Tag Archives: layer cake

Chocolate Strawberry Layer Cake!

Posted on March 1, 2013 by Ruthanne

Such an easy and refreshing dessert! If you need something beautiful but quick, this is your recipe!

INGREDIENTS:

One boxed chocolate cake mix (with water, oil and eggs to make according to package)
One (8 oz) container of Cool Whip
One (7 oz) container of Jet Puffed Marshmallow fluff
One tub of ready-made chocolate frosting
About 25 ripe strawberries.

DIRECTIONS:

Make cake according to box and bake in 2- 8 or 9 inch round pans.
Cool cakes, trim off tops to level each cake and cut each cake into two layers
Mix Cool Whip and marshmallow fluff together until smooth.
Spoon frosting into bowl and heat for about 30 seconds in microwave. Stir. It should be a hot fudge consistency.
Wash and slice strawberries lengthwise (I used an egg slicer to make this easier).

Place one layer of cake on serving plate. Spread with a bit of melted frosting and a bit of the cream mixture.
Place strawberries along the edge with points facing out. Use small pieces to fill in the middle.

Do this with each layer and then top final layer with remaining cream and frosting.
Decorate as desired.
Keep refrigerated until serving.

My thoughts: I miss summer. I’ve been craving strawberries and this yummy cake did the trick! It is easy and delicious and you’ll impress everyone you serve it to! Enjoy!!! ~r

Other strawberry desserts you’ll love ~ click on the image to get to the recipe:

26 Comments

Tie-Dye Cake with Blue Raspberry Frosting

Posted on October 10, 2012 by Ruthanne

Swirls of colors plus a blue raspberry frosting make everyone smile when they see this cake!

This recipe is dedicated to my nephew Marshal, who informed me a few weeks ago that today, October 10, 2012 is an important day: it marks the 2 year anniversary of the release of “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” TV show.

Confused? I was! Apparently this show, targeted toward young girls, has gained a cult following among teenage boys– they call themselves “Bronies”…I guess Bro+ponies= Bronies. Um…yeah. Learned all of that on Wikipedia… SO Marshal was telling me that he and his friends wanted to make a rainbow cake (for the pony “Rainbow Dash”, of course) to celebrate the day. The thought of making 6 layers of cake in different colors sounded exhausting, so instead I made 6 colors and just dumped them on top of each other in the same pan. I love how it turned out!

Here’s how it was made:

INGREDIENTS: (printer friendly recipe)

One boxed white cake mix, plus eggs, water and oil to make it according to the box.
Icing colors in Purple, Blue, Green, Red, Orange and Yellow.
One stick (4 oz.) salted butter at room temp.
One stick (4 oz.) unsalted butter at room temp.
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons raspberry flavoring

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
Make cake mix according to box (or make your own favorite white cake recipe!)
Grease 2- 9 inch cake pans and place a circle of parchment paper in the bottom of each.
Evenly divide batter into 6 bowls (about 1 cup of batter in each)
Add icing color gels to color each bowl of batter.
Pour 1/2 of the purple batter in the center of one pan.
Pour 1/2 of the blue batter into the center of the purple batter (adding the blue will push the purple toward the edges).
Continue to pour 1/2 of each color batter into the center using green, yellow, orange and red in that order.
In second pan do the same but in the reverse order, starting with the red 1st.
Bake at 350 according to package (mine took about 25 minutes)
Remove from oven and cool. Tip over onto a wire cake rack to finish cooling.
Make frosting by adding butters, powdered sugar, raspberry flavor and a little blue icing gel color together and beating on high until light and fluffy.
Level off the tops of each cake layer and place one layer, cut side up on a serving plate. Frost the top of this layer.
Place the second layer, cut side down on top and frost entire cake.
Sprinkle with rainbow sugar or decorate as desired.

ENJOY!!!

My thoughts: Although this cake was created with Marshal’s celebration in mind, it would be such a fun and colorful addition to any party!!! Lets hear it for tie-dye rainbow cake!!!!! Thanks for the idea Marshal!!!

85 Comments

Posted in Cakes and tagged baking, birthday cake, blue raspberry frosting, buttercream frosting, cake, confetti cake, dessert, food, kids dessert, layer cake, little pony, My little pony cake, My little pony friendship is magic, parchment paper, party cakes, rainbow cake, rainbow sugar sprinkles, raspberry buttercream, sugar, sweets, tie-dye cake, white cake recipe. Bookmark the permalink.

Peanut Butter Cup Layer Cake

Posted on May 1, 2012 by Ruthanne

Chocolate cake filled with layers of fudge and whipped peanut butter- yum!

INGREDIENTS:

One chocolate cake mix (with water, eggs and oil to make according to box)
1 c. creamy peanut butter
8 oz. Philadelphia Cream Cheese (softened to room temperature)
1/2 c. sugar
8 oz. Cool Whip topping
One tub of ready-made chocolate frosting (I used dark chocolate..mmmm…)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray 2- 8 or 9 inch round pans with cooking spray.
Cut a circle of parchment paper to fit the bottom of both pans and spray this with cooking spray.
Make cake mix according to package and pour evenly into two pans.
Bake according to package.
Tip cakes over onto a cake rack to cool completely.
Make filling by beating together peanut butter, cream cheese and sugar.
Gently fold in the container of whipped topping.
Make fudge sauce by spooning pre-made frosting into a microwave-safe bowl and heating in microwave for about 30 seconds (until smooth and creamy when stirred).
Prepare cakes by leveling the tops using a large serrated knife, then cut each cake into 2 layers using the same serrated knife or a Wire Cake Slicer .
Place one layer onto serving plate, top with 1/4 of peanut butter filling
Place second layer of cake on top of 1st, spread a layer (about 1/3 of the total amount) of frosting fudge over cake, top with another 1/4 of peanut butter filling.
Place 3rd layer of cake on top of 2nd, spread 1/4 of peanut butter filing over layer.
Top with final layer, rest of peanut butter filling and then pour remaining frosting fudge over the top, pushing it over the edges. Sprinkle with mini peanut butter cups and chill before serving.

My thoughts. Really easy cake and fillings. The hardest part is simply cutting the cake into layers. I really like this cake served cold…it doesn’t have to be…that’s just how I like it— chilled peanut butter cup cake- yum. Enjoy!!

14 Comments

Posted in Cakes and tagged baking, cake, chocolate, chocolate cake, creamy peanut butter filling, layer cake, peanut butter, peanut butter cup cake, peanut butter cups. Bookmark the permalink.

Chocolate Mousse Cake

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Ruthanne

This wonderful cake recipe is courtesy of my Uncle John. He has made this cake for family gatherings for years now and it is one of my favorites. I think I’d have tried it sooner if I’d known how EASY it is. There’s nothing better than a really easy dessert that looks this fancy!

INGREDIENTS:

1 boxed chocolate cake mix- I like Duncan Hines! (with oil/eggs/water to make according to directions)
2 packets of Dream Whip (I’d never heard of this– it comes in a box and was near the jello/pudding boxes at the grocery. There are 4 packets per box, and if you order them in a 6-pack at Amazon they are much cheaper than in the store.)
3/4 c. milk
1 t. vanilla
3T. cocoa powder
3T. powdered sugar
one container of pre-made chocolate frosting.

DIRECTIONS:

Make cake mix according to box and bake in 2 – 8 or 9 inch round pans (I cut parchment paper to fit and place it in the bottom of each pan so that it comes out easier).
Cool cakes completely on a wire rack and while they are cooling make your mousse.
Put Dream Whip, milk, vanilla, cocoa powder and powdered sugar into a mixing bowl and blend together.
Using a mixer, beat until stiff peaks form (3-4 minutes)
Scoop chocolate frosting into a microwave safe bowl and heat for only about 20-30 seconds in the microwave. Heat until frosting is melted into a hot fudge consistency.
Use a large serrated knife to level your two cakes.
Place 1st cake on serving plate, leveled edge up.
Pour about 1/4 of melted frosting on top of cake and spread to cover (I put this layer in the fridge for about a minute just to cool the warm frosting down before adding the mousse layer)
Spoon all of the mousse on top of the cake and spread it ALMOST to the edges.
Top with second cake– put the leveled edge against the mousse…this keeps all the crumbs in the middle and leaves a nice flat surface on the top of your cake. Gently press top layer down to squeeze the mousse all the way to the edges.
Pour the rest of the melted frosting over the entire cake and let it drip over the edges.
Refrigerate until serving.

My thoughts: WHO KNEW you could melt frosting and make such a wonderful fudge-like topping? Learn something new every day. Uncle John sometimes adds peppermint extract to the mousse– so yummy– and I had the thought while I was making this that a layer of raspberry preserves somewhere in the middle would be amazing. I think you will just love this mousse. It is so creamy and flavorful.

If you live in Africa and cant find Dream Whip PLEASE don’t ask me what to substitute– I have no idea what this stuff is…it’s MAGIC 🙂 and I love it!

Curiosity got he better of me…. here’s what Dream Whip is: click here (I still think it’s magic.)

Enjoy this recipe friends! Thanks for the inspiration Uncle John!!! -r

28 Comments

Posted in Cakes, Easy recipes and tagged baking, chocolate, chocolate ganache, cocoa, dessert, dream whip, easy dessert, fancy dessert, layer cake, melted frosting, mousse. Bookmark the permalink.

Favorites of 2011 and Happy Birthday to me!!!

Posted on December 31, 2011 by Ruthanne

It’s the last day of 2011. This year I started a blog (!!) and met all of you– what a fun year!

Easybaked began in March at the urging of many friends…. since then I have become a fan of many of your blogs and marveled at your creative recipes, beautiful photos and funny stories.

It is also my birthday this week, and in pursuit of the perfect birthday dessert I decided to take a trip down memory lane through some of my favorite recipes, photos and blogs this year.

Here we go: my best from 2012:

Greg from Rufus’ Food and Spirits Guide has encouraged me from almost day one of starting this blog- although we’ve never met, its been fun to share blogs! Here’s one of his posts that I tried and loved: Butterfinger Cookies!

Aimee from Clever Muffin cracks me up! When I met her she was living in London (so cool) and now she has moved back to Australia (even cooler!) Her yummy muffin recipes are great- but her sense of humor is even better– this is a blog worth following for sure!! Here’s her Chocolate Chip Yogurt Muffins:

Christine from Angry Cherry is from Canada– and she’s a pastry chef in training (jealous!) she makes beautiful things with ingredients I’ve never heard of, but I love how adventurous she is in pursuing her dreams. Red Wine Truffle Cake from her:

Since I’m addicted to photography these days, I am drawn to blogs with jaw-dropping photography. My favorite is Bravetart (plus, WHAT a fun name!) The recipes are from Stella, a pastry chef and the photography is done by a variety of friends who are professional food photographers (dream…..!) I just stare at the photographs and try to understand the angles and lighting….I really need to take a class. In any case, here is her version of Red Velvet Cake (please come to my house and make this for my birthday….!)

My favorite cake decorators are the Davis sisters (and mom). They have taken a hobby and turned it into a serious business and FUN blog- Happily Ever After Cakes!! I am amazed by how many different types of cakes and cupcakes they are willing to try. Here’s one of my favorites (I want to live on this cake!) a day at the beach (yes…this is a CAKE!)

I’m sneaking a favorite non-food blog into the lineup: this blog is one of my favorite sources of inspiration and encouragement. A good friend of mine is a chaplain with the military. He’s deployed right now and shares his thoughts on a blog called Devos by Chaps….love it!

Last, but certainly not least is the cake I would choose to have on my birthday if someone else would make it…Its from The Art of Dessert and I think the picture speaks for itself…wow. Let me present: Chocolate Wasted Cake:

so….birthday cake….

I also went through the archive of all the recipes created on easybaked this year. The one recipe I couldn’t get out of my head (I think because I wish it was summer out!) was Strawberry Lemonade Layer Cake. A summer cake for a cold January birthday— perfect! I tweaked the frosting recipe just a bit to make it thicker so that it would be more of a frosting than just a filling…and I LOVE it!! Its light, whipped, very spreadable and tart with lemon — perfect!

Here’s the recipe (tweaked) or if you want the original just click here.

INGREDIENTS:

One box of strawberry cake mix (plus oil, water and eggs as directed on box)
2- 8oz. packages of Philadelphia Cream Cheese (softened to room temp.)
1 packet (0.23oz.) of Kool-Aid Lemonade
Yellow food coloring (as desired for color)
1- 7oz. container Jet-Puffed Marshmallow Creme
1/3 c. powdered sugar
8 oz. Cool Whip Topping
Rainbow sugar crystals

DIRECTIONS:

Make cake according to box and bake in 2- 9 inch round cake pans as directed. Turn finished cakes over on cake racks and allow to cool completely.
Cream together cream cheese, lemonade and yellow food coloring until smooth.
Beat marshmallow creme and powdered sugar in and then fold in Cool Whip until completely smooth.
Cut each cake layer in half.
Alternating layers of cake with layers of frosting, assemble cake.
Cover top and sides with frosting.
Refrigerate and serve chilled. Sprinkle with colored sugar just before serving.

A light and refreshing dessert after all the heavy holiday treats– perfect!

Thanks for sharing all of your fun recipes and stories with me this year— looking forward to sharing 2012 together!

Happy New Year!

Other favorite desserts on Easybaked~ just click the picture to get the recipe!

37 Comments

Posted in Cakes and tagged baking, best birthday cake, birthday, cake, dessert, layer cake, strawberry, strawberry cake with lemon frosting, strawberry lemonade, summer dessert. Bookmark the permalink.

Medovnik Honey Cake

Posted on August 17, 2011 by Ruthanne

Finally- I took the time to try making this wonderful layered dessert from the Czech Republic. I had the most amazing piece of this dessert with my friend Angie on a terrace overlooking the city of Prague and decided then and there that I had to try making it. There are many recipes online for this cake and I think I read through them all- trying to pick one that I thought might duplicate the wonderful dessert I tried in Prague. The one I chose was from en.ptitchef.com and since I made quite a few changes to it, this recipe is mostly original.

INGREDIENTS:

For cake layers:

1cup of butter or margarine
3 eggs
1 1/2c. sugar
3 T. (dark!) honey
1 T. baking soda
3 c. flour

For fillings:

1 can sweetened condensed milk
1c. finely chopped walnuts (I used pecans- I like them better!)
2T. flour
1/2c. milk
1/4c. Crisco
1/4 c. butter or margarine
3/4c. sugar
1/2t. vanilla
pinch of salt

DIRECTIONS:

Cake:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Melt butter completely in microwave or over stove.
Whisk in eggs
Gradually add sugar, honey, baking soda and flour, mix until smooth.
Place sheets of parchment paper on baking sheets and trace circle around a cake pan (I used 8 inch and fit two per baking sheet)
Spoon batter into each circle and spread out thin until circle is filled- like a giant pancake- PAST the lines you traced.
Bake for 7-10 minutes until golden brown. Watch it closely as it goes from uncooked to golden very quickly.
Slide layers off sheet by pulling parchment paper onto a cool counter and allow layers to cool.
Repeat this until you have 6 layers.
Using a cake pan, cut each layer into a circle and pull away excess cake from edges (save this in a separate bowl). Gently peel away parchment paper from bottom of each layer as you assemble the cake.
Put excess cake edges into a food processor and chop into fine crumbs.

Fillings:

Combine sweetened condensed milk with finely chopped nuts (this is your 1st filling)
Cook 2T. flour and 1/2 c. milk together over stovetop until thick and smooth. Cool completely. Add Crisco, butter, sugar, vanilla and salt and whip this together until light and fluffy. (this is your second filling)

Assembling Cake:

Place one layer of cake on a serving plate.
Top with cream filling and spread to edges.
Place another layer of cake on top of cream filling.
Top with sweetened condensed milk/nut layer and spread to edges.
Repeat this until all cake layers are used. You should use all of cream filling and about 1/2 of condensed milk filling.
Spread remaining condensed milk/nut filling over top and sides of cake.
Press chopped cake crumbs into top and sides of cake.
Refrigerate and serve!

My thoughts: I wish I’d used dark honey – Prague Medovnik had a wonderful molasses flavor and it was a dark cake. I think a darker honey would help match this look and flavor. I like the cream filling (borrowed it from a cake recipe my grandma makes) but it doesn’t match the cream in the Prague cake well….further experimentation is needed 🙂 I will edit this post if I come up with a better filling. The filling in Prague was almost like the filling inside a Hostess Cupcake– if any of you have a recipe that comes close to this kind of cream filling let me know!! This is an incredibly UNIQUE cake. It got rave reviews among my friends and I loved it– I will definitely be making this again!

Medovnik in Prague

My version of Medovnik

40 Comments

Posted in Cakes and tagged cake, czech, czech honey cake, dessert, European dessert, honey, honey cake, honey cake recipe, layer cake, medovnik, sweets, unique dessert. medovnik recipe. Bookmark the permalink.

German Chocolate Disaster.

Posted on June 30, 2011 by Ruthanne

I like recipes— love them in fact! I usually prefer to create my own recipes, but once in awhile someone will recommend a recipe so highly that I simply have to try it. This was the case with this german chocolate cake. It is from allrecipes.com and you can click here to get the original recipe. The friend who recommended it (Spencer) is a chef and literally everything he makes is amazing– so here goes:

The cake is incredibly time consuming in my opinion….MUCH too time consuming for a blog called EASYbaked anyway 🙂 ….I made this crazy from-scratch cake and had all three pans stick (I should have added a circle of parchment paper to the bottoms….) and fall apart.

only two 1/2 layers were useable- saved the rest for a trifle

The recipe involves separating eggs and whipping into stiff peaks and melting german chocolate and adding buttermilk and cake flour…….yeah- buy a german chocolate cake mix– the cake was good- probably one of the best scratch cakes I’ve made- but it was not quick or easy….your call 🙂 . The icing, on the other hand, was TO DIE for! I will never buy German chocolate frosting again— easy and quick and soooooo good!! so….

INGREDIENTS:

1 German chocolate cake mix (with oil and water to make according to box) -or be brave and make it from scratch (it is really yummy)- remember the parchment paper!!!

FROSTING:
1c. sugar
1c. evaporated milk
1/2c. butter
3 egg yolks (beaten)
1 1/3c. flaked coconut
1c. finely chopped pecans.
1 t. vanilla extract

GANACHE:
1/4c. whipping cream
1/2c. semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

Prepare cake mix as directed, baking in two 8 or 9 inch round cake pans (or make cupcakes even— the star of this show is the icing!)

FROSTING : In saucepan combine sugar, evaporated milk, butter and egg yolks. Cook over low heat (stir constantly!) until this thickens considerably (took me about 8 minutes).
Remove from heat and stir in pecans and coconut.
Chill until thick enough to spread.
Slice each cake in half, forming 2 layers.
Layer cake with icing.

GANACHE: Heat whipping cream in a small saucepan until bubbling at edges (about 30 seconds). Add chocolate chips, cover and allow to sit for 5 minutes. Stir until smooth. Pour over top of cake and allow this to drizzle down the sides.
ENJOY!!!

YUM!

This recipe was shared on these wonderful blogs:

11 Comments

Posted in Cakes and tagged cake, chocolate, coconut, dessert, german chocolate, german chocolate cake, layer cake, pecans. Bookmark the permalink.

Strawberry Lemonade Layer Cake!!

Posted on June 19, 2011 by Ruthanne

Moist strawberry cake layered with a rich lemonade cream filling. Introducing summer——on a plate!

INGREDIENTS:

One box of strawberry cake mix (plus oil, water and eggs as directed on box)
8oz. Philadelphia Cream Cheese (softened to room temp.)
1 packet (0.23oz.) of Kool-Aid Lemonade
Yellow food coloring gel (as desired for color)
2cups Jet-Puffed Marshmallow Creme
8 oz. Cool Whip Topping
Fresh strawberries to garnish.

DIRECTIONS:

Make cake according to box and bake in 2- 9 inch round cake pans as directed. Turn finished cakes over on cake racks and allow to cool completely.
Cream together cream cheese, lemonade and yellow food coloring until smooth.
Mix marshmallow creme in and then mix in Cool Whip until completely smooth. Refrigerate until cake is cooled and cut.
Cut each cake layer in half.
Alternating layers of cake with layers of filling, assemble cake. End with layer of filling.
Top with sliced strawberries.
Refrigerate and serve chilled.

My thoughts: YUM!!!!! I’m a little obsessed with the filling I used in those confetti cups a few weeks back. This lemonade filling is similar- but has more Cool Whip to make it light and fluffy. I’ve never made a strawberry cake mix before– it is SO GOOD! I love that this recipe uses a cake mix- it makes it a VERY easy and quick recipe that looks so fancy and fun! I think you could drizzle some white chocolate over this and make it over-the-top fancy. I really hope you enjoy this recipe— I’ve gotta have a piece –ready….set….GO!

Want to see more pictures of this cake done as a birthday cake? The filling is made just a little thicker so that the entire cake can be frosted. Just click here. Enjoy!

4-17-12: I love it when people try recipes I’ve posted and take pictures of the process- check out how “Don’t fight the Apple” made this recipe into yummy jar cakes to send to her boyfriend overseas! Great idea!!

4-23-12: Or check out the tips and beautiful photos taken at Jam Hands.

Try some other fun strawberry desserts at Easybaked~ just click on an image to be taken to the recipe!