by Alexis - April 11, 2013

Vegan Chocolate Cake

We were invited to a friends house for Easter and I had grand plans of the desserts I would be bringing. Unfortunately they fell apart. No, like it actually did fall apart. I was trying to make many thin layers and unfortunately it crumbled everywhere. Still tasted great with what parts I could salvage. One of Travis’ favorite cakes is German Chocolate. So I added a little store bought sweetness.. Tasted amazing and was incredibly moist.

So try it! It’s AMAZING and crazy simple. Here is the blog I found it from. I know when my vegan sister comes to visit I’ll be making her a cake to bring back to Seattle.. 🙂

Recipe:

Ingredients
1 1/2 Cups flour
3 Tbsp. cocoa (unsweetened)
1 Cup white sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. white vinegar
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
5 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 Cup water

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix first 5 dry ingredients in a greased 8″ square baking pan. Make 3 depressions in dry ingredients. Pour vinegar in one depression, vanilla in the other and the vegetable oil in third larger depression. Pour water over all. Mix well until smooth.

Bake on middle rack of oven for 35 minutes. Check with toothpick to make sure it comes out clean. Cool. Top with your favorite frosting. Enjoy!

by Alexis - September 2, 2012

Fruit Cake

This cake is pretty simple and really tasty. I served this a couple times and at both times it was praised. I prefer it cold but it can be served luke warm/warm.

You can add any fruit you like, I happen to have strawberries. Top with powdered sugar and you’re good to go!

It takes maybe 10 min to put together and 40-45 min to cook. Did I mention it’s an easy cake? 🙂

Makes 1 9×13 cake | Preparation: Heat oven to 350 degrees F and line 9×13 pan with foil and cover with bake spray.

Ingredients:

Crust

1 box of yellow cake mix
4 ounces butter, melted
1 egg

Berry Custard Filling

3 large eggs
1 1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cups sour cream
1/2 cup flour plus 2 tablespoons
12 oz strawberries
4 oz berries

Instructions:

To make crust

Place the dry cake mix, butter, 1 egg in a bowl and mix until well blended. Press mixture into parchment-lined 9×13 inch pan. Set aside.

To make berry custard filling

Place eggs in a bowl and beat eggs until well combined. Add in sugar and beat and until foamy. Add in sour cream, flour and mix to combine. Fold in strawberries and other berries.
Pour mixture on top of crust and bake at 350 degrees for 40-55 minutes or until the edges are a light golden brown, and the center slightly jiggles when pan is tapped.
Cool completely in pan. Turn out onto a cutting board and cut into squares.

by Alexis - November 13, 2011November 13, 2011

Cinnamon Roll Cake

We had a friend stay the night this weekend and I decided to make this cinnamon roll cake for breakfast. I like making things for people when they stay over. And girls like the cinnamon rolls! 🙂

I’m a little lazy and am on a mission to make some kind of cinnamon rolls without the yeast. We’ll see what I find. In the mean time, I can say that this is more like a coffee cake.

Blows Starbucks coffee cake out of the water.

Here’s the recipe, it’s fast to make.

**I only used 1/2 Cup for the topping. And it turned out delicious! Any way to make it even a little better for us.**

Cake:
3 c. flour
1/4 tsp.salt
1 c. sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 c. milk
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. butter, melted

Topping:
1 c. butter, softened
1 c. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. flour
1 Tbsp. cinnamon

Mix everything together except for the butter. Slowly stir in the melted butter and pour into a greased 9×13 pan. For the topping, mix all the ingredients together until well combined. Drop evenly over the batter and swirl with a knife. Bake at 350 for 28-32 minutes.

Glaze:
2 c. powdered sugar
5 Tbsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla

While warm drizzle the glaze over the cake. It’s awesome!

by Alexis - May 9, 2011May 10, 2011

Polish Apple Cake (Szarlotka)

I made a Polish apple cake tonight. We had some friends over and thought it sounded like a safe new recipe.

It’s pretty huh. 🙂 It has 6 apples inside plus a large handful of raisins.

This is how a Pole would serve it probably. Warm with maybe a dolop of cream…but I am American. Can’t ignore it. And although it was super tasty I couldn’t help myself- I had to add a cinnamon glaze. Because apples and cinnamon are the best of friends.

I served it warm. One surprising thing was how dense it was. I couldn’t finish one piece! I have half left over….this is an open invitation to come over and take a piece. Please. 🙂

Will totally make this cake again and you should too! Pretty healthy, super easy and would be great served hot or cold.

SMACZNEGO!

by Alexis - April 13, 2011

Food Coloring

Whoever created and invented food coloring made my weekend. Emma’s cake is nothing but white cake and whipped white icing. But thanks to them, Emma was ecstatic over her Belle Princess cake.

The stand is a beautiful Polish pie dish upside down on top of a candle holder. Try and not look at Belle’s googly eyes. They’re hypnotic.

The girls loved it and it was amazingly great, especially since it’s just a white cake. The inside was pink. Brilliant pink. Which the little princesses didn’t eat-they focused on the icing. Such good 3 year olds. 🙂

I’m sure this whole post has gotten a certain someone annoyed all these pictures are portrait. Didn’t mean to but I certainly recognized a pattern in how I take pictures.

by Alexis - March 28, 2011March 29, 2011

cocoa cake

I made a couple individualized cakes tonight for a dessert- Trav was craving something sweet- and this was small, chocolate and warm. Perfect.

You just mix all the ingredients (at end of post) together and then heat the mug/cup in the microwave for 2 min. That’s it!

I am lame for two reasons. One, I don’t like chocolate (which alienates me horribly from my sex) and secondly because I do not have the recipe near me to write here for you. But I will try my best to write it down for you from memory:

1 egg, 3 T of veggie oil, 2 T of cocoa powder, 1/4 C flour, 4 T suger and 3 T of milk. Hah! I think I that’s it!

Just mix and microwave.

I splashed a little salt on top for the sweet/salty combo. Bad idea. Don’t do it.

One batch allowed for two of these cups. Just fill 1/2-3/4 of way. Dust with any remaining cocoa powder. You can really personalize these by adding flavors, soaked raisins, Kahlua or white chocolate chips. Just a few ideas.

Enjoy!

by Alexis - November 15, 2010November 15, 2010

National Bundt Cake day!

Happy National Bundt Cake Day! I have been looking forward to this day to try new recipes and, as it turns out, I went totally predictable and went seasonal. Boring. But my taste buds aren’t complaining. If you have 30 seconds PLEASE go check her out. It is because of her that I even know of this holiday. She has been leading up to this day with 30 bundt recipes! Seriously, bundt cakes are her passion and we get to reap the benefits with pictures that make me want to lick the screen. Hmm, not sure that’s a benifit…but anyways she is amazing and dedicated to say the least. And creative, meatloaf bundt anyone? Personally, I just have fun looking at her pictures, she’s the one who makes the cakes at 5:30am. Hah!

I’ll be in LA, which is where she lives, this week for a fundraising conference and would love to meet her if nothing else but to eat her cakes! (No offense Food Librarian, I’m sure you’re very nice hehe)

OK, so enough rambling, just go check out her blog. Here is my bundt cake to celebrate this very special, very sacred holiday.

My Bundt cake is a Pumpkin Spice cake with raisins. Topped with a Vanilla Glaze. I double glazed it. Double the calories. Double the goodness. I also froze the mini’s for a dreary day. Planning ahead. For when I’m feeling lazy wanting to surprise Travis with a dessert.

by Alexis - October 21, 2010October 26, 2010

Chocolate Banana Bundt

I have an obsession with collecting bundt pans. LOVE. THEM. I am fully satisfied imagining me 50 years from now with a kitchen with bundt pans hanging on the walls. I’d ask you over for tea/coffee and we’d partake of an amazing bundt cake.

I am also obsessed with reading/writing blogs. And if you’re like me and like both bundt cakes AND blogging CHECK THIS GIRL OUT. Well, I don’t mean in like…. a ooo lala way. But check her blog out. Man, people- grow up. 😉

She’s doing a count down until November 15 which is ‘Officially Bundt Cake Day’. Yes people. That is why I love this country. They make crazy holidays like bundt cake day. So sweet…

So anyways, this chick is literally making a new bundt cakes EVERYDAY until November 15th. Yeah. Crazy. Crazy cool! So since I had it on my ‘to do list’ I decided to make my banana bread a little more sultry and add chocolate chips to the meld. Heck, throw it into a fancy bundt pan and you feel so good about yourself that you won’t clean the rest of the day. Enjoy. Oh and recipe, not going to give it. It’s my mothers and I promised I wouldn’t give it to anyone…but I am partial to bribing.

(Do you see how the top of my cake is kinda patch-worked together? Just a little bit , but apparently I didn’t grease it enough. Does this happen to you? I get so frustrated when it comes out like that. Oh well, at least it tastes great.)

by Alexis - October 4, 2009October 4, 2009

Chocolate Cake

List of words Emma says: cat, kitty, dog, chair, car, no, dada and ball. Notice how mama isn’t on the list. Yeah, she knows me by mama and if anyone tells her to come to mama she runs to me. But she just doesn’t say it-stubborn little thing.

Friday I made a chocolate cake. But not just any chocolate cake, it’s called ‘The Best Chocolate Cake Ever’. This is hard for me because I don’t like chocolate. Yes, you read that right, I just don’t like the flavor. Anyhoo, everyone else really liked it and had big pieces. You can go here to find the recipe. It’s NOT from scratch, so it is possible to quickly make this for a dinner party like I did. I made the butter cream frosting from this blog. Enjoy the pictures.

There is half a cake left over and I won’t eat it. (my chocolate comes in the form of tortilla chips) We need to have people over to eat it fast! Check out my giveaway! Tuesday is the deadline- all you have to do is comment! It’s that easy!!

I’m horrible at icing. Really bad, so this is the only picture I will give you showing the cake as a whole. I messed up the icing- like really bad. So even though it tasted really good, it was messy to look at.