lemon raspberry cake

I had a request! I am flattered! Cousin Anika heard rumors about how delicious the cake was at my mom's surprise party. However, I can't take credit. First, it was my sister-in-law, Alyse's, genius plan. Second, no baking involved at all.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 store bought lemon ring cake (we got ours at Costco, make sure it has icing!)
• 1 pkg instant lemon pudding
• fresh berries (we did raspberries)

Slice a piece of cake. Add a dollop of pudding. Top with berries.

Hard, I know. Perfect for a large or stressful event ;)

fruit & cream cheese tostadas

No picture for this one. So lame, I know. But at least I am posting!!

I made this for lunch today. So good. It's easy too. Here goes:

INGREDIENTS (for 1 serving):

• 1, 6" flour tortilla
• about 2 Tbsp. cream cheese
• about 1/2 cup fruit (I used grapes--halved-- and blueberries, really anything you want)
• cinnamon
• sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter baking sheet. Spread cream cheese on tortilla. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Gently press fruit into the cream cheese. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake until crispy, 12-18 minutes.

Super yum.

banana bites

• 2 cups of chocolate chips (or whatever chocolate you like)


• 2 T. vegetable oil


• assorted toppings for covering bananas (nuts, coconut, toffee, chopped butterfinger bars, crushed oreos, etc)


• 3 bananas, peeled, cut into 1/2 inch thick slices

Stir together chocolate and oil in small sauce pan over low heat until smooth. Let stand 15 minutes to cool.

Place each topping in seperate shallow dish. Line baking sheet with foil. Arrange banana pieces on foil. Dip one banana slice in chocolate, coating completely. Shake off excess chocolate. Drop banana in one topping. Using clean hand, sprinkle topping over banana to coat. Transfer to foil. Repeat for all banana slices. Freeze until firm, about 3 hours.

hot fudge sundae trifle

yum. provided via martha.

Ingredients:
Serves about 15

1/4 cup carmel sauce (optional)

1/4 cup hot water (optional)
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1 prepared (2-pound) devil's food cake, cut into 2-inch cubes
6 cups vanilla ice cream, softened
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Bittersweet chocolate shavings, for garnish
Hot Fudge



Directions:


In a small bowl, stir together carmel, hot water, and sugar. Stir to combine; set aside.
In the bottom of a 3 1/2-quart trifle dish, place an even layer of cake cubes, cutting pieces to fit as necessary. Using a pastry brush, brush the cake cubes with 1/3 of the reserved carmel mixture to moisten. Using an offset spatula, spread 3 cups of vanilla ice cream on top of the cake layer. Repeat process and top with a layer of cake cubes brushed with remaining carmel mixture.
Cover trifle with plastic wrap and transfer to freezer; freeze until ice cream is set, about 1 hour and up to 1 week.
When ready to serve, remove trifle from the freezer 10 minutes before serving. Beat heavy cream to soft peaks in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Add confectioner's sugar and vanilla, beat until well combined. Top trifle with whipped cream and garnish with chocolate shavings; serve immediately with hot fudge sauce.

cherry chocolate cake

Yesterday was my husband's birthday and a cake was absolutely necessary in my opinion. I decided on my Aunt Wendie's Cherry Chocolate cake. However, Tyler prefers raspberries to cherries. I had never tried raspberry with this recipe, but I figured it wouldn't change it much.

Here is the recipe, for a single layer cake (which is yummier. I promise):

Cake:

• 3/4 can cherry pie filling
• 1 box chocolate cake
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup oil

Beat together until well mixed. Fill pan with batter and bake according to box.

Frosting:

• Remaining cherry pie filling
• 1 box powdered sugar
• 1 cube Butter
• 4 Tbsp Cocoa
• 1 tsp Almond Extract

Mix all ingredients well. Pour over cake.

For Layer Cake:

Same ingredients for batter. Beat until well mixed. Divide between two circular or square pans. Bake according to box.

Filling:

Use remaining pie filling and spread in between cake layers.

Chocolate Frosting:

• 1 box powdered sugar
• 5-6 Tbsp Cocoa
• 1/4 cup Milk
• 1 tsp Vanilla
• 1 cube Butter

Beat and frost cake.

For some reason, my cake came out a little dryer than usual. Not sure what to blame this on, but I have made the recipe before and never had that problem. Oh, and it's a perfect Valentine's Cake. Yum.