Bishop's Cake

This afternoon our family had hoped to travel and attend The Ordination of Bishop Liam Cary, the priest that married my husband and I back in 1999.  Unfortunately, my husband had to work today after all, and we had to cancel our travel plans. Thanks to the internet and live streaming, we will still be able to watch the Ordination Mass online!

To celebrate this special occasion we decided to bake a "Bishop's Cake!" This is an old fashioned pound cake, which would also be suitable to make for any of the feasts of bishop saints.

Bishop's Cake

adapted from both The Silver Palate Cookbook and Catholic Culture

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound(2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups sifted cake flour
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 5 whole eggs

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350˚ F. Grease and flour a 10-inch bundt pan.

Cream the butter and sugar gradually in mixing bowl until fluffy.

Add the sifted flour to the butter mixture.  Add the lemon juice and vanilla, stir well.   Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.  (After the first 30 minutes, cover loosely with Aluminum Foil) 

Cool in pan for 10 minutes.   Remove from pan and cool completely. Dust with powdered sugar if desired.

Note:  As a variation, sprinkle crushed blanched almonds over the top of the cake right before putting it in the oven to bake.

Saint Francis de Sales Honey Goodness Breakfast Bars

Today is the Feast of St. Francis de Sales. St. Francis de Sales is well known for his books: Treatise on the Love of God and Introduction to the Devout Life. In addition he wrote many pamphlets and letters. The Church has named him patron of the Catholic Press.

Amy Heyd, author of Saints at the Dinner Table, shares the following recipe for Saint Francis de Sales Honey Goodness Breakfast Bars on her website. She says, "These bars remind me of the goodness that radiated from Saint Francis de Sales, as well as the way he remained "sweet" to get people to listen to him."

Saint Francis de Sales Honey Goodness Breakfast Bars
Source: Amy Heyd's Website

1 stick butter, softened
1/3 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1/4 cup honey
1 large egg
4 ounces applesauce (1/2 cup)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup dried apples (get the soft kind you find by raisins, don't get the crispy apples)
1/4 cup raisins

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar and honey using a mixer on low for about 2 minutes. Add the egg, applesauce and vanilla and mix for another minute. Sift the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon into the butter mixture. Mix on low for 1 - 2 minutes until the flour is fully incorporated into the mixture. Add the oatmeal and mix on medium until the oatmeal is fully incorporated. Chop the dried apples into 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch cubes and add to the batter. Stir the raisins in with the apples and batter.

Spread the batter evenly into a greased two quart baking pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 25 to 30 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the bars. To prevent the bars from burning, lightly cover the bars with foil for the last 10 minutes of baking.


“It is an error, or rather a heresy, to say devotion is incompatible with the life of a soldier, a tradesman, a prince, or a married woman.... It has happened that many have lost perfection in the desert who had preserved it in the world. ” ~ St. Francis de Sales

St. Francis de Sales, pray for us!