Peach Crunch Cake

You need to make this. NOW. Peach Crunch Cake. GOOD. FANTASTIC. EASY. :-) I found this on one of my latest favorite food blogs, Bakerella. The recipe is here. I was prompted to make this for a plethora of reasons, one being that I will give anything a try that requires absolutely no work. Sometimes you just need something hot and sweet and baking is just not an option. This cake is perfect for those moments. The other reason is because I have a major weakness for anything made with fruit and a crispy topping. I think the problem can be traced back to childhood when my mama made apple crisp. This was one of her signature desserts and one of my strongest memories from being little is the taste of that apple crisp. Don't tell anyone, but I would always choose a "fruity pastry" kind of dessert over a chocolate one any day. Don't get me wrong...I love chocolate...but if you offer me a crisp of any variety, I am all over it. So I stumbled onto Bakerella a few days ago and the peach cake was front and center. It turned out to be very decadent, very sweet, and very crispy on top. LOVE it. I did have a couple of problems that I will correct next time. I don't think that I will be adding quite so much brown sugar because spots of it got a bit burned and too hard. I also think that I will eyeball it better because I got some spots uneven, so the corners of the cake (for example) were overdone and the middle was just right. I think if you take a little more time than I did spreading out the ingredients and cut down the brown sugar, you will be in heaven. As it stands, we ate most of it and left the edges. Oh, that reminds me...you should really grease the pan. It is not in the instructions, but this is sugar we are talking about and I am going to have a hard time washing this dish when we are done with it! Next time, I will give it a quick spray beforehand. Anyway, we all loved this and it is seriously delicious. Granted, it is not good for you, but it is just a fantastic treat. Hey, at least there is fruit. OH and that reminds me of something ELSE...I think I am going to try using more peaches next time. I will probably use the big 28 oz can again and then add just the fruit out of a second small can. I LOVE the peaches in this and I think that more would make it even more fabulous. Okay...now go make this! :-)

I am pretty proud of my picture. At least it has real sunlight in it.

Tres Leches Cake

This cake. OH THIS CAKE! I have had some good ideas in my life and this is one of them! WOW! We eat a lot of mexican food in this house and Tres Leches Cake is one of my favorite things IF it is cooked correctly. I have had it when it was very runny (yuck) and also a bit too dry (double yuck!). I never thought to make this myself because I imagined it being a lot of work and easy to mess up. After attempting to order it last week during lunch and being told that they were sold out (at noon!), I decided the time had come to give it a go. I had seen Pioneer Woman post her recipe recently and decided to try that one. It should be noted that you will hear a LOT about Pioneer Woman on this blog...I am in love with her. LOVE. I LOVE HER. I make a lot of her food and a lot of food that I find on her other website, Tasty Kitchen. Her name is Ree and I will refer to her frequently by name as if we are best friends. Because we are. She doesn't know that, but still. Anyway, back to the cake. You will find the recipe here.

I followed this recipe exactly, taking extra special care to gently stir and gently fold. I usually have trouble with anything that requires a light hand, so I was VERY careful. This is not a quick cake to make but it was worth every bit of the time. It is really important to follow her instructions about lightly folding in the egg whites...one edge of my cake was slightly lower than the middle, so I could see that the key to "fluffy" was the light hand. I had almost stirred mine too much. I also let it stand for the entire 30 minutes after I poured the milk mixture over the cake and this was key. It soaked up every single bit of the liquid and the cake turned into pure heaven without ANY liquid running out. It literally turned out PERFECT and was the best tres leches cake that I have ever had. Also, go the extra mile and make your own whipped cream...do NOT use Cool Whip!! It is SO easy with your mixer and the fresh hand whipped cream was TO DIE FOR and was the perfect topper. In my opinion, if you work so hard on a homemade cake, you should whip your own cream! Go all the way! :-)

We loved this cake from the first moment we served it, but it actually got even better after sitting in the fridge overnight. It was the perfect cold cake and the flavors got even deeper. It was so good that this will for sure be my go-to special occasion cake for all birthdays and events. And random Tuesdays. Or now. Bottom line? MAKE THIS CAKE!!