Mini donuts





I found a mini donut pan at the DI (thrift store) for 50 cents.  Thought we try our hand at making mini donuts. These are yummy, perfect afternoon treat.

Mini Cake donuts recipe here and pasted below.

Ingredients
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup white sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 tablespoon shortening
  •  
  • 1 cup confectioners' sugar
  • 2 tablespoons hot water
  • 1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Lightly grease a doughnut pan.
  2. In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt. Stir in milk, eggs, vanilla and shortening. Beat together until well blended.
  3. Fill each doughnut cup approximately 3/4 full. Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until doughnuts spring back when touched. Allow to cool slightly before removing from pan.
  4. To make glaze, blend confectioners' sugar, hot water and almond extract in a small bowl. Dip doughnuts in the glaze when serving.

Rhubarb Coffee Cake

A few years back I grabbed all of Grandma LaRue's rhubarb recipes and have been waiting for our rhubarb plant to be mature enough to harvest.  Finally I can try these recipes out. Yeah!  I also discovered you should not harvest rhubarb stalks by cutting, rather your need to pull the stalks by gently twisting at the root.

Here are in process photos of my first try at Rhubarb Coffee cake. I went to take an after baked shot only to discover the cake had been half eaten. Guess it was good.



Grandma LaRue's Rhubarb Coffee cake:
1-1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. marg.
1 egg
1 c. sour cream
1 t. baking soda
2 c. flour
1-1/2 c. rhubarb (cut into tiny pieces) - I added a half cup of strawberries to supplement my rhubarb.


Mix ingredients together, pour into pan. I used a round spring release pan, Grandma suggests a 9x12 cake pan.

Topping:
1/2 c. sugar
1 t. cinnamon
1 t. flour
1 T. cake batter
Mix topping until crumbly - sprinkle over top of cake batter.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

"Nothing Bundt Cake"



The cake really was pretty.  Here are some in process shots. See Geoff... I did make this, no Nothing Bundt box to be found in the trash.  Here is the website for the recipe and other good stuff, I also pasted it below.

RECIPE:

Ingredients
  • 1 pkg. devils food cake, German chocolate cake, or chocolate cake mix
  • 1 pkg. instant chocolate pudding
  • 1 c. sour cream
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1/2 c. water
  • 1/2 c. oil
  • 1 1/2 c. mini chocolate chips
  • 2 (8 ounce) pkgs. cream cheese, softened
  • 1/2 c. butter, softened
  • 3-4 c. powdered sugar
  • 2 tsp. vanilla extract
Instructions
  • Mix first six ingredients together with a beater. Add chocolate chips. Pour into a greased bunt cake pan (cooking spray works best). Cook in oven at 350 degrees for 45-50 mins. Remove from oven. Let cool for 20 mins. Remove from pan. (I think it tastes best if you put it on a serving plate, wrap it well in Saran Wrap, and let it sit overnight in the fridge before frosting and serving..)
  • In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the powdered sugar (start with 2 cups then keep adding more until it is nice and thick). That's it!

Birthday parties!

Benjamin will be ten years old tomorrow.  Tonight we had a family birthday party to celebrate Ben turning 10 and Nicholas turning 2.  We had a great time with cousins playing outdoor games, jumping in the trampoline, water balloons and good food.  The boys both received many nice gifts that they really appreciated.  

I decided to make two cakes. Benjamin wanted a texas sheet cake, recipe here. And since Nicholas couldn't choose his cake I decided to try my hand at making a "nothing bundt cake".  Here is the recipe I used.  It turned out great and seemed to be a big hit.  Nicholas loved the berries on this cake and proceeded to eat them all off the top.  Love this boy.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOYS!