Banana-Coconut Tres Leches Cake

I have only ever had Tres Leches cake once in my life, and I hated it! It was horribly granular and had a fake overly powerful vanilla flavor to it. With that in mind, I came across the most decadent looking Tres Leches cake. This version is a banana cake drenched in a coconut milk tres leches mixture topped with a coconut whipped topping. The cake recipe is from a Betty Crocker magazine and I used my coconut whipped cream recipe.

Here you can see the delicious Coconut Tres Leches mixture around the
cake  and the puffy cloud of coconut whipped cream!

Cake Recipe:
1 box Betty Crocker Super Moist white cake mix
1 1/4 c water
2 tbsp vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 c mashed banana (3 medium)
1 can (14oz) sweetened and condensed milk
1/2 c canned coconut milk
1/2 c whipping cream
1-2 sliced bananas for garnish
1/2 c toasted or sweetened coconut shavings for garnish

Coconut Whipped Cream:
12 oz whipping cream
1/4 c sugar
1-2 tsp coconut milk

1. Heat oven to 350. Grease only the bottom of the pan (13x9)
2. In large bowl, beat cake mix, water, oil, eggs and bananas for 2-2 1/2 minutes. Pour into pan.
3. Bake 33-38 minutes. Cool completely  (in pan) for about 1 hour.
4. Mix together sweetened and condensed milk, coconut milk and whipping cream. Poke cake with long0tined fork every 1/2 inch, cleaning fork occasionally to reduce sticking. Pour mixture over top of cake.
5. Cover, refrigerate at least two hours or overnight.
6. In large bowl add whipped cream ingredients. Beat until right before stiff peaks form (*Add the coconut milk to your taste, I love coconut so I added even a little bit more. Taste your mixture before you whip it.)
7. Frost cake with whipped topping. Add sliced bananas and shredded coconut for garnish

*This cake was the best on the second and third day I believe. The cake had time to soak up all of the tres leches mixture and the coconut flavor from the whipped cream was slowly starting to seem into the cake. It was like eating a tropical fru-fru drink on the beach!

Valentine's Day Cupcakes

Okay, so Valentine's Day isn't for another month, but why wait! I love pink and I couldn't resist opening my new Valentine's sprinkles. Plus, my friend is moving away and these are her favorite. I made a new take on my Strawberry Champagne Cupcakes. For this batch I did not use champagne; I did not have any on hand and I wasn't going to buy and open a new bottle for just over a cup. Instead, I used 1 1/4 cups of a Jamaican Breeze wine cooler. This added more flavor than the champagne and still added the light fluffiness with the carbonation in it.


The batter becomes this beautiful light, silky, fluffy, pink, strawberry scented mixture.



I only ever bake one pan at a time on the center rack. I have a small oven, but this is best practice if you do not have a convection oven. If you must bake more than one batch, leave at least one inch of room around each pan and switch position in oven and rotate half way through. Please ignore my messy oven, it would have been cleaned if it knew it was getting a close up.




Once they come out, they are a light hue of pink. If they are golden brown you have cooked them too long.

These are the finished product. I added some strawberry puree to a can of vanilla frosting to make a thin icing. Then, I dipped them in it just enough to coat the tops. Finally, I added various Valentine's Sprinkles. I also left some without icing and just topped them with a dusting of powdered sugar and I think they were my favorite of the whole bunch. They looked like a perfect little tea cake and they weren't over powered by the sweetness of the icing. 



My First Pie Ever!

This is the first pie I ever made. I mad it two years ago, I just found the picture! It was an apple pie with a crumble topping. I will say this was the easiest and least homemade pie. I used store bough crust and apple pie filling ( I had some left over from campfire pies). The topping was a bag of oatmeal cookie mix, 3 tsp of melted butter, a little brown sugar and 1-2 tsp of brown sugar ( nothing fancy, just your typical crumble topping). It turned out amazing and I was so proud of the little heart I added. I will say that I have made pie since, real homemade pies, and I still have trouble with the crust. I cannot seem to get a border I like or a crust recipe that works for me. As a result, I use store bought and I still get compliments on how wonderful and flaky it is. No one has to know you bought the crust, as long as it stays flaky people only really care about the filling I have noticed. Pies are still not my favorite, to eat or make, but I can say that I am not afraid of them anymore!

Strawberry Champagne Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes twice they were so good! I first made them as a trial for a new recipe, they were so good, I made them two days later for a jewelry party I was hosting. This picture was the first batch, I didn't have time to capture the second batch. The cupcake is a pink champagne cupcake that I added strawberries to. The frosting is a strawberry champagne buttercream. This frosting was alright, The champagne was a little overwhelming and thinned the frosting out a little. For the second batch I used a strawberry whipped topping with out the champagne. This second topping was easier pipe and safe for the kiddies. These cupcakes (the second batch) are defiantly in my top 5 recipes now and are constantly asked for. The recipe I adapted from All-Time Best Recipes: Better Crocker magazine.

Cupcakes:

1 box Betty Crocker Super Moist white cake mix

1 1/4 c champagne

1/3 c vegetable oil

3 egg whites

4-5 drops of red food coloring

*1 1/4 c strawberries

(*my addition)

1. Heat oven to 350, line muffin pan or line/spray mini muffin pan

2. Combine cake mix and champagne. Add oil, egg whites and food coloring to desired hue. Beat for two minutes. *Fold in strawberries Fill cups 3/4 full.

3. Bake 17-22 minutes until cupcake bounces back from touch. Cool and remove from pan.

Champagne Buttercream:

1/2 cup soften butter

4 c powdered sugar

1/4 c champagne

1 tsp vanilla

4-5 drops red food coloring

*3/4 c finely chopped strawberries

1. Beat all ingredients until smooth and fluffy. Fold in strawberries

*Strawberry Whipped Topping:

8 oz heavy whipping cream

1 c powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

4-5 drops red food coloring

3/4 c finely chopped strawberries

1. Whip cream, food coloring and vanilla until stiff peaks for. Slowly add powdered sugar (I sifted mine into the cream). Beat until fluffy and creamy but before the mixture collapses!! Fold in strawberries.

Frosting/Piping Tips:

~For the first batch I did not attach a tip to the coupler ring. I piped straight from the bag/coupler ring.

~For the second batch I chopped the strawberries much smaller so I could use a large star tip fr piping.

~If using a tip or piping at all, chop strawberries (or any fruit) as small as possible to avoid blocking the piping tip. 

Birthday Cakes

Here are two cakes I made this past summer for birthdays. My sister turned 21 and my uncle turned 60!

I made this quick in a hurry. It was very simple. I made a chocolate cake with chocolate fudge frosting. I made a Vikings themed jersey out off fondant using his name and the number 60 for how old he was turning. I wish I would've had more time to spend on the piping, but I think it turned out all right. This cake taught e to double check my decorating tips; I was having a hard time piping and finally gave up on doing a bottom border. When I took the bag apart I realized there was a smaller tip inside the tip I was using!! You better bet that I always double check before I put them on now.

The second cake I made was for my sister's 21st birthday. She wanted a small cake and mini cupcakes. I made a batch of devil's food chocolate cake. I filled the cake with a layer of smooth and silky chocolate gnash. The frosting is a lightly whipped milk chocolate gnash topped with sprinkles. I made one batch of gnash, used 1/4-1/3 for the filling and then whipped the rest of the batch for about 7 minutes. It wasn't stiff and fluffy like buttercream, but it wasn't thin like gnash...it was the perfect in between texture. The martini glass is made from blue piping gel and green sugar crystals for the drink. And yes, I picked through the sprinkles to find only green ones and arranged them in a "21" for her as I was not making a batch of frosting for that little bit!

Almond Shortbread Cupcakes

These cupcakes were a piece of heaven I came upon by accident. I was trying a new recipe and I had to substitute a few things and added almond instead of vanilla. What a perfect mistake/goof! I am from a Scottish family, so I have grown up on shortbread. This was a cupcake version of shortbread. It had the denseness and flavor of shortbread, but is was moist and airy at the same time. I topped them with store bought fudge frosting ( I know, but I had some left over from baking with my 4 year old niece) and various fall sprinkles. These were a huge hit both at home and at work, even people who don't like shortbread loved these cupcakes. This is defiantly a recipe I will continue to use and monkey around with. I will say that because they are a little more dense than a normal cupcake, the minis worked the best and they need to be ate within 2-3 days to keep their moisture.

Mixer Review



Kitchen Aide Artisan Ice Blue Standing Mixer
Photo from www.thesecondlunch.com/tag/kitchen-aid-mixer/

 I have used many different mixers over the years from my hand a spoon to hand mixers to standing mixers. My all time favorite is the Kitchen Aide standing mixer. I own the Artisan Ice Blue mixer. It has a locking head with adjustable speeds. It came with a stainless steel bowl, wire whisk, batter beater and bough hook attachments. It is also able to fit all of Kitchen Aide's wonderful attachments. ( I am hoping to get the ice cream bowl shortly!) The coloring is an enamel finish that wipes clean with a cloth. While these mixers are heavy and expensive, they are worth the money. I have never had lumps, clumps or any other inconsistencies and all components clean easily. My score for the Kitchen Aide standing mixer is 5/5 cupcakes!

I also own a Sunbeam Mixer that performs as either a standing or hand mixer. This mixer works well and comes with beaters and dough hooks. It also has 5 speeds. The bowl on mine is glass. All attachments are dishwasher safe. This mixer works well and gives you an even mixture. However, the mixers is in a fixed position and you have to move the bowl. This can create some inconvenience when mixes require longer mixing time. The mixer head is easy to separate from the base by a push of a button (well two, one on each side). I normally use this for whipping up quick small things and normally as the hand held version. Overall the mixer works well and is easily clean. It is in the mid price range and being primarily plastic, it is much lighter than the steel Kitchen Aide. I would recommend this for new cooks/bakers, as a second mixer or for those who have to store their mixer as it is MUCH lighter than the Kitchen Aide. I give this mixer 4/5 cupcakes!