Red Velvet Mini Cakes

Oh yea, I made red velvet mini cakes!  It couldn't have been simpler to put together - just 3 ingredients and a minute in the microwave, and you have cake!  Mini cake!  For one!  <high five!>

I can't believe I hadn't made them before. Just 2 boxes of cake mix mixed together in a ziptop baggie and you have the base for many mini cakes. The secret is using 1 box of Angel Food Cake Mix. Doesn't matter what you mix with it; you could mix chocolate, devils food, lemon, whatever - just make sure the other box is Angel Food Cake. Mix your 2 boxes of cake mix in a baggie and shake, shake, shake.

I used about 1/2 cup of mix (although I could have used more) and approx 3 tbsp. of water. Stir together and pop in microwave for 30 seconds. You will most likely need to pop it back in for another 15/30 seconds depending on your microwave.

The only icing we had in the pantry was chocolate. As much as I love chocolate, I just couldn't bring myself to use store bought chocolate icing on a red velvet cake. My Big Mama would turn over in her grave!

 I could have made something but really, it wasn't that much cake and I didn't see the need to tire myself. ;)  So reaching in the pantry, I find a jar of marshmallow cream.  Yes!

I have to be honest. It.was.heavenly. 

Perfectly portioned, sweet enough but not too much to make a huge impact on my thighs...all in all a pretty great recipe. 

It made a LARGE amount of mix so it should last a while too.  

Pretty swanky, huh?

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Apple Pie For Two

I call this Apple Pie for 2 but it could easily feed more. Except Mr. Wonderful actually cut 2/3rd of this pie and took it to work with him so it left a bit for me.  Mr. Wonderful says that all men eat that much so he christened it the Apple Pie built for 2.  

Super easy to make, it's just plain apple pie filling in a can (no judging) and ready made pie crust.  Just pop a little filling on one side of a pie crust, wiping the edges with an egg wash. Just fold one side over like a book and pinch close the edges.  Brush with the egg wash and bake for few minutes until brown.  

Told ya it was super simple! :)  Do you have quick but delicious recipes that your family loves? I'd love it if you'd share them in the comments below!  :)  

Healthy Popsicle Poppers

How cute are these?! Since my healthy eating kick has turned into a full blown change of lifestyle, I've had to get really creative in making myself healthy cold treats - since ice cream is my absolute fave.  

I saw these at a party once and knew I would have to try them. They were super easy and only include 3 ingredients. Coconut milk, mango juice and strawberry banana juice is all it took to make these healthy Popsicle poppers.  

How it's done:

Gather your ingredients. I used a can of coconut milk with a 1 tsp. of sugar and poured them in a plastic ice cube tray. Pop it in the freezer and when it's hard, take out and make some scratches on the top with a fork and pour a layer of strawberry banana. After that layer is frozen, do the fork thing and layer the mango. Freeze till solid and enjoy!  

You can tell I got a little impatient and my strawberry banana layer kind of bled into the milk but I got a couple that looked pretty good. And, they were definitely tasty!  

Almost Like Fondant

My niece is getting married in October and we have been feverishly coming up with ideas, menu's, favor ideas...well, anything you can think of, really.  We're working with a normal person's budget so we have to be very creative.  

<when I say normal person's budget, I simply mean that I don't know anyone that has ever spent $25K on a wedding. I'm not saying that no one does, it's just that most of the folks I know don't have that kind of money to spend on one day of partying>.  

Not only that, I know that we don't have to spend that kind of money because we are creative!  

First things first...she wants to make her own cake. This is kind of scary because we have never really made wedding cakes. Oh sure, we've made cupcakes and cakes for kids parties, and we've made petit fours but never wedding cake. In fact, I've never really made a cake over 4 layers that ever turned out perfectly. Needless to say, this is making me nervous.

So, I set out the other day thinking about the whole fondant thing. Whether to make my own since storebought isn't so tasty...or should I try something else? I went in search of different icing ideas and saw one that used regular store bought icing and I thought, 'why not?'.

Here's the idea. You melt a can (is it a can?) of frosting in the microwave for about 15 seconds. Stir then do it again until it's very thin. Then, all you do is pour the icing over the cake. You let is set up for a few minutes, then pour again - this time the icing will be slightly thicker. Once it dries completely it looks like fondant. This is my first attempt.  lol

Okay, so I couldn't find my cardboard cake rounds so I put it on a plate.  Which was a dumb move on my part because it made the cake not straight up and down - which would have been way prettier.  <sigh>  

Anyway, I poured the icing over the cake and down the sides. This is not so bad if you place your cake on a cooling rack over a pan first. This way any frosting that falls from the cake can be gathered up and used again.  

It's a little bumpy but it's not bad.  I don't know that we will use this process for the cake she finally chooses but it was fun to try. This week I'm going to try another one...just to see if I can get it a little better.  :)

Did you make your own wedding cake? How did it turn out?  

3 Ingredient Nutella Brownies

Happy Baking!