Strawberry Shortcake

You know when you have to fill out those "Get to Know You" questionnaires every so often?  And when it asks your favorite dessert? I can never think of one on the spot like that. My absolute favorite dessert?  The one that I could eat every day of the year if that was even possible.  With so many delicious front runners how's a girl to decide?  Well---after making this dessert I am reminded that Strawberry Shortcake is the answer.  Always.  And what a perfect, fresh summer dessert.  

I am a little unusual in that I don't like mine made with angel food cake.  I LOVE it made with a nice white or yellow cake.  And it must be topped with homemade whipped cream.  Must. (Sorry to all those Cool Whip lovers out there) 

So the other night I had a pint of strawberries that needed to be used and on a whim decided to whip up Strawberry shortcake.  I went in search and found a moist, decadent,flavorful white cake that I will use from here on out to make this dessert.  It complemented the strawberries and whip cream perfectly.  It was slightly dense with just the right amount of buttery richness.   My mouth is salivating just remembering it.  And it was super simple to throw together as it's one of those recipes for which you likely have all the ingredients on hand already. 

Strawberry Shortcake Cake from Allrecipes

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup butter

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup milk

DIRECTIONS:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x9 inch pan or line a muffin pan with paper liners.

2.  In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine flour and baking powder, add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Finally stir in the milk until batter is smooth. Pour or spoon batter into the prepared pan.

3.  Bake for 30 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven. For cupcakes, bake 20 to 25 minutes. Cake is done when it springs back to the touch.

4.  Top with fresh cut strawberries and whipped cream

Cinnamon Coffee Cake

I made this to bring to a breakfast over the holidays and it was incredibly easy, perfectly moist, and had the amazing balance of cinnamon to cake.  I usually like to make things from scratch but couldn't resist when I saw that this literally was a "dump and stir" cake.  I think that the glaze added just that extra hint of sweet to top it off.  My husband is a big fan of coffee cake and was really hoping there'd be some left over for him to taste.  Luckily there was and he oohed and aahed over it.  I also loved that it was still moist even a couple of days after I had made it and the flavors just continued to meld together in such a yummy way.

Cinnamon Coffee Cake from Allrecipes

1 (18.25 oz) pkg yellow cake mix

1 (3.4oz) pkg instant vanilla pudding mix

1 (3.4oz) pkg instant butterscotch pudding mix

4 eggs

1 C water

1 C vegetable oil

1 C packed brown sugar

1 T ground cinnamon

1 C chopped walnuts (I omitted this)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F.  Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan, or a 10 inch Bundt cake pan. 

2. In a medium bowl, stir together the cake mix, vanilla pudding mix, and butterscotch pudding mix.  Add the eggs, oil and water, mix until well blended.  In another bowl, stir together the brown sugar, cinnamon, and nuts.  Pour 1/3 of the batter into the pan, spread evenly.  Sprinkle with 1/3 of the nut/sugar mixture.  Repeat two more times (for three layers).  

3. Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, then turn the oven down to 325 Degrees F and bake for an additional 350-40 minutes. 

Tips: I substituted the butterscotch for another vanilla pudding (as that's all I had) and it still turned out really well.

Moist Orange Carrot Cake

This fabulously moist and delicious cake was brought to us after I had my baby a few months ago.  We were graciously brought a meal by a woman from our church and she followed it with this cake.  My husband was actually out of town and she brought us a large plate with a few slices.  By the time he got home the cake had been devoured.....by me.  I'd like to say that my kids were the culprits but I just could not contain myself.  For months I couldn't eat sweets without getting sick or having outrageous heartburn while being pregnant and so I majorly indulged on this sweet dessert.  I could not believe how incredibly moist and flavorful it was.  I also thought I detected the texture of coconut in it--and I loved it. 

So I ran into the woman who had brought us the cake last week and shamelessly asked if she'd share the recipe with me.  I was so surprised when she said that the secret ingredient to it's moistness is the can of mandarin oranges in it.  I never would've guessed that as I really didn't detect orange in it.  I just thought it was a straight-up carrot cake.  And a REALLY moist, awesome one at that. I knew I had to get this recipe so that I could make it again.  And share it. 

Orange Carrot Cake from Carol Hallen

3 C flour

2 C sugar

1 C coconut

2 1/2 tsp. baking soda

2 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

2 C grated carrots (4 carrots)

1 1/4 C oil

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. grated orange peel

1 (11 oz) mandarin oranges & juice

3 eggs

Blend all dry ingredients together.  Add the liquid ingredients and mix for about 2 minutes.  Pour into a greased 9x13 pan and bake for 40-45 minutes at 350 F or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool and frost with cream cheese frosting. 

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz cream cheese, softened

2 T. melted margarine or butter

1 tsp. vanilla

3 C powdered sugar

1/2-1 C nuts, if desired

Beat well and frost cake.  Refrigerate. 

Laurie & Amy's Amazing Chocolate Cake

I was going through old pictures on my computer today and ran across this cake and couldn't believe that I had not posted this recipe yet!  It is truly one amazing chocolate cake--just as the name states.  My mother-in-law is a chocoholic and loves all things chocolate.  So I went in pursuit of a chocolate cake worthy of her for her birthday last year.  I couldn't pass up trying this cake after the rave review it got from A Bountiful Kitchen.  We were not disappointed in the least.  My cute mother-in-law is still talking about it!  She declared it one of the best she's ever had and had to have the recipe.  She even took it to share with her siblings when they celebrated her birthday and said that they were all dying over it.  It is very dense and moist and chocolatey!  I know that it you are also a chocoholic that you will love this recipe, too.

Laurie and Amy's Amazing Chocolate Cake from A Bountiful Kitchen

1 3/4 cups boiling water

6 oz. semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped, OR chocolate chips (for a double recipe, use 15 oz. chocolate chips, which equals 2 1/2 cups.)

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder*

2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

10 oz (2 1/2 sticks) butter, softened

1 3/4 cups packed dark brown sugar

4 large eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two 9-inch round cake pans with circles of wax paper or baking parchment.

Pour the boiling water over the chocolate chips. Add cocoa and stir until mixture is smooth. Set aside to cool. Cream the butter and brown sugar. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Beat in vanilla. Add the dry ingredients and half of the chocolate mixture. Beat on low to combine, then on high for 1 1/2 minutes. Add the remaining chocolate mixture and beat on low until mixed.

Pour batter into pans and bake 30-40 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the middle comes out completely clean. Cool for 10-15 minutes; remove from pans. Wrap in double layers of plastic wrap while still warm and freeze. Double recipe makes two 10" layers plus two 8" layers or four 9" layers. Never fill pans more than 2/3 full.

Frosting:

1 1/4 cups plus 2 T. butter, softened

4 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (For really dark frosting, use part Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa, about 4 T.)

2 tsp. vanilla

1/4 cup plus 2 T. Milk

Cream butter with electric mixer. Whisk together sugar and cocoa. Beat one-third of the sugar/cocoa mixture into the butter. Mix in vanilla. Add the rest of the sugar/cocoa mixture alternately with milk and beat until frosting is smooth.

When cake is frozen solid, frost between the two layers and spread a thin layer over the whole cake. Freeze again for about 20 minutes. Frost again. Repeat if desired. (Frost the last time on the day you plan to serve the cake and let it stand at room temperature to thaw.)

Pumpkin Cake

I am a huge fan of pumpkin!  When I was in college we would make frequent visits to Great Harvest (a bread store) on Tuesdays to get free samples of their pumpkin bread.  I know, I know....a very cheap, college student kind of thing to do.  I've tried to make it up by actually buying a loaf or two when I go there now.  When I started dating my husband I made him go in there with me one night and he was embarrassed by the whole ordeal.  I thought poor college students had no shame--but apparently he did and so we laughed about it and I stopped mooching their yummy pumpkin bread after that.

So this cake does a fantastic job of fulfilling my pumpkin love.  It is really, really moist and pares perfectly with the cream cheese frosting.  Which, I must add, I am not usually a big fan of.  But I love the frosting with this particular cake.  I also love that you make it on a 10x15 pan and so it goes great when you're taking dessert to a crowd.  Try it...I think you'll like it even if you don't love pumpkin as much as I do. This was the cake that I even made for my daughter's first birthday many years ago.

Pumpkin Cake from Barbs (aka my mom)

2 C flour

1 tsp soda

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 C granulated sugar

4 eggs, well beaten

2 C pumpkin

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

1 C vegetable oil

Beat eggs; add pumpkin, cinnamon, oil, and vanilla.  Mix well.  Add rest of dry ingredients. Grease a 10x15 inch pan.  Pour batter into pan.  Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.  Spread on frosting after cooled.

Frosting:

8 oz cream cheese

1/2 C butter

1 tsp vanilla

2 C powdered sugar

Combine and mix until well blended.

Train Birthday Cake

My little guy celebrated his 3rd birthday last week! He is totally obsessed with GeoTrax and really, really wanted a train cake. I tried to persuade him towards an easier cake to make...but he wouldn't be swayed.  So I went on the hunt for a fun and challenging cake.  I wanted to try something new just to see if I could do it.  We're huge fans of Food Network Challenge, where they make all sorts of amazing cakes.  That being said, don't look too closely at my cake as I am no Ace of Cakes by any stretch of the imagination!  But all the time spent making it (at least five hours to put it together....what was I thinking?) was totally worth it because he LOVED it and has been talking about it for days.

I found a recipe for vanilla cake on allrecipes and used that to make the engine--but it was not a great recipe at all for making this kind of cake.  It didn't come out of the pan well and upon cooling, the edges curled and so when I put the engine together the smoke stacks were pulling away from each other.  So I had to use a lot of frosting to fix that.  I realized this pretty early on and so I looked for a different recipe to use for the cars.  This second recipe was perfect!  It was moist and delicious to eat but also dense enough to cut and make cars out of.

Vanilla Buttermilk Cake from phe/MOM/enon (see blog for original source)

4 whole large eggs
2 egg yolks
2 tsp of vanilla extract
1 1/4 C buttermilk
3 C cake flour
2 C sugar
4 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
8 oz butter, room temperature

Preheat the oven to 350F degrees.  Butter the bottom and sides of three 8-inch cake pans.  Line with parchment paper and grease the paper.

Place the eggs and the yolks in a medium bowl.  Add the vanilla and 1/4 C of buttermilk and whisk all the ingredient together.  Set aside.

Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in the bowl of a mixer; whisk to blend.  Add the remaining buttermilk and butter to the dry ingredients and with the mixer on low speed, blend together.  Raise the mixer to medium speed and beat until light and fluffy; 2 minutes.

Add the egg mixture in three additions, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition.  Divide the batter among the pans.

Bake the cake layers for 28-32 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Let the cake layers cool in the pan for 10 minutes.  Turn out the cakes onto a wire rack and remove the paper from the bottoms. Cool completely.

I wish I could say that I thought up this whole cake idea on my own.  No...I'm just good at copying.  I found my inspiration from coolest-birthday-cakes.com. So I put together some different ideas that were shared on that site to come up with this cake.  The train tracks were made from the Keebler chocolated covered wafer cookies, chocolate licorice, and smashed graham crackers put in between the tracks to look like dirt. 

I used the Wilton 3D train engine pan to make the engine.  I then baked two loaf-sized cakes to make the cars.  Here is the buttercream frosting recipe I used:

Buttercream Frosting

1 C unsalted butter
2 T vanilla extract
2 T milk
4 C powdered sugar

This frosting was the perfect consistency for piping.  I then just colored the frostings as I went along (the biggest time sucker).

I used pretzels to make the bear cage.  I frosted a piece of cardboard cut out to be the same size as the car for the roof of the cage.  I just put the pretzels in the cake and then piped frosting on top of each pretzel and then applied the cardboard roof.  I let the roof sit for a bit and so the frosting on it was already hardening.

The wheels are made out of oreos.  After the cake was all complete, I frosted the board where I wanted my "dirt" to be and then poured it on and pressed it into the frosting a bit.

And finally, the light on the front of the engine is an orea with one side of the cookie removed.

Banana Cake

Can I just say how much I hate having to sell a house??? Especially in this market. I hate it! It's not fun. The whole stress of it has really been wearing on me lately. Anyone out there that can commiserate with me???

Anyways...now on to something I love. I am obsessed with bananas. Seriously. I'm sure I could find a way to add bananas to a lot of different recipes--be it a smoothie, salad, dessert, etc. I have always loved them--well, except for when I was pregnant with my second child and they made me sick. The miraculous part of that being that I re-ignited my love for them post-pregnancy. Which is a rarity since I still can't eat a lot of foods that made my morning sickness worse back in the pregnancy days.

Since my husband knows of this obsession, he made me the most delicious banana cake for my birthday earlier this month. This cake is too die for. It is incredibly, incredibly moist. It has similar flavors to a yummy banana bread without the drying out that sometimes happens to the bread. And the frosting was amazing! I'm usually not a huge fan of cream cheese frosting, but this one went perfectly with the cake. I think that you wouldn't even have to be a huge fan of bananas to still like this cake. He served it at my little birthday bash with some of our family and everyone loved it. I know the directions might sound a little unusual. But he followed them to a tee and the cake was SO delicious and turned out perfectly.

Banana Cake from allrecipes.com


3/4 cup butter
2 1/8 cups white sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 275 degrees F (135 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan. In a small bowl, mix mashed bananas with lemon juice, set aside. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream 3/4 cup butter and 2 1/8 cups sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in 2 teaspoons vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk. Stir in banana mixture. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and place directly into freezer for 45 minutes. This will make the cake very moist.

For the frosting: In a large bowl, cream 1/2 cup butter and cream cheese until smooth. Beat in 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add confectioners sugar and beat on low speed until combined, then on high until frosting is smooth. Spread on cooled cake.

Oatmeal Cake

This is by far one of my favorite cakes. The picture just doesn't do it justice--so trust me on this one. My mom is such an amazing cook and she used to make this for us a lot when we were growing up. I made it last Sunday and had slightly forgotten how amazing it is! It is really, really moist and I could eat the the icing on a rock and it would still be delicious. The oatmeal makes it so moist (did I already say that...I think you can tell how I feel about it). The icing is somewhat similar to the kind you would find on a german chocolate cake--but it pairs perfectly with the oatmeal cake. I had grand intentions of sticking to my healthy eating when I made this (I planned to just share it)--but those intentions and willpower went out the window because the cake is so yummy!

Oatmeal Cake from Barbs (aka my mom)
1 ½ C water
1 Cup oatmeal

Add oatmeal to boiling water, let set for 20 minutes

½ C shortening

1 C sugar
1 C brown sugar

2 eggs
1 ½ C flour

1 tsp soda
1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
Cream shortening, sugar, and eggs. Add flour alternating with the oatmeal. Bake at 350 in a greased 9x13 pan for 35 min—watch to make sure it’s not overdone

Topping:
½ C butter, softened

¾ C brown sugar
1/3 C evaporated milk

1 tsp vanilla
¾ C coconut

¾ C nuts (optional)

Cream together and spread on hot cake.

Tips: I'm still adjusting to the temperature of my new oven and so I checked it continuously and pulled it out once the toothpick was totally dry when inserted in the middle. It might look a teensy brown (I'm kind of anal about my baked goods not browning)--but once the frosting goes on it is perfect.

Amazing Chocolate Cake

This is seriously one of the BEST chocolate cakes I have ever had! I am not a fan of how dried out homemade chocolate cake can get. This one stays moist and amazingly is more moist the second and third day. We found this last year when we were having a blizzard and found ourselves stuck in the house for the whole weekend. My husband LOVES chocolate cake and wanted to make some while we were holed up. We didn't have any milk or eggs and so he searched and found this one that doesn't have either of those ingredients--pretty crazy, right? We were completely hooked from that first making! My husband travels a lot for business and tries chocolate cake at a lot of fancy, shmancy restaurants and swears that this recipe is so much better than any he's had before. I think it is best served with homemade icing. It's amazing served warm or cooled. I just can't say enough about how much we love it!

Crazy Cake from Allrecipes

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups cold water

DIRECTIONS
Sift flour, sugar, salt, soda, and cocoa together into a 9 x 13 inch ungreased cake pan. Make three wells. Pour oil into one well, vinegar into second, and vanilla into third well. Pour cold water over all, and stir well with fork.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 to 40 minutes, or until tooth pick inserted comes out clean. Frost with your favorite icing.

Tips: Although the direction are rather unusual--follow them to a tee.

Amazing Carrot Cake

We have been under the weather here at our house this week. We've all caught this nasty stomach bug that's been flying through the neighborhood. I was feeling so lucky to have not gotten it (after my hubby and two kids already did)--but I jinxed myself because I caught it and it seems that I caught it worse than the rest. Oh fun!

Anyways--the point of this post was that I've been out of the cooking mode because of this fun virus. So I wanted to post an incredible carrot cake recipe that I've been meaning to add forever. I got this from Melanie over at My Kitchen Cafe. She has an amazing blog and all of the recipes I've tried of hers are awesome. This cake was no exception! I took it to a church fundraiser and it sold for the highest amount of any of the baked goods. It is amazing! The frosting is delicious and the cake is oh so moist! Try it...you won't be disappointed.

Simple Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
from Cooks Illustrated (found on Melanie's blog)

Ingredients:
2 1/2 c. unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp table salt
1 lb. medium carrots (6 to 7 carrots), peeled
1 1/2 c. granulated sugar
1/2 c. packed light brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 1/2 c. vegetable oil , safflower oil, or canola oil

Frosting: (Melanie doubled the recipe below to frost the two 9-inch cakes she made--I did too)
8 oz cream cheese, softened but still cool
5 Tbsp unsalted butter softened, but still cool
1 Tbsp sour cream
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 c. confectioners' sugar

Directions:Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 13 by 9-inch baking pan (I used two 9-inch round pans).Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt in large bowl; set aside. In a food processor fitted with large shredding disk , shred carrots (you should have about 3 cups); transfer carrots to bowl and set aside.In bowl of standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment (or in large bowl and using hand-held mixer), beat granulated and brown sugars and eggs on medium-high until thoroughly combined, about 45 seconds. Reduce speed to medium; with mixer running, add oil in slow, steady stream, being careful to pour oil against inside of bowl. Increase speed to high and mix until mixture is light in color and well emulsified, about 45 seconds to 1 minute longer. Turn off mixer and stir in carrots and dry ingredients by hand until incorporated and no streaks of flour remain.Pour into prepared pan and bake until toothpick or skewer inserted into center of cake comes out clean, about 40 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking time (I didn't rotate my 9-inch pans--as instructed by Melanie). Cool cake to room temperature in pan on wire rack, about 2 hours (I cooled my cakes about 30 minutes and then inverted them onto a wire rack to cool completely also as instructed by Melanie).When cake is cool, mix cream cheese, butter, sour cream, and vanilla at medium high speed in clean bowl of standing mixer fitted with whisk attachment (or in large bowl using handheld mixer) until well combined, about 30 seconds, scraping down bowl with rubber spatula as needed. Add confectioners’ sugar and mix until very fluffy, about 1 minute. Frost and eat!

**Check Melanie's blog for the exact weight measurements of the dry ingredients if you would like them

Pioneer Woman Chocolate Sheet Cake

I had some buttermilk that I wanted to use up today and so I decided to make my mom's delicious Texas sheet cake that calls for buttermilk. However, I couldn't get ahold of her (sorry Mom, I know I wrote the recipe somewhere so I was asking for it again) and so I decided to try Pioneer Woman's version. I was SOOO not disappointed. It was extra moist and so decadent. It seemed a lot more soft and almost melt-in-your-mouth than our usual recipe.

Pioneer Woman Chocolate Sheet Cake

Combine in a mixing bowl:
2 C flour
2 C sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinammon (this is a variation from her recipe...my normal recipe calls for this and I think it adds an extra yummy flavor to it)

In a saucepan, melt:
2 sticks butter
Add 4 heaping tablespoons cocoa. Stir together.
Add 1 C boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Pour over flour, and stir lightly to cool.

In measuring cup, pour 1/2 C buttermilk.
Add:
2 beaten eggs
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanillaStir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. Pour into sheet cake pan and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

While cake is baking, make icing:
Chop 1/2 C pecans finely (I omitted this. Nuts...blech)
Melt 1 3/4 sticks butter in a saucepan.
Add 4 heaping tablespoons cocoa, stir to combine, then turn off heat.
Add:
6 T Milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 lb minus 1/2 C powdered sugar
Stir together.
Add pecans, stir together, and pour over warm cake.

And in the words of Pioneer Woman, "Cut into squares, eat, and totally wig out over the fact that you've just made the best chocolate sheet cake. Ever." Amen!