25 Cake & Cupcake Recipes

Oh, Saturday morning. How I love thee. I woke up rather lazily today, with one well-behaved chihuahua at my side and a not-so-well-behaved one deciding to sit on my chest and lick my face. Face Licker had decided it was time to get up. Face Licker being Mariota, that is 😂 

I shuffled my way to the Keurig and made a cup of coffee, admiring the view out the window whilst the coffee brewed. It rained last night, which makes me happy. That saves an hour of yard work. I also noted the bird feeders were quite full. It never fails that there is lull in bird activity every summer. The hawks have been staking out the yard fairly aggressively which every year has meant the birds leave for a little while. They'll be back. But that was another chore that didn't need to be done. 

It was a great morning. All I had to do was fill the bee waterers with fresh water and pick some strawberries. I honestly thought the strawberries would be spent by now, but they are really showing no signs of stopping. I'm thinking I'm going to be picking fresh berries every day until the first frost. Which, of course, is fine by me. 

Classic Pecan Pie

-plus tips on making your own pie crust!

Another Thanksgiving recipe!

Pecan Pie is a serious favorite around these Southern parts. People around here, and especially the hubby's family, love anything pecan pie. Anything pecan, really. Pecan Pie Cake? Yes, ma'am. Pecan Pie Shortbread Cookies? Oh, yes. Pecan Pie Milkshakes? Bring it on. So needless to say, I've been working on perfecting my classic pecan pie.

Pumpkin Milkshake for 1

Happy Thanksgiving Eve!

While we are on the cusp of one of my most favorite holidays, I've got a simple, easy, and proportional treat. It's the perfect dessert for 1 person, and best of all, you can use any leftover pumpkin puree you have remaining from making pumpkin pies. I had about 3/4 cup of leftover pumpkin puree, and it ended up being the perfect amount for this milkshake. There's really nothing to this recipe, only 4 ingredients. Pumpkin puree, vanilla ice cream, a tiny amount of pumpkin pie ice, and because I'm a kid at heart, some chocolate sprinkles. 

In fact, because I was just making this for me, I didn't even bother to unearth the blender. I used my smoothie cup and my immersion blender. Perfect for a small amount of liquid and what felt like less cleaning. 

It occurred to me, as I'm sitting here typing, that I could have a blog specifically dedicated to desserts for one. Honestly, most of the desserts I make are desserts for one. The hubby and I aren't exactly dessert people, and I'm almost always more or less focused on what I'm making for dinner. But, later in the evening, I usually am rooting around the kitchen, looking for something sweet. I end up making cookies in mugs in the microwave, mini-cakes to inhale, or something cold and frosty, like milkshakes. In the case of this milkshake, my eyes passed over that container containing a smidge of leftover pumpkin. That was all she wrote. 

Can I tell you how much I'm loving pumpkin this fall? Well, it's a lot. A lot, a lot, a lot. Y'all are going to have to put up with pumpkin recipes well into December. I made Turkey Pumpkin Chili the other night, and it was so good. When I think of pumpkin, I always think of pumpkin pie. Or pumpkin spice lattes. Or this milkshake. Whatever the case, when I think pumpkin, I think of that spicy, sweet flavor. But that's only because we all love to add sugar to pumpkin. My chili had 2 cups of pumpkin puree in it, and let me tell you, it tasted nothing like pumpkin spice! :)

Trust me, when it comes to chili, that's a good thing!

As I mentioned at the beginning of my post, it's the day before Thanksgiving! I, unfortunately, have to pick up a few things at the grocery store. Argh. Not looking forward to that. After I brave the crowds, with their turkey-hazed, wild-eyed craziness, you can bet I'm not leaving the house. I have a Pecan Pie to bake today and Deviled Eggs to make. I've actually never made Deviled Eggs before, so something new for me. I'm a tad nervous about the Pecan Pie, pies are so temperamental. I did pick up a clear pie pan, so there's no chance I'm going to an under-baked crust :) Now all I have to worry about it is making sure the filling is not "soupy". It is supposed to be somewhat overcast today. Which makes me a little nervous of that old wives tale saying you should never bake Pecan Pie on an overcast day. Cross your fingers for me!

I hope everyone has fantastic, safe, and family-filled holiday tomorrow. Happy Thanksgiving Eve!

Ingredients (makes 1 milkshake):

3/4 cup pumpkin puree

2 small scoops vanilla ice cream

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

optional: chocolate sprinkles

Directions:

1. Combine pumpkin, ice cream, and pumpkin pie spice in a blender. Blend until smooth. Pour into a glass and top with chocolate sprinkles, if using. Serve immediately!

Printable Recipe

If you liked this recipe, you may enjoy these!

Homemade Pumpkin Puree

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Linked to: Weekend Potluck, Foodie Friday, Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party, Treasure Box Tuesday

Pecan Pie Cake

Pecan pie is good.

Cake is good.

Therefore, shouldn't taking the two and combining them into one delicious confection be twice as good? 

Yes, yes it is.

This is a cake among cakes. So freakin' good. I do realize pecan pie is poplar during the winter, holiday months, but cake is popular year round. I felt no shame "pecan-ing out" this spring. The cake is rich and moist, with layers of custard and toasted nuts. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and you'll think you've died and gone to heaven. 

This is a bit of a labor intensive cake. I made it for my mother-in-law's birthday a couple of weeks ago, and I did not know what I was getting myself into. My MIL (much like the hubby's aunt) didn't have a preference on cake, and asked for a surprise. Both her and the hubby have an affinity for Pecan Pie, and I'd had this recipe under my hat for over a year. Waiting for the perfect opportunity to try it. Well, my MIL was ALL about it when I suggested it. I set about to make it the day before her birthday, until I realized I probably wouldn't be constructing the cake till the next day. The custard layer really should sit overnight in the fridge before you use it in the layers. So I made the custard, and into the fridge it went. The custard layer worked perfectly in construction the next day. I then turned my focus to the cakes, realizing I was going to need 3 bowls and to separate a lot of eggs. I hate separating eggs. Somehow, someway I always get egg yolk in my whites. Never fear, I managed to separate with ease this day. 

The egg whites are separated in this case, and whipped up. Like meringue. The egg whites are folded into the cake batter at the end, I believe to add levity to the cake. It's very important to have absolutely no yolk in your whites, or your egg whites aren't going to stiffen properly. Which means your cake won't rise. Which spells disaster! 

Ok, I'm being a little dramatic. But seriously, don't get yolk in your whites.

As I was preparing the cake, I noticed a little note in the recipe. It said you should never make pecan pie on a rainy or overcast day. What?? I'd never heard that before. It's apparently an old Southern adage. Indeed, this recipe is adapted from a Southern Living recipe. Well. I wanted to know why. Upon googling this perplexity, I was able to find... nothing. No reason that you should avoid making pecan pie on a rainy day except that you just should. Consequently, I've relegated that adage into the category of old wives' tales. 

So, there you go. Pecan Pie Cake. It sounds and looks decadent, and it totally is. Who cares if it's not Thanksgiving? Get down with your bad self anyway!

Happy Hump Day!

Ingredients:

Custard-

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

3/4 cup dark corn syrup

1/3 cup cornstarch

4 egg yolks

1 1/2 cups half-n-half

1/8 tsp salt

3 tbsp butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

Cake-

3 cups pecans, toasted and finely chopped

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup shortening

2 cups sugar

5 eggs, separated

1 tbsp vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup buttermilk

corn syrup

Directions:

1. Prepare the custard- combine dark brown sugar through salt in a COLD saucepan. Whisk until smooth. Turn heat on, and bring mixture to a boil over medium heat. Whisk CONSTANTLY. Cook 1 minute or until mixture begins to thicken. Remove from heat, whisk in the butter and vanilla until smooth and melted, then press a piece of wax paper over the top of the custard to prevent a skin from forming. When mixture has cooled, chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours. 

2. Prepare the cakes- Preheat oven to 350º. Completely coat 3 (9 inch) round cake pans with cooking spray. Distribute the 3 cups of pecans evenly into the 3 pans, shaking to coat the bottoms and sides of pan.

3. In a large bowl, cream the butter and shortening until fluffy. Beat in sugar. Beat in egg yolks. Beat in vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine flour and baking soda. Add flour mixture slowly to butter mixture, alternating with buttermilk. Repeat until flour mixture and buttermilk are completely mixed in.

4. In another bowl, beat egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Gently fold egg whites into batter. Distribute batter among the 3 pans.

5. Bake in preheated oven 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes, then turn cakes out to a cooling rack. Brush cakes with corn syrup (I recommend putting a piece of wax paper under your cooling rack). Cool completely before constructing cake.

6. Construct cake- Spread half of custard on one cake, pecan side up. Place 2nd layer of cake, pecan side up, on top of custard. Smooth on remainder of custard. Place remaining cake, pecan side up, on top of remainder of filling. 

7. Slice cake, and serve with whip cream or vanilla ice cream.

Printable Recipe

Recipe adapted from Southern Living.

Linked to: Weekend Potluck, Foodie Friday, Tickle My Tastebuds Tuesdays

Rustic Mini Apple Pies

It's probably not the correct season for apple pie, but guess what?

I don't care! The heart wants what the heart wants. And this kid wanted apple pie.

Actually, I've had 4 apples in my fruit bowl, lonely as hell, for a couple of weeks now. I wanted to do something with them, and apple pie was the first thing that came to mind. It then became a stubborn road block in my mind, as apple pie was the only thing I could think of. I decided (much like Mike) to just do it.

I had one sheet of puff pastry left in the freezer, so I decided to use that as the crust and to make mini pies. What's better than your own personal little pie? Not a lot my friend, not a lot. These might be the new dessert that I make for Christmas or Thanksgiving. They're just so cute!

Don't worry Hubby, I'll still make your pecan pie too :)

Ingredients (Makes 4):

1 sheet puff pastry, slightly thawed
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp cinnamon
dash of salt
4 apples, skinned and chopped

Crumb topping-

3 tbsp butter, very cold
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
dash of cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325º. Spray 4 cups in a jumbo muffin pan with cooking spray. Cut puff pastry sheet into 4 parts. Place cuts of puff pastry into muffin pan, shaping into mini-pies. Poke puff pastry with a fork in several places to help the dough rise evenly. Set pan aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine sugar through salt. Stir in apples. Divide apple topping among 4 mini-pies.
3. In a smaller bowl, combine butter through cinnamon. Cut into mixture, until mixture resembles a coarse crumb. Divide crumb mixture among the 4 pies.
4. Bake in pre-heated oven 25-35 minutes, or until sides of crust are browned and apples are bubbly. Let cool in pan for 1 hour. Remove pies to a cooling rack, cool completely before storage. Serve with whip cream, or ice cream.

*Recipe adapted from: Simple Daily Recipes

Thanksgiving Weekend Wrap-Up

Thanksgiving was fantastic this year. It was my first Thanksgiving in Kentucky and we had a great time with family, food, and football (My 3 F's of Thanksgiving). Some pictures to wrap up our holiday:

Pouring the oil in the pot

Lighting the turkey burner (appropriate name today!)

Jerame and Joyce

Me and the Hubby

Our little family

Jerame making the bread for dinner 

Rubbing the bird, getting ready for the drop!

About to drop the bird!

The bird is safely in the oil. 45 minutes later, that bird was done and tasty!

I wish I had taken a picture of the finished turkey! It was a gorgeous bird and it was delicious! The outside skin was crispy and flavorful and the meat was juicy, moist, and oh-so-good! My pecan pie also turned out fantastic!

First pie I have ever made!

The rest of our holiday weekend was jam packed as well. Friday, Jerame's cousin and his wife came to our house to visit and we had a great time. We went down to a local restaurant and enjoyed drinks and some food before coming back to our house to play games and drink some more. It was a fun night! On Saturday, we returned to Jerame's mother's house to help her get her Christmas decorations out and put up her tree. This took most of the morning and afternoon and by the time we got home, it was civil war time! It was the perfect civil war (if you are a Duck fan that is!) with the Ducks winning it. The Ducks will now play in the Pac 12 Championship game and should they win (and they definitely should!), they will go to the Rose Bowl. Not bad Duckies! On Sunday, Jerame and I were lucky enough to get free tickets to the Bengals/Brown's game in Cincinnati. This was my first NFL game and it was awesome! The Bengals stadium is so different than any college stadium I have ever seen and just the fact that I was seeing in person what I have been watching on TV since I was 10 was amazing. The hubby and I are definitely looking forward to attending more NFL games in the future hopefully. It was a busy weekend, I think you can see why it took me so long to get back to my blog :)

Gobble Gobble!

I have been meaning to blog for the last couple of days, but it has just not happened! To be honest, my to-do list almost always takes precedence over blogging and for the past week at the end of the day, the blogging has fallen by the wayside. So this morning, I put my blog on my to-do list! I have been running around like a crazy person getting ready for Thanksgiving. I am feeling a little bittersweet this year. Thanksgiving is one of my most favorite holidays but this will be my first Thanksgiving in 28 YEARS that I have not been home with my parents. Wow. Like I said, bittersweet milestone. The hubby and I are having Thanksgiving at his mother's house this year. It should be a small celebration and I am ok with that! Jerame has taken on the task of the turkey, which he plans to deep fry. I volunteered to make my garlic mashed potatoes. Yum! I have adapted my recipe from a cooking light recipe and they are yummy!

Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Here is my recipe. The ingredients you will need (this recipe serves 8 by the way):

4 garlic heads (you can use 2 but we like to really taste the garlic in ours)

2 1/2 lbs of red potatoes

1/4 cup of butter

1/3 cup of low fat buttermilk

1/4 cup of low fat sour cream

2 tbsp of minced parsley

1 tsp of salt

1/2 tsp of pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Peel the garlic heads and wrap in aluminum foil. When oven is preheated, place aluminum packets in oven for 45 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool (this takes a while). Once cool, squeeze the garlic out of the heads and reserve roasted garlic.

Cut potatoes in half or if they are large potatoes, into fourths. Place potatoes in pot and cover with 1 inch of water. Salt water if desired. Bring water to a boil, then lower heat and simmer potatoes for 12-15 minutes. Pierce potato with fork to check tenderness. Remove potatoes from heat and drain water.

I usually then put the potatoes in a mixing boil. Add the reserved garlic and butter. Using a hand mixer, smash the butter and garlic into the potatoes. Add a little of the buttermilk and begin mixing on low. Once mixing, add in the rest of the buttermilk, the sour cream, the parsley, and then the salt and pepper. Be careful not to over mix. The mixing process honestly takes less than 1 minute. I usually taste test the potatoes at this point and add more seasoning if needed (I find that I never add more salt and pepper). 

You're done and you have DELISH potatoes.

I am also in charge of making pecan pie and my mother's clam dip. I will be making both of those tomorrow and definitely planning on taking pictures to blog about since it will be my first time making either! Eek! Hopefully all goes well.