Simply Delicious Strawberry Cake

• 1 (18.25-ounce) box white cake mix
• 1 (3-ounce) box strawberry-flavored instant gelatin
• 1 (15-ounce) package frozen strawberries in syrup, thawed and pureed
• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup water
• 
  
• Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 (10-ounce) package frozen strawberries in syrup, thawed and pureed
• 1/2 teaspoon strawberry extract
• 7 cups confectioners' sugar
• Freshly sliced strawberries, for garnish, optional

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease 2 (9-inch) round cake pans.

In a large bowl, combine cake mix and gelatin. Add pureed strawberries, eggs, oil, and water; beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Pour into prepared pans, and bake for 20 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pans, and cool completely on wire racks.

For the frosting:

In a large bowl, beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Beat in 1/4 cup of the strawberry puree and the vanilla extract. (The rest of the puree is leftover but can be used in smoothies or on ice cream for a delicious treat.) Gradually add confectioners' sugar, beating until smooth.

Spread frosting in between layers and on top and sides of cake. Garnish with sliced fresh strawberries, if desired.

(From: Paula Deen, Mackenzie requested a strawberry cake for her 4th birthday then said she didn't like it after taking a few bites. It was actually really good but I think what she really wanted was a PINK cake so we'll have to work on that for next year!)

Too Much Chocolate!!! (Cake)

1 (18.25oz) pkg of devil's food cake mix
1 (5.9oz) pkg fat free instant chocolate pudding mix
1 C fat free sour cream
1 C applesauce (or 1 C vegetable oil - whichever you prefer)
4 eggs
1/2 C warm water
2 C semisweet choc chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.  In a large bowl, mix together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, applesauce, beaten eggs and water.  Stir in chocolate chips and pour batter into a well greased 12 C bundt pan.  (I grease with Cooking with Joy spray and it comes out beautiful every time- no stick)
3.  Bake for 50-55 minutes (It usually takes an hour if you use applesauce), or until wooden toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean.  Cool cake thoroughly in pan at least an hour and a half before inverting onto a plate.  If desired, dust the cake with powdered sugar.

(Erynn McNeill made this for us one time at her house and it is soooo good!)

The Most Yummy Cake Ever

1 box Duncan Heinz butter yellow cake
1 small box Jello Vanilla pudding
1 pint Sour Cream
4 eggs
1 cup oil
1 pkg chocolate chips

oven @ 350
Mix ALL ingredients together Pour batter in a bundt pan, sprinkle choc. chips
Layer: batter, chips, batter, chips
Cook 40-45 mins...
Best if still a little goooey!

And, the cake will finish cooking after you pull it out of the oven

(can use chocolate pudding w/ peanut butter chips)

Coke Cola Cake

CAKE
2 Cups flour
2 Cups sugar
1 Cup butter
1 Cup Coca-Cola
2 Tbsp. Cocoa powder
1/2 Cup buttermilk
2 eggs
2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 Cup mini marshmallows (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. Grease pan and sift flour and sugar. Melt butter, add coca cola and cocoa powder—boil on stove. Once boiling remove from stove and add flour and sugar. Blend and add rest of ingredients. Fold in marshmallows. Pour in a 9"x13" pan and bake for 35 minutes.


ICING
1/2 Cup butter
6 Tbsp. Coca-Cola
2 Tbsp. Cocoa powder
1 box powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 Cup pecans (optional)

Melt butter, add coke; cocoa powder and bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Stir in powdered sugar and vanilla. Add nuts; pour over hot cake (not drizzled).

Cake Balls

Warning: this is time intensive so be prepared!

What you need: 1 box of Dunkin Hines Cake mix (and the necessary ingredients on the back of the box), 1 can of Duncan Hines icing, 2.5 bags of chocolate chips, two spoonfuls of Crisco, wax paper

Tip: You can use different cake/icing/chocolate combinations. For examples, chocolate cake with chocolate icing and chocolate chips, pumpkin cake with cream cheese icing and white chocolate chips, strawberry cake with vanilla icing and white chocolate chips. Feel free to be creative, however, dark chocolate chips are a little overpowering so I would stay away from that.

Bake the cake according to the directions on the back of the box. When it is done, let it cool for about 20 minutes (it helps to cut into the cake in a few places, it releases the heat a little faster).

Once the cake has cooled, crumble the cake into a big bowl and add two and a half heaping spoonfuls of icing to the cake. Mix the cake and icing together (it is easiest to use your hands) and then put it in the freezer for about 20 minutes. Putting the cake/icing mixture in the freezer helps the concoction solidify, therefore making it easier to form small balls and dip them in chocolate.

In the mean time, melt the chocolate chips that you will dip the cake balls in. Put two and half bags of chocolate chips in a glass bowl (something about the glass bowl helps, chocolate is very temperamental so do not rush). Add two spoonfuls of Crisco to the chocolate chips and heat it in the microwave for one minute. Stir the chips and Crisco and then reheat for 15 seconds, then stir and reheat for 15 seconds, stir and reheat for 15 seconds. You get the idea, slowly melt the chips and make sure you are always stirring. If you are not careful, you will overheat the chocolate and it will dry out.

When the 20 minutes is up, pull the cake out of the freezer and begin forming small “cake balls” with your hands. The balls do not need to be very big – one cake can make anywhere from 50-75 cake balls depending on how big you make them (I made about 75 cake balls with the batch you had, just to give you an idea of how big the little cakes need to be).

Make a few balls, then dip them in the chocolate and lay them out on wax paper to dry. This seems tricky at first but you get the hang of it quickly.

The cake balls stay yummy for about a week (I made the batch you had on Sunday and you ate them on Thursday – they were still moist because of the icing in the cake)! Enjoy.

(From: Jordan Keene)

One night when Jordan and Kevin were babysitting Katelyn, she had made these for a party the next evening and they looked so good. I made some and took them to the Real Life Bible Fellowship party this year.