Late night treat.... Cake in a Cup

The gal I work with came to the office with this recipe I couldn't quite believe!  So simple and gives you the "sweet fix" anytime the mood strikes.  Best of all, from start to finish - it takes about 3 minutes!!

You mix one box of angel food cake mix with a box of any other flavor..chocolate, yellow, carrot or any other cake mix flavor you like.  I used a Chocolate Devil's Food.  Yep, just the two dry mixes is all.  Keep the mixture in an air tight container, until you get the 'craving'.

Place 1/3 Cup of mixture in any microwave proof container (I used a rammekin), even a coffee mug.  If desired drop a few mini chocolate chips in, nuts or whatever.  Stir in 3 tablespoons of water. Microwave for 70 seconds.

Turn out on a small plate, garnish with a drizzle of chocolate syrup, whipped cream, add fruit...again whatever your taste buds are telling you to add.  If you must, add a scoop of ice cream!

The angel food mix makes it so light and fluffy!  Now, you can have a piece of cake anytime you want and not have a huge cake staring you in the face the next day!

Thanks For Stopping By ...

Mini Lemon Bundt Cakes

A lazy Sunday afternoon had me checking out the Williams Sonoma site to see all the new goodies. Headed to the Recipe section and found this for Mini Lemon Bundt Cakes.



Since I had all the ingredients and the mini bundt pan I thought I may as well do something constructive. It also gave me the chance to try out one of my citrus oils.




They whipped up fast and had only a 20 minute baking time! Cooled 10 minutes on the cooling rack and they slid right out of the pan.




As I was cooking up the glaze I thought it was lacking something..SO, I added some of the oil to the glaze also! Good decision!! Audrey was helping by putting a cap full of the oil in the glaze..some of it spilled down the side of the saucepan and caught on fire for a few seconds... Now I know how Carol feels most of the time when she cooks!!! The glaze was brushed on the cakes, dusted with a little of white sanding sugar and were ready to go…or were they?




Seemed like they still needed a little pizzazz ..so I opened a jar of strawberry ice cream topping! TA DA… that made it perfect! The mini bundt cakes looked great on the little appie plates my sweet friend Marsha, from Marsha’s Kitchen and Garden gave me. I was lucky to meet Marsha IRL this summer and will be getting together with her and her daughter, Jayme, this next weekend!



Just the right size desssert to have without getting the feeling you shouldn't have had that last bite! See, a totally guilt-free dessert...nothing better than that!

An Apple a day....

"An apple a day keeps the doctor away, but if the doctor's cute then forget the fruit!"



Seems there has been an over abundance of apples this fall. I’ve been offered so many apples I’m trying to find new recipes to showcase them. One that truly caught my eye was one from Taste of Home for Crunchy Apple Cake. Ok,Ok, what REALLY caught my eye was of course the apple but primarily the butterscotch/caramel sauce that accompanied it!



The batter is very thick and you think there is just not enough moisture in the batter. In reading the reviews the proverbial light bulb went off and saw that the moisture from the apples will keep the cake moist! As you can see below the chunks of apples poke through the batter and believe me you learn patience when you have to wait the 30 minutes for the cake to cool!



Highly recommend this recipe, but do take the time to read the reviews. Decide on your own personal taste as to the amounts of cinnamon and nutmeg you and your family like. I used the amounts shown in the recipe and was not disappointed.



Also, Thanks to Marsha from Marsha’s Kitchen for turning me on to these great plates last summer… the apple theme ones are perfect for this dessert!



I haven’t participated in Mosaic Monday for a long time so I’m jumping back in to join Mary at the Little Red House. Check out her blog to links for some fantastic mosaics!

FLASHBACK FRIDAY - Lemon Berry Cake

I'm way overdue in participating in Flashback Friday with Suzy at Kitchen Bouquet, my apologies dear friend! Make sure you check out Suzy's blog and link to other "Flashbacks"!




My flashback was a creation by Debbie at Mountain Breaths, Lemon Berry Cake with Mascarpone Filling. Debbie recreated this cake after she enjoyed it at a restaurant,it does taste delicious and is a nice change from the old stand-by cakes we make in a pinch. I used raspberries and blueberries in my version. Thanks Debbie for sharing this wonderful recipe!!

Lemon Berry Cake with Mascarpone Filling
by Debbie

Two Layer Cake:
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 pound (1 stick) salted butter
1/4 cup finely minced lemon zest
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 cup sour cream


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter two 8" round baking pans and set aside. Prepare crumb topping and set aside.

Cake instructions:
Sift together flour, baking powder and baking soda, and set aside.

With a mixer, cream butter and lemon zest until the butter is soft. Add the sugar and beat to mix well. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition until thoroughly incorporated. Scrape down the bowl as needed. On low speed, add the dry ingredients in three batches alternately with the sour cream in two batches, beating only until incorporated after each addition. Scrape batter into buttered pans and smooth the top. Sprinkle each cake batter with crumb topping and mixed berries (I used a mixture of blackberries, blueberries, strawberries and raspberries). Bake for 30 to 45 minutes, until a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean and dry. Baking time may vary with different ovens and types of pans.

Once cake has cooled, remove from pans. (Once cool, I wrapped each layer individually in foil and kept refrigerated until I was ready to use)

Prepare the mascarpone cream filling:
12-ounces mascarpone cheese, cold
1/4 cup light cream (half & half)
4 tbsp powdered sugar, or to taste

Beat all ingredients together with a whisk until soft peaks form. If you want to make the filling sweeter, then add a bit more sugar. You might have to add a little more cream to keep the filling from getting too stiff.
.
For the crumb topping:
1 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup granulated sugar
grated zest of 1 lemon
8 Tbs. (1 stick) of butter, melted

Mix together until it looks like little peas.

Debbie's notes:

I used a bag of frozen mixed berries. It gives it a great flavor to
include all four berries.

This dessert is served cold, and keeps well in the fridge for 3-4 days.

Optional: You can drizzle some raspberry sauce on the plate, or sprinkle with confectioners sugar

Foodie Friday with Designs by Gollum

As usual, I'm late to arrive at Gollum's Potluck but I didn't want to miss out on this first ever "Foodie Friday"!

I brought Dorie's Devils Food White-Out Cake to share with everyone..



Make sure you all stop by DESIGNS BY GOLLUM to view all the links of everyone participating in this inaugural event! Hurry, the cake is going fast !!

My Maiden Voyage

Here goes, this is my maiden voyage into the blog world and to be honest I'm feeling like the TITANIC! However, I have eight fantastic women, Bloggin Betty's in their own right, cheering me on..

As I blog on I will talk more about my interests, adventures and passions that surround my life now that I am retired! As you can tell, I'm totally head over heels for my 4-legged babies! Being able to finally spend the time doing what you love is such a treat for me and at times still can't quite believe I have finally arrived... OLD age does have its perks...

ONE of my interests has been 'egged' on by the women mentioned above..FOOD! (Cooking and baking to be exact) Unfortunately I never took the time before to experiment with new recipes, flavors and ingredients. Would you believe I had never split a vanilla bean before now..always kept things easy and just used vanilla extract!

I won't overwhelm you all by telling you my other "firsts" all at once. Over the days and weeks to come I will let you in on my successes and failures in the 'foodie' world! With that said, I will share a scrumptious new recipe I made this past weekend...




Classic Lemon Pound Cake

Recipe from Cook’s Country Cookbook

Cake:
1 ¾ C flour
½ tsp bkg powder
½ tsp salt
¼ C sour cream
1 ½ Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 ½ Tbsp grated fresh lemon zest
1C & 2 Tbsp sugar
16 Tbsp (2 sticks) softened unsalted butter
5 large eggs beaten @ room temp

Preheat oven to 325 degrees, Grease & flour a 9x5” loaf pan

Sift flour, bkg powder & salt (Set aside)
Stir sour cream & lemon juice in separate bowl (Set aside)
Using fingers toss lemon zest & sugar together in large bowl until clumps are gone
Add butter to sugar/zest mixture & beat at med-high speed until light & fluffy. (3-6 min)
Scrape down sides of bowl. Add the beaten eggs in three additions, mixing until smooth & scraping down the bowl after each addition. (The mixture will begin to look curdled) With the mixer on low, add 1/3 of flour mixture, followed by ½ of the sour cream mixture. Repeat with 1/3 flour mixture and remaining sour cream mixture. Beat in the remaining flour mixture until combined. Scrape down the bowl, then mix on low speed until smooth, about 30 seconds. Scrape the batter into prepared floured pan, smooth top and gently tap the pan on work surface to settle the batter. Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few crumbs attached. (55 to 70 minutes, depending on oven)

Syrup:
¼ C granulated sugar
¼ C fresh lemon juice (3 lemons)
While cake bakes, stir sugar & lemon juice together in a saucepan over med-high heat until sugar dissolves. Simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then turn it out onto the rack. Brush the top and sides of the still warm cake with the syrup and cool completely, about 2 hours.

Glaze:
½ C confectioners sugar, sifted
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
Whisk together the sugar & juice in bowl until smooth. Spread the glaze over the cake, allowing some to drip down the sides. Let the glaze set for at least 15 minutes before serving.

NOTE: I sprinkled the top of mine with some lemon sugar for an added delicate crunch!