Your Favorite Posts & Something New

Happy Half-Birthday to Beki Cook's Cake Blog!
We celebrate half birthdays in my house... well, my boys' half-birthday anyway. Otherwise all of the gift-giving happens between October 26 and December 25, and they have no summer toys ever. So, I'm celebrating the half-birthday of my blog today.

To celebrate, I'm announcing a new feature on the blog. I'm creating downloadable or printable versions of my most-popular and favorite blog posts. One of the things I'm unhappy with on this site is how much scrolling I have to do when I go to make one of my recipes. But I'm not willing to give up the photos to make it easier. So, I've decided that I will make it easier for myself, and for you.
Here's an example:

There is a small catch, of course. Each printable will be available for $1 through PayPal. I've been told that this won't work, and none of you will want to do this, but I'm hoping those people are all wrong!

You'll find my 10 most popular posts listed below (as ranked by the number of pageviews since this blog began). Those with printables available will have a prompt for you to go to PayPal, which will alert me, and I will email you the .pdf file. I will also add more to some other popular posts, but that will probably take me a little time.

French Silk Pie

Did you know today is "National Pie Day?" Really?! I don't get these "days." But since I had planned to post this recipe later in the week, I decided I'd go ahead and celebrate.

This French Silk Pie recipe is adapted from one I found in an old church cookbook. (Don't all of the best recipes come from an old church cookbook?) This is usually what I make for my husband on his birthday. This year, however, he raised the stakes. His birthday dessert did involve this pie, but not in a traditional way. You'll see what I mean Friday with "The Most Ridiculous Chocolate Cake Ever."
Now, for the pie.

What You Need: (for the crust)
2 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. powdered sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup heavy cream
3 Tbsp. butter
What You Need: (for the filling)
3/4 cup butter (at room temperature)
1 cup powdered sugar
5 oz. semisweet or unsweetened chocolate, melted*
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
3 eggs (or 3/4 cup pasteurized egg "product" to protect from salmonella)
For the topping:
1 cup heavy whipping cream
3 Tbsp. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

Gingerbread Cookie Recipe

"Run, Run as fast as you can. You can't catch me. I'm the gingerbread man!" So taunts the yummiest, cutest cookie around. That's right, I'm finally, finally getting to some holiday baking!

I am a Gingerbread Man purest. I like only a little icing outline, and some red-hot buttons. Occasionally, I'll add more decoration, but I think it just adds too much sweet to something so yummy without it.

What You Need:
1/2 cup Shortening
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter (softened)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg*
3/4 cup molasses
3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. cinnamon

Royal Icing Recipe
Red Hots/ "cinnamon imperials" (or other sprinkles/decorations)
  - Yield: 3-4 dozen 4" tall gingerbread men

*You see 2 eggs in the photo because I doubled the recipe in order to make some gingersnaps, too. For info on how to make half & half, check out the bottom of the gingersnap recipe.

Royal Icing Recipe

Royal icing is the awesome, hard-drying icing you see on all of the most awesome cookies out there. I have been working for months (literally) to get the recipe just right, so here it is.

What You Need:
Vinegar or lemon juice to wipe down equipment
1 lb. powdered sugar
3 Tbsp. meringue powder
1/3 cup water
2 Tbsp. light corn syrup
1-2 tsp. clear vanilla flavoring (or other flavoring of your choice)

(Click here for a Royal Icing Recipe using Egg Whites instead of Meringue Powder.)

Pumpkin Cake Pops

These festive pumpkin cake pops are perfect for fall. And they're not hard to make. I use my favorite pumpkin cake recipe, and cream cheese frosting. 

What You Need

One recipe Pumpkin Cake*

One recipe Cream Cheese Icing

Orange Candy Melts (if you want them to be a darker/brighter orange, use some oil-based coloring to deepen the color)

1-2 Tbsp. Vegetable oil

50-60 Lollipop sticks

Chocolate "jimmie" sprinkles

Optional:

 Green Candy Melts

  Squeeze Bottle (with coupler ring)

 Tip #352 & #2
 Heating pad 

*Note: If you make my pumpkin cake recipe, you will end up with about 60-80 cake pops. It makes about 7 cups of batter, compared with 4-6 cups in a regular cake mix.

Delicious Pumpkin Cake Recipe

My sister-in-law loves pumpkin. I mean, really, really loves pumpkin. She was known to eat a full can of the stuff in a sitting when she was pregnant with my niece. (I say that's how she ended up a redhead.) And my sister-in-law begged me to share this cake recipe when I first made it a few years ago.

What You Need
3 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
3 tsp. cinnamon (or pumpkin pie spice)
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
½ cup melted butter
½ cup apple sauce
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
4 eggs (at room temperature)
½ cup buttermilk (or soured milk- ½ Tbsp. vinegar + ½ cup milk)
1- 15 oz. can of pumpkin puree (NOT pie filling)

Yield: approx. 7 cups of batter. That is about 2 cups more than the average cake mix. So, this makes more cake than you're used to. If you're using it for Pumpkin Cake Pops, be aware of this. You could be making pops until your hands fall off!

How To Make Cake Pops

They're adorable and SO good... cake pops. It takes a little practice, and a few mistakes along the way, but this how-to will help you make the most awesome cake pops every time!

What You Need
Cake, any size, any flavor - baked & cooled
Icing (I prefer my cream cheese icing for cake pops)
Candy coating (Wilton's candy melts or almond bark)
Lollipop sticks
Vegetable oil or shortening
Tall mug or bowl, microwave-safe
Stryofoam
Optional:
1 tsp.-sized dough scoop

Beach Ball Cake Pops

I'm making these beach ball cake pops for a pool-side birthday party for a four-year-old.

What you need
Any cake, baked and cooled
1-2 cups of icing (any kind)
White candy melts or almond bark
lollipop sticks
Tall mug or other heatproof glass
colored sugar in red, yellow & blue*
Styrofoam block or disk

* I do not recommend the 4-pack of colored sugars, even though all three colors are in there because you can't pour the sugar out (or back in). I recommend buying individual bottles of each color.

The Cupcake Swirl

The cupcake swirl is a really easy decorating technique that will make you the go-to bake sale mom, or the best treat-giver in the office! Once you get the hang of it, you can create dozens of adorable cupcakes in just minutes.

What you need:

Standard or mini cupcakes

Decorators' Buttercream Icing, whipped icing or even canned icing will work

Piping Bag (disposable or reusable)

Wilton Tip #1M or Ateco Tip #821-828

Optional:

-Filling

-Bismarck Tip

-Additional piping bag

The BEST Banana Cake

Who needs banana cake? Isn't there already banana bread? Why mar a cake with banana??
I thought the same thing until I made this cake. Now, I always buy more bananas than we need, just so that they can go "bad" for the cake.

Ingredients:
1 ½ c. granulated sugar
½ c. butter (at room temperature)
2 eggs (at room temperature)
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. flour
1 ½ tsp. Baking powder
¾ tsp. Baking soda
½ tsp. salt
½ c. buttermilk
1 c. mashed ripe bananas