Apple Cake

We saw this on Trisha Yearwoods food network show and thought it looked awesome. You can find her recipe Here Believe me it is as good as we thought. I cut the cake in 1/2 and put one in the freezer for later. Trisha's recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil, but I added 1 cup of oil and 1/2 cup of applesauce.







Ingredients
Cake:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1  cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup applesauce
3 large eggs
1/2 cup orange juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 to 2 1/2 cups peeled, cored and finely diced sweet apples
1 cup walnuts, finely chopped
Glaze:
3/4 cup granulated sugar
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Directions
Watch how to make this recipe
Special equipment: a 10-inch Bundt pan and a pastry brush

For the cake: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Mix together the softened butter with 2 tablespoons of the flour to make a paste. In a 10-inch Bundt pan, paint on the flour and butter paste with a pastry brush until the pan is well coated.

Using an electric mixer, beat the sugar, oil and eggs until smooth. Add the orange juice and vanilla extract and mix well. In another bowl, sift together the baking soda, cinnamon, salt and remaining 3 cups flour. Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture and continue to beat well. Stir in the apples and walnuts.

Pour the batter into the pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean, about 1 hour 30 minutes. Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Turn the cake out onto a cake plate.

For the glaze: Combine the sugar, butter, buttermilk and baking soda in a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil the mixture until it thickens slightly and begins to turn a light brown, 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Using a toothpick, punch 15 to 20 holes in the top of the cake and pour the glaze over the cake. Let the cake set and cool before serving. Store the cake in an airtight cake carrier in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Coconut Cream Cake

Jud made this cake for my birthday along with Uncle Glen's famous fish. You can find that recipe Here  Jud is actually a good cook, but he mainly uses his gift of cooking at the grill. That is a more manly thing. The cake was amazing, and I will certainly make this again.

This is Nancy Ginzel/Judy Nadolny's recipe from Express News of San Antonio.



Ingredients:
3 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil ( We used Canola Oil)
1 box white cake mix (18.25 oz.)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 (8.5 oz. can) cream of coconut--(found in the mixed drink isle of the store)
1 (8 oz. container) dairy sour cream
Frosting:
1 (16oz.) box powdered sugar
1 stick softened butter
1-8 oz. package softened cream cheese
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup coconut
Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 2 round cake pans. Mix eggs, oil, cake mix, vanilla, cream of coconut and sour cream. Divide batter between prepared pans. Bake for 25 minutes or until done. Let cool in pans 15-20 minutes. Remove cakes from pan, put on cooling rack and cool completely.
For frosting:
1. Combine powdered sugar, butter, cream cheese, vanilla, and coconut. Frost between layers and top and sides of cooled cake. I sprinkled the top with coconut that I baked in a 350 degree oven until lightly browned.

Chocolate - Candy Cane Cake

This is a Jell-o recipe that I made to celebrate Stacy's birthday. It was a hit. Even Anthony liked it, and he doesn't normally like cake because he doesn't like the icing.  This is iced with Cool Whip, so it passed his test.





Ingredients:
1 box of chocolate cake mix 
1 (3.9oz) package of Jello Instant Chocolate Pudding
4 eggs
1 container (8oz.) Sour Cream
1/2 cup oil (I use Canola Oil)
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup milk
1 (4oz) package Semi-Sweet Chocolate, chopped
18 small candy canes, coarsely crushed (about 1 cup), divided
1 tub (8oz) Cool Whip Topping, thawed
Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2.  Beat first 7 ingredients in mixer until well blended. Stir in chopped chocolate and 2 tablespoons crushed candy. Pour into 3- 8" cake pans that have been sprayed with cooking spray.
3. Bake 35-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes. Loosen cakes from sides of pan; Invert onto wire racks. Carefully remove pans. Cool cakes completely
4. Fill and frost cakes with Cool Whip. Sprinkle with remaining crushed candy just before serving.  Keep refrigerated.
Note: I made mine ahead of time and the candy ran. It still looked o.k.  This picture was taken immediately after it was made.