Valentines Day is just two days away. We all know the epitome of this romantic day centers around chocolate and flowers. What better way to impress your loved one(s) than with a beautiful cake or cupcakes decorated with these beautiful chocolate roses!
Here is a great tutorial on how to make these chocolate roses with bittersweet chocolate from fellow food blogger Renee at Sweet Revelations. She provides lots of photos and great direction in the making of these beautiful roses. Surprise your sweetheart this Valentines Day by making these.
Last week I was researching places to buy the best modeling chocolate for a special project I am working on. It didn’t take me long to figure out that it can be fairly expensive and that most bakers make their own.
Remember here, when I made Garden Party Cupcakes and added gumpaste flowers? Well they sure do look beautiful, but that’s where it ends. They aren’t really edible just lovely to look at. Modeling Chocolate however, looks decadent and tastes yummy too. It’s essentially like playing with the best smelling and tasting play dough ever!
Anyone who knows me, knows that I have a few obsessions:
1. Dark Chocolate
2. Swiss Meringue Buttercream
3. Beautiful Cupcakes
This is like the culmination of all of my favourite things!
I’ll follow-up with the recipe for the cupcakes in another post. It was my first time trying small batch baking because I just wanted a few…
I have to apologize that my last two recipes for Christmas Holiday Cakes and Cheesecakes are being posted two days after Christmas, but the hustle and the bustle got the best of me! I …. am….. sooooo …. sorry!
However, to make up for this, I am posting two really great recipes. The first one is a delicious Gingerbread Cake with Buttermilk Frosting from Southern Living. Gingerbread is truly one of my favorites and this cake captures the great flavor of gingerbread with the essence of molasses, cloves and crystallized ginger. The tang of the Buttermilk Frosting and the addition of the Spiced Glazed Pecans (walnuts would also be great) takes this cake over the top. A truly delicious cake!
Gingerbread Cake with Buttermilk Frosting from Southern Living via MyRecipesEggnog Cheesecake Bars from Land O’Lakes
So there you have it folks… my final offerings for the 12 Days of Christmas Cakes and Cheesecakes. I have had a great time rounding up these recipes to share with you and I truly hope you have enjoyed them as much as I have.
Before I bid you farewell, I would like to share with you my favorite Christmas Poem: The Night Before Christmas. As a small girl, I would look forward to my mom pulling out our cherished Christmas decorations and books. This book was the one I loved the most and could read again and again. The vintage illustrations were beautiful and the rhyming of the story truly made Christmas Eve such a magical and wonderful night.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I do…
Twas The Night Before Christmas
Twas the night before Christmas, when all thro’ the house,
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar plums danc’d in their heads,
And Mama in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap-
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters, and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new fallen snow,
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below;
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and call’d them by name:
“Now! Dasher, now! Dancer, now! Prancer, and Vixen,
“On! Comet, on! Cupid, on! Donder and Blitzen;
“To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
“Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!”
As dry leaves before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky;
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of Toys – and St. Nicholas too:
And then in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound:
He was dress’d all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnish’d with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys was flung on his back,
And he look’d like a peddler just opening his pack:
His eyes – how they twinkled! his dimples how merry,
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry;
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face, and a little round belly
That shook when he laugh’d, like a bowl full of jelly:
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laugh’d when I saw him in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And fill’d all the stockings; then turn’d with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose.
He sprung to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew, like the down of a thistle:
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight-
Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night.
From my family to yours here’s hoping you and yours have a blessed Holiday season!
Are you done in from the Christmas season… the hustle and bustle, fighting the crowds, making a list and checking it twice? When I’m feeling overwhelmed, I like to take the time to pause and reflect on the true meaning of Christmas and what it means to me. The wonder and awe, the spirit of giving, the merriment of children are all around us during this beautiful time of year. As I close my eyes and reflect on these things, I am instantly renewed with fresh purpose and drive, ready to finish all of those tiring Christmas chores!
In the Words of Grinch “Christmas Doesn’t Come From the Store”
This, my friends, is my idea of heaven! The idea of cake and cheesecake baked into one irresistible goodie is enough to entice me, but gee, then to have it be red velvet cake AND frosted with cream cheese butter cream…OMG… I’m all in! I don’t think it can get much better than this so I have decided this is the desert that will be adorning my holiday table come Christmas day.
I hope you find this beautiful Red Velvet Cake Cheesecake as appealing and delicious as I do. I urge you to give this a go… you will definitely not be disappointed. I would love to hear your thoughts on the combination of cake and cheesecake together. Do you find it as irresistible as I do? To me, it truly is a thing of beauty! 🙂
So until tomorrow everyone, take good care of yourselves and happy Christmas baking!
How cute and whimsical is this semi-homemade Snowman Cake! This is another great Christmas Cake to make with your kiddos! They will have so much fun helping you apply the coconut and assorted decorations.
Christmas Snowman Cake
This cake, featured at familydollar.com, calls for a white cake mix, but you could certainly use whatever flavor catches your fancy… red velvet would be a great alternative, as would chocolate or spice. The choice is yours! Also, they suggest the use of melted candy coating to apply as “glue” to make the candy canes stick to the cones. This really isn’t necessary, simply apply small dabs of the frosting to the cones and attach the canes. One less ingredient to worry about! 🙂
Also, I know there are a lot of you out there who would never entertain the notion of baking a cake with a pre-made mix and that’s okay! You can certainly use your favorite recipe to make this cake but, as for me, sometimes I am known to opt for the time-saving convenience of using a pre-made cake mix, particularly during the busy holiday season. However, I do make adjustments to the cake to make it taste more like a bakery cake by following these simple steps:
Use equal amounts melted, unsalted butter in place of the vegetable oil. The butter gives the cake a much richer, bakery like taste.
Use equal amounts whole milk in place of the water. This also improves the flavor, as well as the texture of the cake.
For those of you who like cakes made with buttermilk, use buttermilk powder reconstituted with water as per the instructions in equal amounts as called for in the cake mix. I personally love this stuff and use it frequently since it doesn’t require refrigeration. I don’t know about you, but when I use fresh buttermilk I usually end up throwing some away and I so hate waste! If you have never used buttermilk powder I urge you to give it a try. It is readily available in the baking isle of well-stocked grocery stores.
Add 1 extra egg to the mix. This makes for an even richer, fluffier cake.
Add 1 tsp vanilla extract. This also greatly improves the flavor and takes away that “cake mix” taste.
If you are using a chocolate mix, add 1 tbsp instant coffee granules to the whole milk and warm it in the microwave for 30 seconds. This really livens up the chocolate flavor of the cake.
You will find that if you use the above substitutions you will end up with a cake that no one will ever suspect was made from a cake mix. I promise your secret is safe with me (unless you tell them, of course 😉 )!
Semi-homemade should never mean you have to sacrifice flavor, not in my world at least. And while I generally tend to make things from all natural ingredients, there are those times when I certainly fall back on a semi-homemade recipe. They are true time-savers, particularly during the busy holiday season.
I would love to hear your thoughts on using semi-homemade recipes… do ya’ll love ’em or do you hate ’em? Be sure to let me know.
Until next time ya’ll, have a great day filled with great food and lots of love and be sure to stop back by for tomorrow’s new 12 Days of Christmas Cake and Cheesecake post. I promise it will be another mouthwatering holiday goody!
Christmas is coming, ya’ll! I love Christmas! The hustle, the bustle, the generosity and warmth of spirit, the excitement of the children… truly joyous and so heartwarming!
And, oh yes, the food… let’s not forget the food! Cookies, candies, cocktails, appetizers… oh, my! If you are a foodie, like me, this is truly a glorious time of year. 🙂
So for today’s featured recipe I thought I would share with you one of my personal holiday favorites… the Bacardi Rum Cake. This cake was originally published in the 1970’s by Bacardi and has been a huge hit ever since.
Bacardi Rum Cake – A Christmas Holiday Family Favorite – Photo: Swimprincess327.blogspot.com
This is a semi-homemade cake that starts with a yellow cake mix and instant pudding. Don’t let the simplicity of the recipe fool you. This is truly a delicious cake. I strongly suggest you make two because before you know it the first one will have disappeared. It is… just… that… good! In fact, make a bunch and share with your friends. This makes a delicious Christmas gift, as well, and holds up beautifully for shipping to your distant friends and relatives. My friends, this cake truly improves in flavor with age!
One more thing, ya’ll. I hate to dampen your holiday spirit, but I have to share a personal pet peeve of mine. I don’t know about you, but I find it very upsetting that one of our corporate food giants’ favorite marketing gimmicks is to reduce the volume of food in their packaging and then further rub salt in the wound by making claims that they are not raising food prices. I guess they feel that we, as consumers, aren’t intelligent enough to figure this out!
I mention this to you because the recipe I am sharing with you today is affected by this. As I told you, this semi-homemade recipe dates back to the 1970’s and features the use of Duncan Hine’s Yellow Cake Mix, which used to contain 18.25 ounces. Today, however, this same cake mix now has 16.5 ounces. Ouch! Shame on you, Duncan Hines (and Pillsbury… and Betty Crocker)!
Wegman’s took the time to send a direct inquiry to Duncan Hines as to why they made this change… here is a direct quote from Duncan Hine’s in response to Wegman’s inquiry: “We have reformulated our Duncan Hines classic cake mix line to offer the same moistness and delicious taste you know and expect from Duncan Hines. As a result of the reformulation we were able to reduce the weight of our classic cake mixes from 18.25 ounces to 16.5 ounces and still deliver the same size cake/cupcakes, allowing us to provide the same great value to you despite rapidly rising raw material costs that would otherwise require us to raise our prices. You should continue to follow the directions on the box to ensure consistent results.”
Hmmmm… I am wondering, if the cake was already moist and delicious, why they felt the need to reformulate it to make the same moist and delicious cake we know and expect from Duncan Hines. Gee, why couldn’t it be a more moist and delicious cake and still stay at 18.25 ounces! Because we all know, eventually, the price of the cake mix is going to be raised anyway, so now we end up with a smaller, more expensive cake mix, with bakers everywhere scratching their heads and frantically calculating how to adjust recipes that incorporate these mixes!
Okay, ya’ll… I’m off my soapbox, for now! 🙂 I would love to hear your thoughts on the sneaky marketing tactics used by our corporate food giants… as well as the delicious Bacardi Rum Cake recipe I have shared with you! Happy Baking and Happy Holidays!
I would like to suggest to everyone that they carefully follow the reader’s comments as they offer a wealth of tips and additional suggestions that will help in making this beautiful cake a successful addition to your baking repertoire.
Also, as you see in the above picture this is a very “white” cake, but if you are to follow the recipe as it is written your cake will have a more yellowish tint to it. The reason for this will be due to the use of butter and vanilla extract. If you wish to have a truly white cake then you will need to replace the butter with shortening and use “clear” vanilla extract. The use of shortening will impart the cake with a different taste and texture so I leave that decision up to ya’ll! 🙂
Welcome to Day 5 of Christmas Holiday Cake and Cheesecake. For those of you who read my Day 4 post I left hints at what I would be sharing today with the words “Daring Baker”, “French” and “Chocolate”. For those of you who guessed Buche De Noel you were right! 🙂
So now, head to the market and off to the kitchen you go! And, let’s bake…this….cake!!! I’m not gonna lie, this cake is not for the feint of heart, but I can tell you that if you carefully follow the instructions you too can do this! You can, you can, you can…yes, you can! So go bake…this…cake and share your creation with all of us here at Dibbles and Dabs!
Once again, thanks for stopping by – it’s been fun! I wish I could offer you up some hints for tomorrow’s cake date, but alas, I myself have yet to figure out the featured cake…decisions, decisions, decisions…so many to choose from! I can promise you though that it will be AWESOME! So til’ then have a wonderful Christmas season filled with lots of love, gratitude, and of course….great food!
Today I thought I would share with you a Christmas cake that is festive, whimsical, and great fun to do with the little ones!
Oh, and did I mention easy? With just 4 ingredients, it doesn’t get much easier than this! All you need is pound cake, whipped cream, decorator icing, candies… and your kids!
Semi-Homemade Christmas Tree Cake from B-Inspired Mama
Taking time out from your busy holiday schedule and spending some time with your children and other loved ones can bring the true meaning of Christmas back into perspective. The magic of Christmas exists not in the material gifts we give and receive, nor in the hustle and bustle of attending festivities, baking goodies, and decorating our homes. The true meaning of Christmas resides within us, not around us.
The generosity and warmth of spirit that becomes so palpable during the holiday season is a radiation emanating deep within our collective souls. This should tell us how powerful we can become when we unite together and focus on the truly important things in life and provide us with the desire to carry these feelings all throughout the year, not just during the Christmas season!
Here’s a beautiful Christmas Song by Enya, “The Spirit of Christmas Past”, for you to listen to and reflect on the beauty of Christmas!
The Spirit of Christmas Past by Enya
Since I let you off easy today and gave you a semi-homemade cake to share with your family, tomorrow’s post will be a bit more challenging for all you daring baker types out there! For your hints, think of a famous French Christmas cake and chocolate!
See you tomorrow and may the spirit of Christmas fill your heart and soul! 🙂
So for day 3 of my Christmas Holiday Cakes and Cheesecakes I am offering two cakes with fruity, boozy goodness (optional for one of the recipes)…and if you guessed fruit cakes, yep, you are right!
Wait, come back, don’t run away!
I realize that fruit cakes are one of those things that you either really, really love or really, really hate! And, for all you fruit cake haters there seem to be a million jokes to champion and further support your dislike of this poor little beleaguered cake. So, heck, to join in the holiday spirit of things, even though I happen to love fruit cake, I couldn’t resist getting in on the action by sharing with y’all this cute little video below…
I hope you enjoyed the song! 🙂 So now back to the business of fruit cakes…
Since there seems to be no middle ground for the love of fruit cake, I decided that perhaps for the first cake I could offer a popular Jamaican version called Black Cake . While Jamaican Black Cake also contains the dreaded citron and other dried fruits that seem to be the root cause of why people despise fruit cake the fruit for this cake is processed into mushy goodness through the use of a food processor, so what remains are smaller bits of the dried candy rather than usual big chunks as is the case for regular fruitcakes.
Luckily, I happen to have been blessed with the gift of receiving one of these delicious cakes from a Jamaican friend returning from Christmas holiday a few years ago. Her mom had lovingly made several of them for her to bring back to the states to share with her friends. What a blessing those cakes were! A true gustatory experience… one which I still lovingly dream of to this day… (sigh, licking my lips, relieving that delicious first bite of her mom’s cake which quickly led to another bite, and another, and…) Oops, sorry! I’m back from dreamland!
So anyway, since I don’t have her mom’s secret recipe, I have found a version which is very similar and uses the same ingredients. I’ll warn you now, though… there are a lot of ingredients and, yes, a lot of booze too (two kinds to be exact)! But the end result of this cake is truly worth the time and effort, I promise you!
For those of you who watch the cooking channel’s “My Grandmother’s Ravioli” with Mo Rocca (he is such a nut!) you may have seen this popular episode – everyone loved Venetta Lurine Williams as she served up this delicious Jamaican Black Cake recipe in the Island Eats episode. Since the video does not contain the complete recipe, I am also including a link to the actual recipe which contains the list of ingredients and step-by-step instructions:
Finally, my 2nd and final fruitcake choice is a light fruitcake that has received great reviews and is the perfect recipe for those of us who LOVE fruitcake. The addition of alcohol in this cake is entirely optional (but oh, so good!).
Okay, I know I’ve certainly given you lots to think about in this post. I do hope you will give one of these delicious fruit cake recipes a try – I guarantee you will not be disappointed.
And before you go, please tell me… are you a fruit cake lover or a fruit cake hater – ‘cuz their seems to be no in-between! 🙂
Thanks for stopping by and be sure to visit me again tomorrow for Day 4 of my Christmas Holiday Cake and Cheesecake recipe roundup. For a hint on tomorrow’s recipe, think “easy and fun to make with the kids”! Take care ’til then, y’all!
Dibbles and Dabs 