Thanksgiving Post 3: Pumpkin Cake

This was my favorite Thanksgiving recipe of all this year. 

Pumpkin Dump Cake. 

I don't know if I would even call it a cake. It was like... pudding pumpkin pie bars. Yet cakey. And with a crumble. It's dessert of joy. It's the crack of pumpkin. 

Look at this. 

What is it about pumpkin that can make me swoon?

And this? This was seriously the best pumpkin thing I have ever tasted. 

I have seen variations of this but, I honestly think this one is the best. Check it out:

http://bugaboominimrme.blogspot.com/2011/10/best-pumpkin-dessert-ever-bar-none-none.html

I used a can of pumpkin and then added a teaspoon of cinnamon instead of pumpkin pie filling.

But I am weird like that.

We liked it anyway. I mean, clearly. We aren't dessert people. I should say:
We didn't like this one either, ha.

 Happy Thanksgiving, a week late :)

Thanksgiving Post 2: Two Ingredient Pumpkin Cake with a Nutella-Chocolate-Swirl

The other recipe I made this Thanksgiving was for my brother for his birthday. 

I WAS going to make him the traditional yellow cake with chocolate icing that he always is so keen on.

But my mom called dibs and made it herself! Upsetting, ha. I already had a cake mix and some of the ingredients and wasn't sure where to go from there.

And then I remembered a pin of mine. 

A cake made with just two ingredients. 

Could it be possible? 

When I had both in my pantry and was flush out of ideas?

Oh yeah. It's possible. 

Check it out: http://pinterest.com/pin/307299764/

I adapted it slightly. I swirled nutella and fudge into the top instead of dealing with icing the cake. I also added a bit of cinnamon to the cake batter for flavor and a bit of gingerale into the batter to make it fluff up. 

Worked like a charm.

We didn't like it at all, ha

Best try and make a better version yourselves and let me know what to do next. 

The Best/Easiest/Best Cupcakes Ever. EVER.

Happy my birthday to you! 

Last Wednesday that is. The 12th. But still! Imma keep on celebrating.

I present, the BEST friggin' cupcakes I have ever, EVER had. And trust me when I say, I have had a LOT of fridgin' cupcakes. 

Like, a lot. 

It's pretty much a large part of my charm/curves.

And yet despite my cupcake history, I can tell you: these are the best. When this recipe is made into cake, this is the best cake. It is delicious, spongy, not too dry, not too crumbly: it essentially just rocks. 

I found it on a blog I love to follow: Cupcakes and Sprinkles. It was a recipe for "The Best Chocolate Cake" and as soon as I read it, I knew I wanted to make it. However, at the time, the reason I was even LOOKING for cake recipes was for my little brother's birthday. 

And he has very specific tastes. 

"Yellow cake with chocolate icing" he insisted for the hundredth time. 

"What about chocolate cake? With vanilla icing?" I pleaded. 

"I mean I guess..." he eventually said. "I just like yellow cake with chocolate icing more..."

Ha, great. As if I could do what I wanted to do NOW. When he was being all nice and adorable. So, I decided I could still make this recipe. Just with some yellow cake adaptations. 

Which meant, instead of the called for chocolate cake mix and chocolate pudding, I was going to bust out a yellow cake and butterscotch pudding.

Oh yeah? Didn't I mention? This uses cake mix. 

For all of you who I just lost by saying the words "mix"- I am going to have to BEG you to try this recipe. It is really really worth sacrificing to semi-homemade-ness. Please give it a try, just because it has so much delicious to it that you will never, ever, regret it.

Please and thank you :)

The Best Cake EVER

Recipe Source: kevinandamanda.com & cupcakeswithsprinkles.blogspot.com
 

1 box Cake Mix
1 pkg Jell-O Instant Pudding
1 cup Sour Cream
1 cup Vegetable Oil
4 Eggs, beaten
1/2 cup Milk
1 teaspoon Vanilla
(If chocolate cake, add 2 cups Mini Semisweet Chocolate Chips) 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

2. In a very large bowl , mix together everything except chocolate chips if attempting chocolate cake. Batter will be thick. Stir in the chocolate chips. Pour batter into cake pan(s) of choice. 

3. For cooking time, use the cooking times on the back of the cake box as a guide and usually add 10 mins to whatever it says. Then do the toothpick check, and if it’s not done, check on it every 5 mins after that.

*I made a yellow cake with yellow cake mix and butterscotch pudding. The recipe originally called for devils food and chocolate pudding. I really want to make a cherry cake with french vanilla pudding or a carrot with butterscotch. So many options! Let me know what you guys try but, whatever you do: MAKE THIS CAKE!

Frosting for the Cause: Pineapple Dump Cake

I don't know if you know about Frosting for the Cause but, it's amazing. It's a truly amazing group of food bloggers- organized by one REALLY amazing food blogger- Paula. I did this post, the following post for her site and wanted to share it here on my page as well. I waited a month before doing so in order to not steal the thunder of Frosting for the Cause by sharing the recipe here. I hope you guys enjoy it and will go join Frosting yourselves. Love to you all:

I had several options to choose from while writing this post as to an inspirational person in my life who suffered through cancer as I have had several loved ones go through the very particular horrors of the disease. While most were surviving, not all were so lucky. As I sat down to begin outlining this post, I found myself struggling to pick the story of just one, a single person I love, a single person who fought what always seems like the losing battle, just one person who won, or who lost, who inspired me.

As I am sure many of you know, choosing one story can be difficult. Especially if you are so deeply entrenched in the lives of so many amazing survivors or loved so many who are no longer with us. This was my exact pondering as I scribbled in a notebook a little over a month ago trying to come up with the story I wanted to tell. Oh yeah, and a recipe to go along with it.

You guys all make it look so easy ;)

However, I was seriously struggling. I had a lot of stories to tell but, none stuck out in that moment. Couldn’t I just tell them all? Write a novel for each one? That’s what my Grandpa Moylan, Aunt Karen, Aunt Peggy, Kendal, Kara, and John deserved. So, I sat. Scribbling in a notebook on the DC metro. (Read, drawing comics aimlessly and worrying about what to write). On my way to some dinner thing my coworker helped put together. A benefit, you know the type. An auction and fancy cocktails followed by some speakers with a dinner.  

At the time, this meant I had worn a dress to work and that I had to wear my work heels for approximately 4 more hours than I normally like to. Little did I know that what it would come to be the inspiration for my post that I had been searching for.

The benefit was a sponsored Camp Kesem event. I had never heard of it either, no worries. George Washington students organized the “Camp Kesem GW’s 2011 Share the Magic Benefit Dinner” and raised $11,000 in just that one evening auction and meal as they told one of the most inspiring stories I had ever heard.

 

Just to be clear, these are students, guys. I was a student not to long ago. While in undergrad, I worked two jobs, worked toward my two hard earned degrees, did a LOT of goofing off, volunteered with Habitat for Humanity, did Relay for Life committees each year, and probably spent 1/3 of my life on Facebook. Things I never, ever, even kind of did? Threw benefits. Organized expensive events. Wrote to speakers for their time. Got donations. Organized, marketed, publicized, and budgeted entire summer camps.

If you ever want to feel like a slacker, talk to these students at GW and so many other campuses who are a part of the Camp Kesem Summer Program.These GW Students worked so hard on this event and SO MANY OTHERS to raise money to have a summer camp for the children of cancer patients.

Did I mention? It’s for free. A week long summer camp, entirely free to the families and child. $0.  For as many kids they can get to sign up. I mean, that’s insane. That’s a LOT of fundraising. Not to mention work. And yet, this students work like dogs throughout the entire school year to provide a week of summer paradise to children they don’t even know but who are dealing with cancer in their family.

Cue inspiration flowing freely through my notebook.

 

I found myself moved to tears as a young camper who’s camp nickname was “Pasta” described what it meant to her to have that week every summer with kids who were all going through the same things. Kids who understood. What it meant to have some time to be a kid and goof off at a camp, away from the hospitals and worry for her parent, but also a place where she could talk about those exact fears and have a group who understood and could laugh with her,  pray with her, for her, and above all be there for her.

Funfetti Cake Balls

Ha, you know what food is fun to eat and NOT Clutzy Cooking Friendly?

Why yes! Yes indeed, it is cake balls! Good guess!

Okay, I'll stop being me/ridiculous now. These are delicious- make them NOW. They are chocolate covered cake. Yep. Chocolate. Covered. Cake.

I found this recipe through stumbleupon on Bakerella's food blog. I am not much a fan of Red Velvet cake though so I decided to make Funfetti cake balls.

This recipe SOUNDS so easy and, while it is... for normal humans...if you are a true clutz like I am, you may run into some difficulties when it comes to melting chocolate without burning it and then dipping the cake without scorching your finger tips off.

Or covering your counters with melted chocolate bark. Which is difficult to clean, P.S.

Also, keep the size small and bite size. I made mine too big at first and they began to crumble apart and make things more messy for me. So, smaller is better in this case! Also, since I was struggling with just making BALLS, I decided it was a good idea to try and get fancy.

Because, that's clearly a good train of thought. 


Ha, despite the burns and muttered curses, these were fun too!

For those of you who don't understand what you're seeing (i.e. you non geek folk) those are Nintendo remotes and a NASA Space Shuttle. Woot for chocolate molds from amazon.com! Oh, AND!!! The Shuttle flames are sprinkles! I can't tell you how happy that made me when throwing this all together. 

Hehehe...


Anyway, this simple recipe is delicious but, can be messy. My methods clearly got me into more trouble then they were worth but, I am willing to try making this recipe again with chocolate cake and white chocolate shells at next opportunity. Or maybe yellow cake with a chocolate shell. Or carrot with a white chocolate shell!!!

Don't those just sound yummy? Absolutely all of them. Sign me up for the variety pack.

Ha, so! Mix it up, make them up, and let me know how they go!

Cake Balls

-1 cake mix

-1 can frosting

-1 package chocolate/almond bark for coating

Bake cake according to directions on box, in a 13 by 9 pan. Once cooled, crumble cake into large bowl, add can of frosting, and mix up til dough like. Round into balls. Place on cookie sheet and put into freezer til solid, (try an hour, I never did this and mine therefore fell apart!). Melt chocolate bark and dip balls into chocolate. Set aside on wax paper til cool. Add sprinkles if desired. Peel and serve :)

Tommy Bahama's Pina Colada Cake: Evidence that Tommy does Everything with Flair

In Palm Springs, CA, there is a Tommy Bahama's store and cafe. If you are ever there, you should probably get the coconut shrimp and perhaps the goat cheese with mango salsa. Actually, everything on the menu is good, get whatever you want.

But for dessert, you have to get THIS cake. Pina Colada cake.

Look at the back of that. All layered in coconut. And the pineapple. My gosh.

It is a personal favorite of mine. I am constantly trying to recreate the flavor combination- case and point these cupcakes and this citrus dump cake. My parents actually went to California without me once and brought it back to Chicago for my birthday. An entire, four layer cake. They had to carry it on and, apparently, this cake weighs a ton.

You wouldn't think it from the light fluffy cake and mousse.


Also, that's my friend Adam creeping over the cake. He lives in California... I am pretty jealous. Especially since he could always drive and get this cake. 


If he wanted to drive 5 hours or so. Which. For tihs cake... I might.

Each forkful is like a floating piece of summer. It's like eating a tropical cloud.

If that sounds appealing.

The pics seen above are taken in Tommy's from my latest trip there. With my family and Adam, we had a big lunch at Tommy's, finished off with this cake. It was an amazing amazing trip. It may have been winter but, I promise you, in Palm Springs it is still 80 degrees. Tropical cake is more then applicable.

Clearly, no one else liked it.

I doubt the REAL recipe in the Tommy cafe' uses cake mix. I don't know why that's what the Tommy's website uses but, since I would likely have made a mix cake anyway to save myself the time and a dime, (all about the rhyme!), I am not complaining. However, I think when I make this, I will be making my own white chocolate mousse. Mousse is completely underrated and is exceptionally fun to make. While I always make a mess, it is always a really fun mess.

I'll let you know how this all turns out.

Make it yourself and enjoy :)

Pina Colada Cake Recipe (Straight from the Tommy's Website)

1 box Pillsbury Deluxe White Cake Mix

1 box Swiss Chalet White Chocolate Mousse

1 Quart Heavy Cream

½ Cup Tommy Bahama Golden Sun^TMRum

8 oz Crushed Pineapple-drained

½ Cup Toasted Coconut

Bake cake as directed in 2 - 9" x 12" rounds. Cool. Slice off rounded top level with baking pan and cut each cake into 2 layers (4 cake layers in total). Make Mousse according to the directions. After the mousse mixture is complete, slowly add heavy cream. Increase speed until mousse and heavy cream are incorporated. Continue whipping until stiff. Assembly: Generously brush each layer of the cake with Tommy Bahama Golden Sun^TM Rum. Spread the mousse mix evenly ¼" thick on the first layer. Sprinkle with some of the pineapple. Top with next cake layer and again, spread with mousse then pineapple. Continue with each layer. The layers of the cake and mousse should be the same height. Coat the sides and top with the mousse mix. Sprinkle toasted coconut over the finished cake.

Assorted Galactic Cheesecakes

YAY CHEESECAKES! I took this plain recipe for Cheesecake which I used for the Jar Jar Cheesecake and made three different flavors by separating them into mixing bowls and pouring into mini cheesecake pans. 

The Death Star has the addition of chocolate chips. I piped it with black icing after smearing it with some gray/blue icing. 

The Chewie cheesecake is made with nutella and chocolate chips.

And Yoda! Aw, Yoda. My favorite character, so ugly he's cute. This is a key lime cheesecake. I juiced some key limes and zested them into the cheesecake batter. 

All the cheesecakes have a graham cracker crust. 

Make and enjoy :)

Strawberry Jar Jar Binks Cheesecake

Everyone hated this dessert.

Not because it tasted bad. Just because of the Jar Jar things about it. And Jar Jar needs to be cut into pieces.

This is a plain cheesecake recipe I found here. I made it, chopped in about a container of strawberries, piped Jar Jar on, and put a fruit by the foot tongue on the whole thing. I loved it, the foot tongue made me endlessly happy.

As did cutting up his face. He's annoying but, he tasted divine.