be my valentine: red velvet shortbread bites

 I really wanted to make cake batter shortbread bits but I had no yellow cake mix in the pantry. I did have Red Velvet cake mix and since it is the month of lurve I thought why not? So I mixed up the dough and liberated my cookie press and got all cookie happy until I discovered the sad truth. Cake mixes have baking powder and such in them...my happily pressed cookies oozed into blobs and showed no hint at their pretty pressed selves. Back to the drawing board I went and I came up with these red velvet sandwich bites which were totally inspired by these photos from Heather of Sprinkle Bakes.

Ingredients:

*3/4 cups confectioners sugar

*1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, soft

*1 cup red velvet cake mix

*1/3 cup flour (more if your dough feels too sticky)

Mix all your ingredients together with a wooden spoon and chill until firm. When mixing ingredients, mix butter and sugar first then add 1/3 cup of flour until incorporated. Next, add the cake mix and then add more flour if the dough is too sticky. I popped my dough into the fridge overnight and let it come to room temperature before rolling.

Roll dough into small balls (smaller than a large marble) and place on cookie sheet covered in parchment paper.

 

 

 

Fill a small bowl with rainbow nonpareils and coat each cookie with the rainbow goodness. Bake at 375 degrees F for 10 minutes, the cookies will flatten out considerably.

Once cool, swipe a smidge of cream cheese frosting to the bottom of one cookie, placing another on top, sprinkle sides out. Enjoy!

recipe: cake batter sugar buns

Do you remember this recipe? With a little yellow cake mix magic, I turned 'em into cake batter sugar buns! Sooo good!

 All you need is the crescent rolls that are round. You can of course make your own from scratch but those would prolly be just as delicious on their own. To make it all cake battery,  add a quarter cup of yellow cake mix to a cup or so of cream cheese frosting and prepare...make sure you seal the ends though. I had a bit of a mishap because I forgot to do this and well...at least it was pretty.

recipe: cake batter scones

It rained last night and I never even heard it. Man, I sleep like a log. And now, it is a gloomy June morning perfect for baking something like...say...cake batter scones. If only I hadn't used up my box of yellow cake mix. I can still bake mind you but I have scones on the noggin and last week I whipped up the delicious creation of cake batter scones and I think those would hit the spot. now that my box is all empty, methinks I may have bottomed out on the adventures in cake batter baking. May have. Nothing is definite, especially where cake is concerned. Luckily for you, I have photos and a recipe so if you have a box of yellow cake mix floating around, now may be a good time to open it up.

Ingredients

*1 1/4 cup of yellow cake mix

*1 cup flour

*6-8 tablespoons butter

*1/4-3/4 (give or take a T or 2) cup of milk

*1/2-1 cup powdered sugar

Sift together 1 cup flour and 1 cup cake mix. Add your cold butter and mix in with a couple of forks or a pastry blender until crumbly.

Add your milk, a 1/4 cup at a time and gently fold until you have a sticky biscuit-like batter. You should have milk left over, save this. You can add sprinkles here if ya like as well.

Turn your dough onto a floured work surface and gently pat out. I make wonky biscuits so some of mine were thin while others not-so-thin. Cut into scone shapes or use a biscuit cutter until all your dough is used up. you should get twelve scones/biscuits out of the happy mess. These spread more than your average scone so give them room.

Place onto cookie sheet and brush tops with some of the leftover milk. Add a smattering of sprinkles and gently press so they stick. Pop into a preheated 400 degree oven and bake for 10-20 minutes depending on how hot yer oven bakes and the level of done-ness you like.

While your scones are cooling, whip up a cake batter glaze by mixing together your powdered sugar and 1/4 cup of cake mix. Add milk, 1 tablespoon at a time. You don't want it too gooey or runny. Dip a spoon into the glaze and dribble it over your cooled scones. Brew yourself a cuppa tea or a pot of coffee while the glaze sets. Enjoy and share the goodness! These are crispy on the outside and super cakey on the inside, They are not very sweet, save for the glaze and go really nicely with tea.

recipe: 3 minute cake batter cake

As you can see, I still have cake batter on the noggin. This time around, I have an instant gratification cake in a jar. Jar goodies are ever so trendy, aren't they? This one was kicking around for a while and after searching and peeking and finding a nutella version on Pinterest I decided to create my own. Not that this is original by any means nor does it yield an actual fluffy puffy pretty-to-look-at kind of cake but still, it is easy, cute and tasty so who needs pretty, right? My recipe omits the use of egg though I do use butter for the fat. I suppose an entire egg would make your cake more fluffy but I felt that would be a waste of a good egg. You can try substituting a vegan margarine or maybe even oil and try your favorite non-dairy beverage instead of milk-milk. Have fun and experiment!

The Usual Suspects:

*1/4 cup yellow cake mix

*1-2 T butter

*milk

*microwave safe mug or jar

*sprinkles

*whipped cream is optional though we may have to discuss our friendship if you omit it.

Place the butter into your microwave-safe measuring cup and nuke it about 20 seconds or so until it is all melty. Add enough milk so that your measuring cup reads 1/3 cup. It will froth up a bit here, don't freak out.

Transfer the mixture to your microwave-safe vessel and dump that cake mix in and give it a whirl. Add a shake or two of sprinkles for effect and microwave on medium/high for 2-3 minutes. don;t get too crazy on the sprinkles as they will sink to the bottom of your cup and it won't look as festive as you want it to.

The cake may or may not rise up then collapse as it cooks. I used a 1 1/2 cup jar for this, my first try was done in a 2 cup mug, anything smaller and your batter may spilleth over. When you remove it from the microwave it will be steamy and dense. Stick a spoon into the now-cooked cake and give it a choppy mix so redistribute those sprinkles.

Add a dollop of happy barely-sugarfied whipped cream, add a few sprinkles and enjoy!

recipe: cake batter daux-nut holes

I told you I had more up my sleeve. This time I went for a bit of fried dough crazy and boy-howdy, were these tasty! Like I said, it is a good thing to live in a house full of people. These were gone by the end of the day!

To begin, you need is a bit of already-made bread dough. I used a tube of Pillsbury's Simply french bread but when I was a kiddo we used the frozen Bridgeford dough. You can also use a homemade dough but I would suggest that would be far tastier as the bread it was intended to be.

 Pop open the tube or package and snip off a small pinch of dough and roll yourself a ball about one inch across or about the size of a small super ball or large marble.

Pour about a cup of canola oil into a small sauce pan and turn your heat to medium high to get that oil hot! If you wish to go the deep fry route, go for it, I just kept an eye on the dough and flipped it. Give yourself the first few to test as it took me awhile to figure out how long to cook them so that the middles actually cooked through. I think three-four minutes worked for me but if your heat is too high and the oil too hot, your dough will brown rapidly and burn. Transfer cooked dough to a plate with some newspaper and/or a paper towel or two.

For the frosting, dump a cup of powdered sugar into a clean saucepan along with 1/4 cup of yellow cake mix and 1/8 cup of milk. Whisk till mixed and pour into a bowl. Next, add 1 tablespoon whipping cream and whip until it thickens. It won't thicken up like whipped cream or frosting but it will get less runny and turn white.

Grab a faux-donut hole, sip into the frosting and add some sprinkles. Enjoy while hot though they're tasty when cool as well!

Next up, cake-batter sugar buns. Eeps!

recipe: cake batter fudge

I know, STILL with the cake batter? Oy! I really can't seem to help myself and I have two, maybe three more recipes heading your way. This too is a pinterest find that I forgot to pin then couldn't find but then found through a long date with google. Phew!

This appears to be a no-fail fudge recipe. I lucked out and found honest-to-goodness white chocolate chips at the supermarket. The kind with REAL cocoa-butter. Go Safeway!

So ya melt a bag o' chips in the microwave then you melt a tub of frosting and mix it up.

To make this batch all cake-batter-y, I added a quarter cup of yellow cake mix and a healthy smattering of rainbow sprinkles.

Let it set in the fridge and then eat. But before you do so, use a tiny biscuit cutter to cut a tiny round piece and photograph like the crazy lady you are.

This combo was scary sweet and we couldn't finish it. Mister took it to work and even they couldn't handle it. Next time I will use more cake batter and buttercream or cream cheese frosting instead of fluffy white. But I'm already thinking of a chocolatey version that involves crystallized ginger and sea salt but not together.