Peaches and Cream Cake

This is, hands down, one of our new favorite desserts. Ever. Seriously. I made this twice in the span of two days. That is how good it is. It is so good that my brother even FACEBOOKED about how awesome it is. His status update, "Oh man this dessert is fantastic!!! Thanks Shay!!!" My dad ate what little was left of it the next day for breakfast.

Think of a cobbler, cake and a cheesecake all in one delightful dish. That is what you get in this dish. It is flavorful without being too rich and creamy without the cream cheese amount being too overwhelming. Man blogging makes me hungry!!!

And if that wasn't wonderful enough this dessert is so easy to make with mostly basic ingredients. I had to buy the peaches and the cream cheese both times but that was it.

Now I will have to make it again to test my theory but the first time I made this cake I made it with Whole milk because that was the only kind I had on hand at the time. It seemed to me like the first cake puffed up a lot more than the second one that I made with 1% milk. So my theory is that this cake is puffier with thicker milk. That is certainly true when you make rolls so it seems perfectly reasonable to me. But if you want to cut calories it is still wonderful both ways.

This amazing recipe and the picture are courtesy of Mel's Kitchen Cafe and can be found at this site here: http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2011/05/peaches-and-cream-cake.html

Peaches and Cream Cake
from melskitchencafe.com
printable recipe
*Serves 12

Cake:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 cup milk
6 tablespoons butter, melted

 Peaches and Topping:

29-ounce can sliced peaches or 1 quart home-bottled peaches
16 ounces (2 packages) cream cheese, light or regular, softened to room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
6 tablespoons reserved peach juice
Cinnamon and sugar for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9X13-inch baking pan with cooking spray and set aside.

In a medium or large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and cornstarch. Blend. Make a well in the center and add the vanilla, eggs, milk and melted butter. Whisk together until well combined. Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan.

Slice the peaches into bite-sized pieces, scattering them over the top of the batter evenly. In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar and reserved peach juice together until light and creamy. Dollop the cream cheese mixture in tablespoon-sized spoonfuls over the top of the batter and peaches and then use a spatula to evenly spread together to form a creamy layer. It doesn't have to be perfect, just try to spread it as evenly over the top as possible (it's ok if peaches are peeking through in spots). Sprinkle the top of the cream cheese layer generously with cinnamon and sugar.

Bake for 45-60 minutes until the edges are puffed and golden and the cream cheese layer has bubbled slightly on top. This is a difficult cake to test for doneness because of the gooey cream cheese layer. If the middle is still jiggly, bake until it no longer jiggles and the cake batter layer is puffed and no longer runny. Serve warm or at room temperature.

*NOTE: I liked the cake better at room temperature and my husband liked it better warm. You just can't go wrong! :-)

Skillet Strawberry Cobbler

I love finding new dessert recipes that look very easy to put together. When I ran across this recipe I knew I had to try it! Strawberries + Cobbler = Heaven!

Well I was actually quite surprised. I am most familiar with peach or raspberry cobbler and I was not expecting the sour flavor that this cobbler had. You don't bite into a strawberry very often and think, "SOUR!" But something about this dish made it taste much more sour than I was anticipating.

Now don't get me wrong, paired with some ice cream it was still very good. My hubby really liked the sour taste and didn't even think it needed ice cream. And the next day the sour taste seemed to have died down a bit and I enjoyed it a whole lot more.

So in conclusion this may  not be a recipe that I would make very often or one that I would take to a get together because it really does have a surprising taste; however, we really enjoyed it and it is one that I would recommend (with disclaimers mentioned about) and will probably make again!

This recipe and picture are courtesy of How Sweet It Is and can be found at this site here: http://www.howsweeteats.com/2011/06/skillet-strawberry-cobbler/

Skillet Strawberry Cobblers

Adapted from How Sweet Eats

*This listed recipe is HALF of the original. I don't have a cast iron skillet that is large enough for the original recipe. And this was plenty for my small family.
serves 2-3

1 tablespoon butter
4 cups of strawberries
1/2 tablespoon white sugar
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon brown sugar
1/4 stick butter, softened and cut into cubes
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon butter, melted
vanilla ice cream for serving and fresh mint for garnish

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Slice strawberries – I slice a few in half, a few in quarters, and leave others whole for a variety. Toss with 1/2 tablespoon white sugar.

Heat a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Wait for 5 minutes until the entire skillet is hot, then add 1 tablespoon butter. Add strawberries and cook for 5-6 minutes to soften.

While strawberries are cooking, combine flour, baking soda and powder, salt and 1/2 tablespoon brown sugar in a bowl and mix. Add in cubed butter and mix with a fork or your fingers until the butter is in smaller crumbles and strewn throughout the mix. Make a well in the center and pour in buttermilk. Add vanilla extract and stir until mixture comes together.

Turn off heat under strawberries. Spoon globs of dough on top of the strawberries, scattering them all around. Melt remaining tablespoon of butter and drizzle over top of dough. Sprinkle remaining brown sugar on top. Bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes, then turn down heat to 375 and bake for 10-15 minutes more. Serve with vanilla ice cream and fresh mint.

Cherry Dump Cake

Talk about a delicious and easy dessert! This is the one for you! My sister and I were in charge of dessert for a family get together today and I thought about this recipe because it only has 3 ingredients. THREE!!!! And it turned out SOOOO good. It is just like a cobbler only with so much less work. And the greatest part? You don't have to use cherries. You can use raspberry, peach, strawberry, blackberry, blueberry, etc, etc, etc... you choose! I choose raspberry and it was so good, there wasn't any left! The picture and recipe are courtesy of Three on Food and can be found here.

CHERRY DUMP CAKE
From Three on Food

2 cans cherry pie filling
1 package yellow cake mix
1 cup butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish. In the prepared dish, layer the cherry pie filling and then sprinkle the dry cake mix over the top, covering evenly. Pour the melted butter over the cake mix, and pat down with a spatula until the all the cake mix is covered. Bake 45 to 50 minutes in the preheated oven, until browned and bubbly.

* Store in the fridge. This is even good the next day - the crust stays good and crunchy!