Strawberry Filled Sour Cream Cake

Today I decided to make a big birthday cake for my best friend. The weather is hot and humid, so I want to make a very summery cake. I ran early to the store early this morning to grab a tub of some sour cream thinking I will make a doctored sour cream birthday cake using some vanilla cake mix. But I didn't realize I didn't have the right cake mix at home. Darn !!! So I instead decided to make a summery strawberry themed birthday cake from scratch. I wanted this cake to be a white cake because I plan on filling the cake with strawberry filling, so I looked around for a good recipe, and this is the best one I found. here

I am making 1 1/2 the recipe because it will be a big 3 layer cake.

To bake this cake you'll these ingredients:

2 cup flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 stick butter

1 1/2 cup sugar

3 eggs

1/2 cup milk

3/4 cup sour cream

Preheat the ovens
Begin by preheating the oven to 350º Fahrenheit.

Prepare cake pans
Prepare 2 10-inch round cake pans, lined the bottom of each pan with parchment paper.

Instruction:
In a bowl, measure flour and baking powder together, set aside.

In a bowl of your stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Next add eggs one at a time, making sure to fully incorporate each egg before adding another. Add sour cream to mixture and mix well. Next, mix in milk slowly while continuously mixing.

Next, mix in flour mixture to the mixer running mixer in low to medium speed until incorporated, do not over mix on this step. Then, stop the mixer and scrape down sides and bottom of bowl, to make sure all ingredients are mixed.

Batter into Pans:
Now its time to pour batter between the cake pans, using 1-cup measuring cup to even scoop to each pan. Place pans into oven. Bake for 35 minutes, test cake by poking a toothpick and should comes out clean.

Decorate the Cake
Once is cool, evenly cut the cake into 2 layers. Ice between each layer, secure the parameter by piping 1/2 inch icing border, fill strawberry preserve and place pieces of cut strawberries all over the cake on each of the layer. (see picture) I saw this decorating idea from Pinterest, will add the link here. (shortly).

Here are pictures of the cake.

frozen birthday cake

I recently made this 'Frozen' themed birthday cake for a 3 year girl. It was 3 layers of vanilla and sour cream cake with buttercream icing. I decorated it with blue and white marzipan stars and snow flakes, along with a sprinkling of buttercream dotted snow drops. It had an elegant appearance but was really a simple theme and design. It worked really well. I had a few of movie character figurines on top
 ( Elsa, Ana and Olaf )along with a cardboard number 3 that I laced with a paper napkin.

Gluten Free Confetti Cake

I have this one colleague that will bring cakes and treats for everybody's birthdays. She is the event organizer on every holiday at work. So for her birthday, I thought I would bake her a little cake.

She follows a gluten free diet, so the cake had to be gluten free too. I am inexperienced in baking without milk or eggs so I had to be creative and trust I could do this. It was a weeknight so I was limited in how much time I had to bake. Yikes ! So I decided to use a boxed gluten free cake mix and use bananas as my egg substitute. It worked out really well. She liked it and so did everyone that she generously shared it with. I was a little nervous because of my lack of experience with gluten free recipes but it all paid off. Plus who doesn't like free cake ! HA HA :)


So, here it is ...my little confetti cake ! Enjoy

back to life again ....on my new Joyous Pursuit with this Coffee Walnut Cake

It has been several months, no wait a minute, it's been one long year since my last post. Why the long break you ask ? Well I forgot to renew my yearly subscription to my previous blog site and thus lost it. To get it back Google wanted more money than I wanted to pay as a  penalty. So I just went on a hiatus for awhile until I decided that I really need to start posting my crafts and baked goodies again.  So I decided on a new domain name and I am alive again.  (Yes ! )

Coffee anyone? As much as we enjoy coffee, (though we drink a lot of decaf now) I wondered why I never thought of making a "coffee" cake ?! So this past weekend I decided to make amends (lol)
 One of my girlfriends posted a delicious looking Coffee and Walnut Cake and I wanted to try to make it for her. I went to the link to get the recipe, but the link required me to register with the website and I am like no I don't think so. I am not ready to do that. So I looked around for another recipe and found a few that I like. I tweaked the recipe in my own 'Joanne way' and came up with a modified recipe that I thought would work. The result was this nicely baked small Coffee Walnut cake that I finished this past Sunday morning. It is almost always really fun to try new recipes :)

Here are the ingredients & instructions: (note to self, the next time, I would cut down the recipe to 2 cups of flour and proportion the other ingredients accordingly for 3 x 6 inch cake)

cake:
2 sticks (1 cup) margarine at room temp
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1 Teaspoon of vanilla extract
2 Large eggs
5 teaspoons instant coffee granules
1 tablespoon boiling water
1 cup milk
3 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup chopped walnuts

buttercream:
2 sticks (1 cup) room temperature butter
1/3 cup shortening
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
6 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk
4 Teaspoons instant coffee granules
1/2 tablespoon boiling water
+ Extra walnuts for cake garnish

For the cake:
Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F

Prepare three 6-inch cake pans by lining each bottoms with parchment paper, set aside

In a large bowl fitted with a stand mixer or hand mixer cream margarine for 3-5 minutes until light and fluffy. Add in brown sugar and beat for an additional two minutes. Add in vanilla extract honey syrup until incorporated. Crack in one egg at a time, beating well after each addition.

Dissolve instant coffee granules in boiling water and beat into the dough mixture. In a large bowl measure all dry ingredients (flour + baking powder) and mix well. Add half of this dry mixture into wet sugar mixture. Alternating between milk and dry ingredients until everything is mixed and incorporated, *do not over mix. Remove from beater and gently fold in walnuts. Pour evenly into cake pans and bake for 30-35 minutes until a toothpick is removed clean. Let cool for twenty minutes. Ring a knife around sides of cake pans and transfer to cooling racks for an additional thirty minutes until cooled. Trip dome tops if needed.

For the buttercream frosting:
In a large bowl fitted with a stand mixer beat butter, shortening and vanilla extract until light and fluffy. In a small bowl dissolve coffee granules with boiling water. Add coffee granule mixture and milk to butter and half of powdered sugar and beat well. Scrape down sides of bowl and add in the rest of the powdered sugar and beat until light and fluffy.

My cake assembly, um um..yikes! I have to admit I was a little rough on the edges, literally,  it was early on Sunday morning, with limited time, I had to rush as I had to get ready to leave for church, so the finishing touches were a little sloppy ;)  but that's Ok for how it turned out, .. Enjoy!

Year End Cakes & Cookies

This is the time of year people really enjoy baked goods. It's the holiday season. Hot drinks and baked goodies go well with the cold temperatures. I have baked my first apple pie and made dozens and dozens of nicely decorated sugar cookies. Two birthday cakes were on my agenda this weekend. And I am happy with the results. Let's see how long they last tomorrow ?

I have been baking much more last and this month then any other months this year why? Because of Thanksgiving and the Christmas Holidays :)

So I will be adding more pictures as I continue to bake and add to this post.

Fall Cookies

Birthday Cakes

Christmas Cookies

Update, here are my last (....maybe!?... ) batch of cookies just in time for Christmas ! I have to admit, I am sort of disappointed with myself how the Christmas cookies turned out, they are not as nice as those I made last year. Do I have to give an excuse?... I have a little cold and I just couldn't get it going and was struggling especially with the elves!...sorry guys!!

Celebration Cake

it has been awhile since I last baked a cake. I am making a simple celebration cake. I want this to be simple pleasant cake. I put together the cake topper just for fun and to give it celebration mood.

Light and moist white sour cream cake with hint of butter. I finished and frosted the cake with butter cream frosting.

Orange Lime Bundt Cake

I just baked another citrus cake same as this one I baked a year ago. This time around I just dressed it up a little fancier and included orange since I have orange available at home.
Glazed cake looks enticing sweet ...oh no, there is more! I couldn't help with the fun of decorating further with sprinkles of grated orange and lime zest and slices of lime on top of cake. lots of fun and it looks pretty too, don't you think? Can't go wrong when cake tastes and looks pretty too.

For the Cake

• 1/2 lb unsalted butter

• 2 cups granulated sugar

• 3 large eggs

• 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 

• 1/2 tsp baking soda

• 1 cup buttermilk

• 2 tbsp lemon zest *tightly packed

• 2 tbsp lemon juice

For the Glaze

• 1/3 cup unsalted butter

• 3/4 cup granulated sugar

• 4 tbsp lemon juice

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 325℉. Grease a 10" bund pan.
In a stand mixer cream butter & sugar until light and fluffy. Slowly beat in eggs one at a time, making sure to blend well.
In a separate bowl sift together flour, baking soda & salt. Stir flour mixture into egg mixture a few spoons at a time alternating with buttermilk. Begin and end with dry ingredients. Stir in lemon juice and zest.
Pour batter into greased bund pan. Bake on middle rack for approximately 1 hour and 5 minutes. Check at 1 hour marker. Cake is done when it pulls away from sides of pan and tester comes out clean.
Once cake is out of oven immediately start glaze. Add glaze ingredients to a small pan and heat over medium low heat, stirring frequently until butter is melted and sugar is dissolved. Poke holes in the top of cake and pour glaze evenly over the top. Let cake cool completely before removing. Invert onto plate or cake stand and dust with powdered sugar.

Apple Sauce Mini Loaf Cake

I recently made from scratch a tasty apple sauce mini loaf cake. It is a semi healthy alternative that has less sugar in the recipe but lots of sweet apple sauce. It is a very light, moist and sweet bread that is perfect  for our coffee fellowship.

I was excited when I took the cake out of the oven but because of my impatience, I iced the cake before the cake cooled down, the icing melted. Note to self; next time please let the bread cool before trying to ice it :) The melted frosting didn't make for a great look in the photo, but no one seemed to notice or care once they tasted it.

                                       

Birthday Cakes for 2018

This page is dedicated to all the birthday cakes I will made for 2018. I occasionally bake birthday cakes for my colleagues in the office and I want to capture and post pictures of the birthday cakes I made from time to time so I look back later and say .. oh yes, I made that!

Here is the first one I made for the January's birthday. It is a chocolate cake which I iced with my go to buttercream frosting, it is a simple naked decoration... simple, nice, neat and tasty too.

Vanilla Sour Cream Birthday Cake

My girlfriend's family is having a birthday party for her and we are invited. Their family parties are always festive events and I have volunteered to make my friend's birthday cake. ( I am so happy they asked me ). I needed to doubled the recipe for such a party. I made 2 layers of 12 inches each so I needed plenty of cake batter. I decided on using my Vanilla Sour Cream Cupcake recipe that I have had good success with before. They were great tasting cupcakes the first time so I am sure I will have a nice cake from this recipe as well.

Here are some pictures.

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Cake inspired by Ella

Ella wanted a chocolate birthday cake for her birthday, her wish is granted. Ella is helping making her own cake and it is her idea on decorating her birthday cake. She chose the color scheme and created all the design prints. Happy 9th Birthday Ella !!!

Here is the finished cake.

Vanilla Cupcakes for Bake Sale

I baked 2 dozens of cupcakes for our church Flea market bake sale. The recipe is one of my usual vanilla cake recipe. Cupcakes are frosted with buttercream and lightly sprinkled with granulated sugar on a few cupcakes and the rest with multi color sprinkles.

Here are some pictures.

Baby Shower Cake - Twins Boy & Girl

 I have been baking cakes for family and friends for a couple years now. Just a few days ago, my husband said I should stop baking so many cakes and focus more on baking my decorated cookies and cupcakes. Maybe he thinks my cakes aren't as good as my cookies and cupcakes ? ( I know he doesn't mind eating the cakes that I bake.)
 Anyhow, this is my first cake in a few weeks and it is for a baby shower for a colleague at work.
His wife is having twins; a boy and a girl ! They will be some busy parents for a few years, so they deserve a nice cake.
 Although I am using a store cake mix, I have modified the recipe and added extra ingredients that make the cake not too light and not too dense, I will find out from my colleagues tomorrow how good it tastes ??!!

Ingredients:
1 box of Duncan Hines Classic White Cake Mix
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 box of vanilla pudding mix
3 eggs
1/4 cup oil

Directions:
In a mixer, beat at medium speed oil and sugar.
Add in eggs, mix well.
Add in sour cream.
Mix in vanilla pudding mix.
Stop mixer, add in all the rest of the ingredients.
Mix and beat batter for 3 mins.

Line 2 - 8 inch cake pan with parchment paper.
Evenly scoop batter into cake pans.
Preheat oven at 350 degree.
Bake cake for 35 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool down and remove from pan.
Slice cake into 2 on each of the cake.
Frost and decorate cake with buttercream.