Tag: easy cake

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
Breakfast Dessert

A crustless pie recipe can really take the cake

This fresh strawberry cake is moist and light and a fabulous dessert to pair with a bowl of vanilla ice cream or a cup of coffee.
This fresh strawberry cake is moist and light and a fabulous dessert to pair with a bowl of vanilla ice cream or a cup of coffee.

Every week, I go have lunch with my Little for Big Brothers Big Sisters. We solve the world’s problems over school food and Uno cards as only a 13-year-old and a 39-year-old can.

Recently, we discussed the nature of sandwiches. Is a hot dog a sandwich? How about a taco? Where do quesadillas come into play?

Her assessment was that tortillas didn’t count; we stalled out on the subject of buns. We’ll have to come back to it at some point and figure it out.

I was reminded of that conversation when I made this week’s recipe, except my internal struggle was: cake or pie? The recipe author calls it a “crustless pie,” but honestly, it’s a phenomenal, moist cake that just happens to be made in a pie pan—at least in my humble opinion.

Whatever the ruling, though, it was really good, and it is perfect for all the sweet berries that are starting to hit our grocery store shelves right now.

This comes from the blog “Averie Cooks.” You can find the original post at https://www.averiecooks.com/crustless-fresh-strawberry-pie/. I added extra vanilla in my version.

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Fresh Strawberry Cake

This fresh strawberry cake is moist and light and a fabulous dessert to pair with a bowl of vanilla ice cream or a cup of coffee.
Course Breakfast, Dessert
Keyword almond extract, crustless pie, easy cake, easy dessert, fresh fruit, strawberry, vanilla

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup butter melted
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon almond extract
  • 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, divided
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 16 ounces fresh strawberries halved or quartered, divided

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  • Prepare a nine-inch glass pie dish by spraying it with cooking spray.
  • In a large mixing bowl, add the melted butter (let it cool a bit), eggs, vanilla extract and almond extract. Beat the mixture to combine.
  • Add in one cup of sugar, the flour and salt, and beat until you have a smooth batter.
  • Fold in all but about 1/4 cup of your strawberries, and pour the mixture into your prepared pie dish, spreading it out evenly.
  • Lightly press the remaining strawberries into the top of the batter, and sprinkle two tablespoons of sugar evenly over the top of the cake.
  • Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
  • Cool completely before slicing. Store any leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container.

We really, really enjoyed this one. The vanilla and almond extracts compliment the flavor of the fresh strawberries perfectly and really help the fruit be the star of the dessert. This was delicious for breakfast with a cup of coffee, too.

You could easily swap in blueberries, raspberries, etc., if you’re not a strawberry fan or your local grocery store has something else on the shelves.

If you make this, you’ll have to tell me if I’m wrong in the cake vs. pie debate. I haven’t asked my Little to weigh in yet. If she’s anywhere near the expert on baked goods that she is on sandwiches, though, I’ll have a definitive answer in no time.

This piece first appeared in print on March 16, 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

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.

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