Grapefruit Pound Cake

It's time again for the Eating the Alphabet Healthy Recipe Challenge hosted by Brenda from Meal Planning Magic.  This month's letters were G or H and participants had to make a recipe using a fruit, vegetable, grain, or bean that begins with one of those letters.  Last year I ended up cooking with guava, which I had never cooked with before.  This year I went a little tamer with grapefruit.  First because I got a five pound bag of them on sale at the grocery store.  Second, it's a fruit the whole family loves.  And finally, I had ripped this recipe out of an old Cooking Light magazine intending to make it at some point....and that time has come!  The one major change I made to this recipe was that I used a loaf pan instead of the 10-inch tube pan that the original recipe called for.  I don't own one, nor really forsee myself needing one again!  I debated whether or not to make the glaze but in the end went for it.  The grapefruit in this recipe doesn't really stand out too much, but gives the cake and glaze a slight citrus tang.  We all enjoyed it....especially warm, right out of the oven!  Go check out the other bloggers below who have joined the Eating the Alphabet Challenge....or even better, check out the link above and join us next month!

Grapefruit Pound Cake
recipe slightly adapted from Cooking Light, January 2012

Ingredients:
Baking spray
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
5/8 teaspoon salt, divided
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
6 tablespoons butter, softened
6 ounces 1/3-less-fat cream cheese
2 large eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons grated grapefruit rind
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
1/2 cup fresh grapefruit juice
 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar

 Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325°.

2. Coat a 9x5 inch pan with baking spray. Combine flour, baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt, stirring well. Place granulated sugar, butter, and cream cheese in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time. Beat in oil, rind, and vanilla.

3. Add flour mixture and milk alternately to batter, beginning and ending with flour. Spoon batter into pan; bake at 325° for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out with moist crumbs clinging. Cool in pan on a wire rack 10 minutes. Invert cake. Cool on rack.

4. Place juice in a saucepan over medium-high heat; bring to a boil. Cook until reduced to 3 tablespoons (about 4 minutes). Cool slightly. Stir in powdered sugar and remaining 1/8 teaspoon salt. Drizzle over cake.

Family Rating: 1 1/2 thumbs up.

Apple Brown Sugar Coffe Cake

Recently a friend came over to visit with her seven month old baby son.  She offered to stop at a local restaurant and pick up sandwiches for lunch and I made dessert for us.  I decided to make this coffe cake that I had bookmarked for awhile since I knew that there would be leftovers which would make a great breakfast treat.  This cake was nice and moist and I liked the addition of apples.  Like Edesia's my glaze didn't really glaze the cake, but ended up soaking into the cake.  When it hardened on the top it ended up giving the cake a little crunch which I actually enjoyed.  Luckily, I don't make sweets very often, because this recipe does use lots of sugar, with the cake, crumble, and glaze....but my friend and I (and the family!) both thought it was worth it!

Apple Brown Sugar Coffee Cake
recipe from Edesia's Notebook, originally from Emeril Lagasse

Yield:  24 servings

Ingredients:

For the Cake:
½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1½ cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp salt
2 cups peeled, cored, and chopped apples

For the Crumble Topping:
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup flour
½ tsp cinnamon
4 tbsp butter, softened

For the Brown Sugar Glaze:
½ cup brown sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp water

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°. Coat a 9x13” glass baking dish with baking spray.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, sour cream, and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Fold in the apples. Pour into the prepared baking dish, spreading out to the edges.

To make the topping, in a bowl, combine the sugar, flour, cinnamon, and butter, and mix until it resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle the topping over the cake and bake until golden brown and set, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes.

To make the glaze, in a bowl, combine the sugar, vanilla, and water and mix until smooth. Drizzle the cake with the glaze and let harden slightly. Serve warm.

Family Rating: 2 thumbs up!

This post is shared at:
Foodtastic Friday @ Not Your Ordinary Recipes
Full Plate Thursday @ Miz Helen's Country Cottage
Tasty Thursdays @ The Mandatory Mooch
Showcase Your Talent Thursday @ What's Cooking, Love?

Carrot Cake III with Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting

Back when I was teaching, I discovered that my co-teacher loved carrot cake.   The first year that I was teaching with her I made her a homemade carrot cake that she loved!  Since then, it became a tradition that I made her a carrot cake every year for her birthday.  When I was asking my son what kind of dessert he wanted for his birthday his response was "a carrot cake with a race car on it."  I wasn't even sure that he had ever eaten carrot cake before, but he was adamant about his request.  So carrot cake it was.  After trying out different recipes, this one has been my go-to recipe for the annual carrot cake.  This is definitely not a "light" recipe but the cake turns out really moist!  The recipe for the cake that I posted below came with a cream cheese icing recipe (click on the origial recipe link to see it).  I posted below the cake recipe the icing recipe that I used.  I had used the whipped cream cheese frosting for another recipe and loved it and decided to use it for the cake.  I think that half of the icing ended up in my tummy but I made sure that I left plenty to ice the cake.   My husband, who is way  more artistic than I am, did the car decorating!  My son really enjoyed the cake and I was glad we could honor his request. 

Carrot Cake III
Recipe slightly adapted from allrecipes.com by Tammy Elliott

Ingredients:
4 eggs
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
1 cup white sugar
1 cup  brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 cups grated carrots

Directions:
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.

2.In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir in carrots. Pour into prepared pan.

3.Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
 
Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting:
Recipe from allrecipes.com by Tom
 
Ingredients:
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1 cup white sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

Directions:
1.In a small bowl beat whipping cream until stiff peaks form; set aside.

2.In a large bowl combine cream cheese, sugar, salt and vanilla. Beat until smooth, then fold in whipped cream.

Family Rating: 2 thumbs up.

Kiwi Breakfast Cake

It's that time again for the Eating the Alphabet Challenge hosted by Brenda at Meal Planning Magic.  The goal of the challenge is to make a recipe that features a fruit, vegetable, grain, or legume that begins with one of the month's featured letters.  I enjoy participating in this challenge because I try to cook with ingredients that I don't normally cook a lot.  This month's letters were K and L.  A couple of months ago when I was weeding out my ripped out of magazines recipe collection, I put this recipe aside specifically with this challenge in mind.  I recently started buying kiwis since I discovered that my kids like them.  I don't think that before this recipe I had ever cooked with them though.  The recipe was easy enough.  Although I'm not sure if I did step number one correctly because my milk didn't curdle as directed.  As you can tell from my picture below, the kiwi is not really visible and doesn't look anything like the picture featured here.  My daughter renamed this cake "Kiwi Surprise" since we didn't know where the kiwi was.  After finding the recipe online at the Rachael Ray site I found the tip that says to cut the kiwi extra-thin (about an 1/8 inch thick) or else the kiwi will sink into the batter (which I assume is what happened to mine!).  I thought that the kiwi was already thin when I cooked it and didn't find the kiwi flavor standing out.  It tasted more like a cinnamon cake with a few kiwi slices. 

Kiwi Breakfast Cake
recipe from Every Day with Rachael Ray

Ingredients:
2 kiwis
1 cup milk, at room temp
2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temp
1 cup sugar
3 eggs

Directions:
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees . Slice 1/3 inch off ends of kiwis and press pulp from ends into fine-mesh sieve set over bowl of milk to extract juice; set aside for 10 minutes to curdle.

2.Meanwhile, peel kiwis and slice crosswise very thinly. In bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Using mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, 5 minutes. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition. With mixer on low speed, alternately incorporate dry and milk mixtures in 3 parts.

3.Pour batter into buttered 10-inch cast-iron skillet and arrange kiwi slices on top. Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 40 minutes.

Family Rating: 1 thumb up.
 

Blueberry Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Earlier this week I used some sour cream for the Hot Dog Goulash and wanted to use the rest up before it went to waste.  I had bought a carton of blueberries at the grocery store so I thought this cake would be perfect.....and it was!  I prefer to make breakfast baked goods since my kids love breakfast so much! When I make dessert type baked goods, I often have to freeze half of them or they end up going bad.  We just don't eat them fast enough!  So, I made this cake and it was so tasty!  It was baking while we were eating dinner.  The cinnamony aroma had us drooling with anticipation.  Eating this warm out of the oven, it was amazing!  This was one breakfast treat that was eaten all up!

Blueberry Sour Cream Coffee Cake
recipe slightly adapted from allrecipes.com - by d newman

Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 5/8 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:
1.Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9 inch Bundt pan.

2.In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the sour cream and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt; stir into the batter just until blended. Fold in blueberries.

3.Spoon half of the batter into the prepared pan. In a small bowl, stir together the brown sugar, cinnamon and pecans. Sprinkle half of this mixture over the batter in the pan. Spoon remaining batter over the top, and then sprinkle the remaining pecan mixture over. Use a knife or thin spatula to swirl the sugar layer into the cake.

4.Bake for 55 to 60 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a knife inserted into the crown of the cake comes out clean. Cool in the pan over a wire rack. Invert onto a serving plate, and tap firmly to remove from the pan. Dust with confectioners' sugar just before serving.

Family Rating: 2 thumbs up!

Strawberry Cake II with Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting

My daughter recently turned 6.  Her birthday turned into a three day event with cupcakes at school the day before her birthday, her party with her friends, and then a week later her family party.  For school she requested funfetti cupcakes with funfetti icing.  Super easy, I wasn't going to complain!  For her birthday party she wanted a strawberry cake.  Not strawberry shortcake, but a pink cake with strawberries.  I found this recipe and she approved.  Based on reader reviews I didn't end up using the frosting recipe included with the cake.  We made the Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting posted below the cake recipe and added a drop of red food coloring to make it pink.  The frosting was the star of the show.  There was a ton of cake left over, but we mostly picked on the frosting! 

Strawberry Cake II
recipe adapted from allrecipes.com - by Judalee

Ingredients:
1 (3 ounce) package strawberry flavored gelatin
1/2 cup cold water
1 (18.25 ounce) package white cake mix
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 pint fresh strawberries, 1/2 pureed

Directions:
1.Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease and flour 9x13 baking pan.
2.In a large bowl, dissolve the gelatin in cold water; stir in the cake mix, eggs, vegetable oil, flour and 1/2 of the strawberries. Beat for 5 minutes on the medium speed of an electric mixer. Spread into prepared pan.
3.Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the cake springs back when lightly pressed in the center. Cool cake in the pan on a wire rack.

4.  Frost with Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe below).

Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting
allrecipes.com - by Tom

Ingredients:
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1 cup white sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

Directions:
1.In a small bowl beat whipping cream until stiff peaks form; set aside.

2.In a large bowl combine cream cheese, sugar, salt and vanilla. Beat until smooth, then fold in whipped cream.

Family Rating: 1 thumb up.