This post has been sponsored by Betty Crocker. I was compensated with a giftcard for writing, however all opinions listed are my own.
Around here, you will always find me and my daughter creating some kind of birthday cake recipe. If you look through my recipe archives, you will find exactly that — tons of cake recipes. It just seems to be what I do best. Here are 5 of my favorite easy birthday cake recipes that you can recreate at your home.
My daughter loves to make cake pops. We have never ventured to be as creative as the original Cake Pop maker — Bakerella, but, we have tried our fair share at making them. The first few times were epic fail, but then we finally learned how to make cake pops the right way.
Today is BEHIND THE CURTAIN DESSERT CHALLENGE REVEAL DAY! For this month’s reveal, our challenge was to make a dessert using almond paste and pastry of some sort. I chose to make Lemon and Almond Cupcakes.
What is the Behind the Curtain Dessert Challenge?
Every month we are assigned two ingredients (this month it was Almond Paste and Pastry) we are to take those two ingredients and create or find a recipe using the chosen ingredients.
Does this sound like fun to you? Need more traffic to your website or want to meet new friends? Then this is the party for you! THIS IS A BLOG HOP so EVERYONE gets to be the host. HERE is more information on how it works.
Back to my yummy recipe 
These cupcakes turned out SO good. I had never baked with almond paste before, but I now know, I will be baking with this substance a lot more in the coming months.
- 1-7 oz box Almond Paste, grated
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 eggs, room temperature
- 1 cup plain yogurt
- ¼ cup canola oil
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (2-3 large lemons)
- 2 teaspoons grated lemon rind (only yellow part)
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 2 cups of powdered sugar
- 1 stick of butter, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons of milk
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Place cupcake liners in muffins tins.
- In mixing bowl, mix Almond Paste and sugar until the texture of small crumbs. Add eggs one at a time beating well between each. Add yogurt, oil, lemon juice and rind. Beat until well combined.
- Sift flour and baking powder into almond mixture. Beat until mixed, scraping the bottom and sides of bowl. Spoon batter into liners, a bit more than ½ full.
- Bake cupcakes in center of oven, 20-25 minutes or until tops are nicely rounded and toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean. Start testing at 20 minutes. Cool tins on wire racks for 5 minutes.
- Then, transfer cupcakes to wire rack and cool completely.
- To make icing, mix together powdered sugar, butter, and milk. If you want a thicker icing, add more powdered sugar. For a thinner icing, add more milk.
See what other bloggers are making
Here are the other bloggers in the challenge. Check out their almond paste and pastry desserts
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Y’all know I am a total Food Network junkie! One of my favorite shows is Iron Chef. I enjoy watching the chefs battle for victory. Even better than that is The Next Iron Chef. It’s almost like a reality show, but with food –yum!
One of my favorite contestants last year was Elizabeth Falkner. You may remember her.
Well, Elizabeth is getting ready to open her new Brooklyn restaurant, Krescendo. She is also a seasoned veteran in the world of network culinary competitions and author of Cooking Off the Clock: Recipes From My Downtime, published just last month!
She will be returning for redemption to Food Network’s The Next Iron Chef premiering next week! I cannot wait to see her in action again
Here is a delicious recipe that she created while working with Harry & David.
Elizabeth Falkner’s Upside Pear Crunch Cake
- 1 ½ C. demerara sugar or brown sugar
- 1 t. ground cinnamon
- ¼ t. ground nutmeg
- ½ t. salt
- 1 TB. flour
- 2 TB. butter
- 2 ea. Harry & David Royal Riviera® Pears, cored and sliced into ½ ” slices with skin on
- 4 oz. unsalted butter
- 1 C. sugar
- 2 ea. large eggs
- 1 C. sour cream
- ¼ C. milk
- 1 t. vanilla extract
- 1 ½ C. flour
- 1 ½ t. baking powder
- ½ t. baking soda
- 1 t. salt
- Work all ingredients together with a spatula or your fingers and set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees convection. Cream the butter and sugar together with a spatula or in a mixer with paddle attachment. Add the eggs and combine to emulsify. Add the sour cream, milk and vanilla extract and stir to combine. Add dry ingredients just to combine.
- Sprinkle half of the Crunch mixture divided between 2 loaf pans. Divide the Harry & David Royal Riviera® Pears slices lined down each loaf pan on top of the Crunch layer. Divide Coffee Cake batter over the pears in each pan. Finally, divide the rest of the Crunch over the batter in each pan. Bake for 30 minutes until cake is set.
- Cool completely, this takes awhile, be patient. Then invert cake upside when cool, slice and serve.
If you want a delicious and decadent chocolate cake, you have GOT to try Paula Deen’s Chocolate Sheet Cake. So far, there is not one recipe of hers that I have fixed that is not flavorful or scrumptious. This cake is no exception.
This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of NECTRESSE™Sweetener for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
I love sweets. That seems to be my weakness. You sit a delicious dessert in front of me and I will dig in without a second thought about it. The problem with that is — I’m really trying hard to lose weight. It is having a hard time finding its way off my body, and those delicious desserts I like so much don’t help any. So with that little tidbit in mind, I set out to make a delicious dessert that was guilt free and still scrumptious — one I could eat and not worry about gaining so much weight with every bite I took. That is how I discovered this recipe for Tiramisu.
You can find this recipe on the Nectresse Site by clicking HERE.
- 8 oz. block light cream cheese
- ¾ cup mascarpone cheese
- ¼ cup NECTRESSE™ Natural No Calorie Sweetener
- ¾ teaspoon vanilla
- 1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
- 1 cup hot water
- ⅓ cup Coffee‐flavored liqueur *
- 1, 7oz. pkg. Italian ladyfingers (savoiardi)
- 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
- ⅛ teaspoon cinnamon
- ALLOW cheeses to come to room temperature. Using a hand held mixer, whip cheeses, NECTRESSE™ Natural No Calorie Sweetener and vanilla in a bowl for 2 minutes. Set aside.
- DISSOLVE espresso powder in hot water. Stir in liquor. Quickly dip one lady finger cookie in the espresso mixture and place in an 8X8 pan. Repeat with 11 more cookies for a total of 12 cookies for the bottom layer. Spread half of the cream cheese mixture on top. Repeat process with remaining 12 lady finger cookies and cream cheese spread.
- SPRINKLE cocoa powder and cinnamon on top of cream cheese.
- REFRIGERATE for at least 2 hours. Can be made up to two days ahead.
- Note: A 7oz. package of ladyfingers is equal to 24 cookies. Instant espresso can be replaced with 1 cup of freshly brewed strong coffee. Angel food cake or ladyfinger sponge cookies can be used in place of Italian ladyfinger cookies. *For dietary purposes, please note this recipe contains alcohol.
I made this dessert using NECTRESSE™Sweetener which is the only 100% natural sweetener made from fruit – monk fruit extract and it is available where you shop. It is 150 times sweeter than sugar and can be used in cooking and baking to add natural, zero calorie per serving sweetness in your favorite beverages and a delicious variety of foods.
I used the sweetener not only in this dessert, but in my morning coffee, on a piece of grapefruit, and as a topping for some caramelized bananas I was making one night to go with dinner.
I love the way that this sugar tastes. it has a fruity sweetness that doesn’t bother my stomach like regular sugar or other natural sweetners do. I have never tasted a monk fruit before, but can tell you after tasting Nectresse, I now want to try a piece of Monk fruit!
• NECTRESSE Sweetener is available in both convenient single-serve packets (40 servings) and easy to hold canisters (140 servings) with a multipurpose lid for sprinkling, pouring or spooning. It’s available now in grocery stores, drug stores, supercenters and online for suggested retail prices of $3.99 (packets) and $6.99 (canisters).
Lisa Ling is the NECTRESSE™ Sweetener spokesperson! Due to a family history of diabetes she has always been cautious about her sugar intake and relied on no calorie sweeteners to satisfy her sweet tooth – but she hasn’t liked any as much as NECTRESSE™! Check out her video testimonial here:
and share it with your readers.
Would you like to try Nectresse for yourself? Get a FREE sample of NECTRESSE™Sweetener just by visiting their website and filling in the form. While you are there, browse the other delicious recipes you can make!
A serving of the tiramisu from above only has 330 calories per serving!
Thanks to McCormick for sending me all the yummy goodies so that I could make these delicious treats for my family
All month long, I have been sharing with you about the wonderful foodie recipes I’ve made thanks to McCormick and their “Green with Envy” spice package
If you missed those recipes, you can find the links here:
Emerald Mint Milkshakes (my favorite)
The last recipe that I am going to share with you today is just in time for St. Patty’s day tomorrow — Lucky Shamrock Cupcakes!
They are super easy to make and if you use all the decorations, etc from McCormick, your cupcakes will definitely have that Irish feel!
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I was sent a box of goodies from McCormick in order to create these recipes. All opinions listed are my own.
I love when holidays roll around because that means I get to make something new. This time around, it was cake pops. My first attempt at making these has been. . . . a learning experience to say the least. 3 things I learned while making the cake pops are:
~Make sure you use enough icing in the cake mix
~Make sure to make them the right size–not too big and not too small
~Be sure to leave them in the refrigerator for the right amount of time.
We had lumpy issues with our very first batch, but I think that is because we did not use enough icing. They still turned out adorable though and they are really delicious!
The St. Paddy’s day touch was courtesy of McCormick’s green food coloring!
McCormick’s has lots of great products to make your St. Patrick’s Day feast a blast. Choose from spices for the savory menu, or choose certain spices to make a delicious and yummy dessert!
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This month for the Crazy Cooking Challenge, we were challenged to find the ultimate chocolate cake recipe. Now — I am one for simplicity and yet I love making things homemade so I went looking for a cake that included both of those elements.
I just happened to need a dessert the other night for dinner and I was craving chocolate so I knew it would be a perfect time to make my recipe. I found exactly what I was looking for at Life as a Lofthouse. Chocolate. Crockpot. Lava — nuff said, right?
Here is the newest dessert on the block–and it is made in the trusty old crockpot!
Hope you enjoy
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Crockpot Pudding Cake
18 1/2 ounce box chocolate cake mix
3/4 cup oil
3 (9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
1cup of water
1 pint sour cream
6 ounce package semi-sweet choc. chips
4 eggs, beaten
Optional: vanilla ice cream
Directions
In a large bowl, stir togther dry mixes and remaining ingredients except for the ice cream.
Pour into a large slow cooker sprayed with non-stick vegetable spray. Cover and cook on low setting for 5 to 7 hours. Do NOT stir while cooking!!!!!!
When done, cake should be cake-like with some chocolate “lava” in the center.
Serve warm, over ice cream, if desired.
Makes 6 to 8 servings.
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