsp. powdered peanut butter cups. Top with another cake layer and repeat process to make 8 layers in all. Frost outside of cake with remaining icing; sprinkle top with peanut butter cup chunks. Let sit for 2\u20133 hours before serving. The cake can be stored for up to a week refrigerated in an airtight container.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Enjoy!<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[su_heading size=”30″ margin=”60″]PSA: This cake will change your life[\/su_heading] That may seem dramatic. But no joke, this cake is amazing, and that’s coming from someone who usually isn’t a big cake fan. My family makes this cake at least twice a year. Just look at her: 8 delicious, dense layers of yellow cake. In between,… Continue reading Free Blog: Smith Island Cake<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1654,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,2,38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-freeblog","category-blog-posts","category-samantha","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/wagsfp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/wagsfp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/wagsfp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/wagsfp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1654"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/wagsfp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2282"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/wagsfp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2282\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3005,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/wagsfp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2282\/revisions\/3005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/wagsfp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/wagsfp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/wagsfp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}