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!

Chocolate Chip Pistachio Cupcakes

My sweet hubs has developed a sweet tooth! He never used to have cravings for sweets.  When we were a young couple I was working full time and didn't cook or bake all that much.  About once a month I would make brownies, and that was a real treat!  

Come to think of it, we really didn't eat at home all that much back then. I was working the 2nd shift at the police department, and Don was going to fire school during the day.  He used to meet me for dinner - we would often meet at the Pizza Hut for a quick bite on my dinner break.

  

It wasn't until Madison was born that we started eating at home.  

Madison started helping me in the kitchen at a very young age. She took to it right away - it doesn't seem like all that long ago she was standing on a chair flipping pancakes! So it was no surprise when she started baking and creating original recipes. Madison really knows how to make a yummy cupcake, and don't get me started on her pies!! 

 Being the good dad he is, Don happily tasted all of her creations!  This MUST be how he developed a taste (addiction) for sweets! The past couple days the cupboards have been bare and each night I hear "What do we have sweet to eat?"  I got tired of hearing it, so today I made some cupcakes for him. I'm sure they pale in comparison to Madison's Oreo Cupcakes, but beggars can't be choosers!

I did this despite the fact that I am trying to cut out the carbs to lose some pounds!  That is LOVE!  I think he appreciated the effort though, he snatched up a cupcake as soon as they came out of the oven! 

Chocolate Chip Pistachio Cupcakes

Cupcake

1 box Yellow Cake Mix

3 whole Eggs

1/2 cup Oil

3/4 cup Buttermilk

3/4 cup Sour Cream

1 Vanilla Bean split and scraped (or 1 teaspoon vanilla)

1/2 cup Mini Chocolate Chips

1/2 cup Pistachios, shelled and chopped

Line cupcake pan with cupcake liners (makes 20-24 cupcakes). Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl combine eggs, oil, buttermilk, sour cream, and seeds from vanilla bean. Mix well. Add cake mix and mix until just combined. Gently mix in mini chocolate chips and chopped pistachios. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake for 15-17 minutes until the tops bounce back when lightly pressed. Cool completely.

Icing

4 ozs Cream Cheese

1 stick of Butter (1/2 cup)

1 vanilla bean, split and scraped for the seeds (or 1 teaspoon vanilla)

1 cup Confectioner's Sugar

In mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and butter about 2 minutes, until light and airy. Add vanilla. Reduce speed to low and add sugar about 1/3 cup at a time and mix well. Ice cupcakes and decorate with chopped pistachios.

Pistachio Cupcakes with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

This has been quite a week! I am so glad it is Friday! Yesterday, the needle on the stress meter went through the roof when I got numerous automated calls from the college that there was "an incident"!

Madison attends college in Savannah, Ga.  Her school campus is the Historic District in the city of Savannah - the school has over 70 buildings within the city! The incident was a gunman initially on the loose and then barricaded in one of the upscale, landmark restaurants right down the road from Madison's dorm!

Of course, the District being 1 square mile, everything is right down the road 

The school acted quickly and locked down all buildings advising students to stay inside. The police, too, shut down much of downtown to keep people away from the area.  

SWAT surrounded the restaurant; sent a robot inside; then entered the building and apprehended the perp (HA - love cop show talk)

Even though I was in contact with Madison and knew she was safe, I was still shaken by this event.  Thankfully, no one was hurt and all is back to normal. Just a little excitement to get the kids ready for finals!

With the stress level at an all-time high, I had to get some relief!

So, I took some time out and baked....ahhhhhhhhhhh

I made these Pistachio cupcakes that are the prettiest shade of green - Perfect for St. Patty's Day!

They make me smile (green is, after all, my favorite color)

I was going to frost them with a chocolate butter cream...as suggested in the recipe, but I had a couple strawberries on hand and decided they would be more refreshing with a strawberry cream cheese frosting (not to mention how pretty the pink and green look together) Boy was I right! These little pieces of heaven are definitely refreshing!

Hard to eat just one! The fresh strawberry taste comes through and pairs nicely with the slightly nutty flavor of the cupcake - yummmm yummmm yummmm

Cupcake

1 box White Cake Mix

1 box Pistachio Instant Pudding (3.4 oz)

4 Eggs

1 cup Buttermilk

1/4 cup Oil

1/2 teaspoon Almond Extract

3/4 cup Sour Cream

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and line cupcake pan (makes about 24)

Whisk eggs, buttermilk, oil, extract, and sour cream together in a good sized bowl.  Add cake mix and pudding; combine until just incorporated.  Fill cupcake liners about 1/2 full and bake for about 15 minutes.  The tops of the cupcake should spring back when lightly pressed. Remove from oven and let cool.

Frosting

1 cup Butter, softened

8 ozs Cream Cheese

1 lb Powdered Sugar

1 teaspoon Vanilla

1/4 cup chopped Strawberries

In a bowl of an electric mixer using the whisk attachment, cream butter and cream cheese until fluffy - about 3-4 minutes. Occasionally scraping down bowl. Add the powdered sugar a cup at a time until incorporated. Add vanilla and mix until smooth. Add strawberries and beat until they are chunked up really well. If you are piping the frosting onto the cupcakes you will need to get these really chunked (is chunked a word? hmmmm...I guess it is now) up so they don't clog up your tip...learned that the hard way!  Put frosting in freezer for about 20 minutes to stiffen up if needed. Then frost cupcakes as desired. Store these in the fridge.

Banana Cupcakes

My sweet mother-in-law always brings me lots of fruit whenever I host a dinner for the family, and she did not disappoint on our Easter gathering.  She showed up with bunches of beautiful fruit! I don't know what I was thinking when I bought a big bunch of bananas the day of our gathering - clearly I wasn't thinking!  I guess the mind goes first...  As you can imagine we had a houseful of bananas this Easter, and I'm not just talking about the fruit!  (just joking Myers' family - heehee)

Now, the way we go through bananas in this house you'd think I'm living with monkeys! (hmmm...that could explain a lot of things)  Anyhoo, having all those bananas wouldn't normally be a problem.  That particular week, however, we had plans to go out of town, and being the conservative that I am I did not want those bananas to go to waste.  I just knew I could find something yummy to create with them...... later, so I popped them in the freezer - peel and all!  

Today I dragged those bananas out and made the most delicious cupcakes!  I don't know if this is a fact, but somehow the bananas seem to have more flavor for baking after they've been in the freezer - maybe it's just my imagination, but it works for me!

Banana Cupcakes

1 box yellow cake mix

1/2 cup flour

3 ripe bananas

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

3 eggs

1/3 cup oil

3/4 cup buttermilk

3/4 cup sour cream

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin pans with cupcake liners (24)

In a large bowl whisk eggs, oil, buttermilk, sour cream, and vanilla. Mash bananas and add to the egg mixture - stir to combine. Add cake mix and flour to the wet ingredients and stir just enough to combine. Fill liners about 2/3 full and bake for 18-20 minutes until the tops bounce back when lightly pressed. Remove from oven and let cool in pan about 10 mins - then remove from pans and cool on baking rack.

Icing

6 oz Cream Cheese, softened (don't use the light or fat free - go all out - it is icing afterall)

1/2 cup butter, softened 

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2-3 cups powdered sugar

Beat butter and cream cheese until well combined - about 3 minutes. Add the vanilla, and then slowly add the sugar 1/2 cup at a time until desired consistency and taste.  If it gets too thick you can thin the icing by adding a little bit of milk until you reach a good consistency.

When the cupcakes are cooled, pipe the icing onto the cupcakes and decorate as you please.  Enjoy!

As you can see in the picture I also made some donut muffins (aka CrackCakes as they are known in my house)!  These little muffins don't last long around here - they really are addictive!

This recipe adapted from Easy Banana Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache - be sure to browse yourcupofcake.com  for the most wonderful cupcake recipes of all flavors!

S'Mores Cupcakes

Today I woke up early and started these S'mores Cupcakes before work.  I wanted to get the cupcake part finished, so I could whip up the chocolate glaze and the marshmallow meringue after work.  Then I would only have to assemble and package them up to take to the hospital.  The staff on the 5th floor are all so wonderful!  They have been so kind and so attentive to my father-in-law. We so appreciate all the good care he is receiving.  That being said...we will be MOST happy when he is able to come home.  There is positive progress and hopefully he will be sprung soon!

Recipe source: S'mores Cupcakes

Graham Cracker Base 
3 cups graham cracker crumbs 
1/2 cup granulated sugar 

10 tablespoons butter, melted 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Line a cupcake pan with baking cups (24).

In a large bowl, stir together graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter until evenly coated. Place a tablespoon of the mixture in the bottom of each baking cup. Using a glass about the size of the base of the cupcake press down the graham cracker crumbs until they form a solid crust.

Chocolate Cupcakes

1 box devil’s food cake mix

1 cup sour cream

3 eggs

¼ cup milk

½ cup water

½ cup oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

Whisk eggs, sour cream, milk, water, oil, and vanilla together. Add cake mix and stir until well blended. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full. I use an ice cream scoop to spoon batter into cupcake liners. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until the top bounces back when lightly pressed. 

Chocolate Glaze
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped or use semisweet chips
4 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon light corn syrup

In a saucepan melt together the chocolate, butter, and corn syrup over medium heat and stir until completely combined. Remove from heat and allow to cool for about 30 minutes until chocolate thickens. Stir occasionally.

Marshmallow Meringue
4 egg whites
1 cup granulated sugar

Mix the egg whites and sugar in a bowl while heating a saucepan on low.  Place the egg mixture into warmed pan, remove from heat and whisk.  You will be putting this on and off the heat until the mixture is warm to the touch and all the sugar is dissolved.  We aren't trying to scramble the eggs here, so be careful with the heat.  This is best done in a double boiler like so: whisk together the egg whites and sugar until the sugar is completely dissolved and the egg whites are warm to the touch, about 3-4 minutes. Remove from the heat, transfer to a medium mixing bowl, and beat the egg whites until they form stiff, shiny peaks, about 5-8 minutes.

Assemble
Spread a thick layer of chocolate glaze on top of the cupcake being sure to get it all the way to the edge - yummm! Let set for a few minutes.

Fill a pastry bag or a plastic baggie (just snip off the corner) with the marshmallow meringue and pipe the meringue on top of the cupcake.  Turn the oven onto broil and place the cupcakes on a cookie sheet in the top shelf of the oven. Leave the door open and watch them closely! It will only take a minute (maybe even less) to get a nice toasty marshmallow look, so don't plan on doing anything else while these are under the broiler or you will ruin your cupcakes and that would be very, very sad!  Of course if you are lucky enough to have a kitchen torch then you can just torch the tops until nicely browned. I keep meaning to order one, although I think I might be dangerous!  HA!

I have my eyes on a Banana Cupcake recipe I think I will try to make next!  My mother-in-law brought me some bananas on Easter that got put in the freezer so they wouldn't spoil. I've been looking for things to make with my Easter bananas!