Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes

 

 

3/4c plus 2 Tbsp all purpose four; divided
3/4c cake flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
8 Tbsp unsalted butter; at room temperature
3/4c plus 2 Tbsp sugar (will use all in same step)
Zest of 1 lemon
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
2Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 plus 2 Tbsp milk; at room temperature
1c fresh blueberries

About an hour before you begin baking, Measure out your milk, butter, and eggs.  Put them on the kitchen counter and allow it to come to room temperature.*

Preheat oven to 350F (180C).  Line cupcake tin with paper liners.  In a medium bowl, combine the flour (just 3/4c), cake flour, baking powder, and salt.  Whisk and set aside.  In a mixer, combine the butter, sugar, and lemon zest.  Beat until light and fluffy (2-3 minutes).  Beat in eggs one at a time, blending well after each egg.  Beat in vanilla and lemon juice.  On a low speed add 1/2 of dry mixture.  Blend.  Add milk.  Blend.  Add the second half of dry mixture.

In a small bowl, toss blueberries with 2 Tbsp of flour.  Using a spatula, gently fold berries into batter.  Divide batter evenly between the cupcake liners filling each about 3/4 of the way full.  Bake for 20-22 minutes or until toothpick pulls clean.  Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes.  Transfer to wire rack.

*Chemistry in the Kitchen:  At room temperature eggs, butter, and milk bond and form an emulsion that traps air. During baking, the air expands, producing light, airy, evenly baked treats.

Buttercream Icing for the Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes

1c solid white vegetable shortening
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
1 tsp lemon extract
5-6 tsp milk (add one or two more tsp of milk if needed)
1 lb pure can confectioner's sugar

Cream shortening, flavoring, and milk.  Add dry ingredients and mix on medium speed until all ingredients are mixed.  Blend an additional minute or so until creamy.  Makes approximately 2 1/2 cups.

4th of July Jello Cups

1 package (3 oz) of berry blue gelatin
1 package (3 oz) of strawberry gelatin
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1 c fresh blueberries
1 c fresh strawberries
6 Tsp sugar
1 c heavy whipping cream
2 c (16 oz) sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

In a bowl, dissolve the berry blue gelatin in 1 cup boiling water.  Stir in 1 cup cold water.  Divide into clear plastic cups.  (I used 4 oz Tupperware cups)  Carefully add blueberries.  Refrigerate for about 1 hour until firm.

After the blue gelatin is firm start this step.  In a saucepan, sprinkle the unflavored gelatin over 1/2 cup of cold water.  Let it stand for 1 minute.  Mix in the cream and sugar.  Cook and stir over a low heat until the gelatin and sugar are completely dissolved.  Allow to cool to room temperature.  Whisk in sour cream and vanilla.  Spoon over the blue layer.  Refrigerate until firm (about one hour).

After the white layer in firm, start this step.  Slice up the strawberries and place them on the white layer.  In a bowl, dissolve the strawberry gelatin in 1 cup of boiling water.  Stir in one cup cold water.  Pour OVER A SPOON over the cream layer.  Pouring the gelatin over a spoon prevents it from making a hole in the white layer.  Refrigerate until firm (about one hour). 

Garnish with whipped cream and additional berries if desired.

Cherry Strudel

My grandmother sent us 5 or 6 jars of food that she canned over the summer. She sent us homemade pickles (which I'm rationing so the kids don't devour them in one sitting). She sent some plums and cherries, too. She told me they were ready to eat out of the jar. I didn't think my kids would eat them out of the jar. They are funny about cherries. I decided to make a strudel. (I didn't think I had enough to make a pie.) Yummy! Well, I think I outsmarted myself because while I was pitting these cherries, Kaitlyn was sneaking into the kitchen and stealing them as fast as I could pit them!

Two things about this recipe. First, the cherries I used were yellow, but that's just because those are the ones Grandma canned. This recipe works fine with red cherries, too. Second, I had to pit my cherries because they were home-canned. I used a knife to slice the cherry in half and popped the pit out with my finger. It might be more difficult with fresh cherries, but because the cherries were canned it was really easy. I've read that you can pit cherries using a fountain drink straw or even forceps, but it didn't really come to that.

Ingredients:

1 can (14 1/2 oz) pitted tart cherries
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup dried cranberries or raisins
3 Tbsp cornstarch
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts
1 package frozen pie crust, thawed
1 egg, lightly beaten

Drain cherries, reserving 1/3 cup of the juice. In a large saucepan, combine the cherries, sugar, cranberries, and butter. Cook and stir over medium heat until heated through. Add cornstarch and reserved juice to the pan. Bring to a boil. Cook and stir about 2 minutes or until the mixture has thickened. Remove from heat and stir in walnuts.

Unfold the pie crust. Put half of the cherry mixture on the lower half of your pie crust. Be sure to keep the cherry filling away from the outer 1 inch of the pie crust. Fold the top half of your pie crust down and pinch the edges. Place the strudel on a greased baking sheet. Repeat this step with the other pie crust. With a sharp knife, cut diagonal slits into the top of the strudels. Brush with egg and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 400°F for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

**Stay tuned! I haven't decided what to make with the plums.

Easy Chocolate Mousse

4 oz Packet of Jello pudding, Chocolate
1c. milk
1 small container Cool Whip

Combine the jello pudding and milk in a jar. (I used a Tupperware Quick Shake Container because I bought it at Goodwill for fifty cents.) Secure the lid and give it a good shake to combine the ingredients. Fold the pudding into a small container of Cool Whip. Divide the mousse into about nine individual serving cups (or just put in a really pretty bowl. You can serve immediately or chill until the party.

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

We've all been there...you've got a meeting to go to and realize at the last minute that it's a potluck. Here's a super easy recipe for Pumpkin Spice Muffins. They are delicious and low fat, too.

1 can pumpkin (14.5 oz)
1 box spice cake mix

Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Combine the two ingredients in a large bowl, stirring until smooth. Spoon batter into a greased muffin tin. (I use those little cupcake papers.) Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Enjoy...everyone at the meeting will, too!

Pumpkin Pie (from scratch)

It is both a blessing and a challenge when your children believe that you can do anything in the kitchen. From the time that our pumpkins were tiny green babies on the vine, my daughter has been asking me to make "her" pumpkin into a pie. That presents a bit of a challenge because I've always made my pies from the can. (Psst....sometimes I even buy it at the grocery store, remove it from the tin, and pass it off as my own. Don't tell.)

Those days are in the past, because this pie from scratch tasted completely different than a pie made from canned pumpkin. The flavor exploded in my mouth. I could taste every spice and there was nothing bland or boring about it.

So yesterday...I popped two small pumpkins in the oven to give this whole pumpkin pie from real pumpkins the old college try.

While those pumpkins are roasting, let's talk pumpkins. "Pie pumpkins" are not the huge Jack O Lantern pumpkins you carve at Halloween. Although you can use those, too if you forgot to carve yours, just add about 25% more sugar. You want a smaller sweeter pumpkin. They are sometimes called sugar pumpkins and are usually sold in the grocery stores from October through December.

Honestly, making pumpkin puree was the hardest part of this project. (See the blog entry called Pumpkin Puree, it's under the "how to" label on the right side of the screen.) This time around I tried something a little different. Instead of running my pumpkin through the blender (this process requires me to add a little water to get the pumpkin mushy) I put all of the pumpkin in a bowl and pureed it with my handheld electric mixer. I didn't want to add any water to the pumpkin since the pie filling is so runny to begin with.

The rest of the recipe was super easy. The ingredients needed are:

1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground all spice
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
4 eggs
3 cups pumpkin puree
1 1/2 cans evaporated milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Note: In a pinch (like if you are stationed overseas and the Commissary has been out of cloves since October) you can substitute 4 tsp of pumpkin pie spice for the cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and ginger; but I think you get better results when you use the separate spices.

Mix all your ingredients together. Pour into the pie crust. This is enough pie filling for two pumpkin pies. Don't worry, the filling is supposed to be that runny. It will firm up nicely as it bakes. I cover the top of the pie crust with aluminium foil to prevent it from burning.

Bake at (a preheated) 425˚F for the first fifteen minutes. Then turn down the temperature to 350˚F and bake another 60-90 minutes...until a clean knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the pie cool and enjoy!

Pumkin Pie (Crust)

2c flour
1/2c sugar
1t salt
2/3c butter, softened to room temp
6T cold water

Mix the dry ingredients. Cut butter into dry ingredients using a pantry cutter. Add water and mix lightly. Don't kneed it too much. Divide into two equal portions, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

After thirty minutes, roll out the dough on the kitchen counter using a rolling pin and extra flour to keep it from sticking. Lay in the pie pan. It' will look naked until you have a chance to pour the pumpkin pie filling into the pan.

This recipe can be used to apple pie, peach pie, any kinda pie. It's enought to make crusts for two pumpkin pies, or a top and bottom for an apple pie.

Dessert Island

Here is a cute snack that the kids can help make. It would be cute for a beach themed or pirate themed party, but we couldn't wait that long.

You'll need:

Pudding cups
graham crackers
Pirouette wafers (I used Pepperidge Farm)
green Laffy Taffy candies
Whoppers
Icing

Put the graham crackers into a sealed plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin. Remove the lid from a pudding cup and pour the crushed graham crackers on top of the pudding. Place the cookie stick in the cup. With clean scissors, carefully cut four leaves out of the green Laffy Taffy candy. Pinch the leaves together at one end. Use a small amount of icing to attach the leaves to the top of the cookie stick. Place two Whoppers in the "sand" for coconuts.

Blueberry and Peach Pie

Look at all the blueberry juice that just bubbled over the side! It looks so good! When Roger came downstairs this morning he said I was just being mean. Why would I make a pie with blueberries when he doesn't like blueberries? Well, my philosophy about cooking is to try all kinds of things and decide afterwards if I don't like it. I'll ease my husband and children into different foods by introducing them over and over again. This pie had a happy ending (well, not if you are the pie). Roger took one taste from my fork and asked me to dish him up a slice, too.

Ingredients for the crust:
2c flour
1/2c sugar
1t salt
2/3c butter, softened to room temp
6T cold water

Ingredients for the Filling:
1 1/2c sugar
5T quick cooking Tapioca
1/2t salt
3lbs peaches, peeled and sliced
12 oz blueberries (about 2 cups)
3T lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
2T cold butter, cut into small pieces
Preheat oven at 425˚F.

Pie Crust:
Mix the dry ingredients. Cut butter into dry ingredients using a pantry cutter. Add water and mix lightly. Don't kneed it too much. Divide into top and bottom, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Filling:
Mix together the sugar, tapioca, and salt. Add peaches, blueberries,and lemon juice. Mix together.

Lightly flour a rolling pin and roll out your bottom crust to a 12 inch round. Spray pie pan with Pam. Add bottom crust. Pour in filling and dot filling with cold butter.

Roll out the remaining crust, also into a 12 inch round. Put over the pie. Trim the excess around the edges and crimp edges. Cut little vents into the top crust. Brush top crust with water and sprinkle with a little sugar.

Set the pie pan on a rimmed cookie sheet to protect your stove from the overflow. Bake at 425˚F for 20 minutes, then lower temperature to 350 F and bake for another 25-30 minutes.

Blueberry Drop Cake

The original name of this recipe was Blueberry Crunch, but one of my girlfriends calls this kind of dish a 'drop cake' because you drop the ingredients into the casserole dish. I kinda like that so I'm offically changing the name.

Ingredients:

3c blueberries (frozen or fresh)
1/2c sugar
1 1/2 sticks butter, melted
1 large can crushed pineapple
1/2 box yellow cake mix
1/2c pecans, roughly chopped

Grease 9x13 with Pam. Cover the bottom of the pan with pineapple. Pour blueberries over the pineapple. Sprinkle sugar over blueberries. Add dry cake mix and butter. I add the cake mix a little at a time and drizzle the melted butter over the cake mix evenly. I original recipe calls for the whole box of cake mix. I use about half the cake mix and put the other half in a Ziploc bag to use later. Sprinkle chopped pecans over the cake mix. Bake at 350˚F for 45-50 minutes. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream.

Pumpkin Chai Cheesecake

Do you know what I'm thankful for this year? I'm thankful that the holiday health food trend is losing popularity. I watch what I eat (for the most part) all year long. I don't want to eat Weight Watchers crust-less 2 point pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. I don't want to eat a low fat, dry, tasteless turkey stuffing. I want flavor. I want the real thing.

This year, I found a Pumpkin Chai Cheesecake with Caramel-Rum sauce. It's far from health food, but I'm making it to take to my friend Laura's house for Thanksgiving. That lessens the chances that I'll be eating it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner the next few days. Now, I'm stepping a little out of my comfort zone here, I've never made a real cheesecake. But this just looked too good to pass up.

Ingredients:

Crust
2c crushed cinnamon Teddy Grahams
1/4c butter, melted

Filling:
4 packages (8oz each) cream cheese, softened
1 1/2c white sugar
4 eggs
1c pumpkin puree
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
3/4 tsp ground cardamom

Sauce:
1/3c packed brown sugar
1/3c light or dark corn syrup
2 Tbsp butter
1/3 cool whip
1 Tbsp rum extract

Garnish:
Cool Whip

Preheat the oven to 300˚F, Spray a 9 inch spring form pan with cooking spray. In a small bowl, mix the crust ingredients. Press mixture in bottom and about 1 inch up the side of the pan. Bake for 8-10 minutes. To minimize cracking, place a shallow, half full, pan of water on the lower oven rack.

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and white sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until blended. Spoon about three cups of mixture into crust. Spread evenly. To the remaining mixture, add pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice, and cardamom. Mix until smooth. Spoon mixture smoothly into the pan.

Bake for about 1 hour and 25 minutes. The edge of the cheesecake should be set at least 2 inches into the cheesecake, but the center will still be jiggley. Is that a real word? Turn the oven off and open the oven door at least 4 inches. Let the cheesecake remain in the oven for 30 minutes. Then let the pan cool an additional 30minutes before refrigerating. Refrigerate cheesecake for at least 6 hours, but no more than 24 hours.

Before serving:

In a small saucepan, heat brown sugar, corn syrup, and 2 Tbsp butter to boiling over a medium-low heat, stirring constantly. Boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Stir in cool whip. Heat to boiling. Remove sauce from heat and stir in the rum extract. Cool until warm.

Just before serving, run small spatula around the edge of the cheesecake to separate from the pan. Carefully remove side of pan. Top individual slices of cheesecake with warm sauce and a dollop of cool whip. Refrigerate remaining cheesecake.

(Cook's preference: The caramel sauce is pretty yummy and it looks really cool when you serve it up, but this cheesecake holds its own. If you want to skip the sauce it's still a spectacular dessert...very rich, would be awesome with coffee...if I drank coffee.)

Grandma's Homemade Apple Pie

Okay, so it's not my Grandma's Apple Pie, but it could totally be someone's Grandma's Homemade Apple Pie. It's just that good!

Let's talk about the dough first. This pie dough recipe is an awesome recipe from the pros at Cook's Illustrated. The secret ingredient is vodka. It allows the dough to be super malleable to roll out while still maintaining a buttery and flakey texture. The vodka cooks off and the steam from the evaporating vodka is what makes the pie crust so flakey. I don't drink a whole lot of vodka (mores the pity), but the little 50ml bottles they sell at the checkout counter of your local liquor store is just enough for this recipe.

Who am I kidding? It's Thanksgiving. You've got family coming into town. Your sister's going to be telling you how her kids never throw temper tantrums. You love her and her kids, but who needs that kind of pressure? Your dad is going to be pointing out every parenting mistake you are making. You better go back for the big bottle, maybe two. It'll get you through the day and will help you keep your mouth shut as the family drama plays out.

For a nine inch double pie crust:

2 1/2c flour
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar
12 Tbsp butter
1/2c shortening
1/4c vodka
1/4c water

Combine 1 1/2c of the flour, salt, and sugar. Add the butter and shortening. Cut ingredients together until dough starts to collect in uneven clumps. Cut in the remaining flour. Sprinkle water and vodka over the mixture. With a rubber spatula, use a folding motion to mix until the dough is slightly tacky and sticks together. Divide the dough into two balls. Cover bowl in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 45 minutes. You can store the dough for up to two days.

While the dough chills make the filling:

6c apples; cored, peeled, and sliced (about 7 depending on their size)
2T tapioca
1/2 to 3/4 c sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

How much sugar you use depends on personal taste and the type of apple you use. I use Braeburn apples and a little more than 1/2c sugar. If you use a tart apple like Granny Smith; you may need closer to 3/4c of sugar.

Mix the dry ingredients and add the apples. Mix well. Sprinkle some flour on your kitchen counter and roll out the crust. Put the crust in a 9 inch pie plate. Add filling. Put a few dollops of butter on the apple filling. Add the top crust. Cut a few X's on the top crust to let the pie vent while it cooks. Refrigerate the pie for about 15 minutes. Brush the top of your pie with water and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 450˚F for 20 minutes. Turn down the oven to 350˚F for 20 minutes. Let the pie cool for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Iced Pumpkin Cookies

This is my favorite time of year. I love baking in the autumn...and if you've been following my blog you'll notice a slight favoritism for cooking with Pumpkin. This morning Kaitlyn asked where her baby pumpkin went. I told her we were going to make her baby pumpkin into cookies today. She was on board.

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter or shortening, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 cups canned pumpkin puree*
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

*I used some of the puree that I made yesterday. It tasted the same as the stuff I buy at the grocery store.

For the Icing

2 cups confectioners' sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and salt. In a medium bowl, cream together the 1/2 cup of butter and white sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, and 1 teaspoon vanilla to butter mixture. Beat until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients. Drop on cookie sheet with a spoon. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool cookies, then drizzle glaze with fork.

To Make Glaze combine confectioners' sugar, milk, melted butter, and vanilla. Add a little more milk as needed, to achieve your desired drizzling consistency. I made half the cookies with icing and half without. Kaitlyn prefered them without, but I liked both. If there are any left when Roger gets home....I'll ask which one he prefers.

Halloween Pumpkin Cookies

This is a pretty easy recipe to make. I acquired this recipe when Roger and I were first married. It came in the monthly newsletter that our apartment complex distributed...along with safety tips and a reminder that it was, in fact, illegal to sell drugs out of your apartment. Ahhh the memories of being newlywed and broke...

1 stick butter or margarine (Crisco is a good substitute, too)
1/2 c sugar
1 egg
1/2 c pumpkin
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 c flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp of cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl. Add egg, pumpkin, and vanilla. Sift dry ingredients together and add to bowl. Drop by tablespoon onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

It's fall. The temperature is a little more barable. The leaves are turning. One of my favorite things about autumn is cooking "fall food". I love cooking with pumpkin. It smells so amazing. This is a recipe that my friend Jen shared with me. It's a vegan recipe so it's great if your kids are allergic to eggs.

Ingredients
2 cups flour
1 1/3 cups rolled oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 2/3 cups sugar
2/3 cup canola oil
2 tablespoons molasses
1 cup canned pumpkin, or cooked pureed pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon ground flax seeds*

Directions
Preheat oven to 350.

Mix together flour, oats, baking soda, salt and spices.

In a seperate bowl, mix together sugar, oil, molasses, pumpkin and vanilla (and flax seeds if using) until very well combined. Add dry ingredients to wet, folding to combine.

Drop onto greased cookie sheets about a tablespoon at a time. They don't spread very much so they can be placed only an inch apart. Flatten the tops of the cookies with a fork or with your fingers, to press into cookie shape. Bake for 16 minutes at 350. If you are using two sheets of cookies on 2 levels of your oven, rotate the sheets halfway through for even baking. Makes about four dozen.

Remove from oven and let set before serving.

*Ground flax seed will add a chewy texture to the cookie, but is optional. I found the ground flax seed on the "health food" aisle, but I've also seen it with the flour.

**Variation: Fold in 1 cup walnuts (finely chopped) and 1/2 cup raisins right before dropping batter onto cookie sheet.

Peach Cobbler

I have been Jonesing to cook something for weeks, but we've been living in hotels with kitchenettes so the most I've managed are recipes that only require adding boiled water. So I'm very pleased to have moved into a REAL house with...wait for it...a real kitchen. My new neighbor's have a peach tree in their back yard. Ruben invited me to take as many peaches as I wanted, but I declined because the tree was covered in wasps and it looked like all of the fruit was half eaten by the aforementioned wasps. Ruben must have taken this as a personal challenge because the next day he brought over a HUGE bowl of perfect peaches that he had harvested from his tree. When a man has risks life (or wasp stings) to bring me treasure, I want to make something really yummy. Unfortunately, my peach pie recipe is with my household goods (enroute from Germany). So this recipe is something I'm throwing together....it is part memory and part what I've read in cooking magazines. But it sure smells yummy wafting in from the kitchen...I wish I'd thought to buy vanilla ice cream to go with it.

Peach Cobbler

4 cups of fresh (wasp-free) peaches, skinned and sliced
1 Tbsp lemon juice
3/8c brown sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp corn starch
1/2 c. water
1 box yellow cake mix
1/2c melted butter
2 Tbsp sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Peel and slice peaches. Toss peaches into a greased casserole dish. Squeeze lemon juice onto peaches. Add the corn starch to the warm water and stir until it dissolves. This prevents lumps. Add corn starch mixture and brown sugar to a sauce pan. Stir over med heat until it begins to thicken (about 5 minutes). Pour over the peaches. Sprinkle the cake mix evenly over peaches. Drizzle melted butter over the cake mix. Sprinkle sugar over cake mix. Bake at 400F for 35 to 40 minutes.

Sorry...can't find the camera so there is no picture for now.

German Chocolate Cake

It was my husband's birthday yesterday. So I decided to try this German Chocolate Cake recipe that my friend Jen recommended. I was a little nervous when the cake was finished baking because it wasn't as sweet as store bought cake mix, but after I added the icing the combination is delicious. It was my husband's 33rd birthday, but he didn't want that many candles on the cake so I thought that three candles was a nice compromise. One for my husband and one for each of the girls who wanted to blow out candles, too.

Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare 2 9 inch cake pans by greasing and flouring lightly.

3c flour
2c sugar
2t baking soda
1t salt
1/2c cocoa
3/4c canola oil
1t vanilla
2T vinegar
2c water

Sift flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt together. Mix sugar, canola oil, vanilla, vinegar, and water together in another bowl. Combine the wet and dry ingredients and beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Divide the mix evenly between your two pans and bake for about 30 minutes.

German Chocolate Icing

1c soy milk (I used regular milk because that's what I had in the fridge.)
1/3c coconut milk
1 1/4c sugar
1t vanilla
1/3c cornstarch mixed with 1/4c water until smooth
2 1/2c sweetened flaked coconut
1 1/2c chopped pecans

In a saucepan, mix the soymilk, coconut milk, sugar, and vanilla. Add the cornstarch mixture and cook over medium high heat, stirring constantly, until mixture boils and thickens. Cook for 1 min after it boils. Remove from the heat and stir in the coconut and pecans. Allow this to cool 10 mins before spreading. The mixture should still be warm as you are icing the cake.

This makes for a 2 layer 9 inch cake.

Taste the Rainbow

I first saw this on the Facebook page of a high school friend and I thought, "I can do that!!". (Thanks Kristy!) What a fun project for kids on a rainy day! You'll need:

White Cake Mix
1 1/4 c. water
1/3 c. vegetable oil
3 egg whites
Food coloring

Cool Whip

Mix the cake mix, water, oil, and eggs. Divide batter evenly into six bowls. Add food coloring according to list below.

Drop cupcake paper into muffin pan. Evenly distribute the purple batter into 18 muffin cups, smooth over with a spoon. Distribute blue, then green and so on (smoothing the batter between colors). Divide the cake mix sparingly because it adds up fast, by the time you get to red, the cups are full!!

Bake the cupcakes at 350F for 20 minutes. Before serving, drop a dollop of cool whip (cloud) on the cupcake.

For rainbow colors:
purple: 9 drops of red, 6 drops of blue food coloring
blue: 12 drops of blue food coloring
green: 12 drops of green food coloring
yellow: 12 drops of yellow food coloring
orange: 12 drops of yellow, 4 drops of red food coloring
red: 20 drops of red food coloring

Seriously, the hardest part of this recipe was getting the toddler to stop licking the batter while I wasn't looking.