Decadent, homemade desserts are a wonderful treat. But we don't always have the time (or in my case, the expertise) to create them. Today I'm appearing on Knoxville's WTNZ Fox43 to share some simple ways to take store bought dessert mixes and give them a homemade twist.
1. Refrigerator Coconut Cake
This recipe is such a southern staple and you'll most definitely find it in your favorite church and community cookbooks.
All you need is a boxed white cake mix, prepared according to the directions on the package.
When the cake is still warm, poke holes in it and pour 3/4 of a can of sweetened condensed milk over it until all is soaked into the cake.
Then, frost the cake with whipped cream (Cool Whip) and sprinkle coconut on top. Easy peasy.
2. Honey Bun Cake
This cake recipe is one my granny used to make for us all the time when I was growing up. It wasn't until later did I learn it's just a cake mix, doctored up.
You'll need:
1 deluxe yellow cake mix
4 eggs
8 oz. sour cream
3/4 cup oil
1 cup brown sugar
1 T cinnamon
2 cups powdered sugar
4 T milk
4 tsp vanilla
Combine first four ingredients. Pour half of the batter into a well-greased 9x13-inch pan. Mix cinnamon and brown sugar and sprinkle half of it over the layer of batter. Add the rest of the batter and top with remaining cinnamon/sugar.
Bake at 325 degrees for 40 minutes.
Mix last three ingredients to make the frosting. Pour over cake when it's still warm.
**Note - For the segment, I used two 9x9-inch round pans because I wanted to stack them. The frosting turned out so much prettier on the round cake. I adjusted the baking time accordingly.
3. Sweetheart Cherry Chocolate Trifle
For the final recipe, I wanted to do something chocolate. I decided to go with a standard brownie mix, prepared according to the package directions. Any brownies will do. Then I chopped them into 1-inch cubes.
I whipped up some white chocolate instant pudding and layered this in wine glasses with the brownies and cherry pie filling. It made a pretty dessert that you could serve your sweetheart on Valentine's Day or just enjoy by yourself. My original idea was to make this in a large trifle bowl, but it's always fun to get your own special serving of a dessert...especially when it's presented in a fancy way.
[image credit - coconut cake
by nsdis (contact)]