Fantastic Chocolate Cake

This recipe came from an old church cookbook where all the ladies in the community shared their favorite recipes. This one supposedly originated from Peru. I tell you it is a fantastic chocolate cake recipe. I love chocolate but must admit I don't usually like chocolate cake. I'm more of a brownie girl. However, I've made this one many times and it never lasts long. It's also an easy made-from-scratch recipe.

Fantastic Chocolate Cake
by Chelsey W.
1 c buttermilk or (1c milk with 1tsp vinegar added to it)
1 c oil
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3 c flour
2 c sugar
1/2 c cocoa powder
3 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 c Hot water
Mix together buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. In another bowl sift together all the other dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones and beat well. Add the hot water and beat for 2 more min. Batter will be thin. Bake in a greased 9x13 cake pan at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes until done and an inserted toothpick comes out clean. May also be baked in 2 or 3 layer pans for a shorter time.


Chocolate Frosting
1/2 c margarine or butter, softened
1/3 c cocoa powder
3 c powdered sugar
1/4 c milk
1 tsp vanilla

Mix together the margarine and cocoa. Gradually add in powdered sugar. Add milk to thin it out and then vanila. Whip until creamy and smooth.

Candy Bar Trifle

Simply said, this dessert is delicious! Chocolate cake, caramel, toffee chips, and whipped cream all layered together making an awesome treat.

Candy Bar Trifle
by Chelsey W.

chocolate cake mix (German or any kind you like)
  -ingredients listed on cake mix
jar of caramel topping (get the good stuff)
can of sweetened condensed milk
large container of whipped topping
bag of chocolate covered toffee chips (like "Heath" found by choc chips)
or about 6 Heath or Skor chocolate bars, crushed

Bake the chocolate cake according to package directions and cool. Cut the cake up into cubes. If your caramel topping is thick (it usually is if it's a good quality) stir in some sweetened condensed milk to thin it out a little. You don't want it too thin but you want it to soak into the cake pieces. If the caramel topping is already runny don't use the sweetened condensed milk. Layer your ingredients into a trifle dish or large glass serving bowl. Start with 1/2 of the cake cubes on the bottom. When making a trifle put the cake and other ingredients around the edge so you can see them through the glass. Then drizzle 1/2 of the caramel on the cake. Sprinkle with 1/3 of the toffee chips. Then layer 1/2 the whipped topping. Repeat these layers again ending with the rest of the toffee chips sprinkled on top. Refrigerate a few hours before serving.

Grandma's Cream Cake

This is an excellent cake recipe that comes from my grandmother. It is very easy to make and delicious. This is the recipe I usually use whenever I want to make a white cake from scratch. I also use it all the time for cupcakes. Try my frosting recipe on top and don't ruin it with the boughten stuff.

Grandma's Cream Cake

by Chelsey W.

2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1 cup whipping cream

or 1 cup sour cream

1/4 cup milk

3 eggs

pinch of salt

3 tsp baking powder 

or 1 tsp of baking soda if using sour cream

1 tsp vanilla

Mix together the flour and sugar then add the cream and other ingredients. Mix until well combined and pour into a greased 9x13 cake pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 min. or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely and frost.

Perfect Frosting

1/2 c margarine or butter, softened *I prefer flavor of margarine in this

3-4 c powdered sugar

milk as needed, a few tablespoons

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp almond extract (to taste)

food coloring

The frosting is made by taste. Put a stick of margarine in a large mixing bowl. On low speed mix with electric beaters beat margarine slowly adding in about 2 c of powdered sugar. Add a little milk when it gets too thick. Add more powdered sugar, vanilla and almond extract. Continue to mix in powdered sugar until frosting reaches desired thickness and taste. Add a little food coloring and frost cake.

Chocolate Lover's Bundt Cake

I've seen this recipe all over the internet and decided to give it a try. I love bundt cakes. They are easy to make but look fancy. Plus I love a moist, dense cake. I saw several recipes for this cake and all of them were the same but had a different frostings/toppings. I chose to make a cream cheese frosting for mine this time but will share some other ideas with you to choose from.

Chocolate Lover's Bundt Cake

by Chelsey W.

1 pkg devil's food cake mix

1 small pkg instant chocolate pudding

4 eggs

1 c oil

1/2 c water

1 c sour cream

1 tsp vanilla

1 c chocolate chips (milk or semi sweet)

Mix together all the ingredients, stirring in chocolate chips at the end. Pour into a well greased bundt pan and bake at 350 degrees for 45-55 min. or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cake cool in pan at least 20 min. before inverting onto a plate. Choose one of the frostings/toppings to serve with cake.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened

1/4 c butter or margarine, softened

2-3 c powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Cream the butter and cream cheese together. Mix in vanilla. Add in powdered sugar starting with 2 c and adding enough so that it's nice and thick. See another picture here.

Fudge Sauce with Whipped Cream:

2 c sugar

1/2 c cocoa powder

1 c butter

1 can evaporated milk

1 tsp vanilla

whipped cream

Melt butter in a sauce pan, add in sugar and cocoa. When dissolved add can of evaporated milk. Boil for 4 minutes. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Serve cake with fudge sauce dripping over cake and whipped cream.

White Chocolate:

2 c white chocolate chips

3 Tbsp milk or cream

Melt chocolate with cream in microwave at 50% power for 20 second intervals stirring in between. Be careful not to burn it ruins easily. Pour hot chocolate over cooled cake letting it drizzle down sides. Can decorate it by sprinkling mini chocolate chips on the top. See a picture here.

Chocolate Frosting:

Make a homemade chocolate frosting or simply buy a container of it, melting it in the microwave for a few seconds (only long enough to thin it a little) then let it drizzle over cooled cake.

Lemon Pudding Cake

This cake is a family favorite. It's moist and has a light lemon flavor, perfect for spring.

Lemon Pudding Cake

by Chelsey W.

1 lemon cake mix, and ingredients listed on the box

1 large box of lemon Jello or 2 small boxes

1 large box of Instant lemon pudding or 2 small boxes, milk needed

1 small (8oz) container of whipped topping

Make lemon cake according to package directions. Bake at 350 degrees in a 12x17x1 rimmed sheet pan until done about 15-20 min. Let cake cool. Make lemon Jello according to package directions using 1/2 the water called for. Poke the cake with a large utility fork all over, then pour liquid Jello all over the cake slowly letting it soak in holes. Cover the cake well but you probably won't need all of it. Put cake in the fridge and let Jello set up for about an hour. Make instant lemon pudding according to package directions, spread on top of the cake and return it to the fridge to set up for a while. Spread whipped topping on top of pudding layer of cake and keep in fridge until ready to serve. This is a cold cake.

Barnyard Birthday

I thought I'd better post the pictures of my sons 2nd birthday cake before he turns 3 next month. A little behind on this one ;) For Garrett's 2nd birthday I decided to have a barnyard theme after seeing this cute barn cake and all the barn animal cupcakes. Zurcher's the party supply store also had a lot of fun barnyard decor. I don't have recipes for this (I did make my own frosting which you can find the recipe for here) just some links where I got a few ideas from. I followed this Betty Crocker tutorial, but also got a few ideas from this Taste of Home article. On his barnyard invitation (from Zurcher's) I glued a photo of him on it and added above it, "Baaa! Oink! Moo! Garrett's turning two. He wants to celebrate his birthday with you!" I had a lot of fun with this one.

White Cupcakes

This is a great cake/cupcake recipe that begins with a cake mix as a base but is changed quite a bit. These cupcakes are moist and delicious and definitely a recipe that I'll use a lot in the future. I bet the cake mix flavor could even be changed for other varieties.

I made a ton of these for a fundraiser event and did some experimenting with different cake mixes and even did a frosting experiment. For the frosting experiment I made two kinds, one with real butter, and one with margarine. On many recipes they say never use margarine; but I grew up using margarine and everyone always raves about the good frosting on my cakes/cupcakes/sugar cookies. So I put it to the test and had family and friends taste both frostings not knowing the difference and asked what they liked best. Most of the men didn't notice a difference that's men for ya. However, the majority liked the one made with the margarine the best until they knew it was margarine. So ha, frosting can taste great with margarine! ;)

White Cupcakes

Yield: 36 cupcakes

Prep Time: 15 min            Cook Time: 18 min

This is a doctored up cake mix recipe. These turn out delicious, moist and fluffy cupcakes. They have flat tops perfect for holding buttercream frosting.

Ingredients:

1 (18.25 ounce) box white cake mix

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup granulated white sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/3 cups water

2 Tablespoons vegetable or canola oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon of almond extract

1 cup sour cream

4 large egg whites

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Place cupcake liners in cupcake pans (you'll need approx. 36).

2. In a large bowl, whisk together cake mix, flour, sugar and salt. Add remaining ingredients and beat with hand mixer for 2 minutes, or until well blended.

3. Use ice cream scoop to fill prepared cupcake tins- fill about 3/4 full. Bake about 18 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Tips:

*Recommend: Duncan Hines "Moist" White Cake mix for this recipe. *Using an ice cream scoop is perfect for getting the batter into the cupcake tins without spilling. *You can also use this mix to make cake. Pour into greased and floured cake pans. Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Buttercream Frosting

This is my go-to recipe for icing cupcakes and cake. It's so easy to make, and it works through a piping bag well.

*I like the flavor better made with margarine, for the butter version click here

Ingredients:

 7 ½ cups powdered sugar (whole 2lb bag)

1 cup margarine, at room temperature

3 to 4 Tablespoons whipping cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon almond extract

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, with a hand or stand mixer, cream together 2 cups of powdered sugar and margarine on low speed. Mix until well blended.

2. Gradually add in the rest of the powdered sugar with the cream.

3. Add vanilla, almond, and continue to beat on medium-high speed for 3 minutes, adding more cream if needed for desired spreading/piping consistency.

4. Taste frosting, add more almond if needed, add more powdered sugar if frostings to thin or tastes buttery, add cream if too thick.

5. Mix in desired food coloring (use paste or gel, liquid will thin out your frosting).

6. Scoop into a piping bag and pipe decoratively onto cupcakes, or spread onto cupcakes or cake as desired.

*This recipe doubles or triples well.

*You can use milk instead of cream but use less, cream is fluffier

Recipe from RecipeGirl.com

Jello Poke Cake

If you've never made one of these cakes you need to. They are definitely a family favorite and so easy to make. They are moist and not too sweet which often leads to overeating. It is a lot of fun to try different Jello flavors. My favorites are lime green, red raspberry, and lemon. I made one of these cakes festive for the holidays by putting the cake mix in two round cake pans and then making one cake red and the other green. When layered on top of each other with the whipped topping spread around it, it looked like I had slaved in the kitchen all day. Have fun with this one.

Jello Poke Cake
by Chelsey W.

1 white cake mix and ingredients listed on box
1 small (3oz) package of Jello
1 c boiling water
1/2 c cold water
1 small container (8oz) whipped topping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Make and bake cake according to package directions in a 9x13 pan. Cool cake. Poke cake all over with a large utility fork. Stir Jello and boiling water in a bowl until dissolved. Then stir in cold water. Pour all over cake letting Jello drizzle into the holes. Refrigerate for 2 hours. Frost with whipped topping and enjoy. Store covered in fridge.

Martha's Devils Food Cupcakes with Sour Cream Frosting

For my moms birthday I decided to make cupcakes instead of a cake and put them in my cupcake tower. I had recently bought Martha Stewart's Cupcake book and decided I'd give it a try. I chose to make the devils food cupcakes with the sour cream frosting because they looked so good and who can pass up chocolate? They were more work to make since they were made from scratch and had more steps than a typical cake recipe but it was worth it because they were yummy! The cake was moist with a perfect texture and the frosting was unique and not as rich as it looks. The frosting has sour cream and cream cheese in it and I thought I had to give this a try. The end result was a smooth creamy frosting that complimented the cake without overpowering it. Thanks for the recipe Martha.

Recipe:
Devils Food Cupcakes
3/4 c cocoa powder
3/4 c hot water
3 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 tsp coarse salt
1 1/2 c unsalted butter
2 1/4 c sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 Tbsp plus 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 c sour cream, room temperature


1. Whisk together cocoa and hot water until smooth. In another bowl, whisk together flour, soda, baking powder, and salt. 
2. Melt butter with sugar in saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring to combine. Remove from heat and stir into a mixing bowl. With an electric mixer on low speed beat until mixture has cooled, 4 to 5 min. Add eggs one at a time. Add vanilla, then cocoa mixture and beat until combined. Add flour mixture in two batches alternating with sour cream and beating until combined.
3. Fill paper lined muffin tins 3/4 full with batter. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 20 min or until a toothpick poked in the center comes out clean. Rotate tins half way through. Let cool completely before frosting. Use frosting provided below, or your favorite chocolate frosting recipe.


Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting
1 lb (4 c) powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 c cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 c unsalted butter, room temperature
18 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted & cooled
1 1/2 c sour cream
(I used semi-sweet Bakers chocolate and only 10 oz of it and just used a little more cocoa and it turned out good and wasn't too dark)


Sift together powdered sugar, cocoa, and salt. With an electric mixer on med-high speed beat cream cheese and butter until pale and fluffy. On low speed add sugar mixture and mix until fully combined. Mix in melted and cooled chocolate and then sour cream. Beat until smooth. Use immediately or frosting can be stored in fridge for five days or frozen a month. Before using bring to room temp. and beat until smooth.

Sesame Street Cupcakes

For my sons 1st birthday party I decided to use Sesame Street as the theme. I saw Lyndsey from Kitchen doughdough on a morning talkshow called Good Things Utah and she showed some Sesame Street cupcakes that she made. I thought they were adorable and I had to make them. So I looked around the internet and found another great blog called Lovely Sprinkles and her cupcakes were just what I was looking for, absolutely darling. So I took ideas from both places and made up my own and I thought they turned out pretty cute. I was impressed with myself since this it the first time I have ever decorated a cake/cupcakes. It was fun and really wasn't hard. Then I went to a Zurcher's a party supply store and they had baby Sesame Street plates, napkins, and decor that said "1" on them. So it all worked out perfectly! Happy 1st Birthday to my baby Garrett! I love you!!!

To make these simply bake some cupcakes, I doubled the recipe and used my white cream cake recipe that I've listed below because the top has a nice firm surface for decorating or you can use a cake mix but you'll want to freeze the cupcakes before decorating so that the top doesn't peel off and get crumbs in your frosting when you decorate them. I made my own frosting because it's good and you can make it a firmer consistency for decorating. For the fur on all my characters I used a grass/hair decorating tip. Elmo had red frosting for the fur, an orange peanut butter M&M for the nose, white candy melts for the eyes, a black tube of frosting with a small round decorating tip was used to make all the eyeballs, I carefully sawed back and forth on an Oreo cookie half with a serrated knife to make all the mouths. Cookie monster has blue frosting for fur and a Chips Ahoy cookie was cut in half to make his mouth. I then made his eyes offset to look googly. *Just a note: I learned that you have to add the eyes, nose, and mouths quickly after making the fur because the frosting dries and hardens a little and then the mouths and eyes fall off. I had to use the black frosting like glue to put them back on because I frosted all the cupcakes with fur first and then added on the faces, and the frosting had set up a little too much by then. Oscar has green frosting for fur and his mouth is an upside down Oreo half to look like a frown. I forgot to color some frosting brown so I just used the black frosting for his eyebrows. For liners I just used ones that matched their color of fur. One blog used foil liners for Oscar so that it looked like his trash can and I thought that was a good idea.

Frosting:

Use four sticks of margarine 2 cups (or butter), and whip it with a lot of powdered sugar (like two bags). Add in about 2 tsp of vanilla extract and 1 tsp almond extract (don't forget it). Then add a little milk so you don't burn out your mixer (4-8Tbsp). If your going to use liquid food coloring it takes a ton and will water down your frosting so make the frosting pretty stiff. I recommend using the food coloring paste then you don't have to worry about that. When your frosting tastes good (add more powdered sugar if it is too soft or tastes like butter) split it into three different bowls and add different food colorings. You can reserve a little to color brown to make Oscars eyebrows if you want. This made enough frosting for about 30 cupcakes.

Cream Cake Recipe

2 c flour

1 c sugar

1 c cream

1/4 c milk

3 eggs

pinch of salt

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla

Mix together cream and sugar and add in flour then other ingredients. Bake at 350 degrees until toothpick come out clear when center of cake is poked. It stays a light color.

Patriotic Cupcakes

I saw these fun red, white, and blue layered cupcakes somewhere a while back and thought they were cute and wanted to make them sometime. Then recently on Real Mom Kitchen she made some and so I decided to give it a try and celebrate July with them. I made them with a cake mix to make it quick and just separated the batter into thirds and dyed it with food coloring. When you fill your cupcake liners be careful not to fill them more than 3/4ths the way. I had a problem with that. I made homemade frosting because I don't like the store bought frosting and I've explained how I make mine below but sorry there's no measurements this time. I never measure when I make it. I'll post my measurements for frosting in the future because it's good stuff. People always ask me how I make it and not to make all you butter lovers cringe but I think margarine gives frosting better flavor so that's what I use. A little almond extract also makes great frosting. So have some fun with these cupcakes, your guests will be impressed.

Recipe:

1 white cake mix & ingredients on box

red food coloring

blue food coloring

cupcake liners

frosting

sprinkles

Make the cake batter according to box directions. Put about 1 1/3 c batter in separate bowl and dye it red. Take another 1 1/3 c cake batter and dye it blue in a separate bowl. Leave the remaining batter white. Fill cupcake liners 3/4ths the way full layering red, white, and blue batter about 1 1/2 Tablespoons of each color. Bake according to cupcake directions on box. Cool and then frost with blue or white frosting. Put red, white, and blue sprinkles on the top.

Frosting:

1/2 c margarine, softened

powdered sugar

around 1 tsp vanilla

a couple drops of almond extract

food coloring

milk

If you're piping on the frosting you will want to double the recipe using 1c margarine since it takes more. With a mixer cream together the margarine with powdered sugar. Add a little milk and mix until it's the consistency you like. Add in the extracts and food coloring. It usually takes around 4-5 cups powdered sugar per 1/2c margarine. Just play with it adding more or less until it is the right texture. If your piping your frosting you want it to be stiffer so don't add much milk.

Strawberry Cheesecake Trifle

This recipe came from Janet Eyring on the Studio 5 morning talk show that I love to watch. They always have great ideas on that show and great recipes too. I've included the link to this dessert here because hers was much prettier than mine. This is the first time I've made a trifle so hopefully next time I make this my layering will be better. You have to be careful about keeping the whip cream from the sides of the bowl where you want your fruit to show through so you can see layers. I absolutely loved this trifle! The hint of almond flavoring was tasty. In the recipe she mixes in the angel food cake into the whip cream mixture. This coated the cake good but by the time I wanted leftovers it was a little soggy so I recommend eating this within two or three hours of making it. Next time I'm going to try layering the cake and then putting the whip cream mixture on top of it instead of mixing the cake in. This will add another layer for looks and might keep the cake from getting soggy for leftovers. You'll definitely want to make this recipe :)

Recipe:

2 (8 oz) packages of cream cheese, softened

2 cups powdered sugar

1 (8 oz) container sour cream

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp almond extract (I used a tiny bit more)

1 tub (12 oz) Cool Whip, thawed

4 Tbsp sugar

1 angel food cake, cut into bite-size cubes

2 (1 lb) containers of fresh strawberries, sliced

or 2 bags of frozen sliced strawberries

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and powdered sugar until fluffy; add sour cream, vanilla, and almond extract. Fold the Cool Whip into the cream cheese mixture. Gently stir in cake pieces (if you want cake mixed in). In a separate bowl combine strawberries with sugar until it dissolves (leave out some fresh strawberries to decorate with). If using fresh strawberries decorate bottom of bowl placing strawberries around the sides. Then layer 1/2 sugared strawberries then 1/2 cake pieces and whip cream mixture. Repeat in the same order ending with whip cream on top then decorate with strawberry slices. Cover with plastic and chill at least an hour before serving.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Cake

This might just be my favorite cake. It is ohhh sooo good! I often request this from my mother as my birthday cake. When I make it I have to make sure I'm taking it to share somewhere, otherwise I could eat the whole thing. It's a white cake with a whipped cream cheese center and who doesn't love fresh strawberries on top. You have to give this one a try. My little Carter could not get enough. I'll admit I'm not much of a photographer, my photo doesn't do this cake justice.

Recipe:

1 white cake mix

ingredients listed on the cake mix

8 oz pkg cream cheese

1 c powdered sugar

16 oz Cool Whip 

1 pkg strawberry Danish Dessert

4 c sliced strawberries

Bake the cake according to package directions on a large baking sheet/jelly roll pan. Mine is around (17x12x1). You can also split batter between two cake pans. Whip the cream cheese (room temp), powdered sugar, and Cool Whip together. After the cake has cooled spread cream cheese mixture over the cake and put in fridge. In a pan over the stove cook the Danish Dessert according to its pie glaze package directions adding in the strawberries when package calls for it, usually at the end after it has slightly cooled. When fruit glaze is cool spread on top of the cake. Chill in fridge at least an hour before serving. Yum Yum!

Lemon Bundt Cake

This cake is simple to make but looks impressive to guests. The lemon pudding in the cake makes it super moist with just the right amount of lemon flavor so it's not overbearing. This recipe came from Cathi Walker who presented it on Studio 5.

*FYI  I made two cakes, one Duncun Hines the other Pillsbury, and although both were yummy, I liked the Pillsbury brand cake and frosting better.

Recipe:

one yellow cake mix

one large pkg or two small pkgs of lemon instant Jello pudding

4 eggs

2/3 c oil

3/4 c water

1 container of lemon frosting

Mix all ingredients together (except frosting) for 3-4 min. Pour into greased bundt pan. Bake 45 min. to one hour at 350 degrees. (The cake looks pretty brown) Remove from oven and allow cake to slightly cool before turning it out of pan. Microwave frosting for about 15 seconds then drizzle it over the cake. (note- if the cake or frosting is too hot the frosting will melt off the cake)

Chocolate Caramel Cupcakes

Chocolate and caramel what a yummy mixture! I found this cupcake recipe in a Taste of Home magazine and decided to give it a try. They turned out good but I didn't care for the chocolate cake. The cake didn't have much flavor and I couldn't taste the chocolate. So I won't be posting the chocolate cake recipe, just use your own favorite. It didn't make the tried and true cut. But the frosting was rich and delicious! I will definitely make the frosting again. It was a nice change from the traditional butter frosting and full of caramel flavor.

Caramel Frosting

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 c butter

1/4 c milk

1 tsp vanilla

2 to 2 1/4 cups powdered sugar

In a heavy saucepan, combine the brown sugar, butter, and milk. Cook and stir over low heat until sugar is dissolved. Increase heat to medium. Do not stir. Cook for 3-6 minutes or until bubbles form in the center of mixture and syrup turns amber. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla and transfer to a mixing bowl. Cool to room temperature. Gradually beat in powdered sugar. Spread over cooled cupcakes.