twinkie bundt cake

so i’m not a fan of the dentist.

like i’m not “scared” of the dentist, i’m just not a fan.

i mean i really like my dentist. he’s a nice guy and i really like my hygienist. but you go in there and they poke around in your mouth and then there’s a filling. and getting a filling… well i’m just a big fat ninny when it comes to it. it makes my mouth hurt. like worse than i remember my mouth ever hurting with braces.

and let me tell you… they aren’t lying when they tell you that you should eat soft foods. but that’s hard when you’re a meat eating girl so i figured i’d run over to whole foods and get one of their juices for lunch.

dude for real.

if you’re one of those people who “juice”, good for you. but forget it. in like 2.5 seconds, i could have eaten one of my coworkers.

juicing is for the birds.

give me cake. and how about cake with a soft filling. doubly works for me.

this recipe comes from my new favorite cookbook that has seen it’s fair share of recipes crop up on here. the cake portion of this recipe is a light and fluffy cake without being fussy like an angel food cake. it’s not dense but remains true to the cakey portion of the all american treat that it’s named after. same holds true for the creamy filling. it’s not a dense buttercream but rather light and fluffy vanilla cream filling.

twinkie bundt cake

• 3 c cake flour
• 1 tbs baking powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 6 tbs unsalted butter, room temp
• 1 tbs vanilla
• 2 c sugar
• 1/2 c vegetable oil
• 3 large eggs plus 4 large egg yoks, room temp
• 1 c buttermilk, room temp
• vanilla cream filling, recipe below

1. preheat oven to 325F and position a rack in the lower third of the oven. coat a 12 c bundt pan with cooking spray.
2. sift together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside
3. beat together the butter and vanilla until smooth and creamy. add sugar and beat until evenly mixed, about 1 min. slowly add in the oil; beat until light and fluffy, about 2 min. add in the eggs and egg yolks, 1 at a time, beating throughly after each addition.
4. reduce mixer speed to low. in 3 alternating additions, add in the flour mixture and the buttermilk, ending with the buttermilk. continue to mix on low until the batter is smooth and not lumpy. turn off the mixture and fold batter to ensure that everythis is well incorporated; pour batter into a prepared pan.
5. bake 60-70 min, until the cake is golden and the top springs back lightly when touched. place pan on a wire rack and let cool completely, about 2 hours.
6. with the cake still in the pan, use a pairing knife (or an apple corer) to cut 6 or 7 deep holes into the bottom of cake, each about 3/4 in in diameter (be careful not to cut all the way through). be sure to space them out so the holes aren’t right next to each other. using your fingers, burrow a tunnel around the cake to connect the vertical holes.
7. make your filling and put it into a piping bag (or a large ziploc with the tip cut off). insert the tip of the piping bag into the vertical holes and tilt it back and forth to encourge the filling to move throughout the horizontal tunnel. when the cake is filled, use a spatula to scrape excess filling from the bottom of the cake. quickly invert the cake onto a serving platter and dust with powdered sugar.

vanilla cream filling

• 1 (7.5 oz) jar of marshmallow creme
• 1/2 c (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temp
• 1 tsp vanilla

1. beat together the marshmallow creme, butter and vanilla until smooth. transfer to a piping bag and fill the cake.

in case you need another reason to go and make this cake this weekend, it won a nod of approval from my 86 year old aunt.

kisses.

recipe from: pure vanilla

this post is linked up to these fun link parties! what’s cookin’ wednesdays, what’s in your kitchen wednesdays, taste and tell thursdays

peanut butter glazed chocolate cake

can we just talk about how relentless cold and flu season seems to be this year for a minute?

i mean for reals.

i heard on the news about how the nation is having this crazy epidemic but that didn’t make me rush out on a sunday night to get a flu shot that hurt like bejezus. no what made me rush out was figuring out that MY OFFICE was having a flu epidemic. oh.my.geez.

see i don’t do sick.

so i finally got a flu shot.

and i think a shot deserves a treat…. maybe like a cake.

this is another treat that i made for an office birthday. i knew when this birthday was coming up it would have to be something chocolate and peanut butter. see i’ve been friends with the birthday boy and his wife for a while now, in fact before they got married. and at their wedding, his wife has his groom’s cake made to look like a giant reeses. so i didn’t even really have to ask what the request would be.

so chocolate and peanut butter…. what do you make? gah there are so many options so i started scouring the blogs and found this cake from jessica. first off, i knew if jessica made it, it was bound to be delicious. second, a chocolate bundt cake that is basically just glazed with peanut butter. double win.

i mean we all know part of why i love bundt cakes so much….

so this cake is basically a chocolate sour cream cake but jessica studded it with chocolate, covered it with chocolate and then covered it again in peanut butter. i mean hello. i did make the minor adjustment of studding the cake with peanut butter chips to up the peanuttiness of it all. i also covered the cake in a dark chocolate ganache instead of milk chocolate. i mean i just love the depth that dark chocolate gives something.

peanut butter glazed chocolate cake

• 2-1/2 c flour
• 1/2 c unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 c whole milk, room temp
• 1/2 c sour cream, room temp
• 1 c unsalted butter, room temp
• 1-1/2 c sugar
• 4 large eggs, room temp
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 c peanut butter chips
• sprinkles (colored or chocolate)
• chocolate ganache (see below)
• peanut butter glaze (see below)

1. preheat oven to 325F. spray your bundt pan with nonstick spray.
2. in a large bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. in a small bowl, mix together the milk and sour cream. set both of these aside.
3. beat the butter until creamy; add in sugar and beat together until light and fluffy. add in the vanilla extract and one egg. beat until combined. add the remaining eggs, one at a time, making sure that each addition gets combined. add in half of the flour and beat on low until just combined; add in the milk/sour cream mixture, beating until combined again. add in the remaining dry ingredients and beat until it it just combined. stir in the peanut butter chips.
4. bake 45-50 min until the cake is set and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. remove to a wire rack and let cool 30 min before inverting to cool completely. make your ganache and then peanut butter glaze (they each need to sit about 20-25 min before use).
5. once the cake is cooled, cover with ganache followed by the peanut butter glaze and sprinkles.

chocolate ganache

• 5 oz dark chocolate, chopped
• 1/3 c heavy cream
• 1/4 tsp vanilla

1. place the chopped chocolate in a heat proof bowl. set aside. place the heavy cream in a small saucepan set over low heat; heat the creamy until its warm and bubbles begin to appear around the edges. pour the warm cream over the chopped chocolate and whisk until smooth; whisk in the vanilla. let set 20-25 min before pouring completely over the cooled cake. place in the fridge to firm up before pouring the peanut butter glaze over top.

peanut butter glaze

• 1 c creamy peanut butter
• 1 tbs vegetable oil
• 1 tbs powdered sugar

1. place peanut butter in a microwave safe bowl and microwave in 30 sec intervals until melted. stir in the vegetable oil. whisk in the powdered sugar until smooth. let sit 15-20 min before pouring over the ganache topped cake. you want it pourable but not runny. cover in sprinkles.

if you’re still scrambling for a super gras recipe, this would make a good dessert addition.

just saying.

kisses.

recipe barely adapted from: how sweet eats

this post is also featured over at these link parties: taste and tell thursdays and what’s cooking wednesdays

coffee caramel glazed mini bundts

true story…

i’ve been trying to pump myself up about sharing some crawfish etouffee with you but then i remembered about these little goodies. i had kinda forgotten about these little gems until i was going through the pictures on my phone and i was like DUH!! how in the heck did i forget about these?!? i couldn’t believe myself.

the best thing about these little cakes is that i maaaaaay have found a perfect vanilla cupcake. for real. they are that good. and then you throw some caramel that’s been spiked with coffee up on top of there. sold.

coffee caramel glazed mini bundts

• 1 1/2 c flour
• 1/4 tsp + 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 c (1 stick) + 1/4 c (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temp
• 1 c sugar
• 1 tsp + 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 2 eggs, room temp
• 1/2 c milk, room temp
• 1/2 c dark brown sugar
• 1/3 c strongly brewed coffee
• 1 tbs heavy cream
• 2 tbs powdered sugar

1. preheat your oven to 350F. grease and flour your mini bundt pan (or a standard 12 cup muffin tin will work too).
2. mix together the flour and baking soda in a bowl; set aside.
3. beat together the sugar, 1/2 c butter, 1/4 tsp salt and 1 tsp vanilla until the mixture is light and fluffy. beat in the eggs, one at a time. reduce speed and add the dry ingredients until just about blended. add the milk, mixing until everything is just well blended. divide the batter among the mini bundt cups.
4. bake 10 min before rotating the pan and rapping it on the rack to deflate them a bit. continue baking 10-12 min more until a toothpick comes out clean. cool completely on a wire rack before inverting the cakes out.
5. make the glaze: combine the brown sugar, coffee, remaining butter and salt in a small saucepan. over high heat and stirring often, bring the mixture to a boil and boil until reduced by half, about 3 min. remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla and heavy cream. allow to cool 20 min before adding the powdered sugar.
6. spoon the glaze over the cakes and let set for about 30 min.

y’all for real.

these were freaking fantastic.

and on top of that, shauna wrote another cookbook! it’s called pure vanilla. now… i don’t own this cookbook (yet) nor do i know shauna BUT i might have mentioned how much i like good vanilla. so in that spirit, i figure i would tell you about the cookbook. that’s it.

oh and i absolutely must share this picture of these babies that i posted on instagram (@pinktigerblog) the night i made them…

i mean i absolutely have no words.

ok maybe i have these: go make these. now.

kisses.

recipe from: piece of cake

praline bundt cake

so my original plan was to post my next martha’s cookie madness post before i talked about this cake but then this morning happened…

what happened this morning you ask? well i almost got in a minor wreck. normally that would be no big deal but you just don’t understand my driving luck lately.

see it all started in october…. i was driving to work one morning and there was a train. it was actually two trains which means one train has to STOP and let the other one by. so i decided i was going to turn at the light onto the intersecting street so i could turn into a parking lot to go the way i needed to go. no big right? well some guy decided that he was going to pull a u-turn in the middle of said street while he was waiting at a RED light and decided it wouldn’t be prudent to look to make sure no cars were coming where this u-turn was going to take place. well he didn’t complete the u-turn and there was a minor collision that ended with my car being “undrivable” and with me still fighting with jayson buson with usaa insurance 9 months later.

if that wasn’t bad enough it seems as though i have a giant target on my car. a couple months ago, some guy in a big red truck nearly ran me off the road and almost killed me because he didn’t feel the need to check his blind spot while switching lanes. oh and then there was the lady in the big white escalade truck that decided she didn’t care that she was in the wrong lane and that she was going to play bumper cars to switch 3 lanes and hit my back bumper. and then this guy this morning… i totally understand the guy this morning was trying to turn left out of a gas station in busy morning traffic but he decided that because he had one lane clear he was just going to go for it and not make sure that on coming traffic knew that the other lane was stopped for something other than busy morning traffic. thank goodness for horns!

like i said… big freaking target!

what would make me feel better? a gigantic slice of this cake. like i could eat the entire cake. in one sitting. and lick the plate clean.

and yes this cake uses cake mix. i thought about trying to adapt it and go 100% homemade but decided that would be for another time. sometimes you just need to make your cake fast.

praline bundt cake

• 1 box butter pecan cake mix
• 1 1/4 c water
• 1/3 c vegetable / canola oil
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 c chopped pecans
• 1/2 c + 1/4 c heath toffee bits
• 1/4 c butter
• 1/2 c packed brown sugar – light or dark, doesn’t really make a HUGE difference; in fact i use almost all dark and some light
• 2 tbs corn syrup
• 2 tbs milk
• 1 c powdered sugar

1. preheat your oven to 350F. grease and flour your bundt pan.
2. in a large bowl, combine cake mix, water, eggs and oil with a mixer on low speed until thoroughly mixed. fold in pecans and 1/2 c toffee bits.
3. bake 35-40 min or until a toothpick comes out clean. let cool 30 min in the bundt pan before removing from pan to cool completely.
4. make your glaze: in a quart size sauce pan, melt together butter, brown sugar, corn syrup and milk. heat to a rolling boil, stirring frequently; remove from heat. immediately beat in powdered sugar and vanilla with a whisk until smooth. drizzle all over cake and sprinkle with toffee bits.

i had the relevation today that next i make this cake, i’m going to make mini bundt cakes. that way everyone can have their little baby bundt cakes

and i may or may not have had this for breakfast. i mean can you say no to this?

kisses.

recipe adapted from: the advocate newspaper’s recipe section

lemon honey mini bundt cakes

i have an affinity for honey. if i’m being really honest, i have an affinity for anything sweet but i do happen to really enjoy honey. it’s deliciousness. it sweetens while it lends a subtle flavor to whatever you’re cooking or baking. and seriously… have you ever gone to a honey vendor? they’ll tell you about every kind of variety they have and you get to taste each! it’s amazing how each variety have a slightly different taste from each other.

and then there’s vanilla. more specifically, vanilla beans. i mean they reference vanilla when they talk about something being “boring” but i happen to think if vanilla is done right, it’s better than chocolate.

oh and we know i’m in love with my little bundt cupcake pan. it’s awesomeness in a metal form.

these little cakes combines all of into a tasty little package.

lemon honey mini bundt cakes

• 1 1/2 c flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• zest of 2 lemons
• 1 c sugar
• 13 tbs (1 1/2 stick + 1 tbs) softened, unsalted butter
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 vanilla bean, split with seeds scraped (or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract)
• 1/2 c water
• 1 c sugar
• 1/4 c honey – if you can find a good local honey vendor, use them!
• 2 tbs unsalted butter

1. preheat oven to 325F. spray your mini bundt pan with cooking spray; or grease with butter and flour.
2. sift together the flour and baking powder in a bowl.
3. combine the lemon zest and sugar in a small bowl.
4. beat the butter on medium speed until creamy and smooth. add lemon sugar mixture and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy.
5. scrape down the edge of the bowl and then add the eggs, beating well after each addition. reduce mixer speed and add the flour mixture in thirds until each each addition is just blended.
6. spoon the batter into the prepared mini bundt pans. bake 17 – 20 mins.
7. as the cakes are cooling, combine the vanilla bean, seeds, water, honey, and butter into a small saucepan. heat over low heat until the sugar is just dissolved and then raise the heat to medium to cook for 5 mins. remove from heat and let cool for 10 mins.
8. while the cakes are still warm, brush each bundt with the honey syrup. after you’ve brushed each once, go ahead and really “gild the lily” and dip each into the honey syrup. let cool completely.

yay!

honey + vanilla + lemon… double yay!!

kisses.

recipe from: une gamine dans la cuisine

gingerbread mini bundt cakes

so i really think that my big fat greek wedding is one of the funniest movies of all times. i mean seriously…. it provides some of the best quotes ever. don’t agree with me? too stinking bad.

i mean who can forget aunt voula with “what do you mean he don’t eat no meat?? that’s ok. i make lamb.”

or toula’s dad with his windex obsession?!

for reals.

(that one was for you jena & michelle.)

but one of the best scenes is when ian’s parents are meeting toula’s family and ian’s mom brings the bundt cake and toula’s mom can’t seem to say bundt. it’s awesome. and if bundt cakes don’t make you think of my big fat greek wedding then i feel sorry for you because it’s a hilarious movie moment.

well these little mini bundts don’t have a hole in them but that’s ok. no hole means a nice little place for the cinnamon glaze to go and puddle itself. which suits me just fine. i mean who doesn’t love a little puddle of glaze sitting atop a mini gingerbread goodness?

so these little mini bundts have been on my list for a little while now and i finally broke down and got the little mini bundt pan i needed to make these… (ok so i didn’t buy it for myself…  my mom bought it for me for my birthday because she has a daughter that wants bakeware and cookbooks for her birthday. THANKS MOM!) you see i have pinned several mini bundt recipes that i want to try but this is supposed to be wintertime. i say supposed to be because someone forgot to inform the weathergods of this and it’s 75-80 in january!

i digress.

these little gingerbread mini bundt cakes were so good. they brought me back to junior high / high school when it was acceptable for me to eat snack cakes or gingerbread men for lunch. and these little beauties tasted just like those little men (who i methodically ate limb by limb). i was worried at first because they seemed a little tough on the exterior so maybe they weren’t going to be all soft like i love out of my cakes. but i should have known better… they were like all things that are tough on the outside. all soft and fluffy on the inside. it doesn’t hurt that they were covered with a cinnamon glaze to soak in and softened them up either.

gingerbread mini bundt cakes

• 2 1/4 c flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp allspice
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp cocoa powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 c (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted then brought to room temperature
• 3/4 c dark molasses
• 3/4 c sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 c buttermilk
• 1/2 c whole milk

1. preheat your oven to 350F and spray your mini bundt pan with cooking spray.
2. whisk together the flour, baking soda, allspice, cloves, nutmeg, cocoa powder, cinnamon, and ginger.
3. beat together the molasses, sugar, butter, and salt until well combined. add egg and beat until that’s combined.
4. add in the milk and buttermilk.
5. add the flour in a few additions mixing each until just combined.
6. fill each cup about 3/4 the way full and smooth out the tops just a bit. bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
7. let cool in pan for about 20 minutes, then turn out onto a baking rack and cool completely before glazing

glaze

• 1 c powdered sugar
• 3-4 tbs milk (this will depended on how thick or thin you want your glaze)
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla

1. mix all ingredients together. dip the tops of each bundt cake in the glaze and then spoon some extra glaze on the tops. let dry on a cooling rack.

that’s it friends. easy peasy. if you were like me and enjoyed those all too familiar little men for lunch in high school try this… you won’t be disappointed.

kisses.

recipe very slightly adapted from: these peas are hollow