Week 12: Peanut Butter Sheet Cake with Chocolate Icing

Student Ministries is tonight; so I thought I would bake a Peanut Butter Sheet Cake for our wonderful students.
















The recipe calls for peanut butter icing but I thought chocolate icing would taste delicious with the peanut butter cake so chocolate it is!!!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 sticks butter
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 whole eggs

In a large bowl, mix together sugar, baking soda, flour and salt. Set aside.

Combine butter, water and peanut butter in saucepan and bring to boil. Pour over flour mixture, stirring well. Let cool a few minutes.

Add milk, vanilla and eggs. Mix.

Pour in large lightly greased jelly roll pan or your largest pyrex. Bake at 400F degrees for 20 minutes.

Chocolate Icing

1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

1/3 cup milk

1 (16-ounce) package powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine butter, cocoa and milk in a medium saucepan. Cook over low heat 5 minutes or until butter melts. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Remove from heat and stir in sugar, vanilla and pecans. Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth and sugar dissolves.

And for those of you who may want to try the peanut butter icing - here is the recipe:

Peanut Butter Icing:

• 1 stick butter
• 1/3 cup peanut butter
• 6 teaspoons milk
• 1 pound powdered sugar

Bring butter, peanut butter and milk to boil in saucepan. Add one pound of powdered sugar, mixing well with an electric mixer. Pour warmed frosting over cooled cake.

Enjoy! Happy Baking!

Julie

Week 11: Fresh Strawberry Yogurt Cake

When trying to decide which cake to bake this week I came across this pin on one of my friend Heather's Pinterest boards and knew it was the cake for week 11. Strawberries are in abundance now so it is the perfect time to bake a strawberry cake! This is the second cake I have baked using yogurt and have found that this simple ingredient yields an amazingly moist cake.






















This recipe comes from Sommer's blog: A Spicy Perspective . I spent a while perusing her blog and found several recipes that I will be trying in the near future.



















Fresh Strawberry Yogurt Cake

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
2 cups sugar
3 eggs (room temperature)
3 T. fresh lemon juice, divided
Zest of one lemon
2 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1/2 t. salt
8 oz. plain Greek yogurt
12 oz. fresh strawberries, diced
1 cup powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a 10-inch bundt pan. Sift together 2 and 1/4 cups of flour, baking soda and salt. Mix in the lemon zest and set aside.
2. With an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in 1 T. of lemon juice. Alternate beating in the flour mixture and the yogurt, mixing just until incorporated.
3. Toss the strawberries with the remaining 1/4 cup of flour. Gently mix them into the batter.
4. Pour the batter into the Bundt pan.



















5. Bake in the preheated oven for 60 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

6. Allow to cool at least 20 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto your cake plate and cool completely. Once cooled whisk together the remaining 2 T. of lemon juice and the powdered sugar. Drizzle over the top of the cake.


When I went to turn out my Strawberry Yogurt Cake it did not turn out perfectly:



















Even after 27+ years of cooking these things can happen. In fact, I googled When a bundt cake fails and discovered 101,000 images of other people who have experienced this. : ) I was able to piece my cake together and added the glaze once it had cooled. It didn't look too bad and my guys are still enjoying it as they watch March Madness.


















What do you do when you are baking a bundt cake for a dinner party and only half the cake comes out? You can get your prettiest glasses or even a few mason jars and layer your cake, fruit and whipped cream a couple of times and sprinkle sliced almonds on top. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Or when your bundt cake fails, piece it together the best you can or make trifle.



















Happy Baking!
Julie

Week 10 - Chocolate Pound Cake

Benjamin is home for the week-end to watch the ACC tournament with his dad and brother; so I let him choose this week's cake. He didn't have to think long before he chose a chocolate pound cake. I have been baking this cake for over 26 years as it is my husband's very favorite cake. His mother baked it for his birthday for years and years, and gave me the recipe and a bundt pan our first Christmas as husband and wife. I am excited to share it with you!

BaBa's Chocolate Pound Cake

2 sticks butter, room temperature
1/2 shortening (I use Crisco)
3 cups sugar
5 eggs, room temperature
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cocoa
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla

Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside

Cream butter, shortening and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add eggs one-at-a-time alternating with the flour mixture.
Add the milk and cocoa.
Stir in the vanilla.

Spoon the cake batter into a greased and floured bundt pan.

Bake at 325 degrees for an hour and eight minutes or until your cake tester comes out clean.

When your cake is done let it cool for 10-15 minutes before turning it out onto your cake platter.















For some reason, this cake is the hardest one to turn out. It usually breaks a little bit but I just piece it together with the delicious icing.

Delicious Chocolate Icing:
1/2 cup of butter (1 stick)
2 ounces baking chocolate
1 egg
2 cups powdered sugar
1 pinch of salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Melt the butter and chocolate together in a small pot on the stove, stirring once it all begins to melt. Remove from heat and add the other ingredients. With an electric mixer whip it all together until your delicious icing comes together.
Once the cake is cooled, I usually fill the center well with the icing and spread it all over the cake.

















Last night I caught Benjamin spooning some extra icing on his piece of cake. : )

Here is a pic of my husband and his favorite cake a few years ago:























Enjoy!!!!
Happy Baking!!!
Julie

Week 9 - Cinnamon Roll Cake

Happy March!!!
David needed a cake for a meeting he was going to this week. I wanted to make one that resembled a coffee cake and found one on Pinterest that looked delicious.
The Cinnamon Roll Cake is from Laurie's blog: Cookin' Up North and has become a very popular pin on Pinterest. I look forward to trying more recipes from her blog. Thanks Laurie!
















Cinnamon Roll Cake
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 9x13 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

Drizzle the glaze over the warm cake.

Happy Baking!
Julie

Week 8: Sugar Cookie Cake

So hard to believe the eighth week of 2012 is almost over and that March will be here next week!
I found this week's cake a few years ago from my friend Kelli's lovely blog. It is delicious served with fruit and whipped cream and is wonderful for a lady's gathering. I hosted our monthly women's fellowship last night and all enjoyed the Sugar Cookie Cake. Let me know if you bake it!


















Sugar Cookie Cake

3/4 cup cold butter, cut in small pieces
3 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl mix butter, flour and sugar into a crumbs (I use my food processor for this step and then pour the crumbs into a large bowl and finish off with a pastry cutter). Set aside 1 cup of the crumbs.

















To the rest of the crumbs, add the buttermilk to which the 1 teaspoon of baking soda has been added.
Add the eggs and vanilla; mix and pour into a greased 9x13 in. pan
Top with the 1 cup reserved crumbs.
Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes (or until a cake tester comes out clean).


Happy Baking!
Julie

Week 7: Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

Our Benjamin is coming home for the week-end so I baked one of his favorite cakes today... Chocolate Chip Cheesecake. My dear friend, Nancy Z., shared this recipe with me years ago and it has become a family favorite. This is a great make ahead recipe. I've also made it without the chocolate chips and it was delicious. I usually make a raspberry sauce to serve alongside the cake.

















Chocolate Chip Cheesecake
Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees

Crust:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
2 Tablespoons sugar
3 Tablespoons melted butter

Combine all three ingredients and press into a lightly greased 9-inch springform pan. Set aside.

Cheesecake ingredients:
3 - 8 oz. bars cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 cup mini chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

With an electric mixer blend the cream cheese and sugar until smooth and combined well. Add eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition. Stir in mini chocolate chips and vanilla extract.
Pour batter over the crust and bake at 450 for 10 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 250 degrees and bake 35 more minutes.
Place on cooling rack for an hour or so and then cover and refrigerate. Wait to unlatch your springform pan right before you are ready to serve the cake.


Enjoy!
Happy Baking!
Julie

Week 6: Fourteen Carat Cake

As the week was drawing to an end I knew I had to bake my cake for week 6. I asked Samuel what cake I should bake this week and he chose this wonderful and delicious carrot cake:
















I discovered it years ago in a cookbook my mother-in-law gave me - Stirring Performances. Charles Kuralt from CBS news reviewed this cookbook and said, "The fabulous moist 14 Carat Cake recipe alone is worth double the price of the cookbook!" I hope you'll bake it soon!

Fourteen Carrot Cake

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon

4 eggs

2 cups sugar

1 and 1/2 cups vegetable oil (canola)

2 cups raw carrots, grated

1 (8 and 1/2 oz ) can crushed pineapple, drained

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Pre-heat oven to 350.

Sift together first five ingredients.

In a separate bowl, beat eggs with wire whisk. Add sugar and beat until dissolved.

Add remaining ingredients . Mix well.

Turn into three greased and floured 9-inch cake pans. Bake 35-40 minutes, until done.

Cool in pans 10 minutes. Invert onto racks to cool completely.

Frost with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting between layers, on top, and sides.

Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting:

1/2 Cup butter or margarine, softened

1 (8oz) package cream cheese, softened

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 pound confectioners sugar

Combine butter, cream cheese, and vanilla in mixing bowl and blend until smooth.

Add sugar gradually until well incorporated.

Happy Baking!

Julie