Vanilla Sheet Cake with Strawberry White Chocolate Frosting

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July! I certainly enjoyed the day, and am so thankful for all those who protect our nation's independence. The weather yesterday morning was quite perfect for the LibertyFest parade in downtown Edmond. Then, I headed to a friend's house for an incredibly delicious lunch...featuring ribs. I felt like I'd just had Thanksgiving dinner, so I took a nap. Before I knew it, it was time for party #2. A big cookout, sparklers, fireworks...good times. 




















I made a vanilla Texas sheet cake with strawberry white chocolate frosting to take to the cookout. It turned out superb. I adapted the recipe from an almond sheet cake that I've made. The cake is so moist and wonderful. The frosting is pretty tasty too. The brother has requested another one to celebrate dorm life when he heads off to college in August. Ha. 


Vanilla Sheet Cake

Ingredients:
1 cup butter
1 cup water
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup sour cream
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare a jelly roll pan.
• In a small saucepan, add the water and butter. Bring to a boil.
• In a large mixing bowl, add the flour and sugar.
• Pour the boiling water and butter mixture over the flour and sugar mixture. Beat well.
• Add the baking soda, vanilla, sour cream, and eggs. Mix again.
• Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

Strawberry White Chocolate Frosting

• Click here to get the recipe for the white chocolate frosting. Just make a half recipe or so.
• Slice some fresh strawberries until you have about a cup. Place in a food processor and pulse until the pieces are small enough. 
• Add the strawberries to the white chocolate frosting and mix well.
• Spread over cooled cake.

Enjoy! I recommend chilling the cake. But it's good either way. 

Banana Bread Bars

I totally meant to post this yesterday, but yesterday didn't really go as planned because Friday night didn't really go as planned. We spent the early evening hours in "tornado mode," and watched as another one tore through the OKC metro. I was about to go to bed when there was banging on the door. Generally, banging on the door late at night doesn't mean anything good. Especially in a storm. Turns out, the creek by the house was just about full (we were seriously flooded out in June 2010). So then, we had to switch to "flood mode" (basically get everything that's important and below waist level up higher). Got that done, went out to check the creek, and it was still rising, the rain still falling. Decided it would be better for me to take the dogs and go, just in case. Most terrifying drive across town ever. Anyway, nobody got sleep and the water got up into the yard and driveway before it finally stopped raining. SO thankful the house stayed dry! I really would rather not spend another summer on flood clean-up. I finally went to bed around 0730 on Saturday, so I missed the 0900 wedding I was planning to go to. Then, I had to spend the afternoon putting things back. I had a great evening though! I got to go to dinner and catch up with a friend. And also do Yoga-X. Love. 

Now...Banana Bread Bars...

At one point, my Pinterest feed was flooded with a recipe for Banana Bread Brownies from omg! I Love to Cook. I resisted repinning them for a long time, but it eventually happened. As luck would have it, there was a potluck last week and we had several bananas and sour cream that needed used up. Perfect. I decided to call them "Banana Bread Bars" because they remind me of the Applesauce Bars I've made, except, of course for being more banana-y. Also, as delicious as they are, they don't remind me of a brownie at all...but that could be because I only make gooey, fudge-y brownies. In reality, it's probably more of a "banana bread sheet cake," but that's not as catchy.  

Bottom line-- Delicious. Like the mentioned Applesauce Bars, I think they get better (more moist) with a little time...so you can definitely bake them 2-3 days in advance. Also, it's unfortunate that you could not smell these baking. So good. It's too bad the little brother wasn't around to try one. He would've been so excited that I did not make them "healthy." 


Banana Bread Bars

Ingredients:
Bars
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 cup sour cream
2 eggs
3-4 ripe bananas, mashed
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt

Frosting
1/2 cup butter
4 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
3-4 TBSP milk

Directions:

• Heat your oven to 375 degrees and spray a 15x10 jelly roll pan with non-stick cooking spray. 
• In a large bowl, cream together softened butter and sugar. Add sour cream, eggs, bananas and vanilla; beat. Add flour, soda, and salt; beat gently until combined. 
• Spread batter evenly into baking pan. Bake 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown...or until a toothpick comes out clean.
• While that's baking, heat the other stick of butter in a large saucepan over medium heat until boiling. Let it turn a delicate brown and then remove from heat.
• Add the powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk. Whisk together until smooth. The texture should be thicker than a glaze, but thinner than your average frosting. 
• Using a spatula, spread the warm frosting over the warm bars. If one or both are cool, you are going to have a really difficult time...good luck. 

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Sheet Cake

One of my favorite fall things is baked treats that involve pumpkin.  I love pumpkin.  Except for pumpkin pie.  I made this pumpkin sheet cake for my Gamma family night, and then took the leftovers to class the next day.  I thought it was really pretty good.  Very moist.  I think the only things I did differently than the original recipe were adding a little extra cinnamon and basically doubling the cream cheese frosting recipe.  (I generally double frosting recipes just on principle.  I would rather have too much than be skimpy. I like frosting.)  Also, I elected to not put nuts on top.  Get the recipe by clicking here!

Not much else going on, except obviously nursing school is taking over my life.  However, I am done with clinical for the semester!  And I've got Thanksgiving break from last Wednesday afternoon through the 27th...then just a week and a half before finals!

Almond Sheet Cake

I'm really enjoying the opportunities I've had recently to bake, try some, and send the rest along to others so that it doesn't end up on my thighs.  This cake is another Pinterest find, and it's definitely a keeper!  I made it for my mother's work party and it was a huge hit.  The almond flavor is just perfect.  The cake is the perfect texture and wonderfully moist.  I topped my slice off with some fresh cherries, pitted and quartered.  However, it could be topped with any kind of berry, or nothing at all!  It's absolutely divine either way.   

Almond Sheet Cake

(from Sweet & Savory by Sarah)

Cake Ingredients:

1  c butter

1  c water

2  c flour

2  c sugar

1  tsp baking soda

1/2  c sour cream

2  eggs

1 1/2  tsp almond extract 

Icing Ingredients:

1/2  c butter

1/4  c milk

3 1/2 to 4  c powdered sugar

1  tsp almond extract 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 and spray a jelly-roll pan with Pam or something.  In a small saucepan, bring butter and water to a boil.  In your large mixing bowl, add the flour and sugar.  Pour the boiling water and butter mixture over the flour and sugar mixture.  Beat well (but be careful so that your batter doesn't go flying everywhere!).  Add the baking soda.  Add the almond extract.  Add the sour cream.  Add the eggs.  Mix again, scraping down the sides at least once.  Pour into your greased pan and bake for 20-30 minutes or until middle is set and toothpick comes out clean.  

Start your icing just before the cake is to come out of the oven.  Bring the butter and milk to a boil in a medium sauce pan.  Once boiling, remove from heat, and add the remaining ingredients to the sauce pan.  (I recommend adding the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, whisking between.)  Whisk until well mixed.  The consistency should be pourable, so be careful not to add too much powdered sugar.  Pour onto cake and let sit for at least 20 minutes before serving.