Celebration Cake: Yellow with Chocolate Icing

"A party without cake is just a meeting."

So says Julia Childs, which means this statement is 100 percent fact.

The fave cake in these parts is yellow with a fab chocolate frosting. It holds beauty and comfort. Here she is:

 I always rock out some rainbow sprinkles on this. My son used to call the bundt-style cake a doughnut cake when he was a toddler. So cute.

And here's my secret about this cake: It originates from a box of cake mix. Listen up, all y'all who think making cakes is hard work: The recipes that follow are from the Cake Mix Doctor aka Anne Byrne. This amazing lady teaches us home cooks how to gussy up a box of cake mix that will wow a crowd. And her frostings are always a homerun. 

Next time you have a celebration that needs something sweet and special, be sure to make this Basic Sour Cream Yellow Cake. There is nothing basic about it! I love how homemade and imperfect it looks, which makes it perfectly perfect in my book.

Basic Sour Cream Yellow Cake

From "The Cake Mix Doctor"

By Anne Byrn

Serves 16

Vegetable oil spray for misting the pan

Flour for dusting the pan

1 package (18.25 ounces) plain yellow cake mix

1 cup sour cream

1/3 cup vegetable oil, such as canola, corn, safflower, soybean or sunflower

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup sugar

4 large eggs

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly mista 10-inch tube pan with vegetable oil spray, then dust with flour. Shake out the excess flour. Set the pan aside. 

Place the cake mix, sour cream, oil, water, sugar, eggs and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping the sides down again if needed. The batter should look thick and smooth. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing it out with the rubber spatula. Place the pan in the oven.

Bake the cake until it is golden brown and springs back when lightly pressed with your finger, 50 to 55 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes. Run a long, sharp knife around the edge of the cake and invert it onto a wire rack, then invert it again onto another rack so that the cake is right side up. Allow the cake to cool completely, 30 minutes more. Frost as desired.

Store the cake, unfrosted, covered in aluminum foil, at room temperature for up to 4 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. 

Martha's Chocolate Icing

From "Chocolate from the Cake Mix Doctor"

By Anne Byrn

Makes 1 and 1/2 cups, enough to frost a bundt or tube cake, 24 cupcakes or a 13-by-9-inch cake

1 cup granulated sugar

5 Tbsp. butter

1/3 cup whole milk

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Place the sugar, butter and milk in a medium-size saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir until the mixture comes to a boil, 3-4 minutes. Still stirring, let the mixture boil until the sugar dissolves, 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat.

Stir in the chocolate chips and continue to stir until the mixture is smooth and the chocolate has melted.

Spread the icing over the cooled cake or cupcakes of your choice.

Pierogies and Sauteed Veggies

I always need more meatless main recipes in my arsenal. I hope you feel the same and add this to your stash: Pierogies and Sauteed Veggies.

While making homemade pierogies is totally on my culinary task bucket list, this recipe utilizes a good ole box of Mrs. T's mini pierogies that I usually have stashed in my freezer for emergencies.

The entire endeavor of making this takes no more than 20 minutes. And it is a hit with the whole family. My son asks for many extra servings.

You can sub out any veggies you love. I think this summery mix of zucchini and red and green bell peppers is really nice with the pierogies. I sometimes serve this on top of fresh arugula too for a salad situation.

Pierogies and Sauteed Veggies
(Makes 4 servings)

1 box (12.84 ounces) frozen mini cheddar pierogies, such as Mrs. T's (about 28 pierogies)
1 small red bell pepper, sliced into thin strips
1 small green bell pepper, sliced into thin strips
1 small zucchini, trimmed, sliced in half and cut into moon-shaped pieces
1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
3 Tbsp. butter
Salt and pepper to taste
Sour cream to serve

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add pierogies to boiling water. Cook according to package instructions, usually about 3 to 6 minutes once water comes back to a boil. (I usually go longer, like 6 minutes.) Stir the pierogies occasionally while they cook. If you think they aren't cooked entirely, boil them longer.

Meanwhile, in a medium saute pan over medium-high heat, add butter. Once butter is melted, add peppers, zucchini and onion. Toss frequently and cook until lightly browned about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper

Using a slotted spoon or a spider ladle, transfer cooked pierogies directly into the saute pan with the veggies. Toss the pierogies so that they become slathered in the butter and veggies. Add a ladle of water from the pot in which the pierogies boiled to the saucepan with the veggies and pierogies. Cover with a lid and simmer for about 4-5 minutes.

Serve with sour cream.

The Classic Sour Cream Pound Cake

Baking is so therapeutic. At least that's how I see it. While bingewatching a trashy show or drowning my sorrows in booze or compulsively orders shoes online sounds enticing, I find making something to share with others is the best way to go.

Sour Cream Pound Cake can be made all year long. It's perfect with whipped cream and berries or ice cream or cut up for a fab fondue party. Of course you can buy it in a store, but homemade is always so much better.

Even the most amateur of bakers can get this one out.

I use the recipe from Better Homes and Garden. Tried and true. We usually like to eat our pound cake with some strawberries and fresh whipped cream. My recipe for whipped cream is also below. It's so easy. Just be sure to stick your bowl and beaters in the freezer ahead of time - like an hour ahead - and you are good to go.

Sour Cream Pound Cake
From “The Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook”

½ cup butter (1 stick)
3 eggs
½ cup dairy sour cream
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
¼ tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. baking soda
1 cup sugar
½ tsp. vanilla

Allow butter, eggs and sour cream to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, grease and lightly flour an 8x4x2-inch or 9x5x3-inch loaf pan. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Gradually add sugar, beating about 10 minutes or until very light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating 1 minute after each addition and scraping bowl frequently. Alternately add flour mixture and sour cream to butter mixture, beating on low to medium speed after each addition just until combined.

Pour batter into the prepared pan.

Bake in a 325-degree oven for 60 to 75 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

 Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan; cool.

Serve with sliced fruit or berries. And whipped cream! Recipe below:

Whipped Cream
(Makes 4 to 6 servings)

1 cup heavy whipping cream, super cold

1 Tbsp. sugar

1/4 tsp. vanilla extract

Place a glass bowl and the beaters from a hand mixer in the freezer. Do this at least 2 hours before you make whipped cream.

Remove bowl from freezer. Place cream and sugar in bowl. Beat on high with your hand mixer for about 2-3 minutes until soft peaks form. Serve.

It’s not hard, see?!

Be sure to not overbeat your whipped cream, because then it turns into butta. Just, taste it after a minute or so. If it looks like whipped cream and smells like whipped cream and tastes like whipped cream, then it’s whipped cream.

Keeping your bowl and beaters and cream super cold is key to the success of whipped cream!