As you can guess, this one ISN’T a pic of the cake that I made. This is from the Cooking.com website:
I made this cake the other day and it is the HIGHEST/TALLEST CAKE I’VE EVER MADE IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!! That’s a pretty bold statement for me to make since I’ve made more cakes from scratch than most people since baking is one of my passions. I didn’t have enough red food coloring for the cake, so it’s not as red as it should be. With enough food coloring, the bright red cake, coupled with the white cream cheese frosting, would make an elegant and tasty Christmas cake! There’s more than enough to share with friends and family, too! I adjusted the frosting recipe. I didn’t make as much frosting as the recipe requires since I don’t like too much frosting on my cake. But, the recipe states that you can store frosting in the refrigerator for up to three days. This was the first time I’ve ever made red velvet cake and we were pleased with the result! If you make this recipe, be sure to leave a comment and let me know how it turns out! Do any of you like red velvet cake? Have you ever made one before?

~Cecelia Dowdy~

SOUTHERN RED VELVET CAKE WITH CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

RECIPE INGREDIENTS For the Cake:
Nonstick vegetable cooking spray, for pans
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, plus more for dusting
5 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
3 cups sugar
3 cups canola oil (Editor’s note: That’s 1 cup per cake layer!)
4 large eggs
4 tablespoons red food coloring (one 2-ounce bottle)
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups well-shaken buttermilk
1 tablespoon baking soda
5 teaspoons distilled white vinegar
1 recipe Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe follows)

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
Three 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened
5 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS For the Cake:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Generously spray three 9-by-2-inch round cake pans with nonstick cooking spray, and line with parchment paper. Spray the lining; dust with cocoa, tapping out any excess. Set aside. Whisk together the flour, salt and cocoa in a medium bowl; set aside.

Mix the sugar and oil at a medium speed in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment until combined. Add the eggs, one at a time; mix well after each addition. Mix in the food coloring and vanilla. Add the flour mixture in three batches, alternating with the buttermilk, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of bowl as needed.

Stir together the baking soda and vinegar in a small nonreactive bowl. Add the baking-soda mixture to the batter, and mix at medium speed for 10 seconds. Divide the batter equally among the pans. Tap the pans on the counter to remove bubbles. Bake until cake tester inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool the pans on a rack for 5 minutes. Invert the cakes onto wire racks to cool completely.

To assemble, place one layer top-side down on a cake stand. Using an offset spatula, spread with a 1/4-inch thick layer of frosting. Repeat with remaining layers. To frost the top and side of the cake, work from the center toward and over the edge, making sure to coat evenly. The cake can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
In a standing stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a handheld electric mixer in a large bowl, mix the cream cheese and butter at a low speed until incorporated. Add the sugar and vanilla. Increase the speed to high, and mix until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.

Store in the refrigerator before using, until it is somewhat stiff, about 15 minutes. The frosting may be stored in the refrigerator for 3 days.

I met with my local ACFW writers group yesterday in Columbia Maryland. We met at Panera Bread in the Columbia Mall. It was a great meeting and while I was there, I drank a blueberry smoothie. I had not had a smoothie in ages! It was so good. So good that today, while at the store, I wanted to buy ingredients to make a pineapple smoothie, but my five-year-old son said, “Mommy, I want a strawberry smoothie.” I don’t think I’ve ever made a smoothie myself, but I’ve found it’s very easy to do! The smoothie I made today wasn’t as sweet as the one at Panera, but it was still luscious! If you want a sweeter smoothie, you could always add a little sugar. Here’s the recipe:

Strawberry And Banana Smoothie

3 6oz. containers strawberry yogurt
3 ripe bananas
6 (or more) fresh strawberries
Ice

Slice bananas and strawberries into the blender. Add yogurt. Blend until smooth. Add desired amount of ice and then pulse until smooth. Pour into glasses. Serve with a straw!

Yummy!!

My son said, “Mommy, this is good! I want some more!” LOL! 🙂

Enjoy! 🙂

~Cecelia Dowdy~

I made jam for the first time recently and if you’re my friend on Facebook, you may already know about my adventures in jam making! Here’s the recipe I used, followed with a commentary about all that happened when I made this jam!

Strawberry Jam

8 cups of strawberries (about 4 pints), crushed
5 cups sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Mix all ingredients in Dutch oven. Heat to boiling over high heat, stirring frequently. Boil uncovered, stirring frequently, until translucent and jam is thick, about 25 minutes. Quickly skim off foam. Immediately pour jam into hot sterilized jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Wipe rim of jars. Seal as directed on jars.

I got about 7 half pints of jam from this recipe. I didn’t crush the berries, I just sliced them. I made the mistake of using the JAM setting on my bread machine instead of using the dutch oven since I don’t have a dutch oven. The jam setting didn’t cook the mixture enough. When I poured it into the hot, sterilized jars, it was watery – like strawberry water. I went ahead and sealed the jars anyway, thinking it would thicken later. Several hours later, it was still watery. I figured that it didn’t cook long enough on the JAM setting on the bread machine, even though it went through the whole cycle for JAM on the bread machine. Feeling upset about all the wasted time and effort, I opened the sealed jars and poured the strawberry water into a big pot and cooked it until it thickened on the stove. I stirred frequently and it took about 25 minutes for it to thicken. I then re-sterilized the jars and poured the thicken jam into the jars and resealed them. I then placed the sealed jars into hot water so that they could re-seal.

I called my mom and she informed me that since I’d already sealed the strawberry water earlier, I couldn’t re-use the lids since the seal was now broken. By this time, it was nine o’clock at night and I wasn’t going out to buy new lids. I ended up leaving the jars out to cool, with the lids on and the next day I placed them into the refrigerator, just to be safe.

The day after Labor Day, once we’d returned from work, I opened a jar of jam and found that it had sealed! 🙂

I made some toast and we spread butter and jelly on the toast and IT WAS GOOD! Our five-year-old son stated: “Mmmm! Mommy, this is good!”

It was so delicious and we ate a whole jar within a couple of days! 🙂

Do any of you can regularly? I do have a question if you do? You know the lids for the jars? Are you supposed to sterilze both parts of the lids before you place them onto the filled jars? I’d think if you sterilized that middle part of the lid, the one with the seal, that it being in the boiling water would break the seal before you screwed it on the lid?

I plan on doing this again, but not anytime soon! I’ll probably do it in the spring or summer. I’ll probably make peach preserves next! Doesn’t that sound yummy!

~Cecelia Dowdy~

I need to post a review for Finding Jeena by Miralee Ferrell. I finished this book weeks ago, but have yet to post my review. Hopefully I’ll find the energy to do it tomorrow.

Also on my reading pile:
Rooms by James Rubart – this is a strange book. A break from my normal reading. I got it as a free Kindle download

Katy’s Debate by Kim Vogel Sawyer – this is a YA title that’s part of a First Wildcard Blog Tour.

Final Touch by Brandilyn and Amberly Collins – this is also a YA title that’s part of a First Wildcard Blog Tour.

I’m thinking about making some strawberry jam within the next week or so. I’m curious to see if it tastes better than store-bought jam. I have to buy the jars and I’m going to use my bread machine to make it. The bread machine has a jam setting. I’ll do it this one time and if it tastes the same as store-bought, I doubt I’ll make it again. That’s what I did with ice cream. We made ice cream two times years ago. We made chocolate and vanilla. I thought it tasted just like the Bryer’s ice cream you got at the grocery store, so I didn’t make ice cream anymore! Why waste the time when you can get it from the store and it tastes just as good?

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Me, my husband, and our son are out of town this weekend attending hubby’s high school reunion. It’s a six-hour drive from our home. While on the road, we stopped at a Hardee’s. I ordered chili dog and onion rings, hubby ordered burger and onion rings. I had a cherry Coke and hubby had Coke. Our four-year-old had a strawberry shake. Everything that we ate had an aftertaste! Kind of like the after taste you get when you drink a diet soda. One reason I refuse to drink diet sodas is because of that terrible aftertaste! Yuck! That was the first time I’d tasted that on food instead of diet drinks! They had apple turnovers – 2 for $1.00. We got two. We sat in the car and tasted the turnovers. They had the same aftertaste. Our son’s strawberry milkshake was the only part of the meal that tasted decent. My husband said that it was probably the grease they used to fry the food. The grease probably had that aftertaste.

When we got to our hotel, I was looking through the drawers for Internet access information, and the first thing I saw was The Book of Mormon. I found The Holy Bible in another drawer. I guess The Book of Mormon is being distributed in hotels like the Holy Bible? I didn’t realize this.

We went to breakfast at The Waffle House and on the way back to the hotel I saw a bookstore called Lighthouse Christian Books. The store is closed – out of business. According to the sign, they will reopen for one day only on July 24 to get rid of the merchandise. I peeked into the dark store and it appeared they had a lot of books – a lot of shelf space. It looked like a good-sized Christian bookstore and it’s a shame they’re going out of business, but, I blogged about that here. I think bookstores will be a thing of the past within the next several years.

We’ve got events lined up for the class reunion today and we’re heading home tomorrow. I’m still behind on my book reviews. I’ve got a few books that I’ve read but have yet to post a review. I’ll do that soon.

~Cecelia Dowdy~

You don’t have to worry about the alcoholic content in this cake! The alcohol bakes out of the cake in the oven. You could probably use any kind of cake mix for this recipe. Somebody gave me this recipe in an email. It’s very tasty!

Momma’s Wine Cake:

1 (18.25 ounce) package butter recipe cake mix or chocolate cake mix
1 (5 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix or chocolate pudding mix
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup white wine
4 eggs

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spray the inside of a bundt pan with non-stick cooking spray. Sprinkle white sugar inside the pan. (This will create a great sugary crust on the cake while baking.)

In medium bowl combine the cake mix, instant vanilla pudding, vegetable oil, white wine, and eggs. Beat with an electric mixer for 5 minutes. I mixed it by hand. It only took a few minutes.

Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cake cool on rack in pan for 10 minutes then remove cake from pan to rack. Let cake cool completely before slicing. Garnish sliced cake with a dollop of whipped cream or dust with confectioners’ sugar and sliced strawberries. I didn’t garnish mine. I just removed it from the pan and we sliced and ate it! Yummy!

I’d like to try this using another variation: Yesterday, I purchased a lemon cake mix and a box of lemon instant pudding from the store. I’d like to try this recipe using those two ingredients. I’d also like to add a little bit of lemon extract to the cake if I do this? Not sure if I’ll add the extract, though. It would be interesting to see how it turns out. I probably won’t get around to trying this for awhile though – at least a few months! I’ll be sure to blog about it once I try it!

~Cecelia Dowdy~