Caramel Apple Cake

I made this delicious apple cake recently and although my family and I enjoyed it, if I made it again, I would make a couple of changes. First, there was too much caramel for the cake (see my dripping picture below.)  I LOVE caramel, but it was too much even for me. **Amendment: I just reread the recipe and missed the 20 caramels; we used the whole bag. Duh! No wonder there was too much caramel!**

Secondly, the cake gets soggy as it sits for a few days, so on the website they suggested reserving the caramel sauce on the side and using it when you slice/eat the cake. I had pulled a paper copy of this recipe from a magazine so I didn't have that wonderful tip. If so, the cake would have lasted longer and I could have been more judicious in my use of the caramel sauce.   With this tip in mind, we may give it one more try. The cake would also be a wonderful treat on it's own. It doesn't need a topping.

Moist Caramel Apple Cake

1pkg. (2-layer size) yellow cake mix
1pkg. (3.4 oz.) JELL-O Vanilla or French Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding (used Vanilla)
1cup water
4eggs
1/3cup oil
3Granny Smith apples (1 lb.), peeled, coarsely chopped (used Golden Delicious)
20KRAFT Caramels (used whole bag; yikes!)
3Tbsp. milk

HEAT oven to 350ºF.

BEAT first 5 ingredients in large bowl with mixer until well blended. Stir in apples. Pour into greased and floured 12-cup fluted tube pan or 10-inch tube pan.

BAKE 50 min. to 1 hour or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool cake in pan 15 min. Loosen cake from side of pan; invert onto wire rack. Gently remove pan. Cool cake completely. Transfer to plate.

MICROWAVE caramels and milk in microwaveable bowl on HIGH 1-1/2 min. or until caramels are completely melted and sauce is smooth, stirring every 30 sec. Cool 10 min. or until slightly thickened. Drizzle over cake.


Kraft Kitchens Tips:

• Do not use cake mix with pudding in the mix.
• To avoid soggy cake, drizzle caramel sauce over cake just before serving.
• Serve topped with thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping or vanilla ice cream.

Servings: 16
Recipe Given By: Kraft

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at Our Front Door.



W - Warm Winter Lemon Cake

This is a recipe to tuck away for a cold day; it might be rainy or snowy, but this warm winter lemon cake will hit the spot. It's one of my husband's favorites and he's not a big fan of cake!

Warm Winter Lemon Cake

Ingredients:

1 pkg. (2-layer size) yellow cake mix
2 C cold milk
1 ¼ C water
2 pkg. (4 serving size ea) Jell-O Lemon Instant pudding & Pie filling
1/3 C granulated sugar
2 T powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare cake batter as directed on package. Pour into greased 13x9-in baking dish; set aside.

Pour milk and water into large bowl. Add dry pudding mixes and granulated sugar. Beat with wire whisk 2 min. or until well blended. Pour over batter. Place baking dish on baking sheet to catch any sauce that might bubble over sides of dish as dessert bakes.

Bake 55 min to 1 hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 20 min. (Sauce will thicken slightly as it cools.) Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Spoon into serving dishes to serve warm. Store leftovers in refrigerator.

Serving: 16
Recipe Given By: kraftfoods.com (click the link to see a yummy pic!)

J - Jello Poke Cake

I've made this twice in the last month, once for my birthday cake and once for Easter. It's so refreshing and tasty! My two favorite flavors of jello right now are raspberry and orange. They are a great combo!

Jello Poke Layer Cake

Ingredients:

White cake mix – made in 9x13 pan or in two layers, cooled

2 small boxes or 1 large box of jello (*2 small different flavors, best)

2 C boiling water (1 C each flavor)

3 ½ C (8 oz) cool whip

Place cake layers, top side up, in two 8 or 9” cake pans.  Prick each cake with utility fork at ½” intervals. Dissolve jello in boiling water. Carefully spoon over cake layers. (I pour.) Chill 3-4 hours. Dip cake pans in warm water for 10 sec.; then unmold onto serving plate. Top with about 1 C of cool whip. Unmold second layer carefully onto 1st layer. Frost top and side with cool whip. Chill.

• When I don’t have a lot of time I make this cake in a 9x13 pan, add the jello, and frost top after chilled. It’s light and cool – great for a hot summer day!

Recipe Given By: Sherry Hildebrant

Banana Snack Cake

I recently purchased the tasteofhome simple & delicious cookbook at Target ($16, cheaper on Amazon) and I tried my first recipe: Banana Snack Cake.

I always have bananas that need used up so I thought I'd give this cake a try. I doubled the ingredients and placed it into a 9x13 pan. I only increased the baking time by 5 extra minutes (40 min total) and it wasn't enough to get it cooked through in the middle. It will need longer next time, or I will need to bake it per the recipe in the 8x8 pan.

You can find the recipe here: Banana Snack Cake. If this recipe doesn't appeal to you there are many other banana cakes to try. They made my mouth water and made me wish I had more ripe bananas on hand.

Happy Snacking!

Oreo Cake

Ok, I'm at a loss for words this cake is soooo goood!! I don't even really like chocolate oreos (don't get me going about the golden!), but this cake is delicious. I usually don't even like frosting, but this one is so light and refreshing I may use it on other cakes, as well. I LOVE this cake and so did my family. They've asked me to make it again soon...maybe tonight!

Oreo Cake

Ingredients:

1 pkg (18 ¼ oz) white cake mix
16 cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies, coarsely crushed
1 pkg (3 oz) cream cheese, softened
2 T. milk
2 C heavy whipping cream
¾ C confectioners sugar
Additional cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies

Prepare cake batter according to pkg directions; stir in crushed cookies. Spoon into a greased and floured 10-in fluted tube pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 33-38 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

In a small bowl, beat cream cheese and milk until smooth. Beat in cream until mixture begins to thicken. Gradually add confectioners sugar; beat until stiff peaks form. Frost cake. Garnish with additional cookies. Refrigerate leftovers.

Serving: 12 Servings
Recipe Given By: Taste of Home
Here it is in all it's pretty glory!

I must confess that we couldn't even wait for it to cool, so we cut pieces and dolloped the frosting on top. It worked fantastically! Yum!

Red Cake with Ermine Frosting

I come from a southern family and Red Cake has often been our holiday cake of choice. There are two camps on the frosting - cream cheese and ermine. I like both, but Red Cake is very dense so adding a heavy cream cheese frosting can be a little over-the-top. Our family's traditional frosting is ermine, which is very light and delicate in flavor. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Red Cake (Waldorf Astoria)

Ingredients:

1 C shortening
2 eggs
1 ½ C sugar
1 t. vanilla
1 t. salt
1 t. vinegar
2 oz. red food coloring (two 1 oz. bottles)
2 t. cocoa
1 C buttermilk
1 t. baking soda
2 ½ C flour

Mix vinegar & baking soda, set aside. Mix cocoa & food coloring, set aside. Cream shortening and sugar, then add eggs, beat. Add buttermilk, beat. Add flour and salt, mix well. Then add food coloring mixture, beat. Then add vinegar mixture, beat well. Bake in 2 or 3 - 9” cake pans for 30 min at 350 degrees. When cake is completely cool, frost with:

Ermine Frosting:

Ingredients:

1 C milk
3 T. flour – cook until thickened in a double boiler. Scrape into a bowl, cover and refrigerate until very cold, at least 2 hours.

Cream well 1 C sugar and 2 sticks of margarine and 1 T vanilla. (It should be VERY fluffy and the sugar should be totally dissolved, about 6 minutes.) Add the cold paste, a few tablespoons at a time to the butter mixture and whip until light and fluffy.

Frost cake and chill.

Recipe Given By: Mom Underhill

For a great Ermine Frosting tutorial, click here.

I tried to cheat on the frosting and mix it while it was still warm. You can see it doesn't mix properly. I can't tell you how many times this has happened to the women in my family and I vow not to rush ever again. :) The taste is NOT effected, but it's not as pretty. When I make it again (fluffy frosting, fingers crossed), I will repost with the picture. Until then, maybe you might want to give it a try...4th of July?

UPDATE: I remade the cake for Mark's birthday this month and made a double batch of the frosting (the slow and patient way) and it turned out fluffy and beautiful. I vow not to rush again. :)

Chocolate Sheet Cake

Oh, Pioneer Woman...I wish I could like your recipes! They look so good, but so far...well, it's just not workin' for me. Sorry.

I decided to give this recipe a try. I already have a Texas Sheet Cake that I like, but I thought maybe PW could improve upon it so I gave her Chocolate Sheet Cake a try. I even took it to a work staff meeting. Everyone was nice about it. Some loved it; others left it on their plate after one bite.

It was just too sugary! It fell apart (for some that's good), but I thought it was too moist & crumbly. This is a pic of my attempt at her cake:

I'm going to stick to my tried and true recipe...until another one comes along to tempt me! :)

Texas Cake

Ingredients:

2 sticks margarine
4 T. cocoa
1 C water

Mix these ingredients and bring to a boil.

Add:
2 C flour
½ t. salt
1 t. baking soda
½ C sour cream
2 C sugar
2 eggs

Put in ungreased cookie sheet (large) and bake 20 min at 350 degrees.

Frosting:
Melt 1 stick margarine, 4 T. cocoa and 6 T milk and bring to a boil. Add 1 box powdered sugar, 1 C nuts (if desire), and 1 t. vanilla. Frost cake while warm.

Recipe Given By: Mom Underhill