Fabulous Food Friday with Basilmomma: Amazing Butterscotch Cake

Welcome to Fabulous Food Friday! While exploring the blogosphere, I realized that there were many great recipes to share. So every Friday this summer, I am going to  feature an awesome blogger with their great recipe! Today’s feature blogger is Heather from Basilmomma.  Heather is a mother boys who enjoys cooking the perfect recipe for her family.  She admits that her food isn't fancy, but it is made to please her and her hungry "panel of judges".  She has some wonderful recipes that you definitely should check out.  One of  my favorite from her site are, Egg and Cheese Croissants. It can be used for breakfast or dinner!   When you get a chance, swing by Heather's yummy blog or Facebook Page.  I’m sure you’ll find a recipe you and your family will love.  


I have always tried to be a  "seize the day" kind of person.   You ask my family what my motto is and they would say "do not put off until tomorrow the things you could do today".  I am a fairly straight forward person.  I like straight lines and sometimes on a wild and crazy day, shades of gray.

Everything I knew about my well planned and organized life came to a screeching halt last year.  In January a small, very small, malignant tumor was found in my left breast.  This was not something I ever saw coming, as if anyone ever really does.  The news was given to me, over the phone, by a very well meaning  doctor.   She had a compassionate yet all-in-a day's-work edge to her that I didn't realize until much later was a coping mechanism.  I just remember that I thought that she could not possibly be talking about me.  I was 33 years old at the time and otherwise healthy. I had just lost a lot of weight, I was working out 6 days a week and eating healthy.   I know she spent some time telling me that it was great that we found it so early, there were many effective treatments and it was really very small.  But I didn't really hear her at all.

I would like to say at this point that I threw myself into researching the best alternatives that were given to me.  I wish fearlessness was my go-to response here.  It wasn't.  I wasn't exactly saying "Cancer, bring it on!".  My mind raced through a montage of all of the dramatic cancer moments that you see in movies like Terms of Endearment and Beaches.  I was a nasty combination of anger, sadness, confusion and regret.

I had a moment of clarity a few days later that I still don't completely understand, I realized that fear and uncertainty would eat me alive if I let it.  I was a mother and a wife and I needed to get my act together for their sakes as well as my own.  I had a choice to live life every day, travel the path that was laid out before me and learn to live around this.  I had to learn to trust and put my life in someone else's hands.  You can't control everything life throws at you and it is hard to hand over the reigns.

I received great treatment options and in January of this year I had what I hope will be my last surgery.  I try not to look back but move forward every day with out fear or anticipation that something bad will happen.  In the last 15 months of this experience I have met so many wonderful women.  Women who made me feel so humbled to be in their presence.  What I had to deal with is a drop in the bucket compared to what some people deal with every day. 

I know that everyone has a story and I hope that mine is that despite all of this I chose to live my life in spite of the disease.  I made the descision to be more choosy on how I spend my time.  What used to seem like a boring day at home with no plans is now a gift to me.  It's sad that it took this wake up call to make me see it.  Life is made up of a million little choices;  I decided to start making some different ones.

There is a quote that I love "The world is round and the place which may seem like the end may also be only the beginning."  I felt like I had been given a chance to start anew, to begin again.

I had been keeping a journal for years filled with stories about food, places we have gone, funny stories about my kids and personal notes.  I had decided at the end of the year that i was going to put some of this online and start a blog, of sorts.  I think there is a fellowship that can be formed between people with similar experiences and interests.  Since the blog has been "live" I have really enjoyed the writing and as a form of therapy it has worked wonders.  A whole week can go by and I don't think about the C-word.  I can look at my scars and not cringe.  I think all of the free space in my mind has been filled with recipe formation and funny anecdotes about my busy life as a working mom that likes to cook.

I still do obsess a little about small details.  I do tend to over plan our life, but I am getting better about it.  Sometimes I feel like I want to squeeze it all in, every drop life has to offer.  I don't want to miss a moment of my life.  Every little conversation I overhear my kids having when they are in the backseat, every walk on a warm spring evening with my husband, a laugh or a conversation with a friend.  I am going to eat that piece of cake I have been thinking about all day, maybe just a small slice.  I am going to try new things and keep on writing.  I am going to take the plunge and live fearlessly.  And have cake!

Amazing Butterscotch Cake
5 TB  unsalted butter
1 C all-purpose flour
3/4 C packed light brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp table salt
1/2 C whole milk
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 C water
Fresh whipped cream or vanilla bean ice cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease an 8-cup pan or 8x8 glass dish.
Melt the butter in the microwave, and bring 1 1/4 C of water to a boil.
Stir together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl until it is well incorporated.  Add the milk, the melted butter and the vanilla. 
Stir until just combined and transfer to the prepared dish.
Set the baking dish in the oven and then carefully pour the boiling water over the surface of the batter.
Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the cakes top has a crisp, golden surface and the pudding on the bottom is bubbling.

There will be a layer of cake and a layer of hot, rich butterscotch sauce. 
Let cool for 5-10 minutes and serve with fresh whipped cream or vanilla bean ice cream if you want.

This is a snap to make especially with common ingredients most people have on hand!