Raspberry-Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

Raspberry-Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

For my last recipe to try for the year, I looked to my Pillsbury® Calendar yet again for inspiration. Two of the recipes that I wanted to make and didn't get a chance to were for February and November. Seeing as the November one says it takes over 5 ½ to make, I opted for the February Coffee Cake. (I'll make the November on eventually. It looks VERY yummy!)

I'm not a big fan of raspberries, unless they're fresh. This coffee cake was good though. It had just the right amount of raspberry preserves to give it a nice fruity flavor. Strawberry would have been just as good!

It was a hit on my last day at work. It didn't matter if it was eaten at room temperature or warmed up. Everyone seemed to like it.

16 servings

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Start to Finish: 1 hr 35 mins

2 ¼ cup all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

¾ cup butter or margarine

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

¾ cup sour cream

1 teaspoon almond extract

2 eggs

1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened

½ cup raspberry preserves

½ cup sliced almonds

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease bottom and side of 9-or 10-inch spring form pan with shortening or cooking spray; lightly flour. In large bowl, mix flour and ¾ cup of the sugar. With pastry blender or fork, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Reserve 1 cup of crumb mixture.

2. To remaining crumb mixture, stir in baking powder, baking soda, salt, sour cream, almond extract and 1 of the eggs until well blended. Spread batter in bottom and 2 inches up side (about ¼ inch thick) of pan.

3. In another small bowl, beat cream cheese, remaining ¼ cup of sugar and 1 egg until well blended. Pour into batter-lined pan. Carefully spoon preserves evenly over cream cheese mixture. In another small bowl, mix reserved crumb mixture and sliced almonds; sprinkle over preserves.

4. Bake 45 to 55 minutes or until cream cheese filling is set and crust is deep golden brown. Cool 15 minutes. Remove side of pan; leave coffee cake on pan bottom. Serve warm or cool. Store in refrigerator.

Fudgy Peppermint Truffle Chocolate Cake

Fudgy Peppermint Truffle Chocolate Cake

It's the holidays, so I turned to the Pillsbury® Calendar that my co-worker Karen gave me. I decided to make the December recipe. There were a few flaws but I'm sure that was because of my silly mistakes. I'm not a big chocolate cake fan, but it turned out good! The cake batter had a mousse like consistency. Very thick. Maybe I used the beaters too long or on too high of

a speed? I think that because the cake batter was so thick, the chocolate truffle part didn't sink to the middle of the cake like it should have. It ended up staying towards the bottom of the cake.

The cake did seem a little dry to me, but it was still good though!

When it came time to make the icing, I didn't follow the directions correctly. I couldn't figure out why it was so thick. I even used the 2 Tablespoons of milk and it didn't thin out. Well, it turned out that I used a whole 8oz block of cream cheese instead of just 1 ½ oz! Oops! I was able to thin it out just enough so that it would run a little bit. Also, I added the chopped up peppermints (I used a candy cane) and it looked so pretty! The next morning when I pulled it out of the refrigerator, the candy had "melted" and didn't look as pretty.

It was a hit though. Everyone liked it. I'd also have to add the it smelled delicious while it was in the oven. Chocolate and mint...yum!!!!

12 Servings

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Start to Finish: 2 hours 20 minutes

Filling

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (6 oz.)

⅔ cup sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated)

½ teaspoon peppermint extract

Cake

1 box (1 lb. 2.25 oz) devil's food cake mix with pudding

1 container (8 oz.) fat-free sour cream

⅓ cup vegetable oil

3 eggs

Icing

¾ cup powdered sugar

1 ½ oz. cream cheese, softened

1 to 2 Tablespoons milk

6 hard peppermint candies, finely crushed

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 12-cup fluted tube cake pan with shortening; lightly flour. In medium microwavable bowl, microwave filling ingredients on High 30 seconds . Stir until melted and smooth (if necessary, microwave 10 to 20 seconds longer); set aside.

2. In large bowl, mix cake ingredients with electric mixer on low speed until combined; beat 2 minutes on medium speed. Spoon batter evenly into pan. Drop spoonfuls of filling over batter, keeping filling away from side of pan.

3. Bake 35-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean and edge begins to pull away from side of pan. Cool in pan on wire rack 10 minutes. Place wire rack upside down over pan; turn rack and pan over. Remove pan. Cool completely, about 1 hour (center of cake may sink slightly during cooling.)

4. In medium bowl, beat powdered sugar, cream cheese and 1 Tablespoon of the milk with wire whisk until smooth, adding additional milk until desired drizzling consistency. Drizzle icing over cooled cake; sprinkle with crushed candies. Store in refrigerator.


High Altitude (3500-6500 ft): Heat oven to 375°F. For cake, add 2 Tablespoons flour to dry cake mix, decrease oil to ¼ cup and increase eggs to 4.

Baking Tip: A pastry brush is ideal for greasing the grooves of a fluted tube pan.

Hazelnut Cake

Hazelnut Cake

When I started my new job back in December of 2009, one of my new co-workers, Karen, gave me a calendar. It's the Pillsbury® Dessert Recipes 16 month 2010 Calendar. I thought she was being nice. Little did I know, the "catch" was that I was supposed to make the special dessert that was pictured each month. Okay, fine. I guess I can do that :) Although, I haven't really stuck to the month to month thing. I just kind of make whatever looks and sounds good at the time. So, this is actually the recipe for the month of June.

The picture I posted includes the original picture from the calendar (top cake) and how mine turned out (bottom cake). Looking at the two, I think I did a pretty darn good job! Now how about the taste? Honestly, I think it was good. It wasn't real sweet, which I liked. It might have been a little dry, but I think that might have been because I used too much ground up hazelnuts in the batter. It was still very good though. All my co-workers seemed to like it. I did double the chocolate glaze part. I work with all women, we love chocolate :)

Here's the recipe, courtesy of my Pillsbury® 2010 Dessert Recipe Calendar.

Hazelnut Cake

16 Servings

Prep Time: 30 mins

Start to Finish: 2 hrs

½ cup butter or margarine

2 packages (2½ oz. each) hazelnuts (filberts) or pecans

3 eggs

1½ cups sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups all-purpose flour

2¼ teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

Glaze:

½ cup whipping (heavy) cream

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (6 oz.)

½ teaspoon vanilla

1. Heat oven to 350ºF. Lightly grease bottom only of 10-inch spring form pan with shortening or cooking spray. In 1-quart saucepan, melt butter over low heat; set aside to cool.

2. Reserve 8 whole nuts for garnish. In food processor or blender, process remaining nuts until ground, making about 1 1/3 cups. Reserve 1 tablespoon for garnish.

3. In large bowl, beat eggs, sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla with electric mixer on medium speed 2 to 3 minutes or until thick and lemon colored, scraping bowl occasionally. On low speed, beat in flour, baking powder, salt and ground nuts, scraping bowl occasionally. Continue beating, gradually adding cooled, melted butter until well blended, scraping bowl occasionally (mixture will be thick). Spread batter evenly in pan.

4. Bake 35 to 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes. Remove side of pan; run long knife under cake to loosen from pan bottom. Place heatproof serving plate upside down over cake; turn plate and cake over. Remove pan bottom. Cover cake with cloth towel; cool completely, about 30 minutes.

5. In 2-quart saucepan, heat whipping cream just to boiling; remove from heat. Stir in chocolate chips until melted and smooth. Stir in ½ teaspoon vanilla. Spread glaze over top of cake, allowing some to run down side of cake. Sprinkle reserved ground nuts around top edge of cake; arrange reserved whole nuts over ground nuts.

High Altitude (3500-6500 ft): Heat oven to 375ºF. Increase flour to 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons. Bake 30-40 minutes.

Baking Tip: No spring form pan? Just use a 9-inch round cake pan. Line the pan with foil and generously grease the foil with shortening or cooking spray. Bake the cake for 45 to 55 minutes. After cooling for 15 minutes, use the foil to lift the cake out of the pan.

Enjoy!