Mixed Berry Streusel Coffee Cake

I was starting to think I participate in this blog just to have an excuse to make naughty desserts. But then I remember... I want to please our readers. So I remind myself that it's a "need" not a "want" - it's necessary that I bring happiness to your taste buds. If I can't achieve that, what I am doing here?

Over the winter I went through a I-gotta-have-a-smoothie-everyday phase. I stocked up on frozen berries, and then naturally I lost my obsession for smoothies shortly after. I was pregnant so cravings completely took control of my life.

I wanted to use up those berries, and knew I wanted to use them in a dessert that include streusel. Yum! If you don't enjoy a good streusel topping, go immediately to the doctor, because obviously there is something wrong with you.

I found this recipe on the Taste of Home website. I love this site. I could spend an entire afternoon drooling over the recipes.

This coffee cake is amazing! For real, I'm not just saying it. I made two 8x8 pans. One to give away and the other for my family. Our pan was gone the next morning (yep, I had some for breakfast... with my coffee... because it's coffee cake, that's why!). I made the first two pans with raspberries.

Wait. Did you catch that? "I made the first two pans"... if you figured out that I made another 9x13 pan two days later, you are correct. That is exactly what I did. This time I used mixed berries.

If you are like me, you are not a huge fan of the seeds in certain berries. I tolerate them because the fruit is so damn good. I was concerned the filling for the cake would be too seedy. Not true. At all. I think the fact that it wasn't seedy made my love this cake even stronger.

This recipe makes more filling than I wanted to use, so I jarred and refrigerated the rest. It was great to use as jelly. I stored it for about two weeks. It may store longer, but I am not expert on that.

Mixed Berry Streusel Coffee Cake
Adapted from: Taste of Home

Mixed berry filling:
3 1/2 cups unsweetened berries
1 cup water
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup corn starch

Cake:
3 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup butter, cold & cubed
2 eggs
1 cup (8oz) sour cream
1 tsp vanilla

Streusel topping:
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened

Make the filling:
In a large saucepan, cook berries and water over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add lemon juice. Combine sugar and cornstarch; stir into fruit mixture. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Cool.

Make the cake mix:
In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and baking soda. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in eggs, sour cream and vanilla (batter will be stiff). 

Make the streusel: 
Combine all ingredients into a separate bowl. 

Bake the cake: 
Spread half of the cake mix into a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish. Spread berry filling over batter; spoon remaining batter over filling. Sprinkle streusel over top. Bake at 350° for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve warm or cool. Both are equally delicious! 

 

Firecracker Cake

Looking for a fun dessert to make for your 4th of July festivities? A few years ago I made this Firecracker Cake for my friends' party at the lake and it was a huge hit!  What makes it so fun? The cake and frosting are multi-colored, but it is also topped with sprinkles and Pop Rocks!  Have the kids in your life been introduced to Pop Rocks? Mine thought they were amazing.

I actually made the cake from scratch but it didn't hold the colors well so I would recommend just using a box mix. 

*** Firecracker Cake ***

From Cooking with Sugar

1 box white cake mix

1 cup Greek yogurt

1 container whipped white frosting

Red and blue food coloring

Red, white and blue sprinkles

Pop Rocks candy (I found them at the dollar store)

Preheat oven and prepare cake mix according to cake mix directions. Add Greek yogurt and mix well. Grease a 12 cup bundt pan. Add red food coloring to 1 cup batter in small bowl. Add blue food coloring to 1 cup batter in a separate bowl. Pour red batter on the bottom of the pan, then pour white batter, and lastly pour blue batter in a circle around the middle of the pan. Do not mix! Bake according to directions, cool slightly and remove cake onto plate.  Let it cool completely before frosting.

Divide the frosting into 3 separate bowls. Warm one bowl of white frosting for 5-10 seconds in the microwave and drizzle over the cake. Warm second bowl, add red coloring, drizzle over cake and do the same with the blue coloring.  Top with sprinkles and Pop Rocks! If you are not serving the cake immediately, wait to add the Pop Rocks so your guests can get the full effect of the “firecrackers.” :) 

Have a sunny and safe holiday!

 

 

Lemon Poke Cake

I am on a pretty strict nutrition plan and unfortunately, sweets aren’t a big part of the plan. Go figure, right?! I am allowed one day a week to eat whatever the heck I want. My free day is usually Saturdays. So I allow myself to bake one naughty treat once a week. This lemon cake has been on my to-make list for quite some time and now I can scratch it off.

I love Poke Cakes/Better Than Sex Cakes for a few reasons: 

1. Super easy to make
2. Super delicious. And I mean SUPER. Like Super Duper.
3. Super easy to adjust to your liking

I like I mentioned, I made this cake with lemon in mind. The traditional cake is made with (mostly) all things chocolate. The chocolate version calls for hot fudge to be poured over the cake. Lemon glaze is easy to make so I knew immediately it would replace the fudge. 

Heath Toffee pieces are used as a topping on the traditional cake but chocolate wasn’t going to work with the lemon. Fruit is the way to go! I used blackberries. My first thought was blueberries, but my local grocery store happened to be out of them that day. 

This cake has a burst of wild lemon citrus in every bite. We’re talking mega, major, serious lemon here.

For the cake:

1 box of lemon cake (and whatever the box ingredients call for)

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 container of Cool Whip

Your choice of berry

For the lemon glaze:

3 cups of powdered sugar

Fresh squeezed juice from 2 lemons

5 Tbsp half & half or heavy cream

Prepare the cake per the box instructions. Once the cake is completely baked, pull from oven and immediately poke holes throughout the cake. I used the handle from a wooden spoon. Pour the sweetened condensed milk over the top of the cake.

Allow cake to cool completely.

While it cools, let’s make the glaze.

Combine powdered sugar, fresh squeezed lemon juice and half & half or cream. Whisk all together. I made mine somewhat thin because I wanted it to be easy to pour over the cake. You can adjust the thickness to your liking by adding or reducing the powdered sugar.

Once the cake has completely cooled, pour the glaze over the top of the cake.

Store cake in the fridge, allow the glaze to set. About 10 minutes.

Add Cool Whip and top with berries and you are done!

For me, these poke cakes are always better the next day!

Store leftovers in the fridge or if you’re like me, send them to work with your husband. The temptation is too much for me.

Enjoy!

Better Than Sex Cake with CARAMEL

You know we had to do it! We just couldn't stop ourselves, we had to add caramel to this already very good cake. It just wouldn’t be right if we didn’t.

Better Than Sex Cake with Caramel and Rolos

I’ve never made this cake. I’ve eaten it plenty, but never whipped one up myself. Two words. Pretty easy. Adding the caramel was an amazing choice. I’ve had the idea of a Lemon Better Than Sex Cake, but since our caramel party was approaching I thought why not do this one first. The lemon one will be coming in the next few months. I love me some lemon!

Back to THIS cake. Here's what you'll need:

(Adapted from: Barefoot and Baking)

• 1 box of Devil’s Food Cake
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 jar of hot fudge
• 1 jar of caramel (try Cara's homemade caramel sauce)
• Whip cream
• Frozen Rolos

Bake the cake as instructed on the box. Once cake is done, remove from oven and immediately poke holes into the cake. I used the handle of a wooden spoon. After making the holes, pour the sweetened condensed milk over the entire cake.

Let the cake cool completely. Let me tell you, this is a hard step! Having the scent of warm chocolate cake drifting into my nostrils and I can’t eat it… that's just down right painful. Patience and deep breaths… NO WAIT, don't take deep breaths! Deep breaths only makes it worse.

To resist the urge of eating the warm delicious cake, remove the Rolos from the freezer and crush them into small pieces. We’ll add this to the very top. If you use Heath pieces (what the original recipe calls for) you can buy them already crushed. Someone send a memo to the Rolos company about this genius idea, okay?

After the cake has cooled, add the caramel then the hot fudge. I warmed the fudge in the microwave for 50 seconds to make it easier to spread. It spreads very easily if it’s warm enough but don’t freak out if it lumps in some areas. I promise… this cake is hard to mess up.

Add Caramel

Spread hot fudge

Place the cake in the refrigerator until the fudge sets. It should be about 10 minutes.

Add the cool whip and the crushed Rolos.

So good! I can't even put it into words. It's really that good! It's rich so get a cup of coffee or milk.

And in other news: I told my husband I was making Better Than Sex Cake and added “but I’m gonna change it up a bit”. And… let’s just say he had a typical man comment and leave it at that. Men!?! Am I right?

Reminder: Tomorrow is the CARAMEL party on our Facebook page. Please stop by!