Strawberry Cake

I have a fantastic dessert recipe to share today!  This is actually the dessert I hinted that I would be making for Easter.  It turned out beautifully, so of course I have to pass on the recipe to all of my dear readers as well.

And as fancy as it looks, it’s so easy to make!  Even a beginner could whip up this cake and wow everyone

To give credit where credit is due, I found this recipe on a wonderful Youtube channel called Laura in the Kitchen.  I highly recommend checking her site out, I’ve made several of her recipes and they’ve all been delicious!

How good does this cake look??  I love making things with fruit this time of here, and strawberries just epitomize spring to me.

The complete recipe (and video as well) can be found here on Laura’s website.  Give this cake a try, I guarantee you won’t be disappointed!

Until next time, Happy Cooking

Press-In-Pan Pie Crust

Easiest pie crust you will ever make, I guarantee it!  I have been meaning to share this recipe for a long time, and today I’m finally going to.

This is the pie crust I always use, and it’s an absolutely no fail recipe.  I readily admit that making a traditional pie crust is an art that I have just never been able to master.  With this pie crust I never have to worry about whether it’s going to turn out okay, and it takes a lot less time to make.

Simply mix together the ingredients in a bowl, like so.

Turn it out into a pie plate.

And just start pressing with your fingers until, voila, it looks like this!

This crust was used for this savory summer pie recipe, my absolute favorite quiche.

If you are looking for a quick and easy, from-scratch pie crust, then I hope you’ll give this recipe a try!  Until next time, Happy Cooking

Press-In-Pan Pie Crust

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1-2 Tb milk

Directions:

Stir together the flour and salt in a mixing bowl.  Add oil and milk, 1 Tb at a time, until the dough comes together into a ball.  Turn out into a pie plate and press into the bottom and sides to form a crust.

Bake at 425 degrees for 10-12 minutes, or until lightly browned. 

This crust works equally well with sweet and savory dishes.

Sweet Potato Brownies

I have had this recipe saved in my Allrecipes.com recipe box for as long as I can remember, and it finally took the fact that I had two little sweet potatoes that were in dire need of being used up for me to finally make it.

Don’t make the same mistake I did!!

These are sooo good.  The main flavor really isn’t even the sweet potato (not that I would have minded since I love sweet potatoes) but the butterscotch flavor from the brown sugar and butter. And the glaze just puts them over the top.  Sinfully sweet!

Jay wrinkled up his nose at the idea of sweet potato brownies.  He has now learned the error of his ways   He thought they were delicious too.

And I think you’ll agree if you give them a try!  Until next time, Happy Cooking

Sweet Potato Brownies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 cups peeled and finely shredded sweet potato
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 Tb softened butter
• 2 Tb milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 13×9 baking dish.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars until smooth.  Beat in the eggs one at a time.  Stir in vanilla.

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.  Stir into the batter just until blended.  Fold in the sweet potatoes.  Spread the batter evenly in the baking dish.

Bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. 

Mix together the powedered sugar, butter, and milk until smooth.  Spread over the brownies while they are still warm.

I’m sharing this recipe with:

• Potluck Sunday

Tomato Spice Cake

That’s right, you read that title correctly.  Tomato spice cake!  But don’t worry, it tastes nothing like tomatoes, I promise.  I wouldn’t do that to y’all

I did mean to share this recipe before now, but Jay came down with a cold and then I did too, and you know how it is when you’re sick.  Most everything food related looks disgusting, so I figured it was a good idea to actually feel like blogging about food before I did so.  Makes sense, huh?

I first tried this cake a while back when a co-worker brought it in.  I loved it and wanted to give it a try myself.  I don’t know if this is the same recipe she used, but mine comes straight from Campbell’s and it was really good! 

I know that this cake originally came from the Depression era when milk and eggs were scare, so the soup was used as the main moistening ingredient.  This recipe does have eggs so I’m sure it’s not completely authentic.  But eggs aren’t exactly scarce any more, right?  So we can be a bit extravagant and add eggs!

If you’re looking to try something a little different then give this a try because it’s delicious!  Until next time, happy cooking

Tomato Spice Cake

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp allspice
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp cloves
• 1 can Campbell’s Tomato Soup
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup water

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 2 Tb milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 16 ounces powdered sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 13×9 baking pan.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients.  Add the soup, oil, eggs, and water, mixing until well combined.  Pour into the prepared baking pan.

Bake for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting, beat together the cream cheese, milk, and vanilla until creamy.  Slowly beat in the powdered sugar until frosting is the desired consistency.

Lemon Pudding Cake

As I sit here typing this post, outside my window is a world of white, and the snow continues to fall.  While I admit it’s beautiful as it falls, when all I’ve seen out my window since last November is white (and various shades of gray) you can’t blame me for growing weary of it.  So, in spite of, or rather because of, the snow, I find myself dreaming of Spring today.

I woke up wanting to bake something, and not just any old baking, but something to make it feel like Spring, at least in my kitchen if nowhere else.

I don’t think I could have made anything that more perfectly suited my mood than this lemon pudding cake.  It comes from this old Pillsbury cookbooklet.

 

It was light and airy with a bright lemon flavor that made me want to close my eyes and imagine myself sitting on a front porch swing somewhere warm eating a bowl of this.

If you happen to live some place warm and have a front porch swing to boot then you’ll love this (and I am incredibly jealous!), and if you’re stuck living some place like I do where it’s still a frozen tundra outside, then maybe making a dish of this lemon pudding cake will bring a little bit of Spring into your home like it did mine. 

It’s amazing how just a handful of simple ingredients (this is a very frugal recipe!) can be transformed into something so wonderful.

 

I hope y’all enjoy this recipe as much as I did!  And until next time, happy cooking

Lemon Pudding Cake

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs, separated
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/8 tsp salt

Directions:

Whisk together the egg yolks.  Blend in milk, lemon juice, and lemon zest.  Add sugar, flour, and salt.  Whisk until batter is smooth.

Beat reserved egg whites until stiff peaks form.  Gently fold into the batter.

Pour into a greased 1-quart casserole dish (mine was 1 1/2 quarts).  Place in a 13×9 inch pan or other large casserole dish.  Pour hot water into pan up to a depth of about 1 inch.

Bake at 325 degrees for 35-40 minutes, or until golden brown (I baked mine just a smidgen too long!).  Can be served warm or cool.

I’m sharing this recipe with:

• Potluck Sunday
• Cookbook Sundays