Texas Sheet Cake

Yesterday, I made Texas Sheet Cake...some people outside of Texas call it Chocolate Sheet Cake, but don't be fooled, it is Texas Sheet Cake! It is rich and chocolatey and feeds a bunch since it is a shorter cake and you make it in a jelly roll pan. It is Heavenly, and I have tested a few recipes and found that Ree Drummond of The Pioneer Woman, has the best recipe.

• Ingredients for ....THE CAKE:
• 2 cups Flour
• 2 cups Sugar
• ¼ teaspoons Salt
• 4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa
• 2 sticks Butter
• 1 cup Boiling Water
• ½ cups Buttermilk
• 2 whole Beaten Eggs
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• _____
• FOR FROSTING:
• ½ cups Finely Chopped Pecans
• 1-¾ stick Butter
• 4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa
• 6 Tablespoons Milk
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 1 pound (minus 1/2 Cup) Powdered Sugar

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt.

In a saucepan, melt butter. Add cocoa. Stir together.
Add boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Pour over flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool.

In a measuring cup, pour the buttermilk and add beaten eggs, baking soda, and vanilla. Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. Pour into sheet cake pan and bake at 350-degrees for 20 minutes.

While cake is baking, make the icing. Chop pecans finely. Melt butter in a saucepan. Add cocoa, stir to combine, then turn off heat. Add the milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Stir together. Add the pecans, stir together, and pour over warm cake.

It is amazingly rich, chocolately, and won-der-ful...especially when you make it while you are in Australia and it tastes like home. Mmmmmmmmm

Recipe: North Texas Student Union Coffee Cake

I made some of this coffee cake for Mom last night to see if it was like the "real thing" that she loved when she was in college and she said from the looks of it, it was! So, thanks to my grandmother and her Bridgeport Methodist Cookbook, we now have the recipe....it also helps that I must have guessed right on a few of the vague instructions, like add vanilla....didn't say how much, just to add it!

So, here is the recipe for one and all....

North Texas Student Union Coffee Cake

Cake Ingredients:
4 cups flour
4 Tablespoons of Dry Milk
4 teaspoons of backing powder
1 teaspoon of salt
1 1/3 cup of sugar
12-14 Tablespoons of shortening (I used the butter shortening because I had it open)
2 eggs
2 teaspoons of vanilla (I used the real vanilla, not imitation)
1 1/2 cups of water

Topping Ingredients:
1/2 stick of butter
3/4 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of flour
1 Tablespoon of cinnamon

Combine flour, milk, baking powder, salt, and sugar.

Add shortening and cut in as you would a pie crust.

Add eggs, water, vanilla, and beat (I used my paddle attachment on my kitchen aid and barely had to mix it, just mix until it is incorporated nicely.) The mixture will be fairly thick.

Pour into a greased (I greased my glass 13X9 baking dish with butter because I was out of Pam) baking dish.

Melt butter and pour or brush it on the top. Mix the sugar, flour, and cinnamon for the topping and layer on top and pat down a little. You can top with chopped pecans if you like.

Bake for about 55 minutes until a toothpick in the middle comes out fairly clean. This puffs up pretty tall, so it take a while. My instructions said to cook for 35 minutes but I found it needed a lot more, so just keep an eye on it.

This is a great cake for breakfast or a brunch. I am sure it is good with coffee as well but I don't drink coffee so I had it with milk!

Recipe:Strawberry Cake

My friend Joani made this Strawberry Cake last week for our office and it was almost completely gobbled up in now time. It was so moist and yummy...really spectacular!

Here is how she does it! ( Thanks Joani! )

Strawberry Supreme Cake Mix
Mix according to directions
Wild Strawberry Jello - empty contents of jello packet into the cake batter and stir well

Pour prepared cake batter into a well greased 9x13 pan and bake for about 25 minutes - each oven is different but mine takes about 25 min. on 350 degrees

remove cake from oven and poke holes into the cake - not like a mind field but a few holes here and there

Frozen Strawberry's w/juice - thawed

Pour the thawed strawberry's with juice over the warm cake and refrigerate overnight - then ice with cool whip & Enjoy! Sometimes I garnish with a few fresh strawberries but not really necessary!

Food: Cup Cake Mini Cones

These are a cute little desserts that could be used for lots of things. I love these because they are self contained and you don't have to peel off a wrapper like a regular cup cake. I think these are great for kids. It is a cupcake that you cook in the ice cream cone and then just top off with frosting. Here is the finished product.

I had planned to make these in regular sized ice cream cones but when I opened the package, I realized I had bough "kids" cones and there were miniatures, there were 60 in a box instead of 20-ish. So, I thought I would go ahead because this is a fun way to do dessert and for people who don't want too many calories, they can eat one and not feel guilty or you can eat 2 or 3 and not feel guilty! I think these would be fun at a birthday party or a shower.

Here are the ingredients...
I took a regular cake mix, in this case it was a funfetti white cake, and followed the instructions to add water, oil, and eggs and mix as normal. Then I put a large zip lock baggie in a container and filled the zip lock with frosting.

Then you take get the air out of the bag and seal it and hold it up like this...VOILA...a piping bag!

Just cut off the tip and you are ready to go.



Just put the batter in each cup and then I took a knife and wiped off any batter that got on the top or sides, I didn't want it to burn on the edges and look yucky.

So, when I was finished, I had 60 cones filled about 3/4 full and enough left over to fill a small ramekin and make a mini cake.

Then they went into the oven. For the cooking time, you just have to watch them but mine took about the same amount of time as it says to allot for cupcakes, which was about 20-22 minutes. If you have a bunch in the cake pan, make sure you test the middle ones with a toothpick because those did not get done as fast as the ones in the smaller ramekins.

Once they are done baking and cooled, I took the frosting and put it in a ziplock, the same way I did the batter, and then piped on the frosting and it looks like a little bitty ice cream cone.

They were a hit at my party and I love that they are not messy! You could use any kind of cake and any kind of icing. You can also put sprinkles on them too.

Yummy and cute!

Hope you all have a beautiful week!

Heather

Recipe: Cake Pops

I found these today and they are totally and amazingly cute!

For the full view, go check out Bakerella at http://bakerella.blogspot.com/2008/10/trick-or-treats.html

And one of my favorites The Pioneer Woman gives you step by step instructions with pictures on how she makes them at http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/

I think I will have to make these this weekend....I will have to do 20 extra push ups for boot camp if I eat a cupcake but I may just throw caution to the wind and eat one anyway....way cute!