Chocolate Oreo Cake

It’s the best cake I’ve ever made and my husband who doesn’t care too much for cakes, couldn’t stop eating it. The cake is really light and fluffy and perfect..

Recipe >> Chocolate Oreo Cake @ lifeloveandsugar.com

Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

Sweet and sunny, with all the things we love about lemon meringue pie — but in cupcake form. A microwave version of traditional lemon curd saves you time, but doesn't skimp on flavor. Let's hear it for Lemon Power!

Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

Cupcakes

•     1 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached Cake Flour Blend
•     1 teaspoon baking powder
•     1/4 teaspoon salt
•     1/4 teaspoon baking soda
•     2/3 cup sugar
•     1/3 cup butter, room temperature
•     1 large egg, room temperature
•     1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
•     1/2 teaspoon Buttery Sweet Dough Flavor (optional, but adds that signature bakery taste)
•     2/3 cup buttermilk

Lemon Curd

•     one batch Easy Microwave Lemon Curd

Meringue

•     3 large egg whites
•     1/4 teaspoon Bakewell Cream or cream of tartar
•     1/8 teaspoon salt
•     6 tablespoons sugar

Directions:

1) Preheat the oven to 400°F and line a 12-cup cupcake or muffin pan with paper liners; spritz the liners lightly with cooking spray.

2) To make the cupcakes: Place the following in the bowl of your mixer: the cake flour blend, baking powder, salt, baking soda, sugar, butter, egg, vanilla and Buttery Sweet Dough Flavor. Add 1/3 cup of the buttermilk.

3) Blend the mixture on medium speed for 2 minutes. The mixture will be thick at first, but will smooth out as you mix.

4) Add the remaining 1/3 cup buttermilk and mix on medium speed for 1 minute. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl, and mix briefly, if necessary.

5) Fill each well of the pan 2/3 full, and bake the cupcakes for 15 to 18 minutes, until they're light golden brown on the edges. Remove them from the oven, and immediately transfer them from the pan to a rack. Cool completely.

6) Prepare the lemon curd according to the recipe, and set it aside to cool and thicken as the cupcakes cool.

7) Core each cooled cupcake with a cupcake corer (or an apple corer), leaving a small well in the center of the cake. Fill to the brim with cooled lemon filling. Fill all cupcakes, then prepare the meringue.

8) To make the meringue: In a very clean work bowl, whip the egg whites and Bakewell Cream or cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Add the salt. Gradually add the sugar, increasing the whipping speed and continuing to whip until the mixture is light and billowy, and stiff peaks form.

9) Mound or pipe meringue onto each cupcake, then toast the meringue with a cook's torch; or carefully broil until golden brown. Serve warm, for a flowing lemon lava; or cool for a more set filling.

Yield: 12 cupcakes.

White Almond Wedding Cake

I have always wanted to find an awesome recipe for white cake. White cake with white buttercream is my favorite kind of cake. I have tried sooo many white cake recipes. So many. And I've experienced many disappointing results. Although the base of this recipe is a cake mix, it's definitely the closest I've come to my idea of a perfect white cake. I will have to accept the fact that it's not totally from scratch. The way I look at it is - this recipe incorporates the good things about the cake mix (tenderness & additives that keep it from going stale quickly) but has the wonderful flavor & texture of a scratch cake. When I read the reviews from folks who had made this recipe (on allrecipes.com), some commented that it tasted artificial, or like a store bought cake, or like a cake mix. I happen to like the taste of some cake mixes and I certainly like the tenderness of cake mix cakes so I did not have a problem with the flavor of this cake. If you are thinking that you will save time making this, you would be wrong. It takes just as much time as making a scratch cake. I made a double recipe, therefore I had to separate 8 eggs and it has a lot of other ingredients that the back of the box doesn't include. A double recipe makes a perfect four 9 inch layers. I did not want such a strong almond flavor so I used a lot less almond & doubled the vanilla. I bet it would have been wonderful if I would have used a vanilla bean or two in the batter. But the end result of this cake it a perfectly moist, tender, not too dense, fine crumbed & flavorful perfectly white cake. I was sure to use only egg whites (but a little bit of one egg yolk slipped into the batter) and I made sure to use CLEAR vanilla extract. I wanted a WHITE cake - not OFF white. I used cake strips around each of my 9 inch pans and I placed the pans on a 3/4 baking sheet. I wanted to prevent overbrowning and to ensure even baking. You know how sometimes cake mix cakes are kind of fragile because they are a little to tender & fluffy? I think it's the added sour cream that adds some sturdiness to these layers because they were easy to handle and to ice. Also, I was careful to get cake mixes that did NOT have the added pudding in the mix. Some reviews stated that the extra pudding made the cake almost too moist, somewhat sticky. I used Duncan Hines White. I'm telling you, this is my idea of a delicious and perfect white cake!! You just need to get over the fact that it's not totally from sratch. I highly recommend it.

White Almond Wedding Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package white cake mix
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup white sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/3 cups water
• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 egg whites

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease and flour an 11x13 inch cake pan.
2. Stir together the white cake mix, flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl until well mixed. Pour in the water, sour cream, vegetable oil, almond and vanilla extracts, and egg whites, and beat with an electric mix on low until all the ingredients are mixed and moistened but some lumps still remain, 4 minutes.
3. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan, and bake in the preheated oven until the top is a light golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Allow to cool before frosting.

Mama's Pizza Casserole

For easy dinner recipes that will please the whole family, try Mama's Pizza Casserole! This casserole dinner recipe can be customized to include your favorite pizza toppings. Add in what you like best to make it your own special recipe. Pizza casserole recipes always please a crowd because it's hard to find someone who doesn't love a bubbling dish of cheesy goodness. When you want to fix an easy casserole recipe that you know will be a hit, give this dish a try. Mama knows best and this "bake" is one of her all-time top recipes!

 

Mama's Pizza Casserole

Ingredients:

• 1 (10-ounce) bag of egg noodles
• 1 jar of tomato sauce (I use Ragu spaghetti sauce)
• 3 cups Mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 1 1/2 pound hamburger meat
• 1 package of pepperoni

Directions:

    Brown the meat and drain the grease.
    
    Boil Noodles until soft.  Drain the water.
    
    Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
    
    In a 9x13 casserole dish, start layering by first spreading a thin layer of tomato sauce on the bottom.
    
    Second layer half of the noodles over the sauce.  Then half of the meat and the rest of the noodles.
    
    Next layer half of the cheese, the rest of the meat, the rest of the sauce, and then the rest of the cheese.
    
    Lastly, top with pepperonis.
    
    Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes remove foil and bake for another 15 minutes.
    
    Once it is done baking, take it out and let if sit for 10 to 15 minutes.  Enjoy.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Sandwiches

Chocolate Peanut Butter Sandwiches

makes 6 treats

Ingredients:

• 6 graham crackers
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Chocolate for dipping (I used chocolate Candiquik today)

Directions:

1.  Mix peanut butter, powdered sugar & vanilla with a fork in a bowl & stick it in the freezer to firm up a bit.

2. Melt chocolate (Candiquik melts beautifully in the microwave) & brush one side of the graham crackers with melted chocolate using a pastry brush.

3. Scoop peanut butter mixture on top of chocolate side of the graham crackers. I used about 2 tablespoons of pb mixture per cracker. Spread pb evenly to edges of cracker.

4. Place crackers in freezer for a bit to firm up the pb.

5. Reheat the chocolate if needed. Dip the pb graham crackers into chocolate. I set them in the bowl of melted chocolate, one at a time, & spooned the melted chocolate over the top. Then lift the cracker out of chocolate with a fork & tapped the fork on the side of the bowl so extra chocolate drips off into the bowl.

6. Place on waxed paper or parchment paper & allow chocolate to set up. I drizzled extra melted chocolate over the top. Store in refrigerator & serve very cold.

Chocolate Turtle Brownies

Chocolate Turtle Brownies are a perfect brownie treat with caramel and walnuts. You'll love using this recipe for family treats or casual entertaining..

Chocolate Turtle Brownies

Makes: 24 brownies (2 dozen)

Ingredients:

•     2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels, divided
•     1/2 cup butter or margarine, ( 1 stick) cut into pieces
•     3 large eggs
•     1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
•     1 cup granulated sugar
•     1/4 teaspoon baking soda
•     1 teaspoon vanilla extract
•     1/2 cup chopped walnuts
•     12 caramels
•     1 tablespoon milk

Directions:

PREHEAT oven to 350° F. Grease 13 x 9-inch baking pan.

MELT 1 cup morsels and butter in large, heavy-duty saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly until smooth. Remove from heat; stir in eggs. Add flour, sugar, baking soda and vanilla extract; stir well.

SPREAD batter into prepared baking pan; sprinkle with remaining morsels and walnuts.

BAKE for 20 to 25 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out slightly sticky.

MICROWAVE caramels and milk in small, microwave-safe bowl on HIGH (100%) power for 1 minute; stir. Microwave at additional 10- to 15-second intervals, stirring until melted. Drizzle over warm brownies. Cool in pan on wire rack.

Double-Layered Peanut Butter Cup Brownies

So funny, I was looking for something quick and easy and special for our anniversary dessert since we weren’t going anywhere when I came across these. I knew my wife would go nuts for them because she likes rich desserts and I like to surprise her with something new. I didn’t have the REESE’S but had everything else so what the heck. They turned out great and he has been enjoying them.,

Recipes >> Double-Layered Peanut Butter Cup Brownies @ chelseasmessyapron.com