Category Archives: Cakes

Hot Chocolate Pudding Cake

Hot Chocolate Pudding Cake-Lil' Miss Cakes

I love hot chocolate cake. I’m not sure when this fad in restaurant desserts began but I’m sure it is here to stay. Almost every restaurant will offer some sort of delicious hot and gooey chocolate dessert and that is what I always order; even if I’m not hungry. I somehow manage to make room for this sweet and decadent delight.

Hot Chocolate Pudding Cake
I don’t often make this dessert at home, but whenever I do, I use a super simple recipe I adapted from Hershey’s Classic Recipe cookbook. Not only is it easy to make, but it is non-dairy and vegan! It’s baked in a plain old square pan. Once it comes out of the oven it can be spooned into any fancy serving dishes. No need to buy special ramekins or bakeware! This recipe could not be easier and it is so easy to dress up. Just add some fresh fruit, whipped cream, your favorite ice cream and you are sure to look like a pro. The hot chocolate pudding forms underneath the cake as the cake is baking, so just be sure to drizzle plenty of it over the top. Hot chocolate pudding cake is definitely one of the best things I have ever eaten. Treat yourself to some today!

Hot Chocolate Pudding Cake
Author: 
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 9
 
Ingredients
  • 1¼ cups sugar, divided
  • 1 cup flour
  • ½ cup cocoa, divided
  • 2 tsp. baking powder
  • ¼ tsp. salt
  • ½ cup soy milk
  • ⅓ cup coconut oil, melted
  • 2 tsp. vanilla extract
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • 1¼ cups hot water
Instructions
  1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Stir together ¾ cup sugar, flour, ¼ cup cocoa, baking powder, and salt.
  3. Stir in the soy milk, coconut oil, and vanilla and mix until smooth.
  4. Pour batter into ungreased 8 or 9 inch square baking pan.
  5. Stir together the remaining ½ cup sugar, brown sugar, and remaining ¼ cup cocoa and sprinkle evenly over batter.
  6. Pour hot water over the whole top and do not stir.
  7. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the center is almost set.
  8. Allow to cool for at least 5 minutes before spooning into serving dishes. Be sure to spoon the hot chocolate pudding from the bottom of the pan.

Tips and Tricks:
*The recipe can be prepared ahead of time, just prepare up until adding the hot water. About 30 minutes before you are ready to serve, pour the hot water over the top and bake as directed.
*The cake can be made ahead of time and kept warm in a 200 degree F oven.


Non-Dairy Cheesecake

Non Dairy Cheesecake

It’s cheesecake time!  I love cheesecake, but not everyone can enjoy this fantastic, rich, and creamy dessert.  I have a great dairy free version that will have you asking for more. This recipe is super easy and great for anyone who can’t tolerate dairy.

Non-Dairy Cheesecake
Serves: 10-12 slices
 
Ingredients
  • Two 8 ounce containers of non-dairy plain flavored cream cheese. (I use Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese brand)
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 1 tsp. lemon juice
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1 graham cracker pie crust
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, beat the cream cheese with the sugar until smooth.
  3. Add the eggs one at a time and beat until incorporated.
  4. Mix in the lemon juice and vanilla.
  5. Strain the batter into the graham cracker pie crust to make sure there are no lumps.
  6. Bake at 350 degrees F for 35-45 minutes until set.
  7. Allow to cool and then refrigerate for a few hours or overnight before serving.

 

American Flag Cake

American Flag Fondant Cake

In honor of Presidents day/week, and alternate side parking being suspended I was inspired to make a celebratory cake.  Around July 4th of last year, everyone was making these amazing looking cakes.  The outside of the cake was simple and white, only to reveal a bright and vibrant American Flag when cut open!  I have been itching to make this cake, but once Independence Day passed, I really lost my opportunity; until now!

American Flag Layer Cake

I am still impressed that I was able to pull this off!  Here’s what I did:  I greased 3- 9″ round cake pans and 1- 6″ round cake pan.  I mixed up a double batch of yellow cake. Once mixed, I removed 4 cups of batter and colored it blue using royal blue gel food coloring.  I poured the blue batter into a 9″ round cake pan and baked it at 325°F for 45-50 minutes until a toothpick came out clean.  The rest of the batter was colored red using 2 ounces (2 bottles) of red liquid food coloring.  I separated the batter evenly between the 2 remaining 9″ round cake pans and the 6″ round pan and baked them along with the blue cake, until done.

Slice of American Flag Cake

Once the cakes were cool, I sliced the red 9″ cakes into 3 layers each.  You may notice that there are only 5 layers of the large cake instead of the 6 I promised.  I might have gotten lazy and messed up one of the layers.  Bummer.  I’ll be better next time!  But I digress. Getting back to business; I cut a 6″ circle from the center of the blue layer allowing room for the 6″ red cake to fit snugly inside.  Before fitting the 6″ red cake inside the blue cake ring, I sliced it into 3 layers and stacked them with lots of vanilla frosting.

Double American Flag Cake

Starting with the large red layers, I stacked and filled the cake with plenty of delicious vanilla frosting.  Once the larger layers were stacked nicely, the red filled blue cake was fitted on top.  Then the whole cake was crumb coated or covered completely with vanilla frosting and put in the fridge to firm up.  I could have left the cake like that, but I was nervous that when I cut it, the cake would be upside down or inside out.  So I decided to decorate the outside of the cake as my backup plan.  I decided I could post the cake nicely decorated and ff the cake looked terrible inside, I just wouldn’t post that part.  Lucky for me, it turned out great!

American Flag Striped Cake

To make the vertical stripes I used a technique I found on this gorgeous blog named Jessicakes.  Jessica is super talented and has great tutorial!  You can find the tutorial I used here.  I love learning new techniques, thanks for sharing, Jessica!

Animated Charlie Eating CakeI hope you enjoy this cake post; my son Charlie sure did-  Happy Presidents Day!