What's Your Favorite Kind of Cake?

I have been MIA in the cake world for the last 4 months.  The last cake I made was for my sister.  It was a simple cake that actually my kids decorated.  I have yet to post it on here.  I do have a good excuse though.  If you follow my other blog, Positively Peaches, you would know that we are expecting.  Right after I finished making Razy's birthday cake, I got really sick.  I was never sick with my other three kids.  This one though really did me in.  I thought I would never get over it.  I am now well into my 2nd trimester.  25 weeks!!! Yay.  It wasn't until about week 15 that I was starting to feel better.  Luckily I have a wonderful husband who took care of lots of house work and stuck through lots of eating out. 

When I was asked by the Cubscout Committee Chair to make a cake for the upcoming Blue & Gold I was leary, but excited.  I have been itching to make another cake.  However, this one is going to be a fairly simple one with just piping.  No fondant.  I didn't have it in me to spend the extra day making and kneading the fondant.  With that being said the cake is in the oven right now.  I am making my favorite, White Sour Cream and Almond.  I thought it would be fun to see what kinds of cake you all enjoy eating or making. 

What is your favorite kind of cake? 

What flavor of icing do you like?

What flavor of filling is your favorite?

If you have a recipe that you wouldn't mind sharing I would love to hear them (djpeachparty5@gmail.com).  Who knows maybe I will have to try it and feature YOU!!

Baked Doughnuts

We have had a week off of school due to atleast 12 inches of snow this week.  The kids and I have had lots of fun playing in the snow, drinking hot chocolate, and playing video games with daddy.  Along with all this fun the snow has also gotten me in the baking mood.  Must be the due to the fact that I didn't get my Christmas time baking fix in like I would have liked to because of morning sickness.   I really did want to make cookies, and cakes, and other goodies, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.  Now I have been feeling lots better and now I am in the mood. 

I love pinning.  I found this doughnut recipe while doing so.  The recipe was easy to follow and the end result was pretty yummy.  Daddy and the kids all loved them.  I think they could be even better if I could find a yummy maple glaze. 

***This recipe was taken from Krissy's Creations***

Baked Doughnuts
Makes: About 15 doughnuts (& doughnut holes)

For the Dough
3/4 cups Warm Milk
1 packet Active Dry Yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
1 tbsp. Unsalted Butter
1/3 cup Sugar
1 Egg
2 ½ cup All Purpose Flour
Pinch of Nutmeg
½ tsp. Salt

For the Glaze
* Enough to glaze all the doughnuts
¼ cup Milk
1 tsp. Pure Vanilla Extract
2 cups Confectioners Sugar

For the Cinnamon Sugar Topping
*Enough to cover all of the doughnuts
½ cup Unsalted Butter
1 cup Sugar
1 tbsp. Cinnamon

To make the dough, place ¼ cups of the warm milk in the bowl of a stand mixer. Sprinkle the yeast over the milk. Let sit for 5 minutes.

In a small bowl, combine the remaining ½ cup of milk with the sugar and butter. Add it to the yeast mixture. Stir to combine. Add the egg and stir until incorporated. Add the flour, nutmeg, and salt and stir until the dough starts to form. Change to the dough hook and knead for until the dough starts to become smooth. If the dough is too sticky, slowly add more flour until it is no longer sticky.

Transfer to the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic and has formed a ball. Place the dough ball in a large lightly greased bowl, and cover with plastic wrap. Let sit in a warm place for about 1 hour, until doubled in size.

Once the dough has risen, roll it out on a lightly floured surface until ½ thick. Using a doughnut cutter (if you don’t have a doughnut cutter, you can use 2 biscuit cutters – 1 that is about 3 inches, and the other that is about 2 inches for the inner circle) cut out the doughnuts until you have no dough left. If desired you can gather up the scraps into a ball and roll it out and cut out more doughnuts. However, I found that the dough got too hard to work with.

Place the doughnuts on a baking sheet lined with a silicone mat or parchment paper, about 2 inches apart. Cover with a clean towel and let sit for about 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven 375 degrees F.

Place the baking sheets in the oven and bake for 7 minutes, until lightly golden brown. Be careful to not overbake these. You want them to be light and doughy inside. Let the doughnuts cool for about 5 minutes until ready to top with either the glaze or cinnamon sugar topping

While the doughnuts are cooling make the glaze and/or cinnamon sugar glaze. Each recipe makes enough to cover all the doughnuts. I made a half recipe of each and topped half of the doughnuts with each topping. Or you can choose to just do one of topping for all the doughnuts.

To make the glaze, combine the milk and the vanilla in a small saucepan. Heat over low heat until just warmed. Slowly add in the confectioners sugar and whisk until the mixture is smooth. Remove the glaze from the heat and place over a bowl of warm water.

To glaze the doughnuts, dip them halfway into the glaze and place on a draining/cooling rack set over a baking sheet. Sprinkle with sprinkles if desired. Let set for about 10 minutes.

To make the cinnamon sugar topping, melt the butter in a saucepan or a microwave, and place in a small bowl. Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a medium sized bowl.

To top the doughnuts with cinnamon sugar, dip the halfway into the melted butter. Then dip them into the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Set on a draining/cooling rack to set, about 5 minutes.

Serve and enjoy :)!

Strawberry Shortcake Birthday Cake

My little girl just turned 4.  For her 4th birthday she insisted on having a Strawberry Shortcake cake.  Over all it was a fun cake that went pretty smoothly to make.  It was really humid here the week I made it and the fondant was alot harder to work with than usual, but I was able to get past that and work through it.  At least there were no cake disasters.

We went with a WSCA cake with a strawberry cream cheese filling and frosted in vanilla buttercream, then covered in marshmellow fondant.

For your taste bud enjoyment I a sharing the Filling recipe.  I found the recipe over on cake central.  I love that site for new recipes for cakes and cupcakes.

Creamy & Firm Strawberry Cream Cheese Filling

Ingredients:

1 cup water

2 small pkgs strawberry gelatin

4 8oz pks cream cheese at room temperature

1 16oz frozen sweetened strawberries (thawed)

Instructions:

Put one cup of water into a clear glass bowl--don't substitute.  Microwave on high until it boils.  Add the two boxes of gelatin and stir with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until you can smear the mixture against the side of the bowl without seeing any granules.  It should be clear and red.  this step will take a few minutes.  Add the strawberries and mix well.  Let this come to room temperature.  DO NOT refrigerate.  Cream the cream cheese in a stand mixer until fluffy.  Add the strawberry mixture a half cup at a time until it is well blended (it will be a little thin).  Refrigerate for an hour or more or until ready to use.  This filling is very yummy with WSCA as it is not too sweet. 

Left overs are yummy when put into a graham cracker pie crust and topped with whipped cream.

Marshmellow Fondant {tutorial}

Here is my favorite Marshmellow Fondant recipe.  I will let you know in advance that fondant is super messy to make.  You will have Powdered Sugar all over your kitchen.  If you have never used fondant before, you may want to buy a little just so you can see what the consistency should look and feel like.

What you will need:

8 cups Mini Marshmellows

3TBS of Water

1 TB of Flavor

 (I use Wilton's Clear Vanilla...I have also made pink using strawberry extract mmm)

9 Cups (ish) Powdered Sugar Sifted

2 Heaping TBS of Shortening

1.  Grease Bowl and Dough Hook of Kitchen Aid. 

2.  Sift 9 Cups of Powdered Sugar in a separate Mixing Bowl.  Sifting the Powdered Sugar is very important.  You don't want to have any lumps in your sugar or you will have lumps in your fondant.   

3.  Put marshmellows, water, flavoring, and shortening in a microwave safe bowl.  I like to use my pampered chef measuring bowl.

4.  Heat up marshmellow mixture in 30 sceond increments.  Pull out and stir in between each increments.  Keep heating until the marshmellows are almost melted, it will look soupy with some lumps.

5.  Scoop 6 cups of Powdered Sugar in Kitchen Aid.  During this time your marshmellow should be cooling down, but don't let them cool completely. Make a well in the powdered sugar with the measuring cup.

5.  Pour Marshmellow Mixture into Powdered Sugar well.  It's going to spread out. 

7. Put 1 more Cup of Powdered Sugar on top of Marshmellow Mixture. 

8. Put the kitchenaid on the first setting. (mine was on Stir) Once the Powdered Sugar is mostly incorporated put on the next setting (I used 2), let it run for a while.  You'll notice there is Powedered Sugar on the sides of the bowl, this is fine, leave it there.  Refrain from scraping it down.

9.  Do an eye and finger test. Watch for the powdered sugar to creep up on the dough hook.  Test with your finger by touching the mixture.  If it goo and sticking to yoiur finger add 1/4 cup more of powdered sugar. 

  

10.  Prepare your counter with shortening.  Bring your sifted sugar that is left and place near where you are working.  Dump the dough on the counter.  Grease your hands.

11.  Add more powdered sugar about 1/8 cup at a time until it can hold it's own weight.  Hand knead and add more powdered sugar in the bowl if you need to.  It will hold its own shape but will still fall (almost like the 10 second peak you lood for when doing cookie icing).

12.  Grease it up, wrap in saran wrap and then put in a plastic gallon or quart sized bag.  Let it rest for several hours (atleast 8 or more).  You will notice that it will stiffen up more as the hours go by. 

Raspberry Cheesecake

The other day the kids and I went raspberry picking.  I didn't want to turn all the raspberries into jam because we just got done doing 18 pints of strawberry jam.  Instead I decided to make a cheesecake.  This was scary for me because I have never made cheesecake before.  I am so glad I did because it turned out beautiful.

I found the recipe from a whisk a spoon.  Can I just say that her cheesecake is gorgeous.  All credit for this recipe goes to her. 

Raspberry Cheesecake- makes a 6-inch cake

(I did make mine in a 7 inch pan because that is the closest I could find.  It turned out just fine.)

for the base:
2-3 T unsalted butter, melted
2 T sugar
1/8 t cinnamon (optional)
pinch of salt
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs

for the raspberry swirl:
110 g fresh or frozen raspberries
2 T sugar
small splash of water

for the filling:
300g cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup plus 2 T sour cream
1 egg
1/2 cup superfine sugar
seeds from 1/2 vanilla bean

-for the crust: Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C. Combine melted butter, sugar, cinnamon, salt and crumbs in a bowl. Press into the botton of a 6-inch springform pan and bake for about 10-15 minutes. Cool crust slightly.

-for the raspberry swirl: In a small pan over medium low heat, gently cook the raspberries with the sugar and water until the berries begin to break down, the sugar has dissolved and the mixture has thickened a bit. Squish up the berries a little and push the mixture through a sieve to remove the seeds. Set aside to cool.

-for the filling: Process the cream cheese in a food processor until smooth (don’t forget to scrape!). Add the sour cream, egg, sugar and vanilla bean seeds and process until smooth and fully combined.

-to assemble: Brush sides of the springform with a little softened butter. Wrap the outside of the pan with a double layer of foil. (The cake bakes in a water bath, and doing this will help keep water from seeping into the cake as it cooks.) Pour the filling over the graham cracker base. Drizzle the raspberry sauce over and swirl gently with a butter or pairing knife. Create a water bath by placing the cake tin in a slightly larger roasting pan or baking dish. Carefully pour hot water halfway up the sides of the springform. Bake at 280°F/140°C for a little over an hour, until the edges look set but the center jiggles slightly. Let cool on a rack, then cover and refrigerate for several hours before serving.

Homemade Samoas Cookies {MMM Girl Scout Cookie Goodness}

Homemade Samoas Cookies

shared from the kitchen of

Once Upon a Plate

Read Before Making: These cookies do take some time and there are many steps to it. However, you will not be dissappointed. They are well worth the work.

Cookies ~ Homemade Samoas
(also known as Caramel de-Lites)
Makes about 4 to 4 1/2 dozen

Let the 4 step process begin:

1. Make the cookie Base
2. Top with Caramel-Coconut mixture
3. Dip bottom of cookies in melted chocolate
4. Drizzle tops with melted chocolate

The Cookie (base):
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
up to 2 tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 350F.

Cream together butter and sugar in a large bowl. Mix in flour, baking powder and salt at a low speed, next, the vanilla and milk, adding in the milk only as needed to make the dough come together without being sticky (you may not need any at all). The dough should come together into a soft, pliable ball. Add in a bit of extra flour if your dough seems sticky.

It's easiest to roll the dough out in 2 or 3 batches (between pieces of wax (or parchment) paper to about 1/4-inch thickness (or a little thinner) using a 1 1/2-inch cookie cutter to make rounds. Place on a parchment lined (or on silicone mat) baking sheet and make a hole in the center. I used one of those big plastic straws. You know the ones that your kids blow into and they drive you crazy with that whistling sound. However, this part is really not necessary. Next time I don't think I will do it. They will give you the Girl Scout look, but the flavor is still the same. Repeat until the dough is used up (it's okay to re-roll, this dough is shortbread-like and very forgiving.)

Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes, until bottoms are very lightly golden brown around the edges. All ovens are different so I actually did mine for 9 mins. and they came out perfect.

Cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet, to allow them to firm up slightly, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Topping:
3 cups shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)
12-ounces good-quality chewy caramels
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons milk
8 ounces dark or semisweet chocolate (chocolate chips will do, however, I found that when I made them with the chocolate chips they melt in your hands even after setting up.)

(If you prefer milk chocolate use it. I used semi-sweet and JBody wishes I would have gone with Milk. He is a huge milk chocolate guy though.)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees (F)

Spread coconut evenly on a rimmed baking sheet and toast 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes, until coconut is golden. Watch carefully, especially near the end of toasting time; the coconut toasts very quickly once it begins to become golden.

My Notes: 20 minutes was too long. The coconut was already golden at 10 and I had to take it out.

Cool on baking sheet, stirring occasionally. Set aside.

Unwrap the caramels and place in a large microwave-safe bowl with milk and salt. Cook on high for 3-4 minutes, stopping to stir a few times to help the caramel melt. When smooth, fold in toasted coconut with a spatula.

Using the spatula or a small offset spatula, spread topping on cooled cookies, using about 2-3 teaspoons per cookie. Reheat caramel for a few seconds in the microwave if it begins to firm up, to make it soft and spreadable once again.

While topping sets up, melt chocolate in a small bowl. Heat on high in the microwave in 45 second intervals, stirring thoroughly to prevent scorching. Dip the base of each cookie into the chocolate and place on a clean piece of parchment paper (I dipped them and then had them set up upside down before drizzling). Transfer all remaining chocolate into a piping bag or a ziplock bag with the corner snipped off and drizzle finished cookies with chocolate.

Let chocolate set completely before storing in an airtight container.

Let me just tell you that you have to try these. And once you make them hide them from yourself. Trust me they are addicting. I have plans to make them again. I have a cute cookie container idea I found on pinterest. We are going to give them away as Christmas Presents. Let me know if you make them and what you think of them.

Recipe credit: Nicole @ Baking Bites.com

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I love pinterest. I have become addicted to it. In the evening while we are watching tv I find myself looking through pins. I have found many things that I will slowly be doing myself and sharing here on the blog. Here is a recipe that I knew I wanted to try out. I had to share it with you.  I shared it on my Positively Peaches blog, but I wanted to share it with my Peach of Cake followers as well.

They were pinned and posted by i am baker.

The New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cups minus 2 tablespoons (8 1/2 ounces) cake flour

1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour

*I only used all purpose flour for my recipe.

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt

2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter

1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/4 pounds chocolate chips

Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl and set aside.

Using a mixer with a paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy – about 5 minutes. Add eggs. Stir in vanilla. Reduce to low speed and add dry ingredients slowly, mixing until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips. Refrigerate dough for 24-36 hours.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350.Drop spoonfuls of dough onto baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

I don't know why these turned out perfect. Whenever I make chocolate chip cookies they spread out thin. It could be because the dough is refrigerated. I don't know, but these were so yummy. Try them out and let me know what you think.

Strawberry Banana Muffins

About a month ago a friend on my facebook posted a link to this recipe. I knew I wanted to try it. However, strawberries and bananas don't last too long in our house. The kids devour them quicker than I can muster up the motivation to bake. A couple days ago we went to costco and bought fruit and lots of it; apples, oranges, grapefruit, grapes, bananas, and strawberries. With so much fruit in the house I was actually able to try out this new recipe!

Ingredients:
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cup fresh strawberries, chopped
2 1/4 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 medium, ripe bananas
1/2 tsp salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.
Mix the bananas, eggs, brown sugar and butter until blended. Add flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Mix well. Stir in vanilla and strawberries by hand so as not to mush the berries. Spoon into well greased muffin cups. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes.
Makes 12-18 muffins.

The Verdict: The house smelt delish! I love the smell of baked goods and banana bread is one of my absolute favorites. The muffins were also very tasty. The banana and strawberry flavors as always compliment eachother. I will admit strawberries are not my favorite mushy foods. I like them fresh. I hate them in strawberry yogurt. I don't like chunks of mushy strawberries so it did take me a bit or two to get past the warm mush of strawberries. I may have to try one later when they aren't warm to see if it helps. If you can get past the mushy strawberries you are sure to love these. I have a feeling they won't last long in the house.

For more yummy recipes visit Nanzinas-Recipe-Swap.

Banana Crumb Muffin Recipe

Tonight while JBody was at Priesthood session for General Conference, I decided to let the kids watch Tangled. We just received it from Netflix. With a movie, often times comes snacks. As I looked around for something for the kids to snack on I found some ripe bananas. I remembered Razy talking about making cupcakes and decided to go muffins. I quickly surfed the web for a test worthy muffin recipe. I found a yummy sounding Banana Crumb Muffin recipe with great reviews.

So what was our verdict?

DELICIOUS, yummy, ScRUMPtious,mmmmmMMMMM! The list could go on.

Here is the original version of the muffins (found on allrecipes.com).  I actually made some additions.  You can find those and some tips at the end of the recipe.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 bananas, mashed

3/4 cup white sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/3 cup butter, melted



1/3 cup packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon butter

Directions

1.Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease 10 muffin cups, or line with muffin papers.

2.In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.

3.In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1 tablespoon butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.

4.Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean. 

So I added 1 tsp. vanilla and 1 tsp. of cinnamon to the muffin mix

The topping is seems to cook into the muffin if you add it before putting it in the oven.  I actually did a batch by putting the topping mix on 5 minutes before baking time ended.

In my oven I baked the mini muffins for 7 mins then added topping and baked another 5 mins.

I baked the larger muffins for 17 mins adding the topping at the begining.  Next time I would bake for 12 mins and then add topping and bake another 5 mins. 

Let me know if you tried these out and what you thought.

Wanna share a muffin recipe?  Post one on your blog and send me the link, send me an email (djpeachparty5 at gmail dot com) or post in my comment section.  I love new recipes! 

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Cupcakes

Friday nights are movie nights. One Friday we decided to watch Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. In honor of the movie I made some Speghetti with Meatballs Cupcakes. The cupcakes were made using the Almond Sour Cream Cake recipe. I placed the cupcakes on the a plate and then covered them all messily with buttercream icing squeezed through a round tip. I placed the meatballs (oreo truffles) on top of the noodles and spooned homemade strawberry jam over the whole thing. MMM MMM Yummy! I have seen ferrero rocher chocolates used as the meatballs. However, Lil' E is allergic to nuts.

Oreo Truffles

1 pkg. of oreos finely crushed

1 (8oz) pkg. cream cheese, softened

2 pkg. (8 squares each) BAKER'S semi sweet chocolate, melted

Mix the oreo crumbs and cream cheese together. Shape into balls. Dip into melted chocolate. Set aside on wax paper to set.

Shark Cake

Lil' E's 5th Birthday Cake. It is supposed to be a Great White Shark...some thought maybe a nurse shark because it was so big. It is the first time I have covered a cake completely with fondant. The body was easy to cover. The fins and the tail another story. The cake is a red velvet cake with the fins and the tail made out of rice crispie treats. It was also my first attempt at airbrushing. Over all I was happy with the result. To decorated with swedish fish and sea shells that I made from fondant. For a recipe of the cake see below.

Red Velvet Cake

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar

1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature

2 eggs

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

2 ounces red food coloring

2 1/2 cups cake flour (I used all purpose with great results)

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon vinegar

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a mixing bowl, cream the sugar and butter, beat until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and mix well after each addition. Mix cocoa and food coloring together and then add to sugar mixture; mix well. Sift together flour and salt. Add flour mixture to the creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk. Blend in vanilla. In a small bowl, combine baking soda and vinegar and add to mixture. Pour batter into 3 (8-inch) round greased and floured pans (or pan size of choice). Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from heat and cool completely before frosting.

Tiered Thomas Cake

Here is Doble's 3rd Birthday cake. We just couldn't talk him into any other cake. He loves Thomas too too much. So for the 3rd time I have made a Thomas cake. He loved it as did I. I am also in love with the new recipe I have found. It makes such a moist cake. mmm yummy.

One tier is chocolate and the other is vanilla. Buttercream icing with fondant decorations. The trains are toys. Happy Birthday Doble!

The below recipe is the new recipe I found.

WHITE ALMOND SOUR CREAM WEDDING CAKE

SERVES 40 -50

Ingredients
2 (18 ounce) boxes white cake mix (Betty Crocker or Pillsbury)
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 2/3 cups water
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons real vanilla
2 teaspoons almond extract
2 cups sour cream
8 large egg whites

Directions
1. Place all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and stir together with a wire whisk.
2. Add the remaining ingredients and beat on medium speed until everything is wet. Do not overmix. Recipes tell you to mix for 2 mins. I don't go the full length.
3. Pour into greased and floured cake pans, filling each pan a little over half full. I like to line the bottom of my pan with parchment paper for easy release.
4. Lightly tap cake pans on counter to bring air bubbles to top.
5. Bake in preheated 325° F oven until cake tests done.
6. Baking time varies according to the size and depth of pans being used.

In 2" deep pans, this recipe makes:
One 14" round and one 6" round
or One 16" round
or One 12" round and one 10" round
or One 12 X 18" sheet cake
or One 12" round and one 8" round and one 6" round
or Two 9" squares.
or 5 dozen cupcakes.

Half the recipe makes:
Two 7" rounds
or Two 6" rounds and 6 cupcakes.

For chocolate cake: use chocolate mixes and substitute 6 whole eggs for the egg whites.

For berry flavors: use frozen berries, thaw reserving the juice. Substitute the berry juice for part of the water in the recipe, and stir the berries in at the end.

For lemon cake: substitute lemon juice for about 1 cup of the water in the recipe, use 6 whole eggs instead of the whites, stir in 1 Tblsp lemon zest, and use 1 tsp of a good lemon extract in place of the almond.

For white chocolate: melt 8oz white baking chocolate & cool slightly. use 6 whole eggs in the recipe instead of the whites, temper the chocolate by stirring in a small amount of the batter, then add the white chocolate to the entire batter and stir well. Doesn't bake up quite as high as the original, so add a pinch more batter to the pans.

** I have made this by substituting more vanilla for the almond. I perfer the almond flavor but JBody really liked the vanilla flavor.

**If making a chocolate cake I do not recommend adding extra vanilla for the almond. And don't use a milk chocolate cake mix they don't taste as good (my preferences)