Mint Oreo Ice Cream Cake

One of my kids' favorite things about celebrating a birthday is choosing a cake! We've made all sorts of cakes over the years, but I'm partial to the ice cream cake. Oh, it makes a yummy treat for sure, but I especially love it for its ease. It comes together quickly (you don't want it to melt!), but it looks impressive with all those layers of goodness. 

We've made many variations of it, but the peanut butter cup ice cream cake is definitely a family favorite. When Zac chose an ice cream cake for his 10th birthday this year, I had expected him to pick that one.

I was pleasantly surprised when he decided on a Mint Oreo version.

I'm a sucker for all things Mint Oreo, so this cake ties with our peanut butter cup ice cream cake at the top of my list.

If you like mint, chocolate, whipped cream, and desserts that are easy to make, you need to try this Mint Oreo ice cream cake!

Mint Oreo Ice Cream Cake

Ingredients:

18 mint chocolate chip ice cream sandwiches

12 Mint Oreo cookies, chopped

Chocolate sauce

Fresh whipped cream (or 1-2 small tubs Cool Whip)

Directions:

1. Working quickly, place 6 unwrapped ice cream sandwiches on a serving platter. Spread a generous portion of the whipped cream all across the top. Sprinkle with cookie pieces. Drizzle the chocolate sauce across the top.

2. Arrange 6 more unwrapped ice cream sandwiches on top and repeat layer of whipped cream, cookie pieces, and chocolate sauce.

3. Place 6 remaining unwrapped ice cream sandwiches on top.
4. Cover cake with whipped cream. *Garnish with remaining cookie pieces and chocolate sauce. Freeze cake for at least 30 minutes, and until ready to serve. Keep leftover cake in the freezer.

*If your ice cream is starting to melt, you can put the assembled cake in the freezer for 15 minutes before coating with whipped cream and garnishes.


Whipped Cream
Ingredients:
1 pint (2 cups) heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Place metal mixing bowl and metal whisk attachment in the freezer for 10 minutes.
2. Remove the bowl from freezer and place all ingredients in the bowl. Using the metal whisk attachment on a mixer, beat until stiff peaks form. Do not over-beat.

Things That Make Me Smile 11/18

Jake (12 1/2), Alyssa (10 1/2), Zac (9), Tyler (6 1/2), Nicholas (3 1/2)

I am determined to get caught up on my Smiles once and for all! I've noticed that I haven't been recording things my kids say much at all anymore because I am so far behind. We can't have that! So here is all of our Smiles from November of last year (or at least the ones I made sure to record).  

1. Nicholas, looking at a shark: "Aww, that's cute."

Tyler: "Never say a shark is cute unless it's a baby shark."

2. Zac: "That was the best dinner I've had since yesterday!"

3. We celebrated Zac's 9th birthday. I took him out for his special day the week before and then showed him our love on his birthday with pancakes with chocolate gravy for breakfast, a new LEGO set, and a homemade peanut butter cup cake.

4. Nicholas, calling to me as I was walking away: "Wait for me, fweetheart!"

5. Alyssa, listening to "I've Got the Joy, Joy, Joy" when it said down in my heart to stay: "I used to think it was down in my heart Tuesday."

6. Nicholas, holding the straps of his snow pants: "Now I can be a farmer!"

7. We also celebrated Leighton's birthday with LEGO presents and a homemade strawberries & cream cake.

8. Nicholas, to Alyssa, sweetly: "Hi, darling."

9. Jake: "Do you like hard or soft tacos?"

Nicholas: "Fuzzy."

10. We walked down to the school and voted in the election as a family.

11. We celebrated Thanksgiving with our family and made pumpkin, eggnog cream, and dutch apple pies.

12. Nicholas, about our monthly science class: "Somebody had robots there."

Me: "That was Miss Rachel."

Nicholas: "Yes, Miss Rachel! I love that name."

13. Leighton: "They're driving on the shoulder."

Tyler, confused: "How do you drive with your shoulder?"

13. Thankful for my blessings.

What made you Smile?

Cinnamon Roll Cake

Our family loves cinnamon rolls. 

We make them for Christmas. We make them for Father's Day. We make them for Leighton's birthday. We make them because it's Tuesday. We make them because it's raining. We make them to celebrate. We make them just because. 

We don't need a reason to make cinnamon rolls, really. 

To be honest, the family is thrilled with any variation of this beloved treat. Bread, muffins, pancakes . . . 

Cake.  

This cake has been a family favorite for years. Moist yellow cake with sugary cinnamon swirled throughout and topped with a sticky glaze. It's all the deliciousness of cinnamon rolls in a fraction of the time. 

Tyler picked this cake to celebrate his 6th birthday a couple weeks ago. Each of the kids have looked at this picture as I'm typing this and have asked when I'm making it again. Hmm, maybe I'll throw it together in the morning and call it coffee cake, ha. With a name like that, it's totally acceptable for breakfast, right?

If you love cinnamon rolls, you need to make this cake. Then you can have a piece for breakfast, too. 

Cinnamon Roll Cake

Ingredients
Cake:

3 cups flour

1/4 teaspoons salt

3/4 cups sugar

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 cups milk

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/3 cup butter, melted

Filling:

6 tablespoons butter, melted

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon flour

1 tablespoon cinnamon

Glaze:

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

3 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla 

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, mix together all ingredients for the cake until thoroughly combined. Pour batter into a greased 9x13 cake pan.
2. Mix together ingredients for the filling and drop by spoonfuls around the batter. Swirl the filling with a knife.
3. Bake the cake at 350° for 30-35 minutes, or until done.
4. Combine the glaze ingredients and drizzle over the warm cake.

Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream Cake

Having kids with birthdays just 3 days apart means that we eat a lot of cake during the third week of March. Each child gets to pick the kind of cake he wants for his actual birthday and then they have to decide together on a cake for their combined party with our extended family. 

This year, Tyler was insistent on having an ice cream cake for the party. Ice cream, yes! This would mellow our abundance-of-cake week. I discussed some flavor options with him and Alyssa. I said something about peanut butter cups and ice cream sandwiches, and it was settled. No other combinations could sway their decision. And who could blame them? Chocolate & peanut butter is one of the best flavor combos ever. We have plenty of recipes featuring the two already (like these homemade Butterfingers made with a crazy ingredient, this decadent peanut butter brownie torte, this rich and creamy peanut butter pie, these peanut butter bars which is one of our absolute favorite desserts, these homemade Girl Scout peanut butter patties, and the ever-faithful no-bake cookies), but you can never have too many chocolate-peanut-butter desserts. Am I right?

The ice cream cake was a hit at the party. In fact, the entire thing was eaten that night. That can be both a good thing and a bad thing. I mean, you always want to serve something that people enjoy, but it also means that there were no leftovers to enjoy later! 

Alyssa had chosen a rich, mint chocolate chip cake (which is another favorite of mine!) for her birthday day, but, I admit, I was pleased when Tyler said he wanted the ice cream cake again on his birthday. Yes, more cool peanut buttery goodness. I've trained them well, you know, refined their palates and stuff.

In addition to being delicious, this cake is incredibly easy to make. The hardest part is assembling it before the ice cream melts. Chopping the peanut butter cups in the beginning and keeping the ice cream sandwiches in the freezer until needed (pulling out only 6 at a time) helps to keep your dessert in cake form, instead of a drippy, soupy blob.

To make this recipe even easier, you could use Cool Whip instead of making the whipped cream yourself. I, personally, love using fresh, whipped cream. It takes only a few minutes to make, yet the difference is amazing. Place a dollop on pancakes, garnish hot chocolate, ice a cake--it makes treats extra special.

I hope you enjoy this ice cream cake as much as we do! I'm already ready for another slice.


Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream Cake
Ingredients:
18 ice cream sandwiches
1 cup creamy peanut butter
12 Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, chopped
Chocolate sauce
Fresh, whipped cream (or 1-2 small tubs of Cool Whip)


Directions:
1. Heat peanut butter in the microwave for 30 seconds. Stir.
2. Working quickly, place 6 unwrapped ice cream sandwiches on a serving platter. Spread half of the peanut butter on top. Sprinkle with 4 chopped peanut butter cups. Drizzle with chocolate sauce.
3. Arrange 6 more unwrapped ice cream sandwiches on top and repeat layer of peanut butter, peanut butter cups, and chocolate sauce. Place remaining 6 ice cream sandwiches on top.
4. Cover cake with whipped cream. Garnish with peanut butter cups and chocolate sauce. Freeze cake for at least 30 minutes, and until ready to serve. Keep leftover cake frozen.


Whipped Cream
Ingredients:
1 pint (2 cups) heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Place metal mixing bowl and metal whisk attachment in the freezer for 10 minutes.
2. Place all ingredients in the bowl and beat until stiff peaks forms. Do not over-beat.

Mint Chocolate Chip Cake

Every year since she has been able to voice her opinion, Alyssa has chosen a chocolate cake with pink buttercream frosting for her birthday treat. So you can imagine my surprise this year when she asked for a mint chocolate chip cake.

"No pink girly cake? Really? Mint chocolate chip? Ok!"  

Mint chocolate chip was my absolute favorite ice cream growing up. Minty, creamy goodness with flecks of rich chocolate; nothing was better, that is until they created mint Oreo ice cream, but that's another story.

We made the cake during the day and kept it in the refrigerator to keep it cold and give it the essence of its namesake. Then we had to wait for Leighton to get home from work and eat dinner. (Something about chocolate cake not being a nutritious meal? I don't know.) It was hoooouuuurrrs before we could indulge.

But, oh, was it worth it. The kids each took a bite and agreed that the cake tasted exactly like the ice cream. The rich, dark chocolate of the cake pairs beautifully with the creamy coolness of the frosting. And those dark chocolate pieces? Those are just a bonus.

I admit, I was a bit sad when my girl didn't desire her traditional pretty pink cake, (Speaking of traditions, this was also the first year that she didn't want to have a tea party on her special day. Who said she could grow up?) but I think she made an excellent choice.

Maybe growing up isn't so bad after all.

Maybe.

Mint Chocolate Chip Cake

Cake Ingredients:

2 cups sugar

1 3/4 cups flour

1 cup Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3/4 cup boiling water

Cake Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350. Grease and flour 2 round 9-inch pans.

2. In a large bowl, mix together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

3. Add eggs, milk oil and vanilla and beat on medium for 2 minutes.

4. Stir in boiling water.

5. Pour evenly into prepared pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Cool 10 minutes in pans before removing to cool completely on wire racks.

*Recipe adapted from Hershey's.

Frosting Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

1/3 cup heavy cream

2 teaspoons mint extract

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 cups powdered sugar

4-5 drops green food coloring

2 ounces dark chocolate, finely chopped

Frosting Directions:

1. In a large bowl, beat butter until light and fluffy.

2. Add cream and both extracts and beat until smooth.

3. With the mixer on the lowest speed, slowly add the powdered sugar until just combined.

4. Add food coloring and beat on medium-high for one minute. Frosting should be smooth and fluffy.

5. Add chopped chocolate and mix on low until evenly combined.

Zac's 5th Birthday

I've posted so many Smiles the last few days that I figured it was time to break things up a bit. Don't get me wrong, you can never laugh too much, but today we can Smile at cute pictures of a little boy, instead of the cute things the little boy says. And since I've been in the catching-up-on-posts mood, I figured I would finish up a post I started a while ago: Zac's 5th birthday. Yes, he turned 6 a few months ago. This is an oldie, but a goodie.

Happy 5th Birthday, Zac!

The birthday child always gets to pick breakfast. Zac chose buttermilk pancakes with strawberry syrup, topped off with fresh whipped cream and sprinkles. Certainly not healthy, but how often do you get a birthday anyway?
 

We dropped off the other kids with my parents and spent the rest of the day together celebrating him. The kids and I look forward to their Special Day every year. I love having one-on-one time with each of them and they love choosing the agenda. 

Birthday boy's choice for lunch? McDonalds. 

 

After lunch, we made a stop at the dollar store where Zac picked out a new school workbook, markers, and a toy.

What would a Special Day be without a Toys 'R Us birthday crown and balloon? We threw in a red Hulk, just for fun.

At home, we assembled the new LEGO set he picked out at the store and then watched the LEGO Movie together.

On the way to pick up the other kiddos, we grabbed Slurpees for everyone.  I always like to bring back a treat for the others so no one feels left out.
 

Zac picked homemade personal pizzas for dinner and chocolate cake with blue buttercream frosting for dessert.

And, of course, no Leaf birthday is complete without a LEGO birthday present!

Happy 5th Birthday to my sweet, tenderhearted, selfless, loving boy.

Wordless Wednesday 2/4/15

Tasty Tuesday: Mocha Cake

It's very important to me to teach my children life skills. To me, homeschooling is about so much more than just the 3 Rs. I start bringing my kiddos in the kitchen with me at a very young age. That's why Jake was able to make cupcakes by himself at 4-and-a-half and why he had the skills necessary to create his very own cake recipe at age 6. Sometimes, he'll ask if he can make something: a cake, cookies, whatever. I like knowing that I can give him a recipe and, with minimal overseeing, can leave him in the kitchen to create.

This time was a bit different. This time, as part of his schoolwork for the day, I told him to look through some of my cookbooks and pick a recipe. He had to make sure we had the necessary ingredients or note which ones we needed, gather the supplies, and make it. By himself.

After flipping through the pages of 3 books, he showed me the picture of a slice of mocha cake.

"This one," he said.

I looked through the ingredient list. "Are you sure?"

"Yep. This is the one I want to make."

Instead of finding something in the desserts section, he chose one of the guilt-free recipes. Guilt-free meaning prune baby food in place of some of the oil. Ok, it was his choice. The baby food intrigued him, but did not deter him. And the coffee? Surely, the boy who has always hated everything coffee would want to choose something else.

Nope.

"Yes, I'm sure. This one." 

Since baby food is not something we keep stocked in the pantry, he had to wait until the next day to make the cake.

He and Alyssa gathered the supplies and immediately got to work. They were measuring. Dumping. Pouring.

"What about the coffee?" I asked. "The cold coffee." I made the coffee and got it cooling in the fridge.

A minute later I heard, "Is the coffee ready?"

It made for a good lesson about the importance of reading the recipe fully before starting and making appropriate preparations. 

When the coffee was cold, he immediately poured it in the bowl. "Ugh, I was supposed to combine it with the milk." Again, we talked about reading and following the recipe, instead of just assuming you know what to do.

A minute later, another similar conversation took place.

This activity made me realize that he had gotten lazy in the kitchen. Since he had been baking by himself for a while, he had gotten overconfident in his abilities. It was a good lesson for us both.

And eventually, the cake did get baked.

And my favorite part? The kids washed the dishes and cleaned the kitchen!

Jake made sure to add his own spin to the cake: a sugar & cinnamon sprinkle and mini chocolate chips. That's my boy! Adapt the recipe; make it your own. Have fun creating yummy foods!

But until you understand more about baking, follow the directions.


Despite my apprehensions, the kids all loved the cake! Jake even said it might be his favorite cake ever. Food always tastes better when you make the effort to bake it yourself.



Mocha Cake
Cake Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup canola oil
1 container (2.5 oz) prune baby food
3 teaspoons white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup milk
1 cup cold strong brewed coffee
3 cups flour
1/3 cup baking cocoa
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

Frosting Ingredients:
1 teaspoon instant coffee granules
1 teaspoon hot water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups whipped topping

Cake Directions:
1. In a large bowl, combine sugar, eggs, oil, prune baby food, vinegar, and vanilla. Beat until well-blended.
2. In a small bowl, mix milk and cold coffee.
3. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in another bowl.
4. Gradually beat the flour mixture in the large bowl, alternating with the milk mixture. 
5. Bake in a greased 9x13 pan at 350* for 30-35 minutes. Cool completely.


Frosting Directions:
1. In a small bowl, dissolve coffee granules in hot water. Stir in vanilla.
2. Place whipped topping in a large bowl and gently fold in the coffee mixture.

Recipe adapted from Taste of Home: Most Requested Recipes 2010.

Tasty Tuesday: Chocolatiest Chocolate Cake

This cake is chocolatey.

Super chocolatey.

Like if-you-love-chocolate-you-have-to-make-this-cake-now chocolatey.

It's so moist, so decadent, so rich. So addicting. 

I've taken it to get-togethers, pot lucks, and family parties. And people always ask for the recipe.

It's that good.

I mean, with chocolate cake, chocolate chips, chocolate pudding, and two types of chocolate drizzle, you just can't go wrong.

Chocolate Cake
Ingredients:
1 box devil's food cake mix
1 (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs

½ cup warm water

1½ cups mini semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, mix together the cake, pudding mix, sour cream, oil, eggs, and water. Stir in the chocolate chips and pour batter into a well-greased bundt pan.
2. Bake at 350° for 50 to 55 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool cake thoroughly in pan at least an hour before inverting onto a plate. Cool cake thoroughly before drizzling with glaze.

Recipe adapted from allrecipes.com.

* The cake is pretty forgiving. I've used plain yogurt instead of sour cream, different amounts of pudding mix, and milk chocolate and semisweet regular-sized chips.

Chocolate Glaze

Ingredients:
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3 Tbs butter
2 Tbs light corn syrup
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Melt chocolate chips, butter, and corn syrup in the microwave at 50% power for 30 seconds. Stir. Continue melting for 30 second intervals until chips are melted and mixture is smooth.
2. Add vanilla and stir until combined.
3. Drizzle warm glaze over top of cooled cake.

White Chocolate Glaze

Ingredients:
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
2 Tbs butter

3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1 Tbs milk

Directions:

1. Melt white chocolate chips and butter in the microwave at 50% power for 30 seconds. Stir. Continue melting for 30 second intervals until chips are melted and mixture is smooth.
2. Gradually beat in the confectioners' sugar and milk.
3. Drizzle warm glaze over top of cooled cake.

Wordless Wednesday 4/10/13

Tasty Tuesday: 5-Layer Neapolitan Cake

Every year I ask Leighton, "What kind of cake do you want for your birthday?" And every year he responds, "I don't care." This year he did follow it up with, "I don't think I want a Boston cream though."

It was a start. I knew what he didn't want, but that didn't narrow it down much. "Do you want another tres leches?" was met with "I don't know," (I don't know usually means no.) to which I responded, "Well, you're no help."

Profitable conversation, huh?

I browsed the recipes on a few of my favorite sites and narrowed the choices down to two. The one is an all white cake with white chocolate - a big plus in my hubby's eyes. I knew immediately that he would love it. The other was a cake I fell in love with the moment I first saw it nearly a year ago. While it does have a couple layers of chocolate cake, I thought I might be able to win him over with the Neapolitan aspect and the abundance of strawberry flavors.

As you can see, the lure of the prettier and more complicated cake was too strong. I did promise to make him the all-white cake some day though. I get bonus points for that, right??

This cake takes a bit of time to make. You make 3 different cakes - chocolate, strawberry, vanilla - along with a strawberry buttercream frosting. In between the layers, you can add either a bit of vanilla buttercream frosting or a good-quality strawberry jam. We used our homemade jam (using our  triple berry jam recipe, replacing the blueberries with extra strawberries.) Whether you choose the frosting or the jam to hold it all together, make sure you use just a tiny bit, a super thin layer. Mine soaked into the cake and bled through some. While it made for a very tasty addition, the layers were not quite as defined as I would have liked.     

But really, who cares about a little seeping when the cake tastes amazing??? All the components separately are delicious (oh, how I love that strawberry buttercream and can't wait to try it on other cakes!), but combine them and the flavors all work together to make a very Neapolitan-esque creation. It's kinda crazy how just how Neapolitany it is. Crazy and delicious. 

And crazy and delicious is good.

 

Really good.

And was I right? Did the cake win Leighton over??

Ohhh yeah.


5-Layer Neapolitan Cake

Chocolate Cake
Ingredients:
¾ cup plus 2 Tbs all-purpose flour
6 Tbs dark cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 cup sugar
¼ cup vegetable or canola oil
1 egg
½ cup black coffee
½ cup buttermilk
1½ tsp vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. and butter and flour the edges of a 9-inch round pan, shaking out the excess flour. 
2. In a small bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt; whisk to blend and set aside. 
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the sugar, vegetable oil and egg.  Beat on medium speed until smooth, about 1-2 minutes.  With the mixer on low speed, blend in half of the dry ingredients, beating just until incorporated.  Blend in the coffee, buttermilk and vanilla just until smooth.  Beat in the remaining dry ingredients, mixing just until incorporated.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 35 minutes.  Cool in pan on wire rack for 20 minutes before inverting onto rack to cool completely.


White Cake
Ingredients:
2 egg whites
1¾ cup flour
1½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 cup sugar
8 Tbs unsalted butter, room temperature
¾ cup very cold water
½ tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp almond extract

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. and butter and flour the edges of a 9-inch round pan, shaking out the excess flour. 
2. In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt; whisk to blend and set aside. 
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites on medium speed until foamy.  Increase speed to medium high and continue to beat until stiff peaks form.  Transfer the egg whites to another bowl and set aside. 
4. In the bowl of the electric mixer now fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the sugar and butter, and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes.  With the mixer on low speed, beat in half of the dry ingredients just until incorporated.  Blend in the water, vanilla and almond extracts.  Beat in the remaining dry ingredients just until incorporated.  With a silicone spatula, stir in about a quarter of the egg whites to lighten the batter.  Gently fold in the remaining egg whites, until the batter is smooth and no streaks remain.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 35 minutes.  Cool in pan on wire rack for 20 minutes before inverting onto rack to cool completely. 

 

 

Strawberry Cake 

Ingredients:
1¼ cups plus 2 Tbs all-purpose flour
1¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1½ oz strawberry gelatin
8 Tbs unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 eggs
½ cup milk
1½ tsp vanilla extract
¼ cup sweetened strawberry puree (process partially thawed frozen strawberries, if unsweetened add 2 tsp sugar)

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. and butter and flour the edges of a 9-inch round pan, shaking out the excess flour.  
2. In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt; whisk to blend and set aside. 
3. Combine the sugar, strawberry gelatin and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer.  Beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.  Beat the eggs into the sugar mixture one at a time, mixing well after each addition.  With the mixer on low speed, add half of the dry ingredients to the batter and mix just until incorporated.  Blend in the milk and vanilla extract.  Add in the remaining dry ingredients, mixing just until incorporated.  Blend in the strawberry puree.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 35 minutes.  Cool in pan on wire rack for 20 minutes before inverting onto rack to cool completely.
 

Strawberry Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
8 cups confectioner's sugar
1/2 cup whipping cream
2 Tbs vanilla extract
1 Tbs water
pinch of salt
1 tsp strawberry extract
yellow food coloring, optional

Directions:
Beat the butter and icing sugar in an electric mixer on low with the paddle attachment for about 2 minutes. Add the vanilla, water, whipping cream, salt, strawberry extract, and food coloring (as needed to match the color of the white cake) and whip on high speed until fluffy and smooth–about 4 minutes. If consistency is too thick, add water 1 teaspoon at a time, and whip again for 30 seconds or so.
 

Filling
Vanilla buttercream or good quality strawberry jam


Assemble the Cake:
Torte each of the cake layers horizontally into two thin halves. If you do not have a cake slicer, use a large serrated knife. Hold the knife in the middle of the cake and spin the cake slowly as you cut into the side. Continue spinning and sawing until you cut all the way through. Use a cake board (I cut a circle out of a cereal box) to slide under the top layer and lift it off.

Place one of the chocolate layers on a cake board or cake platter.  Top with a very thin layer of the vanilla buttercream or strawberry jam.  Place a layer of the strawberry cake on top.  Again, cover with a thin layer of vanilla buttercream or strawberry jam.  Top with a layer of the white cake.  Cover with a thin layer of the vanilla buttercream or strawberry jam.  Repeat the process with the remaining layers of chocolate and strawberry cake.  (For a taller cake, you can use the remaining layer of white cake.  Otherwise, you can wrap tightly and save.)  Frost as desired with the strawberry buttercream frosting.
Recipe adapted from Sweetapolita.

Tasty Tuesday: Turtle Cake

My kids have very refined palates. The other day we dined on sea serpent.

Today, it's turtle.

What, you've never tried turtle? You really should. It's delicious.

We're preparing to let Agent T, our foreign exchange student that has been studying with us the past 6 weeks, head back home to the river. The kids are devastated. I admit, I'm not overly pleased about it myself, and that surprises me. I am not an animal person, but I've greatly enjoyed our time with it. There are many reasons why we're letting it go that I'll explain at another time. Anyway, to lessen the blow of saying goodbye to their friend, I suggested a going-away party to see him off. And what better food to eat than turtle? No, not Agent T, of course, but turtle just the same. Not only is it tasty, it's quite simple to make, too. In fact, the kids prepared it completely by themselves. Well, the main dish anyway. I did help with the garnishes. 

I'll show you how to prepare the food - in just 12 easy steps.

1. Cut open bag.
2. Dump contents into a bowl.
3. Pour in water.
4. Pour in oil.
5. Crack eggs.
6. Dump eggs into bowl.
7. Mix well.
8. Place liners in muffin pan.
9. Fill liners with batter.
10. Pour remaining batter in greased round cake pan.
11. Lick spatula.
12. Stick head in bowl and lick all remaining batter.

Easy enough, right?

After the cake, ahem, turtle meat is cooked and cooled, prepare your garnish. Somehow I missed taking pictures of this step. Pretend that you see Alyssa and me adding butter, shortening, powdered sugar, vanilla, salt, and heavy whipping cream to a bowl. Don't bother pretending to see the powder poof onto the counter though. That would just be silly - and messy - and we would never do that. *ahem* Assume that we divided the frosting special sauce into 2 bowls and added cocoa powder to one to make it brown and food coloring to the other to make it green. Presume that we garnished the turtle meat with the appropriate colored sauce and plated it along with various embellishments (mini chocolate chips and tootsie rolls for eyes, mouth, and tail.)

Whew, that was quite the workout for the imagination!

Here is the final product, plated and ready to be savored.

Doesn't that look appetizing???

The kids could hardly wait to dig in.

The verdict?

They loved it!!!

They gobbled it right up. (I told you they have refined palates!)

And despite what you've heard, it tasted nothing like chicken.

Farewell, Agent T. It's been nice getting to know you. If you're ever in the area, feel free to stop by.

It'll give us another reason to celebrate with turtle!

April Fools Fun

Happy Belated April Fools Day! Jake thinks this is a great holiday, and I really wanted to make it fun this year. So, we had dessert for dinner and dinner for dessert! These are not original ideas, but are plenty fun just the same.

Our menu consisted of cupcakes and Kool-Aid. The kids were ecstatic to have cupcakes for dinner - confused, but ecstatic.

Of course, they all tried to take a drink first. Poor Zachy. He got it the worst. The other 2 kids were confused at first, but poor Zac just did not understand. He kept sucking and sucking on the straw, but nothing would come up! He told us, "Mine not working. I don't wike dis one." We explained that it was really jello, but he still kept trying to drink it. 

Jake thought it was great though!

The real fun was using the straw the slurp the jello. It makes the funniest sounds! One of my favorite childhood memories of my cousin is when we were vising family in Wisconsin. He and I were eating jello  - with straws! He was laughing so hard that red jello came out his nose! We had so much fun that day. And now I was able to carry on that excitement with my own children.

These were incredibly simple to make. I made a packet of jello according to the directions on the box, and poured the liquid into individual glasses. Then, I stuck in a straw and placed them in the refrigerator to solidify.

We moved on to the "cupcakes." Alyssa tasted the frosting and was a little disappointed that it wasn't sweet, sugary frosting. Jake tasted it and said, "Mashed potatoes??? But what's the cake?" As soon as he tried it, he was happy to find out that it was actually meatloaf. That boy loves meatloaf. This particular batch was made with venison from a deer that Leighton shot last fall. All the more special.

These were easy to make. I made a batch of meatloaf and filled my silicone muffin cups. I topped each one with a bit of ketchup and stuck them in the fridge on a cookie sheet. When I was ready to bake them, I just popped the cookie sheet in the oven. Then, I made mashed potatoes, filled my dessert decorator, and piped the potatoes on the cooked meatloaf cakes.

I couldn't think of anything fun to do with a veggie, so we just had plain ol' broccoli. Exciting, I know, but we all love it, so it worked out fine. Our meal was filled with much laughter and talks of tricks that the kids could play. We had so much fun!

After church, we ate pizza! Or rather yellow cake crust, red colored frosting sauce, white chocolate shavings cheese, and fruit roll-up pepperonis.

Even after being tricked before, they were still surprised that it wasn't real pizza. Gotta love their innocence. And their smiles.

They gobbled this "pizza" right up. Jake was leery at first about the "cheese" because he thought it might be coconut. He had no hesitations when I assured it him was white chocolate though.

This one took a little bit more to prepare. I baked a yellow cake mix according to the directions on the box in two 9" cake pans. (I used only one half. To be more realistic, you could put less batter in one pan to make a thinner "crust.") Then, I used what frosting I had in the fridge (about 3/4 cup) and added quite a bit of red food coloring. As I suspected, it still had more of a pinkish hue than red, so I added some strawberry jam. I don't think it helped much with the color though. It did, however, make the frosting even sweeter. For the cheese, I used a potato peeler to scrape off curls of a white chocolate bar. The pepperonis gave me the hardest time of all. After trying multiple things to make the circles, I found out that the easiest thing was just to cut them out using kitchen scissors.


What fun we had! The kids have been talking about the tricks all day today.

And they're already talking about next year. I'd better start planning now!

Tasty Tuesday: Chocolate Cupcakes with Whipped Vanilla Frosting

We made cupcakes this week so Alyssa could take them to church for her birthday. When you homeschool, it's just not as exciting sharing your birthday treat with your classmate family. I asked her what kind of cake she wanted even though I already knew the answer. Chocolate. Always chocolate. And pink frosting, of course.

Thirteen ingredients. This is why people use a box mix.

Seriously though, this is one of the easiest chocolate cake recipes since it's made in 1 bowl in 2 steps.

 Dump in your dry ingredients and sift.

Add in your wet ingredients and mix well.

Easy and quick? Yep.

The only "problem" per se is that the batter is runny. Extremely runny. And messy.

I made 24 cupcakes  and the batter rose over the edges, making it difficult to remove the cakes. The cupcakes are incredibly moist, so they're very delicate. I suggest filling the liners a little less and making a few more cupcakes. More is good, right?

After the cupcakes are cooled, begin making your frosting. I highly suggest this recipe. It's probably not so much the ingredients, but the technique that really makes it. This picture is just the butter after it was whipped for 8 minutes. Thank God for a KitchenAid! 

Here's another tip - if you take your butter out of the fridge and let it sit for a couple hours in 75° weather, it's probably going to melt. All over. It also makes it difficult to "whip" since it just kinda slops around. If that should happen, just pop the bowl into the freezer for 10 minutes or so to stiffen the butter up before whipping. Ask me how I know.

Pour in the remaining ingredients after the butter is sufficiently whipped. The frosting will look done before the additional 7 minutes are up. Please, please, please continue to mix it. This is the lightest, fluffiest frosting I've ever made.

Wow. Like I said, the cake is incredibly moist and rich. Even Jake and Leighton liked them, and neither of them are big chocolate fans. In fact, Jake requested these for his birthday - minus the pink frosting, of course. The frosting itself is so airy and light. Jake said, "This is so yummy! I can really taste the 3 sticks of butter in it." I admit, I ate more than my fair-share of it. It's that sweet-tooth I have. I just can't help myself.

We even made the pink glitter sprinkles (post coming.)  It was so quick, easy, and fun!

I'm so sad the cupcakes are gone. Mmm, they were good. Both of these recipes will be added to our permanent collection for sure.

Anyone have a birthday coming up and need me to make you a cake??? One condition - you have to share!

Classic Chocolate Cupcakes
Ingredients:
1 1/2 c  flour                                                         

1 tsp salt
1 1/2 c sugar                                                        

2/3 c buttermilk (or 2/3 c milk + 1 Tbsp vinegar)
1/2 c cocoa powder                                             

1/2 c brewed coffee or espresso, hot
1 1/2 tsp  baking soda                                          

1/3 c + 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 1/2 tsp  baking powder                                      

2 eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 tsp  cornstarch                                            

1 Tbsp  pure vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350° F and fill cupcake pan with  liners.
2. In the bowl of electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, sift all dry ingredients.
3. Add all remaining ingredients to bowl with the dry ingredients and mix for 2 minutes on medium speed and pour into prepared cupcake pan until just less than 2/3 full.  *Batter will be very liquidy.
4. Bake for 15-17 minutes, or until toothpick comes out with a few crumbs. Carefully remove cupcakes from the pan immediately and place them on a wire rack until completely cool.

Whipped Vanilla Frosting
Ingredients:
3 sticks + 2 tablespoons  unsalted butter, softened
3.5 cups  confectioners’ sugar, sifted
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
a pinch of salt

Directions:
1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip butter for 8 minutes on medium speed. Butter will become very pale & creamy.
2. Add remaining ingredients and mix on low speed for 1 minute, then on medium speed for 6 minutes. Frosting will be very light, creamy, and fluffy.
3. Best used right away for ideal spreading consistency.