Movie Night at Ru and Lou’s

Movie Night at Ru and Lou’s

When thinking about movie food one usually thinks popcorn.  When I think movies I typically think cake!  In most movie theaters, even the upscale ones, I have yet to find the quality of cake that I would be willing to spend the big bucks on.  So instead, we created our own big screen movie theater at home and I make the cake for our guests.  Also typically not in the local movie establishment, the coffee that we serve is from Italy (illy dark roast whole beans) and the tea is from France (THE’ NOIR EARL GRAY).

This time I chose to make two cakes.  One is a winter holiday favorite, Pumpkin Bread.  The basic recipe comes from The New Settlement Cookbook: The First Classic Collection of American Ethnic Recipes (edited by Charles Pierce in 1991).  I purchased this cookbook when my copy of The Settlement Cook Book: The way to a man’s heart (1945) that was given to me by my mother began to disintegrate.  My version of this cake includes chocolate chips, toasted pecans (pronounced as it is spelled), and candied fruits such as cherries and pineapple.

The second cake was a first time experiment.  I only try out new recipes on trusted guests who I feel will provide honest feedback.  As in life, some people value honest feedback and some are personally offended by it.  I for one use the feedback to trash it, keep it, or try it again with some variation until it becomes one or the other.  Before any recipe becomes part of our regular repertoire, it must receive multiple thumbs up.  This cake was derived from a recipe that was in the October 2009 issue of Food & Wine magazine.  Basically, make a pound cake batter and get a jar of Nutella Hazelnut Spread.  Lay down one-third of the batter in a pan, spread one-half of the Nutella on the batter, repeat, and then top off with the remaining third of the batter.  I used my favorite pound cake recipe in this fashion.  All of the adults and the teenagers seemed to like it, so I guess it will stay in the recipe file.

p.s. The movie that we watched was Inception with Leonardo DiCaprio.  My goal is not to do movie reviews but…. great special effects, however a plot that was nearly impossible to coherently follow from beginning to end.