Memaw's Lemon Sunshine Cake

This cake was very easy to make!!

It is moist and delicious

and beautiful too!

This makes a great summer dessert that will impress your friends and family!

it goes fast, so don't expect it to last long...

Ingredients

1 (18.25 ounce) package lemon cake mix
1 (3 ounce) package instant lemon pudding mix
1/2 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 cup peach nectar
1/2 cup vegetable oil

For the Glaze

2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup peach nectar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel

Directions 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2. Spray and flour a 10-inch Bundt pan - fluted
3. Beat lemon cake mix, lemon pudding mix, sugar, eggs, 1 cup peach nectar, and vegetable oil in a bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until mixed. Pour batter into prepared cake pan. Bake in preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean, about 50-55 minutes. Cool cake in the pan for 15 minutes before removing cake to finish cooling on rack.

Glaze

1. Mix confectioners' sugar, 1/4 cup peach nectar, lemon juice, and lemon peel in a bowl to make a smooth frosting. Place cake on a serving platter; poke holes in top of the cake with a fork. Pour frosting slowly over the cake, allowing frosting to soak into the holes and drizzle down the sides of the cake.

Recipe source: allrecipes Memaw's Lemon Sunshine Cake

This is the bundt pan I have. It is great at a reasonable price!

As an Allrecipes.com Allstar I have some activities to work through each month to fulfill my commitment. One of the activities this month was to make, review, and photograph something that tastes like summer. I chose these Neapolitan Cupcakes because ice cream is a real summer treat and these just sounded really good.  Also, this particular recipe needed a photograph so I thought it was a good choice!

It was a good choice alright! These were easy to make, and Don said they really do taste like Neapolitan Ice Cream! I didn't believe him - I thought he was just trying to be the sweet hubs he is. So I had to try one for myself. I ended up trying to be good and only ate 1/2 of one and you know what?  He wasn't just being sweet (I should have known better haha)!  They really DO taste like Neapolitan Ice Cream!  Very cool!

They turned out so pretty too!

  

...off to eat that other half!!

Neapolitan Cupcakes

By Life Tastes Good
Published 06/23/2012

Ingredients

• 1 (19.8 ounce) package brownie mix
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 (18.25 ounce) package strawberry cake mix
• 1 cup water
• 3 eggs
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 8 ounces confectioner's sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and line a muffin tin with cupcake liners (about 24).
2. Combine brownie mix with 1/2 cup vegetable oil, 2 eggs, and 1/4 cup water. Mix until combined. Set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, combine strawberry cake mix with 1 cup water, 3 eggs, and 1/3 cup vegetable oil. Beat on low for about 30 seconds and then on medium for about 2 minutes.
4. Fill 1/3 of each of the cupcake liners with brownie mix. Top the brownie mix with strawberry cake mix so the cupcake liners are 2/3 full. You will have cake mix leftover. I like to freeze it to make another batch later. It freezes well.
5. Bake in the preheated oven for about 18-20 minutes or until the cupcake tops spring back when lightly pressed.
6. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes and then remove from pan and cool completely on wire rack.
7. Beat 3/4 cup softened butter until creamy. Add 1 cup confectioner's sugar and beat until combined. Turn mixer speed to high and beat until fluffy. Keep adding confectioner's sugar until desired taste and consistency is achieved. Add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and beat until combined.
8. Pipe icing onto cooled cupcakes and enjoy!

Yield: about 24 cupcakes
Prep Time: 20 mins.

Cook time: 18 mins.
Total time: 38 mins.
Tags: cupcakes, dessert, snack, party, summer, strawberry, brownies

recipe inspired by Allrecipes Neapolitan Cupcakes

Madison's Angel Food Cake French Toast

Perfection on a plate!

You. Will. LOVE! This!

...nothing left to say

Madison's Angel Food Cake French Toast

Ingredients

Angel Food Cake Box Mix (just add water!)

4 eggs

1 cup whole milk

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla

pinch salt

butter

Directions

Make the cake the day before you plan on making the french toast. Follow the directions on the box.  Madison likes to make this in a 13"x9"x2" cake pan (a smaller pan will overflow).  If you prefer to save time, I'm sure this will be just as good if you purchase the angel food cake from the bakery.

In the morning, whisk together eggs, milk, brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt. Slice the cake into desired sizes and dip each slice into the egg mixture to coat - do this about 3-4 pieces at a time (whatever will fit in your skillet). Heat a large skillet to medium heat. Melt enough butter to coat pan. Add cake slices and cook for about 2-3 minutes on each side. The french toast should be golden brown. Continue until you've cooked all the cake pieces. Add butter to the pan as needed. Serve with fresh fruit and pure maple syrup.

Strawberry Puree

Just a quick post to share this delicious recipe.  This past weekend we traveled to Virginia to support our daughter and her college equestrian team at the Zone Finals.  College alone is challenging enough! Add in the responsibilities of being a student athlete and you have a bunch of kids (okay so they really aren't kids anymore, but whateva!) who deserve some special treatment every once in a while! The competition was a real nail biter!  At the end of the day the team secured the title of Reserve Champions.  They lost the Championship title by just 2 points!!  Fortunately, the first and second place teams move on to the National Finals being held in NC this May.  Go BEES!

Anyhoo, the reason for my post is to share this delicious Strawberry Puree

I used this to make Strawberry Shortcake Cake Shooters!  

I pulled this recipe from my favorite recipe site - Allrecipes.  Of course, I did change it up just a bit...  I don't really like chunks of strawberries in the puree - just a personal preference - so I puree'd all the berries to make a smooth puree that can be used in so many different ways!

Cake Shooters are tons of fun and a great way to bring along a treat when traveling!

To make these I used a pound cake.  Because pound cake is so thick I sliced it in half first, so I would have 2 (thinner) cakes. I cut pieces of the pound cake using the push pop round end.  This worked perfect! The cake pieces fit right into the push pop container. On top of the cake I layered with fresh strawberries, strawberry puree and butter cream icing. I repeated the layers until filled and popped on the top!  Too easy!

So proud of these girls!!

Especially my girl.....