Sopapilla Cheesecake

This is SO good and SO easy to make!!

Ingredients:

2 cans pillsbury butter crescent rolls
2 (8oz) packages cream cheese (softened)
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup butter (melted)
Cinnamon & sugar

Instructions:
Unroll and spread 1 can crescent rolls on bottom of un-greased pan. Combine softened cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla. Spread mixture over crescent rolls. Unroll and spread remaining crescent rolls over mixture. Spread melted butter over the top and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes.

Chocolate Cake

2 cup flour
2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick butter
1 cup water
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup oil
5 tbsp cocoa
2 eggs
1/2 c buttermilk
1 tsp soda

mix flour, sugar, and salt in mixing bowl, then in saucepan, melt butter, water, oil and cocoa. bring to a boil and pour over dry ingredients. add eggs, buttermilk, soda and vanilla. beat. bake at 350 for 30 min. frost while hot

saucepan frosting:
1 stikc butter
5 tbsp water
1 lb powdered sugar
1 c nuts
3 tbsp cocoa
1 tps vanilla
in a pan, melt butter, water and cocoa. do not boil. pour over powdered sugar and vanilla. beat together, then stir in chopped nuts.pour over hot cake

Chocolate Buttercream

3/4 cup Crisco
3/4 cup butter, softened (6 ounces, 1 & 1/2 American sticks)
1 1/4 cups cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 pounds powdered sugar
about 1/2 cup of water, give or take a little

(If you have a splash guard for your bowl, this is a good recipe to use it with.)

Mix the Crisco and butter at a slow speed until creamy.
Add the cocoa. Mix again until the cocoa is all incorporated.
Add the powdered sugar, vanilla, and most of the water. Beat at medium speed for a few minutes.
Test the spreadability and add water if necessary

Chocolate Cavity Maker Cake

Got this from a friend that got this from allrecipes.com. I made it for my grandparents 60th anniversary and they raved about it. I didn't get to try it, but it sure looked good! It doesn't call for icing, but I poured chocolate ganache over it.


Ingredients
1 (18.25 ounce) package dark chocolate cake mix
1 (3.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
1 (16 ounce) container sour cream
3 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup coffee flavored liqueur
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt pan.
2.In a large bowl, combine cake mix, pudding mix, sour cream, eggs, oil and coffee liqueur. Beat until ingredients are well blended. Fold in chocolate chips. Batter will be thick. Spoon into prepared pan.
3.Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour, or until cake springs back when lightly tapped. Cool 10 minutes in pan, then turn out and cool completely on wire rack.

Cinnabun Cake

This sounds SOOO good! I think I'm going to make this for a coworkers birthday next week


Cinnabun Cake

3 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups milk
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
4 tbsp butter, melted

2 sticks butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp flour
1 tbsp cinnamon
2/3 cup nuts, optional

2 cups powdered sugar
5 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla

In an electric or stand mixer, mix the flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, milk, eggs and vanilla. Once combined well, slowly stir in meleted butter. Pour batter into a greased 9x13 inch baking pan. In a large bowl, mix the 2 stikcs of butter, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and nuts until well combined. Drop evenly over cake batter by the tablespoonfuls and use a knife to marble/swirl through the cake.
Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until tootpick comes out clean from center. Place powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla in a large bowl. Whisk until smooth. Drizzle over warm cake. SErve warm or at room temperature..

HOT from the oven is pretty good!!!

Chocolate Turtle Cake

This recipe came from my ptographer friend Viv's site. This cake is TO DIE FOR!! This is best served warm, but just as good cold. I think this is Stephens favorite cake!


1 box German Chocolate Cake mix
1 pkg (14 oz.) caramels
3/4 stick of margarine/butter
small can of evaporated milk
chopped pecans
chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. And start out by preparing the cake mix as directed on the box. Spray a 9x13 pan and pour half of the cake mix in it. Spread it out evenly and bake for 15 minutes. Next, unwrap your caramels and combine them with the butter and evaporated milk in a saucepan. Melt slowly. Pull the cake out of the oven and pour the caramel on top of the bottom layer of the cake. Top with the remaining cake batter, chips, and nuts. Bake an additional 25 minutes and you're done!

For step by step pictures, visit www.heartspunimagery.typepad.com

Reese’s Cup Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

I just finished this cake for Stephen for Father's Day. I haven't baked in a while, and I thought Father's Day was a good opportunity to make this. He LOVES anything chocolate and peanut butter!

UPDATE: This cake was not as good as I thought it was going to be. I have not found a chocolate cake that I LOVE. This one was okay, but one of the layers fell apart when taking it out of the pan. The frosting however, was DELISH!! Overall I think it was pretty good.

Reese’s Cup Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

Ingredients:
For the cake:
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 ½ cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled (optional)

For decorating:
1 ½ – 2 batches peanut butter frosting
miniature Reese’s cups, halved and/or chopped

Peanut Butter Frosting

1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 cup heavy cream
Place the confectioners' sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on medium-low speed until creamy, scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula as you work. Add the cream and beat on high speed until the mixture is light and smooth





Directions:
For the cake, center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350°. Butter two 9×2” round cake pans, dust the insides with flour, tap out the excess and line the bottoms with rounds of parchment paper. Place the pans on a baking sheet.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy. Add the sugar and beat for about 2 minutes, until thoroughly blended into the butter. Add the eggs and yolks one at a time, beating for one minute after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk; add the dry ingredients in 3 additions and the buttermilk in 2 (beginning and ending with the dry ingredients). Mix each addition only until it is blended into the batter. Scrape down the bowl and add the melted chocolate, if using, folding it in with a spatula. Divide the batter between the prepared cake pans.

Bake for 26-30 minutes or until the cakes feel springy to the touch and start to pull away from the sides of the pans. Transfer to wire racks to cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unmold them and peel off the paper liners. Invert and cool to room temperature right side up.

To assemble the cake, place one cake layer on a cardboard circle covered in foil. Spread peanut butter frosting on top of the cake layer. (If desired, sprinkle with chopped Reese’s cups.) Place the second cake layer on top of the frosting. Frost the top and outside of the cake with remaining peanut butter frosting. Decorate with halved and chopped Reese’s cups as desired.

Strawberry Cake

I've never been a strawberry cake person...I prefer chocolate, but I made this for a coworker and I loved it! It is so good!

1 box strawberry cake mix
1 sm box strawberry jello
4 eggs
1/2 c water
3/4 c oil
6 oz frozen (thawed) strawberries

Beat first 5 ingredients for 2 minutes, add thawed strawberries and mix well. Bake in 3 (I've always used 2) 8" greased and floured pans at 350 or until done. frost with cream cheese icing

Cream Cheese Icing
1 stick margarine
1 8 oz cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla
2 lb powdered sugar

Cream margarine, cream cheese and vanilla. Add powdered sugar and beat until creamy

Rainbow Cake

This looked like a fun cake to try...photo from www.omnomicon.com


Sunny Day Rainbow Cake

2 boxes white cake mix
24 oz of clear diet soda (2 cans, ginger ale and sprite work well)
gel food colouring
16 oz whipped topping
2 oz instant fat-free sugar-free pudding mix (2 smallish boxes)

The Dieting
Mix the cake mix with the soda according to regular instructions on box. It will be lumpy afterward. Again, you can use any white cake recipe you want, this is just how I do it.

The Rainbowing
Measure the total volume (by my estimate, 64 oz), then divide by 6 and measure into separate bowls. There are 8 oz in a cup, so 64/6 = 10 to 11 oz, or 1 cup + 2 tbsp.

Stir colour into each bowl with its own spoon. For the first colour into the pan, measure out 2/3 to 3/4 of your mix (in this case about 1 c) as close to the middle as you can. Drop in your first three colours, then work on the other pan with the last three colours. So if you’re doing rainbow order, the first pan should have red, then orange, then yellow, and now the purple, blue and green go into the second pan. As a recap, this is so both layers are roughly the same size.

Bake the cake for however long the box tells you to bake it. Check it when the box says to, but usually it’ll need an extra 5 or 10 minutes or maybe more because of the density of the soda method. Just keep baking, checking back every 5 minutes or so until a toothpick to the center comes out clean. Let cool completely before moving to a wire rack.

The Frostinging
Meanwhile, make your frosting. Just mix the pudding mix in with the whipped topping for a few minutes. Dye if you’re into that.

Frost your fat-free cake with your fat-free whipped frosting. Eat.

Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes

I found this recipe on Annie's Eats...and they looked beautiful, and they sounded perfect for spring/summer!

Note: I've made these 2 times now, and the icing turns out thin. I thought that maybe I did something wrong the first time I made them, so I was very careful the next time. Cream cheese icing is usually always thinner, but this doesnt want to stand up, even after adding more powdered sugar, and it makes more than enough. You could probably double the cupcake recipe and still have plenty left over

Yield: about 21 cupcakes

Ingredients:
For the cake:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. lemon zest
12 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
2 cups fresh strawberries, chopped

For the lemonade syrup:
1 cup lemonade concentrate, thawed
3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar

For the frosting:
1 cup fresh strawberries, roughly chopped
12 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
18 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 2/3 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
3 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. vanilla extract

For garnish:
Fresh strawberries
Lemon slices

Directions:
To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line muffin pans with paper liners. In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and lemon zest. Stir together with a fork and set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until it is light and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat until well combined. Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition. Add half of the flour mixture to the bowl and beat on low speed until just incorporated. Add in the milk and mix until smooth. Add in the remaining flour mixture and mix on low speed until just blended. Fold in the fresh strawberries with a spatula.

Divide the batter evenly between the paper liners, filling them about 3/4 full. Bake about 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Once the cupcakes have cooled, whisk together the lemonade concentrate and confectioners’ sugar in a small bowl to make the lemonade syrup. Poke several holes in the top of each cupcake with a skewer and pour the syrup over the cupcakes, allowing it to soak in. (Place wax paper underneath your cooling rack so you don’t make a mess!)

To make the frosting, puree the strawberries in a food processor or blender. Strain the puree through a mesh sieve to remove the seeds, and set aside. Beat the cream cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth and very fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the powdered sugar and mix until smooth. Add the lemon juice and vanilla extract and mix until incorporated. Mix in strawberry puree, a tablespoon at a time, until you achieve your desired texture and flavor of frosting (I added about 7 tablespoons of puree). Frost cupcakes as desired and garnish with fresh strawberries and lemon slices.

Strawberry Shortcake Trifle

I LOVE strawberry shortcake and I love this recipe! For the pound cake, I use a homemade recipe, but you could easily use frozen pound cake. My mom used to make the pound cake recipe below, but always made a chocolate pound cake with a chocolate frosting. I'll post that recipe too.

1 pint fresh strawberries
2 tbsp sugar
2 c vanilla pudding
3 oz cream cheese
2 cup pound cake (recipe below)
Whip Cream/Cool Whip

Slice 1 cup strawberries, reserve 3-4 for garnish. Arrange along the sides of trifle. In a mixing bowl beat pudding and cream cheese on medium speed until combined. Blend remaining berries in a food processor, add sugar. Place 1/2 the cake on the bottom, pour 1/2 pureed berried on top of cake. Top with 1/2 pudding. repeat until all is gone. Top with whip cream and reserved strawberries. Cover and chill over night.

Pound Cake

1 C butter
1/2 C shortening
3 C sugar
5 eggs
3 C flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 C milk
1 tsp Vanilla
For chocolate pound cake - add 4 tbsp cocoa

Cream together butter and shortening. Add sugar. Add eggs one at a time beating after each. Add vanilla. Sift dry ingredients together. Alternate dry ingredients and milk to mixture. Bake at 325 for 80 minutes in 2 10 inch round pans or bundt pan.

Chocolate Icing for Chocolate Pound Cake

1/2 c cocoa
1 stick butter
1 box powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 c milk

Melt butter over low heat and add all other ingredients. Spread warm icing over cooled cake. You have to work fast, because the icing starts to harden.

Chocolate Cookie Crunch Frozen Yogurt Cake

Another recipe from discovery health channel, from the show Healthy Decadence

Ingredients:
56 ounce container plus 4 additional cups fat free vanilla or chocolate frozen yogurt
14 reduced-fat chocolate sandwich cookies, divided
Fat free frozen whipped topping (aerosol-type), optional

Remove the full container of frozen yogurt from freezer to soften slightly, about 10-20 minutes.

Place 10 of the sandwich cookies in a re-sealable bag. Using a meat mallet, crush the cookies until they are slightly larger than crumbs.

Cut a piece of aluminum foil big enough to cover the bottom of an 8-inch spring form pan and to extend at least one inch up the sides. Wrap the outside of the bottom of the pan with the foil, securing it on the sides.

Using a spoon and or spatula, spoon 3/4 of the container into the pan, creating a smooth layer as you do. When it is completely smooth, return the remaining yogurt to the refrigerator. Sprinkle the crushed cookies evenly over the top. Reserve the bag. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and freeze it for about 30 minutes or until it is solid.

Crush the remaining cookies into fine crumbs. Reserve them. Remove the remaining yogurt from the freezer to soften, about 10-20 minutes. When soft, remove the pan from the freezer. Spoon small amounts of the remaining yogurt over the crumbs until a thin layer if formed, creating a barrier to keep the crumbs in tact. Then add the remaining yogurt to form an even layer with a smooth surface. Return the cake to the freezer for another 30 minutes or until solid.

Remove the cake from the freezer. Run a dishtowel under hot water and ring it out. Then wrap it around the sides of the cake pan to help the pan release. Repeat if necessary, squeezing the pan very gently as you to until you can see the cake pulling away ever so slightly. Then remove the rim. Remove the foil and place the cake on a plate or serving platter large enough to hold the cake, but small enough to fit in the freezer. Freeze the cake for another 15-30 minutes or until the edges are frozen solid again.

Sprinkle the remaining crumbs evenly over the top and sides of the cake to completely cover it. (You'll need to press them into the sides). Freeze it again for at least 30 minutes or until frozen solid. Cut the cake into 12 equal slices and serve immediately or return the leftovers to the freezer.

Turtle Cake

This is another recipe from Viv at heartspunimagery.typepad.com, so I can't take the credit. We were having a potluck at work tonight and I decided at the last minute to make this cake only because Stephen had to run to the store so I had him pick up the caramels. It was a HUGE HIT!! For step by step pictures, visit Viviana's site.

1 box German Chocolate Cake mix
1 pkg (14 oz.) caramels
3/4 stick of margarine/butter
small can of evaporated milk
chopped pecans
chocolate chips

Make the cake as directed and pour half of the mix in a 13x9 inch pan and bake at 350 for 15 minutes. While that is in the oven, melt the caramels, butter and evaporated milk over low heat. Pour caramel over the cooked cake, along with other half of the mix. Top with chocolate chips and pecans and put back in the oven for 30 minutes. I suggest eating this while it's still warm.....VERY GOOD!

Cake Balls

Best Things Ever!!!! I know people have heard of these and I love experimenting with different cake mixes. I've only done a few flavors, but I can't wait to experiment with others.

Baked cake of your choice
Icing to compliment the cake
Candy melts or Chocolate bark for dipping

Bake the cake, and when done crumble the cake and mix in the icing. Roll into balls and freeze for several hours or over night. Dip in chocolate.

Some flavors I've tried:

Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Icing
French Vanilla Cake with Buttercream Icing
White Cake with Vanilla Icing
German Chocolate Cake with Coconut Pecan Icing

Some I'll try soon:
Red Velvet with Buttercream or Cream Cheese Icing
Funfetti with the Funfetti Icing

Hmmmm.....the possibilities!

Cupcake Bites

From bakerella.blogspot.com


Easy Cupcake Bites
1 box cake mix (cook as directed on box for 13 X 9 cake)
1 can cream cheese frosting (16 oz.)
1 package chocolate bark (or candy melts for cupcake bottom)
Colored Candy Melts (for cupcake top)
Candy Cup Mold
Sprinkles and m&ms for decoration

After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl. (The texture should be fine/fluffy)
Using the back of a large spoon, mix thoroughly with 1 can cream cheese frosting. (It may be easier to use fingers to mix together, but be warned it will get messy.)
Roll mixture into quarter size balls (make sure they are smaller in diameter than that of your candy mold) and lay on wax paper covered cookie sheet.
Chill in the freezer for a few minutes, until they are slightly firm, not frozen.
Melt chocolate bark and candy melts in microwave per directions on package.
Using a spoon or squeeze bottle, fill each mold cavity with a small amount of chocolate. Sorry, I didn't think to measure how much. But as soon as you fill the cavity, go ahead and place one of your rolled balls into it. Carefully push it down until the force causes the chocolate to push up and fill in around the sides of the ball. You may have to experiment with a couple to get the right amount. Stop pushing once the chocolate reaches the top edge.
Place the mold tray filled with cupcakes in the freezer for just a few minutes to let the chocolate set. Remove and then gently pull up on the cake ball top to release from candy mold.
Now, holding the bottom of the cupcake, dip the top in another color of melted chocolate.
Decorate.
And, probably impress your friends and family.

Pumpkin Dump Cake

I got the recipe from a girl on thenest.com. I never thought I was much of a pumpkin kind of girl...but this is YUMMY!!!!

1 can pumpkin
1 lg can evaporated milk
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 box yellow cake mix
3/4 c butter, melted
chopped walnuts (optional)

Mix together pumpkin, milk, eggs, sugar and spice in a bowl. Pour in a greased 13x9 inch pan. Pour cake mix on top and the pour melted butter on top of cake mix. Top with walnuts. Bake at 350 for 45 min-1 hr, or until a toothpick comes out clean.