A mysterious title, eh? The cake is a followup to "Raspberry Con-fusion Cake".
I "deconfusioned" by using the amount of gelatin fluid I intended
originally—1/2 cup of water and 1/2 cup of milk into a bowl with a packet of
sugar-free raspberry gelatin. The newer cake tastes as good as the first
one, nice density and no crumbliness. The layers' heights don't seem
much different.
During the six days of consumption, the newer-version cake was consistently moist and without the frosting becoming more gooey.
If you try a similar gelatin with cake recipe, this one is improved.
If you happen to follow the gelatin's directions for gelatin instead of
halving the liquid, the result won't be a disaster. Consider consuming
the cake in less time before frosting gooeyness. I don't recall the rest
of the downsides of the first cake; I don't plan to repeat my mistake.
Calories and Sodium
Note: Using sugared Jello instead of sugar-free HCF adds about 320
extra calories (~27 C/svg) and 320 extra mg of sodium (~27 C/svg) to the
cake. Between the two sugar-free brands, the amount of calories is
negligible. The amount for sodium is more significant. The following
abbreviated table compares calories and sodium for HCF, Royal, and Jello
raspberry gelatins.
I missed putting out a Valentine item in February. March roared in
like a lion. I'm beating April Fool's Day with my Valentine-theme video
and article. Inspiration started with kin's visit on February 14.
The relatives brought flowers. I'd baked Valentine theme cookies
made from Red Velvet and Strawberry cake mixes. I searched for kiddie
Valentine cards and found one card, no envelope. A few days later, after
they'd left, I found a stack hiding in plain sight.
My journey in creating the Valentine blog theme started out small,
but became gargantuan when I collected hearty items to group together,
created kid-like artsy photographable items, and integrated videos in my
mix. The journey was quite an adventure in inspiration, organization,
and implementation.
Heart Use as a Verb
Hearting is an obscure but increasingly creeping use of heart as a
verb. Creeping, as in slowly moving, not creepy as nervousness inducing.
Consider "I heart NY" and "I heart radio", which seem normal in use of
heart as verb. As a thought, maybe "I heart [something]" can seem less
tension than the "L" wprd.
Indoor Shots
My video includes indoor images and also outdoor images. I got in
touch with my inner creative child for cutouts, punches, arrangements. I
also rustled up images for Valentine cookies that I'd baked
occasionally over many years. BTW, cake mix amounts in boxes have
downsized over the years that cookie dough dollops were less mannerly
this time around.
Outdoor Shots
I mentioned creeping use of heart as verb. A piece of my video shows a
hybrid of Halloween creep and hearty Valentine approach. Numerous other
outdoorsy shots include archives of heart-shaped prickly pear plants
from February 2010 and also February 2025. Eh, the 2010 ones were more
plentiful and cuter; the more recent environment wasn't as, uh,
fruitful. For my non-prickly pear plant shot, the red bud tree with a heart-shaped bloom had caught my eye.
I wanted to Kool-Aid my cake using Raspberry Kool-Aid, but the
supermarket didn't carry that flavor. I thought about using Jello, maybe
make a poke cake.
Fortunately, I found info for helping integrate raspberry gelatin and
cake in a non-pokey way. The result was my raspberry con-fusion cake
(details farther down).
No Hokey Pokey Cake for Me, but Something Else
When I read elsewhere that a poke cake would deteriorate in a few
days, I abandoned the idea. Besides short life, the recipe looked like
more work than I wanted to do. I later thought about making something
with raspberry gelatin and cake. Did some poking around supermarket
prices and availability. Jello's small size cost nearly as much as the family size. I noticed that the store carries both Royal and Hill Country Fare raspberry sugar-free brands.
I found a few resources to use gelatin in cake besides making poke
cakes. Several commenters recommended merely following the cake box's
instructions and mixing in the gelatin powder. I've run across info
about enhancing cakes by adding an extra egg and using milk instead of
water, In my zeal to try a few different details, I put in too much
fluid.
My Con-fusion
My con-fusion with this cake resulted from using the amount of fluid
called for if making a small gelatin batch. For integration into a cake,
I needed to put in only half the fluid. Regular instructions for
small-package gelatin calls for 1 cup of boiling water and 1 cup of cold
water. Normal box cake recipes call for 1 cup of water total. Sooo, I put too much fluid. I decided to just carry on and see how the cake turned out.
To adjust for too much fluid, I baked the cakes for several minutes
longer, hoping evaporation would help. The cake layers baked; the
toothpick test came out well. However, they did not rise. The finished
cake cut cleanly with no crumbs. The mouth-feel texture was dense, like
pound cake. Within the six days of consumption, the cake became more
moist, even watery. The frosting seemed to almost liquefy to saucy
consistency.
If inclined, Google "what happens if you add too much fluid to cake
batter". The next time I retry the recipe, I'll remember to use only
half the amount of fluid.)
The calories and sodium differ on whether you use sugar-free or sugared Jello gelatin powders.
Note: Using sugared Jello instead of sugar-free HCF adds about 320 extra
calories (~27 C/svg) and 320 extra mg of sodium (~27 mg/svg) to the
cake. Between the two sugar-free brands, the amount of calories is
negligible. The amount for sodium is more significant. The following
abbreviated table compares calories and sodium for HCF, Royal, and Jello
raspberry gelatins.
My first batch of lemon poppyseed mini-cupcakes was in June 2012. Coincidentally, I used the same lemon cake brand and poppyseeds. The two emphases were as follows:
Regular-size vs. mini-cupcakes made using aluminum pans that had round wells
Separation methods between the cake batter and pan wells
This time, I triedd using silicone pans with square
wells. One panful, I used scoops/spoon to dispense batter. The other
panful, I pitcher-poured. (Pitcher dispensing is so much faster!) I also
enriched the recipe with an extra egg and used milk instead of water.
Richer flavor and body.
Wellll, the session did not go anywhere as well as I'd hoped. Various
websites touted non-stickiness of silicone, and that the physical
flexibility would allow quick release of baked items.
Alas, throwing caution to the wind, my un-oiled pans, filled with
~95% batter, yielded cringeworthy amounts of baked cake in the wells.
The hoped-for flick-of-the-wrist cake releases kind of worked. They were
fugly, better served in dim lighting.
The video
shows straightforward steps that worked well until I got to the
dispensing, baking, and cake extractions. (Pay attention to the kitchen
versions of road caution signs.)
Calories and Sodium
The yield was from filling the cupcake wells higher than I should
have. I have a recollection that I'd wound up with 77 at another baking
session. Another wrinkle to the calculations is that much of the cake
stuck to the pans. More units, fewer calories each. Same amount of units
but successful detachments from pans, more calories each.
I did not list poppyseeds in the table. Google results show
negligible stats for calories, sodium, or practically any other
noteworthy nutrient.
Silicone Pan Resources That Seemed Persuasive at the Time
It'd been awhile since I'd baked cookies using cake mix. Betty
Crocker caught my eye with the Butter Pecan cake flavor. The sale price
of $1 was compelling. I tried to duplicate La Moderna Marianita pecan
flavor cookies, cheap at about 68 cents for a roll of 28 cookies (6.5
ounces).
The Marianita cookies are crunchy and don't contain actual pecans.
The flavor has a hint of pecan nut skins, smidge of bitter aftertaste.
For attempting crunchiness, I had hoped baking at 325, not 350, and
baking cookies longer than typical cookies would work. I also hoped that
the BC's reduced amount of powder (from 15.25 to 13.25 oz) wouldn't
affect the outcome.
Wellll, the lessons learned for the next time will be to raid some
other cake mix box for two ounces of powder to add to the recipe. The
dough didn't firm up like in other cake mix cooky dough. It was stickier
and harder to load into my cooky press and dispense. Also, next time,
I'll try baking the cookies at least 13 to 14 minutes. Sure, I like soft
and chewy, but I was trying to obtain the Marianita crunchiness.
View the video
for step-by-step process. See the final image for comparison of a
plateful each of BC Butter Pecan cake mix cookies and La Moderna
Marianita pecan flavor cookies.
Making cookies at home take way more time and energy than buying
shelf-stable store cookies. Be sure to block out time for gathering
ingredients, equipment, mixing, dispensing, baking, and cooling. Oh,
yeah, remember cleanup time and effort!
Cookies and other wheat-dominant products have gotten pricey over
time. On the good side, the ingredients for the project came to less
than $2: $1 for box of cake mix, 29 cents for 1/3 C oil, and 50 cents
for 2 eggs. The yield was 42 cookies. FWIW, cookies baked at home seem
to take longer to consume than store-bought. More appreciation for the
effort expended? Definitely tastier!
Calories and Sodium
As a side thought, I considered adding chocolate chips. Doing so
would have added extra calories (~30C/cooky) and cost ($1.50 additional
for project). Mmmm, butter pecan flavor with chocolate chips! Related:
"Low-effort Choco Chip Cake Mix Cookies" (article, video)
La Moderna Resources
La Moderna cookies are a niche item at HEB. I've not been inclined to
seek other products from this Mexico-based company. Memory aid that
Moderna is one of the big-name Covid-19 vaccines.
La Moderna manufactures pasta and soups as well as cookies. Amusingly, La La Maderna's cooky page does not include the pecan flavored ones.
"La Moderna Marianitas Cookies", 71 cents for 6.5 oz Nutrition info claims 6 servings, 5 cookies per serving. I counted 28 cookies.
In mid-May, I made my first-ever soda pop layer cake,
which uses only cake mix and soda pop. Most recipes I'd spotted showed
cupcakes or sheet cakes as end results. My layer cake came out rich and
tasty, but low height. It tended to be more crumbly than cakes that call
for cakes. Nevertheless, it was yummy!
My followup soda pop layer cake
is as low-height and delish as the previous one. BTW, a little goes a
long way. Despite the low profile because of less cake volume, the
flavor is more concentrated. A twelfth serving of the soda pop cake
seems as satisfying as a tenth serving of a standard cake mix cake that
calls for eggs, oil, and water.
This time around, to lessen time and effort for sifting the cake mix
powder and stirring/dispensing the ingredients, I used more efficient
implements.
Calories and Sodium
The ingredients are same as the previous cake. The soda pop, despite a different label, is the same.
Using soda pop (140 C) instead of box's ingredient adds of egg whites
(51 C) and oil (400 C) saves loads of calories. Even more calorie
savings if passing on standard recipe that calls for water, oil (533 C),
and eggs (210 C). If using standard box cake recipes and frosting, the
total calories bump up ~450 to 750 calories. Noteworthy: Using diet soda
instead of sugar soda saves about 10 to 15 calories a slice. Rec:
Indulge with the sugary stuff.
Future Followup Soda Pop Cakes?
I might pass on trying my Tupperware sifter
for future cake, as the capacity is only one cup. I'd need to reload
the gadget maybe up to four times. BTW, I became curious about the cake
mix powder texture WRT sugar. Ingredients don't elaborate, but I suspect
the sugar is a finer granularity than packaged granulated sugar.
My other consideration for followup soda pop layer cake might be
trying the Betty Crocker mixer method of 30 seconds low followed by 2
minutes medium. Rather than doing a video/blog project, I'd add a dated
section to this article comparing results for machine mixing vs. whisk
stirring.
This article emphasizes post-recipe thoughts and additional soda pop cake musings. Read "Soda Pop Layer Cake--Low-height N Rich, Yum" for resources and refs. View the video for step-by-step recipe.
Post-recipe Thoughts
I perused and collected some comments from two Betty Crocker sites after the cake bake.
"Cake Baking with Soda Pop" confirmed my guess about less cake result with soda pop cake recipe. Additional excerpted comments follow.
[Q] Why when we made this batter did we only get 1 cupcake tin? When we
make the batter the normal way we get 2 cupcake tins of cupcakes.
[A]Because you have less batter. When you add eggs,oil, water etc you have a larger volume of batter. So more cupcakes.
[regular soda vs. diet comment] Regular soda did not make it too sweet. Diet soda is sweeter to me as far as taste."
[Q] Does the 1 [to] 2 minutes of beating not beat out the CO2? When making beer bread, it’s just stir gently until we’ll mixed.
[A] In this case, the batter will still hold enough gas to rise.
[Q] Can you make a sheet cake or layers with this method?
[A] we did not test this recipe with a pan or with a sheet cake method, therefore, we recommend using the [cupcake] cake tin.
[comment] We made the recipe exactly as it was written and made sure to use the electric mixer as directed.
[comment] The carbonation is required for this recipe and we do not recommend using flat soda."
Additional Soda Pop Cake Musings
The cartoon host advocated that both cake mix powder and soda pop be
room-temperature. Over time, I've observed that warmer soda bubbles up
more violently and longer than cold soda. As I keep cake mix in the
pantry, powder temperature is no problem.
Numerous recipes I'd read or viewed show cake mix powder poured
directly into a bowl, unsifted, before pouring the soda pop in. In one
case, the baker might have improved her process by sifting first, as she
bemoaned needing to squash powder lumps during the stirring.
I've occasionally run across recipes that call for sifting. I've
sifted when I want to divide powder portions before weighing, such as
for zebra or marble cakes. I've noticed bits of small particles trapped
at the bottom of the strainer.
I've seen mixing processes range from gently stirring for 30 seconds
or less to hand mixer for 1 minute low followed by 2 minutes medium to
tilt-head KitchenAid mixing (speed and duration not easily determined). I
intend to try electric mixing, but maybe after i try making a followup
cake by shortening both the sifting and mixing process.
Musing Followup Cake
For a followup soda pop cake, I want to shorten the sifting and stirring processes.
Sifting took more time and effort than I expected. Planning to try a
different strainer and larger spoon. Stirring was also more
time-consuming. Planning to try a French/piano whisk
instead of flat whisk. My Tupperware measuring pitcher (8 cups, 2
liters) would be helpful mostly for the pour/dispense stage, as I'd
easily eyeball batter amount for each pan. Still likely to also use
digital scale.
Alternative sifter (Tupperware tubular with crank handle), which I
haven't used in many years. It's worth a shot for another soda pop cake
iteration. I see online availability, several missing parts. An eye-catcher, for $24.99.
After making the followup cake, I might try using a mixer. Fingers crossed that I don't wind up with pancake-height layers!
A few months ago, cost of eggs had nearly doubled the cost of making cake mix cake, not counting cost of frosting. The egg costs have come down, but I haven't quite recovered from the sticker shock. Recently, I made a soda pop layer cake (eggless!). Yum!
My video shows how to make the cake using a box of white cake
mix and non-diet lemon lime soda (room temperature), with canned vanilla
frosting. (Anything goes for flavors you want to use.) Although loads
of such recipes are findable on the web, mine is for making a 9"
diameter layer cake. (Just about all the other recipes aim for cupcakes
or 9" x 13" sheet cakes.)
The cake turned out lower height than I expected. Noteworthy: The
soda pop weighs less than usual-recipe eggs/egg whites, oil and water.
Noteworthy: Batter amount is about 3/4 as much as for full-recipe cake.
I had originally run across soda pop cake when I encountered
2-ingredient recipes. At least one was pizza dough. A few were
2-ingredient cakes, several eggless. Some of the cakes called for flax
seed, some for yogurt. The eggless, soda-pop cakes intrigued me the
most.
The carbon dioxide bubbles in soda pop act as a leavening agent — the
element that makes baked goods rise and makes them light and fluffy.
...Kitchen staple leaveners — like baking soda and baking powder — use a
chemical reaction to create carbon dioxide bubbles.
"Cake Baking with Soda Pop"
is eye-opening for calling for 1) only one cupcake pan and for 2) the
mixing time using an electric mixer. View the video there or on YouTube.
beat (1) dry cake mix and (1) soda pop with an electric mixer on low
speed for 1 minute. Scrape the side of the bowl, then mix on a medium
speed for 2 minutes.
Oddly, the Betty Crocker "Two-Ingredient Soda Pop Cupcakes"
says "24 regular-size muffin cups". FWIW, this recipe specifies 16.25
oz for cake mix weight; the other recipe omits the weight.
Duncan Hines-centric
"Soda Pop cake"
is succinct, indicating that the baker would also refer to the cake mix
box instructions. I'm guessing a little bit of prior cake-making
experience is helpful.
Duncan Hines has an association with Ready Set Eat, for which a
recipe for soda pop cake finally shows up. And it calls for DH cake! "6 BOX CAKE MIX RECIPES AND HACKS", points to "2 Ingredient Strawberry Lemon-Lime Cake".
Significant mixing instruction-""thoroughly combine cake mix and soda".
The output is a 9 x 13 single layer, with suggestion of powdered sugar
dusting.
Additional Recipes with Nod to Blending Ingredients and Yields
"2 Ingredient Soda Cake - Unreal!"
shows the process from start to finish (using whisk), suitable for new
bakers. It makes a 9 x 13 sheet cake, subdivided and minimally
whip-creamed.
"2 Ingredient Chocolate Coke Cake"
prefaces the recipe with some background. Might be useful when a baker
is first exploring making such a cake. Scroll down to the details. She
suggests using a mixer instead of a whisk. The output is a 9 x 13 sheet
cake, undecorated.
"Bill shows us how to make 2 ingredient cupcakes!" demonstrates his recipe. Bill is the host for Toon In with Me
cartoon show that airs weekdays. His sidekick is a talking tuna
puppet. The demo was a bit amateurish and lacking in some details, but
possibly endearing to audience who might think, "Hey, I could do that!
He whisked diet orange soda and vanilla cake mix (both room temperature)
in a bowl. Some of the batter went into lined cupcake cups. The use of
an air fryer is different. Would-be bakers can refer to other soda pop
recipes for filling in blanks.
"NO EGG BOX CAKE"
is a nicely short video. She uses a spoon for her stirring. The process
veers oddly with batter pour into a greased pan that transitions to a
drizzled Bundt cake. She commented later "Same Cake, Different Pan."
"Soda Cake Recipe! 2 Ingredients"
is over 10 minutes long, but contains caveats to squash cake mix lumps
and to not overbeat. Interestingly, her instructions to stir about 30
seconds conflict with Betty Crocker box instructions for one-minute low
speed, the 2 minutes on high. BTW, her yield is 12 cupcakes per recipe.
"3 INGREDIENT VEGAN CAKE HACKS | Can I Make A Vegan Cake Using Soda?!"
finally shows the soda pop cake recipe starting about 5:12. She uses a
tilt-head mixer (maybe KitchenAid). Interestingly, at the batter pour
near 6:30, she prepares two 9-inch springform pans. starts out with two
pans, At 7:00, she decides to use only one pan. After bake and cool, the
frosting goes on only the one layer, even though she plan-b intended to
slice the layer and put in a middle layer of frosting.
Calories and Sodium
I’m always curious about the calories and sodium in my cakes and
cookies recipes. The soda pop cake stats can seem rather indulgent, but
the calories compare favorably against standard box cake recipes that
use eggs/egg whites and oil.Using soda pop (140 C) instead of box's ingredient adds of egg whites
(51 C) and oil (400 C) saves loads of calories. Even more calorie
savings if passing on standard recipe that calls for water, oil (533 C),
and eggs (210 C). If using standard box cake recipes and frosting, the
total calories bump up ~450 to 750 calories. Noteworthy: Using diet soda
instead of sugar soda saves about 10 to 15 calories a slice. Rec:
Indulge with the sugary stuff.
Ingredients, equipment, and mixing, dispensing, and baking info for
this cheery cherry almond cooky are in the the video. This recipe
go-around is my second attempt at making a version of HEB's Mon Cheri Cookie. The cookies I made in August came out pretty well, but dough dispensing had been challenging. August's Closer Looks video shows the dough stickiness hampering my dispensing.
This batch of dough was less-sticky and dispensed neater and faster.
Two variables could have made the difference(s) in dolloping ease.
Using more effort in removing maraschino cherry fluid—yield of 4.59 ounces cherries then and 2.65 ounces this time.
To compensate for less cherry flavor, I added one envelope of Cherry Kool-Aid.
Dough Dispensing Emphasis
The four dough dispensing methods I used this time are as follows:
Cooky press with DIY funnel (cut-off top of shampoo bottle) and spoon
Cooky scoop (1 1/3 T)
Spoon and rubber spatula
Tablespoon measuring spoon and rubber spatula
The cooky press method saves on travel effort between bowl and pan.
Downside is that the tube doesn't hold enough dough to dispense all in
one session. The other three methods are one-dollop-at-a-time, rather
tedious for the repetitive bowl/pan back and forth.
Calories and Sodium
The yield was 50 cookies, varying somewhat for size. I did have some awkwardness in using the four dispensing methods.
Post-recipe Thoughts
The cookies came out tasty with cherryish flavor. They were soft, almost cake-like.
The Cherry Kool-Aid might have made the color a bit deeper than I'd
intended. And I missed seeing cherry bits that were more evident in the
August cookies. Possibly I overpulsed the cherries in the blender. Next
time, I might try dehydrated ones and halve the amount of Kool-Aid.
Cherryness
Maybe the main reason for improved dispensing could be less
moisture—getting rid of more cherry fluid than August's batch. This
time, after pulsing the cherries, I drained AND blotted the remains. The
yield was 2.65 ounces instead of 4.59 ounces. Pretty expensive item,
considering they were 10-ounce jars of cherries! Thinking of trying
chopped dehydrated cherries, but chopping and adding only half the pack.
Last month, I blogged about sweet bakings, recipe undertakings spread
over 13 years of blogging. Recipes I spotted on the web inspired me to
experiment, not merely replicate. i came up with 28 cooky recipes and 19
cake and cake-ish recipes. For cakes, I started out mostly blogging
about cupcakes and occasional mini-muffins. For cookies, I varied baking
cake mix cookies but also baked scratch cookies.
Maybe surprisingly, I'd done several of the recipes seldom since
blogging about them. A few never-agains are because a particular
ingredient, usually a cake mix, is either no longer available,
formulation is different, or weight is different (mostly less).
Specific to cake mix powder, I'd made cakes AND cake mix cookies over
years to remember the standard size weighed 18.25 ounces. Manufacturers
reduced the amount to 16.25 for a few years. Now it's 15.25. It's
irritating about companies screwing around with powder amounts that,
worse than result in smaller finished good(s), make an inferior item.
Some recipes WERE perfect with 18.25 ounces of powder.
Cooky Monsterous
With "A Convenient Cake Mix Cooky Batch"
(#018), I combined Red Velvet cake mix (especially seasonal for
Valentine's Day) and strawberry flavor cake mix. I'd made several
batches for a few years for sharing in the workplace. Haven't made them
for well over a decade.
I must have been really ambitious or patient when I did Krusteaz Choco Caramel Squares" (#139). Or I might have used a compelling coupon. Anyway, Seems that Krusteaz no longer carries my main recipe ingredient, Krusteaz Molten Deep Dish Chocolate Cookie with Caramel Center.
I noticed that I had omitted "Baking Cookies with Trader Joe Cake MIx"
from my cooky recipe list. I can only guess that my results weren't
great. In any case, TJ's 28-ounce Golden Yellow cake mix is no longer
available. Instead, TJ sells Yellow Cake & Baking Mix,
$2.99 for 16 oz. Price is double what I'd consider for name-brands
Duncan Hines, Betty Crocker, or Pillsbury. BTW, I often buy my
supermarket brand, comparable in quality to the name brands, and a
smidge more powder (16.5 oz).
Cakes and Cupcakes and Muffins, Oh, My!
In June 2012, my first cakey recipe was "Lemon Poppyseed Mini-cupcakes" (#070). Not much of a stretch for deviating from a set recipe, but it was a start.
"Square Mini and Whoopie Muffin Experiment"
(#88) was an experiment for using up two half-boxes of cake mix (Red
Velvet, Strawberry) to try making muffins, and trying out two different
pans. Let's just say the experiment was a been-there-done-that
experience.
"Mini-cupcake Offload: Pan Type & Prep, Batter Amt"
(#118) is another recipe that I made while in muffin mode, specifically
mini-muffins. I might be inclined to try layer-caking it at another
time. The ingredients sound tasty! The amount of cherry filling,
however, sounds maybe more than necessary,. With a few cake experiments
under my belt, I might be able to gauge actual amounts to use. Google
can also help guide.
In 2016, I moseyed over to something bigger, to be eaten with a fork,
then zebra layer cakes. It was another four years before making and
documenting a layer. Did another couple more this year. Cakes are a bit
more labor intensive than cookies.
I haven't baked muffins or cupcakes in a long while is because of a
shifting preference for layer cakes. The longer baking times for such
cakes seem to result in more moistness retention. (Cupcakes and muffins
have more surface area per batch than two layers of cake.)
Related to cake mix manufacturers' weight reduction is supposed
number of servings. I distinctly recall that nutrition tables used to
state that number of servings was 12. Now it's 10. Imho, it's a lot
easier to cut a cake into 12 wedges than 10.
Meandering to barely-related topic--pizza portions. I won't name
names, but one big-name pizza manufacturer states that the number of
servings is 5. How easy is it to cut a pizza, whether round or square,
into FIVE pieces?
I've been blogging since September 2009. I'd started out with text
content, later adding images. Over the last few years, I've accompanied
articles with slide shows and videos that I've posted to YouTube.
Sweets seem to have piqued me, particularly from early to mid 2010s.
This year has re-piqued me. In inventorying my recipe blogs, i came up
with 28 cooky recipes and 19 cake and cake-ish recipes. In the
cake-centric video, I list my blog catalog number with the article title
and finished-item image (newest at top).
In musing about sweets, I'd noticed similarities and differences in
topic choice and execution over the years. (For cakes, I started out
mostly blogging about cupcakes and occasional mini-muffins.)
Morselly Cakes to Whole Cakes
Amusingly, my interest in cake recipes and documenting them have
evolved from earlier times. Early on, most of my cakey topics have been
articles with thumbnailish images. I did a few cake items a few years
ago, with video. I recently got more involved with making whole cakes
and videos for them. I seldom narrate videos anymore.
Some Cake Prep Changes Over Time
My cake pan preparation is now neater. And, after having had my
tilt-head mixer, I finally decided to use it for cake batter mixing. The
metal bowl's handles make pouring easier than using both hands on a
glass mixing bowl.
One recent acquisition I've appreciated is my digital scale. It has
five clickable units of measure and reads out to two decimal places.
Zeroing out containers is a breeze, and weight readouts are more
accurate than my old Braun scale.
I've been blogging since September 2009. I'd started out with text
content, later adding images. Over the last few years, I've accompanied
articles with slide shows and videos that I've posted to YouTube.
Sweets seem to have piqued me, particularly from early to mid 2010s.
This year has re-piqued me. In inventorying my recipe blogs, i came up
with 28 cooky recipes and 19 cake and cake-ish recipes. In the
cooky-centric video, I list my blog catalog number with the article
title and finished-item image (newest at top).
In musing about sweets, I'd noticed similarities and differences in
topic choice and execution over the years. (For cookies, I varied baking
cake mix cookies but also baked scratch cookies.)
Dough Mixing
In the beginning, I used pastry blenders for mixing. More recently,
I've used a tilt-head mixer for mixing to save on elbow grease. Never
going back to pastry blender. BTW, oatmeal cooky dough is the hardest to
manually mix, imho.
Dough Dolloping
In the distant past, I used a cooky press or measuring spoon and
spatula. More recently, I used a 1 1/3 T cooky scoop, which is a bit
more convenient than spoon/spatula. Downside of either method is
one-at-a-time dispensing, which also requires travel time and effort
between dough bowl and pan.
Even more recently, I've tried making some disks and funnel shapes to
use my cooky press. I still have more experiments. Using a cooky press
saves on dough travel between dough bowl and pan.
In one of my recipes, I shaped the dough into a rough rectangle, then
used a metal spatula to cut it into squarish shapes. It was easier than
one-at-a-time dolloping.
Problem Dough
I've wrestled with dough that's stiff, sticky, or both. Dolloping
wasn't much fun. My mind's been percolating with thoughts of spray oil
and my "slice solutions brownie pan".
The pan and compartments remind me of an ice tray. I considered buying one, but they seem pricey.
OK, Not Baked Cookies
I included some fudge recipes. Although not oven-baked goods, they're
sweet items anyway. I felt they were more cooky than cake because of
handling handiness. Yum!
What kind of "cherry flavored pieces" would be in the cake mix?
Cherry flavor without cherries? The list of ingredients didn't assure me
of treasure. Wanting to increase cherry visibility, I added drained,
pitless, stemless maraschino cherries that I chop-pulsed in my blender.
The cake mix cooky dough was unexpectedly sticky and difficult to
handle. And the baked ones from the first batch didn't lift off the pan
as easily as most other cake mix cookies in the past. Furthermore, they
came out soft, rather than crunchy like the Mon Cheri cookies. But what
yummy taste and sweetness!
Seeing the "cherry flavor pieces" that are in Betty Crocker Super
Moist Cherry Chip Cake Mix, which I used for making the cake mix cookies
Using a blender to chop maraschino cherries, then draining and weighing them before they go in the cooky dough.
Using four ways to dispense the cooky dough. Two of the ways include
using a cooky press to push out such add-in-ingredients dough. (View
guidance on DIY nozzle and disk modification.)
My video
walks the viewer through the cooky recipe, from ingredients, equipment,
mixing, dispensing, and baking. The dispensing is notable for showing
four ways, two using a cooky press, one using a cooky scoop, and one
using a spatula and measuring spoon.
Cherry Flavored Pieces
An text item on the cake mix caught my eye "with cherry flavored
pieces". Thus, I wondered what they could be. I sifted the cake mix. The
remains (a smidge more than 1/3 ounce) resembled pink nonpareils and
maybe soy bits. The list of ingredients didn't mention soy. Thus, I
Wondered if BC was fudging terminology, such as "corn cereal". Something
seemed clearly non water-soluble.
Very Sticky Dough
Weirdly, the dough behaved differently than numerous past cake mix
cooky doughs. It came out very sticky and difficult to handle. I needed
help using fingers, butter knife edge, and spoon to drop dollops. I
noticed the dough weirdness even before adding the cherries and almonds.
Baked Cookies Hugging Pan
Another oddity about the dough was its tendency to stick to the pan
for the first batch. Past cake mix cooky dough, besides dispensing
easily, seemed to have enough fat for the baked cookies to easily lift
off the pan. For the second batch, I spray-oiled the pan before
dolloping. Easier cookies liftoff!
Cooky Results and Looking to Make 2.0 Version
The home cookies were softer, chewier, sweeter, and stickier to the touch. Yield was 44. (Mon Cheri cookies come 18 to the box.)
Future attempts will include adding one two two tablespoons of flour
after mixing in the cake mix powder. I might or might not adjust the
fat. Maybe add more fat to see if the
dough is easier to dispense, and the cookies easier to lift off the pan.
Plan B is to spray oil the pan anyway. Plan C is to try making cherry
almond cookies using a different cake mix.
To address the sticky-to-touch baked cookies, lowering the
temperature to 325 and adding more baking time should tend to make them
dryer and crunchier. Hoping for perfection the next time.
Calories and Sodium
The calories and sodium amounts are similar to those numerous cake
mix cookies I've made. Because of the difficulty in dispensing,
individual cooky sizes and stats might vary.
Closer Looks
Visit "Pt 2 Cherry Almond Cake Mix Cooky, Closer Looks" (article, video) for following details:
Seeing the "cherry flavor pieces" that are in Betty Crocker Super
Moist Cherry Chip Cake Mix, which I used for making the cake mix cookies
Using a blender to chop maraschino cherries, then draining and weighing them before they go in the cooky dough
Using four ways to dispense the cooky dough. Two of the ways include
using a cooky press to push out such add-in-ingredients dough.
During the planning and execution of my pineapple an coconut cake (article, video),
I thought of closer looks at some parts of processes. They pertain to
combo-flavor cakes using two kinds of cake mixes, preparing cake bans
before pouring in batter, and squeezing more out of can frosting.
Weighing and divvying up two cake mix flavors for combination flavor
To combine two flavors, the packages need weighing first. During the
pouring of each package separately into a bowl with strainer, the
strainer is handy for sifting. (One reason I wanted to perform this task
was to see if either of the powder included flavor bits, such as
dehydrated pineapple or coconut.) Nope.
Using parchment paper and spray oil to line cake pans before pouring the batter for baking
A very traditional method for prepping pans for baking is greasing
the pans, then sprinkling and tapping flour to coat it. The cake mix
boxes lately seem to advocate using spray oil, and ignoring the sides.
My method is using spray oil and parchment paper, spraying bare pan,
then pressing paper, then spraying again. The baked cakes come out
cleanly and leave nearly no residue on the pans. Makes for easy wipe and
clean.
Using mixer to increase canned frosting volume and spreadability
I'd used mostly can frosting (16 ounces) for a long time.
Occasionally, I do buttercream (powder sugar, butter, milk), which takes
a lot more effort. It seems that one pound is skimpy, and I need to
spread thinly. I thought about the "whipped" frosting that comes in a much taller can.
Taller can seems to mean more frosting, right? Also, I have run across
comments on the web that it's very spreadable. I'll take the leap
someday. Not too wild about the weight being actually only 14 ounces.
I also ran across info that you can whip can frosting and get more
volume. I tried it once before, but didn't think to do volume
measurement before and after, but did notice difference. This time, I
did before and after comparison, noting the frosting ended about 3/8"
from the rim. After whipping, I refilled the can. The frosting reached
the rim, for ~12% increase. This session might have been more fun and
yielded more if I had not refrigerated the can for a few hours before
the whipping. In any case, I noticed improved spreadability.
I'd deviated from various cake mix instructions now and then. This
time, I decided to try making a hybrid cake of two flavors—pineapple and
coconut. (Duncan Hines makes both flavors.) Get info for ingredients,
equipment, and procedures for all the stages to make this delish pina-colada-ish cake. View also "Pt 2 Pineapple Coconut Cake, Closer Cake Prep Looks", the supplemental video.
Boxes in hand, I found commonality for fluid and fat. With research
and thoughts of "Do no harm", I came up with a suitable list of
ingredients.
The pineapple mix box calls for 1 cup water, 3 eggs, and 1/2 cup oil.
The coconut mix box calls for 1 cup milk, 4 eggs, and 1/2 cup unsalted
melted butter. An anomalous ingredient for the coconut cake is two cups
of coconut on the finished cake, top and sides.
In making my hybrid cake, my final decision on instruction
ingredients was 1 cup milk, 4 eggs, and 1/2 cup oil. As for the coconut,
I thought the amount excessive, and cleanup troublesome. I decided to
fold 1/2 cup shredded coconut into the batter just before pouring it all
into the prepared baking pans.
Fluid thoughts
I had toyed with the idea of using all or half pineapple juice and
half milk. I used nonfat milk coz it's what we use. (Whatever convenient
fat-content milk should be fine.)
Egg quantity
I researched about using three or four eggs, and numerous sources
advocated the extra egg as helpful, certainly not harmful for results.
It helps prevent cake crumbliness. I'm guessing an extra egg also adds
richness and extra nutrition.
Fat type
I melt butter for popcorn, but seldom for any other reason. I decided
that using oil is slightly less hassle for cake making. Also, oil costs
about 1/3 as much as butter. Another fat type to consider could be
shortening, which I haven't used in many years. Out of sight, out of
mind. I gave a brief thought to applesauce subbing. Nah!
Calories and Sodium
This calorie and sodium section differs from similar table-form
sections that I've created in most other blog articles WRT baked items.
Notable are coconut and frosting, which list servings in grams instead
of ounces. Whole grams instead of decimal grams or fractional ounces
tend to result in rounded off ("squishy") numbers.
Calories info
Ref: both boxes 15.25 oz. Calories: pineapple mix only, 170/serving; coconut mix only, 170/serving
cake mix, 2 half boxes total -> 1700 C
4 eggs, 70 cal each -> 280 C
milk, nonfat, 80 C/cup -> 80 C
oil, 1984 C/cup -> 992 C
coconut, 1/2 C packed, aka 42g (70C/15g, thus 2.8 svgs) -> 196 C
frosting, 16 oz, aka 453g (140C/33g, thus 13.73 svgs) -> 1922 C
I looked on the web for a means to push out chocolate chip dough. I
spotted some presses that included piping nozzles in addition to dough
disks. Amazon displayed a few such devices, the magic find word being "biscuit", which British commonly refer to stateside "cookies" Another site is Ebay. Weirdly, seems many US companies sell cooky presses and icing decorator guns separately.
I actually own Wilton Dessert Decorator Pro Stainless Steel Cake Decorating Tool
So far, I tried it once, thinking I could pipe nice angel food
cakelets. Big fail, as the oven temperature totally collapsed the edges.
Interesting discovery: the screw-on collar fits my Wilton cooky press.
Some day I'll try the decorator collar with my press and see about
squeeze-triggering chocolate chip cooky dough.
In the cooky dough dispensing stage (squeeze trigger, pinch dollop,
deposit), I decided to skip on trying the soda bottle funnel. I favored
the other two because the diameters were bigger, and the distances from
dough tube to spout were shorter.
Mini and Regular Chocolate Chips
For thIs recipe, I've used most of the same type dough. I varied on
using mini chocolate chips for one batch, and regular chocolate chips
for the other. Notice side-by-side contrast for size and quantity
between them.
"How Many Chocolate Chips in a Cup? (standard, mini, jumbo, & chunks)"
contrasts quantities of chocolate chips per cup portions depending on
the size of the chips. Minis are much smaller than regulars—"About 6½
mini semi-sweet chocolate chips equal 1 morsel-sized chocolate chip."
"How to Measure Chocolate Chips Correctly (2022)"
further states: "Chocolate chips are measured by weight, volume, or
count. The most accurate way to measure chocolate chips is to weigh them
on a kitchen scale."
A related link is "How Many Chocolate Chips in a Tablespoon? (Depends on chip size)"
provides details about factors that affect counts, including molds,
ingredient variations and chocolate type. The table lists "1 Tablespoon
(14 grams)". My mini chips bag (Nestle) lists one serving as 1 T (14 g),
70 calories. My regular chip bag (Hill Country Fare) lists one serving
as 1 T (15 g), 70 calories.
The article shows a table for chips per tablespoon (14 grams). The
minis count is 135, and the regular chips (standard) count is 28. Thus, a
mini weighs a smidge more than .1 gram, and a standard weighs .5 gram.
More Chocolate Chip Nibbles
"0.1-3g Chocolate Chips Making Machine Fully Automatic"
looks to be a marketing site that describes a chip-making machine's
capabilities, with spec overviews. I'm thinking the machine is likely
able to make chips as small as minis. FWIW, I never see fractions or
tolerances for grams in nutrition tables.
"How are Chocolate Chips Made in a Factory? 4 Steps"
summarizes the chip-making process that starts with melting the
ingredients together and ending with creating the morsels. Both sites
have the same embedded YT video of the machine in action.
"COOKIES PLANT"
starts showing dispensing (extruding) pieces onto trays starting about
1:25 (6 rows). Note some nozzles rotate to form some cooky types. About
3:10, the shows wire-cut drop cookies.
The calorie counts were problematic for this recipe primarily because of
stats for chocolate chips. Nutrition tables for my bags of mini
chocolate chips and regular chocolate chips stated calories per
tablespoon. One brand stated a tablespoon as 15 grams, and another brand
stated a tablespoon as 14 grams. Formulation can affect stats. Imho,
gram weights and small serving sizes for items as teeny as chocolate
chips can leave lots of room for inaccuracies.
The stats in the Calories and Sodium section in "Pt 1 Cooky Pressing
Choco Chip Cooky Dough, Not One-at-a-Time Dolloping" is theoretical. I
don't really know how much tolerance is in gram weights per tablespoon.
Another big factor in stats "slop" is the size of my cookies. They're
not factory-made exact; some are undersized, some oversized. All were
yummy!
Cooky press users, use your press to pump out chocolate chip dough by
using a DIY funnel made from the top of a food bottle. Dough scoopers
and other one-at-a-time dollopers, you can reduce the tedium and
repetitive travel between dough bowl and pan. Squeeze the press trigger,
pinch/deposit dollop, move to another spot on pan, repeat.
Rec: Use cake mix cooky dough for ease and doability. View the video for the recipe start to finish and guidance for making and using your own funnels.
At the end of April, I published "Low-effort Choco Chip Cake Mix Cookies",
my go-to cooky dough recipe using cake mix, oil, eggs, and chocolate
chips. The actual base dough is without chips, and suitable for using a
cooky press.
For thIs recipe, I've replicated most of the dough. I varied on using
mini chocolate chips for one batch, and regular chocolate chips for the
other. Notice side-by-side contrast for size and quantity between them.
The main process difference from my previous cake mix cooky dough
recipe is dispensing, using a cooky press and funnels made from tops of
food bottles. Each DIY funnel shape has a larger end that fits between a
cooky press dough tube and screw-on collar, with the narrow end aimed
toward the pan.
Cooky Press, in Case You Don't Have One But Might Consider One
Typical cooky presses come with stenciled disks (often seasonal
themes) for fast, consistent-size dough dispensing. Chocolate chips are
no-gos because they're oversized for the stencil openings. BTW, cooky
press mechanisms tend not to be strong enough for oatmeal cooky doughs
or similarly thick doughs.
Seems many cooky presses resemble each other for looks and functions. I myself have "wilton preferred press cookie press", but don't remember when I got it. Some disks look different than ones I have.
Two articles with images/videos that show my use of cooky press:
This recipe's numbers are very similar to the ones in "Low-effort Choco Chip Cake Mix Cookies". The yield for that recipe was 40 (from using a scoop and icing spatula for dolloping).
This recipe using DIY funnels for dispensing yielded 55 cookies, 28
in the first half batch, and 27 in the second half batch. The caloric
totals deviated from the previous recipe because, this time, I adopted
nutrition table info from the chocolate chip package.
Actually, another wrinkle is having obtained 28 cookies in the mini
chips batch and 27 in the regular chips batch. If I'd been smarter about
the eventual dolloping, I would have eked out one more dollop for the
latter batch.
Dividing the dough for 2 batches:
Calories = 2715/2 = 1357 C for each half batch
Sodium = 3020/2 = 1510 mg for each half batch
Mini chocolate chip cookie yield: 28
Calories: 1357 + 567 = 1924 divided by 28 cookies = 69C/cooky
Sodium: 1510mg/28 cookies = 54mg/cooky
For the regular chocolate chip cookies, if I had squeezed out 28
instead of 27, calculations would have been easier. In any case, the
numbers would have been 67C and 54mg sodium.
My profession had been technical writer/editor. Through TheWriteJob clublet (blog at http://thewritejob.blogspot.com), I have been exploring my inner creative writing, which includes mostly language enlightenment, entertainment, and a-muse-meant. Over time, I have become more active with images and my YouTube channel.
