Cinnamon Rolls

This is my favorite cinnamon roll recipe! I saw the recipe on the Food Network in "2006". I printed the recipe and saved it to try later. I finally tested the recipe about a year ago when I saw it again on a friends blog. I wish I would have tested sooner, it really is good!

Please click here for the recipe.

Pumpkin-Cinnamon Streusel Buns

I first saw these rolls on "Lick the bowl good". I just had to try them! Result? Amazing! Perfect for using up any leftover pumpkin puree from the fridge.

Please click here for the recipe.

Creamy Pumpkin Cheesecake With Ginger-Pecan Crust

This months "Cake Slice" bakers selection was this awesome creamy pumpkin cheescake from "The Cake Book" by Tish Boyle! I'm a few days late making this recipe. I wanted to wait and make it for Thanksgiving. So what did I think of this recipe you may ask? It was just like the title says "creamy"! I also loved the pumpkin seeds! I had a little trouble with the crust since I don't own a food processor. I hope that all changes tonight when I go to "Kohls" for that awesome deal  they have on the "Cuisinart" food processor, please wish me luck! I hope they have more than just one or two, and that I don't get trampled trying to grab one!

I want to wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving. Once again I have plenty to be thankful for.
Printable recipe link below.

Printable Recipe

Apple Cake with Maple Frosting

This months "Cake Slice" bakers selection was "Apple Cake With Maple Frosting" from our new book "The Cake Book" by Tish Boyle. This book is filled with tons of great recipes which I'm super excited about!

This months recipe couldn't have been more perfect for this time of year. It filled my house with the aroma of fall spices! 

The cake turned out very good, it was a perfect blend of spices, the frosting was my favorite, and the cake seemed to taste better the next day! For a printable copy of the recipe please click here. 

Blueberry Buckle

Finally that time of year again when the "Cake Slice" bakers get to bake from a new book. This month is the last month we bake from "cake keeper Cakes". Instead of voting on a cake this month we got to pick out from the book any cake we want to bake! I've had my eye on a few recipes, I ended up choosing "Blueberry Buckle". Let me tell you I'm so glad I chose this one! Its bursting in blueberries! And the topping is just an added bonus! And was perfect with my Sunday morning coffee, what a real treat it was!

I have to say this is my favorite recipe from the book, the "Orange-Almond-Caramel Upside-Down Cake" is my second favorite, and the "Graham Cracker-Chocolate Chip Snacking Cake" is my third. My least favorite was the "Cinnamon Pudding Cake", quite honestly it was horrible!

Next month we will be baking from a new book, which I'm pretty excited about. I made a total of 8 out of 12 cakes with the "Cake Slice" bakers. Pretty good I think even though my oven was out for 3 months, what a nightmare that was! Lets see if I could get my numbers up just a little more this next round!

Bluberry Buckle from "cake keeper Cakes" by Lauren Chattman

FOR THE STREUSEL

1/3 c. unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 c. packed light brown sugar

1/2 c. granulated sugar

1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. salt

4 tbls. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into pieces

FOR THE CAKE

2 c. unbleached all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

3 c. blueberries, washed and picked over

4 tbls. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 c. granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1/2 c. milk

MAKE THE STREUSEL

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch round springform pan.

2. Combine the flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add the butter; use an electric mixer to mix, on low, until it resembles coarse meal with some large crumbs. Transfer to a smaller bowl and refrigerate until ready to use.

MAKE THE CAKE

1. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Place the berries in a bowl and stir in 1/4 cup of the flour mixture to coat.

2. Combine the butter and granulated sugar in the large mixing bowl and cream with an electric mixer in medium-high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down th sides of the bowl once or twice as necesarry. With the mixer on low speed, add the egg and vanilla.

3. With the mixer on low speed, add 1/3 of the flour mixture and then 1/2 of the milk, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Repeat, alternating flour and milk and ending with flour. Stir in the berry and flour mixture with a large rubber spatula, trying not to mash too many of the blueberries. The batter will be stiff. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth into an even layer with a spatula.

4.Squeeze the sreusel through your fingers an onto the batter, distributing it evenly over the cake and making some large crumbs. Bake the cake until it is golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 55 to 60 minutes. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Release the sides of the pan and use a large spatula to slide the cake from the pan bottom to a wire rack. Cool completely, cut into wedges, and serve.

5. Store uneaten cake in a cake keeper or wrap in plastic and store at room temperature for up to 2 days.

The streusel was pretty awesome!

Just look at those blueberries!

Hungarian Coffee Cake

This months "Cake Slice" bakers selection was a "Hungarian Coffee Cake". I was pretty eager to make this cake this month, since I've never seen Monkey Bread made this way before.

After making the cake I wasn't too impressed. I think it was because I had it while it was still warm, because the next day that I had a slice it seemed a whole lot better. Overall not a bad cake, different from my traditional Monkey Bread recipe, this one had more of a biscuit texture, but still a good cake. Now I have more ways to use up buttermilk from my fridge. For the recipe please click here. The changes I made were omitting the raisins, and I doubled the nuts.

Fresh out of the oven! Smelled pretty awesome!

Zebra Cake

 This months "Cake Slice" bakers voted for this cool "Zebra Cake". I was very excited to try this new recipe. I loved how the stripes turned out, and the flavor of the cake was pretty good. I normally don't care for marlbled cake, but this recipe had a bit more flavor than I'm used to, the chocolate flavor really stood out! I will try to post the recipe by this weekend.

Right out of the oven.....it smelled so yummy!



Love the swirls!

Orange-Almond-Caramel Upside-Down Cake

 I would like to start with saying that my oven is finally fixed! I don't know how I ever survived without it! With that said, this months "Cake Slice" bakers selection was this upside-down cake. I actually just finished the cake this evening and just had a warm slice! Yummm! It was really buttery and moist and had just the right amount of orange zest. This cake reminds me of the Cranberry cake we did last winter, it really looks alot like it, but way different in flavor. This recipe is an absolute keeper! For the recipe please click here.

I almost forgot to mention this recipe makes plenty of batter for a 10" round cake pan, I wouldn't try pouring  it all in the 9" pan it calls for. I also cooked my topping for about half the time required, one of our "Cake Slice" bakers had her caramel over harden in the baking process and I wanted to prevent this from happening to my cake. Thank you "Lick the Bowl Good" for the tip!

Chocolate Cream Pound Cake

 This months "Cake Slice Bakers" selection was a chocolate pound cake.Most of you know by now that my oven has been out for a month, which kept me from making last months cake. I really didn't want to miss out baking with the group this month so I ended up going to my sisters to use her oven, which I felt was really sweet of her to let me come over considering she just had a baby and she hasn't had much rest the last few weeks. Plus the kids were excited to have someone come over and bake for them.

I was a little dissapointed with the cake. I've never made a pound cake before, and I guess I was hoping this would turn out super fabulous. The cake ended up sinking in the middle after I pulled it from the oven. I had a slice of it when it was warm and wasn't impressed, all I tasted was sugar, and expected a nice fudgy taste. The next morning I had a cold slice, which was better, but nothing to drool over.The only thing I really liked about this recipe was the batter, it was like mousse and so good, thats why I was so dissapointed with the outcome. I have never baked with dutch processed cocoa, so I'm not quite sure how the flavor of the cakes are supposed to turn out. I guess I expected an intense flavor of chocolate. I ended up using regular whipping cream instead of heavy cream, and I'm not sure if I purchased the correct cocoa. The container stated it had a  mix of fine cocoa including dutch processed, if any one has a suggestion on a different brand I could easily purchase at the grocery store your tip would be greatly appreciated.

Did I purchase the correct cocoa?

I didn't care for the texture of the cake

For the recipe please click here! Hopefully you'll have better luck than I did!

Now I can't mention my new baby niece without sharing pictures! She's so adorable!

Baby Emma, two weeks old!

Baby Emma just a few hours old! Born 2/28/11

Baby Emma and me!

Graham Cracker-Chocolate Chip Snacking Cake

This months "Cake Slice Bakers" selection was this graham cracker cake. I ended up doing a light version of the cake. I used only 1/2 a stick of butter, used 1 egg and 1 egg white, and for the frosting just used the marshmellow fluff. The result? Pretty darn tasty! The cake was really light and fluffy, not dense like I've heard from the some of the bakers. I'm really glad I went with the light version of this cake, I felt way less guilty about having a slice and I still managed to have a weight loss this week! Yay! Please click here for the recipe.