Cake Mix Magic - Sour Cream Pound Cake

I promised my neighbor I would have this recipe up by Christmas I think I can make it just under the wire.

I've had this recipe for years and the woman who gave it to me called it sour cream pound cake. I guess with four eggs in it could be considered pound cake.

 Here's what you will need:

1     Duncan Hines butter recipe cake mix
1/2  cup sugar
4     eggs
3/4  cup oil
1/2  stick of butter melted
1     cup sour cream

I started by adding my cake mix, sugar, oil, and butter in my mixer. Beat until blended.

Add the sour cream and eggs, then beat until blended.

Then beat the mixture for 4 minutes until it gains more volume.

I poured this into my eight mini loaf pans that I'd sprayed down with Pam for baking. I baked at 325° for 50 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.  Truth be told I never poke at my cakes, I touch the top gently and if it bounces back I call it done.  If it dimples then I know I need more time.

To make one large cake I use a fluted pan and bake for an hour and five minutes. Let cool completely before trying to remove from pan.

You can make a glaze for this cake, however I think it's good just plain the way it is. If you want to make the glaze here's what you will need:

1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 tablespoons of milk
Chopped pecans (optional)

Mix the ingredients except for the pecans in a microwave-safe measuring cup. Place in the microwave on 30 seconds whisking every 5 to 10 seconds so that you don't over cook. When it's bubbled and heated through at the pecans and pour over the cake.

You do not have to microwave this glaze, you can mix and pour over the cake. I find heating it through gets rid of the raw powdered sugar taste.

I have made this cake in so many different shaped pans it makes a great gift. Enjoy and don't forget to share with a friend.

Tool Talk: Piece of Cake

I know it may seem a little soon for another Tool Talk, but it has been a crazy weekend.  The youngest has a chest cough and cold and after a quick trip to the after hours clinic I spent a good part of the weekend rocking a sick baby.  What does that mean? It means another Tool Talk, yay!

This is about kitchen tools; a few that I simply could not live without.  Even with all the baby rocking this weekend, I found time to bake a cake for my nephew. He is in the Navy, and about to be stationed in Japan for two years.  I made him the strawberry cake found here, and I decided to highlight a few things that made this job easier. 

Let’s start with the Kitchen Aid.  The Kitchen Aid really deserves a post all its own, and doesn’t require much said except I don’t know why I waited so long to add this one to my arsenal. 
 

 

The star of this post is parchment paper.  This one gets a lot of use in my kitchen.  Because of parchment paper I rarely ever have to wash a cookie sheet in my house, I never worry about cakes sticking, and it even makes an occasional appearance in craft projects. 

 

If I’m using a round pan I grab a pencil and trace my pan, I fold the paper in half until the pencil marks line up and I channel my inner kindergartner and cut a circle just inside the pencil lines. I pop it into the pan and I’m good to go.  Today I am using a 9x13 so the process it slightly different.  I roll the paper up and hold it in the pan to estimate the size, I then use my kitchen scissors the snip the rolled up paper to the proper width. 

I unroll and roll it in the other direction and repeat for the length.  I use Pam for Baking on the sides and a little spray in the middle to keep the paper from moving while I pour. 

 

  

The other tools that I pulled out for today’s baking are a raised cooling rack, my favorite scraping spatula, good oven mitts, and my cake cutter to cut the layers. 

 

 You can click on any one of these to see where I got them.  Enjoy your Sunday, and I will be back on Monday with a post to start off the week. 

Coconut Cake Gone Rogue

I know it sounds silly to call it Coconut Cake when clearly that is a strawberry cake in the picture, but like most things in my life there's a back story.  A coworker brought this amazing coconut cake for us all to share one afternoon.  I work for the state and nothing motivates a group of groggy state employees through the afternoon like free cake.  So Ms. J brought this cake that I was sure took her all morning to make. It has been my experience that a good coconut cake takes several hours, and 7 minute frosting takes a heck of a lot longer than 7 minutes. Turns out that is was so easy and delicious, so I am going to share it with you.  I'm sure if she ever reads this she will see that I took out a good deal of the sugar, half in fact, and helped the recipe go rogue a time or two.

Coconut Cake

1 Butter recipe yellow cake mix
1 cup coconut
1 16 oz container of sour cream
1 8 oz bowl of whipped topping
1 cup of sugar

Prepare the cake mix according to the directions. I like to divide the mix into 3- 9 inch round pans, but you can see I have made it in 1- 9x13  pan cut into 2 layers before.  Bake and let cool.  Whisk together  16 ozs of sour cream and sugar in a large bowl until sugar is no longer gritty.  Add coconut to the mixture and reserve 1 cup for frosting for between the layers.  Fold the 8 ozs of whipped topping into the remaining one cup of sour cream and coconut mixture and frost the top and sides of the cake. 

 

Viola!!! That's it I promise.  Now for the rogue part. If I am using a 9x13 and I am not worried about supporting the weight of several layers, I don't reserve any I just mix it all together like the rebel I am and go to frosting.  I know...I'm a wild woman right? We have an amazing bakery in Baton Rouge that is known for their strawberry cakes.  I got to thinking this would be great with strawberries.  I cut the 9x13 in two layers, then sliced a container of washed strawberries with my PC (pampered chef) egg slicer and folded them into the frosting instead of coconut.  Boy howdy was it good! Sorry local bakery but this one was so good and cost so much less.  I could have gotten out the pastry bags and made fancy edges and wrote goodbye to the coworker I whipped this up for, but sometimes you need to keep it simple and tasty.  

Oh one more thing, in a hurry once I mixed up half a batch of frosting with blackberries that I frosted onto a Sara Lee frozen pound cake sliced lengthwise.  I am telling you the possibilities are endless. Enjoy, and remember to share with a friend.