Let me eat cake!!!

For the last 13 years of my cooking life (since I got married and had to learn how to cook or eat my husband's pizza sauce made with ketchup) I have been a boxed cake kind of girl. Sometime about seven years ago I twice attempted to make a cake from scratch and both times (one chocolate and one yellow cake) turned into horrible, dissappointing, inedible disasters. So I thought, "there can't possibly be a scratch cake that even rivals the moist, light, sweetness of a box mix cake". I was wrong!!! This year I came across a recipe on allrecipes.com that is supposed to be the replacement to a box mix recipe. It was just as easy as a box cake except I got to say it was from scratch AND it didn't taste like cardboard at all.

Then I went in search of a red velvet cake for a friend's baby shower. I had never made a red velvet cake even from a cake mix and had only tasted red velvet cake MAYBE twice in my entire life. So I was at a definite disadvantage. I did some research online and found several recipes for red velvet, but there was one that had really good reviews AND it was also by Paula Deen (how can you go wrong with the queen of southern cooking). So I tried it out. It was pretty easy (no beating any egg whites and folding stuff in, that's where I draw the line!!) I also used one of her cream cheese frosting recipes. Let me tell you!!!!!!! MMMMMMMM it was sooooo good!!!!

I got a little carried away with the food coloring?

I started to dream about that red velvet cake!! Then I thought, "I really could kill this craving by making another scratch cake recipe". So I went to my girl, Paula Deen, again, and found the most delicious yellow cake recipe. It is reallllllly good!!! Yesterday I made up a batch of cupcakes and cut out a small piece of the top, filled it with my homemade strawberry jam, replaced the top, and then frosted with a buttercream icing.Then I proceeded to eat four more of the same cupcakes. Today I made the same recipe except replaced the vanilla flavoring with the zest and juice of a lemon. They have a slight lemon flavor and are even more light and fluffy and delicious than I remembered from yesterday!!! So here they all are (with a couple of my own modifications to the first):

Cake Mixes from Scratch and Variations
2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups white sugar
2 cups vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
For a Yellow Cake: Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Add eggs, milk,oil, and vanilla. Beat at low speed for 1 minute, then high for 2 minutes, scraping the bowl frequently.
Pour batter into greased and floured 9x13 inch pan. Bake in preheated 350 degree F oven (175 degrees C) for 25 to 30 minutes.

Grandmother Paul’s Red Velvet Cake (courtesy of pauladeen.com)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 cup cake flour

1/2 lb (2 sticks) butter

2 ounces red food coloring

2 tablespoons cocoa

2 cups sugar

2 eggs 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon vinegar

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat eggs; add sugar. Mix cocoa and food coloring. Add butter and egg mixture; mix well. Sift together flour and salt. Add to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk. Blend in vanilla. In a small bowl, combine soda and vinegar and add to mixture. Pour into three 8-inch round greased and floured pans. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until tests done.

Click here for the cream cheese frosting recipe

This next recipe will definitely become my go-to recipe for a homemade cake or cupcakes:

Old Fashioned Cupcakes (courtesy pauladeen.com)

1 3/4 cup cake flour (not self-rising)

1 1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into cubes

4 large eggs

1 cup whole milk (I used buttermilk the first time and it was fine)

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line cupcake pans with paper liners; set aside.
Combine in a bowl both flours, sugar, baking powder and salt. Mix on low speed until combined for about 3 minutes. Add in cubed butter, mixing until just coated with flour.
Add eggs 1 at a time until combined. Slowly add milk and vanilla to batter until completely mixed scraping down the bowl as you mix.
Scoop batter into baking cups filling about 2/3 full. Bake until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 17 to 20 minutes.

The kids and I decorated the ones we made:

Cy's version: He made a chocolate Christmas tree to put on top. Yes, I said Christmas tree (in June).

Lucy's train cupcake

Abe's squiggly gummy sour worms atop a bed of melted ooey gooey chocolate.