Love this! $5 bucks at a local garage sale. A moving sale actually, the homeowner had her house open to the public to come in and buy anything in the house. That was fun! I often think about what it would be like to go into a strangers house and see how they decorate and stuff, haha.
I’m looking forward to making some wonderful sweets and displaying them on this pedestal-stay tuned for that!
Moist, dense, and delicious! This is worth every calorie 🙂
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup vegetable oil
13 fluid ounces evaporated milk
1/4 cup poppy seeds
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10 inch tube pan.
In a large bowl, mix flour, baking soda, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center and add eggs, vanilla, oil and milk. Mix well and fold in the poppy seeds. Pour into a 10 inch tube pan.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
Place cool cake on a pretty plate or cake stand. Using 1/2 container of store bought frosting (vanilla), place frosting in microwavable measuring cup and heat for approximately 20 seconds. Drizzle over cake. I added a few extra poppy seeds on top for decoration.
Eat and enjoy!!
Hand made cake pop in the first picture. Made by one of the parents at my school. She makes the most amazing cake pops, just for fun 🙂
The floral creation in the middle was made by another parent, and friend. She said it’s a Martha Stuart recipe, amazing! (apple pie)
The cupcakes were made by a local bakery.
Have a beautiful and lovely day!
This coffee was so good that I drank it all before I could snap a picture of it! Every morning while in London, I went to Esquires and had the white mocha with whipped cream and white chocolate shavings. It is about a 10 minute walk from the hotel I stayed at on Holland Road, but worth the wait.
Next time you’re on that side of town, check them out! They have fantastic pastries and other fresh desserts as well.
esquirescoffee.co.uk
Across the street from the Shepherds Bush station
(Westfield London Shopping Centre, West 12 Shopping Centre
Ariel Way, London, United Kingdom
+44 20 8740 3344)
What you will need:
4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves (Yumm!)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup unsulfured molasses
1 1/4 cups white sugar
1 cup butter or margarine (I use margarine. If you use butter, the cookies tend to spread)
1 teaspoon vanilla
Directions below, after pictures 🙂
Here are some pictures
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Place foil on cookie sheet. No spray or oil is needed.
2. Cream the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in molasses and eggs. Gradually stir in vanilla, flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and salt. Form balls by spooning dough out of bowl. Dab ball of dough into sugar on a plate. Place on baking sheet. Note: the sugar on the plate is not included in the main recipe. Just scoop out about a 1/4 cup on the the plate or bowl for dunking 🙂
3. Bake 14 minutes. Remember-everyone’s oven is different! I always check my cookies around 8-10 minutes in. If you want softer cookies bake around 10-12 min, for more of a cake texture, bake closer to 14-15 min.
This is an easy, fool proof recipe. Great for new bakers and children. 🙂
Fresh out of the oven. Needs to cool down before you put the glaze on top.
Glazed, wrapped, and ready to be delivered!
Here’s the recipe:
CAKE INGREDIENTS:
1 cup chopped pecans
1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
1 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding
4 eggs
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup Irish cream liqueur. I used Bailey’s
THE GLAZE
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup water
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup Irish cream liqueur
DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 C). Grease and flour a 10″ Bundt pan. Sprinkle chopped nuts evenly over bottom of pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine cake mix and pudding mix. Mix in eggs, 1/4 cup water, 1/2 cup oil and 3/4 cup Irish cream liqueur. Beat for 5 minutes on high speed. Pour batter over nuts in pan.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then invert onto the serving dish. Prick top and sides of cake. Spoon glaze over top and brush onto sides of cake. Allow to absorb glaze. Repeat until glaze is used up.
4. To make the glaze: In a saucepan, combine butter, 1/4 cup water and 1 cup sugar. Bring to a boil and continue boiling for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in 1/4 cup Irish cream liqueur.
Side note; I used 7 mini-dishes. The cake rises a good amount, I filled the mini-dishes 3/4 full, and baked for 40 minutes. If you are nervous about using a Bundt pan, I would just use a 9″x13″ dish. After cooling-poke holes as directed, drizzle glaze on top of cake. Do what’s comfortable for you 🙂 Have fun and enjoy the delicious cake!
These ugly cookie sheets mean more to me than a mess to clean up! It reminds me of all the years my mom spent with me, teaching me how to bake. My 3 children (ages 20, 17, 11) still love to help me in the kitchen, or at least be the first to take a hot cookie off the cooling rack!
I took a 1/2 dozen to my nail girl today. Want to know a way to an angry, hurt or lonely person? HOME MADE COOKIES!
Ps. I will be blogging a new, fantastic cookie recipe very soon! (peanut butter with Nutella, swirl!)
Unlike yesterday’s post, this post is all about fun and experiencing the foods of the place you’re visiting!
As an educator, I was invited to attend this event with a few of my colleagues. It was fun having the owner of the 49’ers there this year. The 49’ers are only one of the large contributors in the Bay Area. Let’s not forget the San Francisco Giants and my San Jose Sharks! I’m the one on the left.
Children are our future-love, support and nurture each of them!
This was our dessert. I ate every single piece, even the 49’er sign was edible, LoL!
I will be blogging a few things from my recent trip down south to Disneyland. These candied apples are works of art! You can watch them being made, truly amazing. And the taste? Crisp green apple with a variety of chocolates. The mouse ears are made out of marshmallow. I bought a Minnie Mouse and the “Apple Pie” apples. I think for under $10.00, these are well worth the price.
58 Day Dreams 