APRICOT PECAN UPSIDE DOWN CAKE

INDIAN PUDDING

BAKED STUFFED APPLES

CHOCOLATE BAR CAKE

CARROT RAISIN CAKE

PECAN PIE

APRICOT-PECAN UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE

Make topping: Preheat oven to 350°F. Melt butter in heavy small saucepan over medium-low heat. Add brown sugar and stir until mixture begins to bubble, about 2 minutes. Pour into 9-inch-diameter cake pan with 2-inch-high sides. Spread mixture over bottom of pan. Sprinkle nuts over. Place each cherry half, cut side down, into pitted center of each apricot half. Arrange apricot halves, cherry side down, in concentric circles in pan.

Make cake: Whisk flour, baking powder, nutmeg and salt in medium bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until light and creamy. Gradually beat in sugar. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Mix in vanilla. Beat in dry ingredients alternately with milk in 3 additions.

Spoon batter over apricots. Bake cake until top is golden and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Transfer pan to rack. Run knife around pan sides. Cool cake on rack 10 minutes. Place plate over pan; invert cake onto plate. Gently lift off pan.

Set cake pan over low heat and whisk any sugar mixture remaining in pan until syrupy, about 30 seconds. Pour syrup over cake. Serve warm with whipped cream

Serves 8.

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BAKED STUFFED APPLES

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Combine first 5 ingredients in a small bowl. Core each apple without cutting through base; enlarge opening slightly. Peel top half of each apple. Press pear mixture into centers. Place apples in baking dish just large enough to accommodate. Dot with butter. Sprinkel with remaining 2 tbs of brown sugar. Pour cider over. Bake until apples are tender, basting every 15 minutes with pan juices, about 50 minutes.

Transfer apples to plates. Pour cooking juices into small saucepan and boil until reduced to thick syrup, about 2 minutes. Spoon over apples. Serve hot or warm, pouring whipping cream over the top.

Makes 2 servings; can be doubled or tripled.

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CARROT RAISIN CAKE

For the cake: In a bowl combine well the flour, the baking powder, the salt, the cinnamon, the nutmeg, and the allspice. In another bowl with an electric mixer cream the butter with the brown sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy, beat in the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, and beat the mixture until it is smooth. Add the carrot, the raisins, and the zest and combine the mixture well. Stir in the flour mixture alternately with the orange juice in 2 batches and stir the batter until it is combined well. Divide the batter between 2 buttered and floured 8-inch round cake pans, spreading it evenly, and bake the layers in the middle of a preheated 350°F. oven for 40 to 45 minutes or less, or until a tester comes out clean and the edges begin to pull away from the sides of the pans. Let the layers cool in the pans for 20 minutes, invert them onto racks, and let them cool completely. The cake layers may be made 1 day in advance and kept, wrapped well, at room temperature.

MAPLE FROSTING
10 ounces cream cheese (such as Philadelphia), room temperature
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
12 walnut halves (for garnish)

Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and butter in large bowl until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar and beat at low speed until well blended. Beat in maple syrup. Chill until just firm enough to spread, 30 minutes.

Place 1 cake layer on platter. Spread with 3/4 cup icing. Top with second layer. Spread remaining icing over entire cake. Arrange walnut halves around top edge. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover with cake dome; chill. Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes before serving.)

IRISH CREAM FROSTING
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
2 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup Irish cream liqueur or heavy cream
confectioners' sugar for sifting over the cake

In a bowl with an electric mixer cream the butter until it is smooth, beat in the confectioners' sugar gradually, and beat in the salt and the Irish cream. Beat the frosting until it is light and fluffy.

Invert one of the cake layers onto a plate, spread one third of the frosting on top, and top it with the second layer. Spread three fourths of the remaining frosting on the side of the cake decoratively and reserve the remaining frosting in a pastry bag fitted with a star tip. Put a paper doily on top of the cake, sift the confectioners' sugar over it, and remove the doily carefully. Pipe the reserved frosting decoratively around the edge of the cake.

Makes 12 servings

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INDIAN PUDDING

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Butter a 2-quart casserole. In a saucepan, combine 3 cups of milk and the maple syrup over medium heat. Heat until just boiling and add butter. In a separate bowl, combine cornmeal, ginger, and nutmeg. Gradually stir cornmeal mixture into hot milk. Reduce heat to low and cook until thinckend, about 10 minutes. Fold in raisins or currants.

Spoon mixture into the casserole. Pour remaiing milk over pudding; do not stir. Bake 2-1/2 hours, or until all of the milk has been absorbed and top is golden brown. Serve warm with ice cream.

Serves 6

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CHOCOLATE BAR CAKE

Prepare cake batter according to package directions. Pour into 3 greased and floured 8-inch round cake pans.

Bake at 325 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center coumes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes. Remove from pans and cool completely on wire racks.

Beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, and granulated sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until mixture is creamy.

Chop 8 candy bars finely. Fold cream cheese mixture and chopped candy into whipped topping. Spread icing between layers and on top and sides of cake. Chop remaining 2 candy bars. Sprinkle half of chopped candy bars over cake. Press remaining candy along bottom edge of cake.

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PECAN PIE

Combine first 3 ingredients in a saucepan; cook over low heat, stirring constatly, until butter melts and sugar dissolves. Cool.

Add eggs, vanilla, and salt; stir well. Pour into pasty shell; top with pecan halves. Bake at 325 degrees F for 50 to 55 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

Makes 1 9-inch pie

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