Orange Dreamsicle Cake

My Bloggy Buddy, Bluegrass Belle, posted this recipe a few weeks ago and I knew I had to make it.  This is the perfect summer cake. especially if you're bbqing or have friends over for dinner.  And that's when I made it, when I had some friends over for dinner.  Everyone loved it!

Ingredients:
1 box white cake mix
1 small box vanilla jello instant pudding
2 small boxes orange jello
16 oz. cool whip
1 cup milk

Instructions:

1. Bake cake as directed.  While cake is still warm, poke holes in cake with the end of a wooden spoon.  Mix one box of orange jello according to package directions, and pour the liquid mixture over warm cake.  Cool before adding icing (can be refrigerated overnight before adding the icing, or just let the cake cool).
2. To make the icing:  mix the remaining box of orange jello with the pudding and one cup of milk.  Add to thawed cool whip, and spread on the cake.  Refrigerate overnight and serve.

Optional Alterations:

• To cut calories:  bake the cake with applesauce instead of oil, use reduced fat and/or sugar free pudding and jello mixes, use light cool whip, and use 1% milk.
• I didn't have orange jello, so I used raspberry.  SO good!  I bet it would be good with lemon or strawberry as well.

Sorry I don't have a picture.  I made it in a rush (oops, didn't read the "refrigerate overnight" until I started making it, 2 hours before serving. 

Thanks Jill for sharing the recipe!

WW's 5 Ingredient Pineapple Updside-Down Cake

Not too long ago I had friends over for Tuesday Night Dessert instead of Tuesday Night Dinner.  I did this bcause 1) I'm broke right now, 2) I had ingredients to make desserts, and 3) my house needed a reason to be cleaned.  While going to recipes in my email I came across this one...  I love cake.  I love pineapple.  I love pineapple upside-down cake.  So why not try the "diet" version.  It was so good!  You'd never know it was a weight watcher's recipe.

Points Value:  3
Serves: 10
Prep Time:  7 minutes
Cooking Time:  40 minutes

Ingredients:
1/4 cup unsalted butter, divided
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 pound canned pineapple slices (rings) in juice, reserve 1/4 cup juice
1/4 pound unprepared vanilla cake mix, about 1 scant cup
1 large egg

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. Melt 2 tbs butter in a 9" round, flameproof, aluminum pan over medium-low heat (make sure to cover entire pan bottom); sprinkle sugar over top.  Carefully place pineapple rings (use 7 rings) in a single layer in bottom of pan.  Increase heat to medium-high and cook until pineapple caramelizes, flipping once, about 2 minutes per side; remove pan from heat.
3. Melt remaining 2 tbs butter on stove top or microwave.  In a medium-sized mixing bowl, beat egg with remaining melted butter.  Add cake mix and reserved pineapple juice; combine well.
4. Pour batter over pineapple; bake until a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, about 30-35 minutes.  Allow cake to cool for about 15-20 minutes; when still warm, loosen sides with a knife and invert cake onto a serving plate.  Slice into 10 pieces and serve.  Yields 1 slice per serving.

Cookie Cake Pie: Attempt #2

I was not going to let this recipe win. I had to successfully make it! So, the next day it was time to make a second attempt of the "Cookie Cake Pie."

And I did it!
Ingredients:A single pie crust
A batch of cookie dough (homemade or store bought)
A batch of cake batter
Frosting

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Line pie pan with pie crust. Place cookie dough on pie crust, spread evenly. Should end up being about an inch thick. (Note, you should also end up with some dough leftover.)
3. Make your cake batter. Pour batter onto cookie dough until pie crust is about 2/3 filled. (This is where I originally went wrong. I used all the batter.) You should end up with leftover batter. Be creative and use it like I did, cookie cupcakes.
4. Pop the monster in the oven, check it after 25 minutes. You're aiming for golden brown edges. Continue to bake at 5 minute increments until golden brown edges are achieved. (See the cookie cupcakes in there...?)
5. Pull it out and let it cool. Once cooled frost it. The original maker of this recipe said that her frosting was about 1" thick. EEK! I did not lay it on that thick.
It was a bit sloppy when I cut into it. But man was it good. Diabetes waiting to happen. Well worth it though!

Thank you CakeSpy for sharing this recipe.

Mint Chocolate Ice Cream Cake

Mom's Day, 2009. My mother decided that she wanted an ice cream cake. Sure, I could have run to the local Coldstone's or Baskin Robins. But no, I took it as a challenge to make my own.

Plus I figured it would have been less expense to make on then to buy one.

So I found a recipe via my iphone (gotta love it!). Kaitlin and I went to the store to get the goods. Then we went to work.

The Cast...
Pressing the crust...
Freezing the first layer...
Apparently I didn't get the "using a fork" memo. So the melted chocolate ended up a little globby. Still tasted good.
Who did that to poor Kaitlin?!?
Speaking of iphone. Chris and his pocket god app. Check out the upgrade, there's a dinosaur now!
Kaitlin like it so much that she licked her plate.
The rest of us just scraped it clean.
Ingredients:
1 - 16 oz. package chocolate sandwich cookies
3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1 quart mint chocolate chip ice cream
1 quart cookies and cream ice cream
1 - 10 oz. package mint chocolate chips

Instructions:

1. Finely grind cookies in processor. Blend in melted butter. Press crumb mixture evenly onto bottom and 2 1/4" up sides of 9x2 3/4" spring-form pan. Refrigerate 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, soften mint ice cream slightly, about 2 minutes in microwave set on medium-low or in refrigerator.
3. Spread mint ice cream evenly in chilled crust. Freeze until set but not solid, about 1 hour.
4. Soften cookies and cream ice cream. Spread evenly over mint ice cream in pan. Freeze at least 2 hours or overnight.
5. Melt chocolate chips in top of double boiler over simmering water, stirring until smooth. Using fork, lightly drizzle some chocolate back and forth over cake, creating design.
6. Release sides of pan. Cut cake into wedges. Serve, passing remaining melted chocolate chips separately as sauce.

Recipe from Bon Appetit, September 1992.

Chef's Notes:

• We tried to cut back some. So we used reduced fat oreos, and half fat slow churned ice creams.
• Since we couldn't find mint chocolate chips, we used regular chips and added mint extract to taste.
• Also, some reviews said that they added a fudge layer between the ice cream. So we did too!
  

Cake Pop

Ahhh...Cake Pops... My new favorite form of, well, cake!

I first learned of these little mysterious treats from the Pioneer Woman. She made some cutesy little cake pops for Halloween. But come to find out, Ree wasn't the "creator" of cake pops. She got the recipe from Bakerella. Visit her site. It's amazing! She can pretty much create anything out of a little ball of cake.

Here's the clincher... Bakerella visited Pioneer Woman at her ranch and had a fun filled day of making cake pops. Man I wish I could have been there!

So you know what I had to do. Yep, try to make them myself!

The ingredients: One box of cake mix (bake according to directions) and one tub of frosting.
"They" all recommend red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. I was daring (and feeling a bit springy) and used lemon cake with cream cheese frosting.

Make the cake. Let it completely cool (I left it out overnight). Crumble the cake into a large bowl. And when I say crumble, I mean crumble. Watch the edges and corners, they take a little more work.
Add 3/4 of the tub of frosting, mixing it completely with the cake crumbs. Add more frosting if you need to. I'll be honest, I used the whole frickin' tub. I would recommend chilling the "dough" at this point. I did not. Wish I did though cause it would have made forming the balls a little easier.

Roll your balls about the size of a quarter (your should get around 50 pops). Place them on parchment paper (or in my case since I didn't have parchment paper I used nonstick foil).

You're going to want to melt a little bit of melting chocolate (found at a store like Michael's). Dip the end of the lollipop stick (also found at Michael's) into the chocolate then into the ball. This will help it stay in later.

Now you have 2 options here:
1. Stick the stick in before you place the ball on the parchment. or
2. Stick the stick in after you've placed the ball on the parchment. Be warned though, adding that little pressure with slightly flatten the ball. I know this because that's how I did it.
Put your cookie tray or whatever is hold the cake pops on into the freezer. You want them nice and chilled before the next step.

Find yourself a nice little bowl that is narrow and deep. Melt the chocolate in 15-30 second intervals in the microwave, stirring in between. Oh! And you'll need a hunk of styroform or something to stand the cake pops in to dry.

Once you're ready start dippin'. I had some sprinkles that I used too.
And this is what you get! A cake pop! (insert ohhhs and awwwws here)
So the real question is...
How many bites does it take to get to the center of a cake pop?
one...two...
three. Crunch!
I can't wait to make them again and experiment with other flavors!