Having the Cake and Eating It Too

Who doesn't want to have their own cake and eat it too? I know I do! I am an icing queen. My husband, not so much. Another quality in our relationship that I love so much. I get ALL of the icing, and he can have the cake.

I recently started making my own cake recently. Vanilla is all that I have progressed to, but if it's what people are happy with, why change?

Cake:
2 sticks unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
4 large eggs
1 tbsp vanilla
3 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup heavy cream w/ 1/2 cup water

Mix butter and sugar together on medium until fluffy. Then, add eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl, add the flour, salt, and baking powder together. Next, add 1/2 flour mixture. After that is thoroughly mixed, add in the heavy cream, then the last 1/2 of the flour mixture. Grease 2 cake pans, and separate the batter evenly.


Bake on 350 for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick is removed clean.

Cool, remove from pans, and ice!

Here's the buttercream recipe:
2 sticks butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1-2 tbsp cream
4-5 cups powdered sugar

Whip butter on medium until fluffy. Then add the vanilla and cream. Once mixed, cup by cup add the powdered sugar. 

Here's some pictures of cakes I have recently done:

Fourth of July Cake

Cake for my sweet co-worker for her June birthday

Cookie cake pie

The last one, I haven't made in a while, and it is AWESOME!! Click here for the recipe for Cookie Cake Pie.

Easy Banana Bread

One of the best fruits to have around the house is bananas. They are great before a workout to provide extra energy and control blood sugar. I just happen to be really picky with my bananas. I prefer to have them more on the green side. Chris likes his more ripe. So when they become extra ripe, what else to do than make banana bread?

I found a recipe last year that I used to make banana bread. Chris and I were looking for a healthier recipe, and we found one using applesauce. A huge thank you to My Thoughts for Thought for this recipe:

Ingredients:
3 Bananas
1 Cup of Sugar
2 Eggs
1/2 Cup of Applesauce
2 Cups of Flour
1 TSP of Baking Soda
1/2 TSP of Salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In one bowl, mash bananas, and then add the sugar, eggs, and applesauce. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, salt, and baking soda. Slowly mix the dry ingredients into the wet ones. Once thoroughly mixed, pour into 2 greased bread pans. Bake for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick is removed clean.

I have LOVED this new recipe. I hope you all do too!

Sweet July

I was recently told that I needed to blog again. I got onto my site and realized that I hadn't blogged in almost a month! I am so sorry, followers! All of that is about to change. July 1, I had an appointment to go to, and my best friend went with me. After the early morning appointment, we went to multiple stores to site see. Of course we had to go to Hobby Lobby. While there, we were looking at all of the wall decor that was one sale, and I found goodies to help kick off my Parisian Cafe theme kitchen.

How cute is this! I am still in love after having it almost 2 weeks. The utensils were not on sale that week, but I got a huge deal on the picture. It was originally around $80.

With the 4th of July just a couple days away from that shopping trip, I knew I was about to spend more money(which I do best) on ingredients to use to make something yummy for a family cookout. What better than a red,white, and blue cake?

Here we go!

For the cake:
White or French Vanilla cake mix(I used #2)
plus all the ingredients on the box
red and blue food coloring

Preheat oven to 325 and grease 2 cake pans.
Mix cake mix, eggs, oil, and water on medium for 2 minutes.
Split batter between 3 bowls.
Mix 1/3 with several drops of red food coloring until desired shade of red is reached.
Repeat another 1/3 with the blue food coloring.
Leave the last 1/3 batter white.

Now the tedious part. You will need 3 teaspoons. To make the zebra stripe print in the cake, you cake 2 teaspoons of one color batter and place it in the middle of the cake pan. Then, add 2 teaspoons of another color in the center of the first color. You alternate each color and continue this process until the batter is even in both pans. Basically it looks like layered circles. Bake your 2 cake pans for around 28 minutes or until a toothpick is inserted in the middle and removed clean. Remove from pans and allow to cool.

For my homemade buttercream icing
2 sticks butter softened
1 tsp vanilla
1-2 tbsp whipping cream
4-5 cups powdered sugar

*Red and Blue food coloring to tint icing*

Whip butter until fluffy.
Add in the vanilla and 1 tbsp whipping cream.
Next add in cup by cup of powdered sugar.
Between cup 2 and 3, add in another tbsp whipping cream.
Separate icing into thirds.
Tint icing with food coloring just like we did the cake batter.

I used Wilton piping bags and the big circle tip(because my star tip magically disappeared) to pipe the icing onto the cake.

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th celebrating our freedom and honoring those that fought so hard for us to have the freedom that we have today. Without them, and God leading them, we would have completely different lives.

S'more Casserole

Today is a VERY special day. 2 years ago, I walked down the aisle to my forever and became a Mrs. It was the best day of my life and each day only continues to get better. I have been extremely blessed with my husband and his family to now call my own.

Also, today the girls wanted to do a salad/casserole day at work. Since I didn't work, I still agreed to make something. The question was what to make. I knew I had chocolate chunks, giant marshmallows, and Oreos, so as my mind continued to run all I really needed was graham crackers. Chris could totally get those on his way home, right? Right!

Ingredients:
Crushed graham crackers(I used a sleeve and a half)
Marshmallows
1 bag chocolate chunk chips
Oreos
Sprinkles
1/2 cup butter melted

Now, remember that you can be creative with this. You don't have to follow my recipe exactly. Have fun with it!
I used a disposable metal pan for this. Preheat oven to 350. Crush graham crackers and place in bottom of pan. Then, pour melted butter over and mix into the crumbs to create a crust. Place Oreos on top. Then, cut marshallows in thirds and spread across Oreos. Top with the chocolate chunks, and lastly, cut more marshmallows in half and spread them across the chocolate chunks. Toss sprinkles over the top and bake for 10-12 minutes. Then turn on the broiler for 30 seconds to turn the marshmallows golden.

I know this is best served right out of the oven. MMMM!!!!

Zebra Baby Shower Cake

Happy Saturday everyone!

This week I got to make a new recipe, and I have to admit I was pretty nervous about it. I am such a perfectionist, and so when I agreed to make a cake for our charge nurse's surprise baby shower, I knew I had to make something impressive, tasty, and it had to be perfect. Originally, I had seen a pin on Pinterest of making cake balls, and then baking them in cake batter. When you cut the cake, you would see different colored balls. But I had a change of heart on Tuesday(2 days before the shower). I had also seen a post somewhere of making a zebra stripe or rainbow layer cake.

I searched the internet, and it turns out that it is really easy to make. Are you ready?

Ingredients for the cake:
1 box white cake mix(I used vanilla) & ingredients used to make it

Make cake mix according to box. Now, since I wanted to do white and baby blue I halved my batter, but if you want to do more colors separate the batter based on how many different colors you want to use. Spray your cake rounds with non-stick spray and then flour the inside of them.

This next process will take a while, but it is worth it for the outcome. Take 2 tbsp of the first color and put it in the middle of the cake rounds. Next, place 2 tbsp of the next color in the center of the first color. Keep the process going until you are out of batter. This process took me about 35 minutes, and the batter will eventually spread out over the entire bottom of the baking rounds.

Please ignore that it's sideways. I can't get it to turn

 

 

This is how your cake will look when you finish laying the batter. Bake the cake according to box directions. Mine was perfect at 28 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove cakes from pans and allow to cool completely. While it is cooling, you will have time to make your frosting.

Ingredients for homemade buttercream icing:
2 sticks butter softened
1 tsp vanilla
1-2 tbsp heavy whipping cream
3-4 cups powdered sugar

Mix butter on medium until it is whipped and fluffy. Next add vanilla and 1 tbsp whipping cream. After mixing thoroughly, add cup by cup of powdered sugar until you are satisfied with the texture. I added another tbsp of whipping cream between cups 3 and 4 to thin the icing out just a tad. Now you are ready to frost!

After frosting the cake, I had more icing left over, so I added blue food coloring until I was satisfied with the color. Then I used my Wilton decorating tips and bag to add the finishing touches.

I was very pleased with the outcome, and I was praying that it was going to be delicious the next day.

I put the cake in the refrigerator overnight, and at 0640, the cake was in the Women's and Children's classroom ready for our surprise later that day. Our charge nurse was back from her ultrasound about 12, and the floor was buzzing with excitement. We enjoyed a nice lunch with homemade salsa, buffalo chicken dip, fruit, cocktail weenies, croissants, homemade chicken salad, homemade dessert tortilla chips, fresh punch, and probably a couple of other items I can't remember. Our expectant mother was showered with lots of adorable gifts and love from fellow employees, and we were all excited to be a part of her big day. Now all we have to do is wait for our little love to arrive!

The inside of the cake(and the last slice)

I hope you all enjoy this fun idea. What colors will you use?

Make You Loco Coconut Cake

I had this cake a couple of months ago, and I was in heaven! There will be days when I will crave this cake. I hope you all do too :)

Chris and I lead a Supper Club lifegroup on Wednesday nights. One of the ladies that comes made this delicious cake. Last night after I got off of work, we were meeting at Connie and Johnny's house. While the men talked about fishing, the ladies discussed recipes. I HAD to have the coconut recipe, and Connie spilled the beans!!  The secret: letting the cake sit overnight. So of course Chris had to take me to Publix to get the ingredients to make it last night. No I did not stay up all night making a cake :D

Ingredients:
1 box cake mix(Connie used Funfetti the first time. I decided to have a coconut overload. So coconut was my pick). You also need all the ingredients to make the cake
1 larger can of cream of coconut. I believe its $2.69 at Publix
1 medium sized Cool Whip thawed
Shredded coconut

Preheat oven and prepare cake batter according to box. Bake cake. As soon as the cake is complete, pour the can of cream of coconut on top. Let this soak up all night. Spread cool whip over entire cake. I had about a 1/4 inch layer. Sprinkle as much shredded coconut on top as your heart desires.

MMMMM!!! Hello, morning snack

Now, as you can see, I am missing my back half of this piece. Well, that piece actually was already in my tummy because of all of the cream of coconut that was absorbed.

Stuffed Sweet Potatoes/Weekend Getaway

The last couple of days have been amazing! Hopefully good news coming from an OBGYN appt on Friday(I have a follow-up on the 23rd. It's always been a dream of mine to be a mom and we're having some issues. I hope to find out what those are when I go back.) After the appointment was over and I had lots of blood drawn, Chris whisked me away to Chattanooga for a weekend getaway. When we got there Friday afternoon, we checked into our bed and breakfast, The Garden Walk Inn. After getting settled, we headed to Ruby Falls. The exhibit was okay. Both of us agreed, the best parts were learning about the history of it and seeing the actual waterfall. My goodness, it was gorgeous!

Before we left on the trip, I researched places to eat. One of the places I came across was The Acropolis Grill. They bring you fresh bread and homemade cinnamon butter to begin with. I ordered their Caesar salad with homemade dressing, and Chris had their potato soup. For the entree, I had their Farmer's Pie. He had their lamb gyros. Both were delicious! I could eat there every single meal. Dessert was a little different. I had their sugar free Strawberry Patch cake, and Chris had their Tiramisu. His dessert had too much coffee on top. It was definitely not the best one we have ever had. If that was the only bad thing-who cares.

Saturday morning we woke up in time for breakfast which included bacon, cinnamon chocolate chip pancakes, orange juice, and coffee. One word to describe it: heavenly. The room was full of windows and you could watch the squirrels in the garden, observe the beautiful flowers and greens, and admire the vintage furniture. The owners came by the tables and made sure that you were thoroughly taken care of and satisfied. With breakfast as good as that, how can you not be :) After breakfast, we headed into downtown to the Tennessee Aquarium. I knew that it was voted one of the best, so I was super excited! We went through it in about 3 hours, and it was a lot of fun. We both love to learn and observe, so it was like nerd heaven. Outside of the aquarium, there were lots of venders. We had to get goodies to bring home. I am so excited to wear my new badge holder to work tomorrow!! Across the street from the aquarium is Ben and Jerry's. Being an ice cream lover and ALWAYS having it in my freezer growing up, we had to go. The girl behind the counter was awesome! She explained all of the flavors to us, and let us try a sample before choosing anything. It's the little things that make me happy :) After that we went back up Lookout Mountain to Rock City. I was a little unsure. What's so cool about rocks? Boy was I wrong! The scenery was beautiful, and the designers were very creative in the landscaping. We went to Lover's Leap and learned about it's history. Basically it was a Romeo and Juliet story with 2 Native Americans. In one of the trails, there was Fairyland Caverns, and it was full of black lights with sculptures of Mother Goose tales. It was very cool! We had free wine tasting later in our journey through, and Chris got a new leather hat. He's stoked about it.

For dinner, we went to Sing It or Wing It. The menu items are named after famous singers. I thought it was precious. Before 9PM, any age can be in there. If you want to sing karaoke, you pick a song from the binder, give it and your name to the dj, and when its your turn, rock it out. Chris and I didn't sing, but we had so much fun watching everyone else. An older woman got up there and sang Prince's song "You Don't Have to be Rich." Of course she danced with it too, and she was amazing!! I hope after we left she sang more. We went back to Acropolis just to get dessert to go(they have a dessert fridge in the front of the restaurant) and came back to the bed and breakfast. Sunday morning, we got showered and packed and headed to breakfast for the last time. This time, we had a peach french toast bake and sausage. It was slap yo' momma good! I hated to leave, but we had so much fun. I am definitely married to an incredible man. He planned all of this and did an amazing job. I love investing in our marriage.

Here's a couple pictures:

The Lover's Leap Waterfall

My precious hubs and me

Moonshinin' gnomes

The beginning of Fairyland Caverns. There is an actual neighborhood on Lookout Mountain called Fairyland and the street names are fairytale characters i.e. Cinderella, Aladdin, Snow Ride, and Red Riding Hood.

 I had an off day yesterday, and while trying to plan meals, I came across stuffed sweet potatoes. There's the new staple in your kitchen.

Ingredients:
4 medium sized sweet potatoes
1 can black beans washed and drained
1 cup corn-I used fresh corn that I cut off of the cob(4 half ears)
pepper
paprika
cayenne pepper
parsley
cheese

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Wash potatoes and with a knife, poke small holes. Place on baking sheet and bake in oven for an hour. While they are baking, wash and drain the black beans and put them in a mixing bowl. Next, place paper towels in your microwave and put the corn on top. Microwave for 8 minutes. Remove from microwave and let cool. This helps the shuck and strings to come off easier. Once removed, cut the corn off of 2 ears and place in bowl with beans. I didn't measure my spices. I just added until I got the flavor just right.(Everyone has their preferences.) Mix all of the ingredients together. When the sweet potatoes are soft, they can be removed from the oven. Slice and open them like you would a baked potato. Add the corn/bean filling and top with cheese.

It's easy, delicious, healthy, and very filling! I hope you all enjoy this recipe. What different ingredients will you use?