Simple Yet Gourmet

Ever since getting a slice of Lemon Cake from Starbucks a few years back I have been on a quest to find a good copycat recipe.  I've tried several and they were all fine, but this cake is officially the winner.  My search is over! I seriously could not imagine a more perfect lemon cake.   Lemon flavor shines throughout the cake, but the real punch of flavor comes from the delectable glaze. The cake itself is so moist yet fluffy and tender at the same time.  It's like a ray of sunshine on a cold winter's day! 

I recently celebrated my Birthday and made this scrumptious cake to celebrate! Yes, I made my own cake- not because I had to but because I wanted to! I've had my eye on this recipe for awhile now (it's my favorite kind at the Cheesecake Factory), but it's so involved and requires enough ingredients to designate it to the "special occasion" category.  Well, I figured my Birthday was a special occasion so I went for it.  It was SO worth it! Every bite was pure bliss.  A chocolate lover's dream.   To make this, a moist chocolate cake is topped with decadent chocolate frosting, creamy Oreo Cheesecake, Oreo Mousse ( or not-more on that later ), more chocolate frosting, stabilized whipped cream, crushed Oreo's, and mini chocolate chips! Talk about sinfully delicious!  Since this cake has several layers it helps to make the individual layers ahead of time to break the work up.  All I did on the day of my Birthday was to assemble and decorate the cake. ...

I think I found the perfect Summer Dessert! Light and fluffy Angel Food Cake rolled up with a dreamy whipped  cream cheese frosting and fresh berries. Any fresh berry can be used for this, but using red berries (such as raspberries or strawberries) and blueberries turns this into a fun Patriotic Dessert as well! The fresh berries are a nice contrast to the perfectly sweet whipped cream cheese frosting and the lightly sweet and pillowy Angel Food Cake.  It's almost like a lightened up version of cheesecake.  The whole family loved this one, even my non-cake loving husband! And he really doesn't like Angel Food cake so that's saying something.   The recipe called for an Angel Food Cake mix, but I had some egg whites I needed to use up so I made mine from scratch.  It turned out awesome! I like both types though.  I included the link for the homemade version I made just in case you have a dozen egg whites laying around or feel adventurous!  I was a little...

Easter Egg Cake Balls are such a fun little treat! With a Robin Egg blue coating, they just scream Spring and new beginnings.  Cake balls have been around for awhile now, but in case you're not familiar with them, they are just cake crumbs mixed together with frosting and formed into balls (or in this case eggs), and then dipped into chocolate or candy melts.  I used up some leftover vanilla cake and strawberry buttercream I had in the freezer and they turned out so delicious!  However, any flavor of cake and/or frosting can be used to make these, so don't feel like to have to make the same exact ones I did.  That being said, these Strawberry Vanilla Eggs turned out so yummy! The Vanilla cake crumbs were moist and buttery, and the strawberry frosting is scrumptious so I knew this combo would be a winner.  I loved the color of the Candy Melts I used as well, and the malt flavor was a nice addition to the overall taste.   I'm including instructions both ...

So I have started a new tradition in our house this year.  Every Sunday I always make a yummy dessert for us to share while we play games or watch a Disney movie.  This year I have decided to make a NEW dessert each week to expand our choices.  So far, the recipes I have tried have been amazing.  This chocolate cake recipe was a huge hit at my house.  Even my husband, who does not like dessert ate two pieces and finished the cake on Tuesday.  The cake is extremely moist and the cream cheese frosting is a nice change to the sweet buttercream I usually add to my cakes.  I hope you and your family enjoy this cake as much as mine did!  

My husband Aaron celebrated a birthday recently!  He isn't a huge cake fan- I know, crazy right?  Typically he just wants his favorite chocolate chip cookies, but this time he said he would be okay with a Chocolate Bundt cake.  After some searching, I came across this copycat Nothing Bundt Cake recipe.  I'm not sure it was exactly the same, but it was pretty delicious! Danny said it was like a dream ( haha! ) and was not happy at all when I tossed the remaining cake after a few days.  

It's one of my kids favorite holidays, St.Patrick's Day.  I know what all of you are saying, but it can be a fun holiday!  The leprechauns come and turn our milk green and leave a little treat!  I try to make a special dinner and end the night with the kids favorite, Grasshopper Cake.  I have done this for a number of years, but have forgotten to post it, so sorry!  I hope I'm not to late for you to give it a try this year.  Who knows, the leprechauns might come to visit you if you make it! Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy Halloween!  I didn't make to many Halloween treats this year but I wanted to make something fun for our ward Halloween party and this was the winner.  For the cake, I followed the instructions for the Chocolate Mousse Crunch Cake from Our Best Bites, minus the toffee.  Then for the spiderweb I piped a spiral of store bought vanilla frosting.  Once the spiral was finished I simply took a toothpick and drew lines through the ganache from the center to the outside.  I added some plastic spiders to this later on for a fun and creepy effect.  Even if you don't do the spiderweb, the cake itself was great and I'm sure it would be even better with the toffee chips!

A few months ago we celebrated my husband's birthday.  Last year all he wanted for his birthday were his beloved chocolate chip cookies, but this year he said I could surprise him.  I had a lot of fun looking up different cakes and trying to find the perfect one for him.  Aaron loves chocolate but doesn't like it to be too rich so this Oreo cake seemed like the perfect solution.  The cake itself is fudgy and studded with chocolate chips, but the frosting is light and not as sweet as most.  It's still plenty sweet, especially with the Oreo chunks in it, just not sickeningly sweet.  I had my doubts about this frosting seeing as it starts out with a flour base (what?) but I was really pleased with the outcome.  Overall, this cake was really fun to make and we all loved it!

For Brynlee's 5th birthday (I still can't believe I have a 5 year old!) she wanted an actual cake. I've gotten away with just doing cupcakes up to this point but no longer. So after throwing out several ideas she decided on this one. I'll admit, I wasn't too disappointed :). She is definitely a girl after my own heart. For the cake I chose a classic chocolate layer cake with the chocolate frosting from the Decadent Chocolate Cupcakes . After frosting the cake we just stuck the whoppers on. So easy but oh my gosh, so GOOD!! Extremely rich and fudgy. I could only handle a small sliver at a time, but you better believe we were slicing pieces off for the entire next week. It was that  good.

This is my favorite carrot cake ever!  It was given to me a few years ago by Kirsti but somehow has never made it onto the blog.  I made it last week and loved it just as much as ever.  The cake is dense, moist, and just sweet enough.  Along with a rich cream cheese frosting this is a real treat!  Plus you get vitamins from the carrots so it's a win-win!  Am I right?

I pinned this recipe over a year ago with great intentions to try it and then completely forgot about it till this year.  I'm so glad I remembered!  This apple cake is very moist, dense, full of apples, and dripping with caramel.  It really wasn't that complicated to make- I just lined the pan with parchment to make sure the cake came out good.  Everything else was a piece of cake!  Pun intended :).  I thought this was a delicious take on a classic combo.  If you love caramel apples, you'll probably love this cake!

A few weeks ago, we were invited to a get-together at a friends house.  Of course we offered to bring something, and of course I was secretly hoping to bring a dessert, but we got assigned to bring a fruit salad instead.  Was I disappointed?  A little, but that quickly vanished with the first bite of this delicious cake.  Now I'm glad that I didn't bring a dessert because I have a great new recipe to add to the collection!  Every bite is moist and coconutty.  Delicious!  I did make one small little change to the recipe and that was to toast the coconut, but it's great whichever way you choose to make it.

Oprah's personal chef, Art Smith was the creator of this masterpiece. Oprah mentioned this was the most requested cake at Art Smith's resturant. Its a very pretty cake and simple to make. The second day is the best! The cake is very moist and the frosting set up. You can also find this recipe in Art Smith's book "Back to the Family," which is wonderful addition to any cooks collection. Art Smith's Hummingbird Cake Created by Chef Art SmithOprah.com Ingredients: Cake: 3 cups all-purpose flour 2 cups granulated sugar 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 cups chopped ripe bananas 1 cup drained crushed pineapple 1 cup vegetable oil 2 large eggs , beaten 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 cup (4 ounces) finely chopped pecans Icing: 8 ounces cream cheese , at room temperature 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter , at room temperature 1 pound confectioners' sugar (about 4 1/2 cups sifted) 1 teaspoon van...

Thanks to my good friend Katie, this has become one of our family's favorite desserts! When strawberries are on sale this is the recipe we turn to. It's a yummy twist to the ordinary strawberry shortcake. Don't let the idea of rolling a cake scare you. I was afraid to make this for a long time, but once I did, I never turned back. With summer just around the corner I hope this recipe will become a favorite of yours as well.

If you like chocolate, you will love this cake. It is chocolate to the extreme. Hot fudge comes oozing out of a moist chocolate cake. Topped with vanilla ice cream and drizzled with more hot fudge, this is Heaven on a plate. Also, it's really easy to make so that's a plus too!