Strawberry Cream Cheese Coffeecake

Doesn't this look yummy?

When I saw this recipe on Pinterest I knew I had to try it. Off to the freezer I went in search of strawberries. I found them but I also found blueberries too which is what I will be making this with the next time.
I made the strawberry filling on the stove top.
Then whipped the cream cheese layer.
Next I mixed up the butter cake and reserved some crumbles.
Put it all together and it's ready to bake.

I found the recipe HERE at Carlsbad Cravings.
Trust me..It's good!

Texas Sheet Cake

It's been a while since I last posted! (again!!)
I just can't seem to get into the blogging mood.
I've been busy the past few weeks preparing for the holidays.
I've got my house cleaned and decorated for the holidays and also helped a few others with their holiday cleaning and decorating. There has been shopping to do, both in store and online. I have to say I think I prefer to shop the internet rather than the stores. 
I still enjoy shopping in the stores but by doing it online you're not having to go from store to store in hopes of finding a "hot" item that always seems to be sold out. 
Computer shopping just makes life simpler!
However, computers can also make life more FRUSTRATING!!
The day after Thanksgiving I headed to my bank only to find out they were closed for the day due to the fact that their computer system went down!!!
What?
You mean you can't hand write a receipt for a deposit??
So help us if all of the computer networks go down because now a days kids aren't taught how to do things by hand...it all revolves around computers and kids as well as adults don't have a clue how to do things without them.
Well enough of my whining!
Today I thought I'd share the Texas Sheet Cake recipe that my mom has made for years. It's the only one that I have ever used!

Texas Sheet Cake


4 tbsp. cocoa           Place these 3 ingredients in saucepan
2 sticks butter         & bring to a full boil. Remove from 
1 cup water             heat.

Bowl #1
2 cups sugar             Mix these 3 ingredients in a large bowl
2 cups flour             and set aside.
1/2 tsp. salt

Bowl #2
2 eggs                       Whisk these 4 together in another 
1 tsp. vanilla             smaller bowl and set aside.
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup sour cream


Once all three bowls (or pans) are prepared you can add the melted chocolate mixture to Bowl # 1 and stir well.

Next add bowl #2 and stir until smooth.
Pour mixture into a greased 17X12x1" cookie sheet.
Bake 20 minutes at 350 degrees.
While cake is baking go ahead and make the icing because it gets put on while the cake is hot.

Texas Sheet Cake Icing

1 stick butter
4 tbsp. cocoa
1/3 cup milk
16 oz. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Place butter, cocoa and milk in a pan and bring to a boil.
Remove from heat and add powdered sugar, vanilla and nuts.
Whisk until sugar is well blended.
Pour over warm cake and let cool!
Enjoy!

Pumpkin Pie Cake

The long hot summer we had meant that there was very little baking going on in our household. It was just way too hot to even think about turning the oven on. (even with the A/C on)
So now that the fall-like weather has finally arrived you can guess where I'll be.
In the kitchen!

I made this pumpkin pie cake over the weekend and it was really good. I had it the first time while it was still warm and though it was good it was way better after letting it cool completely and chilling it in the refrigerator.

Pumpkin Pie cake

Crust:
1 box yellow cake mix (set 1 cup aside for later)
1 stick butter, melted
2 eggs

For the filling:
29 oz. can of pumpkin
3/4 cup evaporated milk
3 eggs
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. salt

Topping:
1 cup of the reserved cake mix
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 stick butter,  melted

Mix together the crust ingredients and press into a greased 9X13 pan.
Mix together the filling ingredients and pour over the crust.
Mix topping ingredients and pour or spoon over the top.
Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until done.
Let cool and enjoy!

Try serving chilled with a dollop of whipped topping!

Hubby's Favorite Blackberry Cobbler

Just like his Momma made!

Have you ever tried to make something for your hubby that was "just like his Momma's"?
It's rather difficult isn't it?

We have been married for almost 20 years and there are a few dishes that his Mom always made that I am still trying to  replicate. Sadly, she is no longer here to answer my questions so I am left to trial and error...and let me say many a times it is an error.

(Tip #1. Beg and plead with your mother-in-laws to get their family favorite recipes before it's too late. Oh, and hope that they have a recipe. My MIL didn't use many recipes so it was rather hard to write down something that was in her head & wasn't actually measured out.)

Anyways, over the years I have made many  "from scratch" recipes for cobblers and though hubby would say that they were good they still weren't just like his mommas.

That is until I tried using Bisquick in it.
Are you serious??
After all these years of mixing and sampling it all came down to a lousy box of Bisquick.
Yep! 
That was the missing ingredient.
So simple and easy.


Bisquick Blackberry Cobbler

2 tbsp. butter
1 cup Bisquick
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
3 cups fruit

Melt butter in an 8X8 pan.
Mix Bisquick, sugar and milk in a bowl.
Pour over top of the melted butter.
*The melted butter kind of oozes up and around the batter*
Spoon fruit over top.
Bake 30 minutes for 375 degrees.
Serve warm with a little vanilla ice cream.

Sorry! I forgot to take a picture of the cobbler before they dug into it. The above photo was taken just before placing it in the oven. I always stock up on berries when they are on sale and then I freeze them. Thus the ice crystals on the berries. 

Vanilla Pound Cake

HI all!
I'm getting so behind in blogging and blog reading. If I haven't visited you lately I promise I'll get there soon!


This past Friday and Saturday I had a yard sale so that kept me pretty busy last week as I was getting ready for it. Sunday was spent trying to catch up on cleaning and laundry. 
Monday was wasted (not really) on resting up and reading. I spent most of the day propped up on a pillow reading a good book.
That brings me to today which is when I baked the yummy cake above. It was super easy to make and oh so yummy topped with strawberries and whipped topping.
I planned on taking a picture with the strawberries and all but didn't get that done before we gobbled it all up.


Vanilla Pound Cake


3 sticks butter (real butter at room temperature)
3 cups sugar
6 eggs (at room temperature)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup milk ( I used 2 %)
1 1/2 tbsp. vanilla extract


Grease and flour a bundt pan.
Cream butter and sugar.
Add eggs one at a time.
Alternately add the flour and milk.
Add vanilla.
Pour into pan and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.
Let cool in the pan for 15 minutes and then invert onto a cooling rack.


Once I got the cake baked I headed outdoors to do a little weeding in my flower bed. Shortly after I finished pulling the weeds I noticed this little bunny hopping around near the edge of my garden. 

He was so cute!

Thankfully he crossed through the fence to the neighbors yard because if my dogs find him out there I'm afraid to think of what they would do to him.

Troubles with a 3 Layer Cake

This is why I rarely ever make a three layer cake.
Mine NEVER turn out good!  They always look like the Tower of Pisa.

This past weekend though, I did play around with a few recipes and one happened to be for a 3 layer cake and look

It worked...no Leaning Tower of Pisa!

The trick?
I stuck a skewer stick down the center of the three layers just before I iced it.
Tah dah, now why didn't I do that before?
It's not like I haven't watched them 50,000 times on TV use the same trick. For some reason though, I never thought of trying it here at home...DUH!

Anyways the cake itself was good. The homemade mocha frosting that I made was OK but not fabulous so I'm gonna share the cake recipe (which is not mine) along with my pink White Chocolate Raspberry icing that is shown in the first photo. I think the two together would be delicious!

3 Layer Butter Cake

4 eggs, separated
3 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar, divided
4 tsp. vanilla
1 cup milk
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar

Separate the eggs, placing yolks in one bowl and the whites in another.
In a small mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder & salt.
In large mixing bowl, beat butter until soft.
Add 1 1/2 cups of the sugar and beat until fluffy.
Add egg yolks and vanilla.
Scrape sides of bowl down and then alternately add the flour mixture and milk, mix well and set aside.
In another bowl, whisk the egg whites until foamy.
Add the cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks form.
Next add the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar and whisk until stiff peaks form.
Gently fold the egg whites into the batter.
Spray three (8 inch) round cake pans with cooking spray.
Next take parchment paper and trace the bottom of one of the pans. Cut the circle out (times 3) and place one in the bottom of each pan. Spray pan again and then flour.
Divide batter between the three pans.
Place in a 350 degree oven and bake for 25 minutes.
When done, remove cakes and let cool in pans for 10 minutes.

Turns pans upside down to remove cakes. Let cool completely.
Once cooled begin assembling.
Place one cake layer on cake stand.
Thinly ice top of cake (recipe follows or use your own favorite frosting) and then add second cake layer.
Repeat again for the last layer.
*Remember to prevent the cake from leaning you can place a skewer stick down the center before icing the outside of the cake.)

White Chocolate Raspberry Icing

1 stick butter
4 (1oz.) squares of white baking chocolate
4 tbsp. water
2 tsp. vanilla
5 cups powdered sugar
Several tbsp. raspberry jelly

Place butter, chocolate and water in a small saucepan; heat and stir until well blended.
Place chocolate mixture into a bowl, add vanilla and powdered sugar and mix till blended.
Next add the raspberry jelly a tbsp. at a time until you get the right consistency and flavor that you like.

Enjoy!

Berry Delicious Dessert

I'm not sure what to actually name this dessert or how to even describe it to you.
I came up with it yesterday while I was *experimenting* in the kitchen and it's a definite keeper.
It's not a cookie obviously, yet the batter reminds me of cookie dough.
It's not a cobbler or a streusel but it makes me think of those desserts also.
Bottom line....IT IS GOOD!
It was our dessert after dinner last night. Some ate it plain, right off of the plate while others had it in a bowl with milk. Both ways were tasty. I refrigerated the leftovers and enjoyed them again tonight after dinner. Served cold, it tasted even more like a cookie.

Berry Delicious Dessert

2 sticks butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
21 oz. can of blackberry pie filling

Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tbsp. milk
splash of vanilla

Cream butter and sugar.
Add eggs, 1 tsp. vanilla, salt, flour & soda.
Mix well and spread 3/4 of the dough in the bottom of a greased 13X9 pan.
Spread blackberry filling over batter.
Using a teaspoon, spoon remaining dough on top of the filling. (Just place dots of it here and there.)
Pull a knife through the dots and kind of swirl it a bit.
Bake at 350° for 30-40 minutes.
Cool completely.
For glaze:
Whisk together powdered sugar, milk & the splash of vanilla.
Place icing in a plastic food storage bag, twist it to close and then snip the bottom corner off to create an icing bag.
Gently squeeze icing over the top and ENJOY!

German Apple Cake

It's apple pickin' time around here!

My neighbors have a Golden Delicious tree in their back yard that is so loaded down with apples that they have had to prop the limbs up with 2X4's for fear of them breaking. Actually a few limbs have already snapped in two.
Anyhow, they were kind enough to share it's bounty with us this year. Logan and I grabbed a ladder, a set of grabbers and the wagon and began picking apples one by one.
Keep in mind it was a nice warm day so the bees were just as interested in those apples as we were.
In the end, it was easier to grab a limb and give the tree a good shake and they all tumbled down.
I really wish I would have gotten a picture of Logan doing this. It was quite funny as he was shaking it all the while trying to protect his head from the falling apples.

We ended up with a full wagon load so I made several batches of applesauce and then placed the rest of them in a cool spot to keep until I need them.

Dorothy also shared her recipe for the apple cake that she makes. She sent us all over a piece so that we could try it and it was DELICIOUS!

Now I know what I'll be making with those apples!

German Apple Cake

1 cup oil
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 cups peeled and thinly sliced apples
1 cup walnuts

Icing Ingredients
3 oz. cream cheese
1 1/2 tsp. softened butter
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

Beat oil and eggs until frothy.
Add sugar and vanilla and blend.
In another bowl, mix flour, cinnamon, soda and salt.
Gradually add flour mixture to egg mixture.
Fold in apples and walnuts.
Pour into a greased and floured 13X9 pan.
Bake 1 hour at 350°.

While cake is baking, blend all icing ingredients together.
Spread icing on cake as soon as it comes out of the oven.
Let cool and then place in the refrigerator.
This can be eaten hot or cold however I am told that it is much tastier eaten cold.
ENJOY!

Zucchini Apple Cake

Here's the recipe for my Zucchini Apple Cake that I made yesterday. It received a thumbs up from all...even the picky eaters that don't like zucchini.

Zucchini Apple Cake

2 cups shredded zucchini (1 med. zucchini)

1 cup shredded apple (1 apple)

1 stick butter, melted

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

3 tbsp. cocoa

3 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

*1 cup sour milk

* To make sour milk just place 1 tbsp. of lemon juice into a 1 C. measuring cup and fill the rest of the way up with milk.)

Shred zucchini & apple and set aside.

In large bowl, mix melted butter & sugar.

Add eggs and vanilla.

In a smaller bowl, mix cocoa, flour, soda and salt.

Now add those dry ingredients to egg mixture alternately with the sour milk.

Add zucchini & apple.

Batter will be thick!

Place in a greased 13X9 pan.

Bake 350° for 45 minutes.

Cool and frost with cream cheese icing.

As for the icing, my first thought was to make a caramel frosting but it got voted down when I gave the kids the  second option of a cream cheese icing.

You will have to look up a recipe for cream cheese icing because I just whipped this one up from scratch and tasted-tested it as I went.

After making this recipe I still have several zucchini left over so I'll be making this.

My favorite ~ Zucchini sauteed in a little olive oil with salt & pepper.

I snapped a picture of the kids playing that game that I bought at a yard sale this weekend. Everyone is having so much fun playing it except for the sore arm muscles that we all have. Just goes to show you that when you don't use them, you lose them.

Well, it's a gloomy yet humid day here with showers off and on so I think I will spend a little time indoors today putting  some of our lesson plans for school together. I'll catch up with all of you later on.  

Ho Ho Cake

I am starving and writing this post about food sure isn't helping matters. I guess I'll take care of that issue just as soon as I finish here.
It's been a pretty boring week here. Nothing going on except the usual....cooking, cleaning, schooling and well you get the picture.
Same stuff.....different day! :-)

The kids are almost finished with their schoolwork for the day so we are heading out to work in the garden. They are calling for rain over the weekend (which we need) so I would like to get the corn in the ground before we have a muddy mess to tromp through. That is .... if I can get the roto tiller started on my own.
My potatoes and green beans are up and growing now and I'm anxious to get everything else in the ground too!
Well enough of the boring stuff.
How about some good food?
This recipe traditionally calls for eggs in the glaze but I don't like using raw eggs so I omitted them.

Ho Ho Cake

1 dark chocolate cake mix

1 cup milk

5 tbsp. flour

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

Prepare cake as directed on box and bake in a 11 1/2X 15 pan.

While cake is baking, mix flour and milk over low heat until thickened.

Place mixture in refrigerator to get good and cold.

When cake is cooled, beat butter, shortening & sugar.

Add chilled flour paste to this mixture & beat till creamy.

Spread over cake and refrigerate.

Once cake has chilled a bit then you can make the glaze.

Glaze Ingredients:

3 oz. unsweetened chocolate

4 tbsp. butter

1 3/4 cups powdered sugar

3 tbsp. water

Combine glaze ingredients in a pan over low heat.

When melted and mixed well remove from heat and pour over top of cake.

If mixture is too thin then you may add more powdered sugar.

Refrigerate & ENJOY!

Caramel Iced Chocolate Cake

Well let me say that I know that this picture is awful but I can assure you that the cake was yummy and the icing on top was even yummier!

(Food can be really hard to photograph and make it look appetizing or even edible at times! :0)

The icing on this cake reminds me of the buttermilk cookies that I MUST bring home with me everytime we visit Sugar Creek. (Amish)

YUMMO!

So I made the cake for my husband since he loves chocolate and for me,I would have been satisfied with just a spoonful of the icing.

Caramel Iced Chocolate Cake

2 cups sugar

1 cup oil

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

2 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp. soda

1/2 cup cocoa

1 cup buttermilk

1 cup boiling water

2 tbsp. mayonnaise

Combine all except for the water and mayo.

Add boiling water and mayo.

Bake in a greased 13X9 pan at 350° for 50 minutes.

Let cool.

When cake is cool then make the icing and spread over cake.

Caramel Icing

6 tbsp. butter

3/4 cups brown sugar

6 tbsp. milk

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Melt butter and sugar.

Add milk and boil fast for 2 minutes.

Remove from heat and add powdered sugar.

Stir until it loses it's gloss and then spread over cake.

Enjoy!

Blueberry Buckle

Here is another treat that I found in my MIL's recipes . I baked this yesterday morning and it definitely passed the taste test last night.

I have plenty of berries stored in my freezer so I am going to use this recipe and just switch out the berries. I think it will be yummy no matter what fruit you place in it.

( Berries can be fresh or frozen. I used some that I had froze earlier in the season. I just set them out on the counter for a few hours to thaw a little before placing them in the batter.)

Blueberry Buckle

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

2 cups well-drained blueberries

Crumb Topping

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup flour

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 cup butter, softened

Mix together the sugar, butter and egg.

Stir in milk.

In another bowl, mix the flour, baking powder & salt and then add to the egg mixture.

Carefully blend in the blueberries.

Spread into a greased & floured 9-inch baking pan (I used a pie pan.)

Mix the topping ingredients together and then sprinkle on top of batter.

Bake at 375° for 45-50 minutes.

You can serve this warm with ice cream or as my husband prefers, in a bowl with a little milk.

Enjoy!

Toffee Caramel Cream Soda Cake

Caramel and Heath Bars are on the very top of my list of favorites so after making my husband his favorite cake for his birthday last weekend I decided to try to make something kinda similar but one that would satisfy my tastes. I was skeptical (as with any recipe I pull from my head) but it turned out good. The only problem was that after sitting in the refrigerator for a day the caramel got hard and chewy. Which wasn't really a problem for me because I thought that made it yummy!

TOFFEE CARAMEL CREAM SODA CAKE

White Box Cake Mix

2 cups cream soda (not diet)

14 oz. bag of caramels

1/2 stick of butter

1 cup evaporated milk

14 oz. bag of Heath Candy Bars, crushed

2 envelopes Dream Whip

1 cup milk

Beat cake mix and cream soda together.

Pour into a 13x9 greased pan and bake for 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees.

While cake is baking, unwrap caramels and place in a saucepan with the evap. milk and butter.

Over medium heat, stir and let caramels melt.

When cake is done, remove and pour melted caramel over top.

Return cake back to the oven for 5 more minutes.

Remove and let cake cool.

Once cool, beat Dream Whip with milk till stiff peaks form.

Spread this over top of cake.

Sprinkle the crushed Heath bar on top & refrigerate.

Dream Whip Pistachio Cake

This isn't the recipe that I intended to post today but I didn't get the other beef recipe ready to go so this will have to do.

I made this cake for Sunday dinner and it was good. Nothing fancy, just a quick & simple thing to throw together at the last minute. I may have to experiment with some other flavors with this recipe too!

Dream Whip Pistachio Cake

1 yellow cake mix

1 oz. box of sugar-free, fat-free pistachio pudding mix

3 eggs

3/4 cup oil

1 cup water

1 tsp. butter flavoring (or vanilla)

ICING:

2 envelopes Dream Whip

1 cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla

green sprinkles

In mixing bowl, mix cake mix, pudding, eggs, oil, water and flavoring.

Pour into a greased bundt pan.

Bake for 1 hour (or till toothpick inserted comes out clean) at 350 degrees.

Cool in the pan for 10 minutes.

Remove from pan onto a serving tray.

Once completely cool then mix the icing ingredients well till stiff peaks begin to form. Once they do then you can spread the icing on the cake.

Top with sprinkles.

Oatmeal Cake

Here is the Oatmeal Cake recipe that I talked about in yesterday's post.

Oatmeal Cake

1 cup oatmeal

1 1/3 cups boiling water

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 stick butter

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. soda

1/2 tsp. salt

2 eggs

1 1/3 cups flour

1 tbsp. cocoa

Add boiling water to oatmeal and set aside.

Cream sugars, butter, cinnamon,soda & salt.

Add eggs, flour & cocoa.

Add oatmeal & water mixture.

Bake in 13 x 9 for 35 minutes at 350 degrees.

While that is baking mix up the topping ingredients.

Topping:

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 c. canned milk

1 stick butter

1 cup flaked coconut

Mix all in saucepan over heat till melted.

After cake has baked the first 35 minutes then you spread on the topping and put under the broiler for 5 minutes or till brown.

I never mess with the broiler, I just place the cake back in the oven and let it bake another 5-10 minutes till brown.

This is one of my all time favorite cake recipes.

Red Velvet Cake

Red Velvet Cake

(Super Moist & Yummy!)

We had so many desserts to choose from this Thanksgiving. I made a few pumpkin pies and Pioneer Woman's Chocolate Pie plus her Apple Pie which you can find on her website http://thepioneerwoman.com/. My Dad also made homemade raisin bars but my personal favorite was this cake that my sister-in-law made.

I'm not a big fan of using much food coloring in my recipes but this was really good. Not sure how it would look if I left out the coloring but I may have to try next time.

RED VELVET CAKE

2 cups sifted flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cocoa

3/4 cup oil

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 bottle red food coloring

1 cup buttermilk

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. white vinegar

1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt & cocoa into a bowl.

Cream oil & sugar.

Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add food coloring & mix until well blended.

Combine buttermilk and baking soda & then add it to the oil-sugar mixture alternately with the dry ingredients.

Add vinegar & vanilla and mix well.

Spoon into two greased 9-inch round pans.

Bake for 20-30 minutes or until done. DO NOT OVERBAKE!

Ice with cream cheese icing & ENJOY!

Cream Cheese Icing

2 (8oz.) cream cheese

2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup butter

2 pounds confectioner's sugar

Combine cream cheese, butter & vanilla. Beat until smooth.

Gradually add sugar while beating.

Sprinkle top with chopped nuts if desired.