The Cunning Whisk

Ingredients:

• 1 box. classic white cake mix
• 4 lg. eggs
• 1/3 c. cook & serve butterscotch pudding mix
• 3/4 c. orange juice, no pulp
• 1 dash salt
• 3 c. light brown sugar
• 1 1/2 c. heavy cream
• 6 Tbsp. butter, salted

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour two 9″ round pans.

Blend together cake mix, juice and pudding mix. In a separate bowl, carefully beat eggs and salt until an even lemon yellow color. Mix eggs into batter. Evenly divide mixture between cake pans. Bake for about 24 minutes.

After the cakes are cooled:  Mix brown sugar and cream together. Cook without stirring in a saucepan over medium-high heat until candy mixture reaches 238F. Remove from heat and cool until mixture reaches 140F. Cut butter into pieces over the top of the caramel and beat with an electric mixer on medium to medium-high. When caramel lightens in color and holds its shape — about 5 minutes — it is ready. Immediately use to frost the cake.

Served best soon after completion. Also, oddly enough, try grinding a tiny bit of sea salt over a slice.

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Since I’ve been limited to bringing only one dessert to family Easter today, I wanted to do something fun and extra just for the kids. I thought about all the things kids think of when it comes to Easter and I kept coming back to the idea of eggs and birds. So, why not make bird’s nests?

My mom makes haystacks with pretzels, even though most people seem to use crispy chow mein noodles. I like the salty contrast, so I started there. She also uses almond bark, but have you ever seen a white bird’s nest? Butterscotch seems to go well with salty things, and it’s a lovely golden color, so I switched. Hope you enjoy. It’s a really good project for kids to help with, too.

Ingredients:

• 2 c. (1 bag) butterscotch chips
• 1 lb. thin pretzel sticks
• 1 bag jelly beans

Directions:
In a large bowl, break up all the pretzels into three pieces each. It’s a little time consuming, but you could do it while watching television or something. The pieces need to be small so that they shape well later.

In a double boiler, gently melt the butterscotch chips. When most of the pieces are shiny, mix them well to make a smooth sauce. Pour over pretzels and mix thoroughly so that every piece is coated.

Separate mixture into eighteen bunches on wax paper. Mold and shape each bunch to make a nest-like shape. I got through about thirteen of them before they started to dry out and not stick together. I crumbled the rest back into the bowl and heated it in the microwave for 20 seconds at 70% power. Mix well and it should be back to normal.

Let every bird’s nest dry completely, then insert 3-4 jelly beans in the well of each nest.

Sorry for the crappy photo. I’m learning to use the new camera.

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