Fancy Birthday Cake -- Recipe 5

For my 5th recipe, I made a birthday cake for my mother.

I made a chocolate cake using generic cake mix, and I baked it in a 13 by 9 inch pan.

I used vanilla buttercream to frost the cake.

Here are my cake ingredients:

The first layer of my cake was the icing:

The next thing I did was build a small house out of graham crackers.

(That's Han Solo in carbonate made of chocolate, just as an fyi.)

Then, I made a path out of Neccos, which are thin wafer candies:

At this point, there was frosting and candy everywhere, so I didn't get anymore pictures until I finished. 

The next thing I did, however was make a pond. I dyed some of the frosting blue, and then made a small circle off to the side of the cake. I surrounded the "pond" with brown M&Ms and then put blue candy sprinkles onto that area.

Then, I crushed green M&Ms. I put them (as well as green sugar sprinkles) onto the green part of the cake, as I missed the pond a little and got blue sprinkles everywhere.

After that, I made a clothes line using a piece of a pull-n-peel Twizzler and two toothpicks.

Then, I made a well, starting with a base of Neccos, and then adding a quartered double stuff Oreo without the cream for extra support. I then put graham crackers on the top to look like wood. I added two toothpicks on opposite sides of the well and put a piece of a pull-n-peel Twizzler for the string that supports the "bucket" that is commonly found in wells. I filled the well with blue M&Ms and blue sprinkles to represent water.

Lastly, I added a few more decorations until I was satisfied with the way it looked. I out two "4" candles on toothpicks and put them into the cake.

This is the link to a short video of the cake. (It may be sideways. I apologize.)

https://youtu.be/0NWQ2ghbaqA

Recipe 4 -- Brownie Pudding Cake

Four my fourth recipe, I decided to make Brownie Pudding Cake.

This is the recipe that I used:


1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar, divided
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, divided
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla, divided
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels
1 3/4 cups boiling water
1 tablespoon powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). 
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, 3/4 cup of the granulated sugar, 1/4 cup of the cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.
3. Add milk, melted butter, and 1/2 teaspoon of the vanilla; stir until smooth. Stir in chocolate morsels.
4. Spread batter evenly in an oval baker.
5. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together remaining 3/4 cup granulated sugar and 1/4 cup cocoa; gradually stir in boiling water and remaining 1 teaspoon vanilla.
6. Carefully pour mixture evenly over batter in oval baker.
7. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool 15 minutes.
8. Sprinkle powdered sugar using spoon or sieve. Spoon into dishes for serving.

WARNING: Putting the cake in an oven is kinda terrifying because it is incredibly liquid-y.

       Also, ours made a weird like screaming noise and was moving up and down kinda like the guy in alien...

Ingredients: 

The cake right after taking it out of the oven: 

Recipe 3 -- Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cookies

For my third recipe, I decided to make Peanut Butter Cookies.

I've made Peanut Butter cookies using this recipe before:


3/4 cup Jif Creamy Peanut Butter
1/2 cup All-Vegetable Shortening
1 1/4 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 3/4 All Purpose Flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt

Heat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit (190 degrees Celsius). Combine peanut butter, shortening, brown sugar, milk, and vanilla in a large bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add egg, beating just until blended.

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl. Add to creamed mixture at low speed, mixing just until blended. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto baking sheet. Flatten slightly in a crisscross pattern with tines of a fork.

Bake 7 to 8 minutes or until set and just beginning to brown. Cool on baking sheet 2 minutes. Remove to wire rack to cool completely.


I substituted 1/4 cup of the peanut butter to Hershey's Chocolate Spread (similar to Nutella, but without any hazelnut). I also changed the baking time to 10 minutes.


These are all the ingredients:

The completed cookies:

Recipe 2

For my second recipe, I decided to make a Harvest Pumpkin Roll in honor of the beginning of fall.

This is the recipe I used:


1 cup solid pack pumpkin
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon Korintje Cinnamon, divided
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 package (16 ounces) angel food cake mix
3/4 cup powdered sugar, divided
1 cup thawed light frozen whipped topping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (175 degrees Celsius). Cut an 18-inch long piece of Parchment Paper. Press into bottom of a 10 x 15 1/2 x 1 inch bar pan; spray bottom lightly with vegetable oil. Whisk together pumpkin, sugar, egg, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, ginger, salt, and nutmeg until well blended. Add 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon to cake mix and prepare according to package directions. Gently fold 2 cups of the cake batter into pumpkin mixture; gently spread evenly. Bake 30-35 minutes or until top springs back when lightly touched with fingertip. Remove from oven to nonstick cooling rack. Sprinkle 1/2 cup powdered sugar over cake using flour/sugar shaker or a sieve. Place a sheet of parchment paper over cake. Place another nonstick cooling rack upside down over parchment paper and carefully turn cake out at once. Remove pan; carefully peel off parchment paper from cooked side of cake. Starting from a narrow end, roll up cake with pumpkin side inside roll, removing parchment paper as you roll. cool 30 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining powdered sugar. Slice with a serrated bread knife. Garnish each serving with whipped topping, if desired.


I chose not to alter this recipe.

This is what the roll looked like in the oven:

This is what it looked like after I rolled it:

Recipe 1

My first recipe was Peanut Butter Banana Bread.

I've made banana bread using this recipe before:


1 1/2 cup sugar
1 cup margarine or butter, softened
4 eggs
2 cups (4-5 medium) mashed ripe bananas
2/3 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

Heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (175 degrees Celsius). Grease the bottom only of a 13 by 9 pan. In a large bowl, beat sugar and margarine until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs. Add bananas, milk, and vanilla; blend well. In small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt; mix well. Add to banana mixture; stir just until dry ingredients are moistened. Pour into greased pan.

Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 50 to 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes; remove from pan. Cool completely.


I substituted 1/4 cup of the butter for peanut butter and added 2 tablespoons of peanut butter to the bananas, but you should be able to add more if you want a stronger peanut butter flavor. Also, I decreased the baking time to 40 minutes.


The banana bread looked like this: