Tres Leche Cake

This is the time of the year when overindulgence is a certainly.  Holiday party after holiday party finds us having consumed so much rich food that we are stuffed to almost vomit-y.  Not the words that you want to read on a food blog, but if I’m lyin’, I’m dyin’.  Am I right?  So here is a nice little holiday dessert that is not only easy and make ahead, but also light and delicious.  It’s a permanent fixture on the dessert menu at Miss Aimee B’s Tearoom here in historic Saint Charles, MO, and can be found in the last of their three cookbooks.  This was one of my mother’s favorite desserts.  Sadly, she passed away before I could get my hands on it and make it for her.  Here’s to you, mom!

Tres Leche Cake

Miss Aimee B's Tearoom & Marketplace

Ingredients

1 white cake mix (Duncan Hines preferred)

3 whole eggs

2 Tablespoons salad oil

1-1/3 cups water

Sauce

1 - 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk

1 - 13.5 oz. can Thai coconut milk

Garnish

Whipped Cream

Toasted coconut

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Thoroughly spray a tube pan with PAM.

Mix together cake mix, eggs, oil, and water.  Pour into tube pan.  Bake for 40-45 minutes or until cake tests done with a toothpick.

While cake is baking, whisk together the coconut and sweetened condensed milks.  Divide.  Set aside half of the milk mixture for pouring onto the cake and half for serving the cake.

When the cake had cooled 5 to 10 minutes and is still in the pan, poke big holes in the cake (we use the stem end of a meat thermometer).  Pour half of the sauce slowly over the cake (poke more holes as needed).  Let sauce soak in for about 2 hours.  Turn cake onto plate.

To serve

Drizzle some of the milk mixture over each slice of cake.  Heat each serving for 25 seconds in the microwave.  Top with a big dollop of whipped cream and sprinkle toasted coconut over all.

This post is linked to:

Tasty Tuesday

Totally Tasty Tuesdays

Try a New Recipe Tuesday

Tasty Tuesdays

Wow Us Wednesday
Work It Wednesday

What’s It Wednesday

What We Accomplished Wednesday

Full Plate Thursday

Foodie Friday

Celebrate It

Girls' Day Out

Every girl deserves a day out, right?  Well, yesterday was my day.  Joined by a like-minded friend, we first hit Miss Aimee B’s Tea Room in Midtown Saint Charles, MO for a delicious meal (lunch for her, breakfast for me), and then headed to Oma’s Barn in neighboring community, St. Peters, for an investigation.  Miss Aimee B’s is a fun place, and one that I have mentioned here before.  Quaint shops and yummy food make this a must see if you are passing through the area.  Two of their recipes I have shared in the past, one for Old Fashioned Buttermilk Coconut Pie and the other for the sensational Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler, the reason alone why I now love rhubarb.  We shared one after our meal today and it is always remarkably good. 

I had read about Oma’s about a year ago, and had wanted to go, but somehow just never got around to it. 

I’m sorry now that I hadn’t because it is a delightful place, filled to the rafters with wonderful home decor and gift items, linens and jewelry, quirky collectibles, and surrounded by flowers and garden supplies. 

As the name indicates, it is really an old, converted barn.  It’s also not air conditioned, so was a bit warm on this 94 degree day.  

That still did not deter us from examining every item, and making plans to return. 

It is open from March 1^st until December 30^th, and the décor changes with each season.  I know this is going to become one of my regular haunts and I can hardly wait to go back.

Miss Aimee B’s

837 First Capitol Drive
St. Charles, MO 63301

(636) 946-4202

Oma’s Barn

1057 Missouri Highway 79

 St Peters, MO 63376
(636) 442-2246

This post is linked to:

Amaze Me Monday

Mosaic Monday

Metamorphosis Monday

Tuesday Garden Party

Tuesdays At Our Home
Inspire Me Tuesday

The Scoop

Wow Us Wednesday
Work It Wednesday

What’s It Wednesday

Inspiration Gallery Thursday

Home and Garden Thursday

The Weekend re-Treat

Clever Chicks Blog Hop

Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler

Last week I told you about Magpie Restaurant on Historic Main and their delicious Asparagus Soup.  If you missed out on that post, you can read it here.  This week I am featuring another charming eatery in Saint Charles, Missouri called Miss Aimee B’s Tea Room and Marketplace.  Every time I go I find at least one thing, oh, who am I kidding?  More like ten things that I want to buy.  I am still thinking about the French flower bucket that really called my name so I may just have to go back this week, but I digress.  The restaurant and shops are contained within the walls of the wonderful Marten/Becker House, a Historic Home built in1865 by Francis Marten, now on the National Register of Historic Places.  Their food is tasty, the desserts divine.

Now, as you know, if you’re paying attention, until recently I was a rhubarb virgin.  Yep.  True, and I’m not ashamed to admit it.  But since then everything has changed.  First I made this jam; secondly I tasted Miss Aimee B’s Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler.  Why did I wait so long to fall in love with rhubarb?  Fortunately for you Miss Aimee B’s has a cookbook, in fact, THREE of them, all with recipes for customer’s favorites, including the cobbler, so I am sharing this recipe with you.  It is very easy and enormously delicious.

Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler

5 cups frozen rhubarb, chopped

2 cups sliced strawberries, half fresh & half frozen

1 ½ cups self-rising flour

2 ½ cups granulated sugar

1 ½ cups milk

1 ½ tsp. almond extract

1 stick unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Spray a 13” x 9” pan with PAM.  Place the rhubarb in the bottom of the pan, topped with the strawberries.  Combine flour, sugar, milk, and almond extract.  The dough will be lumpy.  Pour over the fruit.  DO NOT STIR.  Pour the melted margarine over the dough.  Use a tooth pick to swirl margarine into the dough.  Bake at 350°F for 1 hour.  Serve warm or cool with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or dollop of whipped cream or vanilla yogurt.

Yield:  12 to 16 servings.

This post is linked to:

On the Menu Monday

Totally Tasty Tuesdays

Try a New Recipe Tuesday

Old-Fashioned Buttermilk-Coconut Pie

  

Honestly, it’s scary the way my mind works.  I was reading another culinary cozy mystery, Carol Culver's A Good Day to Pie (Typically I am not a pie person, but reading the descriptions of all of the pies got to me.), and was inspired to bake one.  Next thing you know I’m paging through an issue of Midwest Living magazine (sometimes I read a book and a magazine at the same time -- don’t judge me) when my eyes fell upon a pie recipe from a local restaurant, Miss Aimee B’s Tearoom in St. Charles, MO.  Located in the charming Historic Marten/Becker House built in 1865, it is a welcoming place containing a delicious tea room and variety of unique shops.   The recipe in question was for Buttermilk Pie, something that, admittedly, has intrigued me over the years.  I mean, isn’t a pie supposed to have apples, or chocolate, or lemon custard?  How can a pie with a buttermilk filling be any good?

Well, the fact is, I just don’t know, but served warm from the oven it was delicious!  And it is, well, as easy as pie to make.  Chances are you have all of the ingredients on hand, so what are you waiting for?  Pick up a good book to enjoy afterwards.  I'm currently recommending, you guessed it, Carol Culver's A Good Day to Pie.  There are plenty of pie recipes at the end of this book to whet your appetite and inspire your culinary endeavors.  Naturally I'm planning on trying them all.

Old-Fashioned Buttermilk-Coconut Pie

From Miss Aimee B’s Tearoom & The Upstairs Market Place

1/2 15 ounce package rolled refrigerated unbaked pie crust (1 crust)

1/2 cup butter

1 1/4 cups sugar

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

3 eggs

3/4 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup flaked coconut

For crust:

Let pie crust stand according to package directions. Unroll pie crust; place into a 9-inch pie plate. Tuck pie crust under and flute edges. Do not prick pie crust. Line pastry with double thickness of foil.

Bake in a 450 degrees F oven for 8 minutes. Remove foil. Bake for 4 to 6 minutes more or until crust is light brown. Remove from oven. Cool on a wire rack. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F.

For filling:

In medium saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Stir in sugar and flour. Remove from heat; set aside.

In a medium bowl, beat eggs lightly with a whisk until combined. Add buttermilk and vanilla; whisk until just combined. Gradually whisk buttermilk mixture into butter mixture until smooth. Stir in coconut.

Place partially baked pastry shell on the oven rack. Carefully pour filling into shell. Cover edge of pie with foil to prevent overbrowning.

Bake in the 350 degree F oven for 30 minutes. Remove the foil; bake pie about 10 minutes more or until a knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool slightly on a wire rack. Serve warm. Cover and store any remaining pie in the refrigerator within 2 hours. Let chilled pie stand at room temperature for 1 hour before serving. Makes 8 servings.

This post is linked to: 

Foodie Friday