12 Weeks of Christmas Treats–Week 10–Spiced Applesauce Cake

Welcome to Week 10 of the 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats blog event hosted by Brenda at Meal Planning Magic! Check out the links in the hop below and head over to Meal Planning Magic to learn more about joining in the fun!

This cake is fantastic. I made it for my contribution to the dessert table for Thanksgiving and it was a big hit. We are pretty sure this would be great even without the frosting, but who argues with cinnamon cream cheese frosting?

Spiced Applesauce Cake

From Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients

Cake

2 Cups AP Flour
2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
3/4 Teaspoon Cinnamon
1/2 Teaspoon Ground Ginger
1/8 Teaspoon Ground Cloves
1 Stick Butter, softened (unsalted)
1 Cup Light Brown Sugar (packed)
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
2 Eggs (large)
1 1/2 Cups Unsweetened Applesauce

Frosting

5 Ounces Cream Cheese, softened
3 Tablespoons Butter, softened (unsalted)
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup Confectioners Sugar
1/2 Teaspoon Cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and butter an 8 or 9 inch round pan (I put parchment paper in the bottom of the pan and buttered it too per the suggestion).

Stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and all the spices for the cake. Cream the butter, brown sugar, and vanilla in an electric mixer 2 to 3 minutes. Add the eggs slowly, beating completely after you add each one. Then mix in the applesauce.

Turn your mixer to a low speed and slowly add in the flour mixture until just combined.

Spread the batter into the pan into an even layer. Bake 35 to 45 (mine went to 45) minutes until golden brown and the center is baked through (use the toothpick test). Cool in pan for 15 minutes and then invert onto a plate. Flip the cake upright and allow to cool on a rack until completely cool (can also put in the fridge).

To make the frosting beat the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla in a mixer until fluffy. Add in the confectioners sugar and cinnamon and beat until incorporated. Spread over the cooled cake.

This cake is awesome because it can be made ahead. I made the cake on Tuesday and stuck it in the freezer. I pulled it out and put it in the fridge Wednesday night and it was perfect for Thursday. I made the frosting Thursday and iced shortly before eating. Check out Smitten Kitchen for more tips on doing this ahead.

Gooey Butter Cake

 

This is a cake I’ve been making for years now. It is really simple and easy to throw together. It was one of the first things I started making when I started finding recipes online. In fact it is so old that I printed it out back in the day before I knew to write down the source.

I’ve searched all over and it seems that most people attribute this to Paula Deen, so that’s who I’ll link to but know that this recipe can be found all over.

This cake is very sweet and a small piece is really all you need. But it is a great cake and a big crowd pleaser. You can dust the top with powdered sugar but I think this would be great with a serving of berries or even some peaches. I think this cake is even better the second day so you may want to make it a day ahead. But definitely give it a try, you won’t be disappointed!

Gooey Butter Cake

Crust:

1 – 18 1/4 Ounce Box Yellow Cake Mix

1 Egg

8 Tablespoons Butter – Melted

Filling:

1 – 8 Ounce Cream Cheese

2 Eggs

1 Teaspoon Vanilla

8 Tablespoons Butter – Melted

1 – 16 Ounce Box Powdered Sugar

Preheat over to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 9 x 13 pan.

Mix the cake mix, egg, and butter and pat into the bottom of the pan.

Beat the cream cheese until smooth and then add the butter, vanilla, and eggs until well combined.Then add the powdered sugar until totally mixed. Spread this mixture over the cake mix layer.

Bake for 40 to 50 minutes. It will still be a little gooey so don’t be scared!

Let cool before serving. Sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired.

TWD: Cinnamon Squares

These cinnamon squares were so good. And so incredibly easy to throw together. I was a little concerned that I had messed up the batter because it seemed incredibly runny but it baked up perfectly. 

You'll notice there is no chocolate icing and (you can't really tell) but there is no chocolate in the cake. As much as I love chocolate and I love cinnamon I don't really like them together. Plus not making the icing made these even faster. I did do a lite dusting of powdered sugar on top and that made these taste even better, although I would think vanilla ice cream would make them awesome too.

This awesome recipe was picked by Tracey of Tracey's Culinary Adventures, look there for the recipe. And see how all the TWD members handled this cake here.

Cinnamon Squares from Baking From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, pages 210-211.

Strawberry Cake

Happy Mother's Day!

Today I'm having lunch with my parents and grandma to celebrate Mother's Day. I'm providing the sweet to end the meal and a side. This cake was requested by my mom after she saw Paula Deen make it on her show last weekend.

This was one of the easiest cakes I have ever made (probably cause of the cake mix). I love playing around with cake mixes (red velvet cookie, anyone?) and adding the strawberries to this is such a neat idea (plus it meant I got to use my mini Cuisinart). This cake smelled awesome while it was cooking and I adore the bright pink color.

I ended up just using a whipped vanilla frosting from a can so that it could sit out and everyone could eat it without worrying about the ingredients in butter cream. I still love these whipped frostings, this one reminded me

of marshmallow fluff.

I cannot wait to eat this cake (2 more hours!), I'm hopeful it will be amazing.

Simply Delicious Strawberry Cake

From: Paula Deen

Ingredients:

1 (18.25-ounce) box white cake mix 
1 (3-ounce) box strawberry-flavored instant gelatin 
1 (15-ounce) package frozen strawberries in syrup, thawed and pureed 
4 large eggs 
1/2 cup vegetable oil 
1/4 cup water 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease pan (I used 9x13 but you could use 2 9 inch round pans).

In a large bowl, combine cake mix and gelatin. Add pureed strawberries, eggs, oil, and water; beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Pour into prepared pan(s), and bake for 20 minutes (mine was about 27 minutes), or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pan(s) if desured, and cool completely on wire racks. Frost.

You can decorate the top with strawberries, I used red sugar crystals.

Ingredients:

Cute Monkey Cupcakes

Saturday was the first birthday of Max, my bff's little boy and my unofficial nephew. I adore this kid (and his mom) so I was more than willing to help when asked. The idea for these came from my friend looking up "monkey cupcakes" (Max's nickname is monkey and that was the party theme) on photobucket and then piecing together the ideas she liked.

These were so incredibly easy to make. We used cake mixes because they are easy, fast, and kids love them. We also used frosting in a can, she bought whipped chocolate frosting and it was so incredibly easy to use. The nose/mouth of the monkey is a Vanilla Wafer with just a tiny little bit of one side cute off. The ears are 100 Calorie Nutter Butters cut in half and the eyes are upside down M&MS. Then you just use icing to make your eyes, nose and mouth (eyes and nose are black, mouth is red).

The only problem we had with these is that the ears got a little soggy. The one she saw used regular Nutter Butters for the ears, and we determined that these probably don't get soggy because they are much thicker than the 100 calorie version and have the filling. So I'd recommend either using the original NB cookie or putting the 100 cal version on closer to serving (we made these the day before). 

These were a huge hit. Everyone kept asking where she got them and couldn't believe we made them. Max seemed to think they looked neat but was way too excited about his own personal smash cake to pay too much attention. Happy birthday Max!

TWD: French Yogurt Cake With Marmalade Glaze

I was incredibly excited when I saw this week's recipe. It just sounded amazing. Cakes like this are known as pantry cakes in France because they typically include ingredients that you already have on hand. This is true, the only things I had to grab from the store were the yogurt and the marmalade. I ended up with orange marmalade because I couldn't find any lemon and vanilla yogurt because I made the mistake of shopping on a Monday and the yogurt choice was really picked over.

This recipe was really easy to throw together and tasted awesome. It got a little dry the next day, so make sure you seal it up really well. I think this cake would also be great without the glaze with some nice fruit and a touch of whip cream (like this pound cake I made last year).

Liliana of My Cookbook Addiction picked this week's recipe, you can see the recipe there. Be sure to check out her blog and all the TWD members to see how they handled this recipe.

French Yogurt Cake with Marmalade Glaze from Baking From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, pages 224-225.

Another Birthday Cake

So I am slowly starting to get into making birthday cakes, very, very slowly. I'm not very good yet, so I've only made them for family members so far (because they have to say they like the cake no matter how bad it is, right?). This cake was actually really easy to make. I used a recipe for vanilla cupcakes from Annie's Eats, doubled it, and then used frosting from a can (hey, it was for young kids and they like what they like, right?). This cake is really light and has a good flavor to it, so I will definitely be making it again. The decorations are just gel icing, green sanding sugar, and conversation hearts turned over (don't worry, they were still fresh). The birthday girls love the cake, which made me very happy. I've also made cupcakes with this recipe and they were really good too, so give it try sometime soon.

Vanilla Cupcakes

From Annie's Eats

I doubled this recipe and baked it in a 9 x 13 cake pan at the same temperature for about 25 minutes.

½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
zest of 1 lemon (optional) I omitted this
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
¼ cup milk

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350°. Line a muffin tin with 12 paper liners. Set pan aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides and beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract and lemon zest, if using.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and milk, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Evenly fill the muffin cups with the batter and bake for about 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in pan 5 minutes. Transfer cupcakes to a wire rack and allow to cool completely.

An Outdoor Birthday Bash

Last weekend D and I went camping with his parents in honor of his dad's birthday. After the (I think) success of my cake for my mom I volunteered to make the cake. Well, I found this awesome cake on one of my favorite blogs and was all set to make it, until I saw the weather forecast. Last weekend here in Illinois was forecast to be HOT and HUMID, aka: not the best environment for taking a cake with butter cream icing and chocolate candy to eat at a campground. So, fairly late in the game, I hit the blogs to see what I could find. I had an idea in my mind from a magazine I saw that had a simple cake with whipped cream and fruit, so that was what I was looking for when I went to Kayte's blog (another one of my favorites). There I found this recipe for her Brown Sugar Pound Cake and I was sold. I've never made a pound cake before, so I was a little nervous but it came out great. The only problem I had was that I don't have a tube pan so I used my large loaf pan and the cake took a while to bake because it was so thick. Luckily, it did not dry out and turned out great. I topped it with some peach halves and some French Vanilla Cool Whip (too hard to make fresh whipped cream in a camper!).

This was really good and everyone seemed to like it. It is very rich, so a little goes a long way. Enjoy!

Brown Sugar Pound Cake

From Kayte's Kitchen

2 sticks (1/2 pound) butter, softened

2 cups dark brown sugar, firmly packed

1 cup granulated sugar

6 large eggs

3 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 cup of milk (Kayte used fat free half and half)

2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a 10" tube pan (I used a loaf pan). In a large bowl, or the bowl of an electric stand mixer, beat the butter until fluffy. Add the sugars and cream until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine dry ingredients in a medium mixing bowl, and then add to the butter mixture alternately with milk or half and half, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Add the vanilla. Fill prepared pan and bake for 1 hour and 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (mine took longer). Cool cake completely, then remove from pan.

Kayte's recipe includes a rum sauce, which I didn't use. It sounds really good and I might make it next time I make this cake, the recipe is here.

To top the cake I used one large can of peaches and had one container of French Vanilla Cool Whip. You could use whatever combination you wanted, or even just eat the cake by itself.

Happy Birthday Mom

So this year for my mom's birthday I decided to do something special and make her a really nice cake. For some crazy reason I decided to tackle a multi layer cake from scratch with icing from scratch. Now, I have made a cake from scratch but it was a while ago and (surprisingly) a huge hit. So the pressure was on (at least in my head) to compete with my teenage self from years ago who had beginner's luck. Well, the problem was that the cake recipe that had been a hit had come in one of those seasonal recipe books that Pillsbury puts in the checkout aisle at the grocery store and it had gotten lost long ago. So I had to hunt for a new recipe. I ended up finding one in (of all places) the May 2008 issue of Every Day with Rachael Ray. The recipe is for a Golden Cake with Vanilla Frosting. I was a little nervous because this was the first 2 layer cake I have ever made and it was my first attempt at a butter cream icing (I made cream cheese icing last Thanksgiving). Luckily the recipe is really easy and it all turned out really well. I even picked up some gel icing tubes from the store to do a quick little decorating job. On that note, please don't judge me too harshly on the looks, remember it was my first cake and it is really hard to get the hang of those gel tubes at first. I really want to take the Wilton class, so this hopefully won't be my last cake and they will hopefully look much better from now on.

Golden Cake

From Every Day with Rachael Ray May 2008

Ingredients
2 3/4 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
5 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups whole milk
Vanilla Frosting

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

In a large bowl, using a mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape down the bowl. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the dry ingredients and milk in three parts, mixing until just incorporated.

Divide the batter between the prepared pans and smooth the tops. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of each cake comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Transfer the pans to a rack and let cool for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the pans to release the cakes and invert; let cool completely.4. Slice the cakes into 2 layers each. Stack and frost with the vanilla frosting.

Vanilla Frosting

Ingredients
2 1/2 sticks (10 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
5 cups confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 to 2 tablespoons milk

Directions

In a large bowl, using a mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Add the confectioners' sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating until smooth after each addition. Add the vanilla and 1 tablespoon milk. Beat at high speed until fluffy, adding an additional 1 tablespoon milk if necessary.

This was how I got the cake the 15 minutes from our house to my parents' house. I was so nervous the entire drive but it made it!