Looking for easy cakes that look like they were hard to make

mom2six

Sat, Nov 05 2016, 7:42 pm

Subject line sums it up. We're making a kiddush this Shabbos, and the women in my community somehow all know how to put together really fancy kiddushim with cakes that just make you go wow. My "fancy" cake is a plain white cake or chocolate cake with a margarine frosting in top. I need really simple recipes that even I can handle but that won't be too embarrassing to serve in this community.

Thanks!

Jeanette

Sat, Nov 05 2016, 8:01 pm

Layer cakes aren't that hard. You bake each layer in a jelly roll pan and stack with filling between layers. Ive done rainbow cake, checkerboard and seven layer. I'm also not that adept and they worked out well.

Trays of assorted cookies, rugelach, brownies etc also look nice and can be very simple. Trick is having variety of shapes and colors.

littleprincess

Sat, Nov 05 2016, 8:26 pm

Chocolate and crumbs cake

9-13 bekele

6 cups flour
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups oi
2 vanilla sugar
2 baking powder
1 cup sugar

Mix in bowl. Take off 1/3 and freeze. The rest bake on 180 for 15 minutes.

In pot:

1/2 cup oil
100 gram margarine
2 tablespoons cacao
2 tablespoons coffee
100 gram baking chocolate
1 1/2 cups sugar

Melt in pot and then add:

4 eggs

and stir it in chocolate mixture

Pour mixture on baked crumbs and add frozen crumbs and bake for an additional 20 minutes

miami85

Sat, Nov 05 2016, 9:03 pm

I think most cakes baked in a bundt pan end up looking more impressive--just make sure to spray the pan adequately and make sure the cake cools a little b4 trying to remove from the pan and use a thin metal spatula to help the pan unstick from the pan. Get one that you like--I've seen some nice ones that look like a rose

Optione

Sat, Nov 05 2016, 10:19 pm

littleprincess wrote:

Chocolate and crumbs cake

9-13 bekele

6 cups flour
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups oi
2 vanilla sugar
2 baking powder
1 cup sugar

Mix in bowl. Take off 1/3 and freeze. The rest bake on 180 for 15 minutes...

Nice looking recipe. I'm going to go out on a limb here and clarify that it's 180 celcius...

cbg

Sat, Nov 05 2016, 11:21 pm

The Duncan Hines website has lots of great ideas

These rum balls are easy and fancy
http://www.duncanhines.com/rec.....Hines®/fudge-rum-balls/

mom2six

Sun, Nov 06 2016, 4:59 am

littleprincess wrote:

Thanks! This looks manageable and sounds yum! What does the bold mean?

mom2six

Sun, Nov 06 2016, 5:01 am

cbg wrote:

The Duncan Hines website has lots of great ideas

These rum balls are easy and fancy
http://www.duncanhines.com/rec.....Hines®/fudge-rum-balls/

Thanks! Those do look nice, but they require Duncan Hines cake mix, which I don't have access to.

Iymnok

Sun, Nov 06 2016, 5:11 am

After you bake brownies, sprinkle chocolate chips on top and drizzle some oil. (1/3 to 1/2 cup c-chips, 1T oil) Cover the pan with a cookie sheet. After the chocolate melts, spread it out like frosting and liberally sprinkle with a topping. Chopped nuts, sprinkles, (colored) coconut, white chocolate curls, etc.

Bar cookies with jelly and a crumb topping add color, especially if you use different fillings. Buy pie filling, cherry blueberry and apple.

Cut in diamonds and triangles, not only squares for a more. Pleasing look.

Toothpicks with jellies stuck into cakes could hide their imperfectness.

Display the cakes on mirrors instead of platters.

Use your table decorations to distract from the look of your baked goods.

DD7 showed me that you could unwrap taffies then roll them into roses. Place them on top of brownie squares or on skewers in a vase.

mom4many

Sun, Nov 06 2016, 5:25 am

Buy once silicon pans with a shape you like. I have mini bundt cakes - 24 on a sheet. I make a simple chocolate cake (not fudgy), grease the silicon well and bake. After cooled, I melt any kind of chocolate in the microwave, add a tsp of oil for shine and spoon/drizzle it on. In the indentantion you can put nuts, a mini meringue or any other decoration.

It's basically fail proof (occasionally 1-2 will break). Sometimes you may need to smooth out the bottom by cutting it with a knife so it will stand straight. (Actually I mean the bottom once you flip it out of the pan).

Honestly, sometimes it's a pain to grease and fill one by one, but I think the result is worth it!

Dalia

Sun, Nov 06 2016, 5:55 am

mom2six wrote:

Thanks! This looks manageable and sounds yum! What does the bold mean?

It means a 9x13 pan. (bekela is yiddish)