Pistachio Cake

We made this cake for my daughter’s birthday this past May. Pretty sad that I am only just now getting the recipe posted. But…you guessed it…I lost it. 🙂 We decided to make brownies with the kids tonight, which sent me digging through my recipe box for my favorite gooey brownie recipe which I have, apparently, also lost. But, as luck would have it, I stumbled upon this random list of ingredients written on the back of a birthday card envelope, and I did a little happy dance. My pistachio cake!!! Better late than never. This cake (and frosting…they must, must be served together) is to die for. One of those ridiculous desserts that make your eyes roll back into your head after each bite. So good.

Ingredients:

Cake-

1 white or vanilla cake mix

1/3 cup oil

1/2 cup water

1 cup club soda

1 (3.4oz) pkg pistachio pudding mix

Frosting-

1 cup powdered sugar

1 (8oz) pkg cream cheese

1 (3.4oz) pkg pistachio pudding mix

1 cup milk

4 oz (about half a tub) cool whip

For cake: Preheat oven to 350^F. Combine all ingredients and mix until smooth. Bake according to box instructions (cupcake: 21-24 min, bundt: 43-48 min, 13×9: 32-35 min, 2 9″: 28-31 min, 2 8″: 32-35 min). Allow to fully cool before frosting.

For frosting: Cream together powdered sugar and cream cheese. Add pudding, milk, and cool whip (add more milk if frosting is too thick for your liking).

 

Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes

We had a little fun with our Easter cupcakes yesterday! You can’t go wrong with a strawberry cheesecake cupcake base; add a little surprise center, and top with a festive Peep (which I really hate, but look darn cute sitting on their little cupcake-birdie nest!). The kids had fun putting the eggs on, and I had fun eating all the of the cupcake centers that I had to scoop out to make the nest. 🙂 Win, win!!!

This recipe is really so easy – just a boxed cake mix with a make-over. But no one would guess it’s from a box! The star ingredient being real-life strawberries, which really makes the flavor fresh and Spring-y. I frosted them with Buttercream Frosting, but my neighbor has a spectacular strawberry frosting that I must steal and try with these…

 

Ingredients:

Cupcakes:

1 (18.25 oz) plain white cake mix

1 (3 oz) pkg strawberry gelatin

4 Tbsp flour

1 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup crushed fresh strawberries

3 large eggs

Filling:

1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese, at room temperature

1/3 cup sugar

1 large egg

Preheat oven to 350^F. Make cupcake batter by combining all ingredients and mixing until completely incorporated. Make filling by doing the same. Spoon or scoop about 1/4 cup of cupcake batter into prepared cupcake cups, filling it to 2/3 full. Spoon a generous Tbsp of the cheesecake filling over each cupcake. Place cupcake pan on the center rack of the oven and bake until tops spring back when lightly pressed with a finger – about 20-25 minutes. Cool 15 minutes or longer before frosting.

For Easter Nests:

Scoop out a tsp size hole in the middle of each cupcake and fill with sprinkles. Top with a candy egg. 

 

Swirl frosting around egg, like a nest, and top with a Peep.

Bakery Cake from a Boxed Mix

We had a birthday this month! Five years old and I wasn’t a bit surprised when she asked for a ‘Frozen’ cake! It was a mad scramble to find Anna and Elsa dolls, let me tell you! Everyone and their dog is sold out of pretty much everything ‘Frozen.’ But, a gazillion stores later, we got a hold of them both! Because the skirts are the actual cake, I couldn’t do anything too fancy with the cake flavors – no filling or good stuff like that. But I had seen a recipe floating around: “Make any boxed cake mix taste just like it came from the bakery.” So, we gave it a go! The first cake got scrapped because we discovered after the first ‘skirt,’ that the pan needed two cake mixes – it doesn’t work well if the cake only makes it to the dolls’ knees. 🙂 The second run was better, but then my mom remembered that the pan came with a metal dowel that you are supposed to put in the middle to help it cook, so we plugged that into the third. Yeah…the cake overflowed a little. And when I say a little, I really mean a lot! And a huge sink hole deflated the middle. But, I figured that just made it easier to get the doll’s legs in. 🙂 We cut off any burnt parts of the lava cake, and had to improvise a little with fondant (scary! I’ve decided I need to take a class because after my first attempt I’ve concluded that, frankly, I stink at fondant) to make it all the way up to Elsa’s waist since the cake shrunk a little, what with 1/3 of it over flowing. My mom said that now she remembers why she was so happy when all us kids grew out of dolly cakes.

All in all, I’m kind of ridiculously proud of how my cakes turned out! Even Olaf, who fell over a couple of times and required major cake rehab, turned out pretty cute. You can’t tell from the pictures too well, but Elsa’s dress has edible glitter on her skirt, so she sparkled – Olaf got a little pinch on him too. I had to close my eyes and make my husband cut into them at the party. So much work, just to hack them to pieces! But it was worth it. My daughter loved it – she told me, “Mom, I just love my cake. I’m crying!” Can you tell what I do when I’m super happy? 🙂 And it tasted great too! I liked the chocolate more than the white, but that may be because I just like chocolate cake better anyways!

 

Ingredients:

Step 1: Look at the directions on the cake mix.
Step 2: Add one more egg (or add 2 if you want it to be very rich).
Step 3: Use melted butter instead of oil and double the amount.
Step 4: Instead of water, use whole milk.
Step 5: Mix well and bake for the time recommended on the box.

 

Frosted with Buttercream Frosting

Katie’s Sugar Cookies

I have no idea who ‘Katie’ is (that’s how they are listed in my mom’s recipe cards, and I have to give credit where credit is due!) – but she sure knew how to make sugar cookies! I prefer a little bit of ‘fluff’ to my sugar cookies. Soft and perfectly puffy. Try this recipe, and never again will you buy those pre-packaged cookies, with the inch of frosting and sprinkles, from the vending machine! You will be spoiled. And you will love it. I may or may not have eaten four in a row yesterday and called it lunch.

Ingredients:

1 cup evaporated milk

1 Tbsp vinegar

1 cup butter

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

5 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

In a separate, small bowl, add vinegar to evaporated milk and allow to sit. Blend butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla together until smooth. Add milk mixture to butter mixture and blend well. Add dry ingredients until blended. Make 2-4 large balls of dough. Cover with plastic wrap and place balls of dough in the fridge for at least 1 hour to make it firm. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4″ thickness and use cookie cutters to make shapes. Bake at 425^F for 7-8 minutes. Cookies will not brown – if they start browning too much you will loose the airiness and they will instead be crunchy. Top with Buttercream Frosting.