Recipe Reviews, Recommendations, Tips and Musings. Thanks for visiting!
The Cake Slice Bakers are 8 months into baking our way through Little Everyday Cakes by Candace Floyd. I chose Butterscotch Pecan Loaf for August because it’s been a long week and it looks super easy to make.
Then I started looking at the recipe and realized it’s butterscotch. One of my favorite flavors! Oh, and I was right – it’s super easy to make.
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Yes, you’re seeing double – it’s a Frosting in the Cake Cake.
I almost renamed it Ugly Frosting Cake but that’s not very appetizing. The cake is plain and you might overlook it at a pot-luck, but that would be a mistake. This ultra-ultra moist and still somehow fluffy cake will wow your family and friends. Promise.
I visited my sister a couple of weeks ago and the conversation as usual came around to recipes. She has muscadine grapes on her property (not to mention blueberries, strawberries, and a newly-planted fig tree) and made some wonderful jelly with them.
We also chatted about a cake that I haven’t made in years that’s dumped into one bowl along with a can of frosting, then mixed all together and baked. So….it’s a Frosting in the Cake Cake because the frosting is actually in the cake – not on top!
I get high and mighty about making cakes from scratch, but I make an exception with this one. The recipe came from a Taste of Home bulletin board over ten years ago that since has been shut down.
I don’t know if the person who originally created it got in a hurry and decided to heck with it and dumped the frosting in the batter, but I’m glad they did. This is one of the best cakes I’ve ever tasted. No kidding.
There’s a very thin, almost chewy caramely layer on top of the cake. Be sure and get the corner piece to get the most of that.
I’ve found that a butter cake mix and a buttercream frosting is the best combination. Others have experimented with a strawberry cake mix/frosting combo and I once made a chocolate combo, but be sure and try the butter cake combo first. The flavor is unbelievable – buttery, kind of vanilla-y, but not. It’s hard to describe.
Oh, and if you want it prettier just sprinkle some powdered sugar on top. For heaven’s sake don’t frost it though!
Wonderful flavor, ultra-ultra moist and yet still fluffy. One of the best cakes you'll ever have.
Tips and Stuff:
Careful when you start the mixer - the milk will slosh around so make sure and start it on very low, then turn it up a little after mixed or you'll have milky batter all over your kitchen!
The brands I used this time are Duncan Hines Butter Cake mix with Pillsbury Butter Cream frosting. It's perfect and soooooooo good!
Next time I might try a butter pecan cake mix with butter cream frosting. Oh, and what about an orange cake mix with butter cream frosting. The combinations are endless, but please try the butter cake mix and butter cream frosting first.
Nutrition Values are Approximate
This week I stumbled across a bag full of hundreds recipes that I’ve been collecting for almost 20 years! Bret used to laugh when I would say “someday I’m gonna make all these recipes.” Hah! I’ll show him!
Lately I’ve been a little frustrated at the lack of new, inventive recipes, and am so excited to have rediscovered this bag. One of the first recipes I pulled out is these Butterscotch Cashew Bars from an old Taste of Home magazine (Lori Berg, creator).
I had all of the ingredients on hand and whipped up these babies this morning. Bret can’t eat most nuts, but does like cashews, and we both love butterscotch. And don’t forget the incredible shortbread crust all this good stuff sits on top of.
These Butterscotch Cashew Bars are exactly what I thought they would be. Very buttery, delicious shortbread base, perfect chewy caramely butterscotch filling, then sprinkled with fresh lightly salted cashews.
Such simple ingredients come together to make an outstanding sweet/salty dessert or snack bar. They’re fairly rich, so I cut them rather small – about 1 1/2 x 2″.
Even though they’re quick to make, you’ll need to give them an hour or so to cool. They’re a terrific little bar that we just can’t stop eating.
I halved the original recipe (original recipe TOH link above) and they came out perfectly. You’ll like these and they’ll be very, very popular at your next family gathering.
Buttery shortbread base with a chewy butterscotch filling, then sprinkled with lightly salted cashews. Amazing!
Not many tips on this one because it's so easy to make. The original recipe is doubled and made in a 15x10" sheet pan, so if you need a bunch, do that.
Stir the butterscotch mixture until completely smooth, smushing down the little butterscotch pieces with a spoon to blend more. This mixture is hot, so be careful.
Next time I'll stir the cashews into the melted butterscotch mixture, just to make it easier!
Nutrition Values are Approximate
Fudgy Chocolate Cappuccino Cookies. Sound decadent, don’t they? Believe it or not, I found these in the Taste of Home Guilt-Free Cookbook at 60 calories each!
These cookies are small, (a little larger than half-dollar size) but deliver a fudgy, chocolaty, coffee-y (?) flavor that was eye-rollingly tasty. They’re simple to throw together and only take 5-6 minutes to bake. You don’t want to bake them any longer than that so they’ll stay soft and delicious.
Although they’re deceptively plain looking, pair a couple of them with cold milk and your chocolate craving will be fulfilled. The coffee flavor is pleasantly bold, but not overpowering. All this at 60 calories and 1 gram of fat each. Whaaaa?
These little Fudgy Chocolate Cappuccino Cookies will be made in my little kitchen a lot in the future. You’ve got to watch it, though. Even though they’re low in calories, it’s easy to pop four or five of them in your mouth before you know it. Try these little cookies – I think you’ll be pleased.
Outstanding little fudgy cookies packed with coffee flavor. 60 calories each, but watch out - it's easy to pop 4 or 5 of them in your mouth before you know it!
Tips and Stuff:
The dough is fairly sticky, but roll them into a ball as much as you can.
After you press down on the cookie to make it 1/4" thick, you can sprinkle the tops again with a little more sugar.
Nutrition Values are Approximate
Even though it’s February and some resolutions are falling by the wayside, I’m still trying to eat a little better and a little lighter.
I have several ‘Light’ cookbooks and have been sampling a few recipes from each. Some of the recipes have been total flops, but these Crispy Baked Cauliflower Nuggets (adapted from Taste Of Home’s Guilt-Free cookbook) are the best of the bunch. Outstandingly delicious!
These light, crispy cauliflower pieces get the crunchiness from the crushed corn flakes held together by a little flour and egg white. I love cauliflower anyway and this recipe kicks up the goodness a notch.
I ate about half of them for lunch, dipped in that creamy, lightly spicy aioli. You can leave the aioli off if you’re trying to cut back – totally optional.
As I was munching down on them for lunch, I almost felt like I was eating a main dish because they’re quite substantial. These Crispy Baked Cauliflower Nuggets are reminiscent of chicken nuggets, but much, much better and healthier! Love that crispy coating.
I think you’ll love these simple cauliflower nuggets. The hardest part is cutting up the cauliflower, so if you want to cheat and get it pre-cut, that’ll save you some time.
Cornflakes make for a crispy crunchy coating and the aioli (optional) finishes them off nicely.
Tips and Stuff:
For a lighter dish, serve without the aioli (but it's reeaaaaalllly good with it).
To crush the corn flakes, put them in a ziplock bag and pound gently with the bottom of a glass until pretty finely crushed, but still with a little texture. That helps the cauliflower be really crispy right out of the oven.
Serve these warm, definitely.
You can find sriracha sauce by the hot sauces in any grocery store now, but if you'd rather use Tabasco, that's fine. Just a little different taste.
Nutrition Values are Approximate