Candy Bar

Yes that is the name - "Candy Bar" (page 330) - a bar cookie made with yellow cake mix and whatever candy bar you want to add.  I had some Reese's cups in the refrigerator.    Simple and quick to make - cookie bars turned out good, chewy, sweet.  The one surprise was in the directions where it said "pour" the batter into the pan.  This was like cookie batter - thick, holds together in a ball. Pouring was pretty much out of the question.   It's directions like this that make me worry a little that the I did something wrong.  But I re-read the recipe and didn't miss anything.

Chocolate-Covered Cherry Cake

I think the name of this cake, "Chocolate-Covered Cherry Cake" (page 50) is misleading.  My father said he couldn't even taste cherries.  Mom said she thought she could but agreed it wasn't much.  I too thought maybe if I had a bite without the frosting I could just make out the cherry flavor. My husband said it reminded him of the coca-cola cake he remembered from years ago and I agree - for as much as I can remember that coca-cola cake.  What I recall about a coca-cola cake is the texture - I think this is similar.  I'm not sure how to describe that texture.

Despite the misleading name, it was a tasty cake - a super moist cake.  The cherry pie filling takes the place of the oil, so it's also a bit lower in fat - that ought to be worth something, right?  This I imagine is why the cake has the texture it has.  The instructions are to bake this is a 9X13 pan.  A wise move as a cake of this texture wouldn't stack very well.

The frosting, made with sugar, whole milk, butter and semi-sweet chocolate chips, is wonderfully sweet and chocolately.  I said it reminded me of the times when mom would make what we lovingly called "spoon" fudge (homemade fudge that never set up and so had to be eaten with a spoon).   Rich, so a little goes a long way.  Another reason a 9x13 pan is a better choice.

Mattie's Orange Cinnamon Poppy Seed Cake

(Page 262). A great thing about boxed cake mixes is they are very forgiving.  This morning we went to see my mother-in-law who lives about 2 1/2 hour drive  from our home.  I decided I would rather make a breakfast cake once I got to her house than to get up at "0 dark hundred" to mix and bake it at home.  So, I gathered all the ingredients except eggs and sugar which I was pretty sure she would have and took the whole kit and kaboodle with us.  MIL and I talked the whole time I was mixing up the batter. Consequently despite having the cook book right in front of me, I wasn't fully concentrating and  failed to add all the ingredients.  I mixed the cake mix, eggs, and pudding mix for the directed 1 minute to mix - commented on how thick the batter seemed, looked at the cook book which said batter would be thick and smooth - and said "I guess so" and then turned up the mixer and beat for the directed two minutes.  At the end of the two minutes I commented again on how thick the batter was and looked again at the name of the cake - at which point I realized - Orange....... I forgot to add the 1 cup of orange juice.  Oh well - pour it in, mix on low a few seconds, then turned up the mixer again and beat another 2 minutes to make sure the orange juice was thoroughly mixed in and the batter was smooth.  Over-beat?  I guess so - so I gently dropped the bowl a few times a couple of inches on the counter to elliminate some of the air bubbles.....

The result?  The cake was very light and airy - maybe if I make it again, the next time the cake will be a little more dense, but I suspect still quite tender considering the pudding and the amount of liguid added.

In addition to the cakes light airy texture, the orange flavor was distinctive but delecate.  The cinnamon flavor - well coming from a lover of cinnamon, was perfect.  The poppy seeds added a little flavor and interesting texture to the swirls and the bottom of the coffee cake.   A good companion to a morning cup of coffee.

Honey Bun Cake

Gone in no time - is there a better reference than that? 

(I stole this picture from another site - next to a recipe of the same name - It looks as close to my cake as I could find - my pictures were not so great.)

I baked the Honey Bun Cake (page 266) this morning and brought it to work and put it out in the break room.  Went back to my office and then remembered I forgot to get a picture of it.  Went back to snap a shot and 2/3rds of it was gone already.  Half an hour later the rest was gone.

I have gotten more unsolitcited compliments on this one than any one so for.  This was delicious, moist, tender.  A great breakfast cake.

Ripe Banana Loaf

My apologies - I forgot to take a picture before cutting into this.  However, this is another where I made a slight variation from the recipe - just in the pan.  The recipes calls to bake this in two loaf pans.  But since I was going to serve this with the "Kathy's Cinnamon Breakfast Cake", I thought a bundt pan would add to the visual effect.  However since this cake didn't rise and create the volume that "Kathy's" did, it wouldn't have mattered in the end.

As the name implies, this is a quick bread - though the texture leans  little more to cake, than to quick bread.  Perhaps some nuts stirred into the batter would enhance the loaf experience.  Sticking to the recipe, however, this one is without nuts.   The flavor is good, the texture nice and it slices easily and it should keep well as long as it's covered.

Kathy's Cinnamon Breakfast Cake

Not all the recipes are cakes.  This out of the section of the book with coffee cake recipes (page 257).  This along with the "Ripe Banana Loaves" were made to welcome back the folks in our offices after the holiday hiatus - some went with hubby and some to my office.

I'm a lover of cinnamon, so of course I love this one.  The book describes this as a variation of the "Sock It To Me Cake" - the main differences being vanilla pudding and the "filling" - in this version the nuts are placed in the bottom of the baking pan and the filling is just brown sugar and cinnamon mixed together and layered between batter. Because of the addition of the pudding mix, this is a very moist coffee cake - it was also  little hard to cut - it'll need to be eaten from a plate - not held in your hands.  Also being a lover of pecans, I would have loved to use a little more nuts.   But all and all a very nice cake and as with every one so far, easy to make.

Buttermilk Devil's Food

Today I took a "Buttermilk Devil's Food" cake (page 28) with White Chocolate Frosting (page 424) to my parents for dinner.  It struck me how easily these cakes (so far) go together.  Prep time, baking time, and assembly time are all listed clearly at the beginning of each recipe - this one - 10 minutes prep (pretty accurate) 28-30 minutes baking time -20 minutes to assemble. 

Dad said - "very chocolatey", mom refered to an old Duncan Hines commercial - "moist delicious cake in everybite"- (referring to the commercial where they collect all the moist crumbs on your fork).  Hubby said very "good cake, good frositng".

The cake had a very good chocolate flavor, a tender, moist texture - the frosting had good flavor, though was a little soft despite having added an extra 1/2 cup of confectioners sugar because I thought it was a little to thin. I put it in the refridgerator for about 30 minutes to set it a bit but softened right back up after the hour travel to my parents' house.  I was real impressed by the flavor and the texture of the cake.