Red Velvet Cake Pops

So I made some cupcakes for a friend a few weeks ago and this week I needed to make something that didn't require my cupcake pan as I had not yet retrieved it.  So on Tuesday I made cake pops, sticking with my portable obsession.  I love red velvet, so I whipped out one of my mixes and went to work.  Here they are:

 Meet Mauria, my house manager.  

Dry Mix:
1 1/2 c sugar
2 tbsp cocoa
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/4 c cake flour
1 tsp baking soda


You can mix all of these ingredients together and store in a plastic bag for a quick cake mix.

Wet Ingredients:
1/2 c shortening
3 eggs
2 oz. red food coloring
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 c buttermilk
3 tsp vinegar (optional, adds a bit more silky texture)

Other:
1 can of frosting (whatever flavor and brand you like)
candy wafers (about 1 1/2 lbs)

       Heat your oven to 350°. Cream together wet ingredients and add in dry while still mixing.  Don't overmix, it is okay for the pops because you will break the cake up, but if just making the cake it may get rubbery if overmixed.  Pour in a 9x13 pan and bake for 20-30 min until a toothpick comes out clean.
       Once the cake is cool break the cake up into a bowl.  Add 1/2 c of icing (I used cream cheese for this recipe) and mash all together with the cake bits. Add more if needed for the mixture to be formed into balls that will hold together.  Next I use a tablespoon to scoop out the cake mixture and roll into balls.  Once all the cake mix is rolled up I put the balls in the fridge to harden up a bit.
       While they are in the fridge I melt candy wafers (from the candy making isle of the craft store) in the microwave.  I used pink and dark chocolate.  I also get my lollipop sticks and some of that green flower arrangement foam at the craft store, I love Hobby Lobby, affordable, nice people, great products.  Make sure to keep the cake balls cold during all of his so that they don't break all apart.
       I poke hole in each of the cake balls with the lollipop sticks.  I put a bit of the melted chocolate in the holes and stick the lollipop sticks back into the holes to glue the sticks in.  Then roll the pops in the melted chocolate to coat and push the sticks into the foam to let the chocolate dry.  Once the chocolate is dry you have delicious portable cake morsels.

This may sound really involved and hard, but I swear it is not that bad, and it is super fun and everyone (even those who hate red velvet) will love these!



Now I hope you and yours enjoy these!  But please keep those in the South in your prayers right now.  We were struck with a horrible storm this weekend.  While myself and friends and family were blessed, many of my fellow North Carolinians and other Southerners were really affected and harmed by this storm, so please keep all of those affected in your prayers and thoughts.  With all of the death and destruction it will be a very long time until many here recover!  Thank you!

Banana Bread!

Why hello there, Spring.  You sure are a sight for sore eyes!
      So as the weather warms I start to see more disgusted faces on my housemates faces as I pull sweets out of the oven.  Apparently I am trying to ruin their figures.  So I decided to whip up a little something healthy.
      Last Sunday I bought some nanners at the store and I didn't eat them all this week before they passed that too ripe point where they were so sweet that they hurt your teeth.  So the only thing to do was make banana bread.

    In my house people are flitting in and out all the time so portability is one of my main concerns when baking so I made muffins, but a loaf would be just as good I'm sure, but keep in mind it would have to bake longer.
     I'm sure you've heard of using applesauce instead of oil or butter. I've even posted recipes like that on this blog.  And I am here to tell you, "DO it."  you will not see much of a difference, if any, and you can feel real good about serving healthier things to friends and family.  I even use the no sugar added kind, it's perfect.

Banana Bread:
3 or 4 mashed ripe bananas
1/2 c (or one single serve cup) applesauce
1 egg
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c sugar (You can use anywhere from 2 Tbsp to a whole cup, it is just as you want it)
1 1/2 c flour
Nuts or semi-sweet chocolate chips as desired

Preheat the oven to 350°.  With just a mixing spoon mix everything but the flour together in a mixing bowl until well incorporated.  Add the flour and mix until completely wet.  Add in nuts or chocolate chips if you like.  Fill lined muffin tins till almost full and bake for 10-15 min or until fork poked in center comes out clean.  This should make between 12-15 muffins or one loaf.
I hope you and yours enjoy this guiltless treat.

Quick Post

Has anyone seen how cute Google's icon is today?  I vote it stays this way I love it!

Well, have a blessed Sabbath everyone!

Blueberry Cream Cheese Croissants

So this is one of my family's favorite desserts, and it is extremely easy to make.  Plus you can cook what you like and freeze the rest for later.

Blueberry Filling:

1/2 c blueberry preserves

1 c blueberries

2 Tbsp brown sugar

1 Tbsp corn starch 

1 Tbsp lemon juice

Cream Cheese Filling:

1(8 oz) pkg softened cream cheese

1/2 (16 oz) pkg whipped cream

Mix each filling together separately.  Taking one package of thawed frozen puff  pastry, roll out each sheet and cut out 6-9 squares or circles from each, depending on the size you would like.  Place a spoonful of each filling into the pastry.  Wetting an edge of each pastry fold over and seal the pastry with a fork.  Place on a greased cookie sheet and brush the tops with a bit of oil or butter and cook in a 375° oven for 15 min. Beware, the blueberries hold their heat and the croissants will be very hot for a while.  Enjoy!

Carrot Cake Balls

Hi all,
   So I don't know how many of you have ever had a cake ball, but it is everything perfect about cakes rolled into a bite-sized snack.  Check out Bakerella, she has some awesome ideas.  I am not a huge fan of cake even though it is one of my favorite things to bake.  That said, I love carrot cake, it is one cake that I will actually go out of my way to eat.  And I love making carrot cake because it lends itself very much to creativity, you can put almost anything in a carrot cake: apples, raisins, pineapple, mandarin oranges, craisins, nuts, I even have a friend who swears gummy bears are a great addition. So I decided that carrot cake balls would be a fabulous adventure.

Carrot Cake:
2 c flour
2 c sugar (I only use 1 cup, but it is really just to suit your taste)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
4 eggs
1/2 c oil
1/2 c apple sauce
1 can (8 oz) drained pineapple
3 c grated carrots

Mix dry ingredients and add in wet. Bake in a 9x13 pan at 350° til toothpick comes out clean.  (I think that's around 40 min, you can also shake it and if it jiggles, it is not done)

Cream Cheese Icing:
8 oz. cream cheese softened
1 1/2 c powdered sugar (may need more to suit your taste)

Beat until smooth. This makes a lot of icing, you may only need a half batch for the cake balls. If you want, canned icing from the store will work just fine for this treat.

Let cake cool until you can cut it up and crumbled it into a bowl without burning your hands. Once the cake is crumbled up in a mixing bowl, spoon in 1/2 c of icing and mush it all together with your hands, you may need to add more until it is moist enough to be rolled into balls that hold together. I use a 1 Tbsp measuring spoon to scoop up the mixture and to roll into balls, you can make them larger or smaller as you please.  After rolling all of the mixture into balls, put them on a cookie sheet in the freezer for a few minutes.  While they are hardening up melt some almond bark over the stove, I add cinnamon and nutmeg too.  When the  cake balls are hardened and the almond bark is melted either dip the balls in the bark, using skewers works well, or drizzle the bark over them.  I also add some pecans on top while the bark is still wet.  I keep mine in the fridge to keep them fresh and the candy coating really hard.
  I hope you enjoy! Also, I really want to try these with dark chocolate, so if anyone tries the carrot cake with dark chocolate let me know how it goes.

Welcome, I'm glad you're here!

Welcome to my blog!  I believe that the simple things in life make some of the best memories.  And desserts are some of the simplest pleasures in life and the gratification that they bring open people up and result in great fun.  They don't have to be fancy, or hard to make, just sweet and comforting.  I bake to make people smile and make memories to last a lifetime, like this one.  This is my uncle's 5th birthday right after my father stuck his finger right in the cake.  Rumor has it that this was a  good cake, but most people just remember the finger in it. (You can see my dad's finger in his mouth enjoying his spoils)

So, please come and bake with me, make lots of memories with your family and friends in the process, and enjoy all of the little joys that God puts in our lives.  And don't forget to follow your heart in the kitchen, cooking is an art, not a science!