Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Italian Cream Cake

My mom's birthday was last week, and we have a few cakes that we make pretty regularly in our family. This year my dad asked if we could make something new and requested Italian Cream Cake. I searched recipe after recipe for the perfect cake. I thought I found one, it had amazing reviews, and then it had ONE that was not very positive. I took their suggestions into consideration, and decided to make the changes when I made my cake. So, here is how I made my Italian Cream Cake. I definitely recommend this!




Ingredients:


Cake:
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup butter, room temperature
2 cups white sugar
5 eggs, separated
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flaked coconut, sweetened
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted

Icing:
8-oz cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 cups confectioner's sugar
2 Tablespoons cream
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 cup flaked coconut, sweetened

Directions:


1. Preheat oven to 325F. Line 3 9-inch cake pans with parchment paper. In a small bowl, dissolve the baking soda in the buttermilk; set aside.

2. Sift flour and salt and set aside. In a large bowl, cream together butter, and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in the egg yolks and the vanilla. Alternately add the buttermilk mixture and the sifted flour. Add 1 cup coconut. Stir until just combined.

3. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the batter mixture until incorporated. Fold in the remaining egg whites. Pour batter into the prepared cake pans.

4. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the middle. Allow to cool.

5. To make the icing: In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, vanilla, and confectioner's sugar. Beat until light and fluffy. Mix in cream to attain desired consistency. Stir in chopped pecans and coconut.

6. To ice the cake: Lay one cake, top down on a large serving plate. Put a large "plop" of the icing on top. Cover the top of the cake. Lay down second cake, top down and cover with icing. Lay down last piece of cake, top facing up. Use remaining icing to cover the top and the sides. Serve immediately, or cover for later.

Monday, May 14, 2012

Fruit Salad with Creamy Lime Dressing

I made this for the first time on Mother's Day, and it was a HUGE hit! I will definitely be making it again. I think it's an amazing summer salad for everyone to enjoy. I adapted the recipe to things that I thought would be good. Original recipe calls for honeydew, but I used pears instead. Also calls for whipping cream (unsweetened), and limeade. I used cool whip, and margarita mix. I think these changes made it taste delicious.


Ingredients:
1 8oz package cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup frozen limeade, thawed*
1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
1 tub cool whip (2 cups)*
1/2 cantaloupe (3 cups), diced
1 quart strawberries, quartered
2 ripe mangoes, seed removed, peeled and cut up
2 cups blueberries
3 pears, peeled and cut up (around 2 cups)

Directions:
1. In a medium bowl, mix on medium-high speed cream cheese, limeade and confectioner's sugar until creamy. Fold in cool whip.

2. In a 3-quart bowl, layer cantaloupe, then strawberries. Spread half of the cream cheese mixture over strawberries. Layer Mango, blueberries and pears next. Spread the remaining cream cheese mixture.

3. Serve immediately, or refrigerate up to 2 hours before serving.

*Apparently limeade is not sold frozen anymore (or I just wasn't able to find it anywhere.), so I bought and used a margarita mix instead. It turned out fine.