Since Father’s Day is rapidly approaching, I thought it would be a good time to look at some options to make Dad a special cake for his special day. 

Let’s begin with a super easy one first.  This cake can be made with any flavor box mix baked in a 13 x 9 pan.  When cooled, you simply frost with white frosting and add M&M’s to make the suspenders and the bow tie.  (You can get fancy and make a regular tie as well.)

If that seems too easy and you’d like to try your hand at more involved decorating, I suggest the Beer Mug Cake. (There are 3-D versions of this cake that are very involved, so I suggest this flat version.) It merely requires any flavor cake baked in a 13 x 9 pan, cooled and then inverted onto a baking sheet.  The corners are trimmed into a rounded mug shape and the frosting is piped on in long lines in gold.  White frosting is then piped in swirls to mimic foam and a handle is fashioned from white fondant.  (Roll the fondant into a rope and make an elongated “U”. Insert toothpicks into the 2 ends and attach to the side of the mug.

If you’re feeling even more daring, there’s always the Hamburger cake.  This will require 2 cake mixes—one vanilla (for the bun) and one chocolate (for the hamburgers). The “cheese” in this hamburger is actually colored fondant.  (If that sounds too involved or difficult, skip the cheese!)  The sesame seeds on the top bun are mini white chocolate chips.  The rest of the details, lettuce, ketchup, mustard are all tinted frostings.

If cupcakes are more your style, you can decorate them in numerous ways to honor the sports Dad loves: tennis, baseball, basketball, soccer, are all easy choices.

And while we’re discussing cupcakes, if Dad’s a beer lover, what better cake than one made of both cupcakes AND beer?

Lastly, might I recommend a real show stopper?  The Bacon cake!  A vanilla layer cake, frosted with vanilla icing infused with maple flavoring and surrounded by…BACON! 

In honor of the upcoming Memorial Day holiday, I’m posting some rather easy and quick picnic desserts.

No Bake Cheesecake Flag Cake

The base for this dessert is a no-bake Jello Cheesecake (mix in a box). Prepare according to directions. Then you add raspberries and blackberries to complete the flag look.

Red, White and Blue Trifle

In a large glass compote, layer either store bought pound cake or angel food cake chunks with whipped cream, blueberries and strawberries.

Patriotic Chocolate Cake

Your favorite brand of chocolate cake mix, some whipped cream and fruit (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries) will make this memorable dessert a breeze.

Memorial Day Pizza

Brownie mix makes a wonderful crust for this holiday pizza! Prepare brownie mix as directed and bake in a round pan. Top with either vanilla or cream cheese frosting, add fruit and mint leaves and you’re done!

Strawberry Poppers

This dessert is an easy, pick up and go dessert. Cleaned strawberries are sliced diagonally twice (but not apart) and then whipped cream is inserted using a star tipped pastry bag and a blueberry is placed on top.

There you have it! Easy to prepare, spectacular to see and delicious to eat recipes for your Memorial Day picnic!

“Work smarter, not harder.”

Scrooge McDuck

Today’s lesson will be APPLE TURNOVERS!! YUM!!

Let’s get started!

Step 1

preheat the oven to 475*

Step 2

Open THIS box and remove the turnovers from the package and bake as directed. (These cannot be improved upon without much fanfare and mess! I know, I’ve tried!)

Step 3

When the turnovers have finished baking and are cooling, prepare a simple drizzle icing. I use powdered sugar (start with a cup and experiment) and a teaspoon of water at a time–mixing well before adding more water. (If you use too much water, the icing will just run off the turnovers and be wasted.) If the icing does get too runny, add a little more powdered sugar. When you get the consistency you desire, drizzle it over the turnovers. Enjoy!

Variations:

“Work smarter, not harder.”

Scrooge McDuck

BON APPETIT!!

***I will be away for a few days and Filly will be in and out. See you soon!***

Today we’re going to make the BEST homemade chocolate cake ever–it includes coffee right in it! So let’s get right to it!

Chocolate Cake

Preheat the oven to 350*

Spray 2 8 or 9 inch round pans with baking spray or grease and flour.

In a large bowl, mix with a spoon:

2 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

3/4 cup cocoa

2 cups of sugar

Add:

1 cup salad oil

1 cup hot coffee

1 cup sour milk*

Beat for 2 minutes, then add 2 eggs, 1 tsp vanilla. Mix thoroughly.

Pour into pans and bake for 35 minutes. After cool, frost with your favorite icing!

NOTE: *sour milk can be made by pouring 2 Tbsp vinegar in a one cup measuring cup and then filling with milk.

Serve the cake with a tall glass of milk or a hot cup of coffee!

ENJOY!!!

While Easter is not normally a big cake holiday–we tend to focus more on hams, chocolate bunnies, and marshmallow peeps–there are several easy to make bunny cake options which do not require special pans. We’re going to explore three: A bunny face, a bunny laying down, and a bunny butt. So let’s hop to it!

The Bunny Face

The bunny face requires 2 round cake layers. One layer is the face and the other layer is cut into the ears and bow tie.

Once assembled, you can get very creative with the decorating! The whiskers can be licorice strings, stick pretzels or just colored frosting! The bunny can be brown (chocolate frosting) or a white bunny and you can cover it with coconut! And a jelly bean for the nose!

The Laying Bunny

This cake also uses round cake pans. The diagram below shows only one layer, but the layers can be frosted together and cut as one. The ears are made of paper, and the eyes and nose are jelly beans. To tint the coconut for the surrounding grass, place coconut in a ziploc bag and add drops of green food coloring. Close the bag and shake or gently squeeze the bag to evenly distribute the color. Use plastic gloves to place the tinted coconut around the bunny to avoid dying your hands green!

The Bunny Butt

The butt bunny cake is shaped by using an oven safe bowl, cupcakes, and marshmallows. The carrots are celery pieces and fruit roll ups. The ears are made from paper. The feet pads can be made from fruit roll ups, fondant, icing or taffy.

These are just three of the many possibilities to delight your family this Easter!

We’re in the kitchen today making one of my favorite side dish recipes–Vegetable Pizza. (We don’t make a hot meal for Easter; we have ham sandwiches and plenty of side dishes and this is a family staple.)

Vegetable Pizza

Preheat oven to 350*. Unroll 2 packages of Pillsbury crescent rolls and press the dough into a ungreased cookie sheet, patting the dough seams together. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Set aside to cool.

While the crust bakes, in a medium sized bowl, combine the following with a mixer:

8 oz softened cream cheese

1 package (dry) Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing mix

1 cup cottage cheese (small curd)

3/4 cup mayo

chopped scallions to taste (i use a dash of onion powder instead)

Mix well and refrigerate for at least an hour. Then spread on cooled crust.

In a separate bowl mix the following diced vegetables:

1 cup cauliflower

1/2 cup green pepper

1 cup broccoli

2-3 medium tomatoes

Spread the diced vegetables over the cream cheese mixture covered crust. Refrigerate. Enjoy!

Till next time…Mangia!

I’m in the mood for cupcakes…Molasses Cupcakes to be exact. These cupcakes have a deep, rich flavor and a crumb topping and do not require eggs or an electric mixer.

Let’s begin…

Preheat the oven to 350* and place cupcake papers in 2 cupcake pans. (this recipe makes 24 cupcakes.)

In a medium bowl place:

• 3 cups flour
• 1 stick margarine
• 1 cup sugar

Using a pastry blender, mix well to create crumbs.

Reserve about 2/3 cup of crumbs for topping. To the remaining crumbs, add:

• 1 cup molasses (I use Grandma’s Original Molasses)
• 1 cup very hot water
• 1 tsp. baking soda

Mix thoroughly with a spoon. Spoon into cupcake liners and using a teaspoon add a small bit of reserved crumb topping to each.

Bake for 20 minutes. DO NOT OPEN OVEN DOOR!