Category Archives: Cakes

keepcalmbakeonblue

My Favorite Holiday Treats & Our Crazy Week!

Be prepared… I’m going to get all sappy and dramatic for a minute before we talk baked goods. It’s been a whirlwind of a week and I am mentally drained. As I’m typing this, the Boy is in the other room doing Face-time with his cousin and laughing hysterically. It’s truly the best sound in the world. On Tuesday, the feverish boy wasn’t getting any better, so Matt and I brought him in expecting to be sent home with antibiotics. We shared with the doctor that the Boy has been throwing up in the middle of the night quite a bit over the past six weeks (and yes, I realize there is something completely wrong writing about vomiting on a food blog).

The doctor was concerned and scheduled the Boy to have an MRI of his brain on Wednesday… scariest few hours of our lives. We got through it together, and thankfully found out that that the scan was clear. The Boy is on day 8 of a fever and we’re still trying to get to the bottom of it (hoping it’s just the virus from hell!). Talk about putting your life into perspective in a matter of seconds. When it comes right down to it, the only thing that really matters are the special people in my life. Not only have I been blessed with an awesome family that keeps me grounded, but also a core group of friends who are there through life’s unpredictable twists and turns. What I hope the boy takes away from this is knowing that his dad and I will always be here for him. The bond that the three of us share is one of the greatest blessings in my life.

Okay… Now, on a much, much lighter note (I promise!), here are some of my favorite holidays recipes. Hope you’re baking up something sweet t!his weekend!


 

Peppermint Whoopie Pies

Snowflake Cookies

White Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes

Snowman Brownie Pops

Cranberry Bliss Bars

Peppermint Brownies

Chocolate Covered Oreos

 


Peanut Butter Chocolate Bark With a Secret Ingredient

Rice Krispie Cupcake Treats

Wishing you a weekend full of happiness!



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cinnamon roll cake

Cinnamon Roll Cake… All That Ooey Gooey Goodness in Cake Form

 

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving week! I am almost finished with day three of my detox from carbs and wine, and let me tell you how much it pains me to even look at this photo. It is only because I’m already past the withdrawal phase that I can post this. I think it was the stuffing, mashed potatoes, and this cinnamon roll cake that put me over the edge… carb overload! And don’t think this is a long-term thing, I only plan on torturing myself for a few more days.

My sister, brother-in-law, and my niece came and stayed with us last week and we had a great time. My sis and I stayed up late one night in our jammies laughing and watching Cupcake Wars. What a blessing to just hang out and catch up with her. She is also a master chef in the kitchen, so I loved cooking Thanksgiving dinner together. She didn’t even get mad at me when we had to run out to the grocery store a half an hour before the turkey was done.

This cinnamon roll cake is both a dessert and a breakfast, especially if you’re a fellow carb-addict. This recipe has made the rounds in the foodie blogosphere for good reason, and this will definitely become a repeat recipe in our house. The boy and family LOVED it! It really does taste like an ooey, gooey cinnamon roll, but it’s way easier than homemade cinnamon rolls. This would make the perfect breakfast for Christmas morning. You can even make it the day before and warm it up before serving.

On a totally unrelated note, thank you to my friends and readers who have let me know about my spam-posting impostor over the past few weeks. I was in denial, hoping it would go away. It didn’t! And no, that was not me trying to sell you false eyelashes, or whatever else was popping up here. The boy has a whole theory about the spam posting impostor and he could be right (he usually is and that completely frustrates me).

Jen from Swank Web Design, who created my blog design, has updated everything and I think the problem has been fixed. If you are looking for a blog designer, I cannot sing her praises enough. I love working with her! She is so creative and incredibly efficient. While Jen was updating things, I had her add a section to my sidebar called “The Essentials”. Many of you have asked for my frosting, sugar cookie, and gingerbread recipes, which I know have gotten buried in my blog posts. All of the essential recipes are now right there, just in time for holiday baking.

Hope you’re having a carb-indulgent week for me! More carbs next week… I promise!

 

 

Cinnamon Roll Cake (Posted by Holly at Life as a Lofthouse)

12 servings

 

CAKE:

3 cups Flour

1/4 teaspoon Salt

1 cup Sugar

4 teaspoons Baking Powder

1 1/2 cups Milk

2 Eggs

2 teaspoons Vanilla

1/2 cup ( 1 stick)  Butter, melted

TOPPING:

1 cup ( 2 sticks) Butter, softened

1 cup Brown Sugar

2 Tablespoons Flour

1 Tablespoon Cinnamon

GLAZE:

2 cups Powdered Sugar

5 Tablespoons Milk

1 teaspoon Vanilla

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9×13 glass baking pan with cooking spray. Set aside.

 

In an electric or stand mixer add the flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, milk, eggs, and vanilla. Once combined well , slowly stir in the melted butter. Pour into the prepared 9×13 baking pan.

 

For topping, In a large bowl mix the 2 sticks of butter, brown sugar, flour and cinnamon together until well combined and creamy. Drop evenly over the batter by the tablespoonfuls and use a knife to marble/swirl through the cake.

 

Bake at 350 for 28-32 minutes or when a toothpick inserted near the center comes out nearly clean.

 

FOR GLAZE:  In a medium bowl, mix the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla together with a whisk. Drizzle evenly over the warm cake. Serve warm or at room temperature.



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grave yard

Halloween Graveyard Push-up Pops

Our pumpkin carving party is this Friday night. It’s one of my favorite celebrations that we have all year. Good friends, good food, martinis, desserts, and prizes… it doesn’t get much better than that. I have some grand party plans, but seeing how it’s only a few days away, we’ll see how much I can pull off.

I’m serving Mexican food, a crowd favorite around here. It also happens to be the easiest dinner for me to put together for fifty or more people. But as much as I love Mexican food, cocktails and dessert are still what it’s all about.

The boy and I have been on a cake push-up pop kick for awhile, so we decided to create Halloween cake push-up pops for the party. The boy came up with the idea of  a push-up pop graveyard, so  this is what I’ve come up with… now to make a bunch more and a graveyard!

The push-up containers can be purchased from a variety of vendors. They can be purchased in bulk, but if you’re not in the market for more than 100, go visit Cupkate’s Event Design online storefront and buy them from Kate. She has them in stock. The goal of these was to keep it simple. The biggest time investment was making a Duncan Hines chocolate cake, pretty simple. I am of the belief that some occasions require homemade buttercream, birthdays, showers, and Valentine’s Day to name a few. However, there are other occasions where taking the shortcut is your best bet. This is where the pre-made icing comes in. Milano cookies were used to make the tombstones. I had black royal icing on hand to pipe on the cookies. As an alternative, the Food Writers made by Wilton, or melted chocolate chips or candy wafers could also be used for the design. The little candy bones are also from Wilton. We buried them in the layers of chocolate. Finally, we topped them off with chocolate candy rocks that we found from the candy store.

Want some more Halloween Push-up Pop inspiration? See what Christi of Love From the Oven created. I love the candy corn colored push-up pop! I might need to make some of those too.

 



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pumpkin bread

Reese’s Peanut Butter Pumpkin Bread and One Giant Pumpkin!

Last weekend we took our annual road trip to find our giant pumpkin. We’ve been driving out to Bate’s Nut Farm since Blake was a baby. It’s always a family affair.  My BFF Keri and her family join in our adventure too. The Naughty One was part of the fun again this year (I think she was more excited than the boy!). It ended up being quite warm, so we alternated between me carrying the Naughty One and letting her ride in the wheel barrow (and we wonder why she is such a little sausage).

Here’s our pumpkin. There’s a whole system in place to move the giant pumpkin from field to wheel barrow to car to the doorstep. I keep the weight of the pumpkin a secret, and we reveal it the night of our annual pumpkin carving party. It always hits the triple digit mark. All of our guests get to guess the weight, and whoever is closest wins a prize. According to the boy, my prizes aren’t all that great so I’ve got to come up with something new this year. He used to think I was so cool. What has 5th grade done to him? I have a week before our party to come up with some 5th grade approved prizes (that the little ones like too). Any suggestions? The adult prizes are so much easier, no one ever seems to complain about winning a bottle of wine.

 

I made up a batch of pumpkin bread this week and decided to use up my stash of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. I chopped them up and folded them into the batter.  These mini loaves, like the Reese’s Banana Bread turned out to be a great combo.

This recipe is very adaptable, and the loaves come out very moist. You can substitute the peanut butter cups for chocolate chips, toffee bits, chopped nuts, or any other kind of baking chips and I think it would still taste great. I haven’t tried it yet, but I think the batter would also work well for pumpkin muffins.

 

printable recipe

Reese’s Peanut Butter Pumpkin Bread

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1 ½ cups brown sugar

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree

1 cup vegetable oil

2/3 cup water

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 ½ cups chopped Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease mini pumpkin pans*.  In a large bowl, combine sugar, pumpkin, oil, vanilla, water, and eggs. Beat until smooth. Blend in flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt. Fold in peanut butter cups. Fill pans 1/2 to 3/4 full. Bake approximately 40 minutes, or until an inserted knife comes out clean. Cool on wire racks for ten minutes before removing from pans.

* I made 10 mini loaves from one batch.

Have a GREAT weekend everyone!



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banana bread

Reese’s Peanut Butter Banana Bread… My Kind of Make-Over

I’m warning you, this isn’t your ordinary recipe make-over. In fact, some people might see this as politically-incorrect in the fight against obesity. Usually, a make-over means cutting the fat and reducing the calories… this make-over is quite the opposite. I baked banana bread this weekend and adapted fattened up a recipe from Cooking Light. I’m not opposed to making “light” desserts, as  long as they keep the same texture and flavor of the original recipes (and quite often they don’t retain either), but having no plain yogurt or egg substitute on hand, I swapped them out for eggs and oil (a little backwards, I know).

I then took things a step further and fattened it up even more. Ever since my Kendall Jackson post last week, I’ve been craving Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, and for some reason I felt compelled to add them to my batter. The peanut-butter/chocolate combo took the banana bread to a whole other level, and I’m proud of my politically-incorrect, added- fat recipe adaptation.

I may not be very good at making things “light”, but I am good at portion control.  Instead of baking this up in one large loaf pan, I divided the batter into five mini loaf pans. I then proceeded to eat one for dinner, with my wine, and wrapped up the other four to share with friends… four politically-incorrect friends who I knew would appreciate my make-over.

And in case you’re wanting to fatten up other banana bread recipes, Cooking Light has put together a great collection of banana bread recipes,  thirteen of their favorites.

 

printable recipe

Peanut  Butter Cup Banana Bread (Adapted from Cooking Light)

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3-4 bananas)

3 large eggs

1/3 cup oil

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

20 mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, chopped**

Cooking spray

 

Preheat oven to 350°.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk.

Place sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 1 minute). Add banana, eggs, and oil; beat until blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist. Gently fold peanut butter cups into the batter.

Place chocolate chips in a medium microwave-safe bowl, and microwave at HIGH 1 minute or until almost melted, stirring until smooth. Cool slightly. Add 1 cup batter to chocolate, stirring until well combined. Spoon chocolate batter alternately with plain batter into an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Swirl batters together using a knife. Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 15 minutes* or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

*Baking these in mini loaf pans took about 35 minutes.

** I folded these into the banana bread batter before adding the chocolate batter. I forgot to put this in the original post, but went back and added it into the recipe. Sorry for that. I’m always going in fast motion!



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ruffle cake 1

Birthday Cake to Self… Ruffle Cake

Yes, I made my own birthday cake. Is that wrong? I usually make mini cakes for birthdays, but I decided to go BIG this year because I happen to think 38 is going to be a BIG year. Plus, who doesn’t deserve six layers of chocolate? (okay, let’s not answer that) The boy seemed to have an issue with the fact that I was making myself an enormous birthday cake. I never quite figured out why. Surely,  he recognizes that his mom, who will go to the ends of the earth for him (even in her jammies), is worthy of an enormous cake, right?

In our family, birthdays are kind of a big deal. I know a lot of people who treat their birthday like just another day. How un-fun is that? I am of the philosophy that the entire birth month should involve celebrations. I don’t expect presents, but I do expect to be treated like the Birthday Queen that I am.

I had a great birthday, you know why… I have great friends and family!! Thank you to those who made my special day extra, extra special! You’ve proven that sometimes the simplest of celebrations are the BEST! Who needs real champagne glasses when you’ve got clear, plastic cups! Aside from having to pick my son up at 11:30 at night from his dad’s, in my jammies, it was a perfect night (and the truth is I couldn’t think of a better way to end my birthday night than snuggling my boy and his pup.) Moral of that story… even in the midst of drama, there’s always a silver lining.

I didn’t make just any ordinary cake either. I made my favorite chocolate cake. I love this recipe!! I decorated my cake with ruffles, which is actually much easier than you might think. It’s also very forgiving. I don’t know about you, but I happen to think perfection is totally overrated. To make the ruffles, you use a petal piping tip and pipe in a zig zag motion all around the cake. Melody, from Sweet and Saucy, has a great clip on youtube showing the technique. It’s easier to understand by seeing it in action, than by trying to describe it.  Melody doesn’t just blog about her baking masterpieces, she has her own bakery in Long Beach, California that she opened a few years ago. You must stop in if you’re in the area. The Sweet and Saucy blog is one of my favorites. The cake and dessert table photos are gorgeous!

When my birthday cake was finished, I could not get over how heavy it was. We barely made a dent in it for my birthday dinner, and there was no way I was going to keep a six layer chocolate cake in the house for more than two days. I ended up giving away more than three-quarters of my birthday cake… Spread the love… Spread the calories! (That’s the secret to having a dessert blog and still fitting in your skinny jeans!).

 

My Favorite Chocolate Cake (From Ina Garten)

printable recipe

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans

2 cups sugar

3/4 cups good cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup buttermilk, shaken

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease two 8-inch x 2-inch round cake pans. Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans.

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.

 

Birthday Cake Buttercream (Grinandbakeit)

printable recipe

I like to use this frosting for kids’ birthday parties. I find it is most like what bakeries use. A lot of adults prefer this to traditional buttercream too. This is my dad’s favorite!


1/3 cup butter, softened

1/3 Crisco, softened

pinch of salt

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

4-6 tbsp. whipping cream (you can substitute milk or half and half)

4 cups confectioner’s sugar, sifted

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer at medium speed, beat butter and Crisco. Add pinch of salt and vanilla and continue mixing until smooth. Add in sifted confectioner’s sugar one cup at a time, add a tablespoon of whipping cream in between each cup of sugar, scraping the sides of bowl down each time. Gradually beat on low-medium speed well until smooth and fluffy. (The lows speed keeps it from incorporating too much air into the frosting).  To reach the consistency you need, you may need to add more sugar or more whipping cream. Add food coloring and blend well. Remember, gel or paste coloring will darken over time.

 



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cake closeup words

Pumpkin Angel Food Cake With Salted Caramel Glaze

 

Is anyone else having pre-fall cravings? I swear it always hits me around the second week of August when I’m completely over summer and have mentally moved on to fall.  There is something seriously wrong with dripping sweat post-shower while blow drying and flat ironing my hair. I’m pretty much over that.  I’m also ready to put away my bathing suit and not be pressured into going down another water slide at Wild Rivers by a ten year old, and then pretend that I liked it. I definitely think it is time for small children to be back in school telling their teachers between the hours of 8AM & 2PM that they are bored, instead of telling their parents.  I’m also ready to reconnect with my favorite shoes. Don’t get me wrong I love my flip-flops, but my crazy obsession with shoes goes far beyond the $2.50 Old Navy flip-flops, and I miss my four-inch patent navy shoes. And as much as I love summer, I require routine. How is it that I can work 40 hours, run the boy to all of his activities, cook dinner, do laundry, and keep my house straightened during a normal week, but in the summer I’m lucky if I get one of those things finished at the end of a day.

 You know what else I’m ready for… pumpkin! I know it seems a little early for my pumpkin craze, but I found the perfect pre-fall pumpkin treat… pumpkin angel food cake. It may sound like a strange combination, but trust me if you like pumpkin you will love this. The cake comes together with just one mixing bowl ~ less dishes make me happy, especially in the summer when I get nothing done anyway.

I decided on making a salted caramel glaze to finish this off.  This, in itself, tastes fabulous! I reserved a little of the glaze for a baking experiment this weekend because this glaze recipe has all kinds of possibilities. I think the recipe is pretty adaptable. Depending on your preference, you can use light brown sugar instead of dark. If you want the salt flavor to come through a bit more, you can increase the amount of salt to a 1/2tsp. or 3/4 tsp. The cinnamon flavor really stands out, which I love.  I think you can omit the cinnamon or decrease the amount and it will still taste great.

The boy loved how it turned out, even though he is not quite as ready for fall as I am.

 

Wishing you a warm pre-fall weekend everyone!

 

printable recipe

Pumpkin Angel Food Cake (Adapted from Betty Crocker)

1 box Betty Crocker white angel food cake mix

1 tbsp. Gold Medal all-purpose flour

1 tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. ginger

1/8 tsp. nutmeg

1/8 tsp. cloves

¾ cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)

1 cup cold water

 

Move oven rack to lowest position; heat oven to 350°F. In extra-large glass or metal bowl, beat all cake ingredients with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds. Beat on medium speed 1 minute. Pour into ungreased 10-inch angel food (tube) cake pan.

Bake 37 to 47 minutes or until crust is dark golden brown and cracks are dry. Immediately turn pan upside down onto heatproof funnel or glass bottle. Let hang about 2 hours or until cake is completely cool. Loosen cake from side of pan with knife or long metal spatula. Turn cake upside down onto serving plate.

 

Salted Caramel Glaze (Grinandbakeit.com)

¼ cup butter, unsalted

¼ cup dark brown sugar

¼ cup granulated sugar

½ cup whipping cream

¼  tsp. sea salt

2tsp. cinnamon

 

In heavy small saucepan melt 1/4 cup unsalted butter over medium-low heat. Stir in 1/4 cup packed brown sugar and 1/4 cup granulated sugar. Bring to boiling, stirring constantly.

 

Add 1/2 cup whipping cream and return to boiling. Boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.

 

Remove from heat; stir in 1/4 to 3/4 tsp. sea salt and cinnamon. Cool completely. Makes about 1 cup.



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oreo cake pushups

Oreo Cake Push-Ups plus a Cake Push-Up Give-Away

I’ve developed quite an obsession for these cake push-up pops lately. Not only are they adorable, but they make dessert on the go simple. The last few times I made these, I put them in a Ziploc bag, stuck them in my cooler and took them to the beach and pool to share with friends. Here’s what I discovered over the past few weeks… these are a HUGE hit with the kids, they transport nicely, and there are a ton of ways to fill these ~ cake, brownies, frosting, ice cream, chocolate mousse, sprinkles…endless possibilities!

Our most recent cake push-up creation were these Cookies and Cream brownie pops for our final celebration with our neighbors before their big move. This is one of my favorite frostings and it goes perfect with the brownie bites (see recipe below). The kids bombarded me afterward begging for seconds.

A few weeks back, Kate from CupKates Event Design and I were chatting about putting together a give-away. The only problem was she was wiped out of her stock. These push-up pop containers can be hard to get your hands on. Kate is now totally restocked, and just launched the new CupKatesEventDesign website. Not only will you find these awesome push-up pop containers, but a bunch of other fabulous party items.

Here’s the great news…

Kate is giving one lucky Grin and Bake It reader $20.00 in credit to spend at her online store.

I’m guessing you love these push-up pops as much as I do… 

Hooray for push-up pops!

These are a few of my other favorites from CupKatesEvent Design…

I LOVE these cake sparklers!

These candy tubes are perfect party favors!

Frosting shots anyone?

Be sure to check out CupKatesEventDesign to find your favorites!

You have three chances to enter to win… 

1. Leave a comment on this post telling me what you think of these cake push-ups? What event would you use them for? Any creative ideas on what to layer these with? You get the idea…

2. You can earn a second entry by following Grin and Bake it on Facebook. Leave a comment stating that you do.

3. Like Cupkate’s Event Design on Facebook and leave a comment here stating that you do.

Make sure you have a separate blog comment for each entry (up to three comments for three chances).

A winner will be selected from Random.org on Tuesday, August 2nd.

GOOD LUCK!!

Oreo Cake Push-ups

Make a batch of brownies in a 9″X9″ Pyrex pan. Let cool completely. Make a batch of Oreo Cookies and Cream frosting (recipe below). Use the top circular part of an empty push-up pop, to cut out brownie circles. The left-over brownies pieces can be used to make brownie pops. You can shape them into balls and freeze them in an airtight container.  Option 2 ~ Eat what remains, you know you deserve it! Layer push-up pop alternating with brownies and piping frosting until filled.  For a photo tutorial, go to this cake push-up post.

Oreo Whipped Cream Frosting  (Adapted from Bakespace.com)

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 1/4  cup confectioner’s sugar, sifted

a pinch of salt

1/3 cup whipping cream

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

½ cup crushed Oreos

Mix together butter, confectioner’s sugar, and a pinch of salt until it’s creamy. Increase your mixer speed to high and beat until its light and fluffy. Add whipping cream and vanilla. Beat until it’s smooth. Fold in crushed Oreos. Makes enough to frost 24 cupcakes.

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