Hidden Heart Cake

I made this cake from I Am Baker's blog for Valentine's Day. It is supposed to have a hidden heart inside. It was quite the undertaking and the first time I have ever carved a cake. Unfortunately, my heart didn't quite come out in the shape I wanted it to. You can kind of tell it resembles a heart though! Check out hers though... it is amazing! She also has step by step directions to follow if you want to make one. I'll just give the shortened version with my pics here.


First, make a 9x13 pan of red velvet cake. Break it up with a fork and mix in about 1 cup of frosting. Set aside.

Next, make two 2 layer white cakes. Frost in between each layer with white frosting. Put the layer cakes in the freezer for a couple of hours or even overnight.

When the cakes are nice and frozen, use a small bowl to make an outline on the top of each cake. I used a toothpick to make the line.

Next came the hardest part for me. You need to make a pointed well in the center of one layer cake. Mine was too wide at the bottom.

You need to make a well in the second layer cake as well. But this one needs a pointed mound in the middle. Mine was not pointed enough.

Next you fill the wells with the red velvet mixture you made earlier. You should frost around the ring of the bottom layer cake so you know which one needs to go on top. Stack the cakes together with the red velvet meeting in the middle. The cake with the pointed mound in the well will be the top. Frost a crumb coat on the 4 layer cake. Refrigerate or freeze for about 15 minutes.

Then frost the entire cake and smooth. Try to smooth it better than I did!

To decorate, I piped pink borders on the top and bottom of the cake. Then I used cookie cutters to press on the sides of the cake as a stencil.

Then I went over the stencil marks with frosting.

I finished by writing on the top of the cake.

Not quite a heart inside, but you get the idea! Happy Valentine's Day!

Triple Chocolate Cake

We have parent conferences at school today and tonight, so I knew we would need some serious chocolate to get through. This cake did not disappoint! It is super moist and loaded with chocolate.


Triple Chocolate Cake
(Recipe from this blog)

1 18.25-oz package chocolate cake mix (I tend to find cake mixes with the words "triple" and "fudge" and "supermoist" on the box work best)
1 3.9-oz package instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1/2 cup hot water
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips (I like the Ghirardelli ones)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease and flour a bundt pan.

2. Combine cake mix, pudding mix, oil, eggs, hot water, sour cream and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour batter into bundt pan.

3. Bake for 50 minutes. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then invert cake onto wire rack and let cool completely.

And then, for the glaze, I do this:

DARK CHOCOLATE GLAZE
4 oz semi-sweet dark chocolate (again, I like Ghirardelli's)
3 tbsp butter
1 tbsp milk
1 tbsp light corn syrup
1/4 tsp vanilla

In small, heavy saucepan or microwave oven on medium, melt broken chocolate with butter. Stir frequently until smooth. Remove from heat. Stir in milk, syrup and vanilla. When glaze is cool, pour onto cake. Let glaze run down sides. Chill about 10 minutes to set glaze.

Pumpkin Shaped Carrot Cake

I bought this new pan from Crate and Barrel yesterday. I had such high hopes for it!



I made my carrot cake recipe to use in it. The directions said to fill the bottom well and also to put batter into the top pumpkin area. Following those directions, my batter expanded in the oven and covered the entire top of the pan! I ended up letting them cool and then using a serrated knife to go back over the pumpkin shape. Pain in the you-know-what, but they did come out super cute.
Then I used more batter to make little mini pumpkins in a pan I have from Williams Sonoma.

Carrot Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting

Cake:
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cups shortening
4 eggs
3 cups grated carrots
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Frosting:
1 to 2 pounds powdered sugar (depends on how thick you want your frosting)
8 oz. cream cheese
4 Tbs milk
2 tsp vanilla

Cake:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix dry ingredients. Add shortening and mix well with mixer. Add eggs one at a time. Stir in grated carrots and walnuts. Bake cupcakes for about 30 minutes.

Snickerdoodle Cake

SNICKERDOODLE CAKE

1 pkg. (18.25oz) plain white cake mix
1 cup whole milk
8 Tbls. (or 1 stick) butter (melted)
1 pkg. 3.3 oz. instant white chocolate pudding mix (add even if you have a cake mix with a pudding already in it)
3 extra large eggs
1 teas. vanilla extract
2 teas. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350º and grease/flour a 9x13 inch pan. In a large mixing bowl add cake mix, milk, melted butter, pudding mix, eggs, vanilla, and cinnamon. Blend with a hand mixer for 1 minute at low speed. Stop and scrape down all sides of bowl and increase mixer speed to medium for 2 more minutes.

Pour batter into 9x13 pan and spread out evenly. Bake at 350º for 32-38 minutes (check at 32 minutes) or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Frost with the following Butter Cream Frosting recipe:

BUTTER CREAM FROSTING

8 Tbls. (or 1 stick) butter (slightly softened)
3 ¾ cups confectioners` sugar
3-4 Tbls. Milk (I used 4 Tbls.)
1 teas. vanilla extract
1 teas. Cinnamon

Place all ingredients in mixing bowl and beat on low/ medium until fluffy. Spread on cooled cake.

Vanilla Poppy Seed Cake

Vanilla Poppy Seed Cake

1 yellow cake mix
A package French vanilla instant pudding mix
4 eggs or egg substitute
1 cup fat free vanilla yogurt
¼ cup water
¼ cup butter or oil (mom uses oil)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 ½ Tbs. poppy seeds

Glaze:
2 Tbs. milk
Dash of vanilla
¼ cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray bundt pan with nonstick spray. Mix all ingredients together with mixer. Beat well and pour into bundt pan. Batter will be thick.

Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately turn out onto cooling rack. Cool for 15 minutes and then drizzle glaze over cake.

Cake Mix Extender

Add the following ingredients to any boxed cake mix to get 36 cupcakes instead of 24 OR three 9 inch cake rounds instead of two.

Cake Mix Extender

1 egg
1 cup white sugar
1 cup flour
1/3 tsp. salt
8 oz vanilla yogurt or sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla

Flan Cake

Flan Cake

1/4 cup caramel syrup
1 yellow cake mix prepared according to box directions
4 eggs
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 can evaporated milk (the 12 oz. size)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray metal bundt pan heavily with Pam. Pour 1/4 cup of caramel syrup in bottom of pan.

Prepare 1 yellow cake mix according to box directions. Pour on top of caramel in bundt pan.

In a blender, mix 4 eggs, 1 can sweetened condensed milk, and 1 can evaporated milk. Pour over cake mix in bundt pan.

Place bundt pan in a water bath. Bake for 60 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove from oven and let sit in water bath for an additional 15 minutes. Cool cake completely before removing from bundt pan.

**The flan layer that you pour on the top ends up sinking to the bottom so it actually ends up on the top of the cake.

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Carrot Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting

Cake:
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cups shortening
4 eggs
3 cups grated carrots
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Frosting:
1 to 2 pounds powdered sugar (depends on how thick you want your frosting)
8 oz. cream cheese
4 Tbs milk
2 tsp vanilla

Cake:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix dry ingredients. Add shortening and mix well with mixer. Add eggs one at a time. Stir in grated carrots and walnuts.

Pour into 2 greased and floured 9 inch cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until center is done. let cool 15 minutes in pans. Then remove to cool on wire racks.

Frosting:
Combine powdered sugar with cream cheese. Beat well with mixer. Add milk and vanilla. Continue mixing until smooth.

If you have used less sugar to make your frosting, pour half of the frosting on the bottom layer of the cake. Add the second layer of cake and then pour the remaining frosting over the top layer. Allow it to run down the sides of the cake.

If you have used more sugar to make your frosting, frost as you would any 2 layer cake covering all outside portions of cake. Cover and refrigerate.

This cake is best after setting a few hours or sitting overnight in the refrigerator.