Wednesday, September 17, 2025

Semi-homemade Peach Melba Poundcake #Recipe by @Libby Klein

Libby Klein I was a huge fan of cooking shows in the 90s before they became all about competitions and judging. One that was a little unique was called Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee. Who remembers that?

Sandra Lee's recipes always called for things like boxed cake mixes, or instant pudding. I refused to make them back then because I was a wannabe chef and it seemed like cheating. These days I'm so overrun that I'm rethinking my previous stance. That's where this recipe come in. I bought a bunch of mixes for those times when I have unexpected company. And I bought some beautiful raspberries and peaches then got too sick to eat them fast enough. For the first time in the history of fruit on planet earth, these raspberries stayed fresh for more than a week which made me extremely suspicious of them. I threw them in a saucepan with the cut up over-ripe peaches and made a quick jam which I then ladled into the middle of a boxed pound cake. I zazzed up the enclosed glaze by using lemon juice instead of water so I could feel fancy about it. The end result was delicious. Sandra Lee is onto something. 

What are some of your semi-homemade recipe ideas?


Semi-homemade Peach Melba Poundcake

 



Peach Melba "Jam"


 

Add Around 3 cups of cut up peaches and raspberries and 1 cup of sugar to a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat and let it reduce and cool.

Poundcake




Follow directions on the box. Only spoon half the batter (okay like 55%) into your prepared pan. Then cover that with a layer of peach melba jam. Spoon on the other half of the batter. Bake according to the package directions but expect it to take about 10 minutes longer. Don't remove it from the oven until it starts to lightly brown and the toothpick comes out clean. 


Let it cool before making the glaze and slicing.



Vice and VirtueLayla Virtue, a blue-haired, 30-something recovering alcoholic and former cop is trying to reinvent herself as a musician—between AA meetings, dodging eccentric neighbors at her trailer park, and reconnecting with her mysterious dad—in this ​unforgettable new mystery brimming with hilarity and heart.


Layla is taking her new life one day at a time from the Lake Pinecrest Trailer Park she now calls home. Being alone is how she likes it. Simple. Uncomplicated. Though try telling that to the group of local ladies who are in relentless pursuit of Layla as their new BFF, determined to make her join them for coffee and donuts.

After her first career ended in a literal explosion, Layla’s trying to eke out a living as a rock musician. It’s not easy competing against garage bands who work for tacos and create their music on a computer, while all she has is an electric guitar and leather-ish pants. But Layla isn’t in a position to turn down any gig. Which is why she’s at an 8-year-old’s birthday party, watching as Chuckles the Clown takes a bow under the balloon animals. No one expects it will be his last . . .

Who would want to kill a clown—and why? Layla and her unshakable posse are suddenly embroiled in the seedy underbelly of the upper-class world of second wives and trust fund kids, determined to uncover what magnetic hold a pudgy, balding clown had over women who seem to have everything they could ever want. Then again, Layla knows full well that people are rarely quite what they seem—herself included . . .

Silly Libby
Libby Klein writes ridiculously funny murder mysteries from her Northern Virginia office with a very naughty calico Persian named Miss Eliza Doolittle, and a sweet black Lab named Vader. She can name that tune for 70s and 80s rock in the first few notes, and she's translated her love of classic rock into her Layla Virtue Mysteries. Libby was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that prevents her from eating gluten without exploding. Because bread is one of her love languages, she includes the recipes for gluten free goodies in her Cape May based Poppy McAllister series. Most of her hobbies revolve around travel, and eating, and eating while traveling. She insists she can find her way to any coffee shop anywhere in the world, even while blindfolded. Follow all of her nonsense on her website www.LibbyKleinBooks.com/Newsletter/

17 comments:

  1. I do remember that show! As I've gotten older, I seem to like the almost homemade even more. Like you, I felt compelled to stay with the old ways taught to me by my granny and my mom. Whether it's getting smart or getting lazy, I'm not sure, but I'll happily make semi-homemade if the end results are a delicious product.
    Thank you for the much easier and oh so delicious sounding Semi-homemade Peach Melba Poundcake recipe!
    2clowns at arkansas dot net

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  2. I remember Sandra Lee and Semi Homemade Cooking! That's a blast from the past :) I've always thought my cakes were better when I used boxed mix and jazzed them up by using milk instead of water, extra vanilla extract, or added mini chocolate chips to the batter. Plus boxed mixes are almost foolproof unlike some scratch recipes.

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    1. And your pound cake looks amazing, Libby, as does the peach melba filling. I think I'd probably eat half of the filling before it found it's way to the cake!

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    2. That filling would be great on pancakes or over ice cream too!

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  3. This cake looks dee-lishous! We always make cakes from scratch, because the preservatives in cake mixes have a negative effect on my finicky stomach...Peaches and raspberries are some of my favoorite fruits, so I will try making this cake! Thank you for sharing your culinary expertise with us, dear Libby! JOY! Luis st ole dot travel

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    1. You can absolutely make this filling for a scratch made pound cake! Let me know how it turns out.

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  4. Oh gosh that looks so good! I remember Sandra Lee, but not that show. I was always a marinara sauce snob. It had to be made from scratch and simmer for at least a full day. These days there are so many really good jarred sauces and I can think of so many other ways to spend my time, so I start with a jarred sauce and personalize it, let it simmer a few hours and YUM! German chocolate cake was another one that always had to be made from scratch. No more! I'll make the frosting from scratch, but the cake is from a box every time!

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    1. Some things don't taste any better when they are homemade. That would be a good topic for a post!

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  5. I used to watch that show, but I didn't make the recipes. I liked that her recipes were reasonably priced. Your pound cake looks awesome.

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    1. Many of the items in her recipes were off limits for me due to chemicals and preservatives, but I got lots of ideas.

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  6. I think, I some how missed, why the peach thing is, called semi-home made

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    1. The recipe is semi homemade because the cake is not baked from scratch. I used a box mix and then added to it. Anytime you use purchased time savers that could have been made by scratch you are making semi homemade. Like using a can of Dinty Moore beef stew and a Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust to make a beef pot pie. That pot pie would be semi homemade. Making the beef stew from scratch - browning the meat, cutting the vegetables, making the gravy, measuring flour and butter for the crust, etc - that is true homemade.

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  7. Libby, always fun to put your own touch on a boxed mix. The peach-raspberry jam and lemon glaze sounds fantastic.

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