Dad's Experimental Birthday Cake

     Here we are again, experimenting. This is one of my favorite things about baking--you can take any combination of things, throw them together and see how it goes. You may end up with an atomic disaster...or you may end up with a new signature cake! My dad turned 55 this past weekend. We had a "55 and still alive" themed party for him in Starkville with a family and a few close friends.
    When I asked Daddy what type of cake he wanted this year he said this,
                   "You know that heath bar cake you make that's soaked in condensed milk?"
                    Me: "Yes, is that what you want?"
                    Daddy: "Yes, but different. I want that cake, except mix the condensed milk with that     
                                  coconut stuff you do when you make the coconut cake and put German
                                  chocolate icing on top."
                    Me: "Ok, well, I've never done one like that before, but there's a first time for
                              everything."
     So, what Daddy wants for his birthday is a chocolate cake soaked in coconut infused sweetened condensed milk topped with coconut pecan frosting. This combination sounded EXTRAORDINARY to me so I was all for trying it out.

**Disclamer: I have had a long week and had a brain malfunction. I forgot to take pictures of the first couple steps in this cake, but I will give plenty of details. Plus this is just incentive for you to try it yourself!

For the cake:
1 Chocolate cake mix (I used Devil's food, but you could use that or German chocolate, you just want something that isn't too terribly sweet). I also continued with my recipe non-compliance and added 4 eggs (instead of the suggested 3), 1 cup butter milk and 1/3 cup water (instead of 1 1/3 cup water), and the suggested 1/2 cup of oil. You can make your cake however you please! :)

• Combine all ingredients in your bowl. Mix on low for 30 seconds, then turn up to medium and beat for 2 minutes. Pour into prepared 9X13 pan. (I just sprayed this pan with Pam since I am not going to be removing it.)
• Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until done.

For the coconut-infused sweetened condensed milk:
2 cans sweetened condensed milk
1-2 tbsp Cream of coconut (Found with your alcoholic beverage mixers--don't get coconut milk--YUCK!)
1 tsp coconut extract

• Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Mix together and let sit until ready to pour over hot cake.
• Once cake is out of the oven, immediately poke holes in it and pour over cake. Once the coconut mixture is on the cake, poke a few more holes to make sure it all gets soaked in!
• Cool completely.

Holes in the cake

Coconut condensed milk poured over cake

Cake after the thick, gooey, and oh-so-yummy mixture has settled in

For the frosting:
2 coconut-pecan frosting (I used Betty Crocker)--melted

• Spoon into microwave safe bowl and heat at 30 second intervals until melted (about 1 minute makes it spreadable without being too runny).
• Once the cake is cool, pour frosting over cake and smooth out.

The cake was a big hit with everyone and I believe it is going to move from experimental into the recipe book! Happy eating!

Classic Yellow Cake

     My friend Kristen had a birthday this past week, and since I missed her actual birthday at work, I decided to make her a cake for today! My work friends oftentimes end up being guinea pigs as I make things and bring them up to get eaten so they don't stay in my house and I eat it all. I wasn't sure exactly what Kristen's favorite cake was, so I asked one of her friends and she said she was pretty sure she liked chocolate.
     If you are not sure what kind of crowd you have, chocolate is usually a good way to please everyone. This cake takes a simple box cake mix--jazzed up of course--and a homemade chocolate frosting courtesy of the Pioneer Woman.

                                                              Classic Yellow Cake

• 1 box yellow cake mix (I added 4 eggs instead of 3, 1 1/3 cup buttermilk instead of water, a couple tablespoons of powdered sugar, and 1/2 cup of vegetable oil)
• 1 3/4 sticks butter
• 4 tbsp cocoa powder-heaping
• 6 tbsp milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 4 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Cake ingredients (minus the extra powdered sugar)

Frosting ingredients



Make the cake according to the box or be non-compliant and follow my instructions or wing it your own way. Pour into a greased 9X13 pan. I used a throw away pan since I was taking it to work, and a little Pam worked great. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes. Remove and cool slightly.

     While your cake is cooling, start making your frosting.
On the stove top in a medium-large pan, melted the butter.

Once the butter is melted, add the heaping tablespoons and cocoa. Stir to combine then remove from heat.



Add vanilla and powdered sugar. Stir until completely combined.
**This frosting will be slightly lumpy, but that is ok. I suppose you could sift the powdered sugar to cut back on the lumps, but if you don't mind lumps, I definitely don't mind lumps. The Pioneer Woman adds 1/2 cup pecans to hers to hid the lumps, but I have a couple friends at work who do not like nuts, so I just kept it simple.

Now, pour this chocolately goodness over the slightly cooled cake. Note: It will runneth over! (But that gives you an excuse the get a quick bite off the counter top :)) The icing will set as it cools. Wait until it is almost set before putting the top on the cake to prevent condensation.



 This cake is definitely a crowd pleaser, and at Baptist Desoto Surgery Center, it didn't even make it a full day! Happy eating..and Happy Birthday, Kristen!



Beer bread

I have always been interested in making my own bread. My mom had a bread maker when we were little and you just couldn't beat fresh, warm bread. I, though, being the semi-homemade girl I am, can't get past the thought of having to activate yeast, knead, rise, knead, rise, THEN bake. That seems like too much trouble. I have been diligently searching for a bread that doesn't use yeast, and doesn't use a bread maker. This morning as I was trying to figure out what to cook Jason for dinner since I will be out of town tonight, I stumbled upon my kind of bread recipe--beer bread. Since the recipe calls for beer you eliminate the need for yeast, it requires no kneading or rising, and is baked in the oven--BINGO! I have found my bread recipe!

Beer Bread

• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1-12 oz bottle of beer (I used Michelob Ultra)
• 1/2 stick of butter ( I used a whole stick because I am always non-compliant with recipes, plus, more butter is better!)

 

Preheat oven to 350 and grease 9"x5"x3" loaf pan.

 

In a bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add in honey and beer, mixing until just combined- don't over mix or the bread will be tough.

Melt the butter and pour 1/2 into the greased loaf pan. Spoon bread dough over the butter. Smooth top and pour remaining butter over the dough. Bake for 50-60 minutes. The bread should look golden brown on the top--and a bonus, it smells DELICIOUS.

**Note: The dough looks very runny--that's ok because we put an entire stick of butter in it! I put my loaf pan on a cookie sheet so it wouldn't run over into the bottom of the oven. 

And the finished product--Ta-Dah!!!

Happy eating!!

Homemade Ice Cream

    One of my favorite childhood memories is sitting on the front porch of my Pawpaw's lake house, waiting to eat some of Mamaw's homemade ice cream. As a child, this seemed like a delicacy-dessert just didn't get any better. When I found out how easy it was to make, though, we have it ALL the time from about March-October. My recipe is very simple, and you can add in whatever you want to put your own twist to it. For instance, I often make vanilla and have tons of toppings for everyone to add. I have also added in different extracts (ex-banana, mint) to switch it up a little. Jason always request I add in fruit, but I don't eat fruit so I just let him add it to the top. You can also substitute chocolate milk with extra cocoa and Hershey's syrup for a chocolate twist! All in all, you can make this recipe into whatever you want, this is just a simple vanilla base for a homemade ice cream that will BLOW YOUR MIND!

Homemade Ice Cream

• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 can evaporated milk (there are two sizes, big and small, get the bigger one, not sure about oz)
• 6 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract (if you are going to add different extract, do 1/2 tsp vanilla to 1 1/2 tsp other)
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 gallon of milk (skim, 2%, whole, chocolate, whatever your little heart desires) 
• Rock salt
• Ice
• Ice cream maker

In a large bowl, beat all 6 eggs. Add in condensed milk, evaporated milk, sugar, and extract. Mix well. Pour into ice cream maker. Fill with milk to the "fill line" on the maker. It takes almost a full 1/2 gallon of milk. Now you are ready to freeze!

Place the top on the cannister and drop down into the ice cream maker. Fill half way with ice, add rock salt, top with ice, and finish with rock salt. I have found this keeps the ice colder and you don't have to constantly add more ice and salt, but during the 30-45 minute process, expect to add ice and salt back in at least once, especially if you are making it outside.

How do you know the ice cream is ready you ask? The ice cream maker will stop turning when it is ready so the beauty of this is that once you mix it and get the ice/salt in the maker, plug it in and relax.

You will be so glad if you try this! Happy eating!!!

Strawberry cake with Strawberry Cream Cheese frosting

Jason's 25th birthday was this past Saturday. He decided that he wanted a fish fry to celebrate, so while my step dad got all of that cooking underway it was my job to take care of the desserts. Jason LOVES strawberry cake--seriously, he can eat just about half of one in a single sitting. I have scoured the internet trying to find a good recipe and last year I finally found one he seemed to really like.

Strawberry Cake with Strawberry Cream Cheese

• 1-box White cake mix (I use Duncan Hines)
• 1-3 oz. package strawberry gelatin
• 2/3 c. water
• 2/3 c. oil
• 4 eggs
• 10 oz package of frozen strawberries, drained/slightly mashed in a colander. Reserve juice for later.

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour (or if you are like me--a rebel--spray with pam and line with parchment paper) a pan of your choice. (I used 2 8" rounds and 1 6" round because my 9" rounds were already in use. I would not recommend doing the smaller ones, they don't yield very thick layers).

Stir cake mix and gelatin together. Make a well in the center and add water, oil, and eggs. Stir in the drained/mashed strawberries. Beat on low until just blended, then kick it up to medium and beat for 4 minutes (set your time, actually beat it the full 4 minutes, you will be glad you did when your cake is smooth and moist!) Pour into your prepared pans and bake for 30 minutes. (If you use the deep 6" round, it takes about 40-45 minutes).

Remove your little pans of goodness from the oven and let them cool completely. I usually let them cool for 5-10 minutes, then flip them out of the pan onto a cooling rack, parchment paper side down, to speed up the cooling process. You can also toss them in the fridge/freezer to really speed up the process, but ours are alway full to the brim so I don't have any room.

While your cakes are cooling, make your cream cheese frosting. Most of the time when I make this cake, I use a strawberry buttercream, but J LOVES cream cheese, so when I make it specifically for him, I tweak the recipe to include strawberry cream cheese.

 

Strawberry Cream Cheese

• 1- 8oz block of cream cheese--slightly softened
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter--slightly softened
• 1 box powdered sugar (or about 4 cups)
• 3-4 tbsp strawberry juice from drained frozen strawberries
• 1 tsp milk

In your standmixer with the paddle attachment, cream together cream cheese and butter.

Once this is creamy, begin streaming in your powdered sugar while the mixer is running on the lowest setting. When you have added all of your powdered sugar, add in the strawberry juice 1 tbsp at a time, mixing well between each addition. Also, scrap down the sides of the bowl at least once before you finish to get all the flavor incorporated. You can add more or take away depending on your taste, but don't add more than about 4 or you will have a gooey, runny icing that won't stay on your cake. I added a little milk (1 tsp) to mine to cut out the extreme strawberry flavor.

 

**Tip--I add a little while the mixer is going, then stop, speed up to incorporate, slow it down, add, repeat. I have found this is the best way to avoid a catastropic powdered sugar explosion:)

 

 

 Now we are ready for the fun part--Assembly! I add a little to the middle of each layer, and start smoothing down the sides that way when it is complete, all you have to do is smooth around the edges and the top and bam! You have a beautiful cake!

Now, insert hungry husband and your cake will end up like this! Enjoy!!

Cooking 101

     As you may have noticed, I've taken quite the hiatus from blogging. Today while cooking for Jason's birthday fish fry I had an idea. Why not incorporate my love for cooking into the blog. Previously when I was blogging I wrote about the trials and tribulations of buying a house and planning a wedding. Now here we are, 1 year later and we are pretty boring. As manyof you know, I'm about halfway through with nurse practitioner school, still trying to work prn (but full time hours most weeks) and J works 40-50 hours per week. Needless to say,we don't have much time for adventures at this stage of the game.
      So in attempt to keep my sanity I'm going to translate my love for cooking into the blog until something fun happens like finishing school or having little ones! I love cooking almost more than anything. It's such a stress relief for me. Plus, oftentimes people ask me for my recipes and now I can refer them here! Let me start with a little backstory on my love of cooking. While it's fun to cook from scratch it's not always practical. Sandra Lee, of semi-homemade with Sandra Lee, is a girl after my own heart. Everything she cooks is gorgeous and I imagine delicious; however, she takes necessary shortcuts to save herself time and money. Nothing is wrong with using a boxed cake mix or canned frosting, but if you use one of the two make sure you add your own twist so it is actually yours and technically home made. Like I mentioned before, tonight we are having a fish fry for J's 25th birthday. Since fathers day is tomorrow, too, we are meshing the two celebrations a little.

                                                   Gene's Chocolate Explosion
           One of the first things I learned about my step dad 16 years ago is that the man loves chocolate. I think you could bribe Gene Dickerson into wearing a dress and high heels with enough chocolate. So as I was trying to come up with something to cook him for Father's Day I came across the perfect storm. Chocolate cheesecake sandwiched between chocolate cake smothered in chocolate frosting. Like I mentioned before this recipe is semi-homemade. The original recipe would've taken me three weeks to make since it required homemade cake, homemade cheesecake, and homemade frosting. I decided I would make the chocolate cheesecake, use a boxed cake mix, and I was on the fence about the frosting. Normally if I use a box cake mix I always make my own frosting but Gene loves Duncan Hines chocolate frosting so it made it that much easier.
***Disclaimer: I am an idiot and forgot to put eggs in the cheesecake therefore it is very flat but still tastes delicious!
     For this recipe you'll need:

• Chocolate cake mix (I used Devil's food)
• 1 can of chocolate frosting (I used Duncan Hines chocolate buttercream)
• 2-8 ounce cream cheese blocks
• 1/2 cup + 3 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 5-1 ounce squares of chocolate (I used 2 bittersweet and 3 semisweet squares)
• 2 eggs. Please Lord, don't forget the eggs or else your cheesecake will look like a flat tire :).

Spray a 10" springform pan with cooking spray and line with parchment paper. Place a double layer of tin foil around the outside so your water bath won't seep in. Place in a large pan.

First, melt your chocolate in a microwaveable glass bowl at 30 second intervals, stirring after each. (It took mine about 2 minutes total). Let chocolate cool while you get the rest of the cheesecake going. I forgot to take a picture of this--did I mention I forgot eggs, yeah, I have mental lapses all the time.

In a stand mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add in sugar and cocoa, mix well. Add in eggs one at a time beating well after each addition. Pour in lukewarm chocolate and beat well. Scrape the batter and beat one more time. This makes a really thick batter. Scoop into your prepared pan and smooth with a spatula or butter knife. Place the pan on the lowest rack in the oven. Pour hot water into the roaster pan around the springforn pan (you are NOT pouring water onto your cheesecake :) The water should come up about 1 inch on the sides- mine took 3 cups. Bake at 325 for 45 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes then remove from water, remove foil, dry pan, and put in fridge until ready to assemble.

Whilst the cheesecake is baking, prepare your cake mix according to box directions. Note: I usually use buttermilk instead of water in box cake mixes because it makes them richer, denser, and you can really make folks think its from scratch; however, since this cake is already going to be rich by nature, I only substituted 1/3 cup of regular milk instead of using the full 1 1/3 cup of water. Also, to make your cakes smooth, seriously beat for 30 seconds on low, then 2 minutes on medium. I set my kitchen timer, it really works. Once the batter is ready, pour into your greased and papered pans (I used 2-9" pans because I don't have 10" ones). My mom and grandmother always use Crisco and flour. I HATE doing that so only when I'm making red velvet do I use this method. I have found that pam and parchment or wax paper works well. Another tip: put cake batter in pans using measuring cups. This will ensure your cakes are more even and you don't have to shave as much off when it comes time to assemble. Bake the cakes at 325 (the box said 350 but my oven was at 325 so I went with it-it was fine) for 30 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes then transfer to cooling rack. Cool completely.

 When everything is cooled and ready transfer one cake to cutting board and shave off top to make an even surface. This helps the cake not be lopsided when you frost it. My mom has this fancy cake slicer, but she took it home so I used a serrated knife. Next, trim the 10" cheesecake by placing the 9" pan on top and cutting the edges with a sharp knife. (Insert hungry dad here to eat the scraps!) Place trimmed cheesecake on top and press down. Now trim the top off the last cake and our it on top of the cheesecake. Press down again. There is no icing in the middle because the cheesecake acts as your soft middle. Now frost the entire top and sides of this chocolate masterpiece. As if there weren't enough chocolate, I grated 1/2 of a semisweet chocolate square on top and placed the other two pieces in the center for decoration.

Stay tuned for Jason's strawberry cake and homemade ice cream..  Happy eating!!