Birthday Cakes

We have a lot of birthdays in January and February in my family. It kind of wreaks havoc on your after Christmas dieting plans to have a couple of months full of birthday cakes right after turkey dinners, festive Christmas goodies, and New Year's appetizers.

However, I have found some good frosting and fondant recipes as a result! Let me share them with you.

Above: One of Peter's 4th birthday cakes. Transformers on the moon (front view).

Above: One of Peter's 4th birthday cakes. Transformers on the moon (this is the back view).

Smooth Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

1/2 cup butter

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

5 cups confectioners' sugar

3 tablespoons milk

Directions:

Beat shortening and butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer until smooth, about 3 minutes; stir in vanilla extract. Beat sugar, one cup at a time, into butter mixture on medium speed. Add milk and beat on high speed until light and fluffy.

Keep icing covered with a damp cloth until ready to decorate. For best results, keep icing refrigerated when not in use.

Source: Allrecipes.com, submitted by morabam2011. Found here.

Above: Peter's other 4th birthday cake. A hamburger cake. The cheese, tomatoes, and pickles were made out of fondant (I found an awesome fondant recipe, which I will share in this post. It was much better than the fondant recipe I used the year before for Peter's 3rd birthday cakes. The lettuce, and the ketchup (spread on top of the chocolate cake layer are both the Smooth Buttercream Frosting recipe).

Above: I should have made a side of fries with ketchup to go with this (slices of pound cake, like Sara Lee's, with a dollop of red frosting. Oh well...some other time).

Marshmallow Fondant

Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter

1 (16 ounce) package miniature marshmallows

4 tablespoons water (1/4 cup)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 pounds confectioners' sugar, divided

Directions:

Place the butter in a shallow bowl, and set aside.

Place the marshmallows in a large microwave-safe bowl, and microwave on High for 30 seconds to 1 minute to start melting the marshmallows. Carefully stir the water and vanilla extract into the hot marshmallows, and stir until the mixture is smooth. Slowly beat in the confectioners' sugar, a cup at a time, until you have a sticky dough. Reserve 1 cup of powdered sugar for kneading. The dough will be very stiff.

Rub your hands thoroughly with butter, and begin kneading the sticky dough. As you knead, the dough will become workable and pliable. Turn the dough out onto a working surface dusted with confectioners' sugar and continue kneading until the fondant is smooth and no longer sticky to the touch, 5 to 10 minutes.

Form the fondant into a ball, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight. To use, allow the fondant to come to room temperature, and roll it out onto a flat surface dusted with confectioners' sugar.

Source: Allrecipes.com submitted by Kiele Briscoe. Found here.

Notes: I was only able to beat in a very small amount of the powdered sugar...it just wasn't working with my handheld mixer. So, I ended up beating in what I could, and then I needed in the rest. I didn't use quite 2 lbs of the confectioners' sugar...but close.

Above: One of Jonathan's 2nd birthday cakes. I got this little train with the tracks in one of the boys' fast food kids' meals. They got two of them, and Peter didn't really love this toy, so I hid this away because I thought it was cute, and because I thought it would work as a cake topper.

Above: I added a "2" since it was his second birthday...besides, the more candy letters and numbers, the merrier.

Above: Yummy!

Buttercream Frosting

Note: This recipe makes 2 1/2 cups frosting. It is enough for a good dollop of frosting on each cupcake. However, if you want to blanket the cupcake with frosting, prepare 1 1/2-2 recipes.

Ingredients:

8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter
3 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
3-4 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:

Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed until fluffy, 30 seconds. Stop the machine and add the confectioners' sugar, 3 tablespoons of the milk, and the vanilla. Blend with the mixer on low speed until the sugar is incorporated, 1 minute. Increase the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, 1 minute more. Add up to 1 tablespoon more milk if the frosting seems too stiff.

Use this frosting to frost the cupcakes of your choice.

For different flavors of buttercream...

Add 1 teaspoon pure almond extract instead of the vanilla, or...
1-2 teaspoons coconut flavoring instead of vanilla.

For lower fat, use 4 tablespoons butter and increase the milk by 1-2 tablespoons.

Source: Cupcake Doctor cookbook.

Above: This one didn't turn out as cute as the one I found on Pinterest (my excavator was too big for things to look proportionate). Oh well. It was delicious!

Above: I like to incorporate one of my boys' birthday presents with their cake topper. It makes the cake look cute, it is less work decorating-wise for me, and it is a fun surprise, and something to look forward to for my boys.

Fluffy Chocolate Frosting

Ingredients:

8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, at room temperature

2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

3 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted, plus additional, if needed

1/3 cup whole milk, plus additional, if needed

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Place the butter and cocoa powder in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed until the mixture is soft and well combined, 30 seconds. Stop the machine. Place the confectioners' sugar, 1/3 cup milk, vanilla, and salt in the bowl, and beat with the mixer on low speed until the frosting lightens and is fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add more milk if the frosting is too thick or confectioners' sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, if the frosting is too thing.

Use the frosting to frost the cake or cupcakes of your choice.

Source: The Cake Mix Doctor cookbook, ISBN-10: 0-7611-1719-9

Above: Here is a cake my sister made for her son for his 2nd birthday this year. So cute! I like hers way better than mine!

Above: Here is a cute cake that my sister-in-law made for my niece (using the fondant recipe shared in this post).

Above: This is what the cake originally looked like, and then my niece decided she wanted polka dots on the dress.

Above: This is one of the cakes I made for Peter's 3rd birthday. It was huge! It contained a whole yellow cake, and a whole chocolate cake (the chocolate cake also made part of the volcano).

Above: I got these cool dinosaurs from my local Dollar Tree dollar store.

Above: I used melted seedless raspberry jam for the lava. This was the very first time I made fondant. I was not very skilled at it (plus, the recipe I used wasn't that great...too sticky...and it took forever for me to get it to a less sticky state that I could work with). So, I used a grass tip to cover all of the lumps and inconsistencies with grass frosting. :) (I won't include this marshmallow fondant recipe since the one I am including is much better. I used the buttercream frosting recipe found above).

 

Above: The other cake I made for Peter's 3rd birthday. The Spider-man was another kids' meal toy that I saved just for this purpose. My second round with fondant was more successful due to more practice. (Again, I won't share this fondant recipe. I used the buttercream recipe used above.)

Above: For Peter's 2nd birthday, I went with a pirate theme. I made two pirate treasure chest cakes (to celebrate with both sides of the family). This is the one we shared with my in-laws. It was a strawberry cake with white buttercream frosting (from a mix and a can) which was sprinkled with crushed vanilla wafers (to look like sand). I got the supplies (the chest, coins, and beads) from Zurchers.

Above: This is the other pirate treasure chest cake I made. You can find all of the instructions for that here.

Above: I made these cute bears at the beach cupcakes for Peter's 1st birthday. I made a delicious marshmallow frosting to go on top of them.

Above: I made this teddy bear's beach picnic to celebrate Peter's 1st birthday with my in-laws.

Marshmallow Creme Frosting

Ingredients:

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) margarine or butter, softened

1 jar (7 oz) marshmallow creme

1 tsp vanilla

1 pkg (16 oz) powdered sugar

1 to 2 tbsp milk, divided

Directions:

Place margarine, marshmallow creme and vanilla in a small bowl; beat on medium speed until well blended. Gradually add sugar, beating after each addition until well blended.

Blend in 1 tbsp. of the milk. Add remaining 1 tbsp milk, if necessary, for desired spreading consistency.

Makes enough to fill and frost a 2 layer cake.

Source: I found this on Kraftrecipes.com. You can find it here.

Above: Poor Johnny. His 1st birthday cake was a bust. I had planned to make two. The first one was actually going to be the train cake that I made for his second birthday. However, when I was frosting it, it crumbled to pieces! Damage beyond repair. I ended up having to buy him a cake from a bakery at the last minute since I didn't have the time or supplies to make another one. It was a delicious white cake with whipped cream frosting and strawberry filling from Schmidt's Pastry Cottage. My hero. :)

Above: Boo hoo! Again, another bust for Jonathan's first birthday. Above is Jonathan's other cake for his 1st birthday. We celebrated with my family, and my sister was in town, so we celebrated her son's birthday at the same time. We decided to make individual cakes baked in 28 oz size cans (that once held whole peeled tomatoes). However, they took FOREVER to make. We did them as blue ombre cakes, so we made four different shades of blue (and thus, four different 28 oz cans). This took quite a few cakes (2, if not 3, if I recall), and a ton of food coloring. They were deep, so they took over an hour to bake. We made them at my Mom's house, and they took so long that I wasn't able to stay to frost/decorate them. So, I don't know how easy that portion of the task was. However, I can't imagine it was that painless to do. They were frosted white and topped with blue sprinkles. They weren't easy to slice to serve (they made for awkward looking portion sizes). Besides that, no way did two little 1 year old boys need that much cake (they each got their own--probably the equivalent of one regular sized cake--so half a cake for each of them). This was a concept that seemed a lot cuter and more fun before you actually got into it. It was overrated. A lot of time, work, and extra supplies. Even a giant cupcake would have been more practical to give each of them! It was a hectic night, so I didn't really get a picture of the cakes either. This is blown up from a picture just before they blew out the candles. The cakes were itty bitty in the picture, thus the grainy picture quality.

Bundt Cakes: Part 3

I am going to quickly share my meager cake contributions to my brother's wedding reception.

I made a total of six cakes (nothing compared to my mom's 27 cakes). And yes, we ended up with extra cakes after the wedding reception...so we all got to sample many of them. Poor, poor us. :)

I made a Neapolitan cake, banana cake, lemon cake, French vanilla pink swirl cake, strawberry pink swirl cake, and a chocolate chip cake.

I didn't have time to try out any new cakes, so I made some tried and true favorites (many of which I had already blogged). But for your convenience, I am posting them again here.

Also, (and as noted in each recipe) because the wedding day was so crazy, I didn't have time to make glaze for each cake from scratch. So, I bought canned frosting, microwaved it and stirred it until it was a smooth, glaze-like consistency and drizzled about 1/3 of a can on top of each of my cakes. It worked great and still tasted fantastic! And it saved me a ton of time and energy.

Neapolitan Cake

Ingredients:

1 box white cake mix
1 cup water
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon almond extract, optional (vanilla may be used as a substitute)
10 drops red food color
1/4 cup chocolate-flavored syrup
1/2 cup chocolate frosting

Directions:

Heat oven to 325 degrees F.  Grease and lightly flour a 12-cup fluted tube cake pan, or spray with baking spray that contains flour.

In large bowl, beat cake mix, water, oil, and egg whites with electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, then on medium speed for 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally.  Pour about 1 2/3 cups batter into pan.

Into small bowl, pour 1 1/3 cups batter; stir in almond or vanilla extract and food color.  Carefully pour pink batter over white batter in pan.  Stir chocolate syrup into remaining batter.  Carefully pour chocolate batter over pink batter.

Bake 40-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted 1 1/2 inches from side of cake comes out clean.  Cool 10 minutes.  Turn pan upside down onto cooling rack or heatproof serving plate; remove pan.  Cool completely, about 1 hour.

In microwavable bowl, microwave frosting uncovered on High about 15 seconds or until frosting can be stirred smooth and is thin enough to drizzle.  Spread over top of cake, allowing some to drizzle down side.  Store loosely covered.

Source: Betty Crocker website, found here.

Notes: My only problem was that my strawberry extract bottle lid, unbeknownst to me, got damaged during our move to our new house and the rest of my strawberry extract evaporated!  I, of course, didn't discover this until I was actually making this cake.  So, I improvised.  I had some strawberry syrup (like the kind you use to make pink milk or drizzle over ice cream).  I put about 1/4 cup of that into my cake batter that was supposed to be pink.  Since it turned the batter pink, I omitted the food coloring.  This batter became slightly more runny than the other batter, so my swirl layers didn't turn out quite as crisp and pretty as they would have if I had followed the recipe exactly.  But that was an operator error, not a recipe error.  It still tasted fantastic though.

Banana Nut Bread using Yellow Cake Mix

Ingredients:

1 (18.5 oz) box yellow cake mix
3 eggs
1/3 cup oil or applesauce (your choice--it tastes great both ways)
3-5 ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts, optional
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts, optional


Directions:


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix mashed bananas with eggs, oil or applesauce, cake mix, and nuts. Pour into 2 greased and floured loaf pans or a bundt pan* and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes, then move to a wire rack and cool completely.


You can creat a glaze with water or milk and powdered sugar which can be poured over the cake/bread when it has cooled completely. Do not pour the glaze over a warm cake or it will soak in.


Recipe Note: For a Bundt pan, bake for approzimately 45 minutes.

Source: I had a roommate who made this all the time. I asked her for the recipe and she simply told me that she found it online. I did a Google search and found a number of recipes. Betty Crocker has one on their site. You can find it here.

Notes: I chose this banana bread recipe from the myriads I found online because this one was the simplest and most straight forward. It is awesome. I usually make it in a bundt pan because it looks so nice with the glaze on it. You can also get creative with the nuts. Don't feel like you can only use pecans or walnuts. This bread is awesome with sliced almonds and chopped macadamia nuts as well.  And don't feel like the nuts are necessary at all.  I have to skip them now because of my son's tree nut allergy and the cake/bread is still great.

Rather than making a glaze, in the interest of time, I used canned white frosting (about 1/3 of a can) and microwaved it.  I stirred it and heated it until it was smooth and of a glaze consistency.  Then I drizzled it on my cake.

However, if you make a glaze, start with about 2 cups of powdered sugar and about 3 tablespoons of milk. Add more milk, a tablespoon at a time, if needed. Adjust milk and powdered sugar to reach desired consistency.

Originally posted on our blog here.

Lemon Yogurt Cake/Bread

Ingredients:

3 c. flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
3 eggs
3/4 c. canola oil
1 1/2 c. sugar
2 c. lemon yogurt
2 tbsp lemon juice
Optional: 1 tbsp grated lemon peel

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Sift all dry ingredients and set aside.

Lightly beat eggs in a large bowl.

Add sugar and oil, cream well.

Mix in exact amount of yogurt.

Add the rest of the ingredients.

Pour into two well-greased loaf pans (or one bundt pan).

Glaze for Lemon Bread

Ingredients:

3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup orange juice (lemon juice can also be used)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond flavoring, optional
1/2 tsp butter flavoring

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together. Pour over semi-cooled lemon bread.

Source: This recipe came from my good friend, April Farmer. It is a recipe that they use at the bed and breakfast that she works at. She shared it as part of a dinner she brought to me after I had my second son. It was so good we had to restrain ourselves from eating the whole loaf that very night!

Notes: It seems that I very rarely have orange juice on hand, so the glaze I make is a little different. I use 3/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup lemon juice, and 1 tsp vanilla flavoring (since my son is allergic to tree nuts). It is a little more tart than the other glaze is, but I like tart! I think it works well. After seeing how pretty the lime zest looks on the glaze for the lime bread, I would definitely add lemon zest to this glaze as well.

I usually make this in loaf pans, but it is such a great, dense, cake-like bread that I thought it would work perfectly cooked in a bundt pan (as the recipe states as a possibility).  Rather than doing the lemon bread glaze, I used a container of white frosting (I only used about 1/3 of the container), microwaved it until it was a smooth glaze-like consistency and drizzled that over the top of the cake.

I made this a few weeks later as a lemon-lime cake for a wedding rehearsal dinner for my step-brother.  I used lemon yogurt, lime juice in place of the lemon juice, and added lemon and lime zest to the batter.  I also sprinkled lemon and lime zest on top of the glaze drizzled on top of the cake.  It turned out great.  You can even add lemon and lime juice to your glaze to add an extra lemon-lime citrus kick.

I have yet to try the following idea, but I want to experiment with other yogurt flavors as well because this recipe is so versatile.  You could successfully do so many flavor combinations!

Rather than making a glaze, in the interest of time, I used canned white frosting (about 1/3 of a can) and microwaved it.  I stirred it and heated it until it was smooth and of a glaze consistency.  Then I drizzled it on my cake.

Originally posted on our blog here.

French Vanilla Pink Swirl Cake

Ingredients:

Cake:

1 box French Vanilla cake mix
Water, vegetable oil, and egg whites called for on cake mix box
1 teaspoon red food color, divided
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

White Icing:

1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon milk or water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla, if desired
1 teaspoon red food color, divided

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees (325 for dark or nonstick pan). Generously grease and flour 12-cup fluted tube cake pan. Make cake batter as directed on box, adding almond extract (if desired). Divide the batter into thirds. Pour the first third of batter into pan (white batter). Pour the other two portions of batter into two small bowls. In the first small bowl, stir in enough food color to achieve your desired shade of deep pink. In the second small bowl, stir in enough food color to achieve your desired shade of light pink. Carefully pour dark pink batter over white batter in pan. Carefully pour remaining light pink batter over the dark pink batter.

Bake and cool cake as directed on box.

In small bowl, mix icing ingredients. If necessary, stir in additional milk, 1 teaspoon at a time, until smooth and spreadable. Divide into thirds. Using food color, dye icing to desired shades so that you have one third white icing, one third dark pink icing, and one third light pink icing. Spread over cake (starting with dark pink layer first, followed by the light pink layer, and finally, the white layer). Sprinkle crushed or whole candy on top, if desired. Store loosely covered.

Makes 12 servingsNutrition information: 240 calories, 8 g fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 280 mg sodium, 41 g carbohydrate, 0 g fiber, 2 g protein.

Notes: As mentioned above, this recipe is so versatile, you could make it to suit any holiday.  Shades of green (or just green and white) for St. Patrick's Day.  Pastels for Easter.  You name it!  Adapt it to suit your needs, whims, or desires!

Rather than making a glaze, in the interest of time, I used canned white frosting (about 1/3 of a can) and microwaved it.  I stirred it and heated it until it was smooth and of a glaze consistency.  Then I drizzled it on my cake.

The Strawberry Pink Swirl Cake that I made is exactly the same as the one above.  Except that I didn't have a white layer of cake at all.  I did light pink, medium pink, and dark pink.  And since I made this the same day as the Neapolitan cake and discovered that I was out of strawberry extract, I used my strawberry syrup for this cake as well.  In this case, it worked better than the Neapolitan cake and the layers turned out quite pretty.

Stacy's Chocolate Chip Cake

Ingredients:

Vegetable oil spray for misting the pan

Flour for dusting the pan

1 bar (4 ounces) German chocolate

1 package (18.25 ounces) plain yellow cake mix

1 package (3.4 ounces) vanilla instant pudding mix

1 cup whole milk

1 cup vegetable oil, such as canola, corn, safflower, soybean, or sunflower

4 large eggs

1 package (6 ounces; 1 cup) semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.  Lightly mist a 10-inch tube pan (or three 8-inch loaf pans) with vegetable oil spray, then dust with flour.  Shake out the excess flour.  Set the pan aside.

Break the German chocolate bar into four pieces.  Grate the bar using a food processor or a hand grater until the bar is finely grated.  (If you are using a food processor, insert the steel blade and drop the chocolate pieces into the processor one at a time.) Set the grated chocolate aside.

Place the cake mix, pudding mix, milk, oil, and eggs in a large mixing bowl.  Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute.  Stop the machine, fold in the grated chocolate, and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.  Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping the sides down again if needed.  Fold in the chocolate chips.  The batter should look well blended, and the chocolate chips should be evenly distributed.  Pour the batter into the prepared tube pan (or divide it equally among the loaf pans), smoothing it out with the rubber spatula.  Place the pan in the oven.

Bake the cake until it is golden brown and springs back when lightly pressed with your finger, 58-60 minutes for a tube pan (50-52 minutes for loaf pans).  Remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes for a tube pan (5 minutes for loaf pans).  Run a long, sharp knife around the edge of the cake and invert it onto a rack, then invert it again onto another rack so that it is right side up.  Allow the cake to cool completely, 30 minutes more, then serve. (Cool loaves out of the pans, on their sides.)

Source: The Cake Mix Doctor cookbook, ISBN: 0-7611-1790-3.

Notes: This is one of my old favorites.  When I went grocery shopping for the ingredients, I did it from memory and apparently my memory wasn't so good (how good is your memory when you are shopping with two toddler boys?).  I forgot to get the German chocolate bar.  So, I just skipped that ingredient.  The cake still tasted delicious and looked beautiful.

I am totally going to try making this in loaf form.  This would make a fantastic, economical, and easy Christmas gift for friends or neighbors!

Bundt Cakes: Part 2

As promised, here's the second entry that documents the cakes we made for my brother's wedding reception.  All of these recipes came from The Cake Mix Doctor cookbook (the first and original cookbook by Anne Byrn, ISBN 0-7611-1790-3--the previous post shared the cakes we made from the Cake Mix Doctor's Chocolate cake cookbook).  Believe me, this book is worth the investment!  These cakes are pure gold!

Fresh Orange Cake

Ingredients:

Cake:

Vegetable oil spray for misting the pan
Flour for dusting the pan
1 package (18.25 ounces) yellow cake mix with pudding
1 cup fresh orange juice (from about 5 medium oranges) or from the carton
1/2 cup vegetable oil, such as canola, corn, safflower, soybean, or sunflower
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs

Glaze:

1 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted
3 tablespoons fresh orange juice (from about 1 medium orange)
1 teaspoon fresh grated orange zest (from about 1 medium orange)

Directions:

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Lightly mist a 12-cup Bundt pan with vegetable oil spray, then dust with flour.  Shake out the excess flour.  Set the pan aside.

Place the cake mix, orange juice, oil, sugar, vanilla, and eggs in a large mixing bowl.  Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute.  Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.  Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes more, scraping the sides down again if needed.  The batter should look thick and well blended.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan and place it in the oven.

Bake the cake until it is golden brown and just starts to pull away from the sides of the pan, 45-47 minutes.  Remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes.  Run a long, sharp knife around the edge of the cake and invert it onto a rack to cool completely, 30 minutes more.

Meanwhile, prepare the glaze.  Combine the confectioners' sugar, fresh orange juice, and orange zest in a small bowl and stir with a wooden spoon until smooth.

Place the cake on a serving platter and pour the glaze over the top, letting it drizzle down the sides and into the center.  Let the glaze set for a few minutes before slicing.

Source: The Cake Mix Doctor cookbook, ISBN 0-7611-1790-3.

Favorite Apricot Nectar Cake

Ingredients:

Cake:

Vegetable oil spray for misting the pan
Flour for dusting the pan
1 package (18.25 ounces) plain yellow cake mix
1 package (3 ounces) lemon gelatin
3/4 cup canned apricot nectar
3/4 cup vegetable oil, such as canola, corn, safflower, soybean, or sunflower
Grated zest of 1 lemon (1 teaspoon)
4 large eggs

Glaze:

3/4 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (from 1 lemon)
 tablespoons canned apricot nectar, or more as needed

Directions:

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly mist a 12-cup Bundt pan with vegetable oil spray, then dust with flour.  Shake out the excess flour.  Shake out the excess flour.  Set the pan aside.

Place the yellow cake mix, gelatin, apricot nectar, oil, lemon zest, and eggs in a large mixing bowl.  Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute.  Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.  Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for 2-3 minutes more, scraping the sides down again if needed.  The batter should look thick and smooth.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan.  Place the pan in the oven.

Bake the cake until it is light brown and springs back when lightly pressed with your finger, 40-42 minutes.  Remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes.

Prepare the glaze.  Combine the confectioners' sugar, lemon juice, and apricot nectar in a small saucepan and heat over medium-low heat, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved, 3-4 minutes.

Run a long, sharp knife around the edge of the cake and invert it onto a serving platter.  While the cake is still warm, poke holes in the top with a toothpick or long wooden skewer.  Spoon the glaze onto the cake so that it seeps down into the holes.  Let the cake cool before slicing.

Source: The Cake Mix Doctor cookbook, ISBN 0-7611-1790-3.

Notes: This cake was delicious, moist, and flavorful.

Applesauce Spice Cake

Ingredients:

Vegetable oil spray for misting the pan
Flour for dusting the pan
1 package (18.25 ounces) plain spice cake
1 cup sweetened applesauce
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup solid vegetable shortening
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest (from 1 lemon)
2 large eggs
1 cup chopped peeled apple
1/2 cup chopped pecans, optional
2 teaspoons sifted confectioners' sugar (for dusting) or Brown Sugar Caramel Glaze (recipe below)

Directions:

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Lightly mist a 12-cup Bundt pan with vegetable oil spray, then dust with flour.  Shake out the excess flour.  Set the pan aside.

Place the cake mix, applesauce, buttermilk, butter, shortening, vanilla, lemon zest, and eggs in a large mixing bowl.  Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute.  Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.  Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes more, scraping the sides down again if needed.  The batter should look well blended.  Fold in the apple and pecans.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing it out with the rubber spatula.  Place the pan in the oven.

Bake the cake until it is golden brown and springs back when lightly pressed with your finger, 50-55 minutes.  remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes.  Run a long, sharp knife around the edge of the cake and invert it onto the rack so that the cake is right side up.  Allow it to cool completely, 30 minutes more.

Place the cake on a serving platter and serve it dusted with confectioners' sugar.  Or spoon the Brown Sugar Caramel Glaze over the top, letting it drizzle down the sides and into the center.

Source: The Cake Mix Doctor cookbook, ISBN 0-7611-1790-3.

Notes: This cake was very moist and the caramel glaze was TO-DIE-FOR!

Brown Sugar Caramel Glaze

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons butter or margarine
3 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
3 tablespoon heavy (whipping) cream
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:

Place the sugar, buttermilk, butter, corn syrup, baking soda, and vanilla in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.  The glaze will foam up and thicken as the sugar dissolves and the butter melts, 3-4 minutes.

Poke holes in the cooled cake of your choice and pour the hot glaze over it.

Source: The Cake Mix Doctor cookbook, ISBN 0-7611-1790-3.

Pineapple Inside-Out Cake

Ingredients:

Solid vegetable shortening for greasing the pan
Flour for dusting the pan
1 package (18.25 ounces) plain lemon cake mix
1 can (15.25 ounces) crushed pineapple packed in juice (divided into two 1-cup portions)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil, such as canola, corn, safflower, soybean, or sunflower
4 large eggs
1 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Directions:

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Lightly grease a 10-inch tube pan with solid vegetable shortening, then dust with flour.  Shake out the excess flour.  Set the pan aside.

Place the cake mix, 1 cup undrained crushed pineapple, sugar, oil, and eggs in a large mixing bowl and blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute.  Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.  Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes more, scraping the sides down again if needed.  The pineapple should be well blended into the batter.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with a rubber spatula.  Place the pan in the oven.

Bake the cake until it springs back when lightly pressed with your finger and just starts to pull away from the sides of the pan, 48-50 minutes.  remove the pan from the oven and place the pan on a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes.  Run a long, sharp knife around the edge of the cake and invert it onto a rack, then invert onto another rack so the cake is right side up.  Allow it to cool completely, 30 minutes more.

Meanwhile, prepare the glaze.  First, drain the remaining 1 cup crushed pineapple and reserve the juice.  Combine the confectioners' sugar, 2 tablespoons of the reserved pineapple juice, and the lemon juice in a small bowl and stir with a wooden spoon until smooth.

Place the cake on a serving platter.  Spoon the glaze onto the cooled cake.  Spoon the remaining 1 cup drained pineapple on top of the glaze.  Slice and serve.

Source: The Cake Mix Doctor cookbook, ISBN 0-7611-1790-3.

Fiddler on the Roof Cake

Ingredients:

Vegetable oil spray for misting the pan
Flour for dusting the pan
1 package (18.25 ounces) plain yellow cake mix
1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream
3/4 cup vegetable oil, such as canola, corn, safflower, soybean, or sunflower
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract (vanilla can also be used)
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
Chocolate Marshmallow Frosting (recipe below)

Directions:

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Lightly mist a 12-cup Bundt pan with vegetable oil spray, then dust with flour.  Shake out the excess flour.  Set the pan aside.

Place the cake mix, sour cream, oil, sugar, almond extract, salt, and eggs in a large mixing bowl.  Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute.  Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.  Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping the sides down again if needed.  The batter should look well blended.  Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing it out with the rubber spatula.

Add the cocoa powder to the remaining batter and blend with the electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute.  Pour this evenly over the batter already in the pan.  Run a dinner knife through the batters to swirl them together for a marbleized look.  Place the pan in the oven.

Bake the cake until it is light brown and springs back when lightly pressed with your finger, 60-65 minutes.  Remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the Chocolate Marshmallow Frosting.

Run a long, sharp knife around the edge of the cake and invert it onto a serving platter to frost and serve warm.  Or invert it onto a rack to cool completely, 30 minutes more.  Regardless of whether you want a warm or cooled cake, frost it while the frosting is still warm, spreading the frosting over the top and partially down the sides of the cake with the rubber spatula.

Source: The Cake Mix Doctor cookbook, ISBN 0-7611-1790-3.

Notes: This cake was one of those great, basic, satisfying classic cakes.  Yum.

Chocolate Marshmallow Frosting

Ingredients:

2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
6 large marshmallows
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:

Sift the sugar and cocoa powder together into a large mixing bowl.  Set aside.

Place the marshmallows, butter, and milk in a medium-size heavy saucepan over low heat.  Stir until the marshmallows are melted, 3-4 minutes.  Remove the pan from the heat.  Pour the confectioners' sugar and cocoa mixture over the marshmallow mixture.  Add the vanilla and stir until the frosting is smooth and satiny.

Use at once to frost the top of the cake of your choice.

Source: The Cake Mix Doctor cookbook, ISBN 0-7611-1790-3.

Incredible Melted Ice Cream Cake

Ingredients:

Vegetable oil spray for misting the pan
Flour for dusting the pan
1 package (18.25 ounces) plain white cake mix
2 cups melted ice cream, your choice of flavor
3 large eggs
Chocolate Marshmallow Frosting (recipe above)

Directions:

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Lightly mist a 12-cup Bundt pan with vegetable oil spray, then dust with flour.  Shake out the excess flour.  Set the pan aside.

Place the cake mix, melted ice cream, and eggs in a large mixing bowl.  Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute.  Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with the rubber spatula.  Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping the sides down again if needed.  The batter should look thick and well blended.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with the rubber spatula.  Place the pan in the oven.

Bake the cake until it springs back when lightly pressed with your finger and just starts to pull away from the sides of the pan, 38-42 minutes.  Remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes.  Run a long, sharp knife around the edge of the cake and invert it onto a small rack, then invert it again onto a second rack so that the cake is right side up to complete cooling, 30 minutes more.

Meanwhile, prepare the Chocolate Marshmallow Frosting, or another frosting that would go well with the flavor of the ice cream in the cake.  Place the cake on a serving platter and frost the top of the cake with clean, smooth strokes.

Source: The Cake Mix Doctor cookbook, ISBN 0-7611-1790-3.

Notes: I like that you can vary the flavor of this cake by using any flavor of ice cream that you want!

Chocolate Better Than ? Cake with Penuche Frosting

Ingredients:

Vegetable oil spray for misting the pan
Flour for dusting the pan
1 package (18.25 ounces) plain devil's food cake mix
1 package (6 ounces; 1 cup) semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup chopped pecans, optional
1 package (3.9 ounces) chocolate instant pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup vegetable oil, such as canola, corn, safflower, soybean, or sunflower
1/4 cup water
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Penuche Frosting (recipe below)

Directions:

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Lightly mist a 10-inch tube pan with vegetable oil spray, then dust with flour.  Shake out the excess flour.  Set the pan aside.

Place 2 tablespoons of the cake mix, the chocolate chips, and the pecans in a small bowl.  Stir and set aside.

Place the remaining cake mix, along with the chocolate pudding mix, sour cream, oil, water, eggs, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl.  Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute.  Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.  Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2-3 minutes more, scraping the sides down again if needed.  The batter should be thick and well blended.  Fold in the chocolate chip and pecan mixture until it is well distributed.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with the rubber spatula.  Place the pan in the oven.

Bake the cake until it springs back, when lightly pressed with your finger and just starts to pulls away from the sides of the pan, 5055 minutes.  Remove the pan from the oven and let it cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes.  Run a long, sharp knife around the edge of the cake and invert the cake onto a cooling rack, then invert it again onto a serving platter to finish cooling, 20 minutes more.

Prepare the Penuche Frosting.  Spread the top and sides of the cooled cake with the warm frosting, using clean, smooth strokes.  Let the cake stand 30 minutes before slicing and serving.

Source: The Cake Mix Doctor cookbook, ISBN 0-7611-1790-3.

Notes: This cake is one of our family favorites and has been for years.  The cake is so moist and chocolatey. The frosting is penuche at its best (and easiest).  Beware though, this is one RICH cake.  Have a glass of milk handy (not because it is dry...but because it is just so rich!).  I never make this with the nuts.  And I have made it with and without the semi-sweet chocolate chips.  I love the chocolate chips in the cake, but if you don't have them on hand, the cake is still great without them.

Penuche Frosting

Ingredients:

1 cup packed light brown sugar
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter
1/4 cup whole milk
2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

Directions:

Place the brown sugar and butter in a medium-size heavy saucepan over medium heat.  Simmer, stirring constantly, until well combined, 2 minutes.  Carefully pour in the milk, stirring, and bring the mixture to a boil.  remove the pan from the heat and cool slightly.

Place the confectioners' sugar in a large mixing bowl.  Pour the hot brown sugar mixture over the confectioners' sugar.  Beat with an electric mixer on low speed until the frosting is smooth and creamy, 2-3 minutes.

Use immediately (while still warm) to frost the cake of your choice or the frosting will harden.  If it does harden while you are frosting the cake, simply place the pan back over low heat and stir until the frosting softens up.

Source: The Cake Mix Doctor cookbook, ISBN 0-7611-1790-3.

Notes: Holy cow, this stuff is great.

Susan's Lemon Cake (with Candied Ginger)

Ingredients:

Cake:

Vegetable oil spray for misting the pan
Flour for dusting the pan
1 package (18.25 ounces) plain yellow cake mix
1 package (3 ounces) lemon gelatin
2/3 cup vegetable oil, such as canola, corn, safflower, soybean, or sunflower
2/3 cup hot water
4 large eggs

Glaze:

2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (from 1 lemon)
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest (from 1 lemon)

Directions:

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Lightly mist a 12-cup Bundt pan with vegetable oil spray, then dust with flour.  Shake out excess flour.  Set the pan aside.

Place the cake mix, gelatin, oil, water, and eggs in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute.  Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.  Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes more, scraping the sides down if needed.  The batter should look thick and well blended.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with the rubber spatula, and place the pan in the oven.

Bake the cake until it is light brown and just starts to pull away from the sides of the pan, about 40 minutes.  Remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the glaze.  Combine the confectioners' sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest in a small bowl and stir with a wooden spoon until smooth.

Run a long, sharp knife around the edge of the cake and invert it onto a serving platter.  Spoon the glaze evenly over the warm cake so that it drizzles down the sides and into the center.  Slice and serve warm, or let it cool before slicing.

Source: The Cake Mix Doctor cookbook, ISBN 0-7611-1790-3.

Notes: We had planned a lemon-ginger bundt cake, but it was a from-scratch cake that didn't work out.  Since we had plenty of candied ginger, we added finely chopped candied ginger (about 1/2 cup) to this recipe instead.