Category Archives: Cakes

Dec26

Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting

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I haven’t made red velvet cake in a couple years and tried a new recipe this time from Joy of Baking.  It came out very well! Nice and moist. The frosting recipe, from Martha Stewart, came out very pretty and creamy.

Cake Ingredients

2 1/2 cups (250 grams) sifted cake flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons (15 grams) Dutch-processed cocoa powder

1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups (300 grams) granulated white sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup (240 ml) buttermilk

2 tablespoons liquid red food coloring

1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar

1 teaspoon baking soda

Cake Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Butter two – 9 inch (23 cm) round cake pans and line the bottoms of the pans with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl sift together the flour, salt, and cocoa powder. Set aside.

In bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until soft (about 1-2 minutes). Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.

In a measuring cup whisk the buttermilk with the red food coloring. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour.

In a small cup combine the vinegar and baking soda. Allow the mixture to fizz and then quickly fold into the cake batter.

Working quickly, divide the batter evenly between the two prepared pans and smooth the tops with an offset spatula or the back of a spoon. Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 25 – 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean. Cool the cakes in their pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Place a wire rack on top of the cake pan and invert, lifting off the pan. Once the cakes have completely cooled, wrap in plastic and place the cake layers in the freezer for at least an hour. (This is done to make filling and frosting the cakes easier.)

From: Joy of Baking

Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients
  • 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, room temperature
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 (1-pound) box confectioners’ sugar
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

    • Directions

  • Place cream cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat until creamy, about 30 seconds.
  • With the mixer on low, slowly add sugar, scraping down the sides of the bowls as necessary.
  • Add vanilla and increase mixer speed to medium. Blend until frosting is fluffy, about 1 minute.
    • Aug8

    Strawberry Cake and Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

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    DSCN0912

    I made a strawberry cake that started with white cake mix several years ago.  This year, Shania asked for a strawberry cake for her birthday and I realized I’d lost the recipe!  This Paula Deen recipe is very similar to the one I made before and was delicious! Do not buy a strawberry flavored cake mix. This is just as easy but so much better.

    Strawberry Cake

    Ingredients

    • 1 (18.25-ounce) box white cake mix
    • 1 (3-ounce) box strawberry-flavored instant gelatin
    • 1 (15-ounce) package frozen strawberries in syrup, thawed and pureed
    • 4 large eggs
    • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
    • 1/4 cup water
    • Strawberry cream cheese frosting, recipe follows
    • Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting
    • 1/4 cup butter, softened
    • 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
    • 1 (10-ounce) package frozen strawberries in syrup, thawed and pureed
    • 1/2 teaspoon strawberry extract
    • 7 cups confectioners’ sugar
    • Freshly sliced strawberries, for garnish, optional

    Directions

    Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease 2 (9-inch) round cake pans.

    In a large bowl, combine cake mix and gelatin. Add pureed strawberries, eggs, oil, and water; beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Pour into prepared pans, and bake for 20 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.

    Let cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pans, and cool completely on wire racks.

    DSCN0918

    For the frosting:

    In a large bowl, beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Beat in 1/4 cup of the strawberry puree and the vanilla extract. (The rest of the puree is leftover but can be used in smoothies or on ice cream for a delicious treat.) Gradually add confectioners’ sugar, beating until smooth.

    Spread frosting in between layers and on top and sides of cake. Garnish with sliced fresh strawberries, if desired.

    Jul15

    Hershey’s “Perfectly Chocolate” Chocolate Cake

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    It cannot be said how much I love this cake! pccblueHershey%20Chocolate%20Cake

    Ingredients:

    2 cups sugar

    1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

    3/4 cup HERSHEY’S Cocoa

    1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

    1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda

    1 teaspoon salt

    2 eggs

    1 cup milk

    1/2 cup vegetable oil

    2 teaspoons vanilla extract

    1 cup boiling water

    Directions:

    1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely and frost. 10 to 12 servings.

    This is typically topped with Hershey’s Perfectly Chocolate Frosting. I used Wilton’s Buttercream in the pics above.

    Here is a pic with the chocolate frosting:

    DSCN0977

    Chocolate Cupcakes!

     

    From: Hersheys

    Feb1

    Iowa Applesauce Cake

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    My mom made this cake for New Year’s.  She was so excited to use the new cake pan that I gave her for Christmas from Williams Sonoma.  It was so beautiful! And it tasted great, too. You should have heard my mom scream when my dad attempted to cut the cake normally. “You have to follow the curve!” LOL

    The recipe called for a cream cheese frosting but my mom just used a simple glaze made with confectioner’s sugar and water.  She also omitted the raisins and nuts.  She added  2 tablespoons of meringue powder which is something we both do with every cake.  It helps them rise more. 🙂

    Iowa Applesauce Cake

    Ingredients

    1/2 cup margarine or butter
    3/4 cup granulated sugar
    3/4 cup packed brown sugar
    1 egg
    2 cups all-purpose flour
    2 teaspoons baking powder
    1 teaspoon baking soda
    1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
    1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
    1 1/2 cups applesauce
    1 cup raisins
    1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

    Directions

    In a large mixing bowl, beat butter or margarine for 30 seconds. Add both sugars and egg; beat until combined. Stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda and spices. Add flour mixture alternately with applesauce to butter mixture. Stir in raisins and nuts. Pour batter into a greased 13 x 9-inch baking pan and spread evenly. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack.

    From: ecookbooks

    May30

    Buttermilk Pound Cake

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    Yesterday, I made one of Scott’s favorite desserts-buttermilk pie (recipe at ThatSweetAng). I’ve been on a mission to find new recipes that call for buttermilk so that I can use up what’s left after making the pie.  I found this pound cake recipe on All Recipes and had all of the ingredients so I decided to give it a try. 

    This cake smelled wonderful while it was baking and tastes great. It did not take 90 minutes to bake- I took it out of the oven after 75 minutes and it might have actually been done at 70 minutes.

    This is an easy and good pound cake recipe.  It is very moist and the meringue powder that I added made it perfectly high.  I think I could actually take this home to my mom and she is the queen of pound cakes!

    Buttermilk Pound Cake

    Ingredients

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • I added 2 tablespoons meringue powder
  • 1 cup butter
  • 3 cups white sugar
  • 6 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon lemon extract
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup buttermilk

    • Directions

    1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease one 9 or 10 inch tube pan. Mix together the flour, baking soda, salt and meringue powder. Set aside.
    2. In a large bowl, beat butter with sugar. Mix in the eggs, one at time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the lemon and the vanilla extracts. Gently mix in flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk. Pour batter into the prepared pan.
    3. Bake in preheated oven for 90 minutes. Do not open oven door until after one hour. When cake begins to pull away from the side of the pan it is done. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

     From: All Recipes

    May4

    Classic White Cake

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    I was nervous about this recipe because it was for Austin’s birthday cake but it got good reviews on The Food Network so I decided to give it a try.  I followed the directions for the yellow cake instead of white but it still looked more like white cake. The cake came out good but I think that I might add a little more milk when I make it again.  I used a dome cake pan along with the insert pan so it took longer to bake- about 50 minutes.  I filled and topped the cake with Wilton’s Buttercream frosting.

    Classic White Cake

    Ingredients

    12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
    1 1/2 cups sugar
    2 cups all purpose flour
    2 teaspoons baking powder
    1/4 teaspoon salt
    6 large egg whites (3/4 cup)
    3/4 cup milk
    2 teaspoons vanilla extract

    Directions

    Set rack at the middle level in the oven and preheat to 350 degrees.

    Butter the bottom of two 9-inch round or one 13 by 9 by 2-inch pan. Line bottom with parchment or waxed paper.

    In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar for about 5 minutes, until light and fluffy. Stir together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. Combine egg whites, milk and vanilla extract. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the butter mixture then add half the milk mixture. Continue to alternate beginning and ending with flour mixture. Scape the bowl and beater often.

    Pour the batter into prepared pan(s) and smooth top with metal spatula. Bake cake(s) about 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center emerges clean.

    Cool in pan on rack for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a rack, remove paper and let cool completely.

    Note: For a classic yellow cake- Substitute 3 large eggs and 1 yolk for the egg whites.

    From: Food Network

    Apr20

    Cinnamon Roll Cake

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    I wanted to make cinnamon rolls but didn’t have the ingredients to make them.  I did have a box of cake mix in the pantry, so I made this instead. I love making a great dessert that starts with a cake mix.  It doesn’t get much easier.  This cake has become one of my favorite cakes to make- and eat!

    Cinnamon Roll Cake

    Ingredients

    • yellow or white cake mix, prepared according to box directions
    • 1 tablespoon meringue powder
    • 1 cup light brown sugar
    • 2-3 teaspoons cinnamon
    • 2 cups confectioner’s sugar
    • few tablespoons warm water (I did not use an exact measurement)

    Directions

    Prepare cake mix according to box directions and add meringue powder. Pour half of the batter into a cake pan of your choice.  Combine brown sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle half of the mixture over cake batter.  Add remaining batter and cover with remaining sugar and cinnamon.  Swirl with a knife. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. To make the frosting, slowly add warm water to confectioner’s sugar until you get a smooth, thick glaze.  Spread over warm cake.