Pinterest Cake

I don't know if you've heard about this new site called Pinterest? But it's kind of the best thing ever. Recipes, work out advice and fashion come together and breed on Pinterest and it's a beautiful thing.

For instance, I found the recipe for this cake on Pinterest:

1 18 oz. cake mix
1 c. fat free Greek yogurt
1 c. water

Since the box of cake mix my hubs picked up was 16 oz. I used just a hair under 1 cup of yogurt and only mixed in enough of the cup of water until I had the consistency of cake mix.

I followed the baking instructions on the box and though it looked kind of wonky going into the oven, coming out it looked awesome.
And for the frosting, I recently discovered a recipe called The Best Buttercream Frosting Ever on Pinterest.

1 c. salted butter at room temp
4 c. fresh powdered sugar
4-5 T. cream (I used half and half)
2-3 T. vanilla

First, whip the butter, then add sugar, then add cream (I used 4 tablespoons since it was perfectly smooth and spreadable at that point), then add vanilla (I used 2 tablespoons).

And it was so good. When I say this cake is moist, you will not even understand how moist and delicious I am telling you it is. My husband and I were fighting over who would get to take it to work first.

Cake nutritional info: PER SERVING (1 piece, 1/12th of cake): 180 calories, 3.25g fat, 306mg sodium, 34.5g carbs, <0.5g fiber, 20g sugars, 3.5g protein

[the frosting is pure butter and sugar, you do the math on the nutritional info]

Cake link
Frosting link

Maple Bacon Cupcakes

Maple Bacon Cupcakes

Yield: 12

Oven Temp: 350°F

4 ½ TBS butter, room temperature

½ TBS bacon drippings, cold

1 egg

5 TBS brown sugar

4 TBS maple syrup

1 ¼ c self rising flour

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp baking powder

pinch kosher salt

¼ c milk

¼ c minced bacon, cooked and drained

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Fry 7 half slices of bacon in a pan.  Reserve ½ TBS of drippings and place in the refrigerator to solidify.  Chop all the bacon placing ¼ c in a small bowl for the cupcakes and the rest in a separate bowl for the icing. 

Beat the butter and bacon fat until light and creamy.  Add the brown sugar and maple syrup, beating until combined.  Add the egg and beat until incorporated.

In a small bowl sift the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder together.  Alternate adding the flour and milk to the batter beginning and ending with the flour.  Mix just until combined.  Fold in the bacon. 

Place cupcake papers in a muffin pan.  Scoop a scant ¼ c of batter into each muffin paper.  Bake for 18-22 minutes, rotating after 10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a center muffin comes out clean.

Maple Syrup Frosting:

4 TBS butter

2 TBS maple syrup

1 c powdered sugar

turbinado sugar (raw sugar)

coarse grain sea salt

bacon bits

Using a whisk attachment, combine the syrup and butter.  Add the sugar, a bit at a time, and whip at high speed until combined.  Pipe or spread onto cupcakes.  Sprinkle with turbinado sugar, sea salt, and bacon bits.

Source: AllRecipes.com

Quick Mix Layer Cake

Cake:
Prep time 15 minutes

1/2 cup margarine
2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cups milk
2 eggs
2 T. milk
1 t. vanilla

Grease and flour 2 9-in. layer cake pans.

Stir margarine to soften.

Sift flour and sugar together over margarine.

Add 3/4 c. milk, mix until all flour mixture is dampened.

Beat two minutes on medium speed of mixer.

Add eggs, two tablespoons of milk and vanilla. Beat one minute on medium speed.

Pour into prepared pans. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched with finger.



Frosting:
1 stick (1/2 cup) margarine
2/3 cup Hershey's cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 c milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk beating on medium speed to spreading consistency. Add more milk if needed. Stir in vanilla. Makes about 2 cups.

Notes: I don't know how but I completely forgot about the vanilla in the frosting. Luckily, it's still pretty good. The cake on the other hand isn't as moist as I would have hoped. The frosting definitely helps, but it's not what I thought it'd be.

Chocolate Cake

¾ c. butter, softened
3 eggs
2 c. all-purpose flour
¾ c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 t. baking soda
¾ t. baking powder
½ t. salt
2 c. sugar
2 t. vanilla
1 ½ c. milk

1. Allow butter and eggs to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, lightly grease bottoms of two 8x8x2-inch square or 9x1½-inch round cake pans. Line bottoms of pans with waxed paper. Grease and lightly flour bottoms and sides of pans. Or, grease one 13x9x2-inch baking pan.

2. In a medium bowl stir together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

3. In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Gradually add sugar, about ¼ cup at a time, beating on medium speed until well combined (3-4 minutes). Scrape sides of bowl; continue beating on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating after each addition (about 1 minute total). Beat in vanilla.

4. Alternately add flour mixture and milk to butter mixture, beating on low speed after each addition just until combined. Beat on medium to high speed for 20 seconds more. Make sure you keep scraping the bottom of the bowl. Spread batter evenly into the prepared pan(s).

5. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 35 to 40 minutes for 8-inch pans and 13x9x2-inch pan, 30-35 minutes for 9-inch pan, or until a wooden toothpick inserted near centers comes out clean. Cool cake layers in pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pans. Peel off waxed paper. Cool thoroughly on racks.

Frosting: Chocolate Deluxe Icing
2 c. sifted confectioners sugar
¼ t. salt
1 large egg
1/3 c. soft shortening
2 squares (2 oz.) unsweetened chocolate, melted (microwaved for 30-60 seconds)

Beat ingredients together until fluffy.

Notes: This was so yummy. Very moist. Because I have dark non-shiny pans I decreased the oven temp to 325 and I think that helped.

Source: Cake - Better Homes and Gardens, Frosting - OFR.

Kitty Litter Cake

• 1 spice or German chocolate cake mix
• 1 white cake mix
• 1 large pkg vanilla instant pudding mix
• 1 pkg vanilla sandwich cookies
• Green food coloring
• 12 small Tootsie Rolls
• New, cleaned litter box
• New, cleaned litter scooper

Prepare the cake mix according to the directions on the box. Use any size pan. Allow the cake to cool to room temperature.

Prepare the pudding mix and put it in the refrigerator for now.

Crumble the white sandwich cookies in small batches in a food processor (scrape often to get every little piece) or by hand. Set aside all but about 1/4 cup.

Measure 1/4 cup of cookie crumbs and add a few drops of green food coloring to it. Mix with a fork or shake everything in a jar.

Crumble the room temperature cake into a large bowl. Toss it gently with half of the remaining white cookie crumbs and enough chilled pudding to moisten (not soak) the crumbs.

Put the cookie crumbs and pudding mixture into a brand new, clean litter box.

Heat three unwrapped Tootsie rolls in a microwave safe dish and until they're soft and pliable. Pinch the ends so they are no longer blunt--you want them to look convincingly like what cats put in the litter box, right? Repeat this process with as many Tootsie rolls as you'd like to add, microwaving them in batches of three.

Bury the shaped Tootsie rolls in mixture and sprinkle them with the other half of the cookie crumbs.

Scatter the green cookie crumbs lightly over the top. This will mimic real litter, where many of the grains are often blue or green.

Shape 3 more Tootsie rolls and scrape them on top of the cake. One can hang over the side of the litter box. Sprinkle them lightly with cookie crumbs.

Place the box on a newspaper and sprinkle a few of the cookie crumbs around. Serve with a brand new, cleaned litter scooper for that extra touch!

Warnings!
Keep your cat/dog away from the cake. They might try to eat it and could get sick from the Tootsie rolls. They probably won't mistake it for a real litter box, but it's better to be safe than sorry in this case!

Although it looks fun, using a real kitty litter scoop and cat box is not a good idea. Food grade plastic is different than other plastics and while it sometimes is the same it doesn't have to be. Plasticizers that are not meant for ingestion can leak into the cake. Perhaps you could use a colorful cake pan instead.

If you want to preserve the look of using a real litter box, but are worried about the plastic, it couldn't hurt to line the inside of the litter box with plastic wrap, and just lean the scoop against the side as a decoration.

For safety reasons, (i.e.toxic plastic) rather than use the real litter box, you may want to use an aluminum baking pan, which you could place into the kitty litter pan. It has the same gross effect.



Notes: I've never tried this, but it looks fun. The warnings seem a little obvious, but you never know who you're dealing with out there, I guess.

Source: Wikipedia