Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cone Cakes

This recipe combines two, well three, of my favorite desserts into one yummy, kid-friendly, creation.  Strawberry mini cupcakes baked into mini ice cream cones, dipped in chocolate, and covered in sprinkles.  The best part is that the chocolate hardens, making storage a breeze.  Plus, they are tiny enough not to ruin your summer-is-right-around-the-corner diet.  Take a look at how Mama makes these beautiful little cone cakes:

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cone Cakes

Ingredients: (makes 42 mini cones)

- 1 box strawberry cake mix

- 1 c. water

- 1/2 c. oil

- 3 eggs

- 1 (42 ct.) package mini ice cream cones

- 1 package semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips

- sprinkles of your choice

Apple Cider Coffee Cake

Here's a fun fall twist on one of my favorite family recipes, my mom's coffee cake.  The way I see it, you can never go wrong with adding apples to any baked good during the fall and winter months. I made this one in honor of the apple trees Michael planted for me as a birthday gift. Starting a home orchard has been a dream of mine for awhile now and I can't wait to use our own apples for fall baking here in a few years! But for now, here's how Mama makes apple cider coffee cake:

Apple Cider Coffee Cake

Ingredients:
- 1 c. sugar
- 5 T. shortening
- 1/2 t. salt
- 1 egg
- 1/2 c. apple cider
- 1/4 c. milk
- 1 1/2 c. flour
- 1 1/2 t. baking powder
for the topping:
- 1/4 c. sugar
- 1/4 c. brown sugar
- 1 t. cinnamon
- 1 T. flour
- 2 T. cold butter
- 1 apple, peeled and finely chopped

 (I actually made 1 and 1/2 times this recipe in a 9x13" pan since my whole family was visiting)

Funfetti Mug Cupcakes

Here's a super quick 'n easy recipe that Annalyn and I whipped up the other day. The small-scale recipe was easy for her to help with and it only makes two mugs, so no leftovers lying around. Just enough for an afternoon picnic with my girls. Here's how Mama (and my little helpers) makes it:

Funfetti Mug Cupcakes

Ingredients:

- 2 T. Butter, melted

- 1 large egg

- 2 T. Milk

- 1 t. Vanilla extract

- 1/4 c. Sugar

- 6 T. Flour

- 1/4 t. Baking powder

- pinch salt

- 2 T. Sprinkles

White Almond Cupcakes with Cherry Filling

As I've mentioned before, Annalyn and I have been watching Cupcake Wars on TV every now and then.  It's a nice break from the usual cartoons she requests and usually leads to some snuggle time.  The downside?  She always wants cupcakes when it's over.  So this year when I asked her what she wanted for her birthday cake, it was no surprise that she said "pink cupcakes."  In an effort to make them a little more fun, I decided to make white almond sour cream cupcakes and bake the cherry filling into them.  I was a little nervous about baking the filling right in the cupcakes, but I'd done it before with muffins, so I figured it was worth a shot!  (And after this debacle, I needed to make up for some lost time!)  They turned out great and were a big hit.  It made enough batter that I could make Annalyn a little individual cake (from one of Great Grandma Eddie's old pans that she plays with) and a small 6" cake that I let her help decorate on her birthday.  We took half of them up to Emily and Aaron's for her first birthday celebration and froze the rest to take to my side the next weekend.  Here's how Mama makes it:

White Almond Cupcakes with Cherry Filling

Ingredients: (makes 24 cupcakes plus one 6" cake)
- 1 boxed cake mix (white)
- 1 c. flour
- 1 c. sugar
- 3/4 t. salt
- 4 egg whites
- 1 1/3 c. water
- 2 T. vegetable oil
- 1 c. sour cream
- 1 t. vanilla extract
- 1 t. almond extract
for the filling:
- 1 (30 oz.) can cherry pie filling
- 1/2 t. almond extract
for the icing:
- 3 sticks butter, softened
- 3/4 t. vanilla extract
- 3/4 t. almond extract
- 6 c. powdered sugar (1 1/2 lb.)
- 3 T. milk
- food coloring, as desired
- sliced almonds, sprinkles, and/or cherries to garnish

My Brother's Mario Groom's Cake

I just had to share a picture of the groom's cake I made for my brother, Travis's wedding last weekend.  The top two layers are fondant on cake boards, and the bottom layer is a white almond confetti cake with buttercream icing and filling (because my brother's awesome like that).  After it's fair share of issues, the cake actually turned out really cute. 

"you are my star; together we are invincible"

I couldn't think of a better way to tie in the Mario theme

to the marriage of my brother and his bride

 

We've been playing Super Mario since we were kids, so this cake is not only fun, but it also reflects my brother and a little piece of our childhood.  Because what's a wedding without tradition?

 



 

Of course, you want to see this beautiful bride and handsome groom, too!

 

 

And what wedding would be complete without an adorable flower girl ;)

I just couldn't resist a picture with my Travi - didn't he look great?!

Wedding Cake Timeline

Recently, I had the honor of making a small wedding cake for some of our closest friends here in Indy.  I also made 15 or so pies, but that's another story (read about it here)...  The cake itself was very simple and classy, just a small two layer 6" round white almond cake with apricot filling and buttercream icing.  Like the wedding, the bride asked that it not be too fussy - just simple, elegant, and tasty.  Super easy order, right?  Well, add in a full time job (including working pretty much up until the ceremony that day), a very curious toddler, and 15 pies to make the day before, and now it seems a little more daunting.  Completely doable, but definitely requires planning.  So I started researching timelines for making wedding cakes, in terms of when to bake, fill, crumb coat, decorate, and if/when to freeze, how to store/transport, and so on and so forth.  It's amazing how much goes into this one little tiny piece of the wedding!  Who knew? 

Basically, what I found was that it is pretty common to bake the cakes a few days before and freeze them while still warm.  This locks in the moisture, makes the cake easier to fill/ice, and saves you some time as you get closer to the big day.  Definitely not an essential step, but made absolute sense for me.  Here was the timeline I used (and loved!):

Post-Pie-Pocalypse Wedding Bliss

Well, as many of you have seen or heard, I made it through the pie-pocalypse.  Fifteen pies in about 10 hours was nothing short of magic.  But with lots (and lots) of planning ahead, it was incredibly manageable.  I'm pretty sure all of these recipes have been on my blog before, so no new ones to share, just lots of fun pictures and links! 

I just love pie at weddings!

fit the setting and the people so perfectly

Family Favorites: Mom's Coffee Cake

Here's a family favorite near and dear to my heart - my mom's coffee cake.  I'm pretty sure she would title this the same way, since my grandma used to make it when she was a kid, too.  Oh, how I love those recipes! 

 This one's even under my mom's name in our family cookbook - I believe the couple in the center of that picture are my Great-Great-Great Grandparents.  Pretty cool, huh?

My mom also made this all the time when I was growing up, and whether it was for breakfast or an after dinner snack, we absolutely loved it.  I can't even tell you how many times we got in trouble for picking off the crumb topping and eating it.  This past weekend I was able to take a personal day and make a 4-day weekend, so to celebrate the extra family time, I decided to make this for breakfast one morning.  Peanut was more than a little surprised by the idea of cake for breakfast!  Here's how generations of mamas in my family make it:

Mom's Coffee Cake

Ingredients:
- 1 c. sugar
- 5 T. shortening (my Mom always used butter-flavored Crisco)
- 1/2 t. salt
- 1 egg
- 3/4 c. milk
- 1 1/2 c. flour
- 1 1/2 t. baking powder
for the topping:
- 1/4 c. sugar
- 1/4 c. brown sugar
- 1 t. cinnamon
- 1 T. flour
- 2 T. cold butter

Michael's Limoncello Cream Cake

Every year for Michael's birthday, he comes up with some crazy elaborate, delicious, ridiculously rich, and usually involving chocolate/peanut butter monstrosity of a cake request. Yikes, that was a crazy run-on description!  For a few years, I'm pretty sure he and his brother, Josh, were in a competition to see who could get the best, most decadent cake out of me.  So when he requested an Italian cream type cake this year, I was a bit surprised (and honestly excited).  I decided to make a limoncello cream cake using his homemade limoncello (we are currently working on a post for this, too!).  Limoncello is an Italian lemon liqueur made by infusing alcohol with lemon zest, then adding simple syrup.  It's traditionally served very cold (stored in freezer) and sipped in small amounts as a pallet cleanser.   But back to the cake....

I started looking for inspiration, searching for lemon cream cake recipes similar to those at some of our favorite restaurants.  A few days into my search, I came across this recipe which is based on several other recipes... we all get inspiration from somewhere, right?  It was the closest thing to what I wanted, and with a few minor additions/changes, it was perfect for my Michael.  The only real changes I made were using limoncello in both the lemon curd, and in place of the lemon simple syrup, as well as adding a layer of limoncello soaked lady fingers to the center of the cake.  The result was lovely, luscious, lemony layers (go ahead, say that 5 times fast!).  The hardest part of this cake (aside from trying to make it while Peanut 1. destroyed the house, 2. constantly asked to be picked up, 3. threw a fit because she couldn't have the microplane zester), was that it was time consuming.  Not only do the steps take awhile, but there are several times throughout the process that the curd, cake, filling, etc. just has to be chilled.  Needless to say, this will be a special ocassion cake.  As I said before, the majority of the recipe and directions are from Sara Schewe's recipe from honestcooking.com, but here's how Mama makes it:

Limoncello Cream Cake

Jello Poke Cake

Here's a super easy, super yummy childhood favorite.  Basically, you make a cake (usually white, but this time I tried a lemon one I had on hand), let it cool slightly, poke holes all over it, pour jello (flavor of your choice, I usually use cherry or strawberry) in said holes, refrigerate until cold, then top with whipped topping.  It doesn't get much simpler, my friends.  In the summer, I like to add fresh strawberries to the top right before serving.  This cake has accompanied me to many a picnic, holiday, bbq, and cookout and has yet to let me down.  I just a love an easy recipe that tastes/looks great!  Here's how Mama makes it:

Jello Poke Cake

Ingredients:
- 1 boxed cake mix
- eggs, oil, water according to cake package directions
- 1 (3 oz) box flavored gelatin (and water according to package directions)
- 1 (16 oz) container whipped topping

Bunny Cakes with Buttercream Icing (cake recipe from: bettycrocker.com; icing recipe: wilton.com)

Here's a re-posting of one of my old posts... but it's just too cute not to share again!  If you need a quick and easy Easter recipe that will still have that "wow" factor.  The best part is that it makes two of these little bunnies, so there's one to share!  Here's how Mama makes it:

Bunny Cakes with Buttercream Icing

Ingredients:

-1 boxed cake mix (I used lemon-flavored)

-Water, vegetable oil and eggs called for on cake mix box

-Buttercream icing, double the recipe (see recipe below)

-food coloring

-Construction paper (inedible)

-2 small marshmallows, cut in half, flattened

-2 small jelly beans, cut in half

-2 (5-inch) strips rainbow-colored sour candy, separated into strips (I used construction paper)

-2 large jelly beans or candy-coated chocolate-covered peanut candies

-2 large marshmallows

Peanut Post: Annalyn's First Birthday Banana Cake

This past week, I decided to take Annalyn's cake smash pictures for her first birthday.  I've always loved the pics of the chubby little babies playing in their birthday cakes with icing all over their hands, feet, and faces.  But with all our little family celebrations coming up, I really wanted to be able to sit back and celebrate our little lady's first year instead of scrambling to take pictures and hoping she'd cooperate.  To make all our lives a little easier, I made the executive decision to devote a morning to just playing in cake. 

First order of business was to make the cake!  Since this one was all for Peanut, I decided to make her a banana flavored cake.  Never having made one before, I figured I would use someone else's tried and true recipe.  So, after work on Wednesday, after Annalyn was asleep, I made this recipe.  It turned out so good, I decided to share.  (Think banana bread meets cake!)

Banana Cake



Ingredients:

- 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda (add to pureed bananas)
- 3 pureed bananas, very ripe
- Crisco & flour to grease the pan
for the icing:
(Recipe author suggested a cream cheese icing, but I used a simple buttercream)
- 2 sticks butter, softened
- 1 t. vanilla
- 4 c. powdered sugar
- 2-4 T. milk, to adjust consistency

Peanut Post: Happy Half Birthday, Baby Annalyn! (Brownie Cake with Homemade Ding Dong Filling)

Somehow, my little tiny baby Peanut has become this thriving, beautiful, spunky 6 month old.  Saturday we celebrated Annalyn's half birthday.  Michael had the great idea of making her a "half birthday cake" by making a single layer, then cutting it in half and stacking it to look like half of a cake.  Cute, cheesy, and creative... PERFECT!!  There's a reason we are so perfect for each other.  Obviously, Annalyn did not get to share in the eating of the cake (that's a milestone that simply must wait!), but we made it anyway in honor of our little lady. 

6 months old



such a big girl!

This is a cake version of some cupcakes I made for Michael to take to work for his birthday a couple years ago.  The cake is actually brownie mix (time saver!) and the filling/icing is homemade Ding Dong filling.  It seemed appropriate since towards the very end of my pregnancy I had a crazy strong craving for a Ding Dong.  Actually, make that a box of Ding Dongs, thanks to the giant Hostess display right outside my pharmacy (working in a grocery store while pregnant can be dangerous!). 

all that sugar made her extra sweet!

Honestly, I wasn't entirely pleased with how this cake turned out (asthetically, that is... it still tasted yummy!), but I had very little time to execute it between getting off work at 9 pm Friday and having to be back to work at 9 am Saturday morning.  The problem I ran into was the brownie cake was a little too dense for the filling, so it slid pretty badly when stacked.  My advice is to make this into brownie cupcakes with filling in the middle or leave it as a single layer and spread the filling on top as icing.  Or use it as filling for a regular chocolate cake and cover with a chocolate ganache (which is essentially one giant Ding Dong and therefore AWESOME).  Point being, the filling is really yummy and definitely worth trying!

Brownie Cake with Homemade Ding Dong Filling



Cakes by Ashley :)

Sorry my blog has been so neglected lately....my computer was out of commission for awhile. But I've still been cooking and taking pics, so it will be back up to speed soon! In the meantime, here some pics of a few of the cakes I've made this summer.

Jordan & Kayla's 4th birthday cakes:
Ryken's 1st birthday cakes:

Langdon's 5th birthday cake (Claudia, my favorite cooking buddy helped me decorate this one!):

Labor Day Cookout Oreo Cookies & Cream Cake:

4th of July Lemon Cream Cake

A variation of a lemon sheet cake my Grandma makes, this cake was originally the creation of Shawna and mine the night before my housewarming party. This particular one was made at my Grandma's house in Nebraska for our 4th of July celebration.

Ingredients:

-1 box lemon cake mix (and ingredients listed on box)

-1 can lemon pie filling

-1 carton instant lemon pudding mix

-flour (to increase density of the cake)

-1-8oz. block cream cheese, softened

-1 c. butter, softened

-5 c. powdered sugar

-1 T. vanilla extract

-blueberries and strawberries, for garnish (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom and sides of 2 9-inch cake pans with shortening, dust with flour.

2. Prepare cake as directed on box. (I usually add at least a cup of flour to boxed cakes, so they are more dense) Add lemon pudding mix and about 1/3 of the can of lemon pie filling. Divide batter between the two pans and bake according to package directions. (~30 minutes)

3. Cool cakes in pans on wire rack for 15 minutes. Remove cakes from pans, cool completely.

4. Meanwhile, make the icing. Soften cream cheese and butter either by letting sit at room temperature, or in the microwave. Blend with mixer until smooth. Add powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, mixing until incorporated. Add vanilla last. Reserve about 3/4 c. of the icing to make the filling.

5. For the filling, fold remaining lemon pie filling into ~3/4 c. cream cheese icing until well mixed. Assemble cake with lemon filling between the two layers and icing over the top and sides. Decorate as desired. Refrigerate until serving.

printable recipe

(My mom used the cake tops and leftover icing/filling to make her own version)

Michael's 2nd Birthday Cake - The Sailboat

Since I was eager to use my new pans, I decided to make Michael another birthday cake to have with our neighbors.



1. Grease pan by brushing with Crisco.


2. Sprinkle a couple tablespoons of flour and shake to cover.


3. Bake for 40-45 min until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
4. Cool in pan for 10-15 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.


5. Frost the sides and background space of the cake first.


6. Outline the edges of the picture.


7. Frost the inside of the picture.
8. Frost along the edge of the cake.


9. Add the writing.