Sunday, August 17, 2008

Sanders' Bumpy Cake

My Detroit area readers will recognize this one...and for those of you who aren't from this area, I will post a pic below showing you what a Sanders Bumpy Cake is.

My mom worked at Sanders when she was a teen. For that reason, we have a couple of their recipes in our arsenal (keep an eye out for Sanders' Hot Fudge!). I'm not sure if this is actually FROM Sanders, but it is from a friend of my mom's who *I believe* worked there, too. If not, I'm sure mom will chime in and let me know. If nothing else, they did ride the bus together!

Anyway, a Sanders Bumpy Cake is legendary here in the Detroit area. They're pretty simple, kind of like a hostess cupcake as far as taste goes. It's a devil's food cake, topped with buttercream (in a "bumpy" pattern), which is then topped with a chocolate icing.




hhhmm...now that I look at a "real" one, I kinda wish I did mine different....oh well! So, that's what a Sanders Bumpy Cake looks like. Here is mine...note that I didn't really do the "bumps" on mine...well, ok, I *tried* to do the bumps, but I think it was just too warm for the liking of the buttercream today.

Not too shabby, eh? It was *very* tasty. I think this is what Ugg will be requesting for his birthday this year!

So...here is the recipe (ok, I'm writing it as my mom wrote it...but geez...Mom, I love you, but more specifics would be good!) -- bolding my additions/clarifications.

Sanders Bumpy Tea Cake
Mix and cool a chocolate cake in a 9x13" pan -- ok, I used a boxed devil's food cake, but followed The Cake Mix Doctors recipe for Chocolate Buttermilk Cake

Buttercream:
1 stick of butter
1/2 c shortening
1 c sugar
1t vanilla
2/3 c hot milk

Mix butter, shortening and sugar until smooth, then add hot milk. Mix on low until thick and creamy - takes a long time - ok, really, Mom? "takes a long time"? I mixed for about 15 minutes. Spread on cooled cake (or pipe to make "bumps"), and freeze until set (I froze for about 30 minutes)

Chocolate Icing:
4 T cocoa
2 T oil
2 T + 4 t water (these measurements kind of amused me..but not really, since the first time I did it using 2 + 4 TABLESPOONS - instead of 4 TEAspoons)
2 T dark corn syrup
2 C powdered sugar

Mix all except sugar in a saucepan and heat, stirring, until hot. Mix in sugar and stir (I whisked..you should too, makes it WAY easier/faster) until smooth. Pour over buttercream and refrigerate.

So, there you have it...one of my old family recipes. Keep an eye out for more. I'm planning a mac and cheese casserole that everyone loves (and is way easier than regular mac and cheese), scotch shortbread, rice pudding, French Canadian meat pies....and any more that may strike my fancy.

Enjoy this one! It's a real treat...and THANKS MOM for letting me use your recipe file!

11 comments:

Sally said...

Ok ... here's the real deal. The Sanders recipes are from someone by the name of Gloria(?) Pitzer. She is renown for duplicating recipes by company/restaurants that would prefer their recipes remain their secret. So ... that being said the directions are hers not mine. (The person I rode the bus with was Edie Miller and she was another fantastic cook .. I remember someone in the family asking me to duplicate her cookbook). It was 51 years ago that I got my job at Sanders, at a really great pay rate of $1.07 an hour. You have some really great recipes in store with the ones Elizabeth mentioned, but she is forgetting the best of them all, Surprise Apple Cake (known in our family as Applesauce Cake and was her father's favorite cake). I am so proud of my daughter and her cooking and baking prowess. She has far surpassed my skills, she must have gotten some of these genes from her dad's mother.

Sally

Katie said...

This cake looks fantastic. So yummy! And these pictures are GORGEOUS! :)

Elizabeth said...

Mom, I hope the Alzheimer's isn't setting in...I did the Applesauce Cake back in October....and I even think you commented on it! :-)

Dawn said...

Your pictures are really good. I think your cake out perfect. I don't know what the original is supposed to look like, but yours looks like amazing and of course yummy too! :-)

Colleen said...

your cake looks gorgeous as well!

Erin said...

oh.my.gosh! Your cake looks amazing! I will be trying this for sure!

Kenzie said...

Wow - great picture of a delicious-looking cake!

Nikki said...

Nice job! I'm originally from GR, but never heard of cake. Looks delicious though!

Jen said...

Ohhh...Hubby & I were just talking about this tonight and I had to see if we could have one shipped out to us. But I still had to see if there was a recipe online...I'll have to try this. As a native to Detroit, I miss bumpy cakes!

Philip said...

HI there. I found your bumpy cake recipe online after talking with my family tonight up in MI (they're celebrating a birthday with Sanders bumpy cake). I used to live there and moved to TX 10 years ago and my husband has NEVER had Sanders bumpy cake, so I'm determined to make it for him! Do you by any chance have the Cake Mix Dr. chocolate buttermilk cake recipe you mentioned here? I do not have that cookbook and it's not listed online anywhere.

Thanks for your help. From one bumpy cake lover to another!
Michelle Collins
the collinscrew@verizon.net

susan said...

Your comment made me smile :) I spent my high school days in Grosse Pointe, Michigan with fond memories of Sanders- oh, the bumpy cake, eclairs, hot fudge and the vernors ice cream, let's not forget their yummy jelly beans. I loved to sit at the counter and devour a hot fudge sundae. My sister, in Baltimore celebrated a birthday yesterday and her sweet husband made her a bumpy cake. When it cools off again- I'm in Tulsa, Oklahoma, I am making a bumpy cake- maybe for Thanksgiving.
Susan