Fresh Strawberry Yogurt Cake

It is the season of strawberries and I love it. Bundt cakes are just so pretty and I love the slices they create. With a slight hint of lemon and the creamy texture of yogurt, this cake is fresh, moist, and it screams summer. You have to be careful with this cake, though. Similar to the white chocolate raspberry bread pudding, it makes a great breakfast!

From A Spicy Perspective

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

3 Tablespoons lemon juice, divided

Zest of 1 lemon (optional)

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

8 oz. plain or vanilla yogurt

12 oz. (about 2 cups), fresh, diced strawberries

1 cup powdered sugar

DIRECTIONS:

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a 10-inch bundt pan. 

Sift together 2 1/4 cups flour, baking soda and salt. Mix in the lemon zest and set aside.

Using an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then add 1 Tablespoon lemon juice. Alternate beating in the flour mixture and the yogurt, blending until just incorporated. 

Toss the strawberries with the remaining 1/4 cup flour. Gently fold them into the batter. 

Pour the batter evenly into the bundt pan. Bake in pre-heated oven for 60 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.  

Allow to cool 10 minutes, then turn onto a wire rack and cool completely. Mix together the remaining 2 Tablespoons lemon juice with 1 cup powdered sugar. Drizzle over the top of the cake.

Fabulous Fudge Chocolate Cake

I made this cake for someone's birthday. When we were preparing to light the candles and sing "Happy Birthday", someone said, "Catherine made this cake from scratch", to which my Dad quickly and bluntly responded, "Why?!". It garnered a few chuckles from people, including me.

With so many shortcut (and delicious) options at today's grocery stores, I understand how it can seem silly to spend time making a cake from scratch. And, believe you me, I am well prepared to be buying a Costco cake for birthdays in the future when my life gets a little more hectic. 

But, if you have time, and if you have someone you care about, why not show your love for them by making a cake from scratch? And if you're going to be making a cake from scratch, you should try this Fabulous Fudge Chocolate Cake.

*Adapted from Allrecipes.com

INGREDIENTS:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
2 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
8 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate, melted (Add 2-4 more squares if you want it very chocolate-y)
1 cup sour cream
1 cup boiling water

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat 1/2 cup butter and 2 1/2 cups brown sugar until well mixed. Add eggs one at a time. Beat in the vanilla and melted chocolate squares. Add 1/2 the sour cream then 1/2 the dry ingredients to the butter mixture until well blended.

Add the remaining sour cream and dry ingredients to the batter. Stir in boiling water.

Bake in a greased 9x13 inch pan for 35 minutes. For cupcakes, bake in greased muffin tins for 18 minutes.

When cool, top with white frosting.

SERVING SUGGESTION:

Top with mini-colored marshmallows for extra pizazz.

Best White Frosting

Husby's birthday was this weekend. He is super low-key about birthdays and doesn't like a lot of presents, but he'll never turn down a delicious chocolate cake. So, I decided to make a good one. With GOOD frosting. This is the frosting. Cake recipe will follow tomorrow.

*Recipe and photo from Tasty Kitchen Blog

INGREDIENTS:

5 Tablespoons flour

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup butter, at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar (not powdered sugar)

DIRECTIONS:

In a small saucepan, whisk flour into milk and heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens. I was stirring for about 5-8 minutes, maybe more. You want this to be very thick, like a brownie mix or thicker. Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature. Be sure the mixture is completely cool before you use it in the next step. Stir in vanilla.

While waiting for the mixture to cool, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, making sure that there is no sugar graininess left. Add the completely cooled milk/flour/vanilla mixture and beat on high speed for 3-5 minutes until completely blended and mixture resembles whipped cream. 

Spread on a cooled chocolate cake. Mmmmm mmmm mmmmmm.

Death by Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

1 pkg. Devil's Food Cake mix

1-1/3 cup water

1/2 cup oil

3 eggs

16 oz. chocolate or 2-1/2 cups choc. chips

1-1/3 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup butter

Directions:

Make cake mix using the water, oil, and egg amounts listed above. Let cool.

Melt chocolate in a medium saucepan over low heat. In a separate saucepan, heat heavy cream and butter, until it boils. Pour cream mixture over melted chocolate and stir with a wire whisk until smooth. Let cool 20 minutes.

Line a 8" or 9" round cake pan with foil or wax paper.

Cut cooled cake into cubes. Place cake cubes in a large mixing bowl and pour 1-1/3 cups of the ganache into bowl. Mix on low speed until texture is like thick fudge. Spread evenly into prepared pan, smoothing top. Freeze for 1 hour.

Unmold cake, place on serving plate, remove foil or wax paper and coat cake on the top and sides with remaining chocolate ganache. Store in refrigerator.

When ready to eat, cut a small slice, and heat in the microwave for 30 seconds.

The ganache will melt a little and fall over the sides.....Mmmmmmmm!

*recipe from Linda Larsen via busycooks.about.com