Absolutely Amazing DIY Birthday Cakes! Parenting.com has a fabulous birthday cake gallery/tutorial that is nothing short of AMAZING! Each of the 31 cakes in this gallery comes with step-by-step instructions on how you can recreate it at home. There’s some serious creativity & resourcefulness going on here! Pictured at top: Castle cake – featuring ice cream cone turrets…SWEET! Pictured below: Pirate Ship and Soccer Ball cakes. This Lion cake design is adorable too… especially the chow-mein noodle “mane”! More favorites pictured below: Purse Cake with Giant Tootsie Roll handle, Train Birthday Cake – Engine (also check out the entire train cake) ,Ladybug cupcakes, Snake cupcakes, Dump Truck cake, ridiculously clever French Fries cake (toasted pound cake slices with red frosting dip!) Click here for a thumbnail view of all 31 cakes!
Cheeseburger Macaroni This delicious, incredibly cheesy dish is another one of our favorite weeknight dinners. It’s beefy, hearty and whips up in less than 20 minutes. Hope you love this one as much as we do! Start with one pound of lean hamburger meat, browned and drained. Add a package of taco seasoning. And one can of this. You don’t even have to bother to drain it! Gosh, I really like Rotel. Add two cups of beef broth. (You can also just use water if you want.) And one cup of elbow macaroni. By the way, I’ve tried other shapes of pasta in this recipe, and none of them seem to work as well as good old macaroni. Stir to combine, and heat to boiling. Meanwhile, melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan over medium heat, then add 2 tablespoons of flour. Whisk to combine, and continue to cook, whisking until the roux is fragrant and light brown in color, about 5 minutes. Whisk in 3/4 cup of milk. And bring the sauce to a boil. Remove the saucepan from the heat, and add 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese. Glorious!
Cinnamon Bun Pancakes Are you a cinnamon lover? You are going to love me. LOVE me, I tell ya! The players: Griddle or Frying Pan – preheat to medium/low heat and grease with butter, margarine, or that nasty spray (which I used, by the way). Dry (though not completely humorless) ingredients: 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 3 Tbsp white sugar 1/2 tsp salt 4 tsp baking powder 1 Tbsp Cinnamon (or more if you’re a cinnamon freak, like me) In a medium bowl, combine these dry ingredients together. When these dry ingredients are mixed nicely, then you can mix together these remaining ingredients in a SEPARATE bowl. 2 eggs (whole) beaten – feel free to take out your frustration on these innocent little eggies 1 Cup of milk (or a little more if your batter isn’t runny enough for you) 2 Tbsp Corn Syrup (I only had regular table syrup on hand – worked fine) 1/4 Cup butter or margarine, melted 1 Tbsp vanilla Beat together these wet ingredients, then add them to the dry. The How-To: 1 cup powdered sugar 1/4 cups butter – melted
Rainbow Cake For Cake: 2 1/4 cups cake flour (9 ounces) 1 cup whole milk, at room temperature 6 large egg whites (3/4 cup), at room temperature 2 teaspoons almond extract 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar (12 1/4 ounces) 4 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon table salt 12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened but still cool Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple gel food coloring For Frosting/Filling: 2 1/2 cups granulated sugar 10 large egg whites 2 pounds (8 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons, softened 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 1 pound best-quality white chocolate, melted and cooled Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare your cake pans by first liberally buttering the pans, then line the bottoms with parchment paper rounds. Butter the rounds and set aside. Pour milk, egg whites, and extracts into 2-cup glass measure, and mix with fork until blended. Divide batter evenly between six medium bowls. Let cakes rest in pans for 3 minutes.
Cheese and Onion Butterflies & Kayotic Kitchen What to do with only a few lonesome puff pastry sheets? You make Cheese & Onion Butterflies of course! It’s crazy simple and so tasty. Best part; only two puff pastry sheets can go a long way. Ingredients: puff pastry sheets 1/2 cup sharp cheddar 1/2 cup Gouda 1/3 small onion Directions: I splurged. You’ll need a grater, though. Grate until you have about 1/3 cup of each cheese. You knew I’d throw in an onion, didn’t you? Grate 1/3 of a small onion. Thaw the pastry sheets. Sprinkle a generous amount of cheese on top of the pastry sheets, and add some grated onion. Roll both ends towards each other until they meet in the middle. Use a very sharp knife to cut them in about 1/3 inch slices. Place them on a cookie sheet—I’m using baking paper for this. They are best when served warm/luke-warm.
the parsley thief Leprechaun Trap Cake This may look like a perfectly innocent cake meant to lure a leprechaun to the top but it has a few secrets. Secret #1: Beneath the pile of gold coins are fragile bars, when the leprechaun approaches to grab the coins he’ll fall into the pit and be trapped. Secret #2: There is a rainbow hiding inside the cake. The leprechaun will discover this as he eats his way to freedom. Have you heard of Leprechaun traps? I decided that my angel food cake pan, with the hole in the middles, would make an excellent shape for a leprechaun trap. To read the complete how-to for this cake please click on MORE. To form the rainbow in this cake I used the method shown here at Omnomicon which is very simple — separate your cake batter, color each section, then pour it into your cake pan one color on top of the next. You can see this effect in the image above from Omnomicon, the color poured in last is much more prominent than the color that went first, which is squeezed and spread around the bottom. Notes:
Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies Alright, confession time. My first impression of these cookies was not a super positive one. I mean, don’t get me wrong…I love a good chocolate chip cookie. And Oreos easily top the list among my favorite “store bought” cookies. The idea of combining them just threw me. I am really not even sure how to describe these. Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe from the fantabulous Jenny of Picky Palate 2 sticks (1 cup) softened butter 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar 1 cup granulated sugar 2 large eggs 1 tablespoon pure vanilla 3 1/2 cups flour 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon baking soda 10 oz bag chocolate chips 1 pkg. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a separate bowl mix the flour, salt and baking soda. NOTE: Some bakers have had some trouble with their dough spreading too much during baking. Makes about 2 dozen VERY LARGE cookies. stumble
Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes All week I have been taunting you with my pumpkin spice cupcakes… It wasn’t very nice, and I’m sorry. But, I think they are worth the wait! The thing is, I have been working up to the completed cupcakes all week long. I’ve already shared the details of the fall themed cookies topping the cupcakes that I decorated for the September Daring Bakers challenge. Since I had just finished decorating all of the mini pumpkin and leaf cookies, I knew I wanted a cupcake that embraced and added to the fall theme that I had going on. Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes (Adapted from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, makes about 2 dozen) Preheat the oven to 350°F. Beat together the butter and brown sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy. Meanwhile, combine the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl – flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, and salt. Spoon the batter into the prepared pans, filling the cups approximately 2/3 full.
Vertical Layer Cake Tutorial I really need to preface this tutorial with... I am sorry. I am SURE there are easier ways to do a Vertical Layer Cake. But I was being a brat for my birthday. I wanted real cake, and not sponge cake. I wanted two different flavors. I wanted massive amounts of frosting. Hence, I bucked every traditional mold I had seen for a vertical layer cake and made my own. Sorry. The second time making the cake I was surprised by how quickly everything went. Huh. Anywho... Here is an important step... I then placed the cut parts together. The reason I do this is: 1. 2. 3. If you have a 5in deep cake pan and can successfully bake a 5in cake then just do that! Now! We will begin to cut out our layers! I simply used a cardboard cake round as my guide. I am now going to cut off the outside circle. Place the template back on the cake. Follow the template as close as you can. You are going to do this with BOTH cakes. Now I cut off another circle and started the process again. Do this to both cakes. 1. 2. 3.
Chocolate Cupcakes with Flaming Strawberries Call me easily amused, but these little torch-topped cupcakes delight me. Besides being a cute novelty item for a party, I think they would add a little drama to the end of a romantic meal. I've been looking for something different to serve for Valentine's dessert, and this is definitely different. The strawberries are hollowed out and filled with a bit of liquor, then ignited with a match. For the cake portion, I chose a One Bowl Chocolate Cupcake recipe because 1. it's quick 2. it is easy, and 3. it fits my prerequisite for a light ending on date night. I should say, a light ending provided you don't eat too many. The cakes are just sweet enough, and have a light, fluffy crumb - the perfect vehicle for rich chocolate buttercream. Notes for flaming strawberries:Any alcohol below 80 proof will not ignite well. Shaina made a margarita version of this on Babble Food. Chocolate Cupcakes with Flaming Strawberries Yield: About 20 cupcakes [click to print]Cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350 degrees.