Cakes - The Recipe Box

Apple Caramel Coffee Cake
Loi Palmer, November 2005 MMCW
    2 sticks butter at room temperature, 1 cup white sugar, 1 cup brown sugar, 3 eggs, 3 cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 3 teaspoons cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, 3 large Granny Smith apples peeled and cut into chunks, 1 cup coarsely chopped pecans, 2 1/4 teaspoons of vanilla extract.
    Caramel topping: 4 tablespoons butter, 1/3 cup white sugar, 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup heavy cream.
    Heat oven to 325 degrees. In a large bowl use an electric mixer to blend the butter and white and brown sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time. Beat after adding each egg. In a separate bowl add flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Blend the apples, pecan, and vanilla into flour mixture. Next add the sugar mixture and stir with a wooden spoon. The mixture will be thick. Scrape mixture into a buttered 9 x 13 pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
    In a saucepan, over medium heat, melt butter. Add white and brown sugar, stirring frequently until sugars are dissolved. Stir in cream and bring to a boil. Cook for two minutes. Remove from heat. Drizzle the caramel topping over cake while it is still warm.

Caramel Cake
Loi Palmer
1 package plain white cake mix, 1 cup whole milk, 1 stick melted butter, 3 large eggs, 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract.
This can be baked in a 9 x 13 cake pan or two 9 inch round pans. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease cake pans with solid vegetable shortening, then dust with flour. Shake out the excess flour. Set pans aside.
Place the cake mix, milk, melted butter, eggs, and vanilla extract in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed 1 minute. Stop and scrap down the sides of the bowl. Increase the mixer speed to medium and blend for two more minutes. Pour batter into cake pans.
For round cakes, bake for 27 minutes.
For 9 x 13 cake, bake for 40 minutes.
Let cool for 10 minutes then run a knife around the edge of the pan and invert onto a cooling rack. Ice cake with Quick Caramel Frosting.
Quick Caramel Frosting: 1 stick butter, 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar, 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar, 1/2 cup whole milk, 2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract.
Place the butter and brown sugars in a medium-size heavy saucepan over medium heat. Stir and cook until the mixture comes to a boil, about 2 minutes. Add the milk, stir, then remove the pan from heat. Add the confectioners' sugar and vanilla. Beat with a wooden spoon until the frosting is smooth. Use immediately (while still warm) to frost the cake. If it does harden while you are frosting the cake, simply place the pan back over low heat and stir until the frosting softens up.

Chocolate Cream Frosting
Loi Palmer
    1 stick butter at room temperature, 1 teaspoon vanilla, (1) 4 ounce package of softened cream cheese, 4 cups powdered sugar, 1 cup cocoa, 2 tablespoons milk.
    Mix the softened butter and cream cheese together until well blended. Add vanilla and milk. Mix in the powdered sugar and cocoa powder; scrap down the bowl periodically. Add more milk, by drops, if frosting is too thick.

Chocolate Pan Frosting
Loi Palmer, May 2005 MMCW
    1 stick butter, 4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, 1/2 cup whole milk, 4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar.
    Place the butter in a medium saucepan and melt over low heat. Stir in the cocoa powder and milk. Let the mixture come to a boil, stirring and then remove pan from the heat. Stir in the Confectioner's sugar until the frosting is thickened and smooth. Pour the warm frosting over the top of the cake. Work quickly, this frosting goes on best while it is warm.

Divine Dark Chocolate Frosting
Loi Palmer
    1 large bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1 pint of heavy whipping cream. Only two ingredients!
    Combine the heavy whipping cream and chocolate chips in a sauce pan. Over medium heat, stir constantly with a wire whisk until the chips are totally melted. Remove the pan from the heat and let cool. Place the sauce pan in the refrigerator for several hours--the chocolate will thicken to a spreadable consistency. This will cover a three layer round cake.

Mandarin Orange Cake
Vicki Webb, January 2008 MMCW
Cake: 1 package of yellow cake mix without pudding, 3/4 cup oil, 4 eggs, 1 can mandarin oranges with juice.
Frosting: 1 large box instant vanilla pudding, 1 (20 oz) can undrained crushed pineapple, 1 (16 oz) Cool Whip topping.
Combine all four ingredients for cake and beat with mixer for 4 minutes. The oranges should be in pieces in the mix. Pour mixture into a greased 9 x 13 pan. Bake 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in cake comes out clean. Cool completely.
Mix pudding and Cool Whip with a spoon. Fold in pineapple. Spread frosting on cool cake. Keep refrigerated until time to serve. This cake is very moist and better if prepared a day ahead.

Mississippi Mud Cake
Loi Palmer, May 2005 MMCW
    1 package plain Devil's food cake mix, 1 stick melted butter, 1 1/2 cup buttermilk, 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 bag mini marshmallows, 1 cup chopped pecans (optional).
    Pour the cake mix, melted butter, buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Blend on low speed for one minute. Scrape down sides and continue blending for two minutes on medium speed. The batter should be well blended. Pour batter into a lightly greased 13 x 9 inch baking pan. Bake cake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Remove pan from oven. Turn off oven. Sprinkle marshmallows and pecans on warm cake and return the cake to the oven for five minutes while the marshmallows begin to melt. Remove cake from oven and top with Chocolate Pan Frosting (see above for recipe).

Perfect Rich Chocolate Birthday Cake
Loi Palmer, March 2007 MMCW
    1 package Devil's Food cake mix, 1 package (3.9 ounce) chocolate instant pudding mix, 1 stick melted butter, 1 cup sour cream, 4 large eggs, 1/2 cup warm water, 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips.
    Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mist pan with vegetable spray adn then lightly dust with flour, shake out the excess. Set the pan aside. Place cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, sour cream, warm water, and melted butter in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for 3 minutes. The batter should look thick and well combined. Fold in the chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared pan and place in center of the oven. Bake until center springs back when touched.
    For a bundt cake, bake about 45 to 50 minutes. For three round layer cakes, bake 30 to 35 minutes. For a 13 x 9 inch cake, bake 40 to 45 minutes.
    Let the cake sit in the pan and cool for 5 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of the pan before inverting on a cake plate or wire rack to finish cooling.

Pineapple Upside-down Cake
Loi Palmer, April 2006 MMCW
    This recipe makes two 9 inch round cakes, so surprise a neighbor with a gift from your kitchen.
    1 yellow cake mix, 1 cup sour cream, 3 large eggs, 1 cup milk, 1 tablespoon vanilla, 1 stick and 1/2 cup of softened butter, 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar, 2 ( 8 oz) cans of drained crushed pineapple, 1 cup chopped pecans.
    Melt 1/2 cup of butter and pour evenly into two ( 9-inch) round cake pans. Sprinkle brown sugar evenly over butter, along with the pecans and crushed pineapple. Set pans aside.
    With an electric mixer, blend on medium speed the cake mix, sour cream, eggs, milk, 1 stick of softened butter, and vanilla extract. Spoon batter evenly over pineapple / sugar mixture in prepared pans.
    Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes. Invert while still warm onto cake plate. Top with Whipped Topping (see below for recipe).

Royal Plum Cake
Kellie Renfroe, December 2005 MMCW website
    2 cups sugar, 3 beaten eggs, 1 cup oil, 1 cup chopped walnuts, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 2 cups self-rising flour, 2 small jars of plum baby food, 1 teaspoon grated cloves.
    Mix in order given. Do not use an electric mixer; mix by hand. Bake about one hour at 350 degrees in a greased and floured Bundt pan or two loaf pans or six mini loaf pans.

Triple Chocolate Cake
Vicki Webb, August 2007 MMCW website
     1 package chocolate cake mix, 1 cup sour cream, 1 (4 oz ) chocolate instant pudding mix, 4 eggs, 1/2 cup vegetable oil, 1/2 cup water, 3 cups thawed Cool Whip, 8 oz baking chocolate, 1 1/2 cup raspberries (optional).
     Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 12 cup fluted tube pan or 10-inch tube pan. Beat all ingredients except Cool Whip, chocolate, and raspberries in a large bowl with electric mixer on low speed just until moistened. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl as needed. Pour into prepared pan.
     Bake 50 minutes to 1 hour or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; loosen from side of pan with knife and gently remove cake. Cool Completely on wire rack. Place on serving plate.
     Microwave Cool Whip and chocolate in bowl on high 1 1/2 to 2 minutes or until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is well blended. Drizzle over cake. If using raspberries, soon into center of cake. Store leftover cake in the refrigerator.

Vanilla Wafer Cake
Loi Palmer
1/2 lb butter (2 sticks), 2 cups sugar, 6 eggs, 1 (12 oz) box vanilla wafers crushed, 2 (7 oz) cans coconut, 1 and 1/2 cups pecans broken into pieces, 2 tablespoons milk.
Place vanilla wafers in food processor and crush into crumbs. Set aside. Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating 1 minute after each egg. Add crushed vanilla wafer crumbs and 2 tablespoons milk. Add coconut and pecan pieces. Bake in greased and floured tube pan at 325 degrees for 1 1/2 hours. Let cool completely in pan.

Whipped Topping for Cake
Loi Palmer, April 2006 MMCW
    2 cups whipping cream, 2 tablespoons light brown sugar, 2 tablespoons powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla.
    Pour whipping cream into chilled glass or metal bowl. Add brown sugar and let it dissolve. Mix on high speed until foamy. Add powdered sugar and vanilla. Continue mixing until peaks form. This happens very quickly, be careful not to over beat it. Serve on top of cake.