I need a birthday cake recipe
Ok, I invited my in laws for my husband's b'day. I don't know why but I told my foodie mother in law that I'd make the birthday cake myself..A big mistake!! But it's too late so I need a good cake recipe. I was thinking about a typical plain vanilla cake with vanilla icing but I want something more creative for my in laws especially my mother in law who loves baking..this lady bakes her own bread.
A nice recipe for a fruit pie or pastry will be nice too actually. They seem to love that stuff.
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HillJ
May 30, 2007 01:37 PM
If you love strawberries as much as I do...this is the cake I always ask for on my b-day:
Strawberries and Whipped Cream Cake
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup butter
1 1/4 cups milk
4 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups white sugar
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 quarts fresh strawberries,
halved lengthwise
2 (8 ounce) packages cream
cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 cups heavy cream
DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9 inch tube pan.
2. In a small saucepan, combine the butter and milk. Warm until butter has melted, but do not boil. In a medium bowl, beat the eggs with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 2 cups sugar. Stir in the warmed milk and butter and vanilla. Combine the flour and baking soda; stir into the batter just until blended. Pour into the prepared pan.
3. Bake for 55 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a knife inserted into the crown of the cake comes out clean. Cool in the pan for at least 15 minutes before removing and placing on a wire rack to cool completely.
4. In a mixing bowl fitted with a whisk attachment, combine the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and salt. Beat at medium speed until smooth. Pour the heavy cream in a slow steady stream while the mixture is whipping until the mixture has fluffed up and can hold a stiff peak. Don't let it get grainy looking though. Scrape the bottom of the bowl with a spatula occasionally to remove any lumps.
5. Slice the cooled cake horizontally into three layers. Arrange strawberries on the bottom layer with the top ends facing outward. Fill in the remaining space with more berries. Spoon some of the whipped cream over the berries and spread evenly. Place another layer of cake on top and repeat the process. Place the top layer on the cake and cover with the remaining cream. Arrange remaining berries over the cream. -
Hi Monica,
People always love this fruit pizza recipe when I make it. You'll need a pizza pan or round pizza stone for it. It's an easy recipe but if you want to make it even easier, you can buy the refrigerated sugar cookie dough instead of making from scratch. Also, you can make the cookie, the frosting (store in an airtight container in fridge) and cut the fruit all during the day and then just assemble it right before you're ready to serve. My favorite fruit for it is strawberries and kiwi. It doesn't work well as leftovers but you probably won't have any!
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Fruit-Pi...
I have a fantastic and super easy recipe for another cake although it doesn't fall into the "fancy" category of pastries. But it's sure great and something most people haven't seen before.
1 box of cake mix, any flavor, I prefer devil's food chocolate, prepared as directed
1 can of Eagle Brand, sweetened condensed milk
1 carton of Cool Whip (large carton but might not use all of it
)5 miniature Butterfingers, or 2 regular size, crushedBake your cake according to the directions, using a 9x13 pan. While still hot, poke holes with fork all over top of cake and pour the whole can of Eagle Brand over it. It'll sink into the cake. Let cool and spread Cool Whip on top. Crush Butterfingers (I usually keep them in their package but put them in a plastic bag in case they burst open. Use a hammer or mallet lightly and when you open the packages they'll come out crushed.) Sprinkle on top of cake and refrigerate all day or overnight. This cake is better the longer it sits in the fridge. No need for ice cream because it's a cold cake with Cool Whip. I tried it with yellow cake last week for my son who doesn't like chocolate (still questioning if he's really my son!) and everyone liked it as much as the chocolate but I still say chocolate's the best!
You may not have been a baker before but with all the ideas you've gotten on this site you may become a baker after all!
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re: Monica
MeffaBabe
May 18, 2007 07:04 AM
Just do a simple yellow cake (2 cakes) slice each cake into 2 so you get 4 layers. Use either a pastry cream filling or make vanilla pudding (using a bit less milk to make thicker or add a bit of corn starch to mix before preparing as directed). Use this in the layers and place fruit (peach slices) in each layer. You can do peaches one layer, strawberries another, blackberries... and so on.
Frost with 7 minute frosting OR if your layers are not really messy just dust with 10X sugar.... I love making this. It is always a hit and everyone thinks you slaved for days.
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Just made the epicurious double layer chocolate cake with the ganache frosting for my daughters birthday. Was fantastic and everyone called it the best chocolate cake ever. If you're at all considering a chocolate cake, I'd go with this one.
Oh, and it wasn't hard at all and not too time consuming either.
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I made my father a banana cake for his birthday, I used a Fish & Loaves recipe which called for cream cheese frosting but I covered it in a chocolate ganache instead. It's pretty easy and it was eaten up very quickly. If you're interested I can paraphrase the recipe when I get home tonight.
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Mandymac
May 15, 2007 08:28 AM
This is one of epicurious's most popular recipes:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/rec...
The addition of the buttermilk makes it very moist, like a brownie. I'm not a huge cake-baker but I've made this and it was fantastic. Instead of their suggested frosting, I made a cream cheese frosting (equal parts butter and cream cheese, and confectioners sugar to taste).
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This is just what you need. It seems like a typical plain vanilla cake with vanilla icing, but once she bites in, she'll be shocked. It's the most luxurious cake I've ever had. It's truly amazing, and worth the work and the calories.
Restaurant Eve's Cake
Sunday, April 23, 2006; M08
This simple recipe uses butter that is melted rather than creamed with the sugar, as in many recipes. Don't be afraid of overbeating it. Both the cake batter and the frosting require a good deal of whipping in order to incorporate the necessary air.
Ingredients
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, plus additional to grease pans
2 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
4 eggs at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk (may substitute low-fat or nonfat)
Frosting (recipe follows)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease and flour two 9-inch cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
Melt butter and let it cool to room temperature.
Combine the sugar, flour, baking powder and salt in the large bowl of a stand mixer. (A stand mixer is preferable for this recipe, though a hand-held electric mixer may be used.) On medium speed, add the butter, incorporating in several additions. Beat for about 2 minutes, or until combined; the texture should resemble cornmeal.
In a separate bowl, combine the eggs, vanilla extract and milk. Add to the flour-butter mixture in two batches (scraping the bowl once), and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes, or until smooth.
Distribute the batter evenly between the two prepared pans. Bake for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack and cool for 20 minutes. Remove cakes from pans to cool completely. Frost the cake. It can stand at room temperature for 1 hour; otherwise, cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Serves 12.
Frosting
This makes a generous amount of icing, so those with a not-so-sweet tooth may want to reduce the quantities or expect leftovers.
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 pounds (7 1/2 -8 cups) confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup heavy cream, (may substitute whole, low-fat or nonfat milk)
Food coloring (optional)
In a stand mixer on medium speed, beat the butter until fluffy. On low speed, add the sugar in batches, increasing the speed to high after each addition is incorporated. Scrape down the bowl as needed. Add the vanilla extract and cream in a steady stream on low speed until incorporated. Add a few drops of food coloring, if desired. (Restaurant Eve uses red to make pink.) Beat on high speed for 8-10 minutes, until light and fluffy.
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QueenB
May 15, 2007 07:27 AM
I love this lemon curd and white chocolate cake. We've made it numerous times and it is always a hit.
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/rec...Another idea, if you want to use fresh fruit, is to make two layer vanilla cake. Between the layers put fresh raspberries or strawberries and a vanilla buttercream. You can also sprinkle the cake with a raspberry or strawberry liquor or amaretto. Frost with whipped cream and top cake with more fresh fruit.
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MMRuth
May 15, 2007 07:13 AM
I love this cake and often make it for birthdays - a Key Lime Bundt cake:
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/27864...
It's best made a day ahead, and looks really pretty with a small vase of flours in the middle. And no icing to make - it's glazed. Particularly refreshing for the summer, and is quite light.
