Cake Contest

A while back I entered a fundraising cake contest with a friend. We made a fabulous turtle cake and placed in the top five. We also made a second cake that didn't place but was instantly devoured at one dollar a slice, so it got its fundraising job done. The turtle cake was a fancy up-do to a cake mix and the other was a devils food recipe. Unfortunately, we did not have our camera at the contest, so I will have to upload a photo from my phone later.

Turtle Cake:

Cake

1 box devils food
4 eggs
1/2 C oil
1 lg instant chocolate pudding/3.4 oz

1 C sour cream

1/2 C warm water

Mix all ingredients and pour into two square or circle pans. Bake for 40 minutes at 350.

Carmel Cream Cheese Frosting

1/4 cup light brown sugar

10 tablespoon butter, divided

1/3 cup heavy whipping cream

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Dash of salt

1 3/4 cups powdered sugar

Melt brown sugar and 4 tablespoons butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir until sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil over medium heat; remove from heat. Whisk in cream; blend well. Transfer to a heat-resistant bowl. Cool at room temperature, stirring occasionally.2. Place remaining 6 tablespoons butter and cream cheese in a large bowl; beat with a mixer on medium-high speed until smooth. Beat in vanilla and salt. With mixer running, slowly pour in cooled brown sugar mixture; beat until smooth. Add powdered sugar gradually, beating well after each addition until completely smooth. Chill slightly for a firmer texture, stirring occasionally

Chocolate Frosting:

½ C semisweet chocolate chips
¾ C butter
1 tsp vanilla
¾ C cocoa
3-4 C powdered sugar
½ C milk or water

Blend melted chocolate with butter. Add cocoa, vanilla and half of sugar. Add remaining sugar. Whip in milk to get desired consistency.

For Assembly:

Dulce De leche
1 C crushed pecans

1/2 recipe carmel frosting

1 recipe chocolate frosting

2 square/circle cakes

First, wrap and freeze the cooled cake, so you can slice it in half easily. I like to use a bread knife. Between each layer slather some carmel frosting, dulce and then crushed pecan. Repeat, then, repeat again. Frost the outside with chocolate. Then top it with a pile of pecan halves and drizzle with your favorite carmel topping. (I also used homemade)

Peanut Butter Cake:

Unfortunately I probably shouldn't post this cake and peanut butter mousse recipe because they are another bloggers and she shut her blog down. Please email me if you would like me to send them to you though. tammylakey@hotmail.com. As for the chocolate frosting...click here. This is a seriously delicious, slightly tangy, slightly sweet frosting.

Olive Oil Cake

Found this recipe in Bon Apetite and just couldn't help but make it. It was calling me for months. What's a girl to do? Sounds weird, but I loved it. It is very simple, easy and has a slight orange flavor. Give a try, you might be surprized. Click here for recipe

For Decoation Purposes

Look at this cake, isn't it cute. Would you believe Ryan decorated it. I attempted to cut my finger off with a serated knife while visiting my parents, so I wasn't up to the task. Yes, this is what my kitchen often looks like, please forgive me.

I like to decorate, I just don't have the time to practice, but if you have more time then me, give these recipes a try. They are easy and great for decorating. The taste of both is pretty good, but nothing to go nuts and brag about.

If you just want to touch up on your skills, save time and use these simple recipes to practice decorating. The frosting is also a perfect consistancy for easy decorating.
Easy white cake:


1 (18 1/4 ounce) package plain white cake mix
1 cup sour cream or yogurt

1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanill extract

Orange zest(optional)

Preheat oven to 350. Generously grease and flour a 13 x 9 inch baking pan. Place cake mix, sour cream, oil, eggs, and vanilla in mixing bowl. Blend with mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Stop machine, scrape down sides of bowl. Increase mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more. Scrape down sides again if needed. The batter should look well combined and thickened. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Place pan in oven. Bake the cake until it is light brown and springs back when lightly pressed with your finger, 35-40 minutes. Remove pan from oven and place on wire rack to cool for 20 minutes. Run a dinner knife around edge of cake and invert it onto wire rack. Allow cake to cool completely, 30 minutes. Frost as desired.


Wilton Buttercream:

1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine softened

1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (approximately 1 lb.)
2 tablespoons milk

In large bowl, cream shortening and butter with electric mixer. Add vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use.
For best results, keep icing bowl in refrigerator when not in use. Refrigerated in an airtight container, this icing can be stored 2 weeks. Re whip before using.

Sister-in-law

Are you salivating yet?

I spent some time living with my sister in law when I was single and my brother was in Afghanistan. As you could imagine, living with a married woman, I didn't exactly have parties every night. We did however, enjoy some delicious food together.

She makes this beautiful cake that is a spin off of molten cake. You know the kind they serve at Chili's.

You start with a chocolate bundt cake, cut holes with a fork to fill it with hot fudge. Then, drizzle on some Carmel, then fill the hole with ice cream now top that with some chocolate shell, caramel and ice cream.

I switched it up a little by using a home made devils food cake recipe that is to die for on its own.

If you want to be really authentic like my sister-in-law put a sparkler or two in the middle and light it while you sing birthday wishes.(I warn you it will likely set off your smoke alarm, but you will be so happy, you just may not care!)

I also made my own fudge and Carmel sauce. The sauces were great on their own. The only complaint I had was that the carmel was ever-so-slightly gritty in texture. The taste was so phenomenal though I still loved it.

Molten Style Birthday Cake:

Assembly:

one recipe devils food, made in a bundt

1/2 recipe carmel
1/2 recipe hot fudge

1/2 bottle chocolate shell
1/2 gallon vanilla bean ice cream
some sparklers if your feeling crazy

Make the cake according to directions. While cake is hot, or rewarmed, poke holes with a fork and pour over half of the hot fudge. Now drizzle a little carmel all over the cake. Fill the hole in the middle with as much ice cream as you can. Now cover that ice cream with fudge shell. Top that off with a little more fudge and carmel and enjoy!

Devils Food Cake

adapted from here

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/2 cups packed dark brown sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

3 eggs, room temperature
4 oz. (4 squares) unsweetened chocolate
4 Tbsp. cocoa powder 1 C hot water

1/3 cup sour cream

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup cake flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time. Add vanilla and sour cream. In a separate bowl, sift flours, soda and salt. Add hot water to coco and chocolate, mix until very smooth. Add the dry and the wet to the sugar mixture by starting with dry, wet, dry, wet, dry, Bake in pans greased and lined with parchment paper for 20-25 minutes at 350.

Hot Fudge Sauce:

adapted from recipezaar.com

1 (12 ounce) can evaporated milk
1 (12 ounce) package semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

Place milk, chocolate chips and sugar in a medium saucepan. Heat to boiling over medium heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, and stir in butter and vanilla (sauce will thicken while it is cooling)

Carmel Sauce:
adapted from recipezaar.com

1 cup butter

1 (12 ounce) can evaporated milk
1 3/4 cups brown sugar

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

Melt butter in heavy saucepan over low heat. Add milk and sugars. Bring to a rolling boil over medium heat stirring constantly. Boil 1 minute. Cool slightly.
Pour into blender, add vanilla, and cover and blend on medium until smooth.

Strawberry Cake (from scratch)

I have this thing about things being from scratch. I just love them so much more. Why? maybe the freshness of them. Or the limitless possibly for alteration. Or maybe it's the lack of ingredients I can't pronounce. I can't help myself I just love them. So I went on a loooooong hunt for a totally from scratch Strawberry cake and thanks to this cook who sent me a recipe. I slightly altered it and got this. If you want a brighter color of cake, you can add red food coloring. I just like the natural color the berries added.

This cake is dense, moist, and has a good strawberry flavor. Everyone loved it, hope you do too.

Strawberry Cake

3 cups self-rising flour(you can sub this for 1 C flour, 1 1/4 tsp baking powder and 1/8 tsp salt)
2 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cup pureed strawberries
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon zest
4 large eggs, beaten


Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray and flour three 8-by-2-inch round cake pans, tapping out excess flour; set aside.Prepare the cake batter; in a large bowl, stir to combine self-rising flour, sugar, oil, pureed strawberries, vanilla, lemon zest, and eggs. Divide batter evenly between prepared pans, smoothing with an offset spatula. Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until the tops spring back when gently pressed with your fingertips, 26 to 28 minutes.Transfer pans to a wire rack to cool 10 minutes. Invert cakes onto wire rack. Re-invert cakes and let them cool completely, top sides up. Prepare the cream cheese frosting (recipe below); frost as desired and refrigerate until ready to serve.



Cream Cheese Frosting:

8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
1 stick of butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
4 cups of powdered sugar


Beat cream cheese and butter until no bumps remain. Add powdered sugar and vanilla and beat until fluffy. Makes enough to cover the cake.

Healthier Coffee Cake

This is a fun breakfast that I adapted from Ellie Kreiger. I love cake for breakfast, especially if I can convince myself it's healthy.

Wheat pastry flour is hard to find, so sub in for white or wheat depending on your tastes. Another fun thing to do with this recipe is make it into muffins.

Healthier Coffee Cake:


2 cup whole-wheat pastry flour or regular white whole-wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped pecans
½ cup rolled oats
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
2 tablespoons canola oil, I sometimes sub applesauce here
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup plain yogurt
1 cup blueberries or blackberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray bundtpan with cooking spray(or try muffin tins).
Whisk together the flour, the baking soda and salt. In a small bowl, stir together the granulated sugar, cinnamon, oats and pecans. In a large bowl, beat the brown sugar, butter and oil until fluffy. If necessary, use the back of a spoon to press out any lumps in the brown sugar. Beat in the eggs, 1 at a time, beating until fully combined. Beat in the vanilla and yogurt.
Add the flour mixture in 2 batches, stirring until just combined.
Spread half of the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle half of the nut mixture over the batter and top with the blueberries, gently pressing them into the batter. Spoon the rest of the batter into the pan, smoothing the top. Sprinkle the remaining nut mixture over the cake, pressing gently. Bake until a wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool slightly and then unmold and allow to cool completely on a cooling rack. Cut the cake into 2-inch squares.