Coca-Cola Cake

I did something weird.  I opened a can of Coke.  I opened a box of chocolate cake mix.  I combined them and made a cake.  Yes, that's it, 2 ingredients. This was not some nutty experiment I decided to run with.  A cake made with a can of soda is actually a pretty popular thing.  A lot of people make a white cake with a can of Sprite.  I still might be curious enough to try that.  When this cake is made with diet soda, it is called a "Weight Watchers Cake."  I chose to use regular Coke.

Since there was no egg for a binder, I thought this cake was pretty messy.  As you can see, I struggled even getting it out of the pan.  Truth be told, I did not really like this cake.  The frosting sort of saved it though.  It tastes just like the frosting on a Texas Sheet Cake.  For me the Coke flavor was still too strong in the cake.  Whenever I had a bite, there was just a lingering Coke flavor that I didn't like.  I do think that lessened over the next day or two.  

Coca Cola Cake

1 12 oz can coke

1 box chocolate fudge cake mix

Combine in bowl and follow directions on box for baking times.  I made two, 9-inch cakes, baking for about 20 minutes.

Frosting

1/2 cup butter

1 Tablespoon cocoa powder

6 Tablespoons Coca Cola

3 cups powdered sugar

In a medium pan, over medium heat, bring butter, cocoa, and Coca Cola to a boil.  Remove from heat and stir in powdered sugar.  Immediately pour over cake.

This was such a crazy cake, I just had to share with you all.  Has anyone had good experiences with this type of cake?  Like I said, I may still consider making a white cake with a can of Sprite. The chocolate version just wasn't for me. Sometimes you shouldn't mess with a good thing.

Mini Banana Bundt Cakes

Things in my life have been pretty bananas lately. MIght as well have a cake that fits that theme.

My friend Anna recently put out a call for  some blogging friends to help her celebrate all that is the delicious banana.  We made some banana treats, got together to eat and gossip and received some cool swag from Dole bananas. We had muffins, breads, pies, curry salad; all delicious.

This is the second time I've used my mini bundt pans. They just make the cutest little cakes!  Perfect little portions that I suppose you could share, but it's really not necessary.

This recipe is very similar to banana bread.  Darling Hubby said it was like banana bread and coffee cake....sounds like a win-win.  Each little cake is topped with a brown sugar glaze. This recipe made 8 mini bundt cakes and a small 6 inch cake.  You can easily cut it in half or use a regular size bundt pan.

Banana Bundt Cake

adapted from Dorie Greenspan

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 sitcks (8 oz) butter.  I browned it for extra flavor.

2 cups brown sugar

1 Tbsp vanilla

2 eggs

4 ripe bananas, mashed

1 cup plain Greek yogurt (or sour cream)

Preheat oven to 350 and grease pan(s)

Brown butter: cut butter into cubes, melt in a saucepan, constantly stirring, until it starts to foam up. You will notice small brown bits on the bottom of your pan and smell a strong nutty aroma.  Remove from heat and allow to cool.

In a large bowl whisk together flour, soda, and salt.

Once cool, mix browned butter and brown sugar using a stand mixer.  Beat in the vanilla and then add eggs one at a time.  Reduce speed to low and add mashed bananas.

Add half of your dry ingredients, then yogurt (or sour cream) and then the remainder of your dry ingredients.  MIx until just combined.

For the mini cakes I baked them for about 25 minutes.  For a regular bundt pan I would bake for 60-75 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Let cool for about 10 minutes before removing from pan. While your cake is cooling, prepare your glaze.

Brown Sugar Glaze

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup heavy cream

Combine all in a saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir until all sugar is dissolved.

Using a fork, poke holes in your cake, pour warm glaze over warm cakes.  I added a little extra to the middle of the cakes.

Serve this cake to your banana-loving friends.  I had a great time preparing them and sharing them! Thanks for including me Anna!

Also, I started a Facebook Page for the blog! All my posts will be on there and also some random fun and photos.  Check it out!

Guest Post: Carrot cake

I've got a fun guest post for you today!  This is not the first time Kristen has written a guest post for me!  Both recipes are two of my favorite treats: pumpkin pie and now carrot cake. I am always on the look-out for a great carrot cake recipe.  I love that Kristen is always going for a healthy spin on desserts, but she also indulges in treats!  This recipe looks like a cake I need to try. It's so special that this recipe is one that Kristen got from her mom.  Like she mentions, I hope to someday share some favorite recipes with my daughter.  It's such a feeling of comfort remembering a special treat your mom made for you. Please do check out Kristen's blog, she has so many great, thoughtful posts and recipes!

Hello Yums and Loves readers! My name is Kristen and you can usually find me blogging over at Mind your Bees and Trees.  I’m delighted to be back here guest posting on Alex’s blog. She emailed a bunch of us a while ago asking for people to guest post for her after the baby is born. I’m currently taking a little break from my blog right now (we just made a huge international move and I needed some time to myself), but I couldn’t say no to Alex!

Alex is the very first blogging friend I made almost a year ago and we’ve had fun emailing back and forth ever since. I am so thrilled for Alex and Greg and wish them all the very best.

I debated which recipe I would share with all of you and finally settled on my carrot cake recipe. The recipe comes from my mom and it is seriously the world’s best carrot cake! I thought it would be fun to honor my mom by featuring one of her recipes just as Alex welcomes her baby girl into this world. Since Alex’s recipes always make my mouth water, I know her daughter will have lots of amazing recipes to share with her friends one day.

I also thought it would be fun to share this recipe with you today because it is made without any processed sugars. Mind Your Bees and Trees started last summer when my friend and I decided not to eat any processed sugar all summer (just honey, maple syrup, agave, etc.). I had a lot fun during that time tweaking recipes to recreate some of my favorite foods without any processed sugars.

I was having a big craving for carrot cake at the time and knew my mom’s recipe was by far the best carrot cake I’d ever had. Well, you can imagine my delight when I looked up the recipe and saw it called for either sugar and honey or all honey. Score! (I ended up using honey and maple syrup because I ran out of honey, but oh man was it to die for!)

Like any great carrot cake, this cake also has a cream cheese frosting (which is also only made with honey). My mouth is watering just thinking about it right now!

I made this cake for a friend’s birthday party and it was a huge hit! So huge in fact that I didn’t get any pictures until the cake was almost gone…oops! I guess that’s a good sign though, right?

I would highly recommend you make this cake for your next get together—or even just for a regular old Tuesday night because it’s so good that you don’t need an excuse to make it.

You can find the recipe on my blog.
If you enjoyed this post, please be sure to subscribe to my blog or like MYBT on Facebook so you don’t miss any updates!

Thanks again for including me in your guest post series, Alex. I’m honored to be included and am sooooo happy for your family!! Enjoy every minute of it. We’ll all be here for you if and when you’re ready to come back.

Thanks Kristen!  This cake looks perfectly moist and tasty...exactly what I"m looking for in a carrot cake.  Plus I can not resist cream cheese frosting!  I'm so glad Kristen is back in the US and I hope we can meet up some time soon! I hope you all check out the recipe and make this cake...for me!

Texas Sheet Cake

Sometimes you just really need some chocolate cake

And you just really need it quick.  Like now.

Then you truly need Texas Sheet Cake.  
I LOVE it. This is a simple, no-frills, I'm just an awesome chocolate cake.  Don't get me wrong, I love a beautiful layered chocolate cake. The layers of cake and frosting, I can appreciate it, and I truly enjoy every bite.  But sometimes? Sometimes I just want a piece of chocolate cake that is as satisfying as it is simple.  
You pour the batter in a jelly roll pan and frost it while it's hot! No need to waste time waiting for this cake to cool.

And if you don't lick that frosting bowl clean, you are CRAZY.

I made this cake recently for my book club.  We always have delicious food and do minimal book discussion.  Our most recent choice was the ever-popular 50 Shades of Grey (I read all 3! yikes).  This cake feeds a crowd, unless you invite me.

Texas Sheet Cake

For the cake:

2 cups flour

2 cups minus a Tablespoon of sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon, you can eliminate the cinnamon, but it does add just a little something fun to the flavor

2 sticks butter

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1 cup water

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 tsp baking soda

For the Frosting:

4 cups powdered sugar

1 stick butter

1/4 tsp salt

4 Tablespoons cocoa powder

7 Tablespoons milk

1 tsp vanilla

Cake:

Preheat oven to 375.  Grease a 15x10 jelly roll pan. Mix the flour, sugar, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl and set aside.  Melt butter in a medium saucepan.  Stir in cocoa powder and water and bring to a boil.  Pour the boiling cocoa mixture over your dry ingredients, mix with a spoon until well blended.

In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, vanilla, buttermilk and baking soda. Add this to your cocoa mixture, but be careful not to overbeat, just blend together.

Pour batter into the pan and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Frosting:

You will want to start making your frosting as soon as you remove your cake from the oven.  If you have the desire, you should sift your powdered sugar.  This isn't necessary, but it does help prevent any lumps in your frosting.  Sift the sugar while your cake is baking.

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat.  When your butter is just about melted, add the cocoa and milk and bring just to a boil.  As soon as the mixture reaches a boil, remove from heat. Pour this into your bowl with the powdered sugar.  Add the vanilla.  You will want to work quickly as the icing will start to set.  Pour over your cake and let sit till firm.

Once you try this cake, it will become a regular in your baking arsenal.  It's just perfect for you chocolate lovers.  BFF Nikki made a delicious noodle dish for book club, check out her recipe.  Noodles and chocolate cake really go together nicely!

Capital Grille Happy Hour and flourless chocolate cake!

I was recently invited to attend another great Seattle Food Blogger's event hosted by Keren Brown.  This event was located at The Capital Grille in downtown Seattle.  
The venue itself is very impressive.  Nice decor and a great location.

The restaurant was kind enough to let us sample their happy hour menu.  And by sample, I mean, eat everything on the menu!  Wow..I ate some great food.
We started off sampling cocktails.  They were offering their signature martini, The Stoli Doli: pineapple infused vodka.  I think if you love pineapple, you would love this drink.  Two of the other ladies tried the Mojito and the Adults Only Arnold Palmer.  Both were very popular!
Then the food started coming out, and honestly, it didn't stop!  
Some of my favorites:

Parmesan Truffle Fries (I love anything with truffles!)  These fries were perfectly crisp and salty. I ate more than my fair share.

Mini signature cheeseburgers,with more fries. I loved this.  I'm all about sliders and this totally fit the bill.  Delicious bun, bacon, and Havarti cheese. One of these little guys and I was getting full!
We also sampled a mini tenderloin sandwich, lobster salad sandwiches, and the fresh mozzarella, prosciutto, and basil sandwich (another one of my top choices)  
The service was attentive and knowledgeable. Everyone was so friendly to us.  I left with a little swag bag filled with more info about the restaurant and a delicious cookie to be enjoyed later.  
The Capital Grille hosts their Happy Hour weeknights from 3-6 pm.  You should definitely stop by, with lots of friends!  The food and drinks are great, and you'll leave feeling satisfied (or if you're like me, stuffed!)
Through some email exchanges with Heather from The Capital Grille, I was able to get a copy of the recipe for their Flourless Chocolate Cake!  I made this for a recent dinner with friends.  It was so easy!  My favorite was having a slice with some vanilla ice cream.  The cake is very rich, and the ice cream was the perfect balance. 


Flourless chocolate cake
recipe courtesy The Capital Grille


Make this cake for all your chocolate loving friends!

1 pound semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 pound unsalted butter, diced
1 cup freshly brewed espresso
1 cup brown sugar
8 eggs, beaten


Preheat oven to 350.  Line the bottom of a 9 inch cake pan with parchment paper.
Bring butter, espresso, and sugar to a boil in a medium saucepan, stirring continuously.
Add chocolate, whisk until smooth and let cool slightly.
Stir eggs into chocolate mixture.
Pour batter into prepared cake pans.  You'll want to make a water bath for your cake.  I simply filled a roasting pan with water until it reached halfway up the sides of my cake pan.
Bake for about 45 minutes, or until center of the cake is set, the middle should not be soft.
Remove pan from water bath and let chill overnight!

I also recommend eating this cake for breakfast...right before you go to the gym.


A huge thanks to Keren and The Capital Grille for including me in such a great event.  
I think I'll be heading back there very soon....more cheeseburgers please!

Funfetti pound cake

Sprinkles.

Sprinkles basically bring the party.
That's why I was so excited to see this month's Sugar High Fridays theme was sprinkles!
Sugar High Fridays is basically Iron Chef for bakers. Created by Jennifer, of Domestic Goddess, and hosted by a different blogger every month, it's a fun challenge for bakers to come up with a fun treat using the featured ingredient. Each month the theme is announced and bakers head to their kitchens to see how they can adapt the theme.

Funfetti is a must-have for my birthday. That's why I decided to put a twist on vanilla pound cake. Vanilla pound cake is great but, a little.......vanilla.
Add sprinkles and that's a cute little party cake (or a fun cake on a Sunday because you want to)

Boring white cake. Add sprinkles. Instant fun.

Before.

After.

Funfetti Vanilla Pound Cake.

• 3 large eggs
• 3 Tbsp milk
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 sticks softened butter
• 2 Tbsp sprinkles of your choice

Preheat oven to 350. Put a piece of parchment paper in the bottom of your loaf pan and grease the entire pan.

In a small bowl whisk together eggs, vanilla, and milk.

In the bowl of your electric mixer, combine, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add butter and mix slightly. Add half of the egg mixture and mix on medium. Add the remaining egg mixture in two parts, scraping down the sides of the bowl between each addition.  Fold in sprinkles.

Bake for 50 minutes.

Once your cake has cooled add your glaze.

1 tsp vanilla

1 Tbsp heavy cream

3/4 cup powdered sugar

Mix until you have your glaze. Drizzle over your pound cake. Top with sprinkles if you are truly looking to party.

Now you can make your own funfetti cake at home. I think I'll try it again with chocolate sprinkles. Make this cake and you'll be dancing around your kitchen. Just me?

Part 2 of cake weekend: Tres Leches

My sweet friend at work, Marta, was celebrating her birthday. She loves Tres Leches cake and I have to agree. It is so unique and decadent. Unlike any cake I have had before. I figured it would be fun to try and make it and let you all know how it went! Marta is also having a little girl in July, so she deserves a special treat!! She's going to be a great mommy!
Now you may have worried about all the red food coloring in the Red Velvet Cake, but with a tres leches cake, all you have to worry about is whether or not you are lactose intolerant! Yes, it has 3 different milks (actually 4) It's basically a sponge cake drenched in the tres leches mixture.

One thing I noticed about the cake right away is it takes 5 eggs and has no butter!! The basic idea is that this is a sponge cake that is able to absorb this wonderful concoction of milk without getting soggy.

Ingredients


For the cake:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup sugar, divided
• 5 eggs (you will separate the yolks from the whites)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/3 cup milk

Tres Leches:

• 1 can evaporated milk
• 1 can sweetened, condensed milk
• 1/4 cup heavy cream

Whip cream icing:

• 1 pint heavy whipping cream
• 3 Tbs sugar
• add vanilla for flavor, I added about a teaspoon

For the cake, preheat oven to 350 and liberally grease a 13x9 pan.

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and set aside.

Using your mixer, beat the egg yolks with 3/4 cup of sugar until they are pale yellow. Stir in the 1/3 cup of milk and vanilla. Pour this mixture into the bowl with the flour mixture and stir gently till combined.

You'll need to wash out your mixing bowl so you can now beat your egg whites. Beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. This may take a minute or two. With the mixer still going, add the remaining 1/4 cup sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.

**Blogger's note: I think I got my egg whites a little too dry. Beating egg whites is just nerve-wracking for me! I'm always nervous about it! However, I don't think it affected the cake at all.**

Gently fold egg white mixture into the cake batter. Stir until just combined. Pour into prepared pan and smooth out surface if needed.

Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

***Blogger's note #2: my cake only needed to bake for 20 minutes! I'm so happy I checked it early. I think this may have something to do with my egg whites. Maybe give the cake a sneak peek early on.***

Combine the evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, and heavy cream in a dish that you can easily pour from. Give it a little stir to combine. When your cake has cooled, pierce it several times with a fork. Slowly drizzle mixture over top of cake ( you may not need the entire mixture, I had about a cup left)

While the cake is setting up, mix your whipped topping. Combine whipping cream, sugar, and vanilla in your mixing bowl until it is thick (I'd absolutely sneak a taste of this...you won't be sorry)

Spread over the top of the cake. For extra fun you can top it with some maraschino cherries, I thought it looked really cute for a birthday cake.

I was happy with the way this tres leches cake turned out. It's a special cake, that was really fun to make. Everyone at work seemed to enjoy it and best of all the birthday girl was happy!