Italian Cream Cake September 27, 2009

This cake is delicious!  It is so moist and lasts for at least 4 days without loosing any of the moistness!  Everyone who I got to share this cake with loved it.  The cake itself wasn’t real sweet, but the frosting, which was very sweet, complimented it perfectly. 

I really hesitate to tell people what I would change about a recipe, because then I think some of you may not believe me how good it really is.  But I think with almost every recipe, I could make one or two changes to try to make it even better.  With this cake, the only thing I would do is cut the amount of powdered sugar in the frosting.  I think that’s what made the frosting so extremely sweet, unless of course I would cut the amount of frosting I put on the cake, if that’s what I decide, I think the sweetness in the cake would be balanced nicely.

The recipe came from The Pioneer Woman.  She hasn’t actually made this cake to date, but it sounded like she was going to in the future.  She received the cake (and recipe) from a member of her church. 

Billie’s Italian Cream Cake

Cake:

1 cup buttermilk

1 tsp baking soda

1 stick butter

1  cup vegetable oil

2 cups sugar

5 eggs, separated

3 tsp vanilla

1 cup flaked coconut

1 tsp baking powder

2 cups all purpose flour

Frosting:

2 8-oz pkgs cream cheese

1 stick butter

2 tsp vanilla

1 2-lb pkgs powdered sugar

1 cup chopped walnuts (I omitted)

1 cup sweetened, flaked coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease and flour three 9-inch road cake pans.

Beat egg whites until stiff, set aside.

 Cake:

In a large bowl, cream together butter, oil and sugar until light and fluffy.  Mix in the egg yolks, vanilla and coconut.

In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda and baking powder.

Alternate adding buttermilk and dry ingredients to wet ingredients.

Mix until just combined, then fold in egg whites.

Pour evenly into the three prepared pans, then sprinkle the top of each pan with 1 Tbsp sugar.

Bake in a preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out  clean.

Remove from oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes, then turn the cakes out onto cooling racks and allow to cool completely.

Frosting:

In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese, butter, vanilla and powdered sugar.  Beat until light and fluffy.  Stir in chopped walnuts and sugared coconut.  Spread between layers and serve.

 Recipe from The Pioneer Woman

Pecan Waffles September 17, 2009

I love waffles.  Especially pecan waffles piled with fresh blueberries, as you can see here.  Saturday morning just isn’t the same with out ‘em.  Mmmm… 

Waffles

2 large eggs

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 3/4 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 Tbsp brown or white sugar

4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

chopped pecans *optional

Heat waffle iron.  Beat eggs in a large bowl with hand beater or wire whisk until fluffy.  Beat in remaining ingredients just until smooth.

Pour a scant 2/3 cup batter onto center of hot waffle iron (your waffle iron might take more or less batter, I suggest you check the manufacturer’s directions for your iron).  Close lid of waffle iron.  Bake about 5 minutes or until steaming stops.  Carefully remove waffle.  Serve immediately with syrup and fresh berries if desired.

**I dropped in some chopped pecans over the batter before closing the lid for my pecan waffle.

Makes 6 7-inch round waffles

Recipe from 2000 Betty Crocker Cookbook

Apple Crisp September 13, 2009

This is one of my favorite fall desserts.  All the ingredients are staples in my house and it doesn’t take much time throwing it together.  The most difficult part is peeling and slicing the apples, but if you have an apple slicer or one of those peeler/slicer gadgets (I don’t yet), that part is a breeze. 

Apple Crisp

 12 apples

1 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp cinnamon

2 cups brown sugar

1 1/2 cups oatmeal

1 cup margarine

Slice and peel apples and arrange in a buttered 9×13 dish.  Combine sugar, flour, oatmeal and cinnamon.  Cut in margarine until crumbly. 

Press over apples.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Recipe from: Aunt Jan 

Chili Casserole – A recipe from Clair September 8, 2009

I’m not sure about you, but I LOVE the summer!  I love the warm weather, the sun and being outside as much as possible.  But, one thing I do get sick of about the summer is grilling, grilling, grilling.  I love how easy and quick it is:  take some meat out of the freezer in the morning and hand it to my husband at night to grill it up, but eating grilled meat night after night, I get sick of it.

The one thing I look forward to each fall/winter is the warm soups, pastas and of course Chicken Broccoli Casserole that I usually cut back a lot of in the summer.  I actually gave in last week and made some Spaghetti Pie with homemade french bread.  Boy was it good!

Anyway, I recently checked Clair’s blog from Mummy Deals and found she created a recipe of her own, a Chili Casserole, so I thought I’d link you guys over to her site.  I think it’s a great idea what she put together and I look forward to giving it a try this fall.

Cinnamon Raisin Bread September 3, 2009

This is another one of those Sunday  night memories.  Besides the frozen pizzas and open face cheese sandwiches my mom would whip up after Sunday night church, I also remember having Cinnamon Raisin Bread occasionally.  I threw all the ingredients in the bread machine last Sunday afternoon so it would be ready in time for supper.  We ate the leftovers all week long warmed up in the micro or toasted in the toaster oven for a few minutes and spread with a little butter.  So good!

Cinnamon Raisin Bread

1 egg

1 cup warm milk

4 Tbsp soft butter

1/4 cup water

3 cups bread flour

2 Tbsp brown sugar

2 Tbsp white sugar

1 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1 pkg yeast

1 cup raisins

In the order listed, put all ingredients in the bread machine except the raisins.  Put the raisins in the extra compartment, if your bread machine has that option and specify that when setting up your bread machine.  Otherwise set the timer to add the raisins during the last few minutes of kneading.  Set bread machine according to your manual.

Recipe from Mom Van Eck