We Interrupt This Clean Eating for CAKE!

The hubs had a birthday.  Birthdays mean cake.  Cake means sugar and flour and lots of each!
So, out the window with clean, I made CARAMEL CAKE!
And it was amazing. When I say amazing, I mean my husband said,

"This tastes just like my great grandmother's caramel cake."

Hold the phones, people!  No sweeter words have ever been uttered!  He doesn't just say stuff like that!  As far as he is concerned, no cakes are ever as good as his ancestors' cakes.

Want to know how to make your husband this happy?

I found a recipe for Old Fashioned Caramel Cake from Random Thoughts of a SUPERMOM!  It looked like something I could handle and it didn't have any crazy ingredients in it (other than the processed sugar and flour - oopsies).

So, I gave her a whirl!

I baked my pound cakes and let them cool.  Then I cut each in half to make 4 layers total.

Then came the part that made me nervous...

the caramel.

This was scary because I knew it could scorch and ruin the whole thing.  I've never done with outside of the direct supervision of my mother (when she would usually take over).

But, I remained calm and worked through the instructions.

Beginning of the stirring until my arms hurt.

The temperature FINALLY got up to 230!

Then the fun part.  Stacking and pouring!

I think the birthday boy was pleased!  

I was so pleased as well.  When I tasted it, I was pretty impressed with myself.  It really wasn't that hard.  I would make this cake again, but only for the hubby!

I hate coconut

As I mentioned in a previous post, the hubs had a big birthday and requested coconut cake.  Well, I hate coconut cake and so do the girls, but it wasn't our birthday!  I decided to give it a shot WITHOUT the shredded coconut - the texture is really the issue.
I found this recipe on Pinterest that seemed easy enough to try, since I've never even thought about making a coconut cream cake before.  I had a hard time finding the cream of coconut, but I accidentally stumbled upon it in Publix.
Here is the cake I was attempting:

And here is how mine turned out:

K said he really liked it.  I ended up liking it a little too much too.  No, it isn't low-carb at all.  LOTS of sugar in this baby!  I licked the bowl, risking salmonela, it was so good!  I have only had one piece of cake, but Ken says it is even better the next day while it's cold out of the fridge.

That is one thing the recipe didn't say.  It needs to be refrigerated because of the whipping cream frosting.  I didn't love that.  I think a coconut flavored or rum flavored butter cream would have made it even better - very rich - but better.

Arnold Palmer Cake

My Mom's birthday is in July.  This year, i wanted to be the one to make her cake.  She loves fruity desserts, especially lemon, so when I found this recipe, I knew it was a winner!

This cake was a hit with Mom and everyone else!  I want to find a way to get more of the sweet tea flavor in the frosting though.  Maybe I'll start with more tea and cook it down a little longer.

The recipe didn't say that it needed to be refrigerated (because of the filling) and I didn't think about it until it was too late.  I was VERY sad to have to toss what was left.

I would make this again!  It's a great summer treat!

 Mom can't have candles with her oxygen, so she blew out her lemon!

Blueberry Cupcakes

This is the first Pinterest recipe I ever tried and they were WONDERFUL!
We had picked fresh blueberries at my in-laws' house and I wanted to use as many of them as I could while they were still fresh.  I would make these again and again!  They are a bit time consuming and take a lot of work, but they are worth it for a special occasion.