Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting

Quite often I find myself in the same predicament which requires me to come up with dinner, or dessert with whatever I have in the pantry or fridge. We were having some friends over on Sunday night for dinner. Things got away from me on Saturday and I didn't have time to get to the store. So, I figured out dinner, but still wanted to have something for dessert. I found this recipe, and it turned out great. As I was making it, Dan brought up the topic of cake mix vs. scratch cake. I am a huge fan of cake mix, it's easy and delicious. He feels the same and expressed his doubts over this cake from scratch. But later that night as he was cutting his second slice, he said, "Well, this might be better than a mix". So here's the recipe for this dense and moist yellow cake!




Yellow Cake

1 cup butter
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
3 teaspoons vanilla
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups milk

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour two 9 inch round pans or one 9x13 pan. (I used two 9" rounds. I trace the pan on paper, cut it out and lay it on the bottom of the pans, just like my Mama taught me. It ensures the cake comes out super easy.)

2. Cream together the butter and the sugar. Then beat in the eggs and the vanilla.

3. In a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together.

4. Alternately add flour and milk to the creamed mixture. Mix well and pour into prepared pans.

5. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. (mine took less time than recipe and browned a little on the edges. So just keep half an eye on it.)

I layered the two cakes and frosted with chocolate frosting. This is from the back of the Hershey Cocoa box.

Chocolate Frosting

1 stick butter/margarine
2/3 cup cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar (I used a 1/2 cup more)
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Melt butter and stir in cocoa

2. 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 frosting.

So if you're ever in a similar predicament or just want to try a scratch cake, this one'll do ya!

Creamy Italian Chicken

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (thawed)
1 envelope dry Italian salad dressing mix
1/2 cup water
1 8 oz. package cream cheese
1 can cream of chicken soup (undiluted)
1 can mushrooms, stems and pieces, drained

Place chicken in the bottom of the crockpot.
Combine salad dressing mix and water; pour over chicken.
Cover and cook on LOW for 3 hours.

In a small mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and soup until blended. Stir in mushrooms and pour over chicken.

Cook 1 hour longer, or until chicken juices run clear.

Remove chicken, stir sauce to blend everything really well. You can cut the chicken up into small pieces and return to the sauce, or just leave it as whole pieces.

Serve over rice or pasta. I like to use bowtie pasta.

Caramel Brownies

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Melt in the microwave:
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 lb. unwrapped caramels

Mix separately:
1 chocolate cake mix
3/4 cup butter or margarine
1/3 cup evaporated milk

Smash 1/2 of the chocolate mixture into a sprayed 9x13 pan. Bake for 8 minutes.

Remove from oven and sprinkle 1 cup chocolate chips over the top and drizzle the caramel mixture on top.

Crumble the rest of the chocolate mixture on top and return to the oven to bake for 20 minutes.

Let cool, cut into bars.

Clone of a Cinnabon

I made these on the Sunday that our church was cancelled because of a fire in the building. They will be forever known as the Cancelled Church Cinnamon Rolls.

It's recipe is divided into three sections - what goes in the bread machine, the cinnamon/sugar/butter topping that gets rolled up in the dough, and the frosting.

Ingredients:
1 cup warm milk
2 eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup margarine, melted
4 1/2 cups bread flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup white sugar
2 1/2 tsp. bread machine yeast
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1 cup brown sugar
2 1/2 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
1/3 cup butter, softened
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1 package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
dash salt

1. Place section one ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select dough cycle and press start.

2. After cycle is complete, turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Cover, and let rest for 10 minutes. In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar and the cinnamon.

3. Roll dough into a 16x21 inch rectangle. Spread the softened butter and sprinkle evenly with the sugar/cinnamon mixture. Roll up dough and cut into 12 rolls. Place rolls in a lightly greased 9x13 inch pan. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

4. Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes. While rolls are baking, beat together cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, vanilla and salt.

5. After the rolls are out of the oven, turn a cookie sheet over the top of the pan and flip the 9x13 over on top of the cookie sheet - this redistributes the gooey stuff. Spread the frosting on the warm rolls before serving.

Crock pot Chicken A La King

3 frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 can cream of chicken soup

1/2 cup frozen or fresh red, yellow, and green pepper strips/dices

1/4 cup diced onion

1 clove of garlic smashed

salt and pepper to taste

Throw all this into a crock pot cook six to 8 hrs on high. Remove breasts and dice--return to sauce.

Serve over biscuits, rice, noodles, etc. I used the frozen pillsbury biscuits in the bag---very easy.

I served picsweet brand steam fresh asian vegetables on the side and they went well together. The original recipe called for adding peas and mushrooms to the crock pot for the last 30 min. or so, but we have a non pea eater in the house so I chose to omit them. If you keep the frozen peppers on hand this is a meal you can fix without going to the store for stuff. If you are starting your pot at breakfast time---frozen breasts work--if it's later--thaw them first.

For Starters

Here is a delicious and super-simple little dessert. Someone brought these to Dan's work during the holidays, he brought home the idea, and we've had them as a little sweet snacker when friends come over.

1 bag of pretzels (shaped like a little square grid, mine were Snyder's Butter Snaps)
1 bag of Rolos
1 bag of pecans (whole or halves)

On a cookie sheet, put your pretzels down first, and then a Rolo on top of each one. Put them under the broiler until the Rolo's look kind of melty. As soon as they come out, push a pecan into each one. Let them set up for a few minutes, or eat them right away!