Cherry Dump Cake

In our family, we love us some good cherry dump cake.  It's one of the richest, yummiest things to eat and oh so easy to make.

Here's what you'll need for a 9x13 size pan:

2 cans cherry pie filling

2 teaspoon almond extract

1 yellow cake mix

1/2 cup butter

Spray your 9x13 pan with a cooking spray.  Open the cans of cherry pie filling and add 1 teaspoon of almond extract to each can.  Dump both cans of cherry pie filling into the prepared pan.  Open the yellow cake mix and dump the mix on top of the cherry pie filling, covering it evenly.  Melt 1/2 cup butter and pour over the cake mix.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes and then check on the cake.  The top needs to be browned and a little crusty.  If it's not quite ready, bake in additional 5 minute increments until it's ready to eat. 

It's best served with a cold scoop of ice cream on top, but would also be great with some home made whipped cream.

A little bit of baking

May was a big month for baking in our house. Here are a few of the tasty treats.

First up, pink lemonade cupcakes for a friends, daughters birthday. After a lot of tasty experiments, I ended up using a white cake mix, doctored up with my secret doctoring concoction, with an additional ingredient of almost an entire can of pink lemonade concentrate into the batter.

And the frosting, a basic butter cream with about 1/3 cup of thawed pink lemonade for extra pucker.

For my mother-in-law's birthday I went with a chocolate caramel cake. The trick to making this one absolutely delish....almost 24 hours in the refrigerator. There is just something about a chilled cake that makes it so much more dense and wonderful. Try it next time, you'll be absolutely amazed.

Next up, the husband's birthday. For this we went with a rich vanilla cake and milk chocolate frosting. Holy cow it was yummy.

The most fabulous creation was next, for my birthday. I wish that I would have taken a picture of the inside of this cake, it was gorgeous. I wanted a cake that tasted like a chocolate malt so that's just what I fixed. I started with a yellow cake mix and added about 4 tablespoons of malt powder. Then I divided the mix evenly and added about 4 tablespoons of cocoa powder to one half, making it chocolate. I cold have added some melted chocolate chips, too but I didn't think about that until later.

So, the cake was a decadent chocolate malt marble cake. And such a cake wouldn't be complete with out chocolate malted frosting as well. This was an absolute bomb of a cake and may have been the tastiest thing I've ever made or eaten. And, I made it really small, a 6" round which was perfect because once my guests and I were served, there wasn't anything left. This was not something that my waistline needed a second helping of, even though after several glasses of milk, my taste buds were craving more.

And finally, the baking ended this past weekend. My brother earned his Eagle Scout award and my mother commissioned me for 100 Eagle Scout cupcakes to serve as refreshments. I found an eagle scout candy mold and made the little cakes as patriotic as I could muster. They were vanilla with chocolate frosting, milk chocolate with chocolate frosting and chocolate chocolate chip with vanilla bean frosting.

Phew!

I gained 5 pounds just writing this post. If you want more details on cakes and recipes, just send me an e-mail.

Chocolate Cake with Salted Caramel Icing and Chocolate Ganache

This recipe called for a made from scratch chocolate cake that was sort of a mousse/souffle type thing.  I made that version and it didn't work so I ended up with just a basic chocolate cake.  No worries though because the joy of this cake is in the frosting.

Salted Caramel Butter cream Icing

1/2 cup sugar

4 tablespoons water

1/2 heavy cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 sticks room temperature butter

3 + cups powdered sugar

1/4 teaspoon good sea salt (or kosher salt, whatever you've got on hand)

First, you've got to make the caramel.  In a good and sturdy small sauce pot put the sugar and water over medium heat.  This is the base for your caramel.  You'll want to leave it alone (do not stir under penalty of law) and let it boil and bubble away until it is a nice medium amber color.  Remove from the heat and slowly whisk in the cream and vanilla.  Set the caramel aside and let it sit and cool at leas 30 minutes.

Once the caramel is cooled, you can make the icing.  Cream two sticks of butter with a hand mixer.  Next add the sea salt and half of the powdered sugar.  Mix until combined and then add the caramel and the rest of the powdered sugar.  Depending on the consistency you're going for you might need to add a little milk or some more powdered sugar.

Chocolate Ganache

6 oz bittersweet/milk chocolate combination (mix it however you'd like.  I went 4 oz bittersweet and 2 oz milk)

6 oz heavy cream

dash of vanilla

While the caramel is cooling, make your ganache.  Heat the heavy cream over the stove on medium low heat.  As soon as the cream starts to boil pour it over the chocolate (made sure your chocolate is in a heat proof container).  Let stand about three minutes and then whisk the mixture until the chocolate is all melted.  Set the ganache aside.  If it doesn't thicken up enough on the counter top then put it in the fridge for five minutes at a time.  Check it because you don't want it to thicken up into a truffle consistency.

**

When you put the cake together, layer some butter cream and ganache between the two layers of the cake and add another layer of ganache to the top of the cake once you do your basic icing job.  Then drizzle some remaining ganache over the cake once it's all iced and ready to serve.

You'll have enough ganache to eat out of the bowl in your fridge a spoonful at a time for about three days after the cake is devoured.  That is my present to you.

Sweet 16 Cake

Right before the new year, my brother turned 16.  He wanted a parade and gangster rappers, and a masquerade ball with some llamas. He settled for 6 hours of basketball, Litza's pizza, and a homemade birthday cake.

When planning his cake, he wanted an extravagant 4 layers of chocolate and cherry chip cake with as decadent of icing as I could manage.  Once the big day came, and the basketball games got moved up 3 hours, I had to hurry.  We settled on two layers - cherry cake with cherry icing on the inside and chocolate icing with a chocolate ganache to finish it off.

Oh, it rich.  I think it gave everyone who partook a bit of a tummy ache -but it was worth it.

The interior icing was cherry butter cream.
The exterior icing was milk chocolate.  It was a basic chocolate butter cream but right at the end, you add 3/4 cup of melted milk chocolate chips to the mix.  I made extra and enjoyed it with salty pretzels the next day.
On top of that, was a bittersweet chocolate ganache.  Ganache is so simple, it's a shame people don't make it more often.

Milk Chocolate Icing:
2 sticks butter - very soft
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
mix the butter and cocoa together
alternate between adding a bit of milk (2 tablespoons) and 4 cups powdered sugar.
add 3/4 cups melted (still warm but not hot) chocolate chips.


Chocolate Ganache:
There are a lot of ways to do it, but I've always learned that you do equal parts cream and chocolate and that you shouldn't use milk chocolate.  Not sure why - but I'm sure it's because the cocoa content isn't as significant in milk as in bittersweet.

8 oz heavy cream
8 oz bittersweet chocolate

heat the heavy cream on your stove top.  You know it's ready when the edges start to bubble and there is a visible film on the top.  Remove the cream from the heat and pour it over the chocolate.  Let the mixture sit a couple of minutes and then break out a whisk and mix the chocolate and cream together.  Then let it sit.  The longer it sits, the thicker it will get.  If you refrigerate the ganache for about 8 hours you can then make truffles.  If you leave it for 10-20 then it's perfect to pour over the top of a cake.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

First, there is a lot of sweet stuff on this blog. Second, I need to stop taking pictures with just my phone.

Noted.

Third, though - I had a little church party on Tuesday night and I wanted to make something yummy. The activity required that people bring pies. I don't like pie. I do however like cake.

I made these - they were delish.

For the cupcakes -
1 box chocolate cake mix, any brand you like. Follow the directions on the box except for the following:
add 1 cup sour cream
add 1 package instant chocolate pudding
use milk instead of water (or buttermilk if you have it)

Bake as directed

For the icing -
2 sticks butter - room temperature
1 cup peanut butter
a little bit of milk
a lot of powdered sugar, 4 cups or so.

cream the butter and peanut butter. Slowly add the powdered sugar until you get the icing consistency you'd like. If it gets to thick, add milk...or more milk.

Top with chopped up PB cups (store bought or home made) if you're so inclined.

Baked Goods

My friend Erin asked me to help her out with a few treats for a bridal shower. She's trading me food for hand crafted items for my home. She is extraordinarily talented and I'm so excited.

The theme of her party was lemon and lime.  I was happy to oblige with Key Lime cupcakes, Tart Lemon cupcakes and cookie dough truffles in the theme colors.

The party went of without a hitch and I'm told the treats disappeared quickly.

I love baking, especially with a theme.

Rainbow Brite

I came across this cake today.  Not only is it one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen but the thought of making it both thrills and terrifies me at the same time.

I found the pictures at Twig and Thistle, here.

The instructions for baking can be found on Whisk Kid,  here.

If I actually dare make it, I'll let you know.

Cake Mix Cookies

I learned from the mom of a friend about 9 years ago how to make cookies out of a cake mix.  it was a revolutionary food concept to me, and probably because it produces some of the tastiest cookies around, became an addiction for me as well.

Cake mix cookies are so yummy, so fast, and so easy it's a wonder I don't literally make and devour them every single day.

All you need to do is:
1- select the cake mix of your choice.
2 - open said cake mix and dump it into a bowl.  Add one egg and a stick of melted butter.  Stir.
3 - add your extras of choice - I tend to always use chocolate chips.  Mix and taste the dough.

Bake these cookies in a 375 degree oven for 5-7 minutes.  Do not over cook them.  You want them to still be super squishy and soft when you take them out of the oven.  They will stay soft for days - though they won't last that long.

My favorite cake mixes?
Cherry Chip
Yellow
Milk chocolate or German chocolate

How to doctor a cake mix

I love to bake.  It's cathartic for me.

Many times I've baked a cake from scratch - and made a huge mess in the process.

I'm learning though that doctoring a store bought cake mix is faster, easier, and often just as tasty.

A few things you can do to make a cake from a box taste more like a cake from scratch.

1 - add a small package of instant pudding in a flavor that compliments the cake mix
2 - add one cup sour cream
3 - use buttermilk or milk instead of water

Not only is the batter absolutely fluffy, rich, and quite heavenly, but it bakes up well, too (but it does take a bit longer than the instructions on the box tell you so watch carefully.).

My first attempt at a doctored mix turned out fabulous.  I had a regular yellow cake mix, did all of the above and for my pudding added a white chocolate instant pudding.  I never actually got to eat one of the finished products but the batter was enough to satisfy my sweet tooth for the day.