Cook of the Week Darrell Yarborough's recipes

Darrell's Soon To Be World Famous German Chocolate Cake & Coconut Pecan Frosting

1 package (4 ounces) German sweet chocolate

1 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)

2 cups sugar

4 egg yolks and whites (room temperature)

1 teaspoon vanilla

2½ cups cake flour (Swans Down)

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk (236 milliliters)

For the frosting

2 cups half & half

2 cups sugar

6 egg yolks, slightly beaten (room temperature)

2 sticks of unsalted butter (room temperature)

2 teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoons cornstarch (dissolve in 1/8 cup cold water)

2 2/3 cups flaked coconut

2 cups chopped pecans

Melt 1 package German chocolate in ½ cup boiling water, then cool. Cream 1 cup butter and 2 cups sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks one at a time, beating after each. Add vanilla and melted chocolate mix until blended. Sift together 2½ cups cake flour, soda, salt; add flour mixture into the chocolate mixture alternating with 1 cup buttermilk, beating after each addition until smooth. Fold in 4 egg whites stiffly beaten. Pour batter into 3 (9-inch) cake pans lined on bottom with parchment or wax paper. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting, combine milk, sugar, egg yolks, butter, cornstarch mixture and vanilla in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat stirring constantly until mixture becomes thick about 12 minutes. Remove from heat add coconut and pecans. Beat until frosting is cool and has the consistency for spreading. Refrigerate the frosting long enough to make it stiff enough to stay on the sides of the cake.

Frost between layers, top and sides.

Makes enough to frost 3 (9 inch) layers all over.

Sticky Toffee and Date Pudding

6½ ounces Medjool dates, stoned and diced

1¾ ounces unsalted butter, softened

3½ ounces caster sugar

2.65 ounces soft dark brown sugar

2 eggs

6.2 ounces self-rising flour

For the Toffee Sauce

1½ cup double cream

1¾ ounces demerara sugar

2 teaspoons black treacle

Heat the oven to 350 degrees and butter four 200 ml ovenproof pudding basins. Simmer the dates in 300 ml water for 5 minutes until softened. Leave to cool.

Cream together the butter and sugars. Add the eggs. Mix in the dates, date liquid and flour. Pour into the pudding basins and bake for 25-30 minutes until just firm. Leave to cool for a couple of minutes before turning out. To make the toffee sauce, put the cream, sugar and treacle in a pan. Heat gently until the sugar has dissolved, then boil for 2-3 minutes, stirring until you have a smooth sauce. Serve with the pudding. Serves 4

Proper English Scones

1½ cup all-purpose flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

5 tablespoons butter (softened)

5 tablespoons golden caster sugar (American equivalent: Demerara or Domino Light Brown Sugar)

½ cup buttermilk

½ cup sultanas (golden raisins)

1 egg yolk lightly beaten, to glaze

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl. Blend the butter and sugar into the flour to form a fine crumble. (I use a dough blade) Make a well in the center and add the milk and sultanas. Knead gently together, being careful not to overmix. On a lightly floured surface roll out the dough to ½-inch thickness. Cut them out like biscuits with a cutter about 2-2½ inches in diameter. To make them 'extra fancy' I like scalloped edge cutters. Place on a greased baking sheet and brush the tops with the egg yolk. Allow to stand 15 minutes. Bake 12-15 minutes or until risen and lightly golden on top.

Serve warm with Double Devon Cream or Clotted Cream and strawberry jam. Double Devon Cream is sometimes available at World Market and Whole Foods stores. It comes in jars and like jam doesn't have to be refrigerated until opened.

My mother's pound cake

2 sticks unsalted butter (226 g) at room temperature

3 cups granulated sugar (594 g)

½ cup Crisco (92 g) Crisco can be bought in sticks. ½ cup = ½ stick

6 eggs at room temperature

1 ½ cup milk (355 ml) at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups flour (360 g)

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

For the frosting

1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature (113 g)

1 16-ounce box powdered sugar (453 g)

Pinch of salt

¼ cup milk (60 ml)

2 tablespoon sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Butter and eggs need to be at room temperature before combining. Cream together butter, Crisco and sugar until the mixture is pale yellow. Add eggs one at a time mixing until just combined. Add the vanilla extract. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients and the milk to the creamed ingredients, alternately until just combined. Do not over mix. Bake in a greased and floured tube pan or a Bundt pan at 325 for 1½ hour. Cake is done when a testing pick comes out clean.

For the frosting, again butter should be at room temperature. With a mixer, cream the butter and powdered sugar and salt. Add milk and sour cream and vanilla and mix until smooth. Make the frosting thin enough that it will run down the sides of the cooled cake.

Lasagna for the Multitudes

1 white onion, finely chopped

10- 12 medium button mushrooms, sliced

3 tablespoons of olive oil

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 pounds ground beef/pork/veal (meatloaf mix ground meat)

4 quarts and a pint of supermarket pasta sauce (your choice)

1 large (16 ounce) carton of ricotta cheese

6-8 cups shredded mozzarella

1 wedge (8-10 ounces) Parmesana Reggiano cheese, grated

1 wedge (8-10 ounces) Romano cheese. grated

3-9 ounce boxes oven ready (no cook) lasagna noodles

Sauté the onion and mushrooms in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a large stock pot or Dutch oven. When these are cooked add the garlic and sauté about a minute more. Add the ground meat and cook until brown. Drain off excess fat and moisture. Add all the sauce and simmer for thirty minutes.

I make this in a 12x18 inch roasting pan. It is huge and will feed a very large gathering.

Put a layer of the sauce in the bottom of the roasting pan. Now put down a layer of the lasagna noodles lengthwise in the pan. Put down a generous layer of the sauce, then all of the ricotta cheese and about half the mozzarella, Parmesan and Romano. Put down another layer of the lasagna noodles, the remainder of the sauce and the rest of the mozzarella, Parmesan and Romano cheeses.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until the sauce is bubbling and the cheese is melted. Let stand for about fifteen minutes before slicing and serving.

The secret to great lasagna is good quality cheese and plenty of it.