Warm Caramel Apple Cake

I made this the other day because I had some apples that were in dire need of being used. If you are lucky enough to get the free Betty Crocker recipe calendar then you are in luck and you have this recipe! This is where I got it. It's really good, whether you eat it warm right out of the oven (which I HIGHLY recommend) or a couple of days later -if you have any left that is.. :)
It was really yummy!!!

Warm Caramel Apple Cake

1/2	cup butter or margarine
1/4	cup whipping cream
1	cup packed brown sugar
1/2	cup chopped pecans-i omitted this because I am too cheap to buy them and i don't live in a place that grows them, plus I doubt anyone would have eaten it with them in it anyway...
2	large cooking apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced (about 2 1/3 cups)
1	box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® yellow cake mix
1 1/4	cups water
1/3	cup vegetable oil
3	eggs
1/4	teaspoon apple pie spice- i just used cinnamon

Topping

2/3	cup Betty Crocker® Whipped fluffy white frosting (from 12-oz container)
1/2	cup frozen (thawed) whipped topping
	Caramel topping, if desired

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1. Heat oven to 350°F. In 1-quart heavy saucepan, cook butter, whipping cream and brown sugar over low heat, stirring occasionally, just until butter is melted. Pour into 13x9-inch pan. Sprinkle with pecans; top with sliced apples.
2. In large bowl, beat cake mix, water, oil, eggs and apple pie spice with electric mixer on low speed until moistened. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes. Carefully spoon batter over apple mixture.
3. Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Loosen sides of cake from pan. Place heatproof serving platter upside down on pan; carefully turn platter and pan over. Let pan remain over cake about 1 minute so caramel can drizzle over cake. Remove pan.
4. In small bowl, mix frosting and whipped topping. Serve warm cake topped with frosting mixture and drizzled with caramel topping.

We did not use the topping, I had some whipped topping in the fridge that we used instead and it worked perfectly. The kids almost preferred it that way. I also didn't invert the cake after it was baked. I just invert the pieces as they are cut from the cake. I didn't have a platter big enough.

Hope you enjoy!!!

The best chocolate sheet cake. ever

Another recipe I've been hearing so much about is this one:
The best chocolate cake. ever

If you are a fan of the pioneer woman than you no doubt have seen this recipe. I made it for the first time tonight (tonight is a night of firsts......) and OH MY!!! You will certainly need LARGE amounts of milk to wash this down, but when is that a bad thing? I mean really???? So here you go! Thanks....no strike that.......

HUGE, GINORMOUS THANKS

to the pioneer woman for making this and bringing it to the world. You rock...seriously.

And if you haven't been fortunate to make this, then I suggest you look in your pantry, gather all the necessary ingredients and get to baking. you'll thank me (and her).

The best chocolate sheet cake. ever

Ingredients

• FOR THE CAKE:
• 2 cups Flour
• 2 cups Sugar
• ¼ teaspoons Salt
• 4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa
• 2 sticks Butter
• 1 cup Boiling Water
• ½ cups Buttermilk
• 2 whole Beaten Eggs
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• _____
• FOR FROSTING:
• ½ cups Finely Chopped Pecans
• 1-¾ stick Butter
• 4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa
• 6 Tablespoons Milk
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 1 pound (minus 1/2 Cup) Powdered Sugar

Preparation Instructions

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt.

In a saucepan, melt butter. Add cocoa. Stir together.
Add boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Pour over flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool.

In a measuring cup, pour the buttermilk and add beaten eggs, baking soda, and vanilla. Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. Pour into sheet cake pan and bake at 350-degrees for 20 minutes.

While cake is baking, make the icing. Chop pecans finely. Melt butter in a saucepan. Add cocoa, stir to combine, then turn off heat. Add the milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Stir together. Add the pecans, stir together, and pour over warm cake.

I just want to add that if you freeze it like we did you won't be disappointed by the taste! It was still just as good as it was the day it was made!! So when looking at this cake and thinking "wow that sure does make a lot" feel free to freeze it and enjoy later!

Donna's Cake

This is a recipe that is a family favorite for I don't even remember how long. We always rotated homes for the holidays. My brother and sister are quite a bit older so they were out on their own with their own families as I was growing up. So whenever my sister hosted a holiday meal this cake was ALWAYS served!! I love it, it's one of my favorites. It is time consuming so plan for a while to make it. It's best if you let it sit for a while and not serve it right away. But I warn you, a little goes A LONG way. It's very sweet, but soooo worth it!

Donna's 10 Layer Cake

2 boxes plus pudding cake mix (any flavor you like-my sister uses yellow, I used 1 yellow and 1 devil's food since that's what I happened to have on hand)
8 eggs
2C water
2/3 C veggie oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix above ingredients together. If using 2 different cake mixes, mix separate of course and just half the rest of the ingredients per cake mix). Grease and flour cake pans (I used 9in round-I have 4 of them and kept them in rotation). Pour enough of the batter to cover the bottom (about 3 serving spoons full). The layers will be thin. Place 2 pans at a time in oven and bake about 8 minutes. Cool completely and keep going until you have all the layers. Sometimes you'll get more layers and sometimes you make get less. Just depends on how heavy your pour is when adding batter to the pans. The more layers, the more dramatic a presentation.

While layers are cooling make frosting (if you want it to completely cover the cake you'll need to double this):

Frosting
3C sugar
2/3C baking cocoa
pinch salt
1 1/2C evaporated milk
4 tbsp margarine
1 tsp vanilla

Place sugar and coca and salt in a saucepan over medium heat. Add milk gradually, stirring so the mixture won't become lumpy. Keep at medium heat until the chocolate begins to boil. Add margarine and vanilla. Mix will. Keep on low until all the layers are baked, stirring occasionally as you ice the cake.

spoon a little of the icing between each of the layers, the cake will soak in some of it.

just keep staking and icing layers

2 of the kiddos really enjoyed licking the bowls!

since I used 2 different mixes, I just alternated the flavors.

once caked is completely stacked pour the rest of the frosting over the cake (the frosting will harden slightly-so don't eat it right away), let it drip down the sides. I did not double the frosting recipe so it didn't completely cover the cake. You can choose the double it or keep it as is.

the inside presentation. Yummy!!!!

(ignore the snowflake plate-it's the only one I had that was big enough!)

HAPPY EATING!!!!!!!!!

Red Velvet Cake

Nothing says Christmas like a good red velvet cake (for me anyway...). For our Christmas pack meeting last night I made a red velvet cake. It was so good. It's one of my favorites!!! It's red, yet chocolatey, and just so delish!!! I hope you make it and enjoy it!!!!

Red Velvet Cake
2 1/2 C all purpose flour
1 1/2 C sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cocoa powder
1 1/2 C veg oil
1 C buttermilk, at room temperature
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 tbsp red food coloring (1 ounce)
1 tsp white distilled vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil and flour 3 9in round pans.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder. In a stand mixer bowl, whisk together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar and vanilla.

Mix the dry ingredients with the wet until just combined and a smooth batter is formed.

Divide the cake into the 3 pans. Place in oven evenly spaced apart. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

remove cakes from pan and let cool. Then finish cooling on cooling racks. Frost and enjoy.

at this point in the frosting of the cake you can cover it with pecans. I chose to decorate the cake with buttercream frosting as I'm not a fan of cream cheese frosting.

I chose to decorate with plastic poinsettias. It is Christmas after all!

I guess it was pretty good. I love that it's almost a blood red color.

For this particular cake I doubled the recipe. I was using a 12 in round pan. It made 3 layers and was A LOT of cake.

If interested here are the frosting recipes:

Cream Cheese Frosting
1 pound cream cheese, softened
4 C sifted powdered sugar
2 sticks unsalted butter (1 Cup), softened
1 tsp vanilla extract

In a stand mixer fittedw ith paddle attatchment, mix the cream cheese, sugar, and butter on low speed until mixed. Increase speed to high and mix until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Occasionally scrap down sides of bowl.

Reduce the speed to low and add vanilla and mix until fluffy again. Scrap down sides of bowl. Enough to frost a 3 layer cake.

Wilton Buttercream Frosting (this is what I used-I tripled the recipe)
1C shortening
1lb powdered sugar
3 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp milk (may need more depending on how thick or thin you want your frosting)

Mix until desired consistency is achieved. Yields 3 C of frosting.

HAPPY EATING!!!!!!!

Pudding Cake

When the hubbie and I were dating I asked him if there was something that his mom made that he really liked. I was feeling crafty and wanted to impress him. He said it was his mom's pudding cake. So I called her and I got the recipe. That was 8 years ago and it's still just as good now as it was then.
It's really good and I have to warn you, it's RICH!!!

Pudding Cake

The cake:
1 C flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 C sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 C milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp shortening (melted)

Pudding:
3/4 C sugar
1/4 C baking cocoa

Mix ingredients for cake together and put in a greased 8X8 pan.

Then mix pudding ingredients and sprinkle on top.

Pour 1 3/4 C boiling water over mixture DO NOT STIR

Put into preheated 350 degree oven for 40 minutes.


This is best served warm right out of the oven topped with whipped cream. It is just as good the next day, but it's really good all steamy and warm with all of it's chocolaty goodness!!
Like I said, a little goes a long way! Enjoy!

HAPPY EATING!!!!!!!

Coffee Cake

I first saw this recipe at the Picky Palate website. It looked so good I just had to try it. So tonight after our family night activities we dove into this. I made a few changes to the recipe but otherwise it's the same. (Thanks Jenny!)

As you can see mine bubbled over the struessel topping a little.

Nothing a little powdered sugar can't cure!

Beth's Starbuck's Coffee Cake

1 Box Yellow Cake Mix (plus ingredients on back of box)
1 Tbsp Cinnamon
1/4 C powdered Milk
1 tsp vanilla


2 Sticks cold salted butter
2 1/4 Cups flour
1 1/2 Tablespoons cinnamon
1 ¾ Cups sugar
1 1/2 Tablespoons vanilla
Powdered sugar (for dusting)

PREHEAT oven to 350.

PREPARE cake mix in large bowl according to directions on box. Spray 9X13 pan with non-stick spray. Pour batter into pan. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until center is just barely set.

WHILE cakes are baking, prepare crumb topping. In large bowl of electric mixer combine, butter, flour, cinnamon, sugar and vanilla until all crumbly.

IMMEDIATELY after cake is removed from oven, break crumb topping into marble size pieces with fingers, sprinkling over top. Put back in oven and bake an additional 10-15 minutes (topping will begin to look a little less wet/raw). Let cool fully then dust with powdered sugar, using a sieve.

CUT into squares and serve.

I used 2 loaf pans instead of the 9X13 and had to cook it a little longer. Otherwise nothing changed. I hope you enjoy it-Thanks again Jenny for posting this!