Cake Batter Blondies

I can't even describe these.  I've been sitting here trying to come up with words for how delicious these are, but they're just too amazing.  I love gooey, slightly undercooked cookies (stemming from the love of cookie batter, I'm sure), and this is the gooey-slightly undercooked cake version.   Incredible. 

Biz has been on a health kick lately, leaving me to eat most of the pan by myself, which was fine by me.  I selfishly didn't even want to share these with friends or neighbors.  I wanted them all to myself. 

Cake Batter Blondies

1 box yellow cake mix
1/4 cup canola oil
1 egg, beaten
1/4 - 1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup rainbow sprinkles
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.  Combine the cake mix and sprinkles in a large bowl, and then mix in the oil and egg.  Add the milk slowly, just until the batter is combined--you want it to remain as dense as possible.  Place batter in a greased 8x8 dish or 8-inch cake pan.  Bake for 25-30 minutes or just until the edges turn golden.  Let cool for 20 minutes before cutting because the gooey center needs to set. 

Fackler Cake

Today is Buck's birthday--YAY!!  For his birthday cake, he requested this yellow cake with chocolate frosting, which he dubbed the Fackler Cake for the family who gave us the recipe.  Mrs. Fackler was kind enough to share her recipe with us, and Buck couldn't have been happier that she was willing to let me have it.  He has long loves this cake--especially the icing--and he's thrilled to celebrate his birthday with it.  

Fackler Cake

Cake:
1 box Duncan Hines Butter Cake Mix (and the ingredients it requires--water, 3 eggs, amd 1 stick butter)

Icing:
2 cups sugar
1 stick butter
1/2 cup milk
5 Tbsp cocoa

Cook cake in two 9" pans according to package directions.  For icing, mix butter, sugar, and cocoa in a heavy pan.  Bring mixture to a boil and cook 2-3 minutes, stirring often with a whisk.  Remove from heat and cool.  Icing will thicken as it cools.  Frost the cooled cakes and serve.

Blueberry Pound Cake

What a great summer dessert recipe!  I love this cake.  This recipe is from Cooking Light, so I didn't feel terrible about eating another piece tonight after having two at lunch.  An entire cake is a lot to make for the two of us, but we've been able to share it with friends and family, and everyone has liked it a lot.  You should try it! 

Many thanks go to my mom for inspiring me to make this cake!

Blueberry Pound Cake

2 cups sugar
1/3 stick butter, softened
4 oz low fat cream cheese
3 large eggs
1 large egg white
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups all-purpose flour, divided
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
8 oz lemon low-fat yogurt
Cooking spray
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1-2 Tbsp milk

Preheat oven to 350.  Beat sugar, butter, and cream cheese at medium speed until well blended, about 5 minutes.  Add eggs and egg white, one at a time, beating well after each addition; beat in vanilla. 

Combine 2 tablespoons flour and blueberries in a small bowl; toss to coat.  Combine remaining flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Add flour mixture to sugar mixture alternately with yogurt, beginning and ending with flour mixture.  Fold in blueberry mixture. 

Pour batter into a bundt pan coated with cooking spray.  Bake at 350 for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.  Cool cake in pan for 10 minutes on a wire rack; cool cake for additional 15 minutes on wire rack. 

Mix powdered sugar and milk until desired consistency is reached.  Drizzle glaze on top of cooled cake. 

Shortcut King Cake

Were you intrigued by the king cake, but you know you can't devote that much time to it?  I have the perfect solution for you. 

This is delicious, fast, and so easy to make.  Instead of just the cinnamon filling in the other king cake, this one is filled with cream cheese and pecans.  You'll love it.

Shortcut King Cake

2 cans crescent rolls

Filling:
2/3 cujp powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
8 oz softened cream cheese
cinnamon sugar
chopped pecans

Icing:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbsp milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
Colored sugar (purple, green and gold)

Place crescent roll triangles on a cookie sheet, forming an oval, with the triangle tips pointing out.  Flatten the triangle ends just enough for them to touch.  Mix sugar, cream cheese, and vanilla, and spread mixture into dough.  Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and chopped pecans.  Fold triangle points over to cover the filling.  Bake at 350 for 9-11 minutes. 

To make the icing, mix the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla, and drizzle over the warm cake.  Sprinkle with colored sugar.

King Cake!

It's Mardi Gras season!  Growing up in Louisiana, I couldn't wait for king cakes and parades every year, but now that I'm in Georgia, people don't know or care much about Mardi Gras.  It's sad, but I refuse to stop celebrating.

If you're not lucky enough to live in Louisiana or be there for Mardi Gras, you can still celebrate by making your own king cake.  It's a lot of work (be prepared to devote about 5.5 hours from start to finish), but it's completely worth the effort.  This recipe makes two large king cakes; for a split second, I thought about cutting the recipe in half and only making one, but then I decided that if I were going through all the trouble, I might as well make both of them.  The cake also freezes well, if it gets that far.  Each of us took one cake to work, and there were no leftovers.

Before you make the cake, you'll need to make a trip to Michael's or Hobby Lobby for colored sugar (who knew they'd have such a supply at a craft store?) and tiny plastic babies (with the baby shower things).  After the cake has been baked, you'll slip a little plastic baby inside from the bottom to hide in the cake.  When you cut the cake, whoever gets the piece with the baby has good luck and has to supply the next king cake! 

Just another note on the process of making the king cake: you will need a rolling pin or some other instrument to roll out the dough.  I, however, do not have a rollilg pin, so I had to get creative.  If you ever find yourself in a similar situation, you can do what I did.  Use a wine bottle!  It was very effective.

Yes, I drink Yellow Tail.  Don't judge me.

(Friends, if you're coming to the wedding this summer and would like to give us a wedding present, we'd like a rolling pin.  Thank you.)

Happy Mardi Gras!

King Cake

Cake:

1 stick plus 1 tablespoon butter, divided

2/3 cup skim evaporated milk

1/2 cup sugar, divided

2 tsp salt

2 packages active dry yeast

1/3 cup warm water

4 eggs

1 Tbsp grated lemon rind

2 Tbsp grated orange rind

6 cups flour

In a saucepan, melt 1 stick butter, evaporated milk, 1/3 cup sugar, and salt.  Cool to lukewarm.  In a large mixing bowl, combine 2 Tbsp sugar, yeast, and water.  Let stand until foaming, about 5-10 minutes.  Beat eggs into yeast, then add milk mixture and rinds.  Stir in flour, 1/2 cup at a time, reserving 1 cup to flour kneading surface.  Knead dough until smooth, about 5-10 minutes.  Place in large mixing bowl greased with 1 Tbsp butter, turning dough once to grease top; cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1.5-2 hours.

Filling:

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 Tbsp cinnamon

1 stick butter, melted, divided

For filling, mix sugars and cinnamon.  Set aside.

Topping:

1 cup sugar (1/3 cup each of purple, green, and gold)

1 eggs, beaten

2 (3/4") plastic babies

When dough has doubled, punch down and divide in half.  On a floured surface, roll half into a 15"x30" rectangle.  Brush with half of melted butter and cut into three lengthwise strips.  Sprinkle half of sugar mixture on strips, leaving a 1-inch lengthwise strip free for sealing.  Fold each strip lengthwise toward the center, sealing the seam.  You will now have 3 (30 inch) strips with the sugar mixture enclosed in each.  Braid the three strips and make a circle by joining ends.  Repeat with the other half of dough. 

Place each cake on a baking sheet, cover with a damp cloth, and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.  Brush each with egg and sprinkle top with colored sugars, alternating colors.  Preheat oven to 350.  Bake 20 minutes.  Remove from pan immediately so sugar will nto harden.  While still warm, place 1 plastic baby in each from underneath.

To freeze, wrap cooled cake tightly in plastic.  Before serving, remove plastic and thaw. 



Coffee Cake

This is so delicious!  A big piece of this cake is wonderful to have for breakfast or dessert.  The cake is really tasty by itself, but the brown sugar and pecan topping just puts it over the top.  Nice and yummy and fattening - just what a holiday dessert should be.  I can't recommend this highly enough!

Coffee Cake

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla extract

Topping

1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup chopped pecans
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 Tbsp butter melted

Preheat oven to 350.  Spray a 9"x13" pan with cooking spray.  Sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder, and set aside.  In a large bowl, cream the butter until light and fluffy.  Gradually beat in the sour cream and then the sugar.  Beat in the eggs one at a time, and then stir in the vanilla.  By hand, stir in the flour mixture, mixing until just incorporated.  Spread batter into prepared pan. 

To make the topping, combine brown sugar, pecans, and cinnamon in a bowl.  Pour in melted butter and combine until crumbly.  Sprinkle over cake batter in pan.  Bake in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. 

Pumpkin Bars

Happy Halloween!  These pumpkin bars should really be called pumpkin cake because they have a cake-like consistency and you have to eat them with a fork instead of just picking them up.  I can safely say that the best part of this dessert is the icing.  After you eat some of the icing, maybe you can join me at the gym so we can run some of it off.  I tried to make up for it somewhat by using whole wheat flour and substituting half of the vegetable oil for applesauce.

These are delicious, and they don't have any weird ingredients that you have to search for.  They're a perfect treat for Halloween or Thanksgiving.  Enjoy!

Pumpkin Bars

Bars:
4 eggs
1 2/3 cups white sugar
1 cup vegetable oil (or 1/2 cup oil and 1/2 cup applesauce)
1 (15oz) can pumpkin
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

Icing:
1 stick butter, softened
1 (8oz) pkg cream cheese, softened
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350.  Using an electric mixer at medium speed, cream together eggs, pumpkin, oil/applesauce, and sugar.  In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.  Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture on low speed or by hand-stirring until smooth.  Spread the batter into a greased 10x13-inch baking pan, and bake for 35-40 minutes.  Let cool completely before frosting. 

While bars are cooling, combine the cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth.  Add the sugar and mix at a low speed until combined.  Stir in the vanilla and mix again.  Spread onto cooled pumpkin bars.