All Scratch Yellow Cake

When making cakes I've always used cake mix for the actual cake spending more of my time on making the fillings, buttercreams and glazes from scratch. Seriously, cake is just a delivery medium for frosting and filling as far as I'm concerned. Duncan Hines mixes are my favorite. I've tried other brands but I just don't like them as much. And when you have some elaborate decorating to do, mixes just save time. I also think they taste pretty good. I've had no complaints. All that being said, I've always felt that I should migrate towards making the cakes from scratch as well. 

After the success of the Blue Velvet cupcakes (the cake was so moist and flavorful) I though I'd give another scratch cake recipe a try. I had seen Bakerella's post about the perfect moist yellow cake and decided that was as good a place as any to get started. Because I wanted the whole cake to be "from scratch"* I paired it with a fudgy homemade chocolate icing. A classic All American Cake. Not a fancy schmancy bakery cake but one like your grandma might have made back in the day. See what you think.

*My son quickly pointed out that it wasn't ALL from scratch because I didn't make the sprinkles. Can you forgive me?

Brie Quesadilla

My apologies, I just don't have anything to say for a witty introduction this week. I'm beat! Wiped out. Just plain tired and suffering a bit from writers block. Life has just been such a whirlwind lately and I'm starting to feel it. It's temporary though. I know that. We'll be back on track before ya know it.

But for now,  it's just kind of hard to write a sassy intro when you're just not feeling sassy. So, sassy intro aside, here's what I've got for you this week: Brie Quesadillas. More precisely, Caramelized Onion, Pear and Brie Quesadillas. So easy to make, so impressive and most importantly, so good. The very first step is to caramelize some onions so let's get started. . .

Caramel Pecan Popcorn

A funny thing happened on the way to make Caramel Corn. I didn't have any light corn syrup. Seriously, how could I be out of light corn syrup. I always have some. Better put it on the grocery list. What I did have is 3 bottles of dark corn syrup. Why? Don't ask me. I must have forgot I had some and then bought more. Then I thought: "Can you make caramel corn with dark corn syrup?" Why not? Then dark caramel corn made me think of Pecan Pie. Mmmmmm, Pecan Pie! Wait . . . hold on . . . I'm getting an idea . . . Caramel Pecan Popcorn! Yes, I always have pecans. I double checked the freezer and there they were. So Caramel Pecan Popcorn it is!