Two Recipes: Pecan Pancakes and Brown Sugar Sweet Potato Cake

I've mentioned before that I love to save recipes.  They are saved in folders and files and binders, and many never see the light of the kitchen.

Some, on the other hand, demand to be made.... immediately.

This post is about two of those recipes.

I'm glad they were so insistent.  I have been well rewarded for having made them (queue the applause).

First up, Pecan Pancakes.  I stumbled across this one by clicking from one blog to the next. I will be forever grateful for the time to wander, as it landed me in the midst of such yumminess at 'Blogging Over Thyme' (here).

My son prepared this recipe, doubling it as I asked him to.  We're hungry around here.  I prepped the ground pecans the night before, so that he didn't need to use the blender and wake up the rest of the household-- he's the early bird!  I think he followed the recipe as written, except omitting the ground cloves.  He put in two whole cloves; I fished them out later :-).  He did split the flour-- half all-purpose, half white whole wheat flour as the blog (but not the recipe) suggests.  The pancakes were very light thanks to the buttermilk, but hearty and delicious.

The second recipe was made just four days after I found it:  Brown Sugar-Sweet Potato Cake from the Washington Post.  I had been telling the kids I was planning to make dessert over the weekend, then lost track of time and generally backed out of my commitment to them.

This went on for several days... until I found this recipe in the Wednesday Food section.

I made the recipe the following Sunday.  I was planning to halve it (who needs cake for 16 laying around the house?!) until I realized that I had a friend coming for coffee on Monday.  That would be the perfect excuse to serve cake in the morning, right?

My friend loves Bundt cakes, and as it turns out, had not had time to eat breakfast before coming over.  She had two portions of cake, and I am thrilled she enjoyed it.

The only change I made to this recipe was to use canned pumpkin, instead of sweet potatoes.  I am also unsure of the exact amount of molasses I used.... it's really sticky, and I was at the bottom of the bottle.  I measured one tablespoon, then dribbled the rest into the bowl, straight from the bottle.

I'm just crazy that way.

You may (or may not) want to know that the molasses was older than the child I was cooking with.  I don't use a lot of it, and am not certain if I'll buy another bottle to make this cake again, or just substitute something else.  Let me know if you decide to make a substitution.

Until next time.... Bon Appetit!