"Bust Your Buttons" Butter Cake

This is such an addicting cake! Made in a bundt cake pan and drizzled with a buttery glaze, it is sure to disappear quickly (at least in my family!) The "bust your buttons" comes from the fact that you just can't stop eating it! Just a little warning before you try this recipe.


Ingredients
~3 cups cake flour (regular flour works as well if you don't have cake flour)
~2 cups sugar
~1 tsp salt
~1 tsp baking powder
~1/2 tsp baking soda
~1 cup buttermilk (regular milk will also work)
~1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
~2 tsp vanilla extract
~1 tsp almond extract
~4 eggs, room temperature

BUTTERY GLAZE
~1/3 cup butter
~3/4 cup sugar
~3 Tbsp water
~1 1/2 Tbsp vanilla extract

Directions
CAKE
 ~Preheat oven to 325*F and place a rack in the middle of the oven with nothing too close above it.
~In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda and mix well with a whisk.
~Add the buttermilk, butter, vanilla, almond extract, and eggs. Mix well. Do not over-beat, mix just until ingredients are combined. *** Over-beating may cause the cake to be tough.
~Pour into a greased and floured bundt pan.
~Bake for 1 hour or until toothpick comes out clean. Do not over-bake!
~In the pan, pierce the hot cake with fork tines or a bamboo skewer. Pour half the glaze (recipe at the end) slowly over the cake.
~Cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then flip out onto a cake plate. Pour the remaining glaze over the cake.
~Serve with fruit or ice cream or by itself, and refrigerate any leftovers.

GLAZE INSTRUCTIONS
~Combine all the ingredients, except vanilla in a sauce pan. Bring to a slow boil over medium heat. Stir in vanilla, set aside to slightly cool.

Mini Cheesecakes

I found this recipe on AllRecipes.com. It is super easy, and can be taken to almost anything, no matter what the occasion. I used cherry pie filling in this recipe, but it will also work with other fruit pie fillings, depending on what you want.

Ingredients:
~1 (12 oz) package vanilla wafers (don't worry, you won't be using the entire thing!)
~2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese
~3/4 cup white granulated sugar
~2 eggs
~1 tsp vanilla extract
~1 (21 oz) can cherry pie filling

Directions:
~Preheat oven to 350*F (175*C). Line mini muffin tins with mini cupcake liners.
~Crush the vanilla wafers (or grind them up in a food processor), and place 1/2 tsp of the crumbs into each paper cup.
~In a mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Fill each liner with this mixture, about 3/4 full; almost to the top.
~Bake for 15 minutes. Once they are completely cool, top with a teaspoonful of the pie filling.
Yield: About 48

Rice Krispie Treats

Pretty much anywhere I take these sweet treats, they are all gone by the end. Rice Krispie Treats are super easy to make, and are loved by many.

Ingredients:
~6 cups Rice Krispies or any crispy rice cereal, measured ahead of time in a bowl.
~1 bag of marshmallows (About 40 marshmallows)
~2-3 Tbsp. butter or margarine
~extra butter, for the spreading

Directions:
~Grease a large dish at least 12"x12" with butter.
~In a large pot, melt the butter, covering the bottom of the pot.
~Once the butter is melted, add the marshmallows and stir constantly with a big spoon.
~When the marshmallows are melted, turn off the heat and quickly pour the cereal into the melted marshmallows. Stir in until mostly even.
~Scoop into greased pan and spread flat all the way to the edges. Since it is super sticky, you will want to butter your hands well beforehand.
~Cut squared to desired size. You can eat them warm, or let them cool for squares that hold better.

For variations, use cocoa rice or rainbow rice, or put sprinkles on top of the treats while they are warm.

S'mores Brownies!

I love s'mores, and I adore brownies, so why not put them together! This tastes amazing, especially if you have a moist brownie recipe or mix.

First, grease a 9x9-inch baking pan, and preheat the oven to 350*F.

Then, either make a packaged brownie mix, or make a batch from scratch--whichever you prefer.

Bake according to directions on box or recipe (about 30 minutes), and let cool for a minute. Make sure you don't over-bake them, or it'll be more like cake.

After your brownies are out, set your oven on broil, at about 500-550*F.

Take about 2 cups of mini marshmallows, and evenly sprinkle on top, trying to cover the whole area of brownie. Then break up 4 (or more, if you want) graham crackers evenly on top of the marshmallows.

Stick that in the oven for about 30 seconds to a minute, or until the marshmallows are lightly browned on top, but be careful they're not in there too long, or they will catch on fire! Take it out, and then turn off the oven.

Take some Hershey's Milk Chocolate bars, and break them into their segments. I used two bars, but if you want your brownies more covered in chocolate, feel free to modify it to your tastes. Once the chocolate is melted on top from the heat, they're ready to serve. Mind that they may be rather sticky, so be prepared.

Now you have two delicious treats in one, and it's ready in only about half an hour, without having to make a bonfire!

Easy Marshmallow Fondant

       Marshmallow Fondant is super easy to make, and it tastes better than regular fondant. All you need for one batch is a bag of marshmallows (about 40), a bag of powdered sugar, water, and a microwave.
       First, prepare a counter top for the fondant. Clean and disinfect the counter really well, and let it dry. Then pour out about 4-5 cups of powdered sugar right onto the counter, and make a well out of it. This is so that you can pour the melted marshmallows onto it so that the marshmallow doesn't get on the counter. Get out a medium-sized glass bowl, and empty the whole bag of marshmallows in it. The bowl will need to be big enough for all of them with enough room left for stirring. Add about 2 Tbsp of water to the marshmallows and mix it around a bit. Them microwave it for 30 seconds on high, stir it, and keep microwaving it in 30-second increments until the marshmallows are melted and smooth. If you are going to add any color or flavorings to the fondant, this is the stage you'll want to add them. But keep in mind that when you add the powdered sugar the color will lighten a bit. After all your color and flavoring is mixed really well, get your hands all good and greased up with butter or Crisco. Then spoon out the marshmallow mixture into the well you prepared ahead of time, immediately starting to fold in the powdered sugar, the whole time keeping the marshmallow mixture from "escaping" and getting on the counter. But be careful not to mix in the powdered sugar all at once, or else the fondant will get all dry and crumbly. Add it gradually, so that the fondant stays smooth.
       Keep on kneading and folding in the powdered sugar until the fondant is no longer elastic-y and pinches off easily but isn't too dry. Then you can set your ball of fondant aside and clean up your counter top. Once it is dry, grease a spot on the counter really well and knead the fondant on that spot. If the fondant gets too elastic-y, you may want to knead in some more powdered sugar. Once the fondant is the right texture, and the grease has made it nice and smooth, grease the whole counter so you can roll it out.
       Make sure when you roll it out that you don't roll it too thin, or else it will break when you try to transfer it. Once it is the right size, lift up the edges and make sure there are no parts of the fondant sticking to counter. Then you can carefully, with flat hands, transfer the fondant onto your cake (it may take two people, depending on how big the piece is). If the fondant breaks or rips, you can just roll it back out and try again.
       Once it is on the cake, you will smooth out the top first, conforming it to the shape of the cake. Then smooth it down the sides, all the way to the base of the cake. Fondant is a little bit stretchy, so if you have wrinkles, just carefully and gently flatten them out. After the fondant is smoothed evenly over the cake, trim the excess off the bottom, leaving a few millimeters or so to tuck under the cake so you can't see the cake underneath. You will always want to put a very smooth crumb coat on the cake before adding the fondant, because fondant will show every bump and shape underneath it.

How to Make Store-Bought Cake Mixes Taste Like the Real Thing!

       Boxed cake mixes often have a certain taste to them that screams "store-bought," and, when you're a cook who has a reputation to live up to, you don't want everyone to think that all your cakes are merely store-bought cake mixes. So I looked around online for a way to make store-bought cake mix taste like it's homemade, and it really works. I end up eating about twice as much when I make it this way because it's so good (which makes it hard for those of us trying to prevent belly pooches!)
       First, look on the box, and add one more egg than it calls for. Then use milk instead of water. Take the amount of oil on the package, and use melted butter instead, but double the amount the box says.
       Follow the directions on baking, but make sure you don't over-bake the cake! Keeping the cake moist is one of the major keys to a great cake, and over-baking it will dry it out.
       Now, if you are the type of person who actually has the time to make cake from scratch, then keep on doing that! I absolutely love homemade cake but because I make cakes so often, I try to cut down on time and so I use boxed cake mixes. But since I found these little tweaks, my cakes have made a great improvement. Now you can use store-bought mixes and no one will be able to tell the difference!