Lemon Pound Cake

When I'm baking, I tend to stay away from some items which I don't really like to use. Lemon is one of them. I'm not a big fan of the sour and sweet mixed together and I don't think my taste buds can handle that combination.

Joking. I just don't really like lemons.

However, my mom has been asking me to bake a lemon cake for the past couple days and I thought, why not? I was actually really surprised with how this turned out and I really liked it. It was soft, moist, and wasn't as sour as you would think it would be. I got this recipe from Martha Stewart and though most of the time her recipes never turn out right for me, this one was perfect!

Lemon Pound Cake

(source: Martha Stewart's Glazed Lemon Pound Cake)

Ingredients:

Cake:

• 1 cup, unsalted butter, softened
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 low fat buttermilk
• zest of 2 lemons
• 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (2 lemons)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 cups sugar
• 5 large eggs

Lemon Glaze:

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 3 to 4 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
2. Combine the buttermilk with the lemon zest and lemon juice in a small bowl.
3. Whisk together flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder.
4. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.
5. Add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the buttermilk mixture in two parts. Start with the flour and end with the flour. Do not over mix, blend until smooth.
6. Grease your pan and pour in the batter, and smooth the top over (I used a bundt pan)
7. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
8. Cool for 15 minuted before glazing.
9. For the glaze: Mix the sugar and lemon juice, this glaze should be thick. You can add in more sugar or lemon juice to get the desired consistency and sweetness.
10. Enjoy!

Nadia

Carrot Cake

If there's one thing I love the most, it's a good carrot cake. Carrot cake on a rainy day to be more exact. I love baking carrot cakes when it rains, and my mom, well she loves eating it. These past couple of weeks, she's been asking me to bake her a carrot cake so I finally baked one and it was amazing. I also baked it because I had a mixture of 2 cups flour and 2 cups sugar that was sitting in a container for weeks (it's a long story) and I had to use it. The recipe called for just that amount so it was a win win. I added a bit more carrot than I usually do and I also mixed in some pecans. It was the perfect carrot cake that was moist, yet still had that nice crunch to it.

Carrot Cake
Ingredients:

Cake:

• 1-2 cups shredded carrots (I used 4 medium sized carrots)
• 1 cup oil
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 8 oz. softened cream cheese
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and vanilla extract.
3. Mix in the oil and eggs.
4. Stir in the carrots and fold in the pecans.
5. Grease your pan and pour in the batter.(I used two 9" pans)
6. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
7. For the frosting: Mix together the cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. The frosting should be nice and thick.
8. Spread frosting over the cake once it has cooled.
9. Enjoy!

Nadia

Oreo and KitKat Chocolate Cake

A couple of days ago, my brother and I were looking through cakes on Pinterest when we came across this. He said I couldn't do it, I said I could. Challenging me to make the cake was just his way of saying 'Nadia bake me a cake.' It looks kind of complicated, but it was super easy.

I started off with a simple chocolate cake recipe. You can use your favorite recipe but I always use this one when I want the perfect chocolate cake. I used an 8" round pan but if you are using the bigger Kit Kats, I would say to use a 6" pan.

After I baked the cake layers and let them cool, I put them in the refrigerator just so it would set and crumbs won't fall off while frosting. Then I whipped up some chocolate frosting. You can use the store bought frosting and just whip it up for a couple of minutes so you get a creamier and smoother texture. It also leaves you with more frosting.

Finally, it was time to decorate. My brothers were helping me and they kept stealing the candies, which left me with a lot less chocolate... I laid out everything on the table which made everything so much more easier to clean. For decorating, I used Whoppers but you can also use malt balls. The picture I took inspiration from had the big Kit Kats on the side, but since my cake was wider and shorter in size, I went for the smaller Kit Kats. I alternated between the white chocolate, milk chocolate, and dark chocolate. For the top I used a star tip and just frosted small swirls all around and placed the Oreos on top. Make sure you refrigerate afterwards so that the Oreos won't fall off.

Have fun with the decorating, it's your cake so use whatever you want!

This took two days to finish and one day to eat. Just saying.

Oreo and Kit-Kat Cake
Ingredients:

• Double layered cake. You can use any flavor you want but I was going for a chocolate overload :)
• Chocolate frosting
• Several Kit Kats (size depending on the size of your cake. Because mine was smaller I used the mini Kit Kats.)
• A box of Whoppers or malt balls
• A box of Oreos

Directions:

1. Bake your cake layers and let them cool. Place in the refrigerator for a couple hours to let them sit so the crumbs won't fall off while frosting.
2. Frost the entire cake. (I crumb coated it first and then frosted it again)
3. Place the whoppers all around the bottom of the cake and then place the Kit Kats on top of the whoppers.
4. Frost small swirls on the top of the cake using a star tip, place an Oreo in each swirl.
5. Enjoy!

Nadia