Ding Dong Cake AKA Raven's 18th

• 
  
• I cannot believe my little Raven turned 18 last month.  Where did all that time go??  She graduated high school and is now enrolling in college,  sniff, sniff.  I know, I know this is what is supposed to happen but gosh it is hard on a mom and dad!  Raven has so many dreams and I do hope life gives her what she has given to life!  Raven is a giver and I love that about her!  This cake is my Ding Dong cake and it is what Raven picked for her birthday cake this year.  This cake is so rich and decadent that a small piece will go far.  Give this a try the next time chocolate is calling your name!  This is What's Cookin on Beaty's Creek!

Needed:

• 
  
• 
  
• 2 boxes Duncan Hines  Devils Food cake mix( I learned years ago in a Wilton Class to only buy Duncan Hines boxed mixes

Bake cake according to directions on the box.  Saddens me to say but you know just DO IT!  I cooked mine in 4 round cake pans. Bake according to directions also....  Now go on to the next step so I don't feel like a complete loser!  Cool completely and remove from pans.

White Filling

4 cups whole milk

2 cups butter-softened

2 cups shortening
2 cups sugar
2 vanilla beans-scraped

• 16 T flour
• Mix together  milk and flour. Cook until thick, then cool COMPLETELY. Mix butter and shortening until well incorporated in your Kitchen Aid mixer. Now add in sugar and vanilla beans and mix until mixture is light and fluffy. Now add in  flour mixture and beat until smooth and yummy.
• Now pick out a pretty plate and plop out your first first cake layer.  Spread the filling over cake all the way to the edge.  Make sure it is very even too.  Repeat with each layer of cake until you reach layer 4.  You will not it with filling.  Wrap cake completely with plastic wrap and place in freezer for 1 hour.
• Icing
• 2 t vanilla
• 4 sticks butter-softened
• 6 T whole milk
• 4 T cocoa
• I use a whole bag of powered sugar when I make this icing. Sometimes I need a cup more, I think it depends on the  humidity in your area.
• Mix butter, vanilla, and cocoa together.  Now add in your powdered sugar a cup at a time.  In between sugar add in a T of milk.  Once all of your sugar is mixed in you might need to add a little more milk or sugar.  Just depends if your icing is too runny or too thick.  You want it to be easily spreadable.  Now take your cake out of the freezer and ice it completely!!  You want about 1/4 of icing all over the cake.  Place iced cake in fridge until ready to serve.
•                                                                                           

1. 
   
2. 
   

Witch's Hands

It is time for our annual Halloween/Harvest Party! I always look forward to this each year. We gather our friends together and have a costume parade, hot dog roast, and fall party! This year the weather was just absolutely perfect too! This recipe is super easy and super cute. Give this a try when you have to fix goodies for a school party or make it as a surprise to add in

your kiddo's lunch! This is What's Cookin on Beaty's Creek today!


Needed:
24 clear food serving gloves
24 cups air popped popcorn
120 pieces of candy corn
24 bag ties

Pop popcorn. Open up gloves and insert a piece of candy corn in each finger. Now add your popcorn and tie with a bag tie. Easy peasy and super cute!
Pin It

Cajun Boiling Pot

Many moons ago there was a restaurant in Tulsa Oklahoma called the Cajun Boiling Pot. It was so good and different from the ordinary that it quickly became a favorite. Every time we had friends or family in town, we would just have to take them there. What made this place so different was that they did not serve on plates. When your low country boil was ready, they would bring it to your paper lined table and dump it in the center. This was before the Food Channel or Emeril and anyone in the great state of Oklahoma cooked like this, much less served like this. Many of my high school friends were shocked, in a good way, when their food was brought to them. Well a few years ago the Cajun Boiling Pot closed and we had to fend for ourselves, so this is our Cajun Boiling Pot. Give it a try and you will be having this again and again on those special family get togethers. One of the best things about this...there are no dishes to wash afterwards! This is What's Cookin on Beaty's Creek this first day of Summer and Raven's 17th birthday!


15 ears corn-cut in half
7 pounds red potatoes
3 pounds yellow onions-cut in quarters with the skin left on
5 pounds shrimp
5 pounds Cajun and or hot links-cut into 2 inch slices
5 pounds crab legs
1/4 cup salt
cayenne to taste
2 heads garlic-sliced in half
(you can add crawdads but we prefer them prepared other ways)


Boil water in a huge pot seasoned with Old Bay Crab Boil, salt, and cayenne. Add in potatoes and cook for 12 minutes on a steady boil. Now add in corn, onions, and hot links. Boil these for an additional 8 minutes and then remove everything from the pot. Now add shrimp and crab and boil for 8 minutes and now remove all of these from the pot. Now dump everything on top of a table covered with newspapers and serve with melted butter, cocktail sauce and french bread.

June Already?????

I cannot believe it is June 1st! June is the busiest month by far on Beaty's Creek. First off we have Ransome's birthday on June 8th, then we have Raven's birthday on the 21st, my mother's on the 25th, and then Raine's on the 27th. I am tired from just typing all of that. Oh, did I mention Raine starts ballet this month and Ransome has several different skateboard adventures planned. OMG, Raven is touring colleges too. Okay I will quit rambling but sometimes a girl has to share. On the food side of this there will be some yummy cake recipes and of course some new canning recipes! That is What's Cookin on Beaty's Creek today.

Ina's Blueberry Cake-Made Stacey's Way

Raine is my blueberry baby! Her Grandy Carole grows some blueberries and Raine thinks that they are the perfect food. Raine wanted a blueberry cake for her birthday party, she thinks B-day parties are so fun that we are having them every couple of weeks. It's funny but at the same time kinda scary, not of Raine wanting a B-day party but for me giving her one that often... I found this particular recipe in one of my Ina Garten cookbooks. I changed a few things to our likes and whipped it right up for the "again" birthday girl. This is What's Cookin on Beaty's Creek today.


For the streusel

1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar-lightly packed
1 t cinnamon
1 stick butter-melted
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

For the cake:

6 T butter-softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs-at room temperature
1 vanilla bean-scraped
2/3 cup sour cream
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 t baking powder
1/4 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9-inch round baking pan.

For the streusel:
Combine the granulated sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl. Stir in the melted butter and then the flour. Mix well and set aside.

For the cake:
Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on high speed for 4 to 5 minutes, until light. Reduce the speed to low and add the eggs 1 at a time, then add the vanilla, lemon zest, and sour cream. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the batter until just combined. Fold in the blueberries and stir with a spatula to be sure the batter is completely mixed.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and spread it out with a knife. With your fingers, crumble the topping evenly over the batter. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool completely and serve sprinkled with confectioners' sugar

Raine's Birthday!!!!

I can't believe Raine is 2 years old, boy time does fly by. I also cannot believe this is my last cake this month!!!! I am a little sad about this but only a little. But after 3 kiddos and my mother's b-day all in June, my hands do need a break. Raine is all about Blue's Clues so I did a "Clue" cake for her. There is a little Tasty Freeze of sorts in a nearby town and they have paw prints all over their building. Each time we drive by it we must stop because Raine is yelling, "a clue, a clue." This is What's Cookin on Beaty's Creek today.

Happy Birthday Moma!!!

Today is my mother's b-day, I will not tell you how old she is but I will tell you she is just as much of a spit-fire as she ever was. I am making my mother this cake because it is one of her favorites and she has a lot of favorites. As I told you before, she is an ant reborn in a humans body. Enjoy and have a great day mom!!!

Raven's Birthday Cake

Raven's birthday cake went from chocolate cake with butter cream to a banana cake with peanut butter-butter cream icing and then to a cake with 2 chocolate layers and 2 vanilla layers with butter cream. Can you tell Raven is my daughter??? I hate making decisions and so does she. I cannot believe it was 15 years ago tonight, 8:11 to be exact, that little Raven was born. She will be my baby forever but my is she growing up. Her 15th birthday cake is What's Cookin on Beaty's Creek today. Actually I baked it yesterday and iced it today.

Ransome's Birthday Cake

Ransome decided he wanted a guitar cake this year and I thought to myself, how hard can that be??? Well let me tell you finding the pan was the easy part of this cake and it was not all that easy. After the cake pan was found, the flavor was picked and said flavor was baked into a guitar shape so the real work could begin. See I don't know a guitar set up from a radio set up, see the problem?? Thank goodness Sean and Raven were here to assist me. My hand is still sore from all of the squeezing and my mind is sore from thinking. I hope you think this cake is as cute as Ransome did on his big day. Cannot believe he is 8!! Time sure does fly. This is What's Cookin on Beaty's Creek tonight.