Red Velvet Sheet Cake

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, red velvet cake!! 

It is my all time favorite cake, and I like I have said, I am not a big fan of cake. 

If it is red velvet though, you can be sure that I will be having a piece.

I even found red velvet crepes on Pinterest! I will definitely will be making those around Valentine's day. Right along with the red velvet whoopie pies I made last year.

Now I used a cookie sheet for this cake. So I do suggest making this when you will be sharing it with friends.

 Unless you want to be like me and have a piece of cake for breakfast every morning. 

Well worth the calorie intake if you ask me.

Luckily, I did have some friends that had us over for dinner and share a love of red velvet cake like I do. So they gladly took some off my hands, they also enjoyed some for breakfast.

Red velvet cake is good for breakfast!

I did leave the cake in the pan, though I wish I was able to of gotten it out of the pan and then frosted it. If you are able to do that I would suggest it. My just didn't want to come out of the pan and I didn't want to risk it breaking into pieces.

I did try a new frosting with this cake, and I thought it went perfectly well with it! Don't be fooled by the ingredients, I highly suggest you try the frosting recipe.

 I think it will be my frosting of choice on all my red velvet cakes.

Red Velvet Sheet Cake

1 cup Shortening

1-¾ cup Sugar

2-½ cups Cake Flour

1-¼ teaspoon Salt

2 whole Eggs

1 cup Buttermilk

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1 teaspoon Baking Soda

1-½ teaspoon Vinegar

1-½ ounce, fluid Red Food Coloring

1-½ teaspoon Cocoa Powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Thoroughly spray a large (18 x 12) sheet cake pan (or you can use a slightly smaller jelly roll pan) with nonstick baking spray. Be sure to get in all the corners of the pan.

Sift together cake flour and salt. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, stir together buttermilk, eggs, vanilla, and baking soda. Add vinegar and stir. Set aside.

In a separate small bowl, mix together cocoa and red food coloring. Set aside.

Cream together shortening and sugar until fluffy. Alternate adding the flour mixture and the buttermilk/egg mixture until all combined. Pour the red mixture in and beat until combined.

Pour batter into prepared sheet cake pan. Use a large offset spatula or knife to even out the surface. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove pan from oven and allow cake to cool in the pan for 20 minutes. Place a large cutting board on top of the cake pan, then invert the cake, allowing it to turn out onto the cutting board. Allow cake to cool completely before icing.

Recipe From: The Pioneer Woman

That's the Best Frosting I've Ever Had

5 Tablespoons Flour

1 cup Milk

1 teaspoon Vanilla

1 cup Butter

1 cup Granulated Sugar (not Powdered Sugar!)

Bake your favorite chocolate cake and let it cool.

In a small saucepan, whisk flour into milk and heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens. You want it to be very thick, thicker than cake mix, more like a brownie mix is. Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature. (If I’m in a hurry, I place the saucepan over ice in the sink for about 10 minutes or so until the mixture cools.) It must be completely cool before you use it in the next step. Stir in vanilla.

While the mixture is cooling, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. You don’t want any sugar graininess left. Then add the completely cooled milk/flour/vanilla mixture and beat the living daylights out of it. If it looks separated, you haven’t beaten it enough! Beat it until it all combines and resembles whipped cream.

Grab a spoon and taste this wonderful goodness. If there is any left after your taste test, spread it on a cooled chocolate cake.

Cut yourself a piece and put it on a pretty plate. Grab a fork and prepare to experience the most divine pairing you can imagine. This frosting on chocolate cake is to die for. Sure, the recipe sounds strange — it has flour in it — but it’s sublime. Try it, you’ll see. You’ll love it so much you won’t go back.

Recipe From: Tasty Kitchen

Strawberry Shortcake Cake

This was Dave's surprise birthday cake. One of his favorite desserts is traditional strawberry shortcake, but when I saw this cake I had to give it a try! This is the first birthday cake I have ever made from scratch. The cake part was fine, but frosting over the strawberries was hard! I don't know if my cream cheese frosting was too thick, cause I really struggled with it. By the end though this cake was well worth the effort. It was delicious!!

Strawberry Shortcake Cake

Cake
1-½ cup Flour
3 Tablespoons Corn Starch
½ teaspoons Salt
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
9 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, Softened
1-½ cup Sugar
3 whole Large Eggs
½ cups Sour Cream, Room Temperature
1 teaspoon Vanilla

Icing
½ pounds Cream Cheese, Room Temperature
2 sticks Unsalted Butter
1-½ pound Powdered Sugar, Sifted
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 pound Strawberries

IMPORTANT: Be sure to use a cake pan that’s at least 2 inches deep! Before baking, the batter should not fill the pan more than halfway.
Sift together flour, salt, baking soda, and corn starch.
Cream 9 tablespoons butter with the sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well each time. Add sour cream and vanilla and mix until combined. Add sifted dry ingredients and mix on low speed until just barely combined.
Pour into greased and floured 8-inch cake pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes, or until no longer jiggly like my bottom. Remove from cake pan as soon as you pull it out of the oven, and place on a cooling rack and allow it to cool completely.
Stem strawberries and slice them in half from bottom to top. Place into a bowl and sprinkle with 3 tablespoons sugar. Stir together and let sit for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, mash the strawberries in two batches. Sprinkle each half with 1 tablespoons sugar and allow to sit for another 30 minutes.
Make icing: combine cream cheese, 2 sticks butter, sifted powdered sugar, vanilla, and dash of salt in a mixing bowl. Mix until very light and fluffy.
Slice cake in half through the middle. Spread strawberries evenly over each half (cut side up), pouring on all the juices. Place cake halves into the freezer for five minutes, just to make icing easier.
Remove from freezer. Use a little less than 1/3 of the icing to spread over the top of the strawberries on the bottom layer. Place the second layer on top. Add half of the remaining icing to the top spreading evenly, then spread the remaining 1/3 cup around the sides.
Leave plain OR garnish with strawberry halves.
IMPORTANT: Cake is best when served slightly cool. The butter content in the icing will cause it to soften at room temperature. For best results, store in the fridge!

Cowboy Cake

I just barely made this cake an hour ago and thought it was so great that I decided I needed to do a post about it right away! And remember how I don't really like cake? :) I made it for breakfast since I am not a fan of cereal like I use to be. And we have had eggs, pancakes and bacon for dinner twice this week I was in the mood for something sweet. I was telling my husband last night that I needed a treat, this cake hit the spot! I cut myself a piece while it was still warm, YUM!! I found this recipe off of the Sister's Cafe. I think this is called cowboy cake cause it is a very basic recipe that a chuck wagon cook could probably make on a cattle drive....if they had access to buttermilk. Hmmm....? Anyway this cake is like a coffee cake (maybe that is why I like it more then regular cake), so it is good for breakfast, brunch, lunch, snack time, dinner, and dessert. 

Cowboy Cake

2 1/2 c. flour

1/2 c. butter.

1 1/2 c. brown sugar

2 tsp. cinnamon

Reserve 1/2 cup for the top of the bread (cake). Then add the following ingredients and mix well:

1/4 tsp. salt

2 eggs

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 c. buttermilk

Pour into a greased 9x13 pan. Sprinkle top with reserved 1/2 cup crumbly mixture. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. 

Mine only took 25 minutes, I also halved this recipe since it is just the hubby and I. Now I am debating if I should have done a full pan. :)

Grandma Iny's Prune Cake/Blackberry Ice Cream (Don't be fooled by the prune cake! It is amazing!)

It has been a while since I have posted any recipes. I have been busy making delicious food, I will share two of them with you now.

Grandma Iny's Prune Cake is a recipe I got from the Pioneer Woman.

This cake is delicious!! Don't be fooled by the prunes. You will love it. I also made Blackberry Ice Cream also from the Pioneer Woman. I goofed up while I was making the ice cream, I added the heavy cream at the wrong time and never really got a custard base but it still turned out pretty tasty.

This photo doesn't do these recipes justice. You are just going to have to make them to believe me! Someday my photos of food will be more appealing :).

Grandma Iny's Prune Cake

For the Cake:

1 cup prunes

1 cup sugar

3 whole eggs

1 cup Canola Oil

1 1/2 cups flour, sifted

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. allspice

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 cup buttermilk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

For the Icing:

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 Tbsp. white corn syrup

1/4 cup butter

1/2 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Cover prunes with with water. Bring to a boil and cook until soft and mashable, about 8 minutes. Remove from heat, drain water, and mash on a plate. Set aside. Mix together oil, sugar and eggs. In a separate bowl sift together the dry ingredients. Combine wet and dry ingredients, add buttermilk and vanilla and stir gently until just combined. Throw in the mashed prunes and stir gently until just combined. DO NOT OVER MIX! Pour batter into a buttered baking dish (9 by 13) and bake for 35 to 40 minutes. DO NOT OVER BAKE! While cake has 5 minutes remaining, make the icing: combine all the ingredients in a medium sauce pan over medium heat and bring to a slow boil. Boil without stirring for 5 to 7 minutes, or until icing starts to turn dark. Do NOT allow icing to reach soft ball stage; icing should be caramel color, but not sticky like caramel. Icing should be easily pourable. Remove cake from oven and pour icing immediately. Allow to rest on counter. Serve warm.

            

Blackberry Ice Cream

2 pints fresh blackberries

Juice from 1/2 of a lemon

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups half and half

1 cup sugar

5 large egg yolks

1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

Add blackberries to medium sauce pan with 1/4 cup sugar and lemon juice. Cook over low heat, covered, for 20 to 25 minutes. Drain using fine mesh strainer, pressing berries to extract as much juice/puree as possible. Set aside. Heat half and half and 1 cup sugar in a separate saucepan over low heat. Turn off heat when mixture is totally heated. Add heavy cream to a separate bowl. Beat egg yolks by hand or with an electric mixer until yolks are pale yellow and slightly thick. Temper the egg yolks by slowly drizzling in 1 1/2 cups of hot half and half mixture, whisking constantly. After that, pour the egg yolk/half and half mixture into the pan containing the rest of the half and half mixture. Cook over medium-low heat until quite thick, stirring constantly. Drain custard using a fine mesh strain, than pour into the bowl with the heavy cream. Stir to combine. Add blackberry juice/puree to the cream/custard mixture and stir. Chill completely, than freeze in an ice cream maker until thick. Place container in freezer to harden, (or you can eat it soft) for an additional two hours.