Crazy Cake (in a blender)

This recipe has been around the block several times and continues to be the favorite birthday cake recipe of each of my kids.  It’s hard to improve on a favorite, but I did try something new with it.  The past year I’ve adapted it to assemble quickly and easily in my blender.  Easy to make, and now easy to clean up.

This isn't a show-stopper cake - you won't find it on Food Gawker or similar sites.  But it IS in my family recipe book - and all my kids now make it for THEIR kids.  So I've decided to document it here for sentimental reasons.

Not the classiest cake - but my son didn't turn it down for his birthday last week.

It’s hard to find another cake recipe that is as successful as this one.  I’ve heard it called several names.  For instance, have you heard of “Wacky Cake”, “Depression Cake”, “Three Hole Cake”, “Joe Cake”, “War Cake”, and even “Happy Valley Cake”?  So many names - but it is basically a moist chocolate cake made without butter, eggs, or milk.  

This recipe is the one that has the most splashes, spills, and post-it notes stuck to the page.
I've made it in several sizes - from sheet cakes, tiny rounds, and the "grand-daddy" size pan.

When I was a 4-H’er (back in the day) - my friend and I won at State Demonstrations with this recipe.  We mixed the dry ingredients, made three depressions in the mixture - then added vanilla, vinegar, and oil into each of them.  We finished by pouring the water over the whole thing and mixed it up.  (We looked so spiffy in our matching aprons)

Mixing the dry ingredients first is helpful, but there's a better way to do it...

I have changed how I mix this up over the years.  I used to add about half the water to the dry ingredients and mix it until smooth to avoid lumps, then add the remaining water last.  But now I use my Blendtec to do the job.  

The first time I used the blender method, I pulsed the dry ingredients first before adding the liquids.  It worked, but it took a lot of scraping the sides down.  Then I found a better solution.  Liquids mixed first, then add the sugar, and lastly the remaining dry ingredients.  Bingo.  So simple.  

Clean-up is easy with a blender also.  Just a few squirts of dish detergent and a few cups of water - pulse till clean, and then rinse in hot water.  Done.

For the Crazy Cake recipe, and instructions for making it in your blender - go to:
www.changeabletable.com

  

Neapolitan Valentine Cake

I have always excused myself from making Ice Cream Cake.  Baskin Robbins seems to have a corner on that market, and I never had the urge to try it.  

When I decided to come up with my own interpretation - it was a rush of fun.  Frosting an ice cream cake is so easy, because the frozen cake hangs onto the frosting & nothing “sags”.  

My son wanted to surprise his wife with an Ice Cream Cake for her birthday this year.  Nothing I found online looked appetizing, (or easy enough) - so we came up with our own combination.  

Since Rachel likes peppermint, we decided to mix up the layers so they contrasted with the ice cream.  It reminded me of Neapolitan ice cream - a variety that pleased ALL my kids as they were growing up.  Three flavors would please at least THREE of my six kids - and (at 50%), that’s pretty good odds.  

Although this is not the traditional Neapolitan flavor(s) - it at least resembled it.  You can substitute strawberry ice cream if you want to be totally accurate.  

My daughter was home the night I tried this, and we had a great time improvising as we worked through it.  This was much simpler than I thought it would be...

Next time I make this, I’ll buy an extra half gallon of ice cream and split both cake layers in half - making a FOUR layer cake.  Might as well make it a BIG cake to feed twice as many...

If you want to add a Valentine touch - use up your holiday candy canes as I did in this post...

For the full story - with hints, tricks, and detailed directions - go to:

www.changeabletable.com

Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting

If the standard ‘buttercream’ frosting has become commonplace, it’s time to change things up a bit.  Since all frostings tend to be over the top in at least ONE ingredient - this one also has it’s faults (but it’s NOT sugar this time!)  This recipe is a nice change of pace from what most of us expect in a frosting.

Don’t hide when you realize this is a Martha Stewart recipe.  Besides being delicious, it really isn’t difficult - just out of the ordinary.

I appreciated that it wasn’t sickeningly sweet, and it also wasn’t primarily shortening.  If you’re a butter-lover - this recipe is for YOU.  It turns out silky-smooth, fluffy, and melts in your mouth.  Another bonus is that it doesn’t take powdered sugar - just a modest amount of regular white granulated sugar.

I had tried another recipe a few months ago - Lime Buttercream Cupcakes (HERE) - that called for a meringue-type frosting.  The buttercream was delicious, but it was more temperamental than this recipe.  This one came together without any problem.

The only drawback with a meringue type frosting such as this one is that you need to get it on your cake, cupcakes, etc... immediately after mixing for it to be at it’s optimum for spreading.  It can be refrigerated or stored, but it needs to be brought back to room temperature, AND it takes a good 5 minutes of beating to bring it back to the correct consistency.

See if your family doesn’t stop mid-bite next time you serve frosted cake and ask you “what IS this?!”

For the complete recipe and instructions, go to:

www.changeabletable.com

Peeps Sunflower Cake - Easter candy returns for summer

Oh, the fun you can have with so many holiday candies available today.  If you were lucky enough to snatch up Easter Peeps that were in the clearance baskets last spring - this fun cake is quick and easy for a late summer birthday cake idea.  

This past April, I posted “Get your Peeps before they’re gone...”  - and I’m sure I confused a lot of you in the process.  I told you I would let you know how my Peeps survived in the “off-season” come July/August - and here we are!  You'll see how they fared when you go to the how-to link at the bottom.

For those who really don’t care to back-track - here is an explanation about Peeps.  They are basically marshmallow candies, sold in the US & Canada, that are shaped into chicks, bunnies, and other animals.  Peeps are used primarily to fill Easter baskets, though recent ad campaigns tout the candy as “Peeps - Always in Season.”  They are made from marshmallow, corn syrup, gelatin, and carnauba wax.  Peeps are produced by Just Born, a candy manufacturer based in Bethlehem, PA - and they were introduced nationally in 1958.  The yellow chicks were the original form of the candy - hence their name - but then the company introduced other colors, and eventually, the myriad shapes in which they are now produced.

I used the Primo Chocolate Cake recipe from yesterday (found HERE) for the base, and it was delicious.  Best chocolate cake I’ve ever had.  But you can easily use any boxed mix, or even a purchased chocolate cake in a pinch.

To see the ideas along with a very simple "how-to" - go to:

www.changeabletable.com

Giant Birthday (CUP)cake - delightful cake for the 'single candle' birthday...

I’m being honest here... this is a DARLING cake - but I’ll think twice about making it again.  There are just so many nooks, crannies, and crevices for cake to get stuck - that it took several tries to get it right.  But - now you don’t have to go through that process - you’ll have the ‘secret’!  Good luck!

The recipe and idea for this cake is from my friend Sherrie.  She has so much fun with her grandchildren - I want to be like her when I grow up (if that’s possible?)  The photo above is of her cake - so much nicer than our attempt (below) - but we learned a lot!

My daughter was here last weekend, and her third little guy was turning one.  She thought this sounded so fun - and we thought it should be “a piece of cake” to make.  Just a bit of advice - I’ve found when I have those thoughts pass through my brain, it’s time to look out.  A challenge is looming.

We borrowed Sherrie’s pan and got busy.  Sherrie warned us to use a cooking spray with FLOUR in it.  We thought that was overkill, and besides - it would take a trip to the store (but in the end, that would have saved so much time...)  So we proceeded with plain old cooking spray.  As you can see below, the first two cake tries hung onto the ridges of that  pan for dear life.  

While I was gone that night, my daughter looked on the web for another recipe (a chocolate chip bundt recipe) to give it another go.  This time she sprinkled the coating of cooking spray with sugar - with the same sticky results.  By the time I arrived home that night, this is what we had - and she was ready to make what she calls a “loser” cake mix cake in a 9” x 13” pan.  

But after putting the kids to bed and taking a breather, we recommitted ourselves and prevailed!  The third time was the charm.  This time we tried the Fresh California Orange Cake by myhomebasedmom.com.  It gave us a little solace to read that it took Leigh Anne three times to succeed at her recipe.  My post showing our attempt at her cake is HERE...

And... by the way... grease the pan with a heavy layer of shortening, then spray with cooking spray, and finally immerse that pan in plenty of flour!   If you do, this is what you'll get...

For the original recipe that fits this pan, with all the detailed drama and photos of our MULTIPLE FLOPS - go to:

www.changeabletable.com

  

Frosty Faced Layer Cake - a reason to smile for winter birthdays...

I’m feeling (just a smidge) of nostalgia about Winter coming to a close, so when I saw this fun cake idea, I couldn’t resist.  This time of year lemon is irresistible, so I used a lemon/citrus cake filled with tart lemon mousse.  Easy-to-find gumdrops, pretzel logs, and a spare candy cane finish off his happy face. Great winter birthday cake idea for the kids!

After-Christmas birthdays are often a drag!  Birthdays in December, January, and February can leave the birthday kid feeling shortchanged sometimes.  After all, they KNOW you chose their gifts from the after-Christmas sales.  Everyone is so DONE with sweets, so it's hard to get excited about making a birthday cake.

When I found this cake idea on bettycrocker.com, I was excited to try it for all those jilted birthday people.  It was fun, easy, and brought an instant smile to everyone’s face.

I used the recipe from Mini-Lemon Blueberry Bundts (HERE) that gets it’s intense lemon flavor from Mountain Dew (soda), a lemon cake mix, and lemon pudding.  It is so moist - it really doesn’t need anything else to make it special.  But this time I decided to fill the layers with a lemon mousse that was absolutely lip-smacking.  Cool Whip, regular frosting, or even lemon pudding would be good alternatives.  Then again, if you don’t care to impress anyone - make TWO of these cakes and skip the filling altogether!  Your choice...

I had quite a time finding the candy cane (go figure, it's February!) - but I confiscated one at a hot chocolate bar we had at a Relief Society meeting a few weeks ago.  A word to the wise:  hang onto a few of those candy canes - even if you are tired of seeing them all over your house after Christmas.

I sprinkled the freshly-frosted cake with edible clear food glitter, and it looked like freshly fallen snow.  However, my kids hate it - as it sticks to your teeth like glue.  If it is worth it or not depends upon your audience!

For the recipe(s) for the cake & filling, as well as plenty of detailed step-by-step photos - go to:

www.changeabletable.com