Happy Birthday, Susan!

Today is our office mom Susan's birthday, so I baked her a French Tower Torte and a homeade Coconut Cream Pie.  I also got her a Sweet Pea gift set from Bath & Body Works.  Some sweets for the sweet!  Susan always takes good care of us (and me), so she deserves it!  Enjoy the recipes!

French Tower Torte

6 ripe bananas

1 can (20 oz each) crushed pineapple in juice

1 yellow cake mix

2 packages of sliced almonds

Pineapple Crème Chantilly Filling

Prepare 2- 9 inch cake pans with shortening and a dusting of flour. Peel and mash 1 banana to make 1/3 cup. Drain pineapple well, reserving juice for cake and pineapple for crème filling. Follow package instructions for cake, using mashed banana and reserved pineapple juice instead of water. If there is not enough juice, add water to the juice to make up there difference. Bake at 375* 30 min. Cool 10 minutes before removing from pans. Slice cooled cakes in half horizontally to make 4 layers. Prepare crème filling.

Pineapple Crème Chantilly Filling

1 pint heavy whipping cream OR 1 large tub of Cool Whip

Sugar to taste

Crushed pineapple (see above)

Whip 1 pint whipping cream with sugar until stiff or use one large tub of Cool Whip. Fold in reserved, drained pineapple.

Spread 1/4 filling over bottom layer, then add sliced banana and almonds on top. Add second layer; repeat, adding the filling, banana and almonds on top of each layer. Refrigerate.

Bananas have a short life span, so it’s best to eat this dessert as soon as possible!

Easy Coconut Cream Pie

Kraft Recipes

2 pkg. (3.4 oz. each) JELL-O Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding
2 cups cold milk
2 cups thawed Cool Whip Whipped Topping, divided
1 cup flake coconut, divided
1 pie crust

Beat pudding mixes and milk in large bowl with whisk 2 min. Stir in 1 cup COOL WHIP and 3/4 cup coconut; pour into crust. **note**  I like to add both toasted and untoasted coconut to my pie filling.

Refrigerate 4 hours or until set. Meanwhile toast remaining coconut, if desired.

Top pie with remaining Cool Whipe and toasted coconut.

How to Toast Coconut

Heat oven to 350°F. Spread coconut in shallow pan. Bake 7 to 10 min. or until lightly browned, stirring frequently.

Healthy Living

Trim 4 grams of fat per serving by preparing with fat-free milk, Cool Whip Lite Whipped Topping and a ready-to-use reduced-fat graham cracker crumb crust.

A Brand New Start!

It's been awhile since I've posted anything.  The cupcake thing kind of ran it's course, and life just gets crazy sometimes, ya know?  I really want to continue blogging so I decided to switch gears a little and use this as a way to share my life with everyone and all the little things and people who make it sweet.  My husband, family, friends and dogs are a big part of that, so expect to see more of them.  To start off the very first post, here is a sweet little reward!  Another yummy recipe from my "office mom" Susan Long.  She made this for us earlier this week and it was just slap yo momma good!  It's called "Ooey Gooey Butter Cake".  Hope you enjoy!  Thank you (again) Susan!

Ooey Gooey Butter Cake

1 box of yellow cake mix
1 stick of melted butter or margarine
1 egg

Mix together and pat into a greased 13x9 pan.

Sprinkle with chopped nuts (if desired)

8 oz. Cream cheese – softened
1 box (3 ¾ cups) 10x sugar (I sift mine)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Mix together and pour on top of cake.

Sprinkle with coconut (if desired).

Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes – until golden brown and set.

**Variation**
To make this a brownie recipe (Neiman Marcus Brownies):

Use a box of devil’s food cake mix instead of a yellow one.

Sprinkle with coconut.

Sweet Coconut Cake

Once again, this is not cupcake related, but it was SO good I had to share! Our office Mom, Susan Long, is at it again.  This time she made Sweet Coconut Cake.  It was to die for!  She is always making something sinful (like her Pineapple Cake and her Butterfinger Cake), but this has to be one of my favorites.  Not only is it SUPER easy, it also has coconut and sweetened condensed milk in it.  It's SO coconutty and moist I could almost throw it in a glass with a straw and a little umbrella!  I guess when she bakes something from now on, she will be a regular contributor to my blog. She just doesn't know that yet. :)  Give the recipe a try and let me know what you think.  I'll let her know you <3 it as much as I do!

Ingredients:
1 box of white cake mix
1 can coconut milk (in ethnic section of grocery store)
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 8 oz container of Cool Whip
1 bag of sweetened coconut (you can use as much or as little as you like!)

Directions:
Bake the white cake in a 9 x 13 according to directions. When done, poke holes in the top of the cake with a cake tester, toothpick, etc. (some people use their forks). Just make a lot of holes for the next part to be able to soak into.

Combine the condensed and coconut milks and pour over the cake. Sometimes I don’t use all of it but most of it. It looks like it’s swimming, but it will soak it up.

After everything is cooled, spread cool whip on top and sprinkle with coconut.

Tada!!!!

Keep in refrigerator.

Easter Bunny cake... or cupcake cake?

I know what you're thinking, this isn't a cupcake silly woman!  Au contraire!  It was recently suggested that I make my Easter Bunny cake for work, so I was Googling some pictures to post.  This is what I found!  The book is called the Bakers Cut Up Cake Party Book and it was published in 1973 (the year after I was born!).  I had no idea where the cake design originally came from, I just know I've been making it since I was a teenager (yes, it's that easy!).  I also didn't know that there was a full-bodied Easter Bunny cake.  I'm trying to decide which I like better?  These could easily translate into a Easter Bunny cupcake cake as well.  All you'd need to do is lay them out in a similar pattern and then ice it the same way.  I may have to put that to the test!  I love to let my creative juices flow!  In my search I also found an earlier version of the same book that was from 1959 which was titled Baker’s Coconut Cut-Up Cakes.  Even though cake decorating has advanced alot since those books were published, I bet these will still come in super handy when I have children.  Vintage rocks!  eBay here I come!

1959

1973