Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Baking at Beautiful Bear Lake!!!


If this cake isn't BEAUTIFUL...I don't know what is!!! It even tastes as good as it looks. Don't be deceived by the name of it, just dig in and trust me on this one!!! We spent our Labor Day weekend at beautiful Bear Lake. If you live in Utah, you have got to make your way there. I think that it compares to an ocean beach without driving the distance. The lake is so blue and is surrounded by mountains. We love vacationing there. Bear Lake comes pretty close to this Orange Juice Cake! We spent time with my in-laws, who were kind enough to let us stay with them, and they were very accomadating to my two sisters who also came for the weekend. My sister's husband heard that we were having Orange Juice Cake, he said something like this ..."that sounds awful...but if Sara is making it...I'm sure its good...I'll give it a try!" Thanks Tyson! I think I fooled him. He went back for 2nds. I knew he would. This is an amazing cake that comes from my husband's Aunt Daisy from Tennessee. This lady is terrific! She is 89 years old and around the holidays she gets orders for this cake. She sells 75-100 at Christmas time. She made this recipe up one day in her kitchen. She is inspiring! Although I have never met her, I will always remember Aunt Daisy and her amazing Orange Juice Cake! This cake is definitely a family favorite. The ultimate baker of this cake is my sister-in-law Tammy. She makes incredible desserts and this is one that she gets requests for. I baked my cake in a silicone bundt cake pan. I love my silicone bakeware that was given to me from the queen dessert maker, Tammy. Thanks Tams! I am determined that my cake turned out this beautiful because of the silicone bundt pan. So, if you have one, you must make Orange Juice Cake in it. If you don't...go get one. It really cooks your cakes to perfection and you don't have to worry about it falling apart, or sticking to the pan. It is wonderful! On to this moist, juicy cake!

Aunt Daisy's Orange Juice Cake
Yellow Cake mix
Instant Vanilla Pudding (small box)
1/2 cup Oil
1 cup Orange Juice
4 Eggs
Chopped Pecans (about 1/2 cup, or more if you like)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together. Don't over-mix! Spray bundt cake pan. Sprinkle chopped pecans on the bottom of the pan. Pour cake mix evenly in bundt pan. Bake for 30-45 minutes. You know when it is done when it starts to pull away from the sides and the inside ring. While baking, make your glaze.

Glaze:
1 Stick Butter
1 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Orange Juice

Combine butter, sugar and juice in small saucepan. Bring to a boil and turn off. When cake comes out of the oven, stir glaze well before spooning over hot cake so that the butter gets mixed back in. (When it sits the butter settles to the top.) The glaze will eventually seep through the cake giving it a juicey moistness all over. This is what your cake will look like after the glaze settles in. Let it sit for 1 hour before removing from your pan. To remove from pan, place your plate upside down over the bundt pan and flip. If you use the silicone pan it will plop out perfect.
It is an amazing cake. I sent it to a funeral once and the kitchen ladies said that people kept coming into the kitchen looking for the yummy orange juice cake. I'm glad that I was able to brighten their day!!! It melts in your mouth. We had a wonderful time in Bear Lake, and got a taste of fall weather while we were there. Bring on the fall season with this Orange Juice Cake!


Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

This was another favorite at Bear Lake. I took a peanut butter cookies recipe that I have that calls for peanut butter chips and put chopped Reese's Peanut Butter Cups in instead. They were a hit!! I just love peanut butter and chocolate and this was a good combination!


Peanut Butter Cookies
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 egg
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
8-9 Reese's Peanut Butter Cups chopped

In large bowl, beat brown sugar, peanut butter, butter and egg on medium speed or until creamy. Stir in flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir in peanut butter cups.

Shape dough into 1 1/2 inch balls. Roll balls into granulated sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet about 3 inches apart.

Bake at 375 for 9-10 minutes or until light brown. Cool 5 minutes; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

*I froze my peanut butter cups before chopping them and it seemed to be easier to chop them.




As you can see above, these cookies were irresistable. The kids were climbing on the table to get to them. I just had to get a picture of them all. It will be something to laugh about later on in life.

11 comments:

Kendra Meyers said...

I've never taken my kids to Bear Lake, but it sounds like a lot of fun; maybe next summer. It sounds like you guys do a lot of fun things as a family. Your recipes look delicious.

Natalie Que said...

Okay, I'd be finding any excuse to bake a cake if I had a cute hot pink bendy pan!

And jinx on the pb cup cookies. I was JUST thinking that yesterday, I swear. I knew it had definetly been done before, but I'd never seen or tasted one and was thinking, -wouldn't that be hot?! I guess I don't need to go to the trouble of making a recipe up! Thanks!

And I'm one of your favorites? I'm so flattered...!

Prudy said...

That cake is just a stunner. Absolutely gorgeous. I have tons of bundt pans but not one of them is silicone. Drat. I do have a silicone loaf pan so maybe I'll just make a half batch in there. The cookies, the cake, the cute kids-you are living a sweet life!

Brindi said...

Do you do anything different for cakes in the silicone pan? Do I need to turn the oven down? Spray with nonstick spray? I have a whole set of silicone pans and ruined some mini-muffins, so I haven't used them. Your cake is so pretty that I would love to make it in my pretty silicone bundt pan.

Sara said...

Hi Brindi, thanks for stopping by. I am just starting to learn about my silicone bakeware, so I'm not a pro. I haven't needed to turn my temp down. If anything, they take a bit longer than a normal pan. I do have a kitchen aid muffin silicone pan that really is weird sometimes. My advice is just experiment!

Prudy, you can use your bundt cake pans for this cake. They will work great. This was the first time I used my silicone on this cake. With the bundt pan you will just have to spray it extra good and let it cool down a bit longer to be sure that it comes out clean.

To everyone, my sister-in-law got me a whole set of silicone bakeware from QVC. I think it was just around $30...look into it if you want! I could probably get more details if anyone is interested. Thanks for reading!

Deanna said...

I am driving home to my parent's house in the morning and wanted to take them something special. (My aunt lives next door so I wanted to take her something too!) I am going to make the cake and cookies. Thank you so much! They look wonderful!!

Jenny said...

Wow, you are right that cake is a looker, it is almost too pretty to eat! Ok maybe not, but I am dying to try it. I'll have to put it on my list to make very soon. Love the picture of the family fighting over cookies. Glad to know my family isn't the only one!

Summer said...

I cannot wait to make that cake! It looks delish! Your recipes always look amazing! I check your sight often and always get inspiration! Thanks for posting so much!

Noor said...

I just had to laugh at your kids bc I could see my little stinker doing that, lol..

Anonymous said...

I love PB cookies, yours look great!

Julie N said...

I have been making these Peanut Butter Cookies since they were first posted. They are a family favorite!! Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful recipe!!