Baking a #MardiGras King Cake

Yayy! I was able to bake King Cake successfully using the recipe of the video below. I was looking at so many recipes but, I decided to use PartyTimeBatonRouge's recipe because from the name itself, she is from Louisiana (assuming hehehe) . Who could go wrong when it comes to taste and cooking prowess from the people in this place eh? Check the video to know the ingredients and even if you are not a pro baker, you can follow her instructions easy.

I was really excited while baking this King Cake. I was in the mood for Mardi Gras hehehe. The dough tastes good. The King Cake is supposed to be festive and sweet so; since I have "tons" of beads, I decorated my KIng Cake with beads around it. Sweet? Not too sweet for me because I lessen the sugar.

The king cakes below are just throw back pics which I found in one of my folders. We bought the cake from Rouse's, a grocery store which is popular in Mississippi. As you can see, there's a plastic baby at the middle and of course, the beads on the side to reflect Mardi Gras.

On my next King Cake, I want to use chunks of cheese as filling, making it a cheese bread. I will try to braid it too and add yellow and lavender colors. Anyway, I hope your Fat Tuesday celebration turns out fun with family and friends. It's Ash Wednesday today so; if you are a Catholic, visit the church and let us do our obligation today. Are you ready for Lent Season? I am.

For main ingredients : flour, eggs, yeast, milk, sugar, cinnamon, and butter. For the measurements and procedure, refer to the video.

That's all for now friends and thank you for visiting my blog always. Have a great day today.

Carrot Cake Bread

Today, I tested my new Cuisinart Automatic Bread Maker and I decided to make the carrot cake inspired by the Cuisinart Recipe Booklet.

Hubby enjoyed this Carrot Cake.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup crushed pineapple
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup freshly grated carrots
1/3 cup chopped mixed nuts (pecans, walnuts, cashew)
1/3 cup raisins.

1. Using the Cuisinart Automatic Bread Maker, spray the bread pan with cooking spray and make sure the kneading paddle is attached.

2. Place all ingredients in order listed above into the bread pan.

3. Press menu button and select #7, Cake/Quick bread program.

4. Press Start/Stop button to mix and bake.

      Note: While the batter is mixing, scrape the sides of the bread pan with a rubber spatula to incorporate the ingredients.

5. When the cycle is complete, remove from the bread pan and place it in a cake platter to let it cool.

6. Enjoy!

Cake Balls, Cake Pops and Dual Chocolatier

Cake Balls
I have seen more mommies and daddies out there love making cake pops for their children at home. Cake pops are the bite size cake balls on a stick, dipped into frosting and sprinkled with colorful delights. These yummy treats were created originally from crumbs of leftovers. What a great idea and now, it became a hit for parents and eventually turned into a good business venture! If cake pops are your favorite treats for your children, you should take advantage of getting this amazing cake balls maker and to complete the set, get the baby cakes dual chocolatier as well.

Cake Pops

If you are a cake lover and wanted to have the bite size one, you will love cake pops. A cake on a lollipop. Using the right baking appliance, you can actually make cake balls in equal size.

Dual Chocolatier
Do you want to have a nice cake pops? You should own this great dual chocolatier dipper. It can be a handy kitchen appliance for making cake pops easy and no mess at all. I should know, I bought these two wonderful kitchen appliance just last week. I love my cake pops. Want some?

Indulge in the Goodness of Private Selection Upside Down Cakes

This post brought to you by Private Selection. All opinions are 100% mine.

A quick, filling, delicious and easy dessert is all I could think of right now. My husband and I are heading to a special event today and we needed to bring a dessert. It didn't take me so long to decide what to bring. I already have the Private Selection Upside Down Cakes in my mind. We will be attending a fund raising event for our friend who has a cancer. We decided that each one of us would bring something and we volunteered a gourmet type dessert. I was glad that I found a Private Selection Upside Down Cakes coupon the other day and got me a great deal too.

Private Selection Upside Down Cakes are easy to prepare; just warm, flip and serve! There is no brainer isn't it? Private Selection brand is a premium private label brand which is carried exclusively at the Kroger Family of Stores as well as affiliated stores. Private Selection product is available in Baker's, City Market, Dillon's, Fry's, Gerbes, Pay Less, QFC, JayC, King Sooper's, Owen's, Ralph's, Smith's and Fred Meyer. 

You can check it out here: privateselection.com/store-locator.

Private Selection Upside Down Cakes are premium quality without the premium price. Private Selection Upside Down Cakes come in 3 distinct flavors, so there is a cake for any taste. Private Selection Upside Down Cakes taste like homemade, thanks to only using the best ingredients.

Check them out at Private Selection Upside Down Cakes on Facebook and don't forget to hit like. If you want to know more about their delicious selection of cakes, please follow Private Selection Upside Down Cakes on Pinterest. I am sure that you will be craving for more. If you have the coupons, please take note of the disclaimer below.

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Dunkan Hines Moist Cake Recipe

Do you want to bake a cake that's easy and no sweat at all? Here's a recipe that even a beginner can bake easy!

Ingredients:
I pack of Duncan Hines Devil's Food Moist Cake mix
3 large eggs
1 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 rich and creamy frosting (any brand)

Instructions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 350F.
2. Grease sides and bottom the pan.
3. In a big bowl, blend together the cake mix, water, oil and eggs until it is moistened.
4. Pour it in the pan and bake for 30 to36 minutes.
5. Cool it completely before adding the frosting. ENJOY!

Valentines Day: Strawberry Cake

I am a trying hard baker and this is my first successful strawberry cake sprinkled with ground peanuts made especially for Valentines Day :-) yayyy! I did not make this from scratch though. One of my favorite cake mix is Duncan Hines and since I have one box available, that's what I made this for. I have plenty of strawberries so; I made a puree. I added 1 cup of strawberry puree to the cake mix.

It looks like this before the frosting and this cake smells good and ...  delicious ... says hubby :-)

The frosting is from Duncan Hines, the creamy home-style cream cheese and its so good. I cut the strawberry in 4 slices, used the inner slices to decorate the sides of the cake and the other parts to decorate the top of the cake. Try it!

My First Superbowl Cake

Are you ready for the Superbowl XLVII? So, what are you waiting for? Bring on that chicken wings, hotdogs, chips and dip. My husband cooked chicken wings, pork and beans, and New York style potato salad just for the two of us. I decided to make an NFL Superbowl chocolate cake but, I forgot to buy the white frosting. I immediately check out Youtube and I found a butter frosting video. Sweet! Here’s my effort.

I was just being resourceful and found this oblong shape culinary bakeware which is perfect for baking my football cake. This is my first NFL Superbowl Cake and first time to make my butter frosting too. Did you know that this is my first time to use a decorator's set too? I guess I will be baking more and decorate my cake from now on.

I took this photo from my blackberry phone. Wanna have a bite?

I think I will make this a tradition so; see you next year. Thanks for stopping and checking on my blog today. Come by tomorrow okay? Enjoy watching the Superbowl Sunday y’all.

Duncan Hines Carrot Cake

Thank goodness for ready to bake goodies in the grocery. I was craving for a different type of cake and I found a Carrot Cake from Duncan Hines brand. This is actually my first attempt to bake a carrot cake and I thought, this will be another wasted baking experiment. I was wrong! This is now my favorite cake. Not too sweet and so yummy! The steps are easy to follow and please take it from me, this carrot cake is truly moist and tastes delicious.

My husband likes it too and since I bought 2 packs, carrot cake will be on our table on Noche Buena.

Find this brand in the grocery store in your area. I can't recall the price but, I think I bought it on sale, 2 for $7.  A bit pricey compared to other ready to bake cakes in the grocery store but, you will never regret the taste of this carrot cake.

Try it and let me know okay? Enjoy the holiday!

Craving for a Cheese Cake

Do you like cheesecake? Oh I so love cheesecake! I usually buy it like the picture below, in different "flavors" and eat one piece for a midnight snack. This is so good with a cup of hot Cafe' Du Monde coffee.My favorites are the plain cheesecake and the strawberry topped cheesecake. I don't make them, I bought this at BJ's Wholesale Club. In the future, I will try with my baking powers to make a home bake cheesecake. It is not hard...according to the procedure *wink*. Well right now, I am craving for a cheesecake from BJ's so; I might get one on Monday! Dang, that's in two days :-(

Coconut Cake with Buttercream Icing

I am not fond with cakes but, today I told my husband that I wanted to eat a coconut cake. We were in Mississippi when our cousin served us a coconut pie that I like. It's a young coconut so, it taste sweet and tender. We went to Publix and found this intead. After slicing, I realized that this is not it!

I was actually looking for a coconut pie with a thin crust. Too late now! I need to eat this before I can start looking for a coconut pie:-) In fairness, this is delicious!

This is my entry today for Yummy Sunday!

Homebaked Moist Banana Cake

Hello everyone! Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mommies all over the whole world:-) Today, in celebration of Mother's Day, I decided to do my share of home baking activity for my husband and a friend. I couldn't contain myself because the texture and the taste is truly GREAT, says my hubby and friend. I take their word for that LOL! I love my own bake "moist banana cake". Try my recipe mommies.Here's the ingredients:
1 cup banana, mashed
1 cup sugar
2 pieces raw eggs
1/2 cup cooking oil
1 tsp teaspoon salt
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/2 pancake mix
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup raisins

Here's the Procedure:
1. Combine all the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda.
2. Mix the dry ingredients thoroughly.
3. Add the other ingredients (eggs, mashed bananas, cooking oil, vanilla essence), mix well with the dry ingredients until a batter is formed.
4. Grease the loaf pan, pour-in the mixture, spread the raisins at the bottom and the remaining at the top.
5. Preheat oven at 350 degrees F then, bake for 55 minutes.
6. Just allow to cool down for few minutes before serving. YUM YUM YUM!
This is my entry for this week's Yummy Sunday. Let's enjoy baking or cooking everyone:-)

Banana Cake

I was invited to attend a Life in the Spirit Seminar today and while there, they provided breakfast-snacks-lunch-snacks and I ate a banana cake. Hubby loves it and he said, how he wished he can buy it. I decided to experiment :-) since we have all the ingredients in the pantry. Here's my first baked banana cake. Hubby said, the taste and texture is way better than the one he ate at the gathering.Here's the ingredients:
1 cup banana, mashed
1 cup sugar
2 pieces raw eggs
1/2 cup cooking oil
1 tsp teaspoon salt
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour (I used pancake mix)
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup raisins

Here's the Procedure:
1. Combine all the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda.
2. Mix the dry ingredients thoroughly.
3. Add the other ingredients (eggs, mashed bananas, cooking oil, vanilla essence), mix well with the dry ingredients until a batter is formed.
4. Grease the loaf pan, pour-in the mixture, spread the raisins at the top.
5. Preheat oven at 350 degrees F then, bake for an hour.
6. Just allow to cool down for few minutes.
This is my entry for this week's Yummy Sunday. Thanks for stopping by everyone!

Cheesecake Sampler

Hubby and I went to BJ's which is our favorite store. This is the only place where I can buy chocolates in a pack at an affordable price. I went to the bakery and found this cheesecake sampler. I wanted to eat a cheesecake and looking at this layered sampler, who can resist?

I know that it would take few days to eat this cheesecake knowing that it's only us that will consume this foodie. Oh, how I wish my family is here with me so they can devour all of this cake:-)