Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake

This is the cake dreams are made of. Literally. I woke up the other day thinking about this cake. And I continued to think about it all day until I finally broke down, gathered up my whisk and mixing bowl, and turned on the oven.

Sometimes you just need a recipe like this. Something easy and satisfying without all the fuss. The kind of recipe that doesn’t even involve a mixer. Don’t get me wrong. I love my KitchenAid like it’s my child, but my tiny kitchen is severely lacking in counter space. Which means each time I use my mixer, I have to drag it from its home on the far end of the counter to the opposite end where there’s more than 8 inches of room to work. And you know those things aren’t exactly light. So anytime I don’t have to give my arms a workout is fine by me. And when that non-workout ends in cake? Well, it’s my lucky day.

Especially when that non-workout ends in cake this good. Seriously. I want to sit in a corner somewhere with a fork and devour every last bite of this cake. Actually, forget the fork. I’ll just eat it with my hands. It’s so incredibly soft and tender and chocolatey, it doesn't even need any extras—it’s perfect as it is. But if you’re inclined to take the chocolate to the next level, whip up the chocolate glaze from the original recipe over at Two Peas and Their Pod to drizzle over the top. Or just sprinkle with powdered sugar like I did and dig in.

I need this cake in my life. Every single day. You complete me, cake. 

Gingerbread Stout Cake

Well, the holiday season is winding down. I hope everyone had a good one! I sure did. I made it through another shopping season at work without losing my mind, I had a nice relaxing Christmas with my family, and I've eaten nothing but sugar for the past week. So all in all, it was a good time! I'm going to need a desperate sugar detox very soon, but it was worth it. 

One of the culprits behind the neverending sugar high was this cake. Gingerbread Stout Cake. Mmmmm.. 

This cake was meant for Santa. Instead of the usual milk and cookies, I thought Santa would enjoy cake for a change. Cake made with beer. The big guy had to like that, right? Well, I guess we'll never know because he never had a chance to try it. I totally ate all your cake, Santa. Sorry about that. I hope that doesn't put me on the naughty list for next year already.

I'm a sucker for cake made with stout. Gingerbread Stout, Chocolate Stout.. it doesn't matter-- I will devour it! It makes it incredibly moist and flavorful. Add the full, robust flavor of spicy gingerbread to it, and I just can't help myself! I seriously had this cake for breakfast a couple mornings. And a snack. And maybe for dinner..

I even liked it without the frosting. Just sprinkle it with some powdered sugar and eat it plain! My only issue with it-- it sank like the Titanic. I may have overmixed it, which the instructions clearly stated not to do, because both pans puffed up, then dropped like a rock in the center, leaving a huge crater behind. It still tasted amazing, and it was nothing a little frosting couldn't cover up, but the perfectionist in me still hated the sight of the slumped little slice when the cake was cut. Oh well.

Also, the recipe says it makes two 7-inch cakes. I don't own 7-inch cake pans. I'm not sure I've even seen 7-inch cake pans. So I made mine in a 8-inch and a 6-inch pan. Maybe next time, if they don't completely sink in the middle, I might try two 8-inch pans. They'll be shorter, but I'm sure you can stack them like a layer cake with the frosting in the center.

While Santa won't get to enjoy this cake for another year, you should totally whip one up for New Year's! What could be better to celebrate the last day before you start your new diet than a cake filled with alcohol?

Lemon Triple Berry Buckle

I’m a sale shopper. Nothing makes my little heart soar more than those 4 little letters. S-A-L-E. Even if I don’t really need it, I can’t help myself if it’s on sale. A pair of shoes that I can’t wear through an entire shift at work without feeling crippled? But they’re adorable, and they’re on sale! 5 of the exact same shirt in different colors? They're half off!  Numerous bottles of BBQ sauce? They’re on sale for $1 and I have $1 off coupon. They’re FREE! No matter that I have no use for 8 bottles of BBQ sauce. I didn’t pay a dime!

Nothing gets me more than fresh fruit on sale. Every trip to the store, I load more fruit in my cart because, “you just can’t beat that price!” Before I know it, I have more fruit than is humanly possible to eat, and I’ve got to use it NOW. Because unlike BBQ sauce that’ll hang out in the pantry for awhile, fruit doesn’t stick around forever. We’re just hitting the stride of summer fruit sales, so right now, my fridge is packed with berries, cherries, and other fruity goodness just begging to be used up. When I saw this recipe, I knew it’d be the perfect way to show them off—a Lemon Triple Berry Buckle.

Honest truth—I’d never heard of a buckle before, other than what’s on a belt. Cobbler, crisp, crumble, pie—those I get. But buckle? What the heck is a buckle? Think of a buckle is a cake/crumble hybrid. A moist soft yellow cake base, a layer of delicious juicy berries, topped with a lemony sweet crumb topping. I think I found my new favorite thing to bake! It's perfect for summer picnics and barbecues. Portable cake you can eat with your hands, and no worries of melty, gooey frosting! It may be your perfect 4th of July treat!

I used a mixture of blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries, because I had them all hanging out in my fridge, but feel free to use whatever berries you want. And absolutely make sure you rub the lemon zest into the sugar first before mixing it in with the other ingredients. It releases all the oils from the zest and gives it a bright lemony pop.

Now to find more recipes to use up the rest of my raspberries and blueberries before I bring the next load of fruit home.

Lemon Pound Cake

I can think of new ideas to bake nearly every day. New flavor combos or new ways to showcase classics. But cooking meals? I draw a blank every time. I’ve been trying to cook more and eat out less, but it’s been a struggle. I find myself every single day, getting hungrier and hungrier while I pour through endless recipes and blogs and magazines looking for something that I can make for dinner. I usually end up grabbing my collection of Everyday Food magazines and scanning through several of those before I land on an idea. But sometimes in my scouring, I forget about dinner completely because I’ve come across a dessert recipe that begs to be made immediately. On those nights, I scarf down a PB&J and break out the mixer, because there are Lemon Pound Cakes to be baked.

I’ve had a bag of lemons sitting on my kitchen counter waiting to be used for far too long. So when I stumbled across the recipe for lemon pound cake while looking for a dinner idea, I had to make it. Like immediately. By the time it was done and cooled, it was dark outside, so I told myself I’d hold off on taking pictures until the next day when I could have some nice natural light.

And then I cut myself a piece to taste test. And then another. And then I had one for a midnight snack. And I had some for breakfast. And another snack when I got home from work. By the time I was ready to take pictures, half of the cake was already gone! So I thought, “oh well. I’ll just make another one.” And then proceeded to eat the entire cake myself. (In my defense, I halved the recipe and only made 1 loaf from it. I didn’t eat an entire bundt cake by myself. That would have been ridiculous.)

I baked, took pictures, and immediately took Round 2 to work so I couldn’t tempt myself again. Can I tell you how much I miss that cake and want to make it for a third time? I want to eat this cake every day of my life! It's not overly lemony. Just the right balance of sweet and tart. And it’s that perfect pound cake consistency—thick and dense. A total “eat with your hands” kind of cake. A “slice it up and pack it for a picnic” snack. It’s the cake I think of at a summer cookout, soaking up all the juice from a mound of ripe, sweet berries. A cake I want in my face right. now.

Red White and Blue Cake

Happy Early Birthday America! I know your birthday is still a couple days away, but I couldn’t wait to celebrate. What are you now, 235? You don’t look a day over 200. I hear you’re throwing some pretty big birthday parties all weekend. Sorry I can’t come. I’ve gotta work the whole weekend. But I did bake you something, cause what’s a birthday without cake! I made it with your favorite colors. I hope you like it! Have a great birthday weekend!

I waivered a lot making this cake. It was initially supposed to be a red and blue velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. Then I changed my mind and decided to go with a vanilla cake instead. Then changed my mind about the frosting and decided to do a buttercream. While I was baking, I thought I’d make it a 3 layer cake, but after seeing how tall each layer was, opted for just 2 layers. I thought about covering it in fondant, then changed my mind again and stuck with fondant decorations instead. I’m surprised the cake turned out anything like what I had originally envisioned with the amount of times I changed my mind!

But I’m kind of proud of myself. I actually made this entire cake without screaming at it even once! Normally I would yell, “THIS IS WHY I DON’T MAKE CAKE!!” at least once every hour or so, but this one—nothing! It wasn’t a total breeze (is any cake a total breeze?), but it also wasn’t too hard either. I absolutely love the way it turned out. 2 layers of moist vanilla cake, smothered in a light lemon swiss meringue buttercream. And I actually managed to frost the cake so that it didn’t look like a kindergartener attempted it! (There was one minor mishap with a decorating comb thing that ended up scraping most of my frosting back off.. but after 10 minutes of smoothing, I managed to fix it. I have to remember next time to just leave. it. alone. )

And the taste? Total yum! I’m not really a cake person. Even if it’s exactly the same flavor, I’ll always pick a cupcake over having to slice a cake. But this one? I’d totally eat by the slice. The cake is moist and fluffy, and the buttercream is a light delicate flavor that doesn’t overwhelm your tastebuds. They’re a perfect combination. And the cake is darn pretty too. White on the outside, but bold and vibrant on the inside. And it slices like a DREAM! I’ve never had a cake that cut so perfectly. It’s just right for a 4th of July celebration! But beware. It’ll go quick. I hesitated bringing a cake into work, because while they snatch up cookies and cupcakes, there’s usually cake left over at the end of the night. This cake? It lasted 2 hours. And there were people that didn’t even get to try it! I’ll call that a winner.

Happy Birthday America!

Pumpkin Cake Pops

I’m making this short and sweet because Halloween’s here and I don’t want to miss it! So without further ado… Pumpkin Cake Pops!

I channeled my inner Bakerella and made these adorable cake pops featured in her new book. Have you seen it yet? ADORABLE! You’ve gotta get it. Seriously. It’s so cute. We’ve sold out of it at my bookstore, not once, but twice already! A holiday must have! But enough peddling. Let’s talk about these cake pops.

Spice cake and cream cheese frosting. On a stick. Covered in chocolate. With a cute pumpkin face. What could be better? Maybe posting this BEFORE Halloween so you could make some for your parties. But we’ll overlook that fact for now.

And I finally achieved that perfectly smooth look with my dips! My trick? Add a little vegetable oil to your chocolate while you’re melting to keep it fairly fluid even as it cools. (I used about 2 teaspoons per 3oz of chocolate or so.) I’ve also seen other people add a bit of shortening as they’re melting too. The only problem with it? It made it kinda hard to write on the chocolate with my food coloring pen. But they still came out super cute. 

The Mario Cake (Or, Why I'm the Best Girlfriend. Ever.)

Some people are just naturally born to be amazing gift givers. They can go into a store and walk out with the perfect gift for everyone, every time. They’re the friends and relatives that you look forward to getting gifts from. No ugly Christmas sweaters here. Just pure awesomeness. Too bad I wasn’t born with that kind of skill. I hate to admit it, but I’m kind of bad at gift giving. Holidays and birthdays stress me out. I demand that everyone give me a list of things they want, just so I have a starting point. Otherwise, I will be the one pouring over the gift card display at the grocery store at 6pm on Christmas Eve, as they’re closing, because even though I’ve been to 100 stores agonizing over what to get for the entire holiday shopping season, I’m about to show up empty handed on Christmas morning. (True story.) Birthdays are even worse. You’re lucky if you get anything at all from me for your birthday. Especially if you’re Boyfriend.

If you’re Boyfriend, you’ve gotten your share of some good gifts (in my opinion). You’ve gotten a grill, a digital camera, some video games. But you’ve also gotten more than your fair share of lame gifts, like sheets and pillows. My 2 best friends, The Girls, know about my deficiency in the gift giving department. So every year we make extensive lists of things we’d like to have. We’re not expected to buy everything on the list. We don’t even have to buy anything on the list. It’s merely for reference in case we get completely stumped. But Boyfriend? He refuses to make a list. He refuses to even say one single thing that he wants, usually claiming that I don’t have to get him anything at all. Which makes shopping for him next to impossible. This year for his birthday--no exception.

After letting the opportunity for something huge and awesome on his 30th birthday slip by last year, I was determined to make this year’s birthday special. I knew I wanted to make him a cake, since last year he only got cupcakes (which were actually just test cupcakes for the upcoming Cupcake Camp), but I had no idea what kind of gift to give. After pointlessly begging for suggestions for weeks, Boyfriend was going to end up getting exactly what he wanted. Absolutely nothing. I guess I better make one hell of a cake to distract him from the fact that there was no gift to go with it.

Hence, the Mario Cake.

If you know even a little about me, you know that I. don’t. make. cake. I’m terrible at it. Individual sized portions are my thing. I can handle cupcakes like a champ. But cake? Always ends in disaster. But if I was going to be the best girlfriend ever, despite my lack of gift giving skills, I was going to have to suck it up and bust my butt to create the most awesome cake ever. I was going to have to venture into the terrifying world of both fondant covering AND cake stacking, neither of which I’d ever done before. This could get ugly.

I had this idea for over a year that I was going to make him a cake shaped like Legos, since he loves them, but after looking at ideas online, I wasn’t thrilled. They just didn’t have that “wow” factor. But the pictures of the Nintendo themed cakes I found, now there was some definite awesomeness. It was well beyond my skill level, but hey. I always enjoy a challenge. It’s how you get better, right? So Mario it is.

After 18 full hours of baking, frosting, coloring, rolling, covering, and decorating, I was exhausted. I had food coloring all over my pretty pink chef jacket, flour in my hair, blisters on my hands. I had used practically every dish in my kitchen, and broken out every craft tool I own, including the Exacto knife and the hot glue gun, to finish this beast. My house was a disaster, but it was finished. And the good news? I only screamed, “THIS IS WHY I DON’T MAKE F-ING CAKE!” twice. Well below my estimated 15 times. It wasn’t perfect, not by a long shot, but I knew it was going to be awesome anyway.

I tried to make it a smaller cake, using just an 8 inch square pan for the base, a 6-inch round pan for the middle, and a jumbo cupcake for the top, since I knew it was just the 2 of us sharing it, and probably his coworkers, but it still ended up being enormous! And HEAVY. I’ve always heard them say on those cake decorating shows that the cakes weigh a lot, but I never realized just how much. That thing, even as a junior sized cake, weighed a good 20-30 pounds fully decorated. And I know I definitely need to work on my fondant skills. The perfectionist in me cried a tiny bit each time I looked at all the wrinkles and tears, but, for my first attempt, I’m still pretty freaking proud of it. And Boyfriend? He LOVED it.

He barely even noticed there was no gift! But just so you know, Boyfriend. You’re getting cupcakes next year. And you better start thinking of what you might want as a gift now.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Birthday Spice Cake

Cookies and cupcakes. I’ve got those down. I can scoop cookie dough and frost cupcakes in my sleep. But cake? I definitely need some practice. I’m okay with the making and baking part. It’s the frosting … well, let’s be honest here. I suck at frosting cakes. They’re always uneven, have crumbs stuck in it (even though I try that whole crumb coat thing), and most of the time I end up practically scalping the sides, pulling the majority of the frosting back off in an attempt to make it perfect. Those pictures you see of beautiful, towering, perfectly frosted cakes? Those certainly aren’t mine. Maybe that’s why I don’t usually make cakes. But when someone asks me to bake a cake for their birthday, I can’t just say no. What kind of monster would I be denying someone a birthday cake??

Strawberry Cream Cake

I’ll make this short and sweet. Let’s just say the sunshine outside is making it impossible for me to sit still today, so I’ll get right to the point. This Strawberry Cream Cake? It should be called Strawberry Dream Cake. It’s amazing. And so easy! It may just be the perfect thing to grace your table for Easter dinner.

Mixed Berry Roulade

Mixed Berry Roulade
Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook and Classic Rachael Ray 30 Minute Meals
Makes one 17-inch roll cake

Cake:
1 ¼ cups cake flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 large whole egg, plus 2 large egg yolks and 3 large egg whites, all at room temperature
¼ cup vegetable oil
¼ cup honey
¼ cup plus 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
¼ cup warm water
confectioner’s sugar for dusting

Filling:
1 pint mixed berries (raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries)*
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 cup (8 ounces) mascarpone cheese
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar

Note: *I used one of those bags of frozen mixed fruit. These are usually presweetened, so I didn't actually add any sugar to the fruit. I also left out the lemon juice, since there was more than enough liquid, but in the future I might add about a tablespoon of sugar to make it a bit sweeter and just a splash of lemon juice to brighten the flavors.

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 17-by-12-inch rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Dust a large, clean kitchen towel with confectioner’s sugar; set aside. Into a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. Place the whole egg, egg yolks, vegetable oil, honey, ¼ cup granulated sugar, vanilla, and warm water in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on medium speed until thick and pale (it should hold a ribbon-like trail on the surface when the whisk is raised), 6 to 7 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl; set aside.
2. With a clean bowl and whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on medium speed until soft peaks form, 1 to 2 minutes. Raise speed to medium-high; gradually add remaining 3 tablespoons granulated sugar, beating until stiff peaks form, 2 to 3 minutes. Using a rubber spatula, fold a third of the egg-white mixture into the egg-yolk mixture to lighten. Gently fold in the remaining whites until just combined. Pour batter onto prepared baking sheet; using an offset spatula, spread evenly.
3. Bake, rotating sheet halfway through, until the cake is golden and springs back when lightly touched in the center, about 10 minutes. Immediately invert the cake onto prepared towel; carefully lift off pan and peel off parchment paper. Starting on a long side, roll towel and cake into a log, incorporating the towel as you go. Transfer cake (still in towel), seam side down, to a wire rack. Let cool completely.
4. In a medium bowl, add fruit, slicing strawberries before adding, and toss with lemon juice and sugar. Crush with a fork.
5. With a hand mixer in another medium bowl (or in the bowl of a stand mixer), beat mascarpone cheese with cream and confectioners’ sugar on low until well combined, about 2 minutes. Fold in the crushed fruit; set aside.
6. Unroll cake, leaving it on the kitchen towel. Using an offset spatula, spread berry mixture over top of cake, leaving a 1-inch border on both long sides. Gently roll cake again into a log (do not incorporate the towel this time). Wrap with towel; refrigerate on a baking sheet until ready to serve, for at least 1 hour or up to 1 day. Remove towel, and generously dust cake with confectioners’ sugar before serving; slice with a serrated knife.

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I tried so hard to limit myself to just cookies and cupcakes for Kelli’s family picnic. I really did. And I almost succeeded. But I’d had the idea to make the Blackberry Roulade from Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook for the party in the back of my mind for months. It seemed like the perfect summer treat, when all the berries are ripe and fresh. It got cut from the list when we decided to keep the picnic low key, but the idea just wouldn’t go away. I added it back to the list at the last minute because I knew I’d get yelled at again if I brought nothing but chocolate desserts for the second year in a row. Most normal people probably wouldn’t mind having lots of chocolate (I know I wouldn’t! Bring it on!), but Kelli’s brother is an odd freak of nature who doesn’t like chocolate. (Blasphemy!) He was mad last year when he had nothing to eat, so I had to add something non-chocolate back in the mix this year.

I’ve been eyeing this recipe since I got the Baking Handbook for Christmas four years ago. However, the more I looked at it lately, the more I wanted to change it. The cake part sounded great, but I really wanted to play around with the filling. Instead of just blackberries, I settled on a mixed fruit blend, with strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries. The mix reminded me of another dessert I made a couple years ago for the picnic—Rachael Ray’s Berry-Mi-Su: a fruity version of tiramisu. Lady fingers drizzled with berry juice, layered with rich mascarpone cream and topped with mixed berries… Mmm! It was so tasty and I’ve wanted to recreate it ever since. Martha’s cake seemed like the perfect choice to give the Berry-Mi-Su a little remix.

The cake batter was easy to put together, but I never got that thick ribbon consistency from my egg yolk mixture. It didn’t seem to matter in the long run, but it did make it slightly difficult to fold in my egg whites. Instead of mixing gently, I almost had to beat it again to get the fluffy whites to mix with the somewhat liquidy yolks. And I think I ended up with some clumps of white still scattered throughout, but oh well! Before you pour the batter onto the prepared pan, I VERY strongly suggest spraying the parchment fairly liberally with cooking spray first. I missed a bit of one corner, and my cake stuck to the paper and ripped off part of my cake! I sort of ripped my finished cake in half as well trying to get it onto the tray to take it to the party, so if you can, try refrigerating it on the platter you’re going to serve it on to avoid that slight mishap.

The filling was incredibly easy to make, but I think next time, I'll use fresh berries instead of the frozen bagged kind. It was cheaper, but there were so many beautiful fresh berries that I passed over to save money! Maybe I'll stick to just 1 or 2 kinds of berries and do it the right way from now on.

I really enjoyed the cake! I cut off the mangled end that got stuck to the parchment to save for myself, and ended up eating the whole thing (which would have amounted to about 3 slices) for breakfast the next morning! The cake had a fantastic honey flavor and the cream inside was wonderful. I wish I would have saved some of the berry juice though to drizzle over the top of the cake to let it soak in. Maybe I’ll try that next time too, because this recipe will definitely have another chance.

Triple Chocolate Cake Truffles

Triple Chocolate Cake Truffles
Inspired by Bakerella
Makes about 65 truffles

3 dozen hideously ugly chocolate cupcakes
1 16-ounce tub of store-bought chocolate frosting
1 1/2 lbs chocolate bark candy coating
Chocolate sprinkles for decorating

1. Ruin a perfectly good batch of chocolate cupcakes. Make sure they're humpbacked, missing chunks, and overall just really, really ugly.

2. Rip those ugly cupcakes to shreds. Seriously. Tear them all apart until they're nothing but crumbs.

3. Dump an entire tub of frosting into the bowl of crumbs and mix with a spatula or wooden spoon until all the crumbs are moist and hold together.

4. Using a 1-inch cookie scoop, scoop out crumb mixture and roll into balls in your hand. Place on cookie sheet lined with wax paper. Repeat until all crumb mixture is used. Freeze cookie sheets for an hour.

5. Melt chocolate bark in a small, but deep heatproof bowl or coffee mug in microwave, 30 seconds at a time, stirring the chocolate until it is all melted and smooth.

6. Removing only a few balls from the freezer at a time, spear one with a toothpick and dip into chocolate until it is completely coated. You may have to use a spoon to dump some chocolate along the top to cover completely. Lifting the ball out of the chocolate, rotate slowly above the bowl, letting the excess drip off back into the rest of the chocolate.

7. Place coated ball on a new cookie sheet lined with waxed paper. Pull toothpick from top, and coat hole with a tiny bit of melted chocolate to hide the gash. Top with chocolate sprinkles for decoration. Repeat with remaining balls. Reheat bowl of chocolate when it starts to thicken.

8. Once all balls have been coated, return to the freezer for about 15 minutes to set. Remove and let come to room temperature before serving.

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After my disastrous first batch of chocolate cupcakes for my "Decorate a Cupcake" event, I was left wondering what on Earth I was going to do with 36 hideously ugly cupcakes. They all had weird hump things in the center of the cupcakes, and a good portion were torn from trying to remove them from the pan. Taste wise, they were fine, so it seemed like a waste of time and materials to just throw them in the trash. I could try topping them with frosting to try to hide the deformities, but what about those that had just fallen apart? There had to be some way to salvage those as well. How about ripping them all apart and putting them back together, even better than before? How about taking a page out of Bakerella's book and creating tasty Cake Truffles!


If you've never made cake truffles or cake pops (cake truffles on a stick), you should totally try it. Just the act of ripping apart the cake is worth it. It's so much fun tearing them into nothing but tiny crumbs! It definitely took out some of the frustration I had in making my chocolate cupcakes to begin with. Plus, what's more fun than a bite of cake already mixed with frosting and coated in chocolate? It's a little bite of heaven. Or a lot of little bites of heaven, cause if you're anything like me, you can't stop eating them. They're so tasty!

In the era of reusing, recycling, and repurposing practically everything, these are the perfect way to make use of something that maybe isn't so great. Did your cake stick to the pan? Break when you were removing it? Do you have sunken or humpbacked cupcakes? Got half a birthday cake sitting around after the party that no one wants to eat anymore? Don't throw them away. Tear them apart and dip them in chocolate. Trust me. One bite of these treats, and no one will know or even care how ugly your cake was! They'll be too busy shoveling cake truffles in their mouths!

Making them couldn't be more simple. Take your ugly or leftover cake and turn it into a bowl full of crumbs. Mix with a tub of frosting and roll into 1-inch sized balls. Freeze on a cookie sheet until firm. Taking out a few at a time (they soften up really quickly), dip them in melted chocolate and refreeze. Ta-da! Perfect little bite sized treats! So what are you waiting for? Go mess up a perfectly good cake! Cause really--if you could go from totally ugly to completely glorious, why wouldn't you?

Brown Sugar Pound Cake

Brown Sugar Pound Cake
From Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook
Makes two 8 1/2-by-4 1/2 inch loaves (I halved the recipe to make 1 loaf)

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pans
3 cups sifted all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
5 large eggs
3/4 cup buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 325F. Butter two 8 1/2-by-4 1/2 inch loaf pans; set aside. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add eggs one at a time beating until combined.

3. Add the reserved flour mixture in three batches, alternating with the buttermilk and beginning and ending with the flour; beat until combined. Divide the batter between the prepared pans, and smooth with an offset spatula.

4. Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until cakes are golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the centers come out clean, about 1 hour. Transfer pans to a wire rack to cool 10 minutes. Turn out cakes onto the rack to cool completely. Cakes can be kept at room temperature, wrapped well in plastic, for up to 3 days.

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Happy Kind-of Belated Birthday America! (Hey, it's still technically the birthday weekend so it's not totally belated yet.) This weekend, from coast to coast, and sea to shining sea, we collectively fired up our grills to do some outdoor dining. We stuffed ourselves full of hamburgers and hot dogs, baked beans and potato salad. But what about dessert? Apple Pie is an All-American classic, but what about when we gather, at dusk, on blankets to watch the skies light up in a rainbow of colors? Pie doesn't travel quite so well. I need something sturdy enough to take on a picnic, but great enough to be the star of the afternoon cookout too. I need Pound Cake.

I've been feeling a bit uninspired lately. I'm currently without a computer, (let's just say the cat made his feelings known about how much time I was spending online...) and my lack of internet access means a lack of blog browsing for inspiration. With the holidays approaching, I knew I wanted to make something sort of festive, but I had no idea what. Usually, that's when I turn to you guys and your amazing blogs for ideas, but without them, I was stuck with only cookbooks. I didn't feel up to my sugar cookies (I'll have enough of that at the end of this month... you'll see!), and with 2 cupcake recipes to make for an event at work over the weekend (more on this later too!), I didn't really want to make cupcakes either. I was down to the last bit of time to bake before the weekend, and I was running dangerously low on options. Finally, flipping through my Martha Baking Handbook, I came across a recipe for Brown Sugar Pound Cake. With only a little more than a handful of ingredients and a bit of time, it was simple and absolutely perfect for my uninspired mind.

Not overly sweet, the pound cake is perfect to serve at a backyard barbecue, sliced up and topped with whipped cream and some fresh summer berries. Leave it plain and wrap it up, and you've got a perfect portable sweet treat for a picnic! I sliced mine into thick pieces and packed it in my bag to take with me downtown to the annual Red, White, and Boom fireworks on Friday night. We got there early to stake out our spot, and had about 3 hours to kill before it got dark. Unfortunately, I was so full of free hot dogs and funnel cakes that I didn't really get to eat much else while we waited. (The 2nd funnel cake was a bit more than I could handle, but who could turn down a free funnel cake? Certainly not me. Gotta love knowing people that work in the food booths!) I guess it's a good thing I had about 2 pieces of cake before we left! (Hey. It was good. Don't judge my overindulgence.) The fireworks were great! The waiting 40 minutes in the parking garage to go home wasn't. But I had fun anyway!

Pound cake is the perfect dessert for the perfect summer day, so try it out next time you're headed to the park or the lake (or the ocean for some of you lucky people). Go ahead and unwrap a slice for a quick bite while you're hiking. Who needs that boring trail mix or granola bar when you can have cake! You'll probably have to wait until next year to enjoy it under fireworks, but there's still plenty of time to have a midnight snack under the stars! So what are you waiting for?

Snickerdoodle Bundt Cake

Snickerdoodle Bundt Cake
From Julia of Dozen Flours by way of Ingrid of 3 B's

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup white sugar

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup white sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
3 eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup full-fat sour cream, at room temperature

1. In a small bowl, combine 1 cup of sugar and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon. Mix together really well and set aside.

2. Preheat oven to 325F. Using a spray product like Pam with Flour , generously spray a 9 inch Bundt pan, being careful to cover all the nooks and crannies, as well as the center tube. (Note: If you don't want to use Pam with Flour, you can just grease the pan with shortening.) Gently dust the entire inside of the pan with the sugar and cinnamon mixture. You should only need about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of sugar, but you want to try and evenly coat the inside surface of the pan, including the tube. Save the remaining sugar and cinnamon mixture and set everything aside.

3. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

4. Beat just the butter on medium speed for one full minute. Add the white sugar and mix for 3 minutes, until light and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl and blade and add the brown sugar.Mix for 2 minutes until the mixture looks light brown and uniform in color. Add the eggs one at a time, beating each for 1 full minute. Stir in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture alternately with the sour cream; beat well.

5. Spread half of the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with 1/4 to 1/3 of a cup of the cinnamon sugar mixture over top the cake. Spread the rest of the batter into the pan and sprinkle any remaining sugar mixture over the top. (If you run out of cinnamon sugar, you can mix just 1/4 cup of sugar + 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon together for the top of the cake. It should be more than enough.)

6. Bake in the preheated oven for 55 to 65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely.

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I've been feeling a bit uninspired the past few days. It's that lull between planned baking that always gets me. Since the Cupcake Pops, I've wandered around trying to figure out what to bake next. I have a list of things on the fridge that I want to try out, but nothing seemed like anything that I want to make right now. Checking the Food Holiday site was a disappointment. Nothing I wanted to make there either. What could I possibly make between Something-On-A-Stick Day, and Easter? I turned to the internet for ideas. I tried looking at my "Cookie of the Day" emails from Martha, but Yahoo and my computer were at war with each other, so I started searching through Tastespotting instead. Looking through pages and pages of beautiful cookies, I happened past some snickerdoodles. As I'm famous for saying, it "almost-half reminded me" of something! (Yeah. I know it doesn't really make sense... but whatever.) I was looking the other day through the wonderful comments from the Cupcake Pops that you guys left (Thanks so much!!) and checking out your blogs (You guys are awesome!) and noticed that Ingrid had made an amazing looking Snickerdoodle Bundt Cake that I had made a mental note to try out someday. Hmm. My boyfriend (who will further be known as simply "Boyfriend") had suggested I make some sort of cookie with cinnamon and sugar when I asked him for ideas.. Snickerdoodles are totally cinnamon and sugar. I think today was the day to try out that Snickerdoodle Cake!

I had most of the ingredients already in the house, so I only needed to pick up sour cream. The only problem-- I didn't think I had a bundt pan. And with only a very small amount of money in my bank account for another few days, I really didn't want to go out and buy one. I was pretty sure I had a similar tube pan that I picked up at a garage sale once, so I set to the task of trying to find it. Sounds simple enough since I keep things fairly organized, but with my 26 square-foot kitchen with it's less than 12" wide cabinets, I'm forced to shove things where ever I can find a spot for it. (My new angel food cake pan still has no home because it's too big to fit anywhere.) After about 10 minutes of pulling everything I own out onto the kitchen floor, I think to look under the stove where I keep some of my cupcake pans and lids to pots. Ah-ha! Found it! And lo and behold.. What's sitting on top of it? A bundt pan. When the heck did I buy that?? I know I've never used it, so I just wonder how long it's been sitting there. Oh well. Problem solved! (And making a mental note to go through and inventory what I have in all these tiny cabinets..)

Mixing went well. No disasters. The only issue I had was seemingly having too much cinnamon/sugar mixture to sprinkle in and on my cake. I dumped handfuls in the middle of the cake and still ended up with a huge amount to sprinkle on top. The plus to this.. Halfway through baking my house smelled amazing. Total cinnamon smell wafting through the rooms. Yum! I did have to brush some of the excess cinnamon and sugar mixture off the top of the cake after it was baked and cooled, before I flipped it over to remove it from the pan though.. I guess I didn't put as much in the cake as I thought.. So note: Put more in the cake than on it. I was also slightly worried about the crispiness of the outside of the cake from the layer of cinnamon sugar. I wondered if the cake inside was going to be dry and crispy too. It wasn't. At all. Slicing into this cake is amazing. The knife just breaks through the crust and the inside slices like warm butter. The sour cream in the cake makes it so incredibly moist and it's got such a great taste! So great, in fact, that I sliced the first piece out of the cake last night to share with Boyfriend, and almost half the cake is gone already. (Boyfriend went back for seconds, so he had 2 pieces, albeit larger ones.. but I'm the culprit for the rest of it being eaten. Some for dessert, some for a midnight snack, some for breakfast...) This cake is fantastic. Go make it now. Go! What are you waiting for?? Thanks Ingrid and Julia for this great cake!

As a side note: After steering me in the right direction with the cinnamon and sugar idea, this is the 3rd great suggestion (although the Irish Cream Cupcakes were only great in theory--but the Mint Chocolate Cookies came out perfect!) that Boyfriend has come up with. He's also been the inspiration for the Peanut Butter Cup-Cakes and the Chocolate Sugar Cookie Bites, and half an inspiration for the Tres Leches Cake (I bought him the magazine it was featured in.) I believe this officially makes Boyfriend my muse.

Cupcake Pops

Cupcake Pops
For complete list of ingredients and step-by-step instructions, check out Bakerella's site! She even has a video demonstration from when she was on Martha!

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While scouring the internet for recipes for my St. Patrick's Day treats (or trash, because that's where they ended up), I came across a website dedicated to American Food Holidays. Now we've established that I love holidays--numerous times--so food holidays are right up my alley! These are celebrations I can really get behind! Scanning the list, I noticed that my birthday happens to fall on National Prime Rib Day. Nice. There are some bizarre holidays included on the list too, such as "Shape Up with Pickles Time," to be celebrated the first week of February. Sadly, I missed this one. Although I'm really not sure what shaping up with pickles entails.. However, there was one holiday I noticed I hadn't missed yet that was worth celebrating. Today, March 28th, is National Something-On-A-Stick Day. Alright! Now how am I going to celebrate? Corndogs for dinner is a must. Sides are going to be a bit harder to come up with. And dessert? I could go with popsicles or lollipops. But that's too easy. How bout cupcakes. On a stick. It's time to try out what I've been lusting after for awhile now. Cupcake Pops--Bakerella style.

I've been without internet at my house for almost a week now. So yesterday, I snuck over to my boyfriend's (not really. He knew I was coming over.) and hijacked his internet, along with his kitchen, and started the task of making Cupcake Pops. (I also stole my favorite pair of his pajama pants, the ones with pirate-looking skulls wearing Santa hats, and later, his bed for a quick nap.. Shh. Don't tell.) Looking at Bakerella's site, the cupcake pops seemed pretty easy, but quite time consuming. Oh well. I had the whole day ahead of me! I started with the cake mix from a box that I've had hanging out in my pantry for who knows how long. It almost felt like blashphemy. I've taken pride in making things from scratch rather than a box, but I have to say, I'm glad I used the cake mix. It made it so much easier. Plus I would have felt bad ripping apart my beautiful cake as soon as it cooled. Although, that was actually kinda fun! It got quite a bit messy though after you mixed it with the cream cheese and rolled it into balls. My hands looked like they were covered in blood. Maybe red velvet cake wasn't the best idea. After the cake balls chilled in the freezer for a bit, it was time to make them look like cupcakes! Too bad I didn't have the kind of cutter Bakerella showed on her site. I'd have to make do with my 1.5 inch biscuit cutter.. Which didn't do well at all. The cutter was way too wide, and way too tall to make it look anything like a cupcake. Looks like I was in for another Michaels run.

$2.50 and a half an hour later, I was back on track with cake balls that were looking more like cupcakes than blobs now. Time to chill again and start melting chocolate for dipping! I had trouble dipping the bottoms into the milk chocolate. I couldn't seem to hold on without squishing the tops or dripping all over everything. My boyfriend seemed to have better luck. (I actually let him help for the first time ever! I figured since I was making a mess in his kitchen, I may as well let him in on it. He did a really good job too!) He dipped the milk chocolate while I dipped the pink and topped with sprinkles and a red M&M to look like a cherry on top. Only a few looked absolutely disasterous.. The dripping pink chocolate on some reminds me of a melted ice cream cone.. But all in all they came out looking alright. Not as beautiful as Bakerella's, but not terrible either! The cake inside the pops seems a tad too moist, bordering on squishy, but they're still incredibly tasty! It just took a bit longer to put them all together because we had to keep refreezing them so they didn't fall apart. Maybe next time I won't add all the frosting right away. I'm not sure that was the problem, but it could help. I'll definitely make these again! Who knows, I may even attempt the absolutely adorable Hello Kitty Pops someday! (The first time I saw these on her site, I squealed at a pitch I'm sure only dogs could hear.. They're just so cute!)

Alright. I've got the main course (corndogs) and of course the dessert (Cupcake Pops) of our celebratory Something-On-A-Stick dinner.. Now what are we going to have as a side?? Anyone know how to get mashed potatoes on a stick?

Angel Food Cake

Angel Food Cake
From Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook, page 178
Makes one 10-inch cake

1 cup cake flour (not self-rising)
1 1/2 cups superfine sugar
1 3/4 cups large egg whites (about 13 large eggs), room temperature
1 tablespoon warm water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350F, with the rack in the center. Into a medium bowl, sift together flour and 3/4 cup sugar four times; set aside.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat egg whites and the warm water on low speed until foamy. Add salt, cream of tartar, and vanilla; beat on medium-high speed until soft peaks form, about 3 minutes. While beating, gradually add the remaining 3/4 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time. Beat on high speed until peaks are stiff and glossy but not dry, about 2 minutes (do not overmix).

3. Transfer mixture to a large bowl. Sift flour mixture over egg-white mixture in six parts, quickly but gently folding it in with a rubber spatula after each addition.

4. Gently transfer batter to an ungreased 10-inch tube pan. Run a knife through the batter to release any air bubbles, and smooth with a small offset spatula. Bake until the cake is golden brown and springs back when touched, 35 to 40 minutes.

5. Invert pan onto its legs and let cool completely, about 1 hour. Carefully run a large offset spatula around the sides of the cake to loosen, then invert onto a wire rack. Cake can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.

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I had a mild case of baking withdrawal today. Nothing too severe.. and nothing that baking a nice cake couldn't cure. I've been wanting to bake an angel food cake for awhile now. Especially after single-handedly eating my way through the entire Tres Leches cake (minus the one piece I shared with my boyfriend the first day).. So rich and dense.. It was time for something light, airy, and subtle, and angel food cake was just the thing.

Although I've wanted to make an angel food cake for a couple months now, I never got around to it. One of the main things holding me back was my lack of a tube pan. Last week, I finally broke down and bought one. I also mistakenly bought a dozen eggs because they were on sale, not realizing that I already had almost a full dozen still at home in the fridge. So today, being off work, I got bored and that's when the baking bug bit me. I'd use up the eggs in the fridge and use my new baking pan at the same time and finally make an angel food cake! I reverted to my old ways and consulted Martha again. (Hey I made it the whole way through the Tres Leches post without ONCE mentioning Martha! Cut me some slack!) The recipe in the Baking Handbook was simple, so it was time to get cracking! Literally.

13 eggs. And I only got yolk in my whites twice. I was able to scoop them out with a spoon, so not too bad! I put them in the mixer with the salt, cream of tartar, and vanilla, and walked to the other end of the counter to get my sugar to add once soft peaks formed. I was gone all of 30 seconds at the most, but when I came back my egg whites had gone from being foamy at the bottom of my bowl to this MONSTER pile of fluff! I thought for sure it was going to overflow the bowl before it was done! It was up over the part of the mixer where you attach the whisk to the arm! But it turned out alright. No total disastrous messes! At least not at that point.. It says to transfer to a large bowl. They're not kidding about the size of the bowl you need. Find the biggest one you have in your house. Use a barrel if you can find one. I put this massive foam into the biggest bowl I had and it still was too small. Folding the flour mixture into the egg whites proved to be a bit difficult. Or at least a bit messy. Or... a lot messy. I had egg whites all over the place! I guess I need to work on my folding skills a bit more. But I was able to get it all mixed and into the pan without deflating my whites too much.

35 minutes in the oven and an hour of cooling on the tube pan's legs and it's all done! My cake came out beautifully golden, and really moist and fluffy. Perfectly light with just the right amount of subtle sweetness. The angel food cake was simply divine. With a dollop of whipped cream, some plump strawberries, and a drizzle of chocolate, it was truly a cake worthy of heavenly creatures.

I can't wait for St. Patrick's Day next week! I've been testing out a few different cupcake recipes to see which one I like the best, so hopefully the Irish will pass along some of their luck, and I'll end up with some very tasty treats to show you! By the way-- would you believe I have about 190 cookie cutters.. and not a single shamrock? And do you know how hard it is to find a shamrock cookie cutter a week and a half before St. Patrick's Day! All I can find is Easter now! Apparently I should have been buying them before Valentine's Day..

Now onto figuring out what I'm going to do with all of these.