Peach Pudding Cake

So, this is a cake much like the first cake I blogged about. The difference? I made this up in my head. I haven't looked to see if there is anything online like it, or if it is not "original" but I made it up on the fly.
So, I was shopping and thought I don't want to make a chocolate cake. But I love the brownie gooey consistency of the Chocolate Chip cake that I make with pudding. So, what can I make? Vanilla Instant Pudding, Yellow Cake Mix and Peaches came to mind and nearly jumped in my cart. At home I thought Pineapple upside down cake but with peaches... But no, I wanted the pudding cake. So, I recreated the chocolate cake but with the vanilla pudding and cake mix.

Ingredients needed: Yellow Cake Mix, Milk, Instant Vanilla Pudding Mix, Butter, Brown Sugar (White Sugar if you want to I have made with and without) Can of Peaches

Start off by PreHeating your oven to 350 Degrees F Then grease and flour your 9x13 cake pan (I use shortening and plain flour)

Ignore my ugly pan, it is cheap and well used..it is clean I promise!

Then in a small sauce pan melt the butter

Pack your brown sugar to measure

Drain Peaches and place in food processor and puree

Add your sugar into the butter while keeping the burner on medium heat and mix well

I added in 2 Tablespoons of white sugar as well as the 1/2 Cup of Brown Sugar...but some ended up on the stove top...

Add Brown Sugar & Butter mixture to the pureed Peaches and pulse until mixed

 In a Large mixing bowl mix your Vanilla Pudding per package instructions

Okay it says whisk...I used my hand blender

Once pudding mix is blended well add in the box mix for your Yellow Cake

Mix well, hand mixing works better than hand held blender since it gets so thick

Spread into the prepared pan (It will be think so you have to work it with a spatula)

Give that puree another burst or two to ensure mixed well

Then pour the peach puree over the top of the cake mix (use that spatula to spread it if it pools)

Pop that bad boy into the oven for 38 minutes and make sure that it is all cooked before removing it! Toothpick trick people! 

Below is what it looks like done!

So here is the recipe for those of you needing it spelled out for you ;)

Peach Pudding Cake

Ingredients:

1 Box Vanilla Instant Pudding

2 Cups Cold Milk

1 Box Yellow Cake Mix

1 Can Peaches

5 Tablespoons Butter

1/2 Cup Brown Sugar

2 Tablespoons White Sugar (optional)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F. 

Grease and flour a 9x13 baking pan.

In small sauce pan heat butter to melted, add in sugar and stir until well blended over medium heat. Remove from heat.

In food processor place drained can of peaches and puree well. Add in sugar mixture and pulse till well blended.

In a large mixing bowl mix Vanilla Pudding Mix with 2 cups cold milk until blended, then add in box of Yellow Cake Mix and stir until well blended.  

Spread cake mixture in bottom of prepared pan, batter is thick and you will need to use a spatula to push into the corners. Pulse the peach puree to ensure mixed well and not separated, then pour over the cake batter in the pan using the spatula to ensure even coverage. 

Place pan in oven and cook for 38 minutes or until toothpick inserted in middle of the cake comes out clean.

Tres Leches Espresso Cake

Long time no blog post...I noticed too...

     I actually took pictures in preparation for a couple of new blog post ideas/recipes but they got lost somewhere between me quitting my job to stay at home and take care of my family and life. Okay those are the same thing right? Well I haven't stopped cooking. I actually am doing more of it! I have discovered many many YUMMY recipes to tweak and share but today I just have to talk about my most recent discovery! Okay, it is NOT tweaked much so just go here to read a really AWESOME blog about food that contained this post about this cake. Portuguesegirlcooks/Tres Leches Espresso Cake I found it via Google.

This is my cake not the picture from the blog linked ;)

     I love to Google ingredients that I want to use and try to find something to match my craving. This adventure began by me buying instant espresso for a recipe that I had and can no longer locate. It was a chocolate cake of some kind and it sounded decadent and divine! Google did not help me find that particular recipe but it did bring up the idea of the Tres Leches Coffee cake. Um....YUM! So then I thought well I didn't want to use just instant coffee...so I put Tres Leches Espresso in the search and BAM! This link comes up!

Again My cake, but  I thought visuals of the cake would help

 It took a few days to make sure I had the right ingredients because well I try to NOT keep heavy whipping cream around or I would be making homemade whipped cream every day to top everything! So, I finally put it on the grocery list and whipped up this delicious cake.

Yes THIS CAKE, it is mine ;)

    Late yesterday afternoon I whisked up the cake, with a hand whisk not a mixer as asked for in the recipe because alas I don't have a stand mixer, nor the cabinet space to store one. Baked the cake, poured the milk mixture over and placed it into the refrigerator and made myself wait patiently until this morning to whip up the whipped cream topping. I did not take pictures of the process because well, my kitchen was a HOT MESS. Nearly 87 degrees while cooking HOT (that was the temp IN the kitchen NOT outdoors here in wonderful South East Texas) and I was just a  MESS, making this new recipe and dealing with the kiddo-roos who were all up in my business. So any-who,It turned out PERFECT! Better than chocolate and I LOVE chocolate.
 Here is what I did...recipe and explanation to the best of my ability. As I said there are VERY FEW changes to this recipe, and only one ingredient change and that wasn't an essential so really the original Blog recipe is all you need unless you want to read my kitchen trial
 ;-).

Tres Leches Espresso Cake

Ingredients

The Cake

1 Cup Flour

1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1/4 tsp Salt

5 Large Eggs (separated and at room temperature)

1 Cup Sugar

1/3 Cup Whole Milk

1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract

The Soaking Liquid

10 oz can Sweetened Condensed Milk

1 Cup Evaporated Milk

1/2 Cup Heavy Cream

1/2 Cup Espresso or Strongly Brewed Coffee (I used instant espresso)

1 Pinch of Salt

The Topping

1 tsp Instant Espresso Powder

1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

2 Cups Heavy Cream

3 Tbsp Powdered Sugar

2 Tbsp (to taste) Cocoa Powder

For The Cake

Prepare a 9x13 cake pan (I used glass) by greasing and flouring to prevent sticking. (I always use shortening to grease my pans the recipe I used said to use butter) and preheat oven to 350 Degrees F. 

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. (including measurements here as well because I kept having to scroll up and down to get the info while cooking mine)

1 Cup Flour

1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1/4 tsp Salt

In a large bowl whisk egg whites until they become frothy, slowly add 1/4 cup of sugar. Continue whisking until firm but not dry peaks are formed. (I felt as though my arms might give out I haven't hand whisked like this in YEARS but it took around 6 minutes I think...felt like 20 but well worth it!) 

5 Large Eggs (separated and at room temperature)

1 Cup Sugar

1/3 Cup Whole Milk

1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract

Now add in the egg yolks and remaining 3/4 cup of sugar and beat it some more until it is pale yellow in color. Add Milk and Vanilla until combined. (Now you are supposed to keep the eggs separate until adding the flour but I didn't because I don't read so well I guess, so if you keep them separate like the original recipe First fold in the flour to the egg yolk, then add 1/3 egg whites and alternate till combined.)

Fold the flour mixture by thirds into the egg mixture each time ensuring it is fully combined before adding more. 

Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish and bake for 20-25 minutes until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean. Let the cake cool for 10 minutes. (Now the original said remove the cake, wash the pan and return the cake after it was completely cooled. I did not. I just left it in the pan. I used a knife to make sure the sides were loosened after it cooled that time but never removed it from the pan.)

The Soaking Liquid

In a medium sauce pan combine all 3 milks, coffee(espresso), and salt.

10 oz can Sweetened Condensed Milk (I used a 12 oz can but didn't try to get all of it out...close enough!)

1 Cup Evaporated Milk

1/2 Cup Heavy Cream

1/2 Cup Espresso or Strongly Brewed Coffee (I used instant espresso)

1 Pinch of Salt

Heat over medium-low heat, stirring often, until the condensed milk is dissolved and the mixture bubbles around the edges.(This took longer than 5 minutes for me but the original recipe says 3-5 minutes...the bubbles around the edges that is, the condensed milk dissolved quickly) Be careful not to scorch the mixture. Pour into large liquid measure (I used my 4 cup glass measuring cup)

With a toothpick or skewer, poke the cake in 1/2 inch intervals (um yeah less scientific with this I just made a whole bunch of pokes all over the cake). Slowly pour the liquid over the cake starting at the edges, allowing little bits of the liquid to completely soak in before pouring more. Use up all of the liquid. 

Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2-24 hours

The Topping

1 tsp Instant Espresso Powder

1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

2 Cups Heavy Cream

3 Tbsp Powdered Sugar

2 Tbsp (to taste) Cocoa Powder

In Large Mixing Bowl combine the vanilla and instant espresso powder until the powder is completely

dissolved. Add in the Heavy Cream and Powdered Sugar and beat until it holds firm peaks. (be careful to not over beat, I used my regular mixer with mixer blades for this as I have used it all the time to make whipped cream like this. I have to say I would normally use more sugar to sweeten but with this cake it doesn't need to be sweeter, though I prefer a sweeter whipped cream.) 

Spread Whipped Cream over the cake and sift Cocoa Powder over the top. (I just used enough to give a good coating for looks)

Chocolate Dump Cake

So I started pinning recipes on Pintrest (who doesn't right?) and it was SO innocent! Then, realizing I was pregnant, began a renewed interest in my Pintrest Board. Then somewhere in the mix my computer (laptop) broke and I was stuck surfing on my Kindle Fire or Cell Phone. Well some of my food discoveries went un-pinned. So in an effort to direct my food loving friends more easily and to share my experimentations with those recipes I have found, here we are.

Now I would love to link the recipe site I first found this recipe here, but I can't seem to find it anymore even with exhaustive searching. So, you just have to take my word for it.

AND then I stumbled on the link. http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/The-Easiest-Chocolate-Pudding-Cake/

Also this being my first food blog attempt I sadly did not take pictures of anything but the finished product. I will try and do better in the future.

The original version called for NON Instant Pudding mix. All I had in the cupboard was Instant. Then in the comments someone had made it with instant AND Chocolate Milk! Yum!

So this is what I did:

 Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees, grease and flour 9x13 pan. Whisk 1 package pudding mix with 2 cups chocolate milk for 2 minutes, mix in cake mix until smooth. Pour into pan, top with chocolate chips, bake 20-30 minutes until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. We ate our first piece hot out of the oven with Ice cream. Yummy!

But that just wasn't good enough for me.

The next time I made it, I used 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, and 1 cup milk chocolate chips. Um, Total SCORE on the taste buds!

So, today as I was making dinner I wanted to make this YUMMY cake again. Alas, the teenager used the last box of instant chocolate pudding in the cupboard. (Boo) So I had to find yet another alternate. So I made Hasty Chocolate Pudding but since sometimes I jump ahead I added the vanilla extract before everything hit the microwave, not after as instructed in the recipe. Then while it was still hot, I mixed in the box of Devil's Food Cake mix. It didn't spread as easily as the time I used instant cold pudding, BUT it smelled WONDERFUL!

Again I topped with 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1 cup milk chocolate chips.

So my resulted "altered Chocolate Dump Cake" Recipe is as follows:

Cabinet Staples Chocolate Dump Cake

List of Ingredients:

1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar

1/3 Cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

3 Tablespoons Corn Starch

2 Cups Chocolate Milk (Or White)

2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract

1 Box Devils Food Cake Mix

1 Cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

1 Cup Milk Chocolate Chips

 

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees, grease and flour a 9x13 baking dish.

 

In a large microwave safe bowl combine sugar, cocoa powder and corn starch, whisk until well blended. Add milk in parts, combining well to ensure no lumps are left of dry ingredients.

 

Place in microwave on high for 3 minutes, whisk until combined. Microwave again for 1 minute, if it has reached pudding consistency it is done, if not microwave for additional 1 minute increments until it does reach pudding consistency. Mix in Vanilla Extract.

 

Slowly add in dry cake mix to the pudding mixture, make sure to combine completely. It will be VERY thick.

Spread mixture in the 9x13 baking dish (may need a spoon to push it around not so much spread) ensuring it reaches all sides of the pan.

 

Sprinkle chocolate chips over the top of the mixture.

 

Place in oven and bake for 30 minutes or until the cake pulls from the sides of the pan.

A scoop of Ice Cream on top makes this one awesome craving buster!