Raspberry Trifle

This was so berry, berry good.  (Someone has been watching too much Strawberry Shortcake.)
I made this on the 4th of July, right after picking fresh raspberries at West Union Gardens.  Mmmmm.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 cup raspberry jam
4 cups raspberries
2 cups heavy cream (or more)
2 Tbl sugar
1 1/2 pounds favorite pound cake (2 loaf pans is plenty)
      ***I used the sour cream pound cake recipe from Better Homes and Gardens cookbook

In a small saucepan bring 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup water and lemon juice to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar.  Let cool.

In another small bowl, combine jam with 3 cups of the berries, mashing slightly.

In another bowl whip the cream and the 2 Tbl sugar to stiff peaks.

Slice cake into 3/4" slices, brushing both sides with lemon syrup.

Fit 1/3 of the slices in the bottom of a trifle dish, trimming edges if needed.  Gently spread 1/3 of raspberry mixture, and then 1/3 of whipped cream.  Repeat twice, and then add whole raspberries to the top.

Refrigerate up to 24 hours.

Kit Kat Cake

I made this for Easter, but it would be super easy to replicate for any other occasion, switching up the candy type in the top.  It is especially handy to make if you aren't super confident in your frosting skills, as none of the frosting will show up! 

All you do is bake two round cakes.  Stack and frost them.  Line the outside with kit-kats (I think I used 22 sets of 2,) and then fill the middle with candy.  Voila!  

Pumpkin Dump Cake

I made this for Nathanael's birthday proper, since we were having a chocolate cake the next day at his party.  Notice the 34 pecans for his 34th birthday?  :)  The cake is perfect for the fall.  It is so very rich and filling, so small pieces do the trick.

6 eggs
1 1/2 cup sugar
3 cups pumpkin
2 cups evap milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon

1 cake mix or equivilant
1 cup butter - softened
pecans

Mix the top 7 ingredients and pour into a greased 9x13.  Cut butter into the cake mix and sprinkle by spoonfuls onto the pumpkin mixture.  Bake at 350 for 50 minutes.  Sprinkle with pecans and bake another 10 minutes.

Reece's Cake

I made this cake for Father's Day. Mmmmm.

Bake chocolate cake of your choice, in two 9" rounds.

Peanut Butter Frosting: This made a lot, so be generous when spreading. :)
2 cups creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup soft butter
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups powdered sugar
2/3 cup whipping cream

Beat butter, peanut butter, vanilla and salt. Add powdered sugar and blend. Slowly add enough cream to reach spreadable consistency.

Place first layer of cake on the plate. Spread a layer of frosting in the middle. Top with other cake. Frost the tops and the sides. Decorate with miniature Reece's cups, cut in half, along the bottom and the top. Sprinkle center of the cake with chopped Reece's.

Applesauce cake

I came across this recipe some time ago, and it is a keeper. It is, as Zachary likes to say, "Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy!" It is a super moist cake, and when you slice it you get a fun ribbon of cinnamon sugar.

1 box yellow cake mix (Or homemade substitute)

2 cups applesauce

3 eggs

cinnamon sugar

Spray a bundt pan. 

Sprinkle cinnamon sugar all over the edges of the pan. 

Mix together the cake mix, applesauce and eggs.

Put half the batter in the pan.

Sprinkle more cinnamon sugar over the batter, trying to keep away from the edges.

Spread the rest of the batter on top.

Bake at 375 for 40-45 minutes.

Lemon Tea Cake

This had a nice light lemon flavor, and a really light texture.  It would be perfect for a tea party.  Nathanael and I enjoyed it, but the kids weren't fans.  I think if I had called it lemon bread they would have wolfed it down, but the word "cake" threw them off.

2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp grated lemon zest (I got enough from one whole lemon)
1 tsp salt
4 large eggs, seperated
1 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup lemon juice (took me two lemons)

Preheat oven to 375 and grease a bundt pan.

In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, zest and salt.

In the stand mixer, beat the egg whites until stiff.  Beat in the yolks, butter and lemon juice.  Add the dry ingredients and blend just until moistened.

Pour into bundt pan and bake 30 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.  Invert onto a cooling rack.  Dust with powdered sugar.  Add extra where it broke coming out of the pan.  :)

Seth's Strawberry Cake

Seth found a recipe card about 10 months ago for a giant, family sized strawberry shortcake.  He has been asking for it as a birthday cake ever since.  The recipe he found was a white cake mix, cool whip creation, which would have still been tasty, but I wanted to up the ante a bit, and this is what I came up with.  It was good.  Really, really good.  The only change I made between making it and writing it down was to increase the quantity of whipped cream, because I felt like I didn't have enough.  I wish there was more squishing out between the layers.

Cream Cheese Pound Cake
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 cubes unsalted butter - room temp.
8oz cream cheese - room temp
6 eggs - room temp
3 cups superfine sugar (you can take regular sugar and blend it in the food processor 30 seconds)
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350, with rack in the center of the oven.  Butter and flour a bundt pan.

In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Using the stand mixer, beat butter and cream cheese until smooth.  Add the sugar, in three additions, beating well each time.  Continue beating on med/high until light and fluffy (3-5 minutes.)  Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well each time.  Add vanilla and beat until incorporated.  Slowly add the flour mixture and beat until incorporated.

Bake 60-75 minutes, or until cake is golden brown and toothpick comes out clean.  Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool 20 minutes.  Remove from cake pan and cool completely.

Strawberries
1 1/2 quarts of strawberries
1/4 cup sugar

Wash strawberries.  Set aside 8 or so for the top.  Slice the rest and place in a large bowl.  Add sugar.  Mash a bit with a potato masher.  Chill for at least 30 minutes.

Whipped Cream
3 cups whipping cream
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla

Chill your bowl and beater ahead of time.  Beat the whipping cream on high speed until stiff peaks form.  Add powdered sugar and vanilla. Continue beating until mixed.

Assembly
Cut the cake into thirds with a big serrated knife.  Place the bottom layer on a cake plate.  Cover with half the strawberry mixture, and then about 1/3 of the cream.  Repeat with next layer.  Finish with top of cake, and the rest of the whipped cream, and arrange the whole strawberries on the top.

Jello Cake

My kids, especially the boys, love looking through cookbooks. They almost always choose one from the library to bring home each week. This past week Zachary was especially excited about the cakes, and asked if we could make one for Beatrix's birthday, since her birthday is the next one up. (At least on the kid calendar.) I told him we could pick her cake in November, but that we could make something in the meantime. So we made a Jello cake Friday. Or sometimes they are also called "poke cakes." And since it was the weekend of the 4th, the kids asked me to decorate it with fireworks. That sounded easy enough, but they turned out pretty funny looking. Thus, no picture of the entire (ugly) cake, but just one piece to at least show the fun colors. The recipe actually calls just for cool whip on the top, but I didn't have any, so this was a cream cheese frosting. Mmmm. It is a super simple cake, but does take most the day with all the waiting periods, so be sure to give yourself plenty of time.

Jello Cake

Bake a white cake in a 9x13 and cool completely.

Poke the cake with a fork lots and lots and lots.

Combine any flavor Jello (4oz box) with 1 cup boiling water, until dissolved. Then add 1/2 cup cold water. Slowly pour over the cake. Refrigerate at least 2 hours.

Frost with whatever sounds good. Cool whip is nice and light, cream cheese frosting makes a nice compliment to the berry flavor.

Give Me S'Mores cake

I made this awesome cake for Trent's 1st birthday. It definitely took more work than a box cake BUT, wasn't that hard. And, it really tastes like a S'Mores! Cake:
1/2 cup shortening
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2-3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
3 tsp. baking powder
1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk

Marshmellow Frosting:
4 egg whites
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups miniature semisweet choc. chips, divided

Line two 9-inch round baking pans with waxed paper and grease the paper; set aside. In a large bowl, cream the shortening, butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Combine cracker crumbs and baking powder; add to the creamed mixture alternately with milk, beating well after each addition.

Transfer to prepared pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 18-22 minutes or, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool (note: I let mine cool longer.. until the cake came away from the wax paper easily)

In a large saucepan, combine the egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar over low heat. With a hand mixer, beat on low speed for 1 minute. Continue beating on low over low heat until frosting reaches 160 degrees, about 8-10 minutes. Pour into a large bowl; add vanilla. Beat on high until stiff form peaks, about 7 minutes.

Place a cake layer on a serving plate; spread with 2/3 cup frosting and sprinkle with half of chips. Top with remaining cake layer. Frost top and sides of cake; sprinkle with remaining chips.