Husband's Birthday cake

The husband's birthday is coming up soon and I am on a quest to find the perfect yellow cake and chocolate icing recipe! Yesterday (spur of the moment) I decided to make a cake to take to a friends, (warning: its not pretty lol) In the cake world I have to say I am still on the quest. This yellow cake was VERY crumbly and had and almost corn bread texture.

I found the original recipe here.  In her recipe it calls for milk... then never says when to add it. So I assumed you do thirds at the end with the flour substance. I will re-post the recipe here with my changes.

Ingredients:
2 1/4 C All- purpose flour
3 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 C Sugar
1 stick  Butter
1 1/4 tsp Vanilla
3 Eggs
1 1/4C Milk

* Pre- heat the oven for 350 degrees .

* Sift all purpose flour with salt and baking powder.Mix them well and keep it aside.

* Bring butter to room temperature.

* Take a mixing bowl,add butter and sugar.Beat them well.

* Add eggs and vanilla extract.Let us beat them at high speed until it becomes fluffy.

* Now slowly fold in 1/3 of the flour mix just until incorporated. Then fold in 1/3 of the milk. Repeat both steps until everything is together.

*Pour into two well greased 9 in round pans and bake for 30-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

(My grade: C)



My hubby LOVES chocolate icing from the store (*gasps*) I know, I know. It hurts. BUT I have got him on this thing where God says our body is our temple (to worship Him at! AWESOME!) so we need to ake care of it. Therefore we have started this "as little preservative, if we can say it cant be good for ya" type thing. I went hunting for a really yummy chocolate icing recipe that tasted a lot like the store bought kind. I found one here. Sounds like her husband and mine are a lot a like ;)
(her pictures are sooo much better than mine *pouting*)

This recipe is VERY rich... but OH SO GOOD!

Ingredients
3 C Confectioner's Sugar (powdered sugar)
2/3 C Cocoa Powder
1/2 Cup (one stick) butter or magarine, softened
6 T milk
1 tsp vanilla

Instructions
In a large mixing bowl, place margarine, 1 C sugar, cocoa powder, and two Tablespoons of milk. Beat until mixed well and no longer lumpy. It will be thick. Add all remaining ingredients and beat until smooth and creamy.

(Grade:A)


The frosting made the cake a little better. But I am still on the quest for a perfect FS yellow cake.

Brand Loyalty

Are you loyal to specific brands when baking? For the most part I am flexible to whatever is cheapest, except for butter, chocolate, and vanilla extract.

For butter I have ALWAYS used Land O Lakes butter. However, since the Hershey's Chocolate Chips that I use have jumped up 70 cents in the last four months I thought that I should try using store brand butter to try and even out the cost. That way I am not having to jump the price up on customers or loose profit myself.

As an experiment I made my oh so yummy chocolate chip cookies with the store brand butter and gave some to Joe not telling him anything was different... just asking him to critique like I always do. After ONE bite he immediately asked what I did different. Before telling him I asked him if the tasted better or worse. He replies that they didn't taste bad per say but one bite in he knew something was different and he didn't care for the new "whatever".

So.... long story short I am sticking with my LOL butter and I am going to have to find something else to "cut costs"

Nutella Cheesecake Brownies

Sounds delicious right!? Ummm.... Fail! The hubby loved them... but then again there is very little sweet that he does not love!  I think my biggest disappointment was the fact that you couldn't taste the Nutella! Ummm if I am going to use over half a jar of that delicious goodness... it better darn well taste like it! I also was disappointed in the "cheesecake" part of it.


I am thinking that with a little work it *MIGHT* have potential to be a good recipe.... but honestly I am just not in the mood to do anything but finish this jar of Nutella... with a spoon.

(here is the recipe if you want to play with it)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ¾ cups granulated sugar
• ¾ cup + 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup + 2 tablespoons water
•  ¼ cup applesauce
•  ½ cup canola oil
• 1 block (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
• ¾ cup powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 6 tablespoons Nutella

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheti.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Pour in water, applesauce, and oil; mix until well blended. Spread evenly in a greased 9×13 inch baking pan.
3. In a small bowl, stir together the cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. Microwave on high for 10-15 seconds or until soft and easy to pour. Pour evenly over the brownie batter, drop Nutella by the spoonfuls on top, and make swirls in the batter with a knife.
4. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven. Let cool for at least 10 minutes before cutting into squares.

Yield: 12 brownies

Baking!

Hey all! I LOVE to bake. In fact I own a small.... VERY small business in Virginia. I wanted somewhere I could post my recipes, get feedback and ideas, and just plain have fun! I hope to inspire someone else to give a new recipe a try!

Warnings: I will probably be horrible about posting regularly. I am NOT a photographer so while I will post pictures.... they will not be the best of quality :) Oh... and I am not a writer either ;) so please dont expect to be amazed by any wittiness or such... I bake.

Enjoy!