In a bowl, combine the first five ingredients. Add the water, oil, vinegar and vanilla. Beat on low speed for 1 minute. Beat on medium for 1 minute. Pour into a greased 13×9” baking pan. Bake at 350° for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.
For frosting, in a mixing bowl, beat the milk and pudding mix for 2 minutes. Beat in thawed whipped topping. Spread evenly over cooled cake. Refrigerate.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pan with muffins liners (or spray with nonstick cooking spray) and set aside. In a large bowl combine the bananas, eggs and oil/butter until mixture is smooth. Add the cake mix and gently mix until combined. DO NOT over mix. Optional: fold in chopped nuts Scoop batter into the muffin pan filling the cups 3/4 of the way full (use an ice cream scoop for ease). Top each with a sprinkle of streusel crumble and tap lightly into batter. Bake for 18 – 25 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Streusel topping – 1 ¼ cup ½ cup light brown sugar tightly packed ⅓ cup sugar ¼ teaspoon salt 6 Tbls.cold butter, cubed
In a medium-sized bowl, whisk or stir together flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and salt. Use a fork to cut the butter into the dry ingredients to make course crumbs. Scatter evenly over muffins, pie, or coffee cake before baking. Store left-over streusel in fridge or freezer for future baking projects.
Here’s a traditional gooey bar that uses a cake mix for its base. I’ve added pecans to the cake mix layer as I love the texture of cheese cake with an added crunch.
Gooey Bars
1 package yellow cake mix
½ cup butter, melted
4 large eggs, divided
2 teaspoons vanilla extract, divided
1 cup pecans, chopped
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, combine cake mix, melted butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 2 eggs. Pat into a 9×13-inch pan. Evenly press chopped pecans into batter.
In a clean bowl, mix cream cheese, remaining 2 eggs, and remaining 1 teaspoon vanilla with an electric mixer. Slowly beat in confectioner’s sugar. Pour over cake layer.
Bake 35-40 minutes; cool completely before cutting.
Even though I have plenty of made-from-scratch brownie recipes, this is my “go to” for a quick, easy, and tasty bar. It’s a jiffy of a recipe and one of my favorites.
Chewy Cake Mix Brownies
1 (15 oz) box chocolate cake mix 1/2 cup canola oil 2 eggs 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips 1 cup pecans, chopped
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 7×11” baking pan. Combine cake mix, oil, eggs, and vanilla extract in a medium bowl; mix until well combined. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Transfer the batter to a greased 7×11” or 8 X 8” baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 – 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow brownies to cool completely before cutting
While the blistering summer temperatures have risen to well above 90 degrees, I’m itching for cooler weather. I couldn’t resist making this delicious fall coffee cake while the kids were home this weekend. K whipped up the recipe and we sliced into the warm cake during Sunday breakfast. So good!
Cake 4 eggs 1/4 cup water 1 package yellow cake mix 1 package instant Pumpkin Spice Pudding 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice 1/4 cup vegetable oil 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 cup sour cream
Crumble 1/2 cup brown sugar 2 teaspoons cinnamon 1/2 cup sugar 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
Glaze 1 cup confectioner’s sugar 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice 2 to 3Tablespoons milk
Grease a 9×13” pan and preheat oven to 350 degrees.
To make the topping: In a small bowl, toss together the topping ingredients until mixed well; set aside. To make the cake: In another larger bowl, mix the eggs, water and cake mix together until blended and smooth. Add the dry pudding mix, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla, oil, and sour cream; mix until combined. Put half of the batter into the pan and then add half of the mixed topping. Carefully spread the rest of the batter on top and finish the cake off with the rest of the topping. Bake the cake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 40-45 minutes or until the cake tests done with a toothpick inserted in the center. Allow the cake to cool on a wire rack. When the cake is no longer warm, mix up your glaze. Whisk together the confectioner’s sugar and pumpkin pie spice. Add two tablespoons of milk. Drizzle the glaze over cake.
If you are looking for an easy coffee cake recipe that you can get to the table in no time at all, this is it! The base of the batter uses a boxed baking mix to add to the ease to which this coffee cake comes together. Great for the holiday season as you might have a few early morning guests in the house. It’s a winner!
Topping: ⅔ cup baking mix ⅔ cup brown sugar 4 tablespoons butter, cold and cubed ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon ½ cup walnuts, chopped
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease a deep 9-inch pie pan. Combine baking mix, milk, sugar, egg, cinnamon, and vanilla in bowl; mix well. Spread into the bottom of the prepared pan. For topping, in a medium sized bowl, combine baking mix, brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, and walnuts. Using a fork or pastry blender until crumbly. Spread topping mix over cake batter. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 20-25 minutes. (Optional: Drizzle with powdered sugar/water glaze.
While rummaging through some piles of paper last week, I found a county fair cookbook that I had purchased many years ago. One of the dog-eared pages held this delicious recipe for County Fair Orange Cake. Looking further, I realized it was a cake that I had entered into the fair that year. While It didn’t receive the top prize, it’s always held a blue ribbon in my book. It’s incredibly easy to make and my family loves the bright citrus flavor of the orange juice, pudding mix and glaze. Yep, it’s a winner!
County Fair Orange Cake
1 (15.25-ounce) package yellow cake mix 1 (3.5-ounce) package lemon instant pudding mix 3/4 cup orange juice 1/2 cup canola oil 4 large eggs 2 teaspoons lemon zest
Orange Glaze: 1/2 cup sugar 1/3 cup orange juice 1/4 cup butter 1 teaspoon orange zest plus more for garnishing
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a Bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray and dust with flour. In a large bowl, combine cake mix and pudding mix. Add the orange juice, oil, eggs and orange zest; beat with a mixer at low speed to combine. Beat an additional 4 minutes with mixer on medium speed. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan on a wire rack 15 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely, about 1 hour. Transfer to a platter and poke holes all over with a skewer. Carefully, pour warm orange glaze over the cake. Garnish with more orange zest for serving.
For the Orange Glaze: Cook the sugar, orange juice, and butter in a saucepan over medium, stirring, until the butter is melted. Cook 2 more minutes and remove from the heat; stir in the orange zest.
Last weekend, we donned our masks and headed to the local apple orchard. It was a beautiful day and we were able to pick a variety of apples. After arriving home, I scrolled through a few YouTube videos to find new and unique apple recipes that I hadn’t tried before. I stumbled across this video and realized that I had the cookbook with the exact recipe on my kitchen shelf. I had purchased the cookbook many years ago when visiting Georgia. We had just eaten in Paula Deen’s restaurant and I picked up the cookbook in the souvenir shop on my way out of the building. I hadn’t tried this recipe until I watched Paula pull all of the ingredients together to make a dense, moist, scrumptious looking cake. Wow, this cake does not disappoint! I’ll be making it all season long!
In fact, I took the opportunity to bake it again for a birthday celebration. This cake travels well. I packed it up in a cake carrier and I’ll sprinkle it with extra powdered sugar before serving.
Scrumptious, moist, and full of apples, pecans, and coconuts… Then, soaked in a buttery sauce.All packed up and ready to travel…The original recipe from my Paula Deen Cookbook
Preheat the oven to 325 °F. Generously grease a tube pan.
For the cake: in a large bowl, combine 2 cups sugar, eggs, oil, orange juice, flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, salt, cinnamon and vanilla extract; and mix well. Fold apples, coconut and pecans into batter.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a tester comes out clean, about 1 1/2 hours.
Shortly before the cake is done, make the sauce: Melt the butter in a large saucepan, stir in 1 cup sugar, buttermilk and 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, and bring to a good rolling boil, stirring constantly. Boil for 1 minute. Pour the sauce over the hot cake in the pan as soon as you remove it from the oven. Let stand 1 hour, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.
I have been without a proper kitchen for a number of months as the Corona Virus has ushered in a major kitchen appliance shortage in the US. We started a home remodel in May and everything is complete with the exception of a fridge, wall oven, cooktop, microwave and dishwasher. Ugh, this has been a bit of a pain. Full disclosure, I have a second kitchen in my home and I’ve been using it to make quick and easy recipes. Most have a shortcut that I use so that I don’t have to pull out too many ingredients (many ingredients have been packed away in boxes from the original kitchen demo.) I have to credit https://vintagerecipetin.com/blueberry-coffee-cake/ for this adapted recipe as I wanted to make a Sunday morning coffee cake with ingredients that I had on hand. This one included simple ingredients that made for a moist and delicious breakfast cake. I made a few changes to make the process even easier and to add a bit more flavor. I set up a small coffee bar and let everyone dig in while I pulled the rest of the meal together.
Easy Blueberry Coffee Cake
For the streusel: 1/2 cup brown sugar 2/3 cup all purpose flour 1/3 cup butter, softened 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
For the batter: 15.25 oz. white or yellow cake mix 3 eggs 8 oz. cream cheese 1/4 cup water 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 teaspoon almond extract 1/2 cup oil 3 cups blueberries
Optional drizzle: 1 cup powdered sugar combined with 1 tablespoon of milk. Thin with extra milk, if needed.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9×13” pan with non-stick cooking spray. In a small bowl add the streusel ingredients. Mix with a fork until combined; set aside. In a larger bowl add the cake mix, cream cheese, eggs, water, extracts and oil. Mix together with a hand mixer until smooth; fold in blueberries. Sprinkle streusel evenly over batter. Place in the oven on the center rack. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle of the cake. Place on a cooling rack; cool. Drizzle with powdered sugar and water mixture. Serve warm or room temperature.
I recently purchased a bag of pears, brought them home and placed them in the fruit bowl on my kitchen table. Those pears sat there all week as the family seemed to choose every other fruit in the bowl when snacking. I watched as the pears began to get overly ripe. Not wanting to waste the fruit, I remembered an apple cake recipe that I frequently make during the fall months. I thought I could easily substitute the pears into the apple recipe. So, I peeled and chopped the remaining pears and tossed them in. I was making a Father’s Day meal and thought this would be a lovely dessert.
Well, I was right… this cake was super moist, and tasted delicious pared with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. I’ll definitely be making this one again!
Glazed Pear Cake
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
4 cups pears, peeled and diced (apples work well too)
1 cup chopped walnuts
TOPPING:
1⁄2 cup brown sugar
1⁄4 cup milk
1 stick of butter
Cake:
Preheat over to 350 degrees. Grease a 9X13” baking pan. Mix all cake ingredients by hand in order the listed. Pour batter evenly into prepared pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes; remove.
Topping:
In small saucepan mix topping ingredients; bring to a slow boil for 3 minutes.
Pour over hot cake and return to oven for 4 minutes. Cool completely before slicing.
Simply Made Kitchen and Crafts 