Chocolate Cake from Allrecipes

It's my 36th birthday today and what better way to celebrate than to eat chocolate cake with absolutely no guilt! This is an easy bundt cake from Allrecipes.

Ingredients:

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package devil's food cake mix
• 1 (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preparations:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, mix together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, beaten eggs and water. Stir in the chocolate chips and pour batter into a well greased 12 cup bundt pan.
3. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until top is springy to the touch and a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean. 
4. Cool cake thoroughly in pan at least an hour and a half before inverting onto a plate If desired, dust the cake with powdered sugar.

Classic Sour Cream Coffee Cake from Betty Crocker

The budnt cake recipes continue because I'm going to get my money's worth out of a pan that I paid full price for! Also, this cake was really good. I highly recommend it.

Ingredients:

Filling

• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Coffee Cake

• 3 cups all-purpose
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups sour cream

Light Brown Glaze

• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons milk 

Preparations:

1. Heat oven to 350ºF. Grease 12-cup fluted tube cake pan or 10-inch angel food (tube) cake pan.
2. In small bowl, mix all Filling ingredients; set aside.
3. In medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside. In large bowl, beat granulated sugar, 3/4 cup butter, 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla and the eggs with electric mixer on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Beat in flour mixture alternately with sour cream on low speed.
4. Spread 1/3 of the batter (about 2 cups) in pan; sprinkle with 1/3 of the Filling (about 6 tablespoons). Repeat twice.
5. Bake about 1 hour or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool 10 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, in 1 1/2-quart saucepan, heat 1/4 cup butter over medium heat until very light brown; remove from heat. Stir in powdered sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Stir in milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until glaze is smooth and thin enough to drizzle. Drizzle cake with glaze.    

My drizzle sucks. I'm clearly not Martha Stewart.

Chocolate Bundt Cake from Taste of Home

My newly acquired taste for Bundt cakes comes from my husband's burning desire to have a lemon cake over the weekend. I didn't buy this pan on sale or with a coupon and it really bugs me that I made full price for a pan that I don't even think is that great! It's kind of lightweight. So, I'm determined to get a great deal of use out of it.

I made this cake in honor of our fourth anniversary on April Fool's Day. (Yes, we really did get married on April Fool's because my husband said that it would be a date he couldn't forget!) The batter was incredibly thick so I would use 1.4 ounces of pudding and not 3.9 the recipe calls for.

Ingredients:

• 1 package (18-1/4 ounces) chocolate cake mix
• 1 package (3.9 ounces) instant chocolate pudding mix
• 3 tablespoons baking cocoa
• 1-3/4 cups milk
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
• Confectioners' sugar

Preparations:

1. In a large bowl, combine the cake and pudding mixes, cocoa, milk and eggs. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds. 
2. Beat on medium for 2 minutes. Stir in chocolate chips.
3. Pour into a greased and floured 10-in. fluted tube pan. Bake at 350° for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes; remove from pan to a wire rack to cool completely. 
4. Dust with confectioners' sugar if desired. Yield: 12-15 servings.

Glazed Lemon Bundt Cake from Allrecipes

This is the first bundt cake I've ever made and I'm wondering if all bundt cake batters are thick and dense? Also, this recipe makes a ton of glaze so put the cake on a big platter before dripping glaze all over it. This thing overflowed onto the counter and made a huge sticky mess. The cake was good but really dense. If I had it to do all over again, I'd bake it for about 50 minutes instead of 60.

Ingredients:

1 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon extract
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel

GLAZE:
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon water
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
3/4 cup sugar

Preparations: 

1. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in extracts. 
2. Combine flour, baking powder and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with milk. Stir in lemon peel. Pour into a greased and floured 10-in. fluted tube pan. 
3. Bake at 350 degrees F for 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes; invert onto a wire rack. Cool 10 minutes longer. 
4. Place rack on waxed paper. Combine glaze ingredients; drizzle over the warm cake. Cool completely before serving.

Easy Monkey Bread

Monkey Bread? What's that? This is a question I asked myself about a year ago when I first heard of it. It's definitely not something I was ever exposed to growing up in Washington. I wanted to see if it was good and thought I'd try the easiest recipe I could find. I don't own a fluted pan so I used a round cake pan instead. It was really good but the cinnamon stuff didn't quite reach the middle...

Ingredients:

• 2 can (12 oz each) of refrigerated buttermilk biscuits (Mine were 7.5 each and they worked fine)
• 1 cup packed brown sugar (I used the light kind)
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon Cinnamon

Preparations:

1. Cut biscuits into fourths and layer into greased fluted pan.
2. Combine sugar, cream and cinnamon. Pour over biscuits. 
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes or until the bread is golden brown. 
4. Turn warm pan upside down onto heatproof plate with the pan remaining over the biscuits for 5 minutes. 
5. Serve warm with a little butter.

Easy Slow Cooker Cheesy Potato Soup

I was a little skeptical about this recipe because it calls for hash browns but it was good. This recipe comes from Betty Crocker's website. My toddler loved the soup too.

Ingredients:

• 1 bag (32 oz) frozen diced hash browns, thawed
• 1/2 cup frozen chopped onion (from 12 oz bag), thawed
• 1 medium stalk celery, diced (1/2 cup)
• 1 carton (32 oz) chicken broth
• 1 cup water
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup milk
• 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup sour cream

Preparations:

1. In slow cooker (at least 3 quart in size), combine potatoes, onion, celery, broth, sour cream and water.
2. Cover and cook on low for four hours.
3. Mix flour into milk and add to potato soup. Add cheese. Stir well.
4. Turn to high and cook 30 minutes or until mixture thickens. 
5. Season with salt and pepper. 

Betty Crocker's Citrus Cake with Lemon Whipped Cream Frosting

There's one complaint I constantly getting about my cakes - there "too" sweet. Now I'm the kind of person who would rather eat frosting than cake so I generally blow these comments off. But for the adult celebration of KC's first birthday, I wanted to serve a cake that he could taste if he wanted to and I do not want this kid hooked on sugar so I made this lovely recipe.

This cake was a huge hit and my husband (who does the most complaining about my "too" sweet cakes) ate three slices.

Ingredients:

Cake

• 1 box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® lemon cake mix
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 3 eggs

Filling and Frosting

• 2 cups whipping cream
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1 can (15.75 oz) lemon pie filling
• 2 teaspoons grated orange peel

Strips of lemon and orange peel

Preparations:

1. Heat oven to 350°F for shiny metal pans (325°F for dark or nonstick pans). Grease and slightly flour bottoms and sides of two 8- or 9-inch round cake pans with shortening or cooking spray; lightly flour (or spray with cooking spray or baking spray with flour).
2. In large bowl, beat cake ingredients with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, then on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into pans.
3. Bake and cool as directed on box for 8- or 9-inch rounds.
4. In chilled medium bowl, beat whipping cream and powdered sugar with electric mixer on high speed until stiff peaks form. Fold in 1/2 cup of the pie filling and the grated orange peel.
5. Place 1 cake layer, rounded side down, on serving plate. Spread remaining pie filling over layer to within 1/4 inch of edge. Top with second layer, rounded side up. Spread whipped cream mixture over side and top of cake. Garnish top of cake with strips of lemon and orange peel. Store covered in refrigerator.

Make sure your whipping cream is stiff or it will be too runny to be frosting.

Creme Brulee from Allrecipes.com

When my husband gets it in his head to make some random dish - there's seriously almost nothing stopping him. In this case, he made this dish twice because he got it wrong the first time. I'd like to point out that the guy who gives me crap about my lousy food pictures, took the really awesome picture below. (Note the sarcasm!) Happy New Year!!!

Ingredients:

(My husband doubled this recipe, poured into it to one large dish, baked for over an hour and broiled for four minutes to get the result above.)

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 egg yolks
• 4 tablespoons white sugar

Preparations:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) and line the bottom of a large baking pan with a damp kitchen cloth.
2. Bring a large pot of water to boil. While water is boiling, combine cream, 1/4 cup sugar and salt in saucepan over medium heat. Stir occasionally 4 to 5 minutes, until steam rises. In a medium bowl, beat egg yolks and vanilla until smooth. Pour hot cream into yolks, a little at a time, stirring constantly, until all cream is incorporated. Pour mixture into four 6 oz. ramekins.
3. Place ramekins on towel in baking dish, and place dish on oven rack. Pour boiling water into dish to halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Cover whole pan loosely with foil.
   Bake 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until custard is just set. Chill ramekins in refrigerator 4 to 6 hours.
4. Before serving, sprinkle 1 tablespoon sugar over each custard. Use a kitchen torch or oven broiler to brown top, 2 to 3 minutes.

Peanut butter chocolate chip cookies from Chocoh!

I came across a new website for chocolate recipes. It's pretty cool and the recipes are fairly easy. It's called Chocoh and that's where this recipe comes from.

You can see from my pictures that my cookies were too big and too close together. If you don't want to repeat my mistake, roll your dough into one inch balls and space them evenly apart. The cookies were on the flat side but very tasty. (I used chunky peanut butter. ) Makes 2 dozen small cookies or a dozen large ones.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of flour 
• 1/2 cup of butter (softened to room temperature)
• 1/2 cup of brown sugar
• 1/2 cup of white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup of chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup of peanut butter
• 1/2 tsp. of salt
• 1/2 tsp. of baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. of vanilla

Preparations: 

1. Preheat Oven to 375 degrees. 
2. Combine butter, sugars, egg, vanilla and peanut butter.
3. Separately, mix flour, salt, baking soda and salt. Mix well. 
4. Combine both sets of ingredients. Add chocolate chips and mix dough until it's completely mixed.
5. Roll dough into one inch balls, space evenly. Bake for approximately 11 minutes. Let cool before removing.

Peanut Butter Fudge

Here's a new idea for a holiday treat. It's comes from christmas-cookies.com . (Such a cool site!)


Ingredients:

• 1 cup granulated sugar 
• 1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
• 2 tablespoons butter 
• 1/2 cup evaporated milk 
• pinch of salt 
• 1 cup marshmallows
• 1/4 pound peanut butter 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Preparations:

1. Cook sugar, butter, milk and salt to soft ball stage (235° F–240° F on a candy thermometer). 
2. Add marshmallows and peanut butter just before removing from heat. Do not stir. 
3. Cool to room temperature. Add vanilla. 
4. Beat until creamy, thick and holds shape. Pour into well buttered shallow pan. 
5. Cool and cut into squares.

Mixed Berry Cobbler in a Crock pot

Making desserts in the crock pot is easily one of the best inventions ever! Well, maybe it's not that great but I seriously love being able to mix some ingredients together and dump it all in a crock pot. You can check on this dish once an hour versus having to check it every twenty minutes. (It also eliminates having the oven on during a hot summer day.) I had company for dinner and they loved this dessert. Ken even said it was the best cobbler he had ever had.

My cobbler is a little on the runny side because I was distracted at the grocery store and forgot the tapioca.

Ingredients:

• 1 package (15 ounces) frozen mixed berries
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons quick-cooking tapioca
• 2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• Cool whip or vanilla ice cream

Preparations:

1. Spray crock pot with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Mix berries, sugar, tapioca and lemon peel.
3. Pour mixture into crock pot.
4. Combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder and nutmeg. Mix well.
5. Add milk and butter to flour mixture.
6. Pour flour mixture over berries. 
7. Cook on low for four hours or until cobber topping is cooked.
8. Top with Cool Whip or serve with vanilla ice cream.

Betty Crocker's Lemonade Party Cake

Kess and Kali went back to California for the school year and I guess I chose this cake to cheer myself up. The house isn't the same without those two comedians going at it. In fact, the place is a bit cheerless. If I wasn't on the "lose the baby weight so I get into the jeans I bought in a fit of hormones while pregnant" diet, I'd eat a piece of this cake just to cheer myself up.

Ingredients:

• 1 box of lemon or yellow cake mix
• water, vegetable oil and eggs (as called for on the cake mix box)
• 1 can (6 fluid oz) frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1 container of white or lemon frosting

Preparations:

1. Heat oven and mix cake according directions. Bake according to box directions.
2. Mix thawed lemonade with powdered sugar. 
3. Pierce top of warm cake every 1/2 inch with long-tine fork.
4. Drizzle lemonade evenly over the top of cake. Run knife along edges to loosen cake. 
5. Cover and refrigerate about 2 hours or until chilled. 



The powdered sugar didn't mix all that well. This is the unfrosted view.

6. Frost cake and serve.

Better Homes & Garden's Carrot Cake

Sorry, no picture because I made this for a bbq and never got a chance to take a picture of it. I can tell you that my friend Elena, who does not like Carrot Cake, ate three pieces. I'm working out (as much as I can with kids, a baby and a job) so I only took a bite of this cake. It was good. If you don't want to serve it with cream cheese frosting, vanilla is a good alternative.

Tip: Use a food processor instead of a grater. It's much easier and less time consuming.

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• 3/4 cup butter
• 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1 Tbsp. finely shredded lemon peel
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 lb. carrots, cut up
• 1 cup pecans, toasted
• 1-1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 an 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese
• 1 8-oz. can crushed pineapple (juice pack), drained
• 1 Recipe Cream Cheese Frosting
  Fresh pineapple slices, drained
  
  

Preparations:

1. Allow eggs, butter, and cream cheese to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, grease the bottoms and 1 inch up the sides of two 8x4x2-inch loaf pans. Set pans aside.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In large bowl stir together flour, baking powder, lemon peel, and salt; set aside.
3. In a food processor bowl* process carrots with on-off turns until finely chopped. Add pecans and 12 cup of sugar; process until pecans are finely chopped.
4. In extra-large mixing bowl beat butter and cream cheese for 30 seconds; beat in remaining 1 cup sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until combined.

Dirt Cake from Allrecipes.com

I've heard that after you have a baby, your memory can be affected. I have to say I think it's true. Ever since KC came into this world, I forget ingredients all the time. Even though I made a list, I still forgot the gummy worms for this recipe. I was also distracted by the fact that I had to make it for a work party after being given very little notice. I have no idea if it tasted any good because Ken whisked it away. Hopefully, it didn't suck. :)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 2 (3.5 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
• 3 1/2 cups milk
• 1 (12 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
• 32 ounces chocolate sandwich cookies with creme filling

Preparations:

1. Chop cookies very fine in food processor. The white cream will disappear. (Kess and I used a rolling pin to crush these instead of a food processor.)
2. Mix butter, cream cheese, and sugar in bowl.
3. In a large bowl mix milk, pudding and whipped topping together.
4. Combine pudding mixture and cream mixture together.
5. Layer in flower pot, starting with cookies then cream mixture. Repeat layers.
6. Chill until ready to serve.

Easy Key Lime Pie from Allrecipes.com

My husband isn't a fan of cake. He thinks frosting is too sweet (my favorite part of the cake!) so for his birthday this past weekend, I made him a Key Lime pie. This recipe is super easy and doesn't require much time in the kitchen. If you want a more complicated recipe, check out Emeril's recipe on the food network's website.

Ingredients:

• 5 egg yolks, beaten
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 cup key lime juice
• 1 (9 inch) prepared graham cracker crust

Preparations:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. Combine the egg yolks, sweetened condensed milk and lime juice. Mix well. Pour into unbaked graham cracker shell.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Allow to cool. Top with whipped topping and garnish with lime slices if desired.

Banana Split Cake

This is an easy, fast dessert for when you have company on a week night.

Cake before being frosted.

Ingredients:

• 1 box white cake mix
• water, vegetable oil and eggs (according to directions on the cake mix box)
• 1 cup mashed bananas
• 3/4 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 container of chocolate frosting

Preparations:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom of 13x9 inch pan.
2. Beat cake mix, water, oil, eggs and mashed banana until mixture is well mixed.
3. Add chocolate chips. Pour into pan.
4. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until knife comes clean.

"Peachy Keen" Dessert Treat

Fair warning: our 13-year-old did not like this particular dessert. It wasn't the taste, but rather the texture. It's kind of mushy and tastes a little like bread pudding, I think. It didn't photograph well either so here's a picture and link to California's peaches, plums and etc. website.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 cups uncooked old-fashioned oats
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2/3 cup buttermilk baking mix
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 pounds fresh peaches (8 medium), peeled and sliced

Preparations:

1. Spray crock pot with non-stick cooking spray
2. Combine oats, sugars, baking mix, cinnamon and nutmeg in a bowl.
3. Add peaches. Mix well. 
4. Pour into crock pot. Cook for 4-6 hours on low.
5. Pour into crock pot and cook on low for 4 - 6 hours.

Chocolate Chunk Blondies

Want a brownie and don't have a lot of time? Or want to the distract the kids that are now on summer vacation and bored out of their minds? Here's an easy recipe for you!

Ingredients:

• 1 vanilla cake mix
• 1/2 cup of butter, melted
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup of Semi-sweet chocolate chunks (I used morsels because I was out of chunks)
• 1/3 cup of ready-made chocolate frosting

Preparations:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom of 13x9 inch pan.
2. Combine cake mix, butter, and eggs. Mix well. Add chocolate chunks.
3. Spread evenly in pan.
4. Bake 18 to 22 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Cool for 1 hour.
5. Warm frosting and drizzle over brownies. Let stand 30 minutes.
   

Betty Crocker's Lemon Bars

From time to time, I get coupons for Betty Crocker cookie mixes and if they're on sale, I buy a mix and use it in a recipe (like this one). Honestly, these lemon bars were way better than the ones I made a few weeks ago. The crust tasted better and the bars were fluffier. I forgot however, to take a picture so here's a shot of what they look like on Betty's website.

Check out Betty Crocker's website more great recipes!

Ingredients:

Crust:

1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® sugar cookie mix
1/2 cup butter or margarine (1 stick), softened

Filling:

4 eggs, slightly beaten
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (1 large lemon)

Topping:

2 tablespoons powdered sugar

Preparations:

1. Combine mix and softened butter and until crumbly. Press into ungreased 13x9 inch pan. 
2. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden brown. 
3. Let cool for ten minutes. 
4. Mix eggs, sugar, flour lemon peel, baking powder, and salt. Mix well. Add lemon juice.
5. Pour lemon filling over baked crust.
6. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.
7. Cool for one hour. Sift powdered sugar over the top before cutting.

Better Homes and Garden's Lemon Meringue Pie

When I volunteered to make this for Father's Day, I didn't think it would be so hard. It was hard because at one point the recipe requires you to split your attention between the lemon filling and the meringue. I had the filling mixture turned up too high and it started to burn on the bottom. So whatever you do - keep an eye on the heat! Either that or just buy the darn pie at the store. :) (just kidding)

Ingredients:

Filling

• 1 Baked Pastry Shell
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 tablespoons of flour
• 3 tablespoons of cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons of butter
• 1 to 2 teaspoons finely shredded lemon peel
• 1/3 cup lemon juice
• 1 1/2 cups of water

Meringue

• 3 egg whites
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of Tartar
• 6 tablespoons of sugar

Preparations:

1. Filling: Combine flour, sugar, cornstarch in saucepan over medium heat. Slowly add water. Heat until mixture is thickened and bubbly; reduce heat. Cook and stir for 2 minutes. Remove from heat.
2. Crack eggs, separating the egg yolks from the whites. Set aside whites for meringue.
3. Slightly beat eggs yolks and add to sugar mixture. Bring to gentle boil. (this is where I had problems)
4. Reduce heat; cook and stir 2 minutes more. Remove from heat.
5. Add butter and lemon peel. Stir well. Add lemon juice. Keep filling warm and prepare meringue.
6. Beat egg whites on high with vanilla and cream of tartar. Add sugar. Beat on high until frothy. 
7. Pour filling into baked pie crust. Top with meringue. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.