Rolos Cake

This cake came about as the result of a snow day. There is just something about snowy days that make me want to bake. I needed something quick and easy, so I turned to a boxed cake mix and canned frosting that I could jazz up. Rather than make a regular old layer cake, I mixed up my chocolate cake mix with some chocolate chips and poured half of the batter into a bundt pan. I then sprinkled on a layer of chopped Rolos and then poured in the rest of the batter. After baking, cooling and removing from the pan I melted some chocolate frosting and drizzled it over the top of the cake. The result? YUM! Chocolate, caramel, gooey fudgy frosting - perfect for hibernating indoors as the snow fall. Hopefully though, the next thing I make will be spring inspired, as I'm hoping we are through with snow for the season! Even though they result in delicious desserts like this one, I've had enough of winter storms.

Rolos Cake

1 box chocolate cake mix + ingredients to make cake
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 rolls Rolos candy, chopped
1/2 can chocolate frosting, melted

Preheat oven to 350. Grease bundt pan and set aside. Prepare cake according to package directions and stir in chocolate chips. Pour half of batter into prepared bundt pan. Sprinkle chopped Rolos over batter, then top with remaining batter. Bake 45 minutes or according to package direction for pan size. Cool completely before removing from pan. Drizzle with melted frosting.

Incredible Bundt Cake

Sometime over the course of the last year or so I acquired a cookbook called 101 Things to Do With a Cake Mix. I pulled it out yesterday as I had just been to the grocery store and cake mixes were on sale (gotta love 10 for $10 items!). I decided to whip something up for the NICU nurses. I make brownies and cookies a lot, so I decided to go with a cake. I originally chose a chocolatey cake, but then I remembered something.

Last week I was telling Lily's primary nurse Julia about my plan to bring in cupcakes for the babies 2 month birthday and Julia informed me that "Lily" was not a fan of chocolate cake and preferred vanilla. As not to disappoint "Lily," I ditched the chocolate cake and went with this one instead. The problem with making a cake to give away is that you can't taste it beforehand. However, if the aroma it made while baking is any indication, this cake is awesome! I got many compliments on it from the nurses today, so I think it's a winner! While typing this recipe I realized that I forgot to divide the chips and nuts and instead put them all in one layer. I'm not sure if it made much of a difference, but next time I'll try to pay attention to the directions!

Incredible Bundt Cake

1 yellow cake mix
1 small box vanilla pudding
1 cup sour cream
3 large eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup applesauce
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, divided
1 cup chopped pecans, divided

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using and electric mixer, blend the cake mix, pudding, sour cream, eggs, oil and applesauce 5-6 minutes. Grease and flour a bundt or tube pan. Pour 1/3 of the batter into pan and sprinkle one half of chocolate chips and nuts over it. Pour in remaining batter and top with remaining chips and nuts. Bake 50 to 55 minutes. Cool about 5 minutes, then turn out onto a serving plate; cool completely.

Birthday Banana Cake

It's become a tradition for me to make my dad's birthday cake each year. Last year's German chocolate cake didn't go as smoothly as I would have liked, so I was relieved this year when he asked for something relatively simple - a banana cake. My mom requested that the cake also contain chocolate, so I hit my Google Reader in search of the perfect recipe. I found this one on Cate's blog and it looked perfect - simple and delicious.

This cake was very easy to make. My only issue came with the frosting. It was delicious (I mean, it starts with melted chocolate, how could it be bad?) but I found that it wasn't very spreadable. I got it on the cake, but it wound up getting kind of dry and sort of falling off the cake when it was cut. It did taste great though, so no one minded. Everyone enjoyed this cake - served with a scoop of fudge ripple ice cream it was the perfect birthday treat!


Banana Cake with Milk Chocolate Frosting

Cake:
1/2 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3 ripe bananas
4 tbsp yogurt or sour cream
2 large eggs
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 cups flour
1 cup milk chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Grease a 13 x 9 baking dish.
Combine the butter, sugar and vanilla in a stand mixer and mix well.
Mash bananas and add to butter mixture.
Stir in yogurt and eggs, mixing well.
Whisk together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then add to the batter, stirring until blended.
Fold in chocolate chips.
Bake for about 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Set pan on a wire rack to cool.

Frosting:
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1/4 cup butter
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp milk
Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave or the top of a double boiler and cool slightly.
Place butter and chocolate in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat for 2 minutes on medium-high speed.
Add powdered sugar and continue mixing.
Add the milk about 1/2 tsp at a time until the frosting is a spreadable consistency.

Happy Birthday Anne! (and piggy cookies!)

My mother-in-law's birthday is today, and what's a birthday without a cake? I asked her what type she'd like and she just said "something chocolate." Easy enough! I had a bunch of leftover Halloween candy still in my pantry so I decided to utilize that as well. Peanut butter cups...mmmm. To avoid chocolate overload (as if there was such a thing - ha!) I decided to fill the cake layers with our favorite peanut butter frosting. Seriously, this stuff is beyond amazing! I made the cake from a box (I've had some bad luck with cakes from scratch) and stuffed the layers with the peanut butter frosting and chopped up peanut butter cups.

I spread some triple chocolate frosting (courtesy of Betty Crocker) on the top and added more peanut butter cups. The result? Rich, peanut buttery and delicious!

Happy birthday, Anne!

On another note, Joe came home from school yesterday with some cookies that some of his students had made in their home ec class. Aren't they the cutest things?!?

Marble-ous Peanut Butter Dessert

This dessert is frozen chocolate peanut butter perfection! My mother-in-law called this past Saturday to invite Joe and I over for dinner on Sunday and I offered to bring a dessert. I had plans during the day on Sunday, so I was going to need to make whatever it was I decided to make on Saturday. I didn't want to have to go to the store, so I perused my cookbooks to find a dessert that I already had all the ingredients for. It didn't take me long to select this one, from the Best of Pillsbury Bake-Off Desserts cookbook. I'd actually been eyeing this recipe for awhile and I had everything on hand, plus it sounded light and refreshing, which would be a good compliment to the gnocchi my mother-in-law was serving for our meal.

This dessert is super simple to put together. I made only a few changes. I used fat free cool whip in place of the whipping cream and since I was feeling lazy and didn't want to bother melting chocolate I swirled in a few tablespoons of hot fudge sauce.

This was a big hit! Everyone loved it. It's the perfect mix of creamy and crunchy, with just the right amount of peanut butter and hints of chocolate. I think I'll make sure to always have the ingredients on hand for this one!

Marble-ous Peanut Butter Dessert

1/2 c. firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 c. peanut butter
1/4 c. butter, softened
1 c. flour
1 c. (6 oz. pkg.) chocolate chips

FILLING:
1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. peanut butter
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1 c. (1/2 pt.) whipping cream, whipped & sweetened

In small mixer bowl, cream brown sugar, peanut butter and butter until light and fluffy. Add flour; blend until crumbly. Sprinkle into ungreased 13 x 9 inch baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes until golden brown. Set aside half of crumb mixture (about 1 cup) for topping. Lightly press remaining crumb mixture over bottom of pan.Prepare filling. Pour over crumb mixture in pan. Melt chocolate chips; drizzle over filling. Gently cut through to marble.

Sprinkle with reserved crumbs; press in slightly. Freeze at least 2 hours or until serving. Remove from freezer 1 minutes before serving.Filling: In small mixture bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar, peanut butter and vanilla; beat at medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. By hand, fold in whipping cream.

Pumpkin Dark Chocolate Bundt Cake

I know this is the season for peppermint and gingerbread, but I still have pumpkin in my pantry! So when we were invited to a potluck Christmas party I decided to put that pumpkin to good use and make this bundt cake from Cate's blog. The cake was super easy to put together. The only change I made was to stir in a bunch of dark chocolate chips to make it a little more decadent. The cake smelled awesome in the oven and looked beautiful, which was a relief after my last experience with making a bundt cake. But I buttered and floured my cake pan really well this time so there were no issues. I wish I had put my glaze on a little thicker - and I wish I hadn't been lazy and skipped sifting my powdered sugar. I ended up with clumps that I needed to smooth out with a pastry brush. Sift, people, sift! My only other regret is that I didn't get to taste my creation! We left the party I brought this to before dessert was served. But it couldn't' be bad - just look at it!

Pumpkin Dark Chocolate Bundt Cake

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened, plus additional for greasing bundt pan
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour plus additional for dusting pan
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground allspice (I used pumpkin pie spice because I thought I didn't have allspice - I naturally found the allspice immediately AFTER I used pumpkin pie spice)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups canned solid-pack pumpkin (from a 15-oz can; not pie filling)
3/4 cup well-shaken buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
2 cups dark chocoalte chips

For glaze:
2 T butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1-3 T cream or milk

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour bundt pan. Combine together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, and salt in a bowl. Whisk together pumpkin, buttermilk and vanilla in another bowl.Beat butter and granulated sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes, then add eggs and beat 1 minute. Reduce speed to low and add flour and pumpkin mixtures alternately in batches, beginning and ending with flour mixture and mixing until batter is just smooth. Stir in chocoalte chips. Spoon batter into pan. Shake a few times to be sure to remove any bumps then bake until a wooden pick or skewer inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool cake in pan on a rack 15 minutes, then invert rack over cake and reinvert cake onto rack. Cool 10 minutes more.To make glaze, heat butter until melted. Stir in sifted powdered sugar. Mix in cream or milk 1 Tablespoon at a time until desired consistency. Drizzle over cake while it is on a wire rack so excess falls through.

Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle

I spend a lot of time on the What's Cooking message board on The Nest. And on this board I've met a lot of great women and made some great friends. Five of us are from central NJ so we decided to get together for a potluck lunch and spend some time together in person. Everyone made a dish and we gathered at my house to eat, drink and be merry. Colleen brought the pizza pockets appetizer (and a delicious loaf of pumpkin chocolate chip bread as a hostess gift for me - thanks, Colleen!), Jenn brought the entree of chicken marsala, Lauren brought a marsala orzo and Sarah delivered a broccoli casserole. Everything was so good! My contribution to the meal was hot apple toddies and dessert. I tossed around many dessert ideas before settling on this pumpkin gingerbread trifle that I found on Melissa's blog. I liked that it had seasonal flavors and could be made the night before. Plus it looked delicious!

I put this dessert together Friday night, and it attracted a lot of attention from the get-go from Joe and my brother-in-law John. They were fascinated seeing it come together, but then ultimately disappointed when I told them they couldn't dig in. (Well, and John was fascinated by my trifle bowl, because when he first walked in the house he thought it was a giant wine glass and got excited.) Not only is this trifle easy to put together, it makes a really pretty presentation. Oh - and it tastes awesome! I followed the directions fairly closely, except I used fat free pudding and fat free Cool Whip. I also omitted the brown sugar. I realized once I started making the dessert that I was out of brown sugar, but after tasting the pudding/pumpkin mixture I realized you would never miss it! It's definitely sweet enough without it.

I really, really liked this! The flavors are perfect together and I love the cool and creamy texture of the pudding and Cool Whip. I had a helping of this after lunch, then another (slightly larger) helping after dinner tonight. This dessert is a winner - and it makes a TON so it's perfect to bring to a party or potluck. Or a nice afternoon with friends - thanks, ladies! Let's do it again soon!

Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle

2 (14-ounce) packages gingerbread mix
1 (5.1-ounce) box cook-and-serve vanilla pudding mix (I used instant)
1 (30-ounce) can pumpkin pie filling
1/2 cup packed brown sugar (I omitted)
1/3 teaspoon ground cardamom or cinnamon
1 (12-ounce) container frozen whipped topping
1/2 cup gingersnaps, optional (I used pecans)

Bake the gingerbread according to the package directions; cool completely. Meanwhile, prepare the pudding and set aside to cool. Stir the pumpkin pie filling, sugar, and cardamom into the pudding. Crumble 1 batch of gingerbread into the bottom of a large, pretty bowl. Pour 1/2 of the pudding mixture over the gingerbread, then add a layer of whipped topping. Repeat with the remaining gingerbread, pudding, and whipped topping. Sprinkle of the top with crushed gingersnaps, if desired. Refrigerate overnight. Trifle can be layered in a punch bowl.

Country Apple Cake with Caramel Sauce

To go with my hearty Sunday dinner I wanted a delicious, seasonal dessert. I pulled a recipe for Caramel Apple Layer cake from my recipe binder, where I'd been saving it for some time, and got prepared to bake. Then I thoroughly read the recipe and saw it called for more that FOUR sticks of butter. I simply could not bring myself to prepare something quite so fattening so I shoved the recipe back into the binder and grabbed my Best of the Pillsbury Bake-Off Desserts cookbook to try to find something similar.

I almost immediately found this recipe for Country Apple Cake with Caramel Sauce. It captured the same flavors as the Rachael Ray cake, but was practically diet food in comparison. The only change I made to this recipe was the flavor of quick bread mix I used. I have never seen nut quick bread in my NJ grocery stores (maybe it's a regional thing) so I choose cranberry instead to keep with the fall flavors and just added some additional walnuts.

This cake was super easy to assemble and smelled delicious in the oven. I let it cool while we ate dinner, and once the dishes were done I whipped up the decadent caramel sauce to drizzle hot over the cake. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream and - YUM! The cake itself is great - not overly sweet, moist and full of tender apple chunks. The cranberry turned out to be a great accompaniment too. The "naked" cake could probably be eaten for breakfast (and probably will be!). In fact, I had a "naked" slice later that night while watching True Blood (What? We ate early!) But don't skip the caramel sauce when you serve this for dessert! It's thick and rich, just like caramel should be and really adds something. Everyone loved this and I will definitely make it again. Who needs four sticks of butter anyway?

Country Apple Cake with Caramel Sauce

CAKE
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2large eggs
1 (15.4 oz.) package cranberry quick bread mix
3c ups apple pie filling
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup chopped walnuts


SAUCE AND TOPPING
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 qt. vanilla ice cream (optional -but highly recommended!)

Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 13 x 9-inch pan with no-stick cooking spray. Combine oil and eggs in large bowl; beat well. Add quick bread mix, apple pie filling, cinnamon and nutmeg; stir 50 to 75 strokes with spoon until mix is moistened. Stir in 1/2 cup chopped walnuts. Spoon into prepared pan; spread evenly.

Bake 43 to 50 minutes or until cake is deep golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 30 minutes while making sauce.

Combine sugar, brown sugar, butter and whipping cream in medium saucepan; mix well. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla.

Cut warm cake into squares; place on individual dessert plates. Top each serving with warm sauce and ice cream, if desired.

Blake Bakes: Pineapple Pudding Cake

Check out my new post on Blake Bakes! This Pineapple Pudding Cake is delicious and perfect for Indian Summer!

New Blake Bakes Post!

Check it out - Banana-Honey Cake!

Accepting my limitations

The more I bake, the more I come to learn my strengths and weaknesses. I make fantastic brownies and muffins. My cookies are usually delicious. And I have a few serious kick-ass cupcake recipes. However, making cakes from scratch is apparently not my thing. The first cake from scratch I ever attempted turned into quite the ordeal. Then there was the German chocolate cake debacle, and most recently the Mother's Day mess. From these experiences I've determined that from now on the majority of my cakes shall come from a box. I never seem to have a problem with those. The icing, however, I'll make from scratch. I seem to be pretty talented at beating together butter and sugar ;) I made this cake for a Father's Day celebration at my parent's house. I used a boxed carrot cake mix and added in golden raisins and walnuts. For the frosting, I utilized this recipe from All Recipes. I love cream cheese frosting (just ask my uncle, who makes carrot cake every Easter and often hands me an extra sidecar cup of frosting with my slice) and this one is tasty. It's not as sweet as some other cream cheese frostings but it's a nice compliment to the rich cake. And it went off without a hitch!

Cream Cheese Frosting

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar. Store in the refrigerator after use.

Coconut Cake - Happy Birthday Nana!

To celebrate my grandmother's birthday, I offered to make a cake to present to her at my mom's Memorial Day cookout. I asked Nana what kind of cake she would like and she told me either lemon or coconut. Being that I personally do not like lemon, I went with coconut ;) The obvious choice for a cake proved to be Ina Garten's Coconut Cake, as it was recommended to me by just about everyone on the What's Cooking message board. Upon reviewing the recipe, I decided it had to be a good cake. After all, how can anything that contains 5 sticks of butter, a pound of cream cheese and a pound of powdered sugar be bad? I even went ahead and made it more decadent by putting chocolate chips in the cake. Overall, this was a tasty cake! The frosting is unbelievably tasty. The cake was good, but I think I may have left it in the oven a few minutes too long as it ended up being on the dry side. Or perhaps it was because I used large eggs and Ina calls for extra large. Regardless, it was still delicious, and everyone enjoyed it - especially Nana!

Coconut Cake

3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for greasing the pans

2 cups sugar

5 extra-large eggs, at room temperature

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 teaspoons pure almond extract

3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the pans

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup milk

4 ounces sweetened shredded coconut

For the frosting:

1 pound cream cheese at room temperature

1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon pure almond extract

1 pound confectioners' sugar, sifted

6 ounces sweetened shredded coconut

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 2 (9-inch) round cake pans, then line them parchment paper. Grease them again and dust lightly with flour.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium-high speed for 3 to 5 minutes, until light yellow and fluffy. Crack the eggs into a small bowl. With the mixer on medium speed, add the eggs 1 at a time, scraping down the bowl once during mixing. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and mix well. The mixture might look curdled; don't be concerned.
In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the dry ingredients and the milk to the batter in 3 parts, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Mix until just combined. Fold in the 4 ounces of coconut with a rubber spatula.
Pour the batter evenly into the 2 pans and smooth the top with a knife. Bake in the center of the oven for 45 to 55 minutes, until the tops are browned and a cake tester comes out clean. Cool on a baking rack for 30 minutes, then turn the cakes out onto a baking rack to finish cooling.
For the frosting, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the cream cheese, butter, vanilla and almond extract on low speed. Add the confectioners' sugar and mix until just smooth (don't whip!).
To assemble, place 1 layer on a flat serving plate, top side down, and spread with frosting. Place the second layer on top, top side up, and frost the top and sides. To decorate the cake, sprinkle the top with coconut and lightly press more coconut onto the sides. Serve at room temperature.

Banana Split "Cake"

Usually, I am a firm believer that if a dessert does not contain chocolate it's just not worth eating. This "cake" however, proved to the exception to my rule. It is so freaking good. Trust me, I had three servings and had to stop myself from going back for a fourth. I'm actually trying to talk myself out of eating it for breakfast right now, if we're being honest. A graham cracker crust is layered with sweetened cream cheese, crushed pineapple, banana slices, vanilla pudding and whipped topping then covered in nuts. It's cool and sweet and perfect for a summer barbecue. I brought it to a cookout hosted by a friend of Joe's from poetry class (hi, Wilbur, thanks for having us!) and everyone enjoyed it. I'm thinking I'll make it next weekend for another cookout - it's a winner! The recipe is from the summer issue of the Kraft Food & Family magazine.

Banana Split Cake

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 cup sugar, divided
1/3 cup butter, melted
2 pkg. (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened
1 can (20 oz.) crushed pineapple, drained
6 medium bananas, divided (I only used four - I didn't put any on top)
2 cups cold milk
2 pkg. (4-serving size each) JELL-O Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding & Pie Filling (I used French Vanilla)
2 cups thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, divided
1 cup pecans, chopped

MIX crumbs, 1/4 cup of the sugar and the butter; press firmly onto bottom of 13x9-inch pan. Freeze 10 min.
BEAT cream cheese and remaining 3/4 cup sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Spread carefully over crust; top with pineapple. Slice 4 of the bananas; arrange over pineapple.

POUR milk into medium bowl. Add dry pudding mixes. Beat with wire whisk 2 min. or until well blended. Gently stir in 1 cup of the whipped topping; spread over banana layer in pan. Top with remaining 1 cup whipped topping; sprinkle with pecans. Refrigerate 5 hours. Slice remaining 2 bananas just before serving; arrange over dessert. Store any leftover dessert in refrigerator.

Bahama Mama Banana Rum Cake

When I saw that Blake and Bridget at Blake Makes were giving away Amano artisan chocolate, I knew I needed to snag some - not for myself, but to share with my mom and Nana, who adore dark chocolate. I was lucky enough to win three bars (thanks, Blake and Bridget!) and they arrived a few days before Mother's Day. I already decided that for our Mother's Day dessert I was going to make the Bahama Mama Banana Rum Cake from Jill O'Connor's Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey cookbook and realized that some delicious dark chocolate would be a wonderful addition to the cake. So I put aside two bars, one for Nana and one for my mom, and chopped up the third to add to my cake.

This cake was delicious! It was dense and moist with a rich banana flavor and the sweet, rum-infused glaze is the perfect compliment to the crunchy pecans on top. And the dark chocolate was the perfect addition. The only problem I had was getting the cake out of the pan. When I inverted it onto my serving platter only half the cake came out. I ended up shaking the other half out and sort of smooshing it back together with the first. A bit of the topping ended up lost so it wasn't a pretty cake, but I served it anyway. After all, moms and grandmothers love you even when you make mistakes, and both my mom and Nana adored the cake - and their Amano chocolate.

Happy Mother's Day!

Bahama Mama Banana Rum Cake

For the Dark Rum Glaze:
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
¼ cup water
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup dark rum

For the Cake:
1 ½ cups chopped pecans, toasted
1 ½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
5 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup mashed very ripe bananas (about 3 medium bananas)
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 tablespoons dark rum
3 cups bleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
¼ cup sour cream

To make the glaze: Combine the butter, water, and sugars in a saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Immediately reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for five minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the rum. Set aside and keep warm.

To make the cake: Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350. Spray a 10-cup tube pan with non-stick spray. Sprinkle the pecans in the bottom of the pan. Set aside.

In a large bowl with an electric mixer set on medium speed, beat together the butter and sugars until the mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Beat in the mashed bananas, vanilla and rum. Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt over the batter and fold in using a rubber spatula, just until no streaks of flour remain. Fold in the sour cream. Spoon the batter over the nuts in the pan and spread to the edge of the pan using the back of a rubber spatula.

Bake until a wooden skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out with no more than a few moist crumbs clinging to it, 60 to 80 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and cool for 5 minutes. Use a wooden skewer to poke holes all over the cake and pour ¼ cup of the warm glaze over the cake. Let the cake cool 5 more minutes. Place a serving platter over the pan and invert to release the cake onto the platter. Spoon the remaining glaze over the cake, a little at a time, until the glaze is completely absorbed into the cake.

Let the cake cool completely before cutting into wedges and serving. This cake will last two to three days if covered well.

Old-Fashioned Oatmeal Honey Apple Cake

This weekend I got the urge to bake something, after realizing that it had been weeks since I'd made any kind of sweet treats. I asked Joe what he would like me to make and he replied, "We haven't had good cupcakes in awhile." Naturally, being the wonderful wife I am, I responded "No, I don't want to make cupcakes - they take too long" and made something else instead. Sorry, babe... I did, at least, try to choose a recipe that I thought Joe would enjoy. I had marked this recipe from the April issue of Cooking Light and decided to give it a whirl. It's different from the usual gooey, chocolatey, peanut buttery recipes I usually gravitate to and just seemed like a good choice. And it was! This turned out to be a tender and moist cake with the tang of apples. The icing was sweet and sticky, almost like a hardened caramel. I'm happy to say that Joe really liked it, so I don't feel quite so bad about not making his cupcakes. You could easily make this a breakfast bread by leaving off the frosting - I may do that next time to make it more acceptable to eat the leftovers before noon ;)

Old-Fashioned Oatmeal Honey Apple Cake

Cake:

1 cup quick-cooking oats

1 cup hot water

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (about 6 3/4 ounces)

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/3 cups packed light brown sugar

3/4 cup chunky applesauce

1/3 cup honey

2 large eggs

Cooking spray

Frosting:

1/4 cup butter

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup honey

1/2 cup coarsely chopped almonds, toasted

Remaining ingredients:

1 cup frozen fat-free whipped topping, thawed

Ground cinnamon (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°.
To prepare cake, combine oats and 1 cup hot water in a small bowl; set aside.
Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Combine 1 1/3 cups sugar, applesauce, 1/3 cup honey, and eggs in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed 1 minute. Add oat mixture; beat at low speed until well blended. Add half of flour mixture to sugar mixture; beat well. Add remaining flour mixture; beat well. Spoon batter into an 11 x 7–inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 48 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Place dish on a wire rack.

To prepare frosting, melt butter in a small heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add 1/3 cup sugar and 1/4 cup honey; cook 2 minutes or until bubbly, stirring constantly. Stir in almonds. Quickly pour frosting over cake; spread evenly using a rubber spatula.
Preheat broiler.
Broil cake 1 minute or until frosting is bubbly and golden. Cool completely on a wire rack. Serve with whipped topping; sprinkle with ground cinnamon, if desired.

Yield
16 servings (serving size: 1 cake piece and 1 tablespoon topping)

Nutritional Information
CALORIES 255(19% from fat); FAT 5.4g (sat 2.1g,mono 1.7g,poly 0.5g); PROTEIN 3.4g; CHOLESTEROL 34mg; CALCIUM 40mg; SODIUM 193mg; FIBER 1.5g; IRON 1.8mg; CARBOHYDRATE 48.9g

Pineapple Cake

As soon as I saw this recipe for pineapple cake on Anna's blog, I knew it was the dessert that I wanted to bring to my aunt's house for Easter. In order to make it a little fancier I chose to do a two-layer cake and put the pineapple mixture between the layers and on top of the cake. This was a tasty cake! I used a butter recipe yellow cake mix and the result was a nice, dense, pound cake-like cake. The pineapple filling is quite sweet but it goes nicely with the cake. This was the perfect compliment to our yummy ham dinner.

Pineapple Cake

1 box butter recipe yellow cake mix
1 (20 oz) can crushed pineapple
4 ounces butter (1 stick) – regular salted type
5 oz can evaporated milk
1 ½ cups sugar
3 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray two 9-inch round cake pans with cooking spray.
Drain crushed pineapple and reserve juice.
Prepare cake as directed on box, substituting the reserved pineapple juice for half of the water.
Set a large (3 quart) saucepan over medium heat and add butter. When butter is about halfway melted, add evaporated milk and sugar. Continue cooking over medium heat, whisking often, until butter is completely melted mixture is hot and just beginning to simmer around the edges. Add egg yolks and continue cooking over medium, whisking constantly, until mixture boils and thickens. Cook and whisk for a little over a minute, then remove from heat and let cool for about 5 minutes. Add vanilla extract and drained pineapple. Leave pineapple mixture at room temperature (still in pan) while cake continues to bake and cools.
When cake is cool, pour room-temperature pineapple mixture over cake. Place in refrigerator and chill until pineapple topping sets.

Piece of cake? Not exactly.

My dad's birthday was this past Sunday and he requested a German chocolate cake, which my mom asked me to bake. I was excited to do it, since I rarely make cakes or frosting from scratch. Based on recommendations from the What's for Dinner board on the Nest I used the Baker's recipe for both the cake and the frosting. Things with the cake started off rocky. What a pain in the a@@ that cake was! Separating eggs, melting chocolate, whipping egg whites, folding ingredients. It honestly took me close to an hour to prep my baking pans and mix up the batter for the cake. The cakes went into the oven just fine though, and after 30 minutes they were brown and crisp on the edges and tested done in the center. When I tried to remove them from the pans, however, each layer fell completely apart. They did not seem to be cooked all the way through, although they had seemed to be done... After a mini temper tantrum on my part (which may or may not have included me cursing and hurling broken chunks of cake into the sink) I ended up making the cake with a box mix the next morning. I did, however, proceed with the coconut-pecan frosting, and that turned out wonderfully! And the cake looked beautiful, homemade or not. I'm posting only the recipe for the frosting, because that cake recipe can go to hell. Happy birthday, Dad!

Coconut-Pecan Filling and Frosting

4 egg yolks
1 can (12 oz.) evaporated milk
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla
1-1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter or margarine
1 pkg. (7 oz.) BAKER'S ANGEL FLAKE Coconut (about 2-2/3 cups)
1-1/2 cups PLANTERS Chopped Pecans

BEAT egg yolks, milk and vanilla in large saucepan with wire whisk until well blended. Add sugar and butter; cook on medium heat 12 min. or until thickened and golden brown, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.
ADD coconut and pecans; mix well. Cool to room temperature and of desired spreading consistency.
USE to frost your favorite cake or cupcake recipe.

Oreo Goodness

I'm a little late in posting this recipe, but the cake is worth waiting for! Our friends Lauren and Pat invited us to their house for dinner two weeks ago and I offered to bring dessert. I had seen this cake in an issue of Kraft Food and Family magazine and thought it would be a good addition to Lauren's delicious dinner of baked tortellini. The cake is super easy to make and quite yummy! It actually wasn't as sweet as I anticipated, which wasn't a bad thing, and it was nice and chocoaltey. I made quite a mess pouring the melted chocolate over the top - patience is key here to keep it from running all over, and anyone who knows me knows that patience is not really my thing. But aside from rivers of chocolate on my kitchen counter and floor, this cake was a winner!

Chocolate Covered Oreo Cookie Cake

1 pkg. (2-layer size) devil's food chocolate cake mix
4 squares BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, cut up
1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping
12 OREO Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, coarsely crushed

PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Prepare and bake cake mix as directed on package in two 9-inch round baking pans. Cool 5 min.; remove from pans. Cool completely on wire racks.
MICROWAVE chocolate and butter in small microwaveable bowl on HIGH 2 min. or until butter is melted. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Cool 5 min.
BEAT cream cheese and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Gently stir in whipped topping and crushed cookies. Place one cake layer, top-side down, on serving plate. Spread top of layer evenly with cream cheese mixture. Cover with remaining cake layer, top-side up. Spoon chocolate glaze over top of cake. Let stand until set. Store in refrigerator.

To a sweet new year

This dessert is so easy that's almost embarrasing to accept any praise for it. But you will recieve lots of praise after people taste it, so I say to just enjoy! About a year ago Joe and I had dinner with our friends Lauren and Pat and Lauren served this brownie ice cream cake for dessert. Joe just about died from pleasure while eating it - it is so good! And once Lauren told me how simple it is, I started making it myself. Joe requested it for New Year's Eve and I happily obliged.

There's not real recipe - all you need is a gallon of your favorite ice cream and a batch of your favorite brownies. I always use a boxed mix for the brownies and Joe usually prefers neopolitan ice cream, but for New Year's Eve I used Turkey Hill Party Cake ice cream - vanilla ice cream with pieces of colored cake and buttercream frosting swirls in it. Festive! To assemble the cake, soften the ice cream a bit, then spread half the container in the bottom of a pan (I use a bundt pan). Crumble the brownies into bite-size pieces and layer half on top of the ice cream. Spread the remaining ice cream on top of the brownie layer in the pan and then crumble on the rest of the brownies. Freeze until the ice cream hardens.

We bought some Hershey's Magic Shell to drizzle (or, in Joe's case, glug) over our slices. Mmmmm - the perfect way to ring in the new year!

Ice Cream for Christmas

I knew as soon as I saw this ice cream cake in the December 2007 issue of Cooking Light that I had to make it. I love the cakes that come from Cold Stone Creamery and Baskin Robbins that combine regular cake with a layer of ice cream so I couldn't resist trying to make one at home. I figured it would be the perfect dessert to bring to Joe's aunt's house for Christmas Eve. The only issue I ran into was that I could not locate any peppermint ice cream at the grocery store, so I wound up using mint chocolate chip. I also cheated and instead of using the chocolate cake in the recipe (below), I used a boxed mix and a can of Diet Pepsi to make this even lower in calories and fat. The cakes didn't rise as much as I felt they should but that actually worked out well in producing and even layer cake. I may try the from-scratch cake next time, but this was great as it was and everyone gobbled it up after Christmas Eve dinner. I'm anxious to try it again with different flavor combinations.

Peppermint Ice Cream Cake

Ingredients
Cooking spray
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
3/4 cup boiling water
6 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup egg substitute
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (about 6 3/4 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
(I used a box mix cake)

3 cups low-fat peppermint ice cream (such as Edy's/Dreyer's Slow-Churned Light), softened (I used mint chocolate chip)
3 cups frozen fat-free whipped topping, thawed
1/8 teaspoon peppermint extract
8 peppermint candies, crushed

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.
Coat 2 (8-inch) round cake pans with cooking spray. Line bottom of each pan with wax paper.
Combine cocoa, water, and butter, stirring with a whisk until blended. Cool.
Combine sugars in a large bowl, stirring well until blended. Add egg substitute; beat 2 minutes or until light and creamy. Add cocoa mixture, and beat for 1 minute.
Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add flour mixture to bowl; beat for 1 minute or until blended. Stir in vanilla. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake at 350° for 28 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes on a wire rack. Remove from pans. Wrap in plastic wrap, and freeze for 2 hours or until slightly frozen.
Spread ice cream in an 8-inch round cake pan lined with plastic wrap. Cover and freeze 4 hours or until firm.
To assemble cake, place one cake layer, bottom side up, on a cake pedestal. Remove ice cream layer from freezer; remove plastic wrap. Place ice cream layer, bottom side up, on top of cake layer. Top with remaining cake layer.
Combine whipped topping and peppermint extract, and stir until blended. Spread frosting over top and sides of cake. Sprinkle with crushed peppermints. Freeze until ready to serve. Let cake stand at room temperature 10 minutes before slicing.

Yield
16 servings (serving size: 1 slice)

Nutritional Information
CALORIES 251(24% from fat); FAT 6.8g (sat 3.3g,mono 2.1g,poly 0.4g); PROTEIN 4.3g; CHOLESTEROL 19mg; CALCIUM 63mg; SODIUM 207mg; FIBER 1.7g; IRON 1.6mg; CARBOHYDRATE 44.4g