Earthquake Cake (The Ugliest Cake in the World)

So, I made this cake for someone who requested it. And yes it's ugly, but It's supposed to be. It is not my favorite cake because it has Nuts, I don't like nuts, but I didn't eat it and I was told it was great and gone in less than 30 minutes, but there were lots of people. This isn't one in my regular rotation but again for someone else.

Ingredients:

1 cup chopped walnuts

1 (3.5 oz) pkg flaked coconut

1 (18.25 oz) pkg German Chocolate cake mix

1/2 cup butter

8 oz cream cheese

4 cups powdered sugar

So first sprinkle the coconut and the walnuts on the bottom of a well grease 13x9 inch pan.

Next mix the cake as the directions on the package tell you. Then pour over the coconut and walnuts.

Next melt butter and soften cream cheese, mix together in a large bowl and slowly add the powdered sugar.

 Pour over chocolate and bake for 40-45 minutes, you won't be able to test if it's done because of the cream cheese which should sink into the cake (at least partially).

Shrimp Creole

This Creole is "spicy" to a lot of people, so beware. However, this isn't too spicy for our house so it's all relative. We love this recipe it makes plenty and there are lots of leftovers. If you like Cajun food then you'll notice something missing, celery, we don't use it. My husband detests it, so therefore there is a serious lack of celery in our household!

Ingredients:

3 Tbsp Vegetable Oil

2 onions, chopped

4 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 tsp sugar

2 Tbsp flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground black pepper

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

2 (14.5 oz) cans crushed tomatoes

1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce

1 bay leaf

1 Tbsp Hot Sauce

2 lbs

2 medium shrimp

Rice

So the only work in this is chopping up the onion...the faster you chop the less chances you have for onion tears.

In a large pot you'll sauté the onion and garlic in the oil until the onions are pearly and soft. Then mix everything else (except shrimp) in the pot and bring to a boil. Then turn the heat on low and simmer for 30 minutes and stir occasionally. In the meantime go ahead and cook your rice according to the package directions. 15 minutes before serving, add shrimp to the pot and stir. Serve when the shrimp is pink, and scoop out the bay leaves before serving.

Serve offer rice and viola yummy creole.

Daisy Cupcakes

Alright, so this is not an original idea, I found it at Bakerella's site and she is so much better at this stuff than me! Obviously. I made these for Mother's Day and they are really good and easy.

Ingredients:

For Daisies:

Yellow Candy Melts

Pink Candy Melts

White Candy Melts

Blue Candy Melts

Wax Paper

(For Cupcakes)

Ingredients:

3/4 cup softened butter

3 room temperature eggs

2 cups flour

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups sugar

2 tsp vanilla

1-1/2 cup milk

(For Frosting)

1 cup white vegetable shortening

4 Tbsp water

2 tsp vanilla

1 lb (4 cups) Powdered Sugar

1 Tbsp Meringue Powder

Yellow Food Coloring

Decorating Bag

Tip 1M

In mixing bowl beat butter 30 seconds on medium high. Add sugar, beat 3/4 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time. Beat in vanilla. Add remaining dry ingredients and alternate with milk starting and finishing with dry ingredients. Pour into the baking cups and bake for 20 minutes or until done (at 350 degrees).

For the frosting, cream shortening, vanilla and water, add dry ingredients until you get the right consistency then add food coloring.

For Daisies you will need wax paper laid down on a flat cookie sheet and taped so the paper doesn't move.

Also you can hand draw the daisies to use as a stencil (under wax paper) or you can free hand it. Yep I can't draw, I used several cookie pans and didn't really use my drawings. First place your whole yellow candies on the paper.

After you melt your white chocolate put in a decorating bag and either use a size 2 tip or cut a medium-small hole and make the outline of the petals, make sure it connects with the yellow center. Put in the freezer for 2 minutes until solid.

After you remove the flowers from the freezer get a bag of melted blue and/or pink candy with your size 2 tip fill in the petals (I did use both colors.) Put in freezer until ready to use.

To use flip it over so the flat side shows.

Pipe (with your 1M Tip) on the cupcake with your icing in a swirled pattern and press your flower in and viola done and enjoy!

"Strawberry" Mini Cakes

ARGH yes my photos were blurry; I had such a hard time taking pictures of these cakes because of the shiny coat and my shakiness! On that note moving on....I found this idea on the Wilton Web Site. And yes theirs looks so much better but I've never worked with candy coating like this, I've made candy molds but not used candy to cover mini-cakes. This is my first batch; my second batch actually looked better, but alas no pictures. This was the sample batch to try and I wasn't a fan but the husband (and work I was told) liked them. I made these for my mom for Mother's Day of course they can be made anytime!

(You can use any cake you would like as long as they aren't too squishy).

For the cakes you'll need this (above) handy dandy Wilton heart pan which is available year round on Amazon or your local craft/hobby shop. I picked mine up at Michaels.

Next you will need these 3 shades of candy melts, light cocoa, red and yellow.

Also you'll need some decorator bags OR a handy dandy Ziploc bag with a small hole and a spoon.

Green spice drops

(The following is for the cake, I made Chocolate)

Ingredients:

3/4 cup softened butter

3 room temperature eggs

2 cups flour

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups sugar

2 tsp vanilla

1-1/2 cups milk

 

In mixing bowl beat butter 30 seconds on medium high. Add sugar, beat 3/4 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time. Beat in vanilla.

Add remaining dry ingredients and alternate with milk starting and finishing with dry ingredients.

Pour into the heart pan and bake for 20 minutes or until done (at 350 degrees).

After they are cooled off melt your red candy melts in accordance with your package directions spoon and smooth over the heart cake and place your spice drops on top of the heart, let cool.

After that is cooled spread the light cocoa on the bottom at an angle.

Then (this is where you put your decorating bag to use) use yellow and put on the seeds.

Then enjoy after nice and hardened.

Truffle Cake With Peppermint Cream

I made this cake a few days a go and it was pretty yummy. It came from the December Taste of Home magazine and is also on their website. I love semi-sweet and dark chocolate cakes because the sweetness just doesn't overwhelm you. I know I've made a couple of TOH desserts lately, but it will be a while before I do more, I am making Mother's day things this week and I've had a request for "Earthquake Cake." Also I plan on putting some non dessert items up for a little change.

I used a different camera this week, my husband's camera (that I usually use) had some weird gadgets attached that I didn't want to mess with it, so I thought I would try out the camera on my new Backflip. It worked fine, but I probably won't use it again for this purpose, unless I have to.


Ingredients:

Crust:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
2 Tbsp Sugar
1/4 cup butter (melted)

Cake:
16 oz semi-sweet chocolate
1 cup heavy whipping cream
6 eggs
1/3 cup flour
3/4 cup sugar

Cream:
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2T Sugar
7 Peppermint starlight mints, crushed
1/4 tsp peppermint extract

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

In a small bowl you'll want to mix your crust ingredients until well moistened. Then press firmly into the bottom of your 9" springform pan. (I used a 10 inch because my 9 was out on loan it made the cake a little thinner see bottom picture.)

In a large sauce pot, mix your chocolate and whipping cream until smooth and melted, set aside.

In a large bowl beat all of the eggs,  until bubbly add flour and sugar and beat until blended.

Add chocolate and beat until well mixed, pour onto crust.

Bake at 325 degrees for 35 minutes and let cool, refrigerate over night.

I made my whipped topping in a 4 cup measuring cup which works really well.

Beat sugar and cream until soft peaks form.

Add crushed mints and extract, store in the fridge and serve on the cake.

This is how thin it can get when using just a slightly larger pan.