Fruit Fantasy Dump Cake

My husband makes this dessert in a dutch oven when camping and calls it Memphis Molly. It is very sweet! It's a quick dessert to throw together in a pinch.

Fruit Fantasy Dump Cake

Ingredients:

1 – 20 oz. can crushed pineapple, undrained

1 - 21 oz. can cherry pie filling

1 yellow cake mix

1 C chopped pecans or walnuts

1 stick of butter

Grease a 9x13 pan. Spread in bottom – one 20 oz. can undrained crushed pineapple.

Over that, spread one 21 oz. can cherry pie filling. Sprinkle one box dry yellow cake mix over that.

Add one cup chopped pecans or walnuts to this.Take one stick of butter and cut into thin slices over the top.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes.

Serve warm or cooled with/without ice cream.

Servings:

Recipe Given By: Tami Dantzlerward

Chocolate Trifle

This is a basic Chocolate Truffle. It only tastes better the longer it melds. Enjoy!

Chocolate Trifle

Ingredients:

1 pkg. (18 ¼ oz.) chocolate fudge cake mix

1 pkg. (6 oz.) instant chocolate pudding mix

½ C. strong coffee

1 carton (12 oz.) frozen whipped topping, thawed

6 Heath candy bars (1.4 oz each), crushed

Bake cake according to package directions. Cool. Prepare pudding according to package directions; set aside.

Crumble cake; reserve ½ cup. Place half of the remaining cake crumbs in the bottom of a 4 ½ or 5 quart trifle dish or decorative glass bowl.

Layer with half of the coffee, half of the pudding, half of the whipped topping and half of the crushed candy bars. Repeat the whipped topping and half of the crushed candy bars. Repeat the layers of cake, coffee, pudding and whipped topping.

Combine remaining crushed candy bars with reserved cake crumbs; sprinkle over top. Refrigerate 4-5 hours before serving.

Serves: 8-10
Recipe: Taste of Home

Orange-Soaked Pound Cake

I found this recipe on the back

of a Betty Crocker pound cake box mix. 

It's easy and hard to resist!

Orange-Soaked Pound Cake

Ingredients:

1 box Betty Crocker pound cake

1/2 C powdered sugar

3 - 4 t. orange juice

1/8 t. grated orange peel

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Bake cake mix as directed on box for 1 (9x5 inch) loaf pan.  Cool 10 minutes.  Remove from pan; cool about 30 minutes.  Pierce with fork every 1/2 inch.

Stir together powdered sugar, 3 teaspoons of the orange juice and the orange peel. Stir in just enough remaining orange juice to make glaze smooth and consistency of thick syrup. Pour slowly over warm cake, allowing some to drizzle down sides. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, if desired. ( I left off the powdered sugar; it was sweet enough.)

Servings: 8

Recipe Given By: Betty Crocker

Tricky summer treat

Here's a tricky treat that can be used, not only on April 1st, but any day of the year!

Sweet Hamburger Bites

Ingredients: (per serving)

2 vanilla wafers

Yellow frosting
Red frosting
Mini peppermint patty (York used here)

Layer in order:

1 vanilla wafer, flat side up
yellow frosting
peppermint patty
red frosting
Top with vanilla wafer, flat side down

You could mix coconut with green food coloring to add a "lettuce" layer, if you like.

Enjoy!

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

Participating in

at Our Front Door.



P - Pretzel Sparklers

My pretzels below aren't quite as cute as the ones in the link, however, I had a little help which makes them all the more beautiful. This is an easy way to use leftover candy melts for a fun snack.

Pretzel Sparklers

Ingredients:
8 squares (1 oz each) white baking chocolate
1 pkg. (10 oz) pretzel rods
Colored candy stars or sprinkles

Place chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl; heat until melted. Dip each pretzel rod about halfway into chocolate; sprinkle with stars. Place on waxed paper to dry.

Serving: @ 2 dozen
Recipe Given By: Quick Cooking J/A 1999 p. 62
Hint: if chocolate gets too thick, use vegetable oil to thin out again, while heating.

I - Ice Cream Torte

This often requested torte substitutes for birthday cakes and homecoming desserts in our family. It is one of our preferred frozen treats!

Ice Cream Torte

Ingredients:

2 pkgs of Archway Dutch Cocoa cookies or 24 Mothers macaroon or other soft chocolate cookie
1 qt. chocolate ice cream, softened
1 qt. coffee ice cream, softened
Hershey’s syrup
6 Heath Toffee Candy bars

Crush 12 Dutch Cocoa cookies. Press into an 8 or 9” oiled spring form pan. Put 1 qt. of softened chocolate ice cream on top. Drizzle 2 T Hershey’s chocolate syrup on top. Crush 12 more Dutch Cocoa cookies and layer on top of the chocolate syrup/chocolate ice cream. Then top with 1 qt. of softened coffee ice cream. Drizzle with 2 T. chocolate syrup. Top with 6 crushed Heath candy bars. Store in freezer to set before serving.

Recipe Given By: Mom Underhill
Hint: The Archway Dutch Cocoa cookies are worth looking for; try not to substitute unless you have to. This is an expensive dessert; use for special occasions. 

Broiled Angel Food Cake

Last Christmas I purchased the Taste of Home Simple and Delicious Cookbook at Target for my mother. It looked so good I purchased one for myself. Now when we try a recipe we can let each other know if we think the other would enjoy the recipe. This is a great idea for a newly married daughter and mom! (Why didn't I buy three copies?)

This is an easy dessert to make! It would be fun at the end of a BBQ with friends.  There is something remincient about a toasted marshmellow when you eat this angel food cake.  We made it twice this week (they boys loved it!) and on the second go around we tried caramel topping with vanilla ice cream. It was our favorite version.  Let me know if you give it a try!

Butterscotch Angel Cake

Ingredients:

8 slices angel food cake
3/4 cup butter, melted, divided
1 cup packed brown sugar, divided
8 scoops butter brickle or butter pecan ice cream
Butterscotch ice cream topping

Place cake slices on a greased baking sheet. Brush with 6 tablespoons butter; press 1 tablespoon brown sugar onto each slice. Broil 5-6 in. from the heat for 1-2 minutes or until bubbly.

Turn slices over; brush with remaining butter and sprinkle with remaining brown sugar. Broil 1-2 minutes longer or until bubbly. Cool for 2-3 minutes. Serve with ice cream; drizzle with butterscotch topping.

Serving: 8
Recipe Given By: Taste of Home

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. :)

Fabulous Caramel Clusters

I used to make this delicious crispy snack only at Christmas time to share with friends and family, but I recently added it to the care packages shared with Ashley and her friends at college. It's great any time of year!

Fabulous Caramel Clusters

Ingredients:

1 pkg (14 oz or 48) caramels
¼ C water
6 C bite-size rice cereal squares (Chex)
2 C pecan halves (or favorite nut)

Heat oven to 300 degrees. Melt caramels with water in a stock pot over low heat, stirring frequently until smooth. Add cereal and pecans; mix lightly until well coated. Spread into greased cookie sheet (large.) Bake 25 min., stirring after 15 min. Turn out onto greased waxed paper. Cool thoroughly; break apart.

Serving: about 10 cups
Recipe Given By: I don't know where I got it, but you can see a web copy here.

Death by Caramel Bars

Tempted?

This dessert is divine!

TJ and I are BIG Snickers fans so I only make them when I know I can share. Otherwise, I might need a bigger dress size.

Death-by-Caramel Bars

Ingredients:
3 C firmly packed light brown sugar
2 C unsalted butter, melted
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 T. vanilla extract
4 C all-purpose flour
1 C uncooked regular oats
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
3/4 t. salt
6 (2.07 oz.) chocolate-coated caramel-peanut nougat bars, chopped (Snickers)
1 (14 oz.) can dulce de leche (found in the ethnic or baking aisle.)

1. Combine the first 4 ingredients in a large bowl; stir well. Combine flour and next 4 ingredients. Add to butter mixture, stirring just until blended. Fold in chopped candy bars.

2. Spoon batter into a greased aluminum foil-lined 13 x 9 inch pan coated with cooking spray, allowing foil to extend over edges of pan. Pan will be very full. Spoon dollops of dulce de leche over batter; swirl slightly into batter with a knife.

3. Bake at 325 for 1 hour and 5 minutes. Cool in a pan on a wire rack. This may take several hours. Use foil to lift uncut brownies out of pan. Peel foil away, and cut into squares.

Servings: 2 dozen
Recipe Given By: Southern Living Cookies
Hint: The first time I baked this for the recommended time specified. The center fell and was very gooey. It didn't cook through. The second time I kept an eye on it and added about 15 more minutes. I just cooked it until the center didn't have much "jiggle" left. It was perfect! Keep an eye on it and go with what looks good to you.

Snickerdoodles!

In January I wrote here about trying to perfect my husband's favorite cookie when we were newly married. I had several bloggers ask about the recipe, so here it is! It's a good one!!

Snickerdoodles

Ingredients:

½ C shortening
½ C butter/margarine
1 ½ C sugar
2 eggs
2 ¾ C flour
scant 1 t. cream of tartar
1 t. baking soda
¼- ½ t. salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix shortening, sugar & eggs thoroughly. Sift remaining ingredients and stir in. Roll into balls the size of small walnuts. Roll in mixture of 6 T. sugar/ 6 t. cinnamon. Place 2” apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. (* You can slightly press them down with the bottom of a glass, but you don't have to. I do. ) Bake 8-10 min or until lightly brown. (They puff at first, then flatten out)

Serving: 5 dozen
Recipe Given By: Angie’s original!

That is one stylin' paper plate! Ha!

Maple-Butter Frosting

Oh, my stars! You haven't had frosting until you've tried this one! We bake up a batch of chocolate cupcakes and top with this delectable sugar feast! Watch out, you may want to eat it right out of the bowl.

Maple-Butter Frosting

Ingredients:
1 C unsalted butter (softened)
3 oz. cream cheese (softened)
2/3 C dark-brown sugar
¼ t. salt
¾ C maple syrup
¾ t. vanilla extract
1 C confectioners sugar

Beat the butter, cream cheese, brown sugar, and salt in a medium bowl with a mixer set on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Continue beating, and add the maple syrup and vanilla. Gradually add the confectioners sugar, increase the speed to high, and beat until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Chill for 1 hour before using.

Serving: makes 4 cups
Recipe Given By: Country Living

Palmiers

Ina Garten has a can't-stop-at-one yummy little coffee cookie: the Palmier.

You can get the recipe here.

Cover your work surface with the stated amount of sugar...

Lay your puff pastry on the sugar and add more...

(I know, I know!)

Roll the dough out to the designated size... (workin in that sugar!)

Fold once...

Twice...

Three times a lady...

Slice, lay on parchment

Flip during cooking ...

Viola!


Sorry I put them in a red container...that didn't work too well.
Hopefully, you can imagine the goodness.
Their little heart shapes would make a fun Valentine's morning treat.

Try to eat just a few; they're addicting!