Tag Archives: cake mix

Blog, Recipes

Fluffernutter Chocolate Cake

19 Comments

You favorite chocolate cake covered with peanut butter and marshmallow swirled icings.

Fluffernutter Chocolate Cake

Sometimes cakes don’t work out like you want them to.  But sometimes, they turn out better.

Fluffernutter Chocolate Cake

This cake actually started out as a recipe for “salted caramel fudge cake” but frankly all I got was chocolate cake.  Certainly not enough to stand on its own!  As a result, I did what any normal person would do, went into my freezer for my collection of “extra buttercream” and went to town.

Recipe for Fluffernutter Chocolate Cake

What, not everyone stores “extra buttercream” just because?  I highly recommend it.  Good things happen when you do!  See also: Brownies with White Chocolate Buttercream and Mocha Ganache. Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Cookie Sandwiches and Macarons

Anyway, I decided it had been way too long since I made a dessert revolving around chocolate and peanut butter (has it seriously been since July?!).  That is a travesty that needed to be immediately fixed.  And fixed it was.

The result:  I convinced myself that I was slicing the cake for photos and taking a bite for photos… but that bite turned into way more cake than I should be eating these days.  Oh, but in the moment it was so worth it.

Fluffernutter Chocolate Cake

Fluffernutter Chocolate Cake
 
Save Print
You favorite chocolate cake covered with peanut butter and marshmallow swirled icings.
Author:
Recipe type: Dessert
Makes: 15 servings
Ingredients
  • 1 chocolate cake baked in a 9x13 pan, cooled (can use box mix or something easy like this 1-bowl chocolate cake recipe
  • 1 batch Fluffy Peanut Butter Frosting (recipe below)
  • 1 cup (1/2 of batch) Easy Marshmallow Buttercream (recipe below)
Fluffy Peanut Butter Frosting
  • ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
  • 1¼ cup creamy peanut butter
  • ½ cup powdered sugar
Easy Marshmallow Buttercream
  • ¾ cup (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened
  • ~7 ounces marshmallow fluff (amount in a small jar)
  • 1½ cups powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
  1. Spread peanut butter frosting over entire cake
  2. Drop spoonfuls of marshmallow buttercream over peanut butter frosting layer
  3. Use the back of a knife to carefully swirl the marshmallow buttercream into the peanut butter frosting (any kind of marble effect will work!)
  4. Cut and serve
Fluffy Peanut Butter Frosting
  1. Beat butter until light and creamy; beat in peanut butter until creamy and smooth
  2. Mix in confectioners’ sugar on low speed just until combined and then beat for a couple of minutes until light and fluffy
Easy Marshmallow Buttercream
  1. Cream butter on high speed until light and fluffy
  2. Add fluff and combine on high speed until smooth
  3. Add sugar and mix on low speed until combined; increase speed to high
  4. until light and fluffy
  5. Mix in vanilla on high speed until combined
Notes
The frostings really speak for themselves here, so I won't tell if you use your favorite chocolate cake mix
If you want it to be even more peanut buttery, use the Reese's Pieces Cake Bars recipe with the Easy Marshmallow Buttercream shown here
Wordpress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe

 

Fluffernutter Chocolate Cake

Make something from the blog? Be sure to share it on Instagram with the tag #KeepItSweetDesserts.

You might also like:

Peanut Butter Snack Cake

Peanut Butter Snack Cake

Chocolate Pound Cake with Peanut Butter Whipped Cream

Chocolate Pound Cake with Peanut Butter Whipped Cream

Sublime Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream Pie

SUBLIME Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream Pie!!!

Fluffernutter Chocolate Cake - best frosting combo ever!
Blog, Recipes

Easy Low Fat Pumpkin Sheet Cake

11 Comments

This 5-ingredient pumpkin cake is so good, you would never know it is guilt-free!

This past Saturday, I took some of my own advice and set aside a day where no work would be done!  It was actually something I scheduled a few weeks ago when the Jewish holidays had me swamped.  Scheduling time off is one of the best ways I can really force myself to take a break and a good way to motivate myself when things are a little crazy.

Easy Low Fat Pumpkin Sheet Cake from Keep It Sweet Desserts

The day off meant getting to hang out with Matt.  We did mostly everyday activities like working out, grocery shopping and watching TV, but that is just how I like it.  The highlight of Saturday, though, was homemade pizza and champagne for dinner with some junky movies on the television.  It was our second time making pizza dough from scratch and I was reminded of just how worthwhile the few extra minutes of making dough can be.

Easy Low Fat Pumpkin Sheet Cake from Keep It Sweet Desserts

Of course, I couldn’t end the day without dessert.  And since it was an “off” day, I let myself cheat a little with cake mix.  Oh, but in case you were worried I at least made two cakes: chocolate cake for Matt and pumpkin cake for me.  I couldn’t help myself.

Easy Low Fat Pumpkin Sheet Cake from Keep It Sweet Desserts

This cake recipe is actually a nod to my college days.  Cooking usually consisted of boca burgers, egg beaters and salads with the occasional stir fry thrown in.  And while I loved to bake, we didn’t keep many basic ingredients in the apartment so cake mix recipes were the perfect solution.  I actually made a version of this cake for my roomate’s birthday one year (miss you, Rach!).  Pretty sure she and I ate most of it ourselves…

Easy Low Fat Pumpkin Sheet Cake from Keep It Sweet Desserts

The best part about this cake (besides the short list of ingredients and ease of making) is how moist and delicious it is without having much fat.  The moisture in the pumpkin gives the cake a perfect texture and you don’t even need frosting.  But a cake without frosting, what fun would that be?

Easy Low Fat Pumpkin Sheet Cake
 
Save Print
Low fat pumpkin cake that's so good you won't know it only took 5 ingredients!
Author:
Recipe type: Dessert
Makes: 15 servings
Ingredients
  • 1 15.25 box spice cake mix
  • 1 15-ounce can pure pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
  • ½ cup water
  • 1 1.4 box pumpkin spice instant pudding
  • 1 cup light almond milk OR 1¼ cup skim milk
  • 1 8-ounce container fat free cool whip
  • Optional:  Fall sprinkles and gingersnap crumbs
Instructions
  1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees; spray a 9x13 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray and set aside
  2. In a large bowl, stir together cake mix, pumpkin and water until combined
  3. Spread into baking dish and bake 25-30 minutes or until a knife comes out clean from the center
  4. Set cake aside to cool and prepare frosting
  5. In a large bowl, whisk together pudding mix and milk for two minutes
  6. Fold in cool whip just until combined
  7. Spread frosting over cake and serve; store leftovers in refrigerator up to 3 days
Wordpress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe

Easy Low Fat Pumpkin Sheet Cake from Keep It Sweet Desserts

Make something from the blog? Be sure to share it on Instagram with the tag #KeepItSweetDesserts.

You might also like:

Healthy Pumpkin Banana Baked Oatmeal

Healthy Pumpkin Banana Baked Oatmeal

One Bowl Pumpkin Blondies

One Bowl Pumpkin Blondies

My Favorite Pumpkin Bread

My Favorite Pumpkin Bread

The Easiest Pumpkin Cake
Blog, Recipes

Magic Cake Bars for Easter

18 Comments

SONY DSC

For the record, Matt wanted me to take a picture of my hand over the cake and pretend it was the hand of our little niece or nephew helping in the kitchen. 1) We don’t have any nieces or nephews 2) No one wants to see my hands after twelve hour days in the kitchen and 3) Seriously? My hands aren’t THAT small.

SONY DSC

This is one of those desserts that you can make last minute for Easter with minimal time in the kitchen, just enough time to get some help from your little ones (if you have any).  And even though it is super simple, this is one of the most addicting things I’ve made in a while.  Moist cake with a crispy crunchy topping.  What’s not to love?

SONY DSC

Head over to Fox to get the recipe!

SONY DSC

Disclaimer:  I love box mixes and pre-made cookie dough, especially when I am as busy as I have been over the last couple of months.  However, all of the baked goods that I sell on my website or provide for any type of catering service are made completely from scratch.

Blog, Recipes

Reese’s Pieces Cake Bars

72 Comments

Easy Reese’s Pieces Cake Bars

Sometimes you get busy.  There is week-old laundry to put away, streaked kitchen counters that need to be scrubbed and recipes to test.

There are websites to be designed, photos to be edited, and post-dessert workouts to get done.

Easy Reese’s Pieces Cake Bars

But there is also a blog to attend to and readers getting impatient.  Those readers who hate you for ruining their New Year’s resolutions in January but love you for making delicious desserts come so easy.  That has been the theme recently, hasn’t it? Easy cookies, easy truffles and now easy cake.

I know I’m not the only one around here that has a to-do list from one end of the apartment to the other.  Email drafts, post-it notes, calendar reminders and the worst ones, those where you take a mental note and say, “yes, I will remember this” but three days later you are in the middle of your shower and you think, “oh crap.”

Easy Reese’s Pieces Cake Bars

I am so thankful for easy desserts.


Reese’s Pieces Cake Bars
Makes 20 cake bars

Ingredients:
Reese’s Pieces Cake
1 chocolate cake mix plus ingredients called for on box, replacing oil with creamy peanut butter (my cake mix called for 1/3 cup of oil so I ignored that and used 1/3 cup of peanut butter)
3/4 cups Reese’s Mini Pieces or regular Reese’s Pieces lightly chopped
Fluffy Peanut Butter Frosting
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
1 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar

To make the cake
Pre-heat oven as directed on box
Spray a 13×9 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray
Follow directions on cake box, substituting peanut butter for oil; stir in Reese’s Pieces
Pour cake batter into prepared baking dish and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a knife comes out clean
Allow cake to cool

To make Frosting
Beat butter with an electric mixer until light and creamy
Beat in peanut butter until well combined
Add sugar and stir until combined; then increase speed to high and beat until frosting is light and fluffy
Ice cooled cake with prepared frosting and serve

Easy Reese’s Pieces Cake Bars

Where do you keep your to-do lists?

Blog, Recipes

Caramel Apple Cake Trifle and Giveaway!

85 Comments

Caramel Apple Cake Trifle

I don’t know about you, but I am swimming in leftovers.  The thing is, I can’t decide if it is a good or bad thing.  I have plenty of food to get us through the next few days.  But really, how much turkey can one person eat?  If only I could get sick of cookies the way I could get sick of turkey.  It just doesn’t seem to happen.

But even with half of a chocolate pecan pie left, a bowl of caramel sauce, dozens of cookies in my freezer, and a tight pants, I always am ready to bake something new.  After many Thanksgiving-related hours spent in the kitchen cooking, baking and cleaning, though, I welcome something easy.  Something where I don’t have to pull out my mixer, wait for butter to soften or open up a few cookbooks.  Something that only requires a few more minutes of active time on my feet.

Caramel Apple Cake Trifle

That is where this layered beauty comes into play.  While I don’t always advocate box mixes and canned fruit, there really is a time and a place.  And when you come up with something that incorporates those shortcuts, is creative, and looks impressive, no one has to know that a box mix was involved.  Usually your friends will be too busy asking for seconds to even think about it.

For this trifle, I used one of Dunkan Hines new decadent cake mixes.  I chose the Apple Caramel flavor because, how could a cake that is gooey and moist be bad?  It can’t.  Even by itself the cake tastes pretty good, but layered with Comstock apple pie filling, cinnamon flavored cool whip, cheesecake pudding and gingersnap crumbs it is even better.

And better news for you, I have some cake mixes to give away!  Two readers will win coupons for four free Dunkan Hines products (details below).
Caramel Apple Cake Trifle
Serves 8

Ingredients:
1/2 of a prepared Dunkan Hines Apple Caramel Cake
1 15.75-ounce can Comstock apple pie filling
1 8-ounce container of cinnamon flavored cool whip (if you can’t find that, fold cinnamon into regular cool whip to taste)
1 prepared 1-ounce container cheesecake pudding mix
1/2 cup gingersnap crumbs (about 8 cookies)

Directions:
Cut cake in to 1-inch cubes
Layer ingredients in a large trifle dish or bowl as follows: cake, pie filling, cool whip, cookie crumbs, pudding
Repeat layers again and top with extra cookie crumbs
Best served immediately; cover with saran wrap and store trifle in refrigerator up to 4 days

Caramel Apple Cake Trifle

Giveaway Details:

The giveaway is open through Wednesday, November 30 at midnight est.  The giveaway is open to anyone and there are three ways to enter (please leave a separate comment for each entry):

1) Mandatory Entry: Leave a comment below, anything you want!

2) Follow Keep It Sweet on Twitter

3) Like Keep It Sweet on Facebook

Disclaimer:  I received the coupons for Dunkin Hines cake mix and Comstock pie filling as a part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program.  All of the opinions expressed in this post are my own.

[pinit]

Blog, Recipes

Peanut Butter Cup Cookie Dough Brownie Bites

59 Comments

Fudgy brownie bites stuffed with a layer of peanut butter cup cookie dough

Peanut Butter Cup Cookie Dough Brownie Bites 2

The apartment is finally starting to feel like home.  It isn’t because I unpacked 99% of my things (the other 1% includes books and underwear that is still MIA).  It also is not because we finally have shelves in the closet so that my sweaters aren’t piled up in various places around our home.  And it certainly isn’t that all of the furniture we ordered has arrived and our dreaded IKEA trip is in the past.

Peanut Butter Cup Cookie Dough Brownie Bites 17_1

While all of those things make the stress of moving a little less acute, the real reason I feel like I am home is the kitchen.  Of course I unpacked all of my dishes and appliances before anything else and have been to the grocery store 17 or so times.  But Friday morning, while Matt was at work and I was waiting for our new night stands to arrive, I had the first opportunity to bake.  Just the thought of that makes my shoulders relax and my breathing slow down.  Working around our new kitchen where I actually had to walk more than one step from refrigerator to utensil drawer, I couldn’t stop smiling.  And the fact that the first thing to come out of my oven was a chocolate and peanut butter dessert certainly didn’t hurt.

Peanut Butter Cup Cookie Dough Brownie Bites 18

Oh, right, these little things.  Fudgy brownie bites stuffed with a layer of peanut butter cup cookie dough, I haven’t felt more at home in a very long time.

[print_this]

Peanut Butter Cup Cookie Dough Brownie Bites

Makes 2 dozen brownie bites

Ingredients:

  • 1 Box Brownie Mix (I used Trader Joe’s Chocolate Truffle) + ingredients the mix calls for
  • 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1/4 cup salted creamy peanut butter
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
  • 1 tablespoon milk (I used skim)
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 3/4 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup chopped peanut butter cups (~7 peanut butter cups)

Directions:

  • Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
  • Grease a 24-cup mini muffin pan
  • Prepare brownie mix as directed and full cups with brownie batter (about 2 tablespoons each)
  • Bake for 12-14 minutes or until a knife comes out clean; do not over bake
  • Set brownies aside to cool and prepare cookie dough
  • Whisk flour and salt in a small bowl; set aside
  • Beat together butter, peanut butter and sugars on high speed until light and fluffy
  • Mix in milk and vanilla on low speed
  • Stir in flour mixture just until combined
  • Stir in peanut butter cups
  • Once cookie dough is ready, take your brownies and slice each in half horizontally so that you have a top and a bottom
  • Place a rounded disk of cookie dough on each bottom half (about one tablespoon of cookie dough each)
  • Press tops of brownies lightly onto cookie dough layer so that you can still see the cookie dough from the sides
  • Serve immediately or freeze in an airtight container up to one month

[/print_this]

Cookie dough recipe adapted from here.

Peanut Butter Cup Cookie Dough Brownie Bites 21

What is making you smile lately?