Pom Pom Cupcake Toppers

 I recently brought these little pom pom cupcake toppers to GMT.  They are such an easy addition to some cupcakes for a football party...or really.....add some google eyes and make them purple and green and you have monsters for Halloween.

 I took two colors of this yard I got for a dollar at Hobby lobby.

 I wrapped it around my three fingers 20 times.

 I took another piece of yard and tied the middle.  Then I cut the loops.

You can trim down any pieces that are a little longer, but use your tie to attach these to candy pop stickers (sold at the craft store-or even in Walmart's party section).  Then decorate your cupcakes.

Buche de Noel

 I made this cake last year for Christmas.  Instead of retyping the recipe, In case a yule log is on your Christmas list,  I got the original recipe here.  There are a lot of steps, but it really turned out to be easy to follow.  The only changes I made...

I trimmed off both ends so you could see the 'log' and then I put one side at an angle to make it look more like a log with some character.  I ran my knife over the buttercream to make it the typical wood texture, and I ended up with a lot of left over frosting, so next time I'd be more generous with my icing inside.  The icing turns out to be more like a mousse, which is delicious!  I also made some holly leaves and berries out of fondant and I bought a little sugar Santa from a nearby cake store.

Gooey Pumpkin Butter Cake

Last year some of the gals at work decided to do a friendsgiving after a long day of working our school's version of the Turkey Trot.  We usually don't get to eat until almost 2 pm, so we've got the appetite for a potluck!  I decided to try out Paula Dean's version of the gooey pumpkin cake.  Trying her chocolate chip gooey butter cake at her restaurant in Savannah it still one of my favorite culinary adventures.  This dessert did NOT disappoint.  I love the yellow cake crust...and pumpkin is always a good idea!  

Gooey Butter Pumpkin Cake

PRINT HERE

Ingredients for Crust:  1 pkg (18 1/4 oz) yellow cake mix, 1 egg, 8 T of butter (melted)

Ingredients for Filling:  8 oz pkg cream cheese softened, 15 oz can of pumpkin, 3 eggs, 1 t. vanilla, 8 T of butter (melted), 16 oz powdered sugar.  

Whipped Cream

Instructions:  

1.  Heat the oven to 350.

2.  Combine the cake mix, egg, and butter.  Mix well with an electric mixer.  Press into the bottom of a greased 13x9 inch pan.  

3.  In a separate bowl.  Beat the cream cheese and pumpkin until smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla, and butter and beat together.  Last add the powdered sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Mix well.  

4.  Spread pumpkin filling over the cake mix.  Bake for 40-50 minutes.  The center should be a little gooey when you pull it out of the oven.  

5.  Serve with whipped cream.

(Vegan) Oatmeal Cake

     I'm not a vegan, I just play one on holidays when the 'real' vegans come to eat with us.  My goal is to turn some traditional recipes vegan without sacrificing the taste.  This cake is one of those examples.  I've found that there are some great ways to turned baked goods vegan with a few substitutions.  This guy definitely isn't low calorie, but come on-when you read the word 'cake' that probably wasn't the first thing on your mind.
     If you want to try out this cake, but don't want to make it vegan I'll leave some notes in the actual recipe for what I substituted.  Just fyi-the 'icing' isn't your traditional icing-it's more like a sauce.
     All of this to say-this cake was a big hit with the vegans and the non-vegans who didn't know any substitutions had been made, so that's a win in my book!

Oatmeal Cake

PRINT HERE

Cake Ingredients:  2 1/2 c. boiling water, 2 c. quick cooking oats, 1 c. margarine (*or butter for nonvegan), 2 c. sugar, 2 c. brown sugar, 2 t. vanilla, 1 c. non-sweet applesauce (*nonvegan this takes the place of 4 eggs), 3 c. all purpose flour, 2 t. soda, 1 t. salt, 1 1/2 t. cinnamon, 1/2 t. nutmeg

Cake Instructions:  

1.  Pour boiling water over oats.  Cover and let stand for 20 minutes.  Beat butter until creamy and slowly add sugars and beat in until fluffy.  Add in vanilla and eggs.  Add oats to mix.  

2.  Add flour, soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  

3.  Spray 9x13 inch pan and bake at 350 for 1 hour.  Cool.

Icing Ingredients:  1 c. melted margarine, 2 c. brown sugar, 6 T.  coconut milk (*nonvegan use evaporated milk), 1 c. chopped walnuts or pecans, 3 c. flaked coconuts

Icing Instructions:  

1.  Mix everything together and spread it over the cake. 

2.  Place cake under broiler in over until frosting becomes bubbly. 

Pumpkin Pie Dump Cake

Easter and pumpkin desserts isn't something we mix very often in my family, but....this year I did.  I had bought the stuff to make this recipe last fall, but...life happened, and I don't know why I didn't make it.  When I was pulling out the ingredients for other dishes for Easter, I decided to give this one a go.  It was really delicious, and it's great at room temperature the next day (which is good news for a house with a full oven.  So, file this away, or...hey, bust out the pumpkin this spring...I'm not judging.  I found the original recipe here.  

Pumpkin Dump Cake

PRINT HERE

Ingredients: 1 can (15 oz) pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix), 1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk, 3 eggs, 1 c. sugar, 1 t. cinnamon, 1 box Spice Cake Mix, 1 c. butter (melted)

Instructions:  

1.  Heat over to 350.  Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray.  

2.  Mix pumpkin, milk, eggs, sugar, and cinnamon.  It will be very soupy.  

 3.  Pour into the prepared pan.  Sprinkle dry cake mix on top.  Take the melted butter and drizzle over the top.

 4.  Bake for 55 minutes.  It will be slightly wiggly in the middle even when it's done.  Cool at least 30 minutes.  Serve with whipped cream.
Store in the fridge when you are done.

Valentine's Cake Balls

 Last year I made these little boxes of treats for friends local and far away.

 I made red velvet cake balls using this recipe.  I bagged up the cake balls I was mailing in little cellophane bags.  I put the heart box into little square boxes with the cards that I wanted to mail.

 I made these little cards to go with each one.

 I printed a little message on the inside of my cards using this tutorial.

 I found these little paper mache heart boxes and I covered the tops and sides with scrapbook paper.  I added ribbon to the boxes I was passing out here and tied the tags to the top of those.

I was really digging the red and brown last year.  

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Carrot Cake

My brother requested Carrot Cake for his birthday.  I've made quite a few great tasting Carrot Cakes throughout the years, but I decided to hunt for some recipes to try something ne. This recipe from Simply So Good had some great reviews and it was really moist.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Carrot Cake

PRINT HERE

Ingredients for the Cake:  2 c. flour, 1 t. baking soda, 2 t cinnamon, 1/2 t. salt, 3 eggs, 3/4 c. butterilk, 3/4 c. veg oil, 1 t. vanilla, 1 1/4 c. plus 2 t. sugar, 2 c. peeled and grated carronts (about 3 large carrots), 1 1/2 c. sweetened flaked coconut, 8 oz can crushed pineapple (do not drain), 1 c. chopped pecans
Buttermilk Glaze:  1 c. sugar, 1/2 c. buttermilk ,1/2 c. butter, 1 T light corn syrup, 1 1/2 t. baking soda, 1 t. vanilla
Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting:  12 oz cream cheese (softened), 1/2 c butter (softened), 2 T brown sugar, 1 t. cinnamon, 1 1/2 t vanilla, 4 c. powdered sugar
Instructions:  
1.  Heat oven 350.  Spray 13x9 inch pan with cooking spray. Set aside.
2.  For the cake-whisk together the flour, soda, cinnamon, salt.  In a separate bowl mix the egg, buttermilk, veg oil, vanilla, sugar until smooth.  Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix until well combined.  Fold in the carrots, coconut, pineapple, and pecans.  Pour into pan and bake for 35-40 minutes (until cake springs back when pressed).
3.  Whle the cake is baking prepare the glaze.  Add sugar, buttermilk, butter, corn syrup, and soda in a med saucepan over med heat.  Stir vigourously (add the baking soda will make the mix foam, still will help keep it from rising too much).  Stir for about 8 inuts.  The glaze will begin to turn amber in color.  When the mix is light amber, remove it from the heat and stir in the vanilla.  Set aside until ready to use.
4.  When the cake comes out of the oven, immediately poke holes in the cake with a wooden spoon handle.  Pour the glaze over the cake and spread evenly.  Let it cook completely.
5.  Mix the cream cheese and butter until fluffy.  Add the brown sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla until it is well combined.  Slowly add the powdered sugar.  Mix until smooth.  Spread over cooled cake.

Carrot Cake Balls

 I put some of these together last year for Easter gifts.  I gifted these cake balls in egg cartons of all shapes and sizes-depending on the sizes of the group.

 I wrapped each up and added these tags I made-I was inspired by a sight in a craft store I saw.

 Here is a free printable of the tag.

 To make the cake balls, just use your favorite carrot cake recipe and cream cheese frosting.  As soon as you bake the cake, stir it up with a fork, add the icing and stir together.  Place your mix of cake and icing in the freezer for a few hours.  Pull it out, roll it into balls.  Again, you can freeze these for up to a few months.  When you are reading, melt some chocolate and dip your frozen cake balls in chocolate.  Let it dry on wax paper.

 It hardens quickly b/c the cake ball is frozen.  I added some chocolates to the mix.

I bought some royal icing carrots at a local cake shop, but you could pipe your own with royal icing.

Reindeer Noses

 I made these last year for some of my friends who like cake balls.  I decided the egg carton was the perfect deliver system for my reindeer noses.  There are 12 holes, and everybody knows there are only 9 reindeer, so I filled the other holes with bells.  I could have looked for some cute reindeer candy or don't some Santa belly cake balls, but I was iced in on the days I put these together, so....I'm pleased with this. I made cake balls using these simple instructions.  I did 8 chocolate with chocolate, and one red.  Simple and super fun.

Favor Cakes

My Mom turns sixty this month!  I've got quite a few festivities planned...including a tea with friends.  I'm going with variations of pink for each of the festivities, in this case...pink and black.  I'll post all the details later, but....these are the favors I made using mini cakes for each guest.  Again, once they are all done...more pics, but this was the test run.  

I found a free chalkboard background and downloaded some chalkboard fonts to make this tag.  

 I made these little poppies (which I posted instructions for making last week).

 I added a ribbon and ran the end product through inspections...approval granted.  

 Inside those little containers are baby bundt cakes from Nothing Bundt Cake.  I wish I got something for saying that, but I don't....but regardless....I heard these cakes!  I'm getting several different flavors.

My favorite is the chocolate chocolate chip....should anyone be near a store and want to please my pallet!

Pink Velvet Cupcakes In a Jar

You know it's going to be good when the batter takes like cookie dough...I found this recipe for pink velvet cupcakes and Baking Perfection and thought it would be the perfect gifts for the Mom's I knew.  I baked these and stacked these inside of jars.

Pink Velvet Cupcake

Cupcake Ingredients:  1 c. butter (softened), pink food coloring, 3 eggs, 2 t. vanilla, 2 1/2 c. flour, 1 1/2 t baking powder, 1/4 t. baking soda, 1/2 t. salt, 1 c. buttermilk
Instructions:  In the first bowl, cream butter until fluffy.  Add pink dye a little at a time and mix until you get your desired pink.  Add vanilla.
In a second bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Pour half into the butter mix, pour in half of the butter milk and mix.  Repeat with the second half of the dry mix and buttermilk.  Beat until well combined.
Add into lined cupcake pan (2/3 full).  I made about 20 out of this batter.
Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

 Icing Recipe:  Mix together 2 sticks of butter (softened), 6 c. of powdered sugar, pinch of salt, 3 T vanilla, and 2-4 T of milk.
Top put these in a jar, take two cupcakes and cut it in half.

 Press the bottom into the bottom of the jar...

 Place icing in a ziplock, snip off the edge of a ziplock bag and fill it with icing, pipe it over the cupcake.

 Add another layer of cupcake (sometimes I take another cupcake and use half of that to fill in the middle layer since the jar is a little wider here).
Pipe on a final layer, add sprinkles...

 Place a lid on top....

 I added tags (found a cute, free printable at sunshine's blog- here), and baking twine and forks....for eating on the go.  You never know when you need to take along your emergency cupcake rationing.