Friday Night Sweets - Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake

We have kind of started a tradition around here of making a nice dessert on Fridays for all of us to enjoy over the weekend. It came about because my Mother-in-Law will only eat sweets between 7 PM Friday and 7 PM on Sunday, nothing during the week (like a mini Lent or something like that).

Anyway I saw this recipe of Paula Deen's and it just looked so good and perfect for the season. I will warn you though that there is NOTHING healthy about this dessert lol. Those of you that know Paula's Deen's recipes know that there isn't much you can do to make it healthier. This is also VERY rich so servings should be kept small. Trust me a little goes a long way but it's very delicious, like a pumpkin pie on top of a moist cake. YUM!

PUMPKIN GOOEY BUTTER CAKE
=== cake ===
1 box yellow cake mix
1 egg
1/2 cup melted butter
=== filling ===
1 8 oz.pkg cream cheese, softened
1 15 oz can pumpkin pie filling
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 16 oz box powdered sugar
1/2 cup melted butter

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a 13 x 9 baking pan. In a bowl of an electric mixer, combine the cake mix, egg and butter and mix well. Pat into the bottom of prepared pan and set aside. Still using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add pumpkin, eggs and vanilla. Dump in powdered sugar and beat well. Reduce the speed of the mixer and slowly pour in butter. Mix well. Pour filling onto cake mixture and spread evenly.

*Bake for 40 - 50 minutes. Don't be afraid to make a judgment call on the cooking time, because oven temperatures can vary. You want the center to be a little gooey, so don't bake it past that point!

Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly. Cut into squares and serve with whipped cream. These little cakes are very, very rich and a little will go a long way!

Banana Bread

Does anyone remember the early days of the Food Network when it was just about cooking and showing us recipes? There were no live audiences or bands or competitions, just a chef or cookbook author showing us a new recipe each day or demonstrating how we could feed our family for just $100 a week. They didn't have many shows so they repeated a couple of times per day but they were good shows and I collected some really good recipes during those times. Recipes that I still use today.

This recipe for Banana Bread is one of them. I think the show was called Chef Du Jour they had a different celebrity on each week and that celebrity would share their own personal recipes. This Banana Bread recipe comes from Comedian Joanne Worley and it's delicious. Very easy to make, super moist and a great way to use up those bananas that are turning black. This bread never lasts very long in our house.

BANANA BREAD
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 cup Butter
2 eggs (I used 1/2 cup Eggbeaters)
1 cup Sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 ripe bananas, mashed

Preheat oven to 350°F

Grease loaf pan.

Sift together the dry ingredients and set aside. In another bowl cream together the butter and bananas and whisk in the eggs. Add to the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.

Pour into loaf pan and bake about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Make sure toothpick comes out somewhat clean in the center.

Cool and slice.

Lazy Sunday Afternoons and a Good Coffee Cake

Finally we had some great weather today. While not cool by any means, the fact that it never got higher than the upper 80's was still a milestone. This has been a very looooong hot summer and today actually felt like the start of Fall. There was a strong breeze and the sky was blue and clear, it seemed like the perfect day to bake a nice coffee cake and relax with the hubby. Ok so the hubby threw out his back and was confined to bed but it's great to have a captive audience!

I found this wonderful recipe at Big City, Little Kitchen and just changed a few things to make it a bit healthier. I probably would have swapped out the 1 cup of sugar for Splenda's baking sugar substitute but I did not have any. For the brown sugar in the topping I used half regular brown sugar and half of Splenda's Brown Sugar.

As the original poster from Big City, Little Kitchen stated, this cake has a dense, moist interior and lot's of streusel. This one is definitely a keeper!

♦

CINNAMON-CRUMBLE COFFEE CAKE
==== cake ====
1 stick unsalted butter, softened ( I use Smart Balance's Butter Blends Unsalted Butter)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup egg substitute
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup fat free sour cream

==== topping ====
2/3 cup light brown sugar (part Splenda Brown Sugar and part regular Brown Sugar)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

To make cake: cream butter and sugar. Lightly beat eggs, vanilla, and our cream, then add to butter mixture. Whisk together dry ingredients, then add to wet ingredients, mixing just until combined.

To make topping: whisk together the 3 ingredients; set aside.

Pour half of batter into bundt pan, smoothing with a spatula so that it covers the bottom of the pan. Distribute half of the topping mixture over the batter. Spoon the remaining batter into the pan, carefully smoothing with a spatula so that it covers the topping. Sprinkle remaining topping over the batter, then bake for 45 minutes.

Let cool for 15 minutes, then carefully reverse onto a plate. Place another plate on top (which is actually the bottom of the cake), and reverse again, so that cake is, finally, facing up on a plate.

Fudge Brownie Pudding Cake

My Oh-So Wonderful hubby made this tonight and once again it was a big hit, especially with the in-laws. You pour boiling water over the batter just before putting it in the oven so it makes this thick chocolate syrup when it’s done.

I think this would be perfect served with a scoop of Vanilla ice cream. It would be like a brownie fudge sundae!

I was a good girl and resisted having more than just a taste as it would have put my blood sugar through the roof. It tasted soooo good! I may try making it another time and see what I can do to lighten it up.

FUDGE BROWNIE PUDDING CAKE
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup plus 3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powde; r
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup 1% lowfat milk
2 1/2 tbsp canola oil
2 tbsp black coffee
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 3/4 cups boiling water
confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

Heat oven to 375°F. Have ready an 8-in. square or other 2-qt, 2-in.-deep baking dish. Whisk flour, 1?2 cup cocoa powder and next 3-ingredients in a medium bowl until combined. In a 1-cup glass measure, combine milk, oil, liqueur and vanilla; stir into flour mixture until blended. Spread in ungreased baking dish.

Mix brown sugar and remaining 3 Tbsp cocoa; sprinkle evenly over batter. Slowly pour boiling water evenly over surface of batter—don’t stir. Carefully place in oven.

Bake 30 minutes, or until top is just set and a wooden pick inserted halfway into center comes out with moist crumbs. Cool in pan on wire rack 10 minutes.

Dust with confectioners’ sugar. For a decorative design, place a paper doily on pudding cake before dusting with confectioners’ sugar. Carefully lift doily straight up. Serve warm with a dollop of whipped topping.

* Nutrition Facts * Yield 9 servings * Amount Per Serving * Calories 206 * Total Fat 5g * Saturated Fat 1g * Cholesterol NA * Sodium 184mg * Total Carbohydrates 41g * Dietary Fiber 2g * Protein 3g

Apple Walnut Cake

I found this in a magazine and my ever so wonderful hubby whipped it up last night. Needless to say it was a big hit!

Sorry these are not the best pictures in my blog but as we have been living with my in-laws until our house sells I am limited in my resources. The kitchen is very small and my photo box and all my lighting is packed away :( This will have to do!

We cut back a bit on the walnuts as we don't like a lot in our cakes and brownies but the recipe originally called for 1 1/2 cups so if you really like nuts then add as much as you wish. This was a really moist cake and would probably taste great with a dab of whip cream or maybe a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

APPLE WALNUT CAKE

2 cups sugar
1 cup + 2 T vegetable oil
1/4 cup apple cider or juice
3 large eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon Salt
3 cups flour
2 large granny Smith apple; any apple is ok
1/2 - 1 cup chopped walnuts

Heat oven to 350°F

Peel, core and slice the apples.

Coat a 10 in. tube pan with cooking spray.

Whisk sugar, oil, apple cider (juice), eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and salt in a large bowl until blended.

Stir in flour until blended. Stir in apples and walnuts.

Scrape mixture into the prepared tube pan.

Bake 1 hour and 10 to 20 minutes. Let cool on wire rack for about an hour before removing from pan.

Sprinkle with a little powdered sugar.