Alivia

Sometimes a little girl just needs a bunch of Barbie cakes:)  This was quite a few years ago but I had the photos saved in my drafts but Barbie cakes are probably the easiest cake you'll ever make if you have the pans for the skirts.  Order the Barbie bodies from Amazon (no legs, just a peg) and use a star tip to frost on the skirt.  Smiles, smiles everywhere!

Halloween Cake

My BFF had a big birthday awhile back and I wanted a yummy pumpkin cake since pumpkin is her favorite.  I found one here:  https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2017/10/11/best-pumpkin-cake/

She loved it, as did everyone at the party.  I used melted yellow chocolate melts for the moon.  The witches are made of fondant I cut with a new exacto knife from a stencil I made on the computer.  The frosting was just my regular buttercream.

What you'll need

4 Eggs
1 C Brown Sugar
1/2 C Sugar
1 C Oil
15 oz Pumpkin

Mix together and then add
2 C Flour
1 t Baking Soda
2 t Baking Powder
1/2 t Ginger
2 t Cinnamon
1/2 t Nutmeg
1/2 t Salt
1/2 t Cloves

Pour into greased cake pan. Bake at 350 for (check your pan directions, this orange one baked for 50 minutes, the black one was about 35) or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Sweet Sixteen

Savanah had her Sweet Sixteen back in July.  She did something pretty cool.  She asked to have her party at Feed My Starving Children.  It's an organization that depends on volunteers to package meals to send to "starving" children all over the country.  So that's what we did.  25 of us (the youngest was 5 and the oldest was 82) put on hairnets and packaged meals for an hour and a half.  I can't remember how many boxes we did but let's just say, we were ROCK STARS!

 Getting directions

 At the food packaging station.

 All done and waiting to hear the total for our hard work.

Then we headed back to Chantel's to celebrate how fabulous she was.  Chantel did this awesome treat station in Savanah's favorite colors.  Yes, all the candy was blue, pink or purple!!  We each got to make our own goodie bag of treats to bring home.  Between you and I, I think this should be at EVERY party.  Heck, it should be at anything you go to;)

The problem was she didn't want a cake.  She wanted cookies and brownies which I made but you can't have a Sweet 16 without a cake?!?  What the heck was that child thinking?!?  I told her she was getting a cake and she agreed on one condition, NO stars.  All the Sweet 16 cakes I could find had stars of some sort on them.  I thought they were super cute.  She didn't share my opinion;)  So, I came up with this.  The 16 and her name is made out of white chocolate.  Those little purple balls?  Those are over-sized Sixlets.  Brilliant!  They're my new favorite thing.  Inside the large cupcake were pink and purple M&Ms.

Here's the beautiful birthday girl!

Tres Leches Cake

I found this in my draft file.  I have no idea what happened to the photos but thought I might as well post especially since Cinco de Mayo is right around the corner.  I'll add photos when I make this next time.  Yep, another Pioneer Woman recipe. I read about this on her blog forever ago and it intrigued me. I ran across another woman who had made it and thought I'd give it a go.

Reminded me of the jello cake my Mom made in my youth:)

But back to the Tres Leches cake. I made it with only a couple minor changes for our family spring fling and people liked it. The brownie fruit pizza was a bigger hit, but maybe we're a chocolate family?? I brought the leftovers to work and had a Hispanic woman try it and she said, "YUM, good job and you aren't even Spanish"?

My cousin Melanie said that she used a can of coconut milk in place of the Evaporated milk and added a touch of Malibu Rum for a grown up version of this cake, I might try that the next time.

At any rate, this is a solid recipe and really very easy so give it a try.

1 C Flour
1-½ t Baking Powder
¼ t Salt
5 whole Eggs Divided
1 C Sugar, Divided
1 t Vanilla
⅓ C Milk ~ I used 2%
1 can Evaporated Milk
1 can Sweetened, Condensed Milk
¼ C Heavy Cream
_____
FOR THE ICING:
1 pint Heavy Cream, For Whipping
1/3 C Powdered Sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 inch pan liberally until coated.

Separate eggs into two different bowls.

Beat egg yolks with 3/4 cup sugar on high speed until yolks are pale yellow. Stir in milk and vanilla. Add flour, baking powder and salt and stir very gently until combined.

Beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. With the mixer on, pour in remaining 1/4 cup sugar and beat until egg whites are stiff.

Fold egg white mixture into the batter very gently until just combined. Pour into prepared pan and spread to even out the surface.

Bake for 25 to 35 minutes (her directions said 35-45 min but my cake only took 25 until it was done) or until a toothpick comes out clean. Turn cake out onto a rimmed platter and allow to cool~I didn't turn my cake out, I left it in the pan for easy transport.

Combine condensed milk, evaporated milk, and heavy cream in a small pitcher or bowl. When cake is cool, pierce the surface with a fork several times. Slowly drizzle all but about 1 cup of the milk mixture—try to get as much around the edges of the cake as you can~I didn't read the "all but 1 C", I dumped it all on. It was still tasty, just a little wet, "I" might like it better following that rule.

Allow the cake to absorb the milk mixture for 30 minutes. To ice the cake, whip 1 pint heavy cream with 1/3 C of powdered sugar until thick and spreadable.
Spread over the surface of the cake. Decorate cake with whole or chopped maraschino cherries. Cut into squares and serve

Banana Walnut Chocolate Chip

Do you have a cake that you make that everyone always likes?  This one is it for my kids and it's kinda healthy or at least that's what I tell myself when they eat it:)  This one, they got a piece and the rest when to work where everyone loved it.

What you'll need:

White Cake Mix

2 Eggs

1/2 C light Sour Cream

1 C unsweetened Almond Milk (you can use skim or whatever for same result) 

4 really ripe Bananas

Mix up with your hand mixer and add

1/2-3/4 C chopped Walnuts

1/2-3/4 C mini Chocolate Chips (I used dark chocolate but any flavor would work)

Pour into sprayed bundt pan and bake about 35-40 minutes at 350.

Invert onto plate, frost with a little bit of cream cheese frosting and a sprinkling of walnuts and choc chips if you're feeling naughty and .  It's great without but if I'm bringing a dessert with nuts ANYwhere, I always put them on top so people can see them.  I don't want to make anyone with a nut allergy to get sick.

Cran Raspberry Coffee Cake

So I had some berries in the freezer that needed to be used because I need the space.  I don't think I have ever made the cranberry and raspberry combination and it was YUMMY!!

Another super easy cake to impress your friends:)

Here's what you'll need:
White Cake Mix
2 Eggs
1 C Sour Cream
1 C Milk ~ I use skim

Mix together with electric mixer.  Add

3/4 C Cranberries and Raspberries
1/2 C White Chocolate Chips

Pour into sprayed bundt pan and bake at 350 for about 40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  Invert onto plate after 10 minutes.  Cool and frost with glaze of your choice.  This one was about a third can of cream cheese canned frosting that I heated up in the microwave for 15 seconds to make it easy to drizzle.

Kathleen Grissom’s Molasses Cake

This was September's book choice and 9 out of 10 LOVED it.  The other one liked it:)  We had a great discussion and a yummy dinner.

 

And, then dessert was served.  There is a recipe in the back for Molasses Cake.  It reminded me of a gingerbread cookie and needed a little more sweet in my opinion so I made a yummy fresh whipped cream with powdered sugar instead of regular.  The bonus was that my house smelled like Christmas:)

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter softened

• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar

• 1 egg

• 1/2 cup milk ~ I used skim

• 1 cup molasses ~ I used mild flavor

• 2 cups flour

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 teaspoon ground ginger

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

• 2 dashes ground cloves

• 1/4 teaspoon salt ~ I did not add salt

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan or use a mini cake pan.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Beat in the egg. Add the milk and the molasses. Add the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon and cloves.

Spoon batter into the prepared pan. Bake for approximately 45 minutes for the 8 inch square pan or 25 minutes for the mini cake pan, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

I double the recipe and baked in a 13x9 pan for about 40-45 minutes.

To make the whipped cream

Small container of Whipped Cream
1 t Vanilla extract

Whip it until it's firming up. Add 3/4 Powdered Sugar and whip until stiff. It's PURE heaven

Cake Pops

You need:

1 cake mix prepared according to directions and cooked in a 13x9 pan. I used a white cake mix and colored it Orange with food coloring
1 can of Cream Cheese frosting..yes, I said CAN
2 14 oz bags of Chocolate melts ~ we preferred the colored white chocolate variety over the milk chocolate
Extra frosting or chocolate or sprinkles to decorate but honestly, they are good with just the first dipping

Cut your cake in 1/4s and crumble a 1/4 at a time. Make sure you don't have any big lumps

Add 3/4 of the can of frosting. Pioneer woman suggested that instead of the whole can and I have to agree, 3/4 can made them moist enough.

Doesn't look to appetizing but they are YUMMY. Start making your balls. You'll have to wash your hands off about every 10 because you get sticky. I made these about the size of walnuts. One of those mini cookie scoops would be perfect but I couldn't find mine.<



Makes about 70 balls I would guess..I didn't count. Put them in the freezer for one hour to harden
I used the double boiler method because I wanted to follow directions. I later figured out what I already knew, 1 minute in my microwave does the trick.
Melted and ready for business
Take your cake balls out of the freezer and start dipping. Roll them around like fondue and kind of bang the stick on the side of the pan to get off excess chocolate. Use another skewer to push the ball off, add a bit of chocolate to cover your hole.
The second time I made them I simply used a fork. I put the ball in the chocolate and moved it around with a spoon. I kind of scooped it out with the fork, banging the fork on the side of the bowl. The tines on the fork allow for the excess chocolate to easily come off. Much easier.
The chocolate hardens pretty quick because the balls are frozen

My ugly but tasty pumpkins
But I used sucker sticks, white melts and made Spooky pops.  Those are cuter in my opinion.  I also use an upside down colander to dry.  Just dip, stick and move on to the next one.

 

 

Put them in a pot with a styrofoam ball and TADA..fun Halloween treat!

 

Sweet 16 Cake

Alanna's daughter Kayla turned 16 in August and I made this cake for her actual birthday.  I think the stand up letters make the cake more festive.  You can learn how to do them here.

Here's what you'll need:

1 3/4 C Flour
2 C Sugar
3/4 C Cocoa Powder
2 t Baking Soda
1 t Baking Powder
1 t Salt
2 Eggs
1 C Buttermilk
1/2 C Vegetable Oil ~ I used Canola
1 t Vanilla
1 C Strong Hot Black Coffee ~ I used Espresso Roast

Combine your dry ingredients and mix well. Add wet ingredients with the exception of coffee. Give it a couple of minutes with the electric mixer. Pour in black coffee and mix until incorporated. The batter is a bit thinner than a cake mix.  Pour into greased pan.  I used a round pan that took about 40 minutes at 350.  If you used a 13x9, I'd start with 20-25. Bake until toothpick comes out clean.

I cut the cake into three layers and put a chocolate cream cheese frosting inside.

This is what you'll need:

1 brick Cream Cheese~softened, yep low fat
1 stick butter~softened
2 t Vanilla
3 1/2 C Powdered Sugar
1/2 C Hershey Cocoa

Mix together and frost.

For the outside I did a simple chocolate buttercream but you could also use the chocolate cream cheese if you wanted.

Decorate with your chocolate toppers, refrigerate for about an hour and serve.

  The kids enjoying dinner with some fun masks.

 Happy Sweet 16 Kayla!!

Pudding Cake

Remember the jello cake I posted awhile back?  Well this is the pudding version and my kids LOVED it. I made one for us and one for a friend with one cake mix. Super easy and a really yummy dessert.

What you'll need:

White or yellow cake mix ~ made according to directions but use milk instead of water

1 large box Instant Banana Cream pudding made according to directions minus 1/4 cup milk ~ or your favorite flavor 

Small Whipping Cream

1 C Powdered Sugar

2 t Vanilla 

Bake cake according to directions.  Let the cake cool 5 minutes and use the handle of a wooden spoon and poke holes all around the cake.  

Make the pudding and pour into holes and spread the rest evenly over the top.

Whip whipping cream with vanilla until stiff, about 3-4 minutes.  Add powdered sugar and whip until incorporated.  Frost top of cake.

Chill for a few hours and serve.

Next time I would add a couple of ripe bananas to the cake mix so it would have more banana flavor but this was good as it was.  You could also garnish with nuts and/or chopped dried bananas or even fresh strawberries!

Swirl Cake

With chocolate frosting is another variation.  I made a simple white cake, put chocolate buttercream  in the middle and swirled the top with more chocolate buttercream.  You can kind of see the pattern better with the chocolate. 

With a star tip, make a circle with the frosting, about 3 turns.  Stop.  Start again in another area of the cake.  Fill in holes with strips of frosting. 

Happy Birthday Shannon!!  I hope you enjoyed your cake!!

Swirl Cake

It seems that it has been raining for a month and the end of the school year is always a tad gloomy.    So, I decided to make a fun cake for a co-worker's birthday to liven up the joint.

His favorite is a white cake with white frosting, that's a new one for me.  I went looking for a good recipe.  There were tons out there but lots of fussy ones.  One of them had me practically churning butter to get that "delicate" balance.  I don't mind making from complete scratch but that was a bit much.  I was about to give up when I found this one which I altered just a bit AND I added a super yummy filling.  It was a HIT!

What you'll need:

1 box White Cake Mix (I used Duncan Hines)
1 C Flour
1 C Sugar
1 1/3 C Milk
2 T Oil (I used Canola)
2 t Real Vanilla
1 C Sour Cream
2 Eggs



 
Mix everything in a bowl and beat at medium speed for 2 minutes. Pour into greased and floured cake pan. I used a large round pan. Bake in 325 degree oven until the cake tests done~insert tester into cake and if it comes out clean, you're done. This size pan took about 40 minutes. Cool cake 10 minutes then invert on a plate and cool.


Cut cake through the middle with a serated knife. Once you've taken the top off, cut a little more out of the bottom middle~think of it as a very shallow bowl. You can put a nice thick layer of whipped cream topping after you do this.

Whipped Cream Layer

8 oz Whipping Cream
2 t Vanilla
2 C Powdered Sugar
1 carton Raspberries
1/2 C Raspberry jam

Whip the cream and vanilla until it's thickened. Add powdered sugar and beat until STIFF. Fold in Raspberries. Put raspberry jam in the microwave for 30 seconds to melt. You can use any type of berry, just be sure that your jam matches.

Spread the melted jam on the bottom layer of the cake. Put whipped cream mixture in the bowl of the cake but stay away from the edges.

I used my favorite buttercream recipe but to make it just a little more fattening, I used half and half instead of milk.

Pipe buttercream around edge and put top back on. Frost entire cake with a light layer of buttercream. If you want to get fancy, pull out your star tip and make a bunch of circles to create a swirl cake and top with a few berries. Or frost the cake with a thicker layer of frosting and top with berries.

Refrigerate for a couple of hours to overnight and serve:)

Here's the cake already cut in half and slightly "bowled" out. 

 

Spread your melted jam

Whipped cream beaten stiff

 Put cream mixture in middle of cake

 

Buttercream edge so you don't lose your filling

 

Light layer of frosting if you're going to decorate or a thicker frost if you aren't. 

 

 Using your star tip, make some circles all over the top of the cake.  No real pattern but it's called a swirl cake if you want to youtube it.  Refrigerate a couple of hours or overnight.

 

 Couple of berries on top so people know what the filling is.

 

Have a piece of yummy cake!!

 

Tie-Dye Lemon Cake

Since Claire liked her tie-dye cupcakes so much, I decided to make a tie-dye cake for her using her favorite cake recipe.  It's the lemon cake she made a few weeks ago but with a twist.

What you'll need:

White Cake Mix
2 Eggs
3/4 C Lemon Juice
1/4 C powdered Lemonade Mix (You know, add water and you've got lemonade)
1/4 C Skim Milk
3/4 C lite Sour Cream
4 pack of Lemon Pudding
3/4 bag of Powdered Sugar
1 stick softened Butter
1 T Vanilla
1/4 C Lemon Juice
approx 1/4 C Milk

Mix the mixes, eggs, lemon juice, sour cream and milk with your hand mixer for 2 minutes. Pour into prepared (sprayed and floured) pan, she chose springform pan but any round pan will do. Bake according to box directions. Cool for 10 minutes, invert on plate to finish cooling.

You are going to make a layer cake. Slice cake in half with serated knife. Gently life cake top and place to the side. Squeeze all 4 pudding packs into the middle of the cake. Spread out to within an inch of the outside. Top with cake you removed.

Frosting...Beat powdered Sugar, butter, vanilla, lemon juice. Add milk slowly until you get desired consistency. Claire wanted to use decorating bag so we made it a little stiffer.

I divided the cake batter into 9 different cups, added food coloring, dumped them into a spring form pan willy nilly and FUN was made.  Dyed the frosting, frosted to match her plates as best I could and called it a day. 

 

   Pre oven  and                                                                                      Post oven, cooled and cut..add filling

Ready to serve

Good Book & Good Black Forest Cake

I chose a book called The Baker's Daughter by Sarah McCoy for book club.

Thanks Barnes and Noble for the photo

It wasn't because I liked to bake, it was because I had read good things about it. Everyone in the book club liked the book but what they liked best was the cake recipe in the back that I made for our discussion. Yep, it was bonus material that you found at the end...recipes!

It was pretty simple to make, Claire actually put it together with a little supervision.  Although it was not entirely cheap. The Kirschwasser, which is a cherry brandy could only be bought in the $15 bottle size. I also splurged and bought Ghirardelli Cocoa and chocolate to see if it made a difference with the cake (in my opinion, it didn't). And, fresh cherries aren't ever really "cheap". BUT..it was a success. It had a definite POP with your first bite. 

Most everyone really enjoyed it and although it contained some liquor, I would let my kids eat a piece if they wanted but they didn't. It was also a pretty cake and looked impressive with the 4 layers.

So if you wanna impress your friends, here's what you'll need:

Cake
1 2/3 C Flour
2/3 C Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1 1/2 t Baking Soda
1 t Salt
1/2 C Shortening
1 1/2 C Sugar
2 Eggs
1 t Vanilla
1 1/2 C Buttermilk or regular (I used buttermilk)
1/4-1/3 C Kirschwasser (it called for 1/2 C, that seemed excessive?)
It also called for salt which I left out

Filling
1 C Heavy Whipping Cream
1/2 t Vanilla
1 T Kirschwasser
1 C Powdered Sugar
1 C pitted Cherries chopped

Topping
1 square Semisweet Chocolate, shaved or crumbled
10 cherrie halves (said you could you use whole maraschino but I don't think that would have been good OR looked as pretty)

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour (I used spray that contains both) two 8 inch round pans. Sift together flour, cocoa and baking soda. Set aside.

Cream shortening and sugar together until fluffy. Add eggs, vanilla and flour mixture. I used my mixer to mix it all together.

Pour into pans and bake for about 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes and flip out of pan. Cool for about an hour and slice each cake in half, horizontally. You are making 4 layers. Sprinkle layers with 1/3 cup Kirschwasser~I actually brushed it on.

In bowl, whip the cream until stiff. Beat in vanilla and Kirschwasser. Add powdered sugar and beat again.

Spread 1/4 of the filling on one of the layers. Top with 1/3 of the cherries. Repeat with remaining layers. Decorate the top with last of filling, chocolate shavings and halved cherries.

I made the night before and allowed it to chill for almost 24 hours before serving. I don't know if that made the cake taste stronger or not but I liked the "chill" factor.  Leftovers went into the fridge and I actually think it mellowed having another night of rest and I enjoyed it more.

I never "sift" ingredients together, we followed the rules for this recipe;)  Sorry, forgot to take the rest of the mixing photos.

 Pour into two round cake pans

Out of the oven for about 10 minutes, invert cakes on to plates.  When cooled, slice each cake in half to make a total of four layers.  A serated knife works great for this.  Stick knife into middle of cake to about the center and gently cut in a circle until you've cut the cake in half.  With two hands, gently but quickly remove the top layer.

Shave your chocolate with a vegetable peeler.

Chop your cherries be sure to just cut some in half so you can decorate the top

Brush with Kirschwasser 

Spread a 1/4 of the whipped cream on layer, sprinkle with 1/3 of the cherries. 

 

 Repeat layering.  On the top, sprinkle shavings and decorate with cherries.