The Most Delicious Go-To Cake Recipe

November 2, 2015November 3, 2015 RefreshHer12 Comments

Everyone needs a cake that’s easy to throw together when you need a fabulous dessert, right?! It’s also a blessing if the ingredients are things that are easy to keep in the fridge or pantry “just in case!” I have found that recipe, friends, and if you like German Chocolate Cake, you’ll be so glad to have stumbled across this fabulous and easy recipe! A sweet friend at church made this for my husband and me when we visited their home, and I fell in love with this cake at first bite! I used to spend hours assembling a three layer German Chocolate cake because it was so delicious that it was worth it, but honestly, this is every bit as delicious, but a thousand times easier! It all starts with a cake mix…

Upside Down German Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:
Betty Crocker German Chocolate Cake Box Mix – Super Moist
3 eggs
1 1/4 water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup chopped pecans
1 cup coconut flakes
1 8 oz. package cream cheese (softened)
1 stick butter (softened)
1 lb powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray 9×13 glass baking dish with cooking spray. Cover bottom of baking dish with coconut flakes & chopped pecans. Mix cake mix with eggs, water, & oil (per box instructions) and pour over the coconut/pecan mixture.

In a separate bowl combine cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, & vanilla. Using a mixer, mix ingredients thoroughly until powdered sugar is completely dissolved. Using a rubber spatula, add cream cheese mixture to the top of the cake mix. The cream cheese mixture will sink down into the cake mix as you add it in.

Bake for 40 minutes. Slice cake into individual servings & serve upside down.

This is the cream cheese mixture that sinks down into the cake and makes it moist and wonderful!

It’s not beautiful when it comes out of the oven, but remember the top will become the bottom when you flip it over on each serving plate.

I didn’t get a great picture of the finished cake, because we were so excited about diving into it, but I promise you, this is out.of.this.world delicious!

What’s your Go-To cake recipe? If you don’t have one, I hope you’ll put this on your list to try!

With love from my country kitchen,

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baking

Sugary Fall Treats

September 23, 2015December 6, 2015 RefreshHer8 Comments

We tend to think of decorated sugar cookies only at Christmastime, but autumn is a great season to make up pumpkins and leaves for some yummy fall treats! We love these cookies because they’re soft and just sweet enough.

I love to decorate them and then put them on display for my family to enjoy!

This is my standard recipe:

Sugar Cookies

2/3 Cup shortening

3/4 Cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1 egg

4 tsp. milk

2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

Cream shortening, sugar and vanilla. Add egg and milk; beat till light and fluffy. Sift together dry ingredients; blend into creamed mixture. Divide dough in half. Wrap in waxed paper or saran wrap and refrigerate at least an hour.

On lightly floured surface, work with half of the dough at a time*. Roll to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cutters. Bake on ungreased cookies sheet at 350 degrees about 7 minutes. Cool slightly; remove. Makes about 3 dozen.
*Chill other half till ready to use.

For the glaze, I use about 1 cup powdered sugar and a few teaspoons of milk, adding slowly and mixing so as to have a thick glaze. After icing cookies, sprinkle with decorations. Let set so the icing will harden.

What fall treats do you enjoy?

baking

Over-The-Top Carrot Cake

September 14, 2015September 16, 2015 RefreshHer5 Comments

I LOVE Southern Living recipes, and I really, really, LOVE their cakes. It seems that they take a simple recipe and just take it over the top! I have made several of their cakes that have become some of my all time favorites. The Blackberry Raspberry Truffle Cake and Coconut Cake are two. They will stay on my list for special occasions, but I’ve recently found another one – it’s for The Ultimate Carrot Cake! I made this because my husband is a fan of Carrot cake, but honestly, this recipe has changed my mind about this old classic!

In my standard fashion, I made the cake layers a few days in advance and froze them so that the icing and assembly would be faster and easier. The cake rose beautifully and was very moist. The icing calls for 7 cups of powdered sugar – I only used 5. It was delicious! Then the thing that was the “Icing on the Cake” (ha!) were the carrot curls on top. They are so yummy and resemble fruit leather. They were not hard to make and made a pretty presentation and a nice little added treat to each piece of cake! So, be sure to add the pretty embellishment, because it’s more than just decoration!

The Ultimate Carrot Cake

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups chopped pecans

1 tablespoon butter, melted

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon table salt

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup canola oil

3 large eggs

3/4 cup buttermilk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 cups grated carrots

1 cup peeled and grated Granny Smith apple

1 cup sweetened flaked coconut

Candied Carrot Curls

Brown Sugar-Cream Cheese Frosting

See a Collection of Classic Appetizers

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Toss together first 3 ingredients; spread in a single layer in a foil- lined pan. Bake 10 minutes or until toasted, stirring once.

2. Stir together flour and next 4 ingredients. Beat butter and both sugars at medium speed with an electric mixer until blended. Add oil; beat until blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended.

3. Add flour mixture to butter mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Stir in vanilla; fold in carrots, next 2 ingredients, and 1 cup toasted pecans. Spoon batter into 3 greased (with shortening) and floured 9-inch round cake pans.

4. Bake at 350° for 23 to 28 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks 15 minutes. Remove from pans, and cool completely. Spread Brown Sugar-Cream Cheese Frosting between layers and on top and sides of cake. Top with Candied Carrot Curls and remaining toasted pecans.

Do you have any Southern Living Cakes that you make regularly? Tell me about them! I’m always on the lookout for a recipe to add to my collection!

With love from my country kitchen,

baking · cat · mentoring ministry

Beauty, Bosom Friends, Baking and Bad Milk

August 12, 2015August 10, 2015 RefreshHer2 Comments

Here’s a peek back at my week:

The unedited view I saw from my back porch…

I am blessed that all I do is step out my back door to see such beauty! I never tire of it!

My favorite picture of Liza from the week. I hope you can stand the cuteness!

Where I’ve been…
Carter on Main in Elizabethton, TN. Wow! It’s beautiful in there!
We had a lunch date with dear friends we don’t get to see often. This was a good place to visit,
since it was quiet and such a lovely setting.
The food was very good, too! I will definitely be returning!

What I’m loving…

The dear ladies standing with me here have become so very special to me during the weeks of our mentoring ministry. Apples of Gold is a greater blessing to me every single week! It’s the joy of my heart to have my house full of these mentors and the young women every Saturday! We are having a blast, learning much and having the best kind of fellowship! Only two more weeks remain, and I’m pretty sure we’re all sad at the thought!

What I’ve been baking…
In truth, this is only one item of many that I’ve baked in the past week, due to Apples of Gold
new neighbors, and company, but it’s one of the prettiest!
This is Southern Living’s Strawberry Sheet Cake. I made the layered version last year,
but decided to simplify it this time around for the Apples of Gold group.
It was yummy!

The cake above almost met with disaster! When I was making the icing during our cooking class, I opened the heavy cream that was purchased the night before (and had an expiration date of September), only to find MOLD on the top of the cream! Ahhhh! Thank the Lord, my husband was home and was able to run to the store and replace it with a fresh one! I had to finish the icing just before we ate lunch, but it all worked out fine. Whew! Cooking disasters do happen! I think it’s a good lesson when these things take place during our cooking class. My response to it is another lesson – Yikes! That’s a scary thought! But it is true! If all else had failed, I would have just topped the cake with Cool whip and strawberries. We HAD to have that cake for dessert! But it did all work out, and was a good lesson and memory for us all!

There’s my week! What have you been up to? Anyone else have a near cooking disaster story? I’d love to hear!

With love from my country porch,