Homemade Butter Cream Icing

Today I thought I'd share the recipe I use for butter cream icing. I've made two, 3-layer cakes in the past couple weeks and used this recipe for the icing. I've had the recipe for years and it's the one I always go to when I want to use homemade icing instead of canned. Of course, the consistency can be changed for making roses, borders, writing,etc. For 3 layer cakes, I double the recipe and usually have just a bit left over (which my son usually sneaks in and tries to eat when he "thinks" I'm not looking). It's delicious. Give it a try for your next cake!



Butter Cream Icing
1/2 c. (1 stick) butter, softened (not margarine)
1/2 c. shortening
1 tsp. vanilla
1/8 tsp. salt
1 lb. powdered sugar
3 Tbsp. milk (might use more or less, depending on consistency your going for)

In mixer, blend together butter, shortening, vanilla and salt. Add powdered sugar about 1/2 c. at a time. Add milk 1 Tbsp. at a time, mixing well after each addition. I check my consistency with a spoon after 2 Tbsp. milk to see if I need more milk. If you're just icing a cake and making a border, you'll want a medium consistency that's not too stiff and not too runny. For icing the cake, I use an offset spatula as well.

Happy Birthday!!

Happy Birthday to Ivy!!! Our little miss priss is 4!!! She's been waiting a long time to celebrate her birthday and it's finally here! She's so excited!

We had her party with family and a couple friends on Monday! She had fun opening her gifts and eating strawberry cake and Neopolitan ice cream. Just what she requested! Happy Birthday to my "sugar and spice and everything nice" little girl! I'm so thankful I get to be her mommy!

Happy Birthday!!!

On Saturday, we celebrated our son's 12th birthday!!! --Wow! Still can't believe he is 12 yrs. old! That means he will be a teenager next year!-- He celebrated at home with family and some of his friends from church and school. They all had a fun time playing Kinect Sports and Kinect Adventures, visiting, and eating grilled hotdogs,chips, cake and ice cream!

This year I made Trent a three layer Funfetti cake with homemade buttercream icing! He really liked it and we are still enjoying the leftovers! It was a great day for Trent! Thanks to everyone who helped us celebrate!

Blowing out 12 candles!


Opening his presents!

I have a great recipe to share with you today. It's Cheesecake For a Crowd! It. Is. Yum!
Now, it's not the traditional cheesecake you make in a spring form pan with 4 hunks of cream cheese, so don't let the name fool ya. It's a white cake with a cream cheese mixture on top, but still oh- so- good!

Like the name says, it does feed a crowd. You can get about 24 to 30 servings. I love having recipes like this that feed a lot op people in my file and have acquired quite a few of them now. This is great for pot lucks or parties. That's how I discovered this recipe. I first tasted it when a friend brought it to a bridal shower I was attending. I proceeded to find out who brought it and ask for the recipe.She was happy to share it with me! So, last week I took it to a potluck we had after church and every last bit of it was eaten! Happy Baking! --Recipe is at the end of this post.

I'm also sharing this recipe today for Full Plate Thursday at Miz Helen's Country Cottage.

The recipe makes 2- 9x13 cake pans! Cakes before the yummy ,topping goodness!

Cakes with the yummy, cream cheese topping goodness!

And the cake below with cherry pie filling, but use any kind you like;blueberry, strawberry, raspberry,etc.!

Cheesecake for a Crowd

1 pkg. white cake mix

1 8-oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened at room temperature

4 c. powdered sugar

1 pint whipping cream, whipped

2 16-oz. cans cherry, raspberry, strawberry or blueberry pie filling

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour two 9x13 baking pans.Prepare cake according to package directions, and pour half of cake batter in each pan. Bake for 20 minutes or until cake tests done. Remove from oven and cool completely. Whip cream cheese and powdered sugar together until fluffy. Add whipped cream. Spread mixture onto both cakes. Spread pie filling on top of cream cheese layer. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Makes 24 to 30 servings.

Strawberry Crumble Cake

Today I have a recipe for Strawberry Crumble Cake to share with you. It comes from Paula Deen's sons' magazine, which I think is called Deen Brothers Cooking. Don't quote me, though. I'm not exactly sure if that's what it is.

Overall I thought this cake was delicious, although I can't call it my new favorite or anything.It is bursting with strawberry flavor from the strawberry preserves and I like the crumble on top a lot. I would make it again. My family seemed to like it, too which is a good sign. Just a note on the servings. The recipe says it makes 12 servings. Well, I got way more than 12. More like 24! I guess I wasn't as generous with my pieces. I cut them into smaller bar- like pieces because it is a pretty sweet cake! Happy baking!

I'm also sharing this at Mandy's Recipe Box for Totally Tasty Tuesdays! Stop by and check it out!


Strawberry Crumble Cake
1/2 c. butter, softened
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
3/4 c. sugar
2 eggs
2 c. all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. sour cream
1 1/2 c. strawberry preserves
Crumble Topping(recipe below)

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 9x13 pan with nonstick spray. In a large bowl, beat the butter, cream cheese and sugar with a mixer until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add to butter mixture, beating until just combined. Stir in sour cream. Spread half of the batter evenly into prepared pan. Gently spread preserves over batter. Drop remaining batter by tablespoonfuls over preserves. Sprinkle evenly with Crumble Topping. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool for 30 minutes before cutting. Makes about 12 servings.*Read my note in my blog about servings.

Crumble Topping
3/4 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 c. firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 c. butter, softened

In a small bowl, combine flour and brown sugar. Using a pastry cutter, cut in butter until mixture is crumbly.Makes about 1 cup.

Oatmeal Cake - One of My Favorites

I have a dee-licious recipe to share with you today for Oatmeal Cake. I'm not sure why it's taken me so long to get this up on my blog because it is one of my favorite cakes!

I got this recipe a few years ago from a friend that I went to church with, but she has since moved. She was a great cook! When I made it and then ate a piece, I knew that I'd had this cake before. Sure enough I had. My nanny said that she used to make an oatmeal cake like this.I'm sure I ate this at her house. She is another great cook! And this is a great cake! The broiled pecan, coconut topping is so, so good! It is also very moist.

I actually have a couple recipes for this cake which are both pretty similar. One of them can be made in a sheet pan, which is great for larger crowds. For this one, I used the recipe from my friend.You can get it below.

Oatmeal Cake
1 1/4 boiling water
1 c. quick oatmeal
1/2 c. butter, softened
1 c. sugar
1 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. cinnamon

Pour water over oats and butter. Microwave for 2 minutes. Add white sugar, brown sugar , eggs and vanilla. Mix remaining dry ingredients together first before adding to the oat mixture. Mix well.Pour into a 9x13 pan and bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until cake tests done.

Topping:
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. evaporated milk
1/4 c. brown sugar
1 c. chopped pecans
1 c. shredded coconut
6 Tbsp. butter
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Bring sugar, evap. milk, brown sugar, butter and vanilla to a boil and cook for one minute. Add nuts and coconut. Stir together. Spread on cake and broil in oven until it is lightly browned. Do not leave cake unattended while broiling.

Cupcakes In A Jar

I have been seeing cute "cupcakes in a jar" in blog land for a while now. Have you? They are stinkin' cute! I thought my grandmother's birthday, which was Saturday, would be the perfect occasion to try them out. It was part of the lemon themed gift we gave her.

For this lemon version, I made cupcakes using a boxed mix. After the cupcakes were cooled completely, I pushed one cupcake into the bottom of an 8 oz. jelly jar,piped vanilla icing on top and layered another cupcake, ending with the icing. For more cuteness and flavor, I also used some Lemon Sprinkle from The Pampered Chef I had on hand to top off the icing. It's pretty good stuff, too. It tasted great on the cupcakes and would probably be good on ice cream, but I haven't tried that yet. It's finished up with ribbon and a yellow fork. I'm still not sure about the fork. Next time, I might leave it out. It just looks so huge to me.

I can't wait to make these for other occasions using different flavors! This would make a tasty Valentine treat!!....... Okay, think I'll have to do that! Enjoy!

Cookies and Cream Cake

Last Saturday our birthday boy finished up his celebrations with my family that came down to help celebrate with him. He opened his gifts from them(lots of Legos and Star Wars.Two of his faves) and later we sang Happy Birthday. Then it was on to the cake and ice cream. I had asked Trent what kind of cake he would like to have and he said something with Oreo's, so I came up with what I call a "Cookies and Cream Cake." It's very simple really. I just made a devil's food cake mix, frosted it with vanilla frosting and then patted on some crushed mini Oreo's on the sides of the cake. I also made a little mound of Oreo's on top. However, I found out that you should wait to add the crushed Oreo's and mini ones on top until just before serving. They were soft because I had put them on the cake the night before. I covered it up in my cake platter, but they still got too soft. The cake still tasted good, though and Trent liked it!

Blinged Out Cupcake Picks

It's Wednesday so I'm linking up to Works For Me Wednesday at We Are That Family. Today I want to share these blinged out cupcake picks. I looove putting little picks in cupcakes. They make so much more of a statement. Kinda like, it was just a cupcake and now it's a CUPCAKE!

My favorite way to make these picks is to use my scalloped punch from Stampin Up!. I usually punch out a circle and either print or stamp an image and glue them together. For these I used a zebra print paper I punched out with the scalloped punch and glued on a round circle in the center. I stamped a hot pink #7 in the center and blinged it out with glitter. To finish it up, I taped the scalloped circle onto a lollipop stick.(You could also tie on a small piece of ribbon to the lollipop stick) So simple and they turned out so cute!Ummm, I guess I'm forgetting that the cupcakes tasted good, as well. The kids(and teacher) thought they were pretty cool, too! Great for our 7 yr. old little girl!

Second Birthday---Sweet Style

On Saturday we celebrated my daughter's second birthday---sweet style! I had seen these candy/dessert buffet parties online before and thought they were sooo cute. It fit perfectly for our little sweetie. I knew I wanted their to be lots of color so I came up with a colorful candy polka dot theme. It was very playful and fun! And, hey, who cares if we ate our dessert first and then went out for lunch! It's all good!



The table definitely got the b'day girl's attention. She just wouldn't leave everything alone until my family got to our house. I love how fun the table looked. For the cupcakes, I made picks with an SU! "sweet" stamp, punched it out with a circle cutter, mounted them on a scalloped circle and tied on coordinating ribbon. They kind of looked like lollipops. With cupcakes and gumball filled vases it's just right for a sweet girl.

"Happy Birthday dear Ivy, Happy Birthday to you!"

Party Munchies

Today I want to share some recipes that we munched on for the party, but first the table. I knew I wanted to use primary colors because those are the classic Lego colors. A 12x12 sheet of green scrap book paper served as a place mat for red square plates topped with yellow circle plates. The plates were topped off with a sheet of fun Lego facts I found online. Our guests thought these were interesting as did I. A yellow Lego cake was the centerpiece. I have to say not one of my better cakes. Maybe the fact that I was decorating it at midnight had something to do with that. Trent loved it though, so I got over how it looked. It did taste good, too. For the cake, I stacked two 9x13 cakes on top of each other (a chocolate and a yellow) iced them with yellow butter cream and put four iced cupcakes that had the tops cut off on the top to make it look like a Lego brick.





Now for a fun way to dress up a simple bottle of water which some might think is totally unnecessary, but not for us crafty types. I thought these really stood out and went with the theme. Just peel off the label , measure and cut out of the scrapbook paper of your choice then wrap around the bottle. I used a piece of sticky tape to make sure my label didn't go anywhere. How fun!



Okay, finally the munchies! Trent and I picked things we thought kids and adults as well would like. The Candy Apple Dip with Granny Smith apples got excellent reviews as did the cheese dip. Oops! I thought I got a picture of the cheese dip, but I didn't. You'll have to trust me when I say this dip is SO GOOD! It is our favorite. I've made it for years for all sorts of functions. Hope you'll give these delicious recipes a try.


Candy Apple Dip
1 (8 oz. ) pkg. cream cheese, softened
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c.-2/3c. toffee bits

Mix together with hand mixer. Chill. Serve with apple slices or assorted fruit. (Would also be good with graham crackers.) Yield: 12-15 servings

Cheese Dip
1 lb. sausage
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese
16 oz. sour cream
16 oz. picante sauce or salsa

Put cream cheese and sour cream in crock pot. Brown sausage, drain. Add sausage to crock pot. Cook on low for 2-3 hours. Add salsa the last hour of cooking. Serve with tortilla chips.