Cooking Like Loretta

Anyone remember the tag line Crisco Will Do You Proud Every Time? If so, you'll remember sweet Loretta too.


Doolittle! There's a wealth of song material right there!

I decided to celebrate Loretta Lynn's birthday yesterday by baking one of her favorite desserts from her cookbook, You're Cookin' It Country. No, lucky for you it isn't the recipe for Butcher Holler Possum. I'm a vegetarian and sugar junkie (and short on possum at the moment) so I chose the Loretta Lynn Gooey Cake instead. And yep, I greased my pan up nice and good with some Crisco!

Here are the ingredients:


You can probably tell where it get it's "gooey" from!
The eggs aren't sure how they got mixed up with such shady characters.

The cake was super easy. Basically, you just bake the cake from a mix and then poke holes in it and pour the condensed milk over the top. Then, you pour a jar of caramel topping over that. Oh yes, this thing is gonna be sugary. Then you pop it in the fridge until it cools and then top with Cool Whip and crushed Heath Bars. Here's where it got sadistic: Refrigerate overnight before serving. Oh! Don't you hate it when a recipe says that? Why, I could die in my sleep and never get to taste it! But for the love of Loretta, I did as she said.


Upon reveal today, the cake looked nice and presentable.




Ooh! Whee! Ain't Loretty purty?




The cake turned out well. It's definitely moist and "gooey" but my lawd, it's so rich and sweet! This coming from the sugar junkie. Whoo...this cake could hurt a person. You may be familiar with this famous Les Leverett photo of Loretta being told that she was invited to join the Grand Ole Opry.



However, I'm not convinced. I think that she might have just had a piece of that Gooey Cake of hers!

BOING!

If you'd like to try Loretta Lynn's Gooey Cake, here is the recipe:

Loretta Lynn's Gooey Cake

Ingredients

18 oz german chocolate cake mix
Water (as called for in the cake mix directions)
Eggs (as called for in the cake mix directions)
Oil (as called for in the cake mix directions)
1 cup cool whip (I used lots more - enough to make a thick layer)
3 Heath bars frozen
14 oz sweetened condensed milk
8 oz caramel topping

Directions:

1. Prepare and bake cake according to package directions.
2. Pour into a 13 x 9" cake pan (grease as cake mix directions require)
3. While warm, poke holes halfway into cake about 1 inch apart.
4. Pour sweetened condensed milk into holes.
5. Pour caramel topping over entire cake and chill in the refrigerator.
6. When cake is cool, top it with Cool Whip and crushed Heath candy.
7. Refrigerate overnight before serving.





Until next time,
x's and o's,
Eartha