Tag: cake mix

Categories
Cookies Dessert

Try a cookie recipe that is a piece of cake

Spice cake cookies are made very simply with a cake mix and a couple other ingredients. These are a great recipe when you need to bake something in a hurry.
Spice cake cookies are made very simply with a cake mix and a couple other ingredients. These are a great recipe when you need to bake something in a hurry.

For a recent get-together at our office, I decided I wanted my snack table to look ready for fall.

I set up a mini scarecrow, laid a garland of orange and red leaves along the back of the table and sprinkled candy corn strategically around the plates of goodies.

To compliment the look of fall, I decided it was time for some fall spices, too, but I had almost zero time leading up to the event to do a lot of baking.

Thank goodness for this week’s recipe, then, that let me use a cake mix and a few other ingredients to create some yummy cookies to share with our crew.

The recipe comes from the blog “Sizzling Eats” by Amy Desrosiers. You can find the original post at https://www.sizzlingeats.com/spice-cake-mix-cookies/. I did not add anything this one, because it was so easy. I did, however, roll my cookies much smaller than the original directions, which resulted in small, crispy cookies rather than big, soft ones. I made sure to note both options below.

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Spice Cake Cookies

Spice cake cookies are made very simply with a cake mix and a couple other ingredients. These are a great recipe when you need to bake something in a hurry.
Course Dessert
Keyword cake mix, easy cookies, fall dessert, fall spices, spice cake

Ingredients

  • 15.2- ounce spice cake mix
  • 1/2 cup oil vegetable or canola
  • 2 eggs
  • 3-4 tablespoons sugar

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 375 degrees, and line a couple cookie sheets with parchment paper.
  • In a mixing bowl, beat the cake mix, oil and eggs until everything is well combined.
  • Pour the sugar in a separate, small bowl.
  • Roll the cookies into about golf-ball-sized balls for larger, soft cookies or about one-inch balls for small, crispy cookies, and roll them in the bowl of sugar to lightly coat each.
  • Place the balls one to two inches apart on the prepared cookie sheets.
  • Bake for 13 to 15 minutes or until the cookies are lightly browned and set. Let them cool a bit before transferring them to an airtight container.

This made a ton of cookies, especially with making them a bit smaller, and they were perfect for everyone to have a few on their snack plates while they chatted and nibbled.

I do think you could still get a soft cookie out of the smaller option, but you’d want to under-bake them a bit to make sure they stay more pliable. I want to try these again sometime with the soft option—I’m a sucker for chewy cookies.

I was really happy with how these turned out, and I was especially excited to have cookies with a hint of cinnamon and clove sitting on the snack table. No matter how many mini scarecrows or candy pumpkins you have, it’s just not really fall until the right spices make their debut.

This piece first appeared in print on Oct. 26, 2023.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Dessert

You’ll have strong ‘peelings’ for lemon blueberry bars

Lemon blueberry crumb bars are made with fresh fruit and use a cake mix as a base, making them flavorful and sweet while coming together quickly and easily.
Lemon blueberry crumb bars are made with fresh fruit and use a cake mix as a base, making them flavorful and sweet while coming together quickly and easily.

Upon being invited to a barbecue recently, I announced that it would be a good time to try out a recipe for some cheesecake-y blueberry lemon bars.

“No. No lemon,” one of our friends declared. “Lemon is gross.”

(I think he was at least halfway joking.)

The rest of the group immediately objected.

“Yes! Make lemon bars. Don’t listen to him!”

So lemon bars, it was, and while our one friend didn’t dig into the Tupperware, the entire batch disappeared quickly, and I had absolutely zero leftovers.

And that’s with a recipe that features a cake mix as a base, which made it super easy to put together.

This comes from the blog “Lemon Blossoms,” by Kathy McDaniel. You can find the original post at https://www.lemonblossoms.com/blog/lemon-blueberry-crumb-bars/. I added vanilla in my version.

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Lemon Blueberry Crumb Bars

Lemon blueberry crumb bars are made with fresh fruit and use a cake mix as a base, making them flavorful and sweet while coming together quickly and easily.
Course Dessert
Keyword bake sale, cake mix, cream cheese, easy bars, fresh blueberries, fresh lemon, lemon glaze, lemon juice, lemon zest, powdered sugar, vanilla, yellow cake mix

Ingredients

Bars Ingredients

  • 8 tablespoons butter melted
  • 1 yellow cake mix
  • 2 eggs divided
  • 1/4 cup lemon juice divided
  • 2 teaspoons lemon zest
  • 16 ounces cream cheese softened
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 2 pints fresh blueberries

Glaze Ingredients

  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prepare a nine-by-13-inch baking dish by lining it with parchment paper, leaving some hanging over the edges so it’s easier to remove the bars from the pan later. Set it aside.
  • In a large mixing bowl, combine the butter, cake mix, one egg and two tablespoons lemon juice. Beat the ingredients together until they’re smooth
  • Dump about two-thirds of the mixture into the prepared baking dish and press it down evenly on the bottom of the pan with your hands.
  • In another mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and sugar until it is well combine. Beat in one egg, lemon zest, vanilla and two tablespoons lemon juice until the mixture is smooth.
  • Spread the cream cheese mixture evenly over the batter layer in the baking dish. Evenly distribute the blueberries on the top of the cream cheese.
  • Crumbling it with your fingers, evenly sprinkle the rest of the batter over the top of the blueberries. You will have gaps, and that’s OK.
  • Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until the center is set.
  • While the bars bake, whisk the ingredients for the glaze together. It should be just thin enough to be pourable. If your mixture is too thin, add more powdered sugar. If it’s too thick, add more lemon juice.
  • When the bars are finished, drizzle the glaze over the hot bars, and then let the bars cool completely before placing them in the refrigerator for about one-half hour.
  • Carefully lift the bars out of the dish with the parchment paper and slice.
  • Serve. Store any leftovers in an airtight container.

These were lightly sweet with a nice combination of fruit flavors and just a bit of tartness from the lemon juice and zest. They were a huge hit at the barbecue.

And, being the peacemaker I am, I may have made a second, lemon-free dessert to go on the table, too. You have to give the people what they want, I suppose—even if they’re wrong about lemons.

This piece first appeared in print on Aug. 17, 2023.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Dessert

Get lost in a piece of amazing cake

Amazing cake has too many ingredients to put in its title. It features an easy base of a boxed cake mix, elevated by pecans, shredded coconut, chocolate chips and a swirled cream cheese mixture that is not to be missed.
Amazing cake has too many ingredients to put in its title. It features an easy base of a boxed cake mix, elevated by pecans, shredded coconut, chocolate chips and a swirled cream cheese mixture that is not to be missed.

The names people choose for recipes often crack me up.

There’s the embarrassing-to-talk-about “better than sex” or “sex in a pan” variety of dishes, followed by “blue-ribbon” and “award-winning” options, and of course, there are a million recipes purporting to be “Mom’s” or “Grandma’s,” although few identify which matriarch those actually belong to.

So you’ll excuse my skepticism as to how “amazing” the recipe I tried this week was when the author simply called it “amazing cake.”

Upon reading the long list of ingredients, though, not only did I start to believe that this just might be amazing, but I also realized that she couldn’t have possibly come up with a more descriptive name without having to list at least five items in the title. Amazing cake it was.

This recipe comes from a Facebook reel by @genie_cooks. I adjusted the ingredients just a tiny bit, based on what I had in my pantry. I also used an Oreo chocolate cake mix that had Oreo bits in it for the cake part, and that was phenomenal.

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Amazing Cake

Amazing cake has too many ingredients to put in its title. It features an easy base of a boxed cake mix, elevated by pecans, shredded coconut, chocolate chips and a swirled cream cheese mixture that is not to be missed.
Course Dessert
Keyword cake mix, chocolate, chocolate cake, chocolate chips, coconut, cream cheese, easy cake, easy dessert, pecans, powdered sugar

Ingredients

  • 1 cup pecans divided
  • 1 cup shredded coconut
  • 1 chocolate cake mix and ingredients listed on the box
  • 8 ounces cream cheese
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/2 cup butter melted
  • 1/2 cup chocolate chips I used semi-sweet

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  • Prepare a nine-by-13-inch baking pan by spraying it with cooking spray.
  • Spread one-half cup of the pecans and all of the shredded coconut evenly along the bottom of the pan. Set it aside.
  • In a mixing bowl, prepare the chocolate cake mix according to the directions on the box. Pour the prepared mix evenly over the top of the pecans and coconut in the prepared pan.
  • In another mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, powdered sugar and melted butter until it is smooth. Fold in the remaining pecans and the chocolate chips.
  • With a large spoon, place dollops of the cream cheese mixture all over the surface of the cake batter, and then gently swirl the cream cheese mixture into the batter with a knife.
  • Bake for 35 to 40 minutes. Let the cake cool completely before cutting into it. Sore any leftovers in an airtight container.

This really did turn out, well, amazing. I brought some to the office to share, and Adam described it as a “German chocolate upside down cake,” which I thought was a fairly apt way of putting it. The incorporation of so many different flavors and textures in this cake makes it decadent and delicious, and the best part was that it was super easy to create. Put this one on your “I need to make a quick dessert” list.

While “amazing cake” doesn’t really tell you everything you need to know about this recipe, it was a decent descriptor after all, and I certainly recommend it. As for some of the other descriptive terms people tend to use in their recipe names, I think I’ll stick to the tamer adjectives. I don’t need my cooking to get a strange reputation.

This piece first appeared in print on April 20, 2023.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Dessert

You’ll be ready to poke into this chocolate-filled cake

Hot chocolate poke cake takes the flavors of hot chocolate and elevates them into a delicious cake that will satisfy any chocolate-lover's sweet tooth.
Hot chocolate poke cake takes the flavors of hot chocolate and elevates them into a delicious cake that will satisfy any chocolate-lover’s sweet tooth.

We had an early Christmas celebration this past week, and of course, I volunteered to make dessert. I knew I wanted to make a cranberry orange tart that I first tried last Christmas (check out my website for that one), since I had a full bag of cranberries in my crisper drawer, but I was feeling completely uninspired about what else to make.

So, I sent a text to my sister to ask the most creative person I know—my 5-year-old niece—what I should make.

The answer came back: chocolate chip cookies.

OK, so not the most creative answer. But my sister saved the day, sharing a recipe she was eyeballing, and it turned out to be a huge hit and an absolutely delicious dessert.

This comes from the blog “Persnickety Plates.” You can find the original post at https://www.persnicketyplates.com/hot-chocolate-poke-cake/. I didn’t do any playing with the recipe outside of clarifying a few directions.

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Hot Chocolate Poke Cake

Hot chocolate poke cake takes the flavors of hot chocolate and elevates them into a delicious cake that will satisfy any chocolate-lover's sweet tooth.
Course Dessert
Keyword cake mix, chocolate cake, chocolate chips, dark chocolate, easy dessert, hot chocolate, hot fudge topping, instant pudding, mini marshmallows, whipped cream

Ingredients

  • 15.25 ounce dark chocolate cake mix
  • 2, 3.9 ounce instant chocolate pudding mixes
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1 cup cold chocolate milk
  • 1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 11 to 12 ounces hot fudge topping
  • 2 cups milk
  • 1 pint heavy whipping cream
  • 1/4 cup cocoa powder
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • mini marshmallows and chocolate chips for topping

Instructions

  • Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a nine-by-13-inch baking pan by spraying it with non-stick cooking spray.
  • In a large mixing bowl, beat the cake mix, one box of instant pudding, eggs, vanilla, chocolate milk, oil and sour cream until the mixture is smooth.
  • Pour it evenly into the prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
  • Let the cake cool for about 10 minutes, and then, using a skewer or the end of a wooden spoon, poke holes all over the cake.
  • Heat the hot fudge topping in the microwave until it is easy to pour, and then pour over the cake, spreading it out with a spatula, if necessary, to get it evenly distributed.
  • Let the cake cool completely, either on the counter or in the refrigerator before continuing to the next step.
  • Once the cake is completely cooled, add the other box of pudding mix along with the two cups of milk to a bowl and whisk until they are well combined. Pour the pudding mixture evenly over the cake and put it in the refrigerator to set. (I let mine set overnight.)
  • For the whipped cream, add the heavy cream, cocoa powder and powdered sugar to a mixing bowl and beat on high for several minutes until the mixture forms stiff peaks.
  • Spread the whipped cream evenly over top of the cake and finish it off with some mini marshmallows and chocolate chips.
  • Keep the cake refrigerated until you’re ready to serve it, and keep any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

This was chocolate cake, elevated to a whole new level. The hot fudge and pudding layers kept it especially moist, and there’s nothing to complain about when it comes to fresh chocolate whipped cream.

My little cousins really enjoyed it, and my sister gave the recipe two thumbs up, as well.

My niece also seemed to enjoy it, so I was glad I didn’t disappoint her by skipping out on her chocolate chip cookies. I’ll have to make her a batch sometime soon, although by then, she’ll probably have a new kind of sweet on her mind.

This piece first appeared in print on Dec. 22, 2022.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Dessert

Stone fruit and brown sugar are truly made for ‘peach’ other

Brown sugar peach cake levels up a boxed cake mix with lots of fresh peaches and a yummy, from-scratch brown sugar frosting. This one is a real crowd pleaser.
Brown sugar peach cake levels up a boxed cake mix with lots of fresh peaches and a yummy, from-scratch brown sugar frosting. This one is a real crowd pleaser.

Last summer, we ended up with a large box of peaches, and when they started to get soft before we could finish them, I sliced them up, tossed them in a bag, and stored them away in the freezer.

Well, rather than using them up sometime last fall…or winter…or spring…they’ve just been hanging out in my freezer drawer.

I mostly forgot about them, except for Joey asking me once or twice a month, “So, what are you going to do with those peaches?”

After he asked me that again in May, I purchased some ingredients to make a fresh peach cake. And then those sat in the pantry, too.

I mentioned this week that I needed to decide what to make for my column, and he instantly said, “You know, you have those peaches.”

So, if there’s any mystery still left at all, I did go ahead and use up my freezer peaches this week, and the cake I made was a huge hit at the office.

The recipe I used comes from the blog “The View from Great Island.” You can find the original post at https://theviewfromgreatisland.com/brown-sugar-peach-cake-recipe/. I doubled the peaches and vanilla in my version.

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Brown Sugar Peach Cake

Brown sugar peach cake levels up a boxed cake mix with lots of fresh peaches and a yummy, from-scratch brown sugar frosting. This one is a real crowd pleaser.
Course Dessert
Keyword brown sugar, butter, cake, cake mix, fresh peaches, heavy cream, peach juice, peach nectar, powdered sugar, vanilla

Ingredients

Cake Ingredients

  • 15 ounce yellow cake mix
  • Number of eggs on the cake mix box
  • Amount of oil on the cake mix box
  • 1/2 cup peach nectar or peach juice
  • 2 pounds peeled peaches cut into 1/2-inch pieces

Frosting Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a nine-by-13-inch baking pan by spraying it with cooking spray, and set it aside
  • Beat the cake mix, eggs, oil and nectar until smooth. Fold in the peaches, and spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. (Mine took about 45 minutes.)
  • Let the cake cool completely.
  • For the frosting, cut the butter into chunks and add it, the heavy cream and brown sugar to a saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir constantly until the mixture comes to a boil. Remove the saucepan from the heat and whisk in the vanilla and powdered sugar until it’s well combined and there are no lumps. (If it starts to harden up on you before you’re ready, slide it back over on your still-hot burner to loosen it up a bit.)
  • Pour the frosting evenly over the top of the cake, spreading it out where necessary, and place the cake in the refrigerator until the frosting sets up (about 30 minutes).
  • Cut and serve, and store any leftovers in an airtight container.

If you’re not sure where to find peach nectar, the brand I found was Jumex, and it was located in the cold drinks area of my local grocery store rather than in the juice aisle.

This cake was amazing. I used up every last peach from the freezer, and the cake was just bursting with them, which made it delicious. Also, the frosting makes for a great compliment to the peach flavor, even if it is on the sweeter side. The cake is moist enough on its own that you could get away with skipping the frosting altogether, if that’s not your thing.

And Joey is happy that our freezer is now absent one, big bag of peaches after nearly a year. He was right, it did free up a lot of space. Unfortunately, I’m now worried he’s going to notice my collection of baking chips that were hidden underneath it.

This piece first appeared in print on June 16, 2022.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Dessert

Reese’s cake nearly got the ‘butter’ of me this time

With a boxed cake mix and only a few frosting ingredients, this cake boasts the flavors of a Reese's candy bar.
With a boxed cake mix and only a few frosting ingredients, this cake boasts the flavors of a Reese’s candy bar.

There are so many neat videos online that give an insider’s view of all kinds of professions.

For some reason, I can get absolutely lost watching someone power wash a driveway, paint fingernails or frost cakes and cookies.

And then I have it in my head that I could also easily accomplish any of these seemingly mundane tasks—especially if it deals with the kitchen.

I think that’s why I got especially frustrated this past weekend when I could not, for the life of me, properly frost the chocolate cake I was planning on taking for a family lunch. The thick peanut butter frosting only wanted to stick to my knife, my hands or itself, but it was completely immune to sticking to my soft cake.

It was one of those moments where Joey came in the kitchen, asked how things were going, and then slowly backed away and out of the room after seeing the frustration on my face.

So, the bad news is that I didn’t make a beautiful, video-worthy cake this week. It was definitely not winning any beauty contests. The good news, though, is it tasted pretty darn good, and despite being tough to frost, it actually came together really quickly.

The recipe I used came from the blog “Oh, Bite It!” You can find the original post at https://www.ohbiteit.com/2014/03/inside-out-reeses-peanut-butter-cake.html. I didn’t adjust any of the ingredients, because this was incredibly easy, but I will give you some ideas on how to better frost this cake in my version below.

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Reese’s Cake

With a boxed cake mix and only a few frosting ingredients, this cake boasts the flavors of a Reese's candy bar.
Course Dessert
Keyword cake mix, chocolate cake, creamy peanut butter, easy dessert, layered cake, peanut butter, powdered sugar, Reese’s

Ingredients

  • 1 chocolate cake mix and ingredients from package
  • 2 cups creamy peanut butter
  • 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt

Instructions

  • Prepare your cake mix in two eight-inch, round cake pans, according to the package directions. Set them aside to cool.
  • In a glass mixing bowl, beat the peanut butter, powdered sugar and salt until it is fluffy and well combined.
  • Pop the bowl into the microwave for a few seconds (start with 20) to thin the frosting out a bit before frosting your cake.
  • Place one of your cakes onto a plate and slather a thin layer of frosting on top. Top with the other cake and cover the whole layer cake to your liking with the rest of the frosting. If it’s still difficult to work with, microwave it just a bit more. Just be careful not to make it so runny that you have the opposite problem to thick frosting.
  • Serve your cake immediately or store in an airtight container.

This really was tasty. I used a devil’s food mix, but I also could have easily just used my from-scratch chocolate dump cake recipe that I love, if I wanted to.

At our family dinner, my four-year-old niece informed me that she only wanted to eat the frosting. Considering the amount of candy I watched her eat that afternoon, I don’t think leaving the cake on her plate was a bad decision.

But I must admit I was a little grumpy as I watched her scrape all of my hard-fought icing off of the cake. “If only she knew what I went through to get that on there,” I thought.

But then I remembered she’s four. You don’t get much sympathy from a four year old.

This piece first appeared in print on April 28, 2022.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Dessert

Sorry, everyone: I must ‘confetti’ that I’ve done it again

Confetti blondies take a confetti cake mix, combined with sprinkles and a few other ingredients to make chewy, tasty bars.
Confetti blondies take a confetti cake mix, combined with sprinkles and a few other ingredients to make chewy, tasty bars.

Holiday-themed recipes are sometimes hard for me—specifically when it comes to this column.

As I see recipes start to pop up online for fun holiday treats, the responsible thing would be to make them weeks in advance to give everyone reading this the time to get the ingredients and make it for their holiday get-togethers.

But, of course, I rarely think about it in time, and I normally end up publishing a great holiday dish after the fact. For Easter this year, I decided I wasn’t going to make anything themed. My family get-together isn’t until next weekend, and I already have the ingredients for some pies that look fantastic. (Coming soon!)

Then we were graciously invited to spend Easter with some good friends’ family, so I quickly looked for a dessert to take.

The one I landed on ended up looking very Easter-y, with pastel sprinkles shaped like eggs strewn through it, but the good news is you can make these bars for any holiday theme—just customize your sprinkles (and maybe even your cake mix) to match. And if you have nothing in particular to celebrate, you can make these anyway with your favorite colors. Plus, they’re easy and quick, too.

This recipe comes from the blog “Crayons and Cravings” by Jaclyn Anne Shimmel. You can find the original post at https://crayonsandcravings.com/cake-batter-blondies/. I left this recipe alone, since it was so simple.

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Confetti Blondies

Confetti blondies take a confetti cake mix, combined with sprinkles and a few other ingredients to make chewy, tasty bars.
Course Dessert
Keyword blondies, cake mix, confetti cake, cookie bars, sprinkles, sweetened condensed milk, white chocolate chips

Ingredients

  • 2 15.25- ounce boxes confetti style cake mix
  • 2 sticks (16 tablespoons) butter or margarine softened
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips
  • 1 to 1 1/4 cups sprinkles divided
  • 1 cup sweetened condensed milk

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a nine-by-13-inch baking pan by lining it with parchment paper, and set it aside.
  • In a large mixing bowl, beat the cake mix, butter and eggs until the mixture is smooth. Stir in about half of the sprinkles.
  • Spread about two-thirds of the batter into your prepared cake pan. It will be thick, so it may be easiest to spread it out with your hands.
  • Sprinkle in the chocolate chips and the rest of the sprinkles.
  • Pour the sweetened condensed milk over top of the batter in the pan, leaving about an inch uncovered around the edges.
  • Drop the remaining batter evenly over the top by the spoonful, and gently press it down to kind of make a top crust (it doesn’t need to be perfect).
  • Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until the top is lightly browned. Let the blondies cool completely, and then use the parchment to remove them from the pan for slicing. Store in an airtight container.

These were chewy and flavorful, and I came home with less than half of a pan, so I guess you could say they were a hit. Also, if you’re looking for a smaller dessert, you’ll notice this is super easy to cut in half.

And, truth be told, these blondies were a cute addition to the Easter dessert table, so I guess I have to admit that I once again gave you a great holiday recipe a bit too late.

Maybe someday I’ll finally get my calendar synced to my kitchen exploits—but I wouldn’t hold your breath.

This piece first appeared in print on April 21, 2022.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Dessert

Everyone is cut out to make this special surprise cake

You can magically create any shape in the middle of a yummy pound cake, perfect for holidays, birthdays or even baby or wedding showers.
You can magically create any shape in the middle of a yummy pound cake, perfect for holidays, birthdays or even baby or wedding showers.

One of my favorite types of recipes is the kind where people look at what you made and immediately ask, “How did you do that?”

That was the case with this week’s recipe, which I baked for a St. Patrick’s Day-themed get together we had. I made a variety of Irish dishes (which I will be sharing with you over the next few weeks), but this simple cake, which featured bright green shamrocks in the middle of each slice, ended up being quite the conversation piece as people tried to figure out how I implanted the image into the cake.

The good news is, it was really easy, and while I created my version for St. Patty’s, you can do the exact same thing for any holiday or get-together. All you need is some food coloring and the right size of cookie cutter to make it happen.

This recipe originally appeared in “Taste of Home,” contributed by Angela Lively. You can find it on their website at https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/shamrock-cutout-pound-cake. I refined the directions and added extra extract in my version. I also left out adding a glaze to the cake.

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Surprise Cutout Pound Cake

You can magically create any shape in the middle of a yummy pound cake, perfect for holidays, birthdays or even baby or wedding showers.
Course Dessert
Keyword cake mix, easy cake, gender reveal, holiday cake, holiday dessert, party dessert, pound cake, shower cake

Ingredients

  • 2, 16- ounce packages of pound cake mix
  • all ingredients called for on the pound cake mix box
  • food coloring whatever shade you want
  • 2 teaspoons peppermint, vanilla, almond, or etc. extract

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to whatever temperature the pound cake package calls for.
  • Grease a nine-by-five-inch loaf pan (regardless of what size your final cake will be).
  • Follow the package directions on one of the boxes of pound cake mix to prepare the batter. Beat in food coloring until you get to your desired shade, along with two teaspoons of flavor extract. (I used peppermint to go with my shamrock design. You can also just skip it.)
  • Pour the batter into your prepared pan and bake according to the package instructions.
  • Once the cake is done, let it cool completely and remove it from the pan.
  • Choose a cookie cutter that is just barely shorter when standing on its edge than the pan you want to use for your finished cake. For example, I baked my final cakes in a mini loaf pan, so I ended up using a small, one-inch cutter. If you wanted to use a nine-by-13-inch loaf pan, you’d probably use a two- to three-inch tall cookie cutter.
  • Slice the pound cake into about one-inch slices. Using your cookie cutter, carefully cut out one or multiple shapes from each slice, putting any scraps to the side for another use (or just snacking; I’m not judging you).
  • Preheat the oven to whatever temperature the pound cake package calls for.
  • Prep your baking pan by greasing it. Prepare the second pound cake mix according to the package directions, and pour just a bit into the bottom of your prepared pan. Place the cutout shapes, back to back to back, in a line down the center of your prepared pan.
  • Finish off the cake by carefully pouring the rest of the batter around the shapes, being sure to coat them to hide them from view.
  • Bake according to package directions.
  • Once the cake is cooled, remove it from the pan and slice it to reveal your surprise shapes. Store in an airtight container.

You could make this in any of the many baking vessels listed on the back of your pound cake mix—from a loaf pan to a bundt cake to mini loaves. The mini loaves were nice for our snack spread so that I could keep everything on the table as finger foods.

Also, the pop of peppermint was really nice in this cake. I could see vanilla, almond or even orange or cherry extracts being really yummy, too.

Baking for holidays and special events is always a fun way to try out new recipes like this that give a cool visual for guests. But now that I revealed this particular secret, I guess I’ll have to find a new one for next time.

This piece first appeared in print on March 30, 2023.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Dessert

Come out of your shell with pistachio cake

Pistachio cake uses a cake mix and pudding mix, along with chopped pistachios to create a nutty, light dessert.
Pistachio cake uses a cake mix and pudding mix, along with chopped pistachios to create a nutty, light dessert.

I normally like to start this column with a story about the week’s recipe, but I have to tell you about my most recent kitchen fail. It’s a doozy.

My parents-in-law gifted us with several packages of frozen tamales that are made by simply boiling the bag for 20 minutes and then serving. They’re great for quick meals. A few don’t have labels on them, so they’ve been a fun surprise when we open up the bag.

I made one of the surprise bags this week, added some Mexican rice and tomatillo salsa to the plate and served it up.

Joey took his first bite, and his face screwed up in an awful grimace.

“These are sweet,” he said, through a mouthful.

Guys. They were apple cinnamon tamales!

I felt awful for ruining our lunch, but Joey, being the trooper he is, scraped the salsa into the rice, ate that first and declared that his slightly spicy apple tamales would be for dessert.

I guess even “easy” meals can take a turn for the worse.

This week’s recipe is one of those easy recipes, but hopefully, you’ll have labels to read, and everything will turn out great.

The recipe I used doctors up a cake mix to make a delicious cake. It comes from the blog “Cake Whiz.” You can find the original post at https://cakewhiz.com/pistachio-cake-recipe/. I added chopped nuts, vanilla and salt to my recipe, as well as simplified the topping.

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Pistachio Cake

Pistachio cake uses a cake mix and pudding mix, along with chopped pistachios to create a nutty, light dessert.
Course Dessert
Keyword cake, cake mix, pistachios, pudding mix

Ingredients

  • 3 eggs
  • 3/4 cup oil I used canola
  • 1 cup milk I used skim
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla
  • 1 yellow cake mix
  • 3.4 ounces instant pistachio pudding mix
  • pinch of salt
  • green food coloring optional
  • 1/2 cup chopped pistachios divided
  • 8 ounces frozen whipped topping thawed

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a nine-by-13-inch baking pan by greasing and flouring it, and set it aside.
  • In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs, oil, milk and vanilla until it’s smooth. Beat in the cake mix, pudding mix and salt. If you want to make your cake a bit greener, add some green food coloring, too.
  • Add 1/4 cup of the chopped pistachios to the mixture, and pour it into your prepared cake pan, spreading it out evenly.
  • Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
  • Let the cake cool, and then top it with the whipped topping and the rest of the chopped pistachios.
  • Refrigerate any leftovers.

This was fantastic. It was a great summer dessert, and it was really pretty, too. The cake was light and nutty, and we really enjoyed it.

And the good news is Joey knew exactly what he was getting into when he took the first bite, and I didn’t try to serve it to him with salsa on top.

I’m not sure if he’s going to trust a plate of tamales from me in the future, but at least my cake turned out fine.

This piece first appeared in print on July 22, 2021.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

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