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1 cup butter
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2 cups white sugar
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4 large eggs
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3 teaspoons vanilla extract
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2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
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3 teaspoons baking powder
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1 teaspoon salt
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1 3/4 cups milk
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
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Grease and flour pans lightly. I used three 8 inch round pans.
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Cream together butter & vanilla extract.
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Add sugar slowly until all is added and it is mixed well.
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Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
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In a separate bowl sift flour, baking powder and salt together twice.
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Now add flour mixture, alternating between the milk and flour. Mixing well after each again.
This is a story about a Candy Cane Swirl Cake that tasted better than it looked…
{Don’t let the picture fool you…that is some creative photography…}
I don’t really share my craft/cooking fails with you guys and I don’t want you to think that I never have any…cause believe me…I do. Not everything turns out like I had imagined it in my head. Can anyone relate? I wanted to share this delicious cake we made over the Christmas holidays but it was just not pretty enough to make the cut. Even though it tasted really great.
{See? I told you!}
I originally saw the Candy Cane Swirl Cake at Betty Crocker. But instead of using a box cake, I decided to make my favorite white cake recipe from scratch.
Directions:
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1/2 teaspoon red food color (see Directions #1 below)
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract (see Directions #1 below)
Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Generously grease and flour 12-cup fluted tube cake pan. Make cake batter as directed above. Pour about 2 cups batter into pan. In small bowl, pour about 3/4 cup batter; stir in food color and peppermint extract. Carefully pour pink batter over white batter in pan. Carefully pour remaining white batter over pink batter.
2. Bake cake at 350°F and cool completely.
3. In small bowl, mix white icing ingredients. If necessary, stir in additional milk, 1 teaspoon at a time, until smooth and spreadable. Spread over cake. Sprinkle crushed candy on top. Store loosely covered.
White Icing:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon milk or water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla, if desired
I am not quite sure why my cake fell apart. Maybe the box cake would have been better to use in the bundt pan. But it sure did taste good. And there were several salvageable pieces of cake that I was able to serve up that looked halfway decent. Hehe. And with some creative photography I was almost able to make it look…well…somewhat presentable.
I have decided to share more of these creativity failures with you as part of trying to keep it real. What do you think? Are you looking forward to seeing some of my creative catastrophes??
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Tauni says
Amy, I still don’t think you have as many craft fails as I do :) I am glad you’re keeping it real though. Love you!
xoxo
Emily says
This looks SO good! Now I’m craving cake!
Colleen says
Now I’m craving cake too! Thanks for keeping it real and it still looks SO good even if it didn’t turn out as planned :)
Amanda says
I love this “keeping it real” post! I made a couple of quick breads to share at Christmas time…and they completely fell apart coming out of the pan. (Not sure what happened…) They ended up going in the freezer for a bit–and then my kids ate them. :) While I don’t find joy in mishaps of others, it’s nice to know that these minor ones still happen. (It just reinforces my theory that as women, mothers, wives, we’re all a lot more similar than we think!) And, really–from your pics, the cake looks fantastic! Way to salvage a creation gone bad!
Amy says
Thanks Amanda. I appreciate that. Sometimes things just don’t work out…as in life right?
I’m a relatively new reader, but I think it’s great that you’re willing to show your fails. It gives me courage to try something new, knowing that I may fail!
Thanks Kristen. Glad to have you with us. I think most people have these types of fails. But if you don’t take risks you can’t learn new things. Thanks for commenting and following along. Hope you continue to enjoy it.