Lemon Poppyseed Bundt Cake

I have been craving something made with poppy seeds lately.  They just keep shouting at me every time I open the refrigerator!  I paired them with lemon, reduced the fat in a typical cake and came up with this light, heavenly lemon poppy seed bundt cake which did not disappoint.  It's robust on lemon flavor, moist and delicious!  It's even better the second day after making too!

Servings: 16
Serving Size: 1/16 of bundt cake
Points Plus: 7pp
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Bake Time: 55-60 minutes

Ingredients:
Cake Ingredients-
1 Duncan Hines Lemon Cake Mix (16.5 oz)
2 1/2 Tbsp. flour
1 package instant lemon pudding, sugar-free
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup poppy seeds
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
3 egg whites
1 egg

Glaze Ingredients-
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2-4 Tbsp. fresh lemon mice
1 drop yellow food coloring

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Coat a bund pan with cooking spray.  In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the cake mix, flour, instant pudding, buttermilk, water, applesauce, oil, poppy seeds and lemon juice (2 Tbsp).  Mix until well blended.  Add the egg whites and egg and beat until smooth.  Pour into prepared bundt pan and spread evenly.  Bake for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out cleanly.  Remove from the oven and let cool for about 10 minutes.  Carefully loosen sides with a knife and remove the cake onto a plate.  Cool completely before glazing.

To make the glaze - combine the powdered sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl.  Blend until very smooth with a whisk.  Add the food coloring and mix well.  Drizzle the glaze all around the top of the cake.  Slice and serve!

Tip:
Keep your poppy seeds in the fridge to make the last for up to 6 months!  Because poppy seeds are high in oil content they need to be preserved a bit otherwise they won't last long.  The fridge is the perfect home for them!

YUM!
XOXO Nancy

Champagne Orange Bundt Cake

I came across this recipe on Pinterest as I was searching for a fun, festive dessert to serve on New Year's Eve.  The original recipe (found here) comes from the Muffin Tin mom's blog.  I wasn't able to find the orange mimosa flavored sparkling wine that her recipe calls for so I improvised and used a combination of champagne and orange juice instead - two ingredients you already need for the frosting!  I also chose to omit the sliced almonds to cut down on pp.  Enjoy this bubbly cake!

Servings: 10

Size: One slice of 1/10 of the cake

Points Plus: 8pp

Level of Difficulty: Easy

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Bake Time: 25-30 minutes

Rating: 4 stars - Very good

Ingredient List:

Cake Batter

1 box white cake mix

2/3 cup champagne

1/3 cup orange juice

3 eggs

Baking spray

Frosting

¼ cup champagne

¼ cup orange juice

1 ½ cups powdered sugar

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°. In a medium bowl, mix together the cake mix, champagne, orange juice and eggs until well combined.  Pour batter into a lightly greased bundt pan.  Bake according to the directions on the box, about 25-30 minutes.  Allow the cake to cool completely before you frost it.  To make the frosting, first combine the champagne and orange juice in a large bowl.  Add the powdered sugar a ½ cup at a time until the frosting reaches the consistency you are looking for.  It will be more of a glaze than a thick frosting.

Tip:
I don't know about you, but I REALLY struggle when it comes to making frostings!  I think the key is to not have too much liquid so you don't have to add as much powdered sugar to even out the consistency.  That said, you could use slightly less champagne and orange juice in the frosting to make for a thicker frosting if you prefer. 

XOXO Megan

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

This recipe is actually for Pumpkin Spice CAKE, but since I have little self control when it comes to desserts I used the old standby portion trick and turned them into cupcakes! This recipe is so simple and very low in points for a delish pumpkin dessert.  Enjoy!

Servings: 15

Servings Size: 1 cupcake

Points Plus: 3pp

Level of Difficulty: Easy

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Rating: 4 - Very Good

Ingredients

1 box of spice cake

1/2 cup water

15 oz canned pumpkin

Fat-free cool whip*

Cupcake liners

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350.  Mix spice cake, water and pumpkin in a bowl.  Scoop cake mixture into cupcake tins and bake for about 30 minutes.  Let cool and top with cool whip.

Tip

Let's face it, fat-free cool whip is not the most 'natural' food out there.  Let's face it, it is 0pp so I don't really care! (I believe that anything is fine in moderation) I also like cool whip on pudding for another low point snack. Also - these freeze good and would make a tasty breakfast with a banana on the side!  And finally!!!! I used my Pampered Chef cookie scoop to put the batter in the muffin tins, it helped them be equal sizes!

XOXO - Katie

Island Rum Cake

Today is my birthday!!!  As I celebrate and indulge a bit (it is my birthday after all), here is a fun summer dessert for you to check out and maybe try out at the next time you have company?  This is a Pampered Chef recipe found here.  I made a few slight modifications, but it is basically the same recipe.  Enjoy!

Servings:  16

Size:  1/16 of cake

Points Plus: 10pp
Level of Difficulty:  Medium

Prep Time: 40 minutes

Cook Time:  15-18 minutes

Rating: 4 stars – Very good

Ingredient List:
Cake:
1 box of yellow cake mix
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup water
1 egg
1 can crushed pineapple, in juice, undrained
½ cup sweetened flaked coconut

Filling & Fruit Topping:

1 package vanilla instant mudding mix, sugar-free

1 cup milk

2 cups thawed, frozen whipped topping

2 Tbsp. dark rum

1 kiwi, peeled and sliced

1 large mango, peeled and sliced

¼ cup toasted coconut

Syrup:

¼ cup brown sugar

2 Tbsp. dark rum

2 Tbsp. water

1 tsp. cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°.  Use two torte pans (I used Pampered Chef’s version which are 10 ½ inches round) to make the cake in.  Spray each pan with cooking spray and place an 8 inch circle of parchment paper over the center of each pan.  In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, oil, water, egg and pineapple until well mixed.  Fold in the coconut flakes.  Divide the cake batter evenly between the two pans.  Bake for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let the cakes cool before you try and remove them from the pans; let cool on a wire cooling rack.  In a small saucepan, bring the brown sugar, dark rum, water and cinnamon to a boil over medium-high heat to make the syrup.  Whisk the mixture until the sugar is fully dissolved.  Cook for 1-2 minutes until the syrup is reduced to about ¼ cup; remove from heat.  Whisk the pudding mix and milk together to make the filling and add in 1 cup of whipped topping and the 2 Tbsp. rum.  Prep the kiwi and mango and cut into slices for the top of the cake.

Assemble the cake by starting with one torte cake on a round platter.  Brush the syrup topping over the top of the cake.  Using a cake decorating tool, pipe the filling mixture around the edge of the cake and spread evenly across the top of the cake.  Layer on the next cake layer and arrange the slices of mango and kiwi in the middle of the cake. Brush the remaining syrup on top of the fruit slices. Pipe around the edge of the top cake layer with the remaining filling and sprinkle the toasted coconut on top of the filling.

Tip:

A good cake decorating tool can help you to make impressive looking desserts!  I am partial to this version from Pampered Chef.

XOXO Megan

Red, White & Blueberry Trifle

Happy 4^th of July!!!  The 4^th is one of my favorite holidays.  I absolutely love fireworks!  I also love summer BBQs and this is the perfect dessert to bring with you to a summer party.  This is a modified version of a berry, cake and pudding trifle.  I’ve adjusted the recipe to pack in extra berries and found substitues for the high pp value items like pound cake, cream, excess sugar, etc.

Servings:  8

Size:  1/8 of the trifle

Points Plus: 4pp

Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cook Time: n/a

Ingredient List:

Angel food cake (store-bought already baked version)

3 cups fresh strawberries, sliced

2 cups fresh blueberries

1 container Greek fat free yogurt, raspberry flavored

2 packages vanilla instant pudding mix, sugar-free

2 cup skim milk

Directions:

Wash and prepare the berries. In a large bowl, mix together with a whisk the milk, Greek yogurt and instant pudding mixes until the mixture has a thick consistency. In the bottom of your trifle bowl, start layering beginning with angel food cake.  Use 1/3 of the cake and tear off 1-2 inch pieces of cake and fill until the bottom of the bowl is covered.  Next use 1/3 of the pudding mixture, drop spoonfuls on top of the cake layer.  Finally, make the berry layer using 2/3 cup of blueberries and 1 cup of strawberries.  Repeat the 3 layers twice more resulting in 3 layers of each and ending with berries at the top of the trifle.  Refrigerate until you are ready to serve.

Tip:

The pudding mixture might be a little dull in color depending on what Greek yogurt you use.  I added about 10 drop of red food coloring to my mixture to bring out a richer pink color to make the pudding layer look more festive!

XOXO Megan

Ice Cream Cake

Today is my birthday ya'all!  In celebration, I have brought you a delicious ice cream cake recipe that you can eat for breakfast, lunch and/or dinner in this heat! (in moderation of course) It is loosely based after Dairy Queen's ice cream cake, and also loosely based of this recipe. I served this cake in 85 degree weather, 90% humidity AND outside.  Needless to say I didn't get to snap a photo.  But enjoy the one below from the Food Network that in totally actuality looks similar to mine! (for real)

Servings: 12

Size: 1/12 of cake

Points Plus: TBD

Level of Difficulty: Easy (for real it is, but you have to have patience)

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Chill Time: Overnight

Rating: 5 stars - Excellent!

Ingredient List:

1/2 qu. chocolate ice cream

1/2 qu. vanilla ice cream

4 oz. Mrs. Richardson's chocolate fudge

2 oz. Mrs. Richardson's caramel

1 sleeve Oreos (cream filled center removed)

2 c. heavy whipping cream

4 T. powdered sugar

Patience

Directions:

*This recipe would be 100 times easier if I had a deep freeze.  But I don't, so before doing anything I cleared off the largest spot possible in my side by side freezer. Also, this recipe takes a while (mostly waiting time).  I tried to split up the recipe so that it is easy to understand!

1. Place a spring form pan in the freezer for about 15 minutes.  At the same time, remove and thaw vanilla ice cream. When pan is cold and ice cream is a little soft, spread 1/2 quart of the vanilla ice cream on the bottom of the spring pan.  Spread it around so that it looks like an ice cream 'cake' and return to freezer for 1 hour.  
2. While the vanilla ice cream is re-freezing, remove the filling from the Oreos and discard.  Warning!!! Do not do this step when hungry.  You will:
1. Eat too much of the plain cream filling
2. Eat too many Oreos. 
3. Pulse Oreos in your medium sized food processor until chunky, not powdery.  After 1 hour remove the cake from the freezer and sprinkle the Oreos over the vanilla layer.  Gently press them down with a spoon and return the cake to your freezer for 30 minutes.  
4. After 30 minutes heat up your chocolate fudge so it is soupy.  Remove the cake from the freezer and pour the fudge over the cookies to coat.  Return cake to freezer for 30 minutes.  
5. After 30 minutes warm up 2 oz of Mrs. Richardson's caramel sauce. Remove the cake from the freezer and drizzle the caramel over the fudge.  Return to freezer for 1 hour. 
6. 45 minutes later remove your chocolate ice cream from the freezer and let soften.  15 minutes later remove cake from freezer and spread chocolate ice cream over caramel layer.  Return to freezer overnight.  Your spring pan should be full to the brim!  WOW that is a lot of in and out of the freezer, get what I mean about the deep freeze!
7. ...the next day.  Whip 2 c. of heavy whipping cream and 4 T. of powdered sugar with an electric mixer until very stiff.  Set aside. 
8. Fill your sink with 2 inches of hot water. Have a serving plate ready to go on your counter.  Gently dip your spring pan into the water for 5 seconds.  Seriously, any more and you will have a mess.  Bring your spring pan over to your plate and slowly open it, allowing the cake to drop onto the serving plate.  Return to the freezer for 1 hour.
9. After 1 hour remove cake from freezer and frost with whipping cream.  Use your fancy cake decorating skills to pipe around the edges if you would like.  Return the cake to your freezer for 2 hours. This step is very important.  The whipping cream will sort of seal the cake, allowing for it to stand outside of a freezer for longer periods of time (meaning 10 minutes max, this cake does need to be kept in the freezer).  
10. Remove from freezer a few minutes before serving.  Enjoy!

Tip:

You could also probably make this in a normal 9x13 inch pan.  I would recommend lining the pan with wax paper, making the cake, and then flipping it when done before frosting.  Delish!

Tipx2 - it would be fun to experiment with ice cream flavors with this! Or, if you feel like spending the cash use two types of Ben & Jerry's!  2 pints per layer!

XOXO - Katie

Graudation Cupcakes

My brother graduated last weekend from St. Olaf and to help with the celebration my mom made these adorable graduation cupcakes.  She and I made a few prototypes to the get the cap and tassel just right, but by the end we had perfected it.  They were delicious too!

Servings:  24

Size:  1 cupcake

Points Plus: 8pp

Level of Difficulty:  Medium

Prep Time: 1 hour

Cook Time:  20 minutes

Rating: 4 stars – Very good

Ingredient List:

1 box of fudge cake mix

1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips (set aside 1 Tbsp. for later)

Vanilla frosting

24 mini Reese’s peanut butter cups

24 Ghirardelli dark chocolate squares

24 M&Ms

One decorative tassel

Directions:

Prepare the fudge cake mix according to the directions on the box.  Add in the cup of mini chocolate chips into the cupcake batter.  Line a regular muffin tin with paper or tin liners. Fill each cupcake liner about 2/3 full.  You want your cupcakes to be on the small side since you will be adding frosting and the graduation cap.  Ideally the cupcakes will just come to the top of the cupcake liner once baked. Bake the cupcakes according to the box, probably about 18-20 minutes, depending on your oven.  Since you are making smaller cupcakes you should be able to get 24 cupcakes in total.  While the cupcakes are baking, in a small bowl, melt 1 Tbsp. of mini chocolate chips.  You will use this chocolate as a glue to attach and assemble the graduation cap. 

Once the cupcakes have cooled, frost each with a generous amount of frosting per cupcake.  To assemble the graduation cap, first put a small dab of chocolate glue on the top of an upside down mini Reese’s peanut butter cup (the larger surface area should be on the bottom), affix the Ghirardelli square on top.  The chocolate square should also be upside down with the flat, smooth side facing up.  Next, dab a very small amount of chocolate glue to the middle of the Ghirardelli square – attach a few strands of tassel (we found a decorate tassel and cut it apart to make smaller tassels), then add more chocolate to affix a single M&M on top. Serve at your party and hopefully people are impressed with your creativity! 

Warning:  Don’t EAT the tassel! J

Tip:

Creative cupcakes can be a really big hit for any sort of party – graduation, housewarming, holiday/seasonal, etc. We made these graduation cupcakes in St. Olaf colors – gold and black (well chocolate), but you could easily adapt to different school colors.

XOXO Megan

Chocolate Stout Cake

Here is a good little recipe if you ever want people to think you are the most amazing baker of ALL. TIME. This cake is amazing, relatively easy for being 100% home made, and the bomb (did I already say it was good??)  Chocolate + Beer is an dynamic combo, especially stout.  Warning, this cake is dense but worth every bite. And even better, it can be made days ahead of time, it only gets better by sitting overnight(s). I followed this cake recipe, but used my own cream cheese/whipping cream frosting recipe (which deserves it's own post). The chocolate frosting that is included with the recipe is also amazing. When calculating the points plus value, I honestly could not bring myself to tell the truth (ahm, over 30pp per slice if you follow the recipe).   So, to practice portion control which is essential for a healthy lifestyle, I calculated them as cupcakes using just under 1/2 cup of batter for each.

Servings: 1 cupcake with 1 smearing (about a Tbsp.) chocolate frosting included in the recipe link above
Size: 1/48 of recipe
Course: Dessert
Points Plus: 8pp (only 5 pp without frosting)
Level of Difficulty: Moderate
Prep Time: 30 mins total including frosting
Cook Time: 18-22 mins
Rating:  5 - AMAZING

Tip:
Use a big bowl! There is enough batter for a three layer cake or 48 cupcakes.  FYI - that is a ton of batter!  Also, when adding sprinkles to frosting put them on right before serving so they don't bleed.  Also, feel free to read through the reviews on the website.  People have gotten very creative with this recipe, including adding a caramel to the middle and using a dusting of powdered sugar instead of frosting. 

Exhibit ONE - simmering beer + butter

Exhibit TWO - Delish cake!