Recipes that appear in Idea Alley have not been tested by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Alley Kats didn't waste any time responding to Marie O'Donohue's requests for Boston cream pie and hamburger steak.
Sue Lopez, owner and namesake of the beloved and much missed Sue's Pie Shop shared her recipe for Boston Cream Pie.
"Pretty involved, but was a favorite of some of my customers," Lopez writes.
Boston Cream Pie
For the cake:
1 ½ cups flour
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup shortening
1 egg
For the cream filling:
2/3 cup sugar
¼ cup flour
2 cups milk
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the chocolate topping:
½ cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
¼ cup cocoa
1/8 teaspoon salt
½ cup boiling water
1½ tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
Heat oven to 350 degrees.
To make the cake:
Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
Add the milk, vanilla and shortening. Beat 2 minutes at high speed. Add egg and beat 2 more minutes. Grease and flour a 9-inch cake pan. Spread batter in pan and bake for 25 minutes. Cool.
To make the cream filling:
In a saucepan, mix the sugar and flour. Add 2 cups milk and cook over medium heat until thickened and comes to a full boil. Temper the egg yolks with a little of the hot milk mixture, then add the egg yolks to the milk mixture. Continue cooking until it again comes to a full boil. Remove from heat, add butter and vanilla. Cool.
For the chocolate topping:
Cook sugar, flour, cocoa, salt and water over medium heat until thickened. Remove from heat. Add butter and vanilla.
Cut the cooled cake in half horizontally. Spread a thick layer of cream filling on the bottom half. Replace top half. Spread chocolate mixture on top allowing to drizzle down the sides.
Makes 1 cake.
Charles Geer of Granite City, Ill., shares this recipe for "Emergency Steak."
"I was visiting relatives in Piggott when I saw the recipe requests in the June 25 Idea Alley for hamburger steak and Boston cream pie.
Couldn't find a simple Boston cream pie recipe after a quick scan of my cookbook collection, but I found a hamburger steak recipe in my 1950 replica Betty Crocker's New Picture Cook Book. Turns out this combines Wheaties with ground beef for an 'Emergency Steak' that, if it works out right, is supposed to look like a T-bone steak. Talk about your Hamburger Helper!," Geer writes.
Emergency Steak
1 pound ground beef
1 tablespoon minced onion
½ cup milk
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup Wheaties OR ¼ cup dry bread crumbs
Carrot strips, optional
Combine the beef, onion, milk, salt, pepper and cereal or breadcrumbs and mix thoroughly, but gently.
Place on lightly greased pan; pat into shape of T-bone steak (1-inch thick). Strips of carrot may be inserted to resemble the bone. Broil 3- to 5-inches from heat for 18 minutes per side for medium or 20 minutes for well done. Serve immediately.
Send recipe requests, contributions and culinary questions to Kelly Brant, Idea Alley, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, P.O. Box 2221, Little Rock, Ark. 72203; email:
Please include a daytime phone number.
Food on 07/09/2014