Sand Castle Cake

If you don't know about the Disney Family Fun website, you are truly missing out! They have so many fun ideas for crafts, activities, and, my favorite, decorating cakes. For my husband's birthday he chose this sandcastle cake. I'm going to share with you the original recipe and instructions. You'll notice mine is a little different; this is because I was serving over twenty people, so I needed to make the cake bigger. Otherwise, it's essentially the same idea.

Ingredients:
8-inch round yellow cake
9-inch square yellow cake
2 (12-ounce) cans vanilla whipped frosting
Vanilla Wafers, 12-ounce box
4 jumbo ice cream cups
2 small ice cream cups
6 sugar cones
Graham cracker sticks (or stick like cookies), cut in half

What to do:
1. Use a long serrated knife to trim the top of the round cake flat, if needed. Cut a 5 1/2-inch and a 3 1/2-inch circle from the square cake, then stack all three pieces, spreading vanilla frosting between the layers. Frost the stack.
2. Use a rolling pin or food processor to crumble the wafers. With your hands, press the crumbs into the frosting, completely coating the cake. Spread frosting on the bottom of each ice-cream cup, then set them around the cake. With a serrated knife, carefully trim 1 1/2 inches from the top of 2 of the sugar cones. Set all 6 cones into the cups to complete the turrets, spreading a bit of frosting around the rims to hold them if needed.
3. Press 2 graham cracker-stick doors into the middle cake layer and rim the rest of the cake with graham cracker-stick halves. Sprinkle the remaining crumbs around the base and add a scattering of candy seashells and rocks. Serves 12.

(Click on the sand castle cake link above to see the example picture from the website.)

Present Cake

I got this idea from the familyfun website. There's lots of other fun cake ideas there, but this one takes practically no time, and it looks so cute.

What you'll need:
A 9x13 cake (any flavor is fine)
1 tub frosting (once again, any flavor works)
3 rolls of Fruit by the Foot
Any circular candy you want (In the picture above are Skittles; the original recipe called for Sprees - do what works for you!)

Directions:
1. Cook the cake according to package directions. Remove cake from pan. Cool completely.
2. Frost the entire cake and sides.
3. Measure out a 16" piece and a 12" piece of Fruit by the Fruit. Lay the 16" piece length-wise across the frosted cake, tucking the ends underneath. Lay the 12" piece width-wise across the frosted cake, tucking the ends underneath. (Use a small spatula to lift up cake when tucking under the ends.)
4. Create two 8" loops of Fruit by the Fruit, and two 5" long streamers, with notches at the bottom, of Fruit by the Foot for the bows. Place on cake. Cut small oval out of Fruit by the Foot and place in center of bow.
5. Randomly place candies all over the remaining part of the cake.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

This is a Christmas Morning Dorff Family Tradition passed down from my mother's side of the family. Over the years the actual recipes got lost. This is not the original recipe, but we figured it was more the tradition of having the coffee cake than having the exact recipe. This recipe is one I got from Irene at allrecipes.com.

Ingredients:

1 c white sugar
1 c butter, softened
3 eggs
2 c all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 c sour cream
1 c walnuts, chopped
3/4 c white sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease one 8x12 inch pan.
2. In a large bowl, cream together 1 cup of the white sugar with 1 cup butter. Add the eggs and beat well. Mix in the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and sour cream, stir until just combined.
3. Pour 1/2 of the batter into the prepared pan then sprinkle with 3/4 of the filling. Pour the remaining cake batter on top and sprinkle top with the remaining filling. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 40 minutes.
4. To Make Filling: Combine chopped nuts, ground cinnamon, and 3/4 cup white sugar and mix well.

*Note: I cook this in a bundt pan, and it turns out just great!*

Green Slime

This is a family favorite! The recipe was given to me by Susie Blewett - one of the greatest people I met on my mission to California!

You will need the following ingredients:

2 cartons Whipped Topping
1 Angel Food Cake (or the equivalent of it in loafs)
2 pkgs. Instant Pistachio Pudding
2 cups Milk
Crushed Heather Bar

Instructions:

1. Take half of one carton of Whipped Topping and spread it on the bottom of a 9x13 pan.

2. Thinly slice the Angel Food Cake and create a layer of cake on top of the Whipped Topping.
3. Mix together the Pistachio Pudding mixes and milk. Fold in the remainder of the carton of Whipped Topping.
4. Layer the Pistachio Pudding mix on top of the cake.
5. Put another layer of Angel Food cake on top of the Pistachio Pudding mix.
6. Top with the remaining carton of Whipped Topping and sprinkle with crushed Heath Bar.
7. Refrigerate at least 7 hours. Enjoy!