Easy Moist Pudding Cake & Frosting - Any Flavor

Directions for making any cake mix into a delicious and moist cake.

You can even use those cheap generic cake mixes for this and it will be dense, moist and delicious! Ignore directions on the box.

Recipe:
1 cake mix full size, any standard flavor. Ignore directions on box.
1 standard package of instant pudding mix, flavor to complement the cake mix.
1 cup water or juice to flavor cake
4 eggs
½ vegetable oil

Mix all except the eggs together very well with mixer. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Pour into greased cake pans. Bake at 350F following baking times on cake mix box for pan size.

Variations:
- If you don’t have a pudding mix flavor to match the cake mix, use vanilla.
- Banana – add 2 sm ripe bananas with banana cream pudding to yellow cake mix. Reduce oil to ¼ cup
- Black Forest Cake: Cherry chip cake mix with dark choc pudding
- Butter pecan cake and pudding with maple frosting
- White cake mix with pistachio pudding mix and ½ cup coconut added to cake mix.
- Carrot cake mix with vanilla pudding and ½ cup plump raisins added (cream cheese frosting, recipe below).
- Orange Cake: orange juice with white cake mix and orange juice in frosting
- Apple cake: apple juice in cake with 1/2 cup finely chopped apple and apple juice in frosting

**Easy frosting recipe below.

Tips for making a great cake:


- Keeping an apple in the holder with the cake will help to keep the cake moist.
- Use an electric mixer and beat the ingredients together extremely well.
- Insert a toothpick into the center of the cake to see if it is done. If the toothpick comes out clean and dry, the cake is done. I usually stick 2-3 of them into the cake in different places around the center area, just to be sure. If the cake is taken from the oven before it has cooked completely, it will fall flat and sink as it cools.
- A cake that is overcooked, even by a few minutes, will be dry, so watch it carefully at the end.
- Wait until the cake has cooled completely before putting the frosting on. Frosting will melt and run off the cake if the cake is still a little warm. If you are making a layer cake, it will take the upper layer with it.
- Make certain that your oven is calibrated properly. Most electric ovens get hotter over time so that they are baking at about 375F when you put the dial on 350F. If you are mechanically inclined you can fool around with the thermostat inside the oven and adjust it in the right direction a tiny bit. We do this when we get another oven or when our oven is obviously too hot. You will need a good digital or oven thermometer to do this and it takes time. Adjust the thermostat in the oven a tiny bit, then turn the oven on until the light goes out. Use the thermometer to test the temperature in the oven when the light goes off, adjusting the oven thermostat slightly, over and over again until you get it exactly right. It could take an entire day to calibrate your oven, but its worth it! It makes a huge difference in baking to have the oven at the right temperature. It should be a few years before it needs it again, if ever.


Simple Error Proof Frosting - any flavor
Basic ingredients for plain vanilla frosting for a standard large two layer cake:
4 cups powdered icing sugar
1/2 softened fat (butter, shortening, cream cheese)
1 teasp vanilla
water or juice in tiny amounts

Directions: ALL LIQUID IS TO BE ADDED LAST! Combine powdered icing sugar, vanilla and fat in mixer and process until fairly well mixed. Mixture will be dry and crumbly. Put in any desired additions here (see list below). Add water or juice, a tiny amount (1 teaspoon) at a time, mixing well after each addition until frosting has reached the desired consistency. Beat very well on high after all additions are made. If it is too wet and thin, add more sugar slowly.

Variations: All additions are to be added and mixed in well before adding liquid (water or juice) to frosting.
- Replace water with any fruit juice to match the cake
- Maple: add 1/2 cup maple syrup before adding water
- Chocolate: Add 1 cup powdered cocoa before adding water. Decrease powdered icing sugar by 1/2 cup
- Fruit: add 1/2 chopped fruit and mix well, before adding juice or water
- Note: Be careful adding fresh fruit to frosting. Some fruits will turn it brown and need to be refrigerated. Most berries are ok in frosting.

Delicious, Moist Strawberry Cake

This truly is the most delicious and moist strawberry cake I have ever eaten!
It's another cake recipe from my mother. This is not exactly a "scratch" cake
because you do use a cake mix but you add other ingredients and don't use the
recipe on the box. I have a few cake recipes like that.
Strawberry Cake
1 white cake mix, ignore directions on box
1 tablespoon flour
1 package strawberry jelly powder (Jello)
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup chopped strawberries
4 eggs

Directions: Mix the cake mix, flour, jelly powder, vegetable oil, water and strawberries together thoroughly. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each one. Divide mix between three greased round cake pans or bake in one long 9" x 12" greased pan. Bake at 350F for 30 minutes. Add frosting when completely cooled. Strawberry frosting recipe below.

Strawberry Frosting
1/4 cup soft butter
3.5 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup chopped strawberries

Put sugar and strawberries in bowl first. Mix together well. Slowly add water a tiny bit at a time, until desired consistency is reached. If the icing is too thin add a bit more sugar.

Muffins for Christmas

This year I have decided to give my inlaws muffins for Christmas. They are elderly and it's just the two of them so she doesn't bake much anymore. They still enjoy baked goods, especially muffins, so I am giving them nine muffins from each of my very best muffin recipes. I baked them all just this week so they would be fresh. I frose them as soon as they were cool to keep them fresh. I took them out of the freezer this morning and they will get them tomorrow so they will be well thawed.

I made carrot/raisin, sour cream blueberry, banana and squash/pumpkin. The recipes are below. They refreeze well. None of these muffins are low-cal and all are made with real food, real butter, milk, eggs and sugar. (One loaf of white Wonderbread lasts for three weeks in the cupboard at room temp without molding! At first I said "Great!". Now I say, "Wait a minute. Is that real food?". Uh, no.)

I baked carrot-raisin-sunflower seeds (pictures here). This is the most delicious, moist, dense carrot muffin I have ever eaten. It's delicious and has a lot of texture and carrot in it.






Here are the recipes:

Carrot Raisin Muffins

3 cups grated carrot
4 large eggs
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups oil
1 cup golden raisins
1 1/2 cups sunflower seeds or nuts

Directions: Preheat oven to 300F. You will need 3 large bowls for this recipe.
Bowl #1: Mix grated carrot, seeds and raisins
Bowl #2: Mix flour, soda, salt and cinnamon
Bowl #3: Mix sugar and oil. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing for 30 seconds after each one. Add flour mixture to this and stir only until well blended. Add carrot mix and fold in gently. Fill greased muffin tin or papers 2/3 full. Bake 20-22 mins for very large muffins. Insert a toothpick into the center of the largest one to test for doneness. If it comes out dry and clean, the muffins are done.

Blueberry Sour Cream Muffins

2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teasppon baking powder
1 cup sour cream
1 cup blueberries

Directions: Beat eggs, gradually add sugar. While beating, slowly add oil and vanilla. Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Add alternately with sour cream to the egg. Gently fold in blueberries. Bake in preheated oven at 400F for 18-20 mins in muffins papers or greased pan for very large muffins. Insert a toothpick into the center of the largest one to test for doneness. If it comes out dry and clean, the muffins are done.
Banana Muffins

2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup white sugar
2 cups mashed bananas, very ripe (4-5 lg bananas)
1 cup mayonnaise

Directions: Mix first 4 ingredients together well. Fold in bananas and mayonnaise. Bake at 350F for 12-14 mins in muffins papers or greased pan for very large muffins. Insert a toothpick into the center of the largest one to test for doneness. If it comes out dry and clean, the muffins are done.

Pumpkin Muffins

1 cup cooked squash or pumpkin
1/3 cup oil
1/4 cup corn syrup
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon mace

Directions: Preheat oven to 350F. Mix together pumpkin, eggs, oil and corn syrup in large bowl. Stir until well mixed. Stir all other dry ingredients together in another bowl. Add dry ingredients to squash mixture. Fill greased tins or papers to the top. Bake in preheated oven for 20-15 minutes until tightly brown on top very large muffins. Insert a toothpick into the center of the largest one to test for doneness. If it comes out dry and clean, the muffins are done.

Fabulous Banana Muffins!

These truly are the best banana muffins I have ever eaten! They are dense, moist and have a lot of banana flavour while still rising quite high.


Here is the recipe:

2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup white sugar
2 cups mashed bananas (about 4-5 large bananas)
1 cup mayonnaise (Please use real mayonnaise here!)
1 cup chopped walnuts or sunflower seeds (optional)

Mix the dry ingredients together. Gently stir in the bananas and mayo. Fill the muffin cups full and bake in a preheated over at 350F for about 15 minutes if making small muffins. If making large ones (like the ones in these pictures) bake for 20-25 minutes. These are very large and took the full 25 minutes. Stick a toothpick into the center of the largest muffin. If it comes out dry they are done.

















Instead of walnuts, I often use dried impatiens gladulifera seeds. They taste just like walnuts and I grow a lot of them. They are good for you too!

I will need to make more muffins tomorrow. I plan to make several different kinds. I am making these again with nuts or glandulifera seeds, some squash muffins and some oatmeal/apple/cinnamon/maple muffins that we like. Muffins sell well around here. They are great for lunches!

Its a good way to use up all that squash too.

Cooking Squash & Making Muffins

I made squash muffins yesterday. They were a big hit!

They are best made with real cooked and mashed winter squash, either fresh or from the freezer. Just, please, don't use that canned stuff!!













First, cut open your fresh squash and scoop out the seeds and inside. Save the seeds for roasting ;-)












Cook the squash.









There are several ways this can be accomplished.


Baking: Turned squash halves upside down in a pan with a little water and baked for about 45 minutes in the oven. Let cool and scoop cooked squash out of peel.
Boiled: Peel and cut into big chunks. Bring to a boil and cook for only 10 minutes. If it cooks in the water for too long, it will be too wet. Drain well and mash. A potato masher works well for this, as does a ricer.

Or you can cook it in the microwave. I have never tried that as you can only do one piece at a time and I am usually processing many squash at once for the freezer.

When the squash is well done, mash it with a potato masher. What a beautiful bright orange this is! Lots of beta carotene!















Baking is easier but I had squash pies in the oven so I peeled and boiled this.










Squash Muffin recipe:

1 cup squash, cooked and mashed
1/3 cup oil
1/4 cup light corn syrup
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon mace
Raisins (optional)

Makes 1 dozen muffins.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Mix the wet ingredients together in a big bowl. Then mix the dry ingredients together in another bowl. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ones until well mixed. Spoon into muffin papers or a greased muffin pan. Fill quite full as they don't rise a lot. Bake at 350F for 20-23 minutes until barely starting to brown on top.

Delicious hot with real butter or at room temperature! Good in lunches too!