Gridiron Cake Recipes

GRIDIRON CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a half sheet foil cake pan (17x12x1 in.)., In a bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes. Add vanilla and eggs, 1 at at time, beating well after each addition. In another bowl, whisk flour, baking powder and salt; beat into creamed mixture alternately with milk. Transfer to prepared pan., Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 25-30 minutes. Place on a wire rack; cool completely., For frosting, beat cream cheese and butter. Add the confectioners' sugar, milk and vanilla. Reserve 1/4 cup of frosting for field markings. Tint remaining frosting green; spread over top of cake. Pipe white yard lines and numbers accordingly. Decorate field with goal posts and gumdrops for football players.

SOUTHERN RED VELVET CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly oil and flour three 9 by 1 1/2-inch round cake pans.
• In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. In another large bowl, whisk together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla.
• Using a standing mixer, mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined and a smooth batter is formed.
• Divide the cake batter evenly among the prepared cake pans. Place the pans in the oven evenly spaced apart. Bake, rotating the pans halfway through the cooking, until the cake pulls away from the side of the pans, and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean, about 30 minutes.
• Remove the cakes from the oven and run a knife around the edges to loosen them from the sides of the pans. One at a time, invert the cakes onto a plate and then re-invert them onto a cooling rack, rounded-sides up. Let cool completely.
• Frost the cake. Place 1 layer, rounded-side down, in the middle of a rotating cake stand. Using a palette knife or offset spatula spread some of the Cream Cheese Frosting over the top of the cake. (Spread enough frosting to make a 1/4 to 1/2-inch layer.) Carefully set another layer on top, rounded-side down, and repeat. Top with the remaining layer and cover the entire cake with the remaining frosting. Sprinkle the top with the pecans.
• In a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or with a hand-held electric mixer in a large bowl, mix the cream cheese, sugar, and butter on low speed until incorporated. Increase the speed to high, and mix until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. (Occasionally turn the mixer off, and scrape the down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.)
• Reduce the speed of the mixer to low. Add the vanilla, raise the speed to high and mix briefly until fluffy (scrape down the bowl occasionally). Store in the refrigerator until somewhat stiff, before using. May be stored in the refrigerator for 3 days.

JOHNNY GRIDDLE CAKES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
• Whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk together the milk, honey and egg yolks together in another medium bowl until combined. Whisk the egg whites in another medium bowl until stiff peaks form.
• Add the milk mixture to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Gently fold in the egg whites, and then 2 tablespoons of the melted butter. Mix until the batter is just smooth and let rest for 10 minutes.
• Heat a large nonstick saute pan, cast-iron pan or griddle over medium-high heat. Brush the pan with some of the remaining melted butter. Spoon 2 heaping tablespoons of the batter onto the pan for each johnny griddle cake. Spread the batter slightly just to even out the top using a small offset spatula. Cook until lightly golden brown on each side, about 1 minute 30 seconds per side. Transfer to a baking sheet and keep warm in the oven until ready to serve.

GINGERBREAD CAKE

Steps:

• Lightly butter a 9 by 13 by 2-inch cake pan and line the bottom with a piece of parchment or wax paper. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, sugar, molasses, and crystallized ginger. Add the eggs and whisk until smooth.
• In another large bowl, whisk together the flour, ground ginger, cinnamon, salt, and cloves. Whisk the molasses mixture into the flour mixture until evenly combined.
• In a small saucepan, bring the water to a boil. Remove from the heat and stir in the baking soda. Whisk the hot water into the batter until just combined. Transfer the batter into the prepared pan. Bake the cake in the center of the oven, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Cool the cake in the pan on a rack. Cut into squares and serve with whipped cream or ice cream.

HERSHEY'S ® GRIDIRON CAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour 15-1/2 x10-1/2x1-inch disposable foil baking pan or jelly-roll pan.
• Combine water, butter and cocoa in medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture boils. Boil 1 minute. Remove from heat; set aside.
• Stir together sugar, flour, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs and sour cream; beat until blended. Add cocoa mixture; beat just until blended (batter will be thin). Pour into prepared pan.
• Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cake in pan on wire rack.
• For chocolate frosting, stir cocoa into 1/3 cup frosting; stir until smooth. Tint 1/3 cup frosting orange with 1 drop red food color and 2 drops yellow food color; stir until blended. Tint remaining frosting green with 2 or 3 drops green food color; stir until blended.
• Mark "end zones", 2 inches wide at each end of cake, using wooden pick; frost one end zone with chocolate frosting and the other end zone with orange frosting. Frost the area between end zones with green frosting; mark 5 yard lines with wooden pick. Place white chips all across cake on yard lines.
• Use white chips to spell out "HERSHEY'S" on chocolate end zone; use brown Reese's Pieces on the goal line. Use yellow Reese's Pieces to spell out "REESE'S" on orange end zone. Use orange Reece's Pieces on the goal line.
• Remove wrappers from Kisses, peanut butter cups and Hugs. Arrange teams on cake playing field, using Kisses as one team and peanut butter cups as second team. Place Hugs as referee officials on the field.
• Unwrap Rolos; for goal posts, stack 3 Rolos in the middle of each goal line on each side of field. Shape strawberry twists into "U" shapes for goal posts. "Glue" with frosting to top of each stack of Rolos.

GREEN ONION CAKES

Steps:

• Use a fork to mix flour and boiling water in a large bowl. Knead dough into a ball. Cover bowl with plastic wrap; let dough rest for 30 to 60 minutes.
• Evenly divide dough into 16 pieces. Roll each piece into a 1/4 inch thick circle. Brush each circle with oil, season with salt and pepper, and sprinkle with about 1 teaspoon of green onions. Roll up, cigar style; coil each pancake and pinch open ends together to form a disc. Roll each circle flat to about 1/4 inch thickness.
• Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a large skillet. Fry cakes until golden brown, about 2 minutes on each side. Add more oil between batches, if necessary.