Scrumdiddlyumptious Cake (also known as Coca-Cola Cake)

I decided to try a new recipe for my daughter's birthday cake and this one was so good, I renamed it the Scrumdiddlyumptious Cake (hope that isn't trademarked by Wonka).  It is just sweet, chocolate goodness - unfortunately for those of you who love Coke, it doesn't taste like Coke... it just adds the perfect amount of moisture and sweetness.

SCRUMDIDDLYUMPTIOUS CAKE (aka Coke Cake)

2 c flour
2 c sugar
1 c butter
1 c Coke (no diet!!)
2 Tbs cocoa
1/2 c buttermilk*
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 1/2 c mini marshmallows

Mix flour and sugar in large mixer bowl.  Melt butter in saucepan; add cocoa and Coke and bring to boil.  Pour into flour mixture and mix well.  Mix in buttermilk, eggs, vanilla, baking soda, and salt.  Pour into greased 9x13 pan.  Bake at 350 for 35 minutes.  Sprinkle marshmallows on top and bake an additional 5 minutes until melted.  Cool cake and frost with Coke frosting.

COKE FROSTING

1/2 c butter
1/3 c Coke (again, no diet)
2 Tbs cocoa
3 1/2 c powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Melt butter in saucepan; add cocoa and Coke and bring to boil.  Remove from heat and mix into powdered sugar.  Add vanilla and mix until smooth and creamy.  Spread onto cake.  Cool completely for frosting to set before serving (at least 1 hour).

DELICIOUS!!!!!  This cake is great made a day ahead!

*Note: Don't have buttermilk?  Try using 1/2 Tbs vinegar or lemon juice added to 1/2 c milk.  Trust me, it works.

Linking up:

French Banana Cake

When I make cakes I almost always make one with chocolate- really, I LOVE chocolate cake.  If I don't make something chocolate, however, this is my new favorite- French Banana Cake.  It's kind of like a REALLY yummy, REALLY moist banana bread with frosting.  Delicious!!  The recipe calls for a 9x13 but for our New Years party I baked it in a bundt pan- it took almost an hour to cook, but beautiful!  The other great thing about this cake is it tastes great the 2nd day.  Okay, on with the recipe:

French Banana Cake (from Favorites)

2/3 cup water

1 Tablespoon vinegar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 package white cake mix

2 eggs

1 1/4 cups very ripe bananas, mashed

2/3 cup walnuts, optional (but really, who wants to ruin a cake by adding nuts, yuck!)

Mix water, vinegar, and soda.  Combine with cake mix & eggs.  Stir until moistened.  Scrape bowl with spatula.  Add mashed bananas.  Beat with electric mixer 3 minutes at medium speed.  Pour into greased & floured 9 x 13 pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes (or until toothpick comes out clean).  When cooled, frost.

Creamy Butter Frosting (this makes a lot of frosting, for the bundt cake I cut it in half)

4 cups powdered sugar

4 Tablespoons soft butter

cream or milk (I use whole milk)

1 tsp. vanilla

Mix powdered sugar and butter, adding enough cream or milk to make right consistency of icing.  Add vanilla.  Frost cake and store in the refrigerator.



Chocolate Hershey Bar Pie

If you need to bring a pie to Thanksgiving dinner this year, have I got a pie for you!  I've had this scrumptious Chocolate Hershey Bar Pie before, but never knew it was so easy to make!  Thanks to Jamie Cooks It Up! for this recipe!!  yummmm....

Chocolate Zucchini Cake with Chocolate Cinnamon Frosting

If you are like me and have an overabundance of zucchini to use, you get excited for new zucchini recipes.  Here's another zucchini and chocolate concoction (click HERE if you missed the chocolate zucchini muffins)... check out this Chocolate Zucchini Cake with Chocolate Cinnamon Frosting.  Yum.  (and don't you just love that cake stand?) So glad I found Purple Chocolat Home - thanks for this amazing recipe!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Well I figure it's high time I share this favorite go-to dessert of mine.  It's quick to make and oh-so-good (good enough to eat a whole row before you've realized it).  Think Paradise Bakery cookies... think tastes-as-good-as-the-dough.  Yum.  This is my most-used recipe... honestly.

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE BARS
1 c butter, softened
3/4 c sugar
3/4 c brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 1/4 c flour
1 (11-oz) bag chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugars.  Beat in eggs and vanilla.  Combine dry ingredients and add gradually.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Spread into greased 9x13 pan (I use glass, but metal works too).  Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes or until top is golden brown.  Cool and cut into squares.  Or if you're like me and can't wait for it to cool completely, just give it a few minutes so the chocolate doesn't scorch your tastebuds.

Maybe you've noticed we've posted several recipes for bars -

probably because I'm lazy they're quicker to make...

like these

Sugar Cookie Bars

or these uber-delicious

Oatmeal Caramel Bars

BTW, did you know you can type "bars" in our search box? (see left side bar) No, you won't get a listing of the local bars in Salt Lake (I'm sure there are a few), you'll get a bunch of delicious recipes! (you should really try it - we've got some great ones here, folks... just sayin')

Mississippi Mud Bars

Chocolate lovers - this one's for you!  Don't these Mississippi Mud Bars look delicious?  Thanks to Becky at Homemade Happiness for posting this amazing Paula Deen recipe!

Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream

For those who know us well (or who've been reading our blog for a while), you know about our passion for Reeses Peanut Butter Cups.  Well, here's an amazing recipe for Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream from Red Couch Recipes - YUM!!  I love summer... an excuse to eat Reeses and ice cream!

Strawberry Blueberry Frozen Yogurt

Nothing screams "Fourth of July" more to me than homemade icecream and fireworks.  Check out this recipe for Strawberry Blueberry Frozen Yogurt from Red Couch Recipes.  Yummy!! I'll be making it for us to enjoy while we watch the fireworks show.

Sugar Cookie Bars

So I've had my eyes on these babies ever since I found Jamie Cooks It Up!  Well, her sister brought them to a neighborhood party and they were so yummy, I had to share.  I love sugar cookies, but hate all the work (yes, way too much time involved for me to make them very often).  Well, here's a quick solution:  make these sugar cookie bars!  I promise they won't disappoint!

Fondant Cake

I've been wanting to try my hand at a fondant-decorated cake and guess what... I did it!  We had a b-day party for two of my kiddos on Memorial Day, so it was the perfect excuse to try it.  I wanted a tiered square cake, but had to make do with the pans I had.  So I made two 9x13 cakes and cut them - the bottom piece was 9x9 and I used the trimmed pieces to make the top tier.

I cut the stripes with a pizza cutter and guess what I used to make the circles...

Yup, that's a medicine cup and a sippy valve... told you I was making do with what I had on hand.  But they worked perfectly!

I watched a lot of youTube tutorials on fondant and read a lot of recipes (we're talking for HOURS) and finally found a recipe and tutorial HERE for a marshmallow fondant that I thought would work for me.

FYI: most tutorials I found strongly suggested making the fondant the night before, wrapping in plastic wrap, and rolling out the next day - which I did.  However, when I went to roll it out, it was very stiff - I had to nuke it for 15 seconds and really knead it to make it pliable again.  The recipe I used says you can use right away or store overnight - since the fondant was fairly stiff to begin with, I think next time I'd use it right away.

Not too bad for a first time, eh?  Just don't look too closely - it's far from perfect :)

Reeses Cookies

Kimi, this one's for you...

Reese's peanut butter cups are a staple in our family. My grandma used to eat them as her daily source of protein. And they happen to be Kimi's favorite candy (they rank pretty high on my list, too).

So when I came across this recipe for Reeses Peanut Butter Cookies from Picky Palate, I just knew I needed to share. Don't these look wonderful? Despite the fact that I just polished off a container of Ben & Jerry's everything but the..., I'm still drooling over these. Kimi, let's get together Friday and make these in honor of Grandma (although we might need to add chocolate chips).

Caramel Oatmeal Bars

This is a de.li.cious recipe I got from my friend.  I am a big-time caramel lover, so this happens to be one of my favorite treats (plus, it's super easy to make).  Enjoy!

2 c flour
2 c oatmeal
1 1/2 c brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 sticks butter, melted
1 jar Mrs. Richardson's butterscotch caramel
1 bag milk chocolate chips

Combine dry ingredients and add melted butter.  Press half of mixture firmly into 9 x 13 pan and bake at 375 for 17 minutes.

Pour jar of caramel on top of hot crust.  Sprinkle chocolate chips on top of caramel.  Top with remaining crumble mix.  Press down and bake an additional 8-10 minutes.

Cool and cut into squares.

Lemon Cream Cheese Tarts

INTRODUCING...

Jamie Cooks It Up!

My friend told me to check out her sister's blog and let me tell you - this is one amazing cooking blog!  You will love her layout and REALLY love her recipes.  Wow.

I can't wait to make these Lemon Cream Cheese Tarts for Mother's Day.  My mom loves lemon meringue and double-cream lemon pies from Marie Callender's so I know she will just love these!

So glad I found this blog!  Thanks, Jamie for the recipe!

Lemon Cheesecake Bars

My husband is sick of me complaining about my weight and how I need to lose some.  The other night, he finally couldn't take it anymore and suggested to me that perhaps I should stop baking treats if I really wanted to lose weight (mean, huh??).  Well, I have constrained myself all week now, but then I saw this mouth-watering dessert from Our Family Treat.  These Lemon Cheesecake Bars sound divine and are totally calling my name, I must make them and dispose of all evidence before 6:00 tonight :)

O'Henry Bars

First of all, I knew I would love Confessions of a Bake-aholic as soon as I read the name. But I really knew I would love her recipes when I found out that we both take the butterscotch out of "scotcheroos." I do love butterscotch, but not when it messes with the chocolate topping. I seriously crave these O'Henry Bars and since they're easy, I make them at least once a month. I usually halve this recipe and put it in a 9x13 when I'm making them just for my family. Delicious!

Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have tried SO many chocolate chip cookie recipes.  I am very picky about c.c. cookies.  They have to be super-soft and buttery, but with a little crispness on the outside.  Be prepared to be amazed by this perfect recipe for classic chocolate chip cookies.  Yes, I have other favorite varieties including chocolate chunks, oats, etc., but this is absolutely the best basic recipe:

1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. oil
3/4 c. brown sugar
3/4 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3 c. flour
1 tsp soda
1 tsp salt
chocolate chips (obviously)

Cream butter, oil, and sugars (really, CREAM them - let your mixer go for a few minutes).
Add eggs & vanilla
Combine dry ingredients together and add to mixture
Stir in chocolate chips (I buy the big bag from Costco, so I just eye-ball it)

Scoop onto ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 375 for 10 minutes. (I don't hassle with parchment paper or sil-pat... these turn out just perfect on a plain-old cookie sheet).

So simple, yet so perfect!  This makes 3 dozen (unless you eat a lot of dough like me, then it makes 2 1/2).

2 baking items I CANNOT live without:

1. KitchenAid Mixer (I want to upgrade to the professional)
2. Pampered Chef medium scoop (I also love my stackable cooling racks)... btw, let me know if you are interested in Pampered Chef - my cousin sells their a.maz.ing products (uh, you still sell them... right, Elisa?)

What baking tool can't you live without?  Leave me a comment - it'll make my day!

Don't forget to enter our GIVEAWAY before midnight tonight... 2 possible entries:
1) become a (public) follower of  if I could...
2) visit the Winterpeach etsy shop and tell me your favorite item (as a comment in the giveaway post)

LEMON SHEET CAKE

Oh, this looks so yummy... I can hardly wait to try it!  I love lemon desserts (especially in the Spring), so I'm drooling over this delicious lemon sheet cake.  Thanks to Our Family Treat for another great recipe!

Velvet Cupcakes

Mmmmm... these Velvet Cupcakes look delish, don't they?  I'm a sucker for anything sweet and I just love cupcakes.  I told Kimi yesterday that maybe cupcakes should have their own category on our blog :) This is one of those simple recipes you've really got to try.  Thanks to Becky at Homemade Happiness for the recipe!

Fruit Pizza

Another dessert recipe?  Why not?  Honestly, I don't know why I am so drawn to desserts.. okay, really I do know.  I thought these Fruit Pizzas from Eat Your Veggies, Peas sounded delicious and perhaps the perfect treat for my presidency meeting tonight :)

Colorburst Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes last weekend for my father-in-law's Birthday.  My in-laws were so complimentary of my creative baking skills that I had to confess I had seen them on Our Best Bites.  So anyone else who wants to make some delicious and fun cupcakes HERE is how you do it. 
Just FYI- my boys helped me make ours and we decided to start with red on the bottom so we could end with blue on top.  I personally think the red on top looks cuter.