Winner to be announced soon!
Summertime Sweets
3 weeks ago
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Carrot Cake Bake Off
Today was the First (fill in indeterminate, random frequency) CCE Cake Bake Off. We started off with a Carrot Cake Bake Off - we don't have immediate plans for another one but response was pretty good and we've had fun so . . . expect similar events in the future!
Anyway, we solicited our co-workers for entries and 7 people signed up. With last minute changes we ended up with 5 cakes, which was a manageable group for our first event. The cakes all look great and everyone provided a recipe (check them out below). Voting is still ongoing - We will post the Winner and a selection of comments after 2pm.
Thank you to our bakers, tasters, and voters!
Happy Baking!
~jbt
Anyway, we solicited our co-workers for entries and 7 people signed up. With last minute changes we ended up with 5 cakes, which was a manageable group for our first event. The cakes all look great and everyone provided a recipe (check them out below). Voting is still ongoing - We will post the Winner and a selection of comments after 2pm.
Thank you to our bakers, tasters, and voters!
Happy Baking!
~jbt
Carrot Cake Bake Off Recipes
Entered by Lisa Voge
Terry’s Carrot Cake (adapted from Cooking Light)
Cake:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1/3 cup chopped pecans
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons canola oil
2 large eggs
2 cups grated carrot
1 cup crushed pineapple, drained
1/2 cup grated apple
Frosting:
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 (8-oz) block 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract
Shredded carrots and pecans for decoration. Preheat oven to 350F.
To prepare cake, lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, sugar, coconut, pecans, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl; stir well with a whisk. combine oil and eggs; stir well. Stir egg mixture, grated carrot, pineapple, and apple into flour mixture. Spoon batter into a 13 x 9-inch baking pan (or 12-in round pan) coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 for 35 mins or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack.
To prepare frosting, combine butter and cream cheese in a large bowl. Beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth. Beat in powdered sugar and vanilla just until smooth. Spread frosting over the top of cake. Garnish with shredded carrot and pecans if desired.
Entered by Emelina Logan
Spiced Chocolate Carrot Cake
Cake:
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
3 tablespoons finely grated orange peel
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
4 eggs
1/2 cup orange juice
3 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled
1 1/2 cups shredded carrot, about 2 medium carrots
1 cup raisins
1 cup chopped walnuts
Heat oven to 350°. Butter and flour a 10-cup Bundt pan. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, 1 tablespoon of grated orange peel, baking soda, allspice, nutmeg, vegetable oil, eggs, orange juice, and chocolate. With mixer at low speed, beat just until blended. Increase speed to medium and beat 2 minutes longer. Stir in grated carrots, raisins, and walnuts. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes, or until a wooden pick or cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely on rack. Dust with powdered sugar or drizzle with Cream Cheese Glaze, below.
Cream Cheese Glaze:
(Use this glaze for carrot cake, pound cake, or similar desserts.)
1 package (3 ounces)
3 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Stir until smooth, adding a little more milk or powdered sugar, if necessary.
Entered by Michelle Cavanna
Last year for Christmas, I received this really great Baker’s Assortment Box from Penzeys Spices. Included in the box are a couple of whole nutmeg and cinnamon sticks, a bottle of Double Strength Madagascar Pure Vanilla Extract, and jars of Sweet China Cassia Cinnamon, Natural High Fat Cocoa Powder, and a unique Baking spice blend of Cinnamon, Mace, Sweet Anise, and Cardamom. While this might sound like an ad for Penzeys Spices – the box is available here: http://www.penzeys.com/scstore/giftboxes/new/bakersAssortment4jar.html, by the way -- I use them in almost all of my baking now and this recipe is the perfect showcase!
Michelle’s Carrot Cake
Cake:
2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon (I prefer to use 2 tsp. Penzeys Spices Baking Spice + ½ tsp Penzey’s Sweet China Cassia Cinnamon)
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup buttermilk
9 oz. crushed pineapple, drained
1 cup chopped walnuts
3 eggs
3/4 cup oil
3 1/2 oz. coconut (I used about 6oz.)
2 cups grated carrots
Beat together sugar and eggs in large bowl. Combine dry ingredients. Combine buttermilk and oil. Add flour mixture and buttermilk mixture to eggs alternately (begin and end with dry). Beat until well combined. Stir in carrots, pineapple, nuts, and coconut.
Bake 350 degrees in 9 X 12 greased and floured pan for 40-45 minutes
Cream Cheese Icing:
8 oz. cream cheese
½ cup (1 stick) margarine
1 lb. powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Beat all ingredients together until smooth.
Entered by Margaret Hwang
Carrot Cupcakes
(by Judy Laumets with adaptations by Margaret Travis and Margaret Hwang)
Cake
2 cups sifted all-purpose unbleached flour
2 cups extra fine bakers' sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1½ cups Wesson Oil
4 beaten extra large organic eggs
3 cups grated organic carrots
Mix dry ingredients together. Add oil and beaten eggs. Fold in the grated carrots. Divide batter into 24 individually lined muffin tins. Bake at 325° for 35-40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
Filling and Frosting
½ cup softened butter
8 ounce package softened cream cheese
1 cup chopped pecans (toasted first to bring out flavor)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 vanilla bean (scrape out seeds from bean)
3/4 box of powdered sugar, sifted (to taste)
Beat butter and cream cheese together. Add other ingredients and mix. If too thick, soften with a little half and half or milk so the frosting does not tear the cupcakes. Make sure the cupcakes are completely cooled otherwise you will have a cream cheese milkshake on your hands!
Entered by Jennifer Trotter
This carrot cake is vegan and contains no commercial egg replacer. I’ve refrained from adding nuts or dried fruits but a half cup each of walnuts and raisins, or coconut flake and macadamia, or pecans and dried cranberries would be interesting additions. This is my first foray into vegan baking and overall I’m pleased with how it turned out – even more so because it didn’t require egg replacer. I was not as pleased with the frosting – not sure how to improve the texture, it might require some research and test batches, um. . . yeah, testing –THAT’s why there are 14 batches of frosting in the kitchen.
Simple (Vegan) Carrot Cake
Cake:
2 cups finely shredded carrot
1 ¾ turbinado sugar
1 cup crushed pineapple drained
½ cup canola oil
¼ cup molasses
2 teaspoons each cinnamon and nutmeg
½ teaspoon cardamom
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ½ cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 13x9 baking pan.
Combine carrot, sugar, pineapple, oil, molasses, spices, and vanilla. Beat until well combined.
In a separate bowl stir together flours, baking soda and baking powder. Add flour mixture to carrot mixture and beat until well combined. Batter should be thick but pourable. Add extra pineapple juice if to dry.
Pour into prepared baking pan and bake at 350F for 45 minutes. Cool completely and ice with Cream Cheese Frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting:
½ cup Earth Balance margarine
6 oz Tofutti Cream Cheese
3 cups powdered sugar (recommend
1-2 Tsp Vanilla Extract
1 teaspoon vinegar
Beat together all ingredients. Adjust for desired consistency – more sugar to thicken, non-dairy milk to thin.
Terry’s Carrot Cake (adapted from Cooking Light)
Cake:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1/3 cup chopped pecans
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons canola oil
2 large eggs
2 cups grated carrot
1 cup crushed pineapple, drained
1/2 cup grated apple
Frosting:
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 (8-oz) block 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract
Shredded carrots and pecans for decoration. Preheat oven to 350F.
To prepare cake, lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, sugar, coconut, pecans, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl; stir well with a whisk. combine oil and eggs; stir well. Stir egg mixture, grated carrot, pineapple, and apple into flour mixture. Spoon batter into a 13 x 9-inch baking pan (or 12-in round pan) coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 for 35 mins or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack.
To prepare frosting, combine butter and cream cheese in a large bowl. Beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth. Beat in powdered sugar and vanilla just until smooth. Spread frosting over the top of cake. Garnish with shredded carrot and pecans if desired.
Entered by Emelina Logan
Spiced Chocolate Carrot Cake
Cake:
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
3 tablespoons finely grated orange peel
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
4 eggs
1/2 cup orange juice
3 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled
1 1/2 cups shredded carrot, about 2 medium carrots
1 cup raisins
1 cup chopped walnuts
Heat oven to 350°. Butter and flour a 10-cup Bundt pan. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, 1 tablespoon of grated orange peel, baking soda, allspice, nutmeg, vegetable oil, eggs, orange juice, and chocolate. With mixer at low speed, beat just until blended. Increase speed to medium and beat 2 minutes longer. Stir in grated carrots, raisins, and walnuts. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes, or until a wooden pick or cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely on rack. Dust with powdered sugar or drizzle with Cream Cheese Glaze, below.
Cream Cheese Glaze:
(Use this glaze for carrot cake, pound cake, or similar desserts.)
1 package (3 ounces)
3 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Stir until smooth, adding a little more milk or powdered sugar, if necessary.
Entered by Michelle Cavanna
Last year for Christmas, I received this really great Baker’s Assortment Box from Penzeys Spices. Included in the box are a couple of whole nutmeg and cinnamon sticks, a bottle of Double Strength Madagascar Pure Vanilla Extract, and jars of Sweet China Cassia Cinnamon, Natural High Fat Cocoa Powder, and a unique Baking spice blend of Cinnamon, Mace, Sweet Anise, and Cardamom. While this might sound like an ad for Penzeys Spices – the box is available here: http://www.penzeys.com/scstore/giftboxes/new/bakersAssortment4jar.html, by the way -- I use them in almost all of my baking now and this recipe is the perfect showcase!
Michelle’s Carrot Cake
Cake:
2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon (I prefer to use 2 tsp. Penzeys Spices Baking Spice + ½ tsp Penzey’s Sweet China Cassia Cinnamon)
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup buttermilk
9 oz. crushed pineapple, drained
1 cup chopped walnuts
3 eggs
3/4 cup oil
3 1/2 oz. coconut (I used about 6oz.)
2 cups grated carrots
Beat together sugar and eggs in large bowl. Combine dry ingredients. Combine buttermilk and oil. Add flour mixture and buttermilk mixture to eggs alternately (begin and end with dry). Beat until well combined. Stir in carrots, pineapple, nuts, and coconut.
Bake 350 degrees in 9 X 12 greased and floured pan for 40-45 minutes
Cream Cheese Icing:
8 oz. cream cheese
½ cup (1 stick) margarine
1 lb. powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Beat all ingredients together until smooth.
Entered by Margaret Hwang
Carrot Cupcakes
(by Judy Laumets with adaptations by Margaret Travis and Margaret Hwang)
Cake
2 cups sifted all-purpose unbleached flour
2 cups extra fine bakers' sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1½ cups Wesson Oil
4 beaten extra large organic eggs
3 cups grated organic carrots
Mix dry ingredients together. Add oil and beaten eggs. Fold in the grated carrots. Divide batter into 24 individually lined muffin tins. Bake at 325° for 35-40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
Filling and Frosting
½ cup softened butter
8 ounce package softened cream cheese
1 cup chopped pecans (toasted first to bring out flavor)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 vanilla bean (scrape out seeds from bean)
3/4 box of powdered sugar, sifted (to taste)
Beat butter and cream cheese together. Add other ingredients and mix. If too thick, soften with a little half and half or milk so the frosting does not tear the cupcakes. Make sure the cupcakes are completely cooled otherwise you will have a cream cheese milkshake on your hands!
Entered by Jennifer Trotter
This carrot cake is vegan and contains no commercial egg replacer. I’ve refrained from adding nuts or dried fruits but a half cup each of walnuts and raisins, or coconut flake and macadamia, or pecans and dried cranberries would be interesting additions. This is my first foray into vegan baking and overall I’m pleased with how it turned out – even more so because it didn’t require egg replacer. I was not as pleased with the frosting – not sure how to improve the texture, it might require some research and test batches, um. . . yeah, testing –THAT’s why there are 14 batches of frosting in the kitchen.
Simple (Vegan) Carrot Cake
Cake:
2 cups finely shredded carrot
1 ¾ turbinado sugar
1 cup crushed pineapple drained
½ cup canola oil
¼ cup molasses
2 teaspoons each cinnamon and nutmeg
½ teaspoon cardamom
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ½ cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 13x9 baking pan.
Combine carrot, sugar, pineapple, oil, molasses, spices, and vanilla. Beat until well combined.
In a separate bowl stir together flours, baking soda and baking powder. Add flour mixture to carrot mixture and beat until well combined. Batter should be thick but pourable. Add extra pineapple juice if to dry.
Pour into prepared baking pan and bake at 350F for 45 minutes. Cool completely and ice with Cream Cheese Frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting:
½ cup Earth Balance margarine
6 oz Tofutti Cream Cheese
3 cups powdered sugar (recommend
1-2 Tsp Vanilla Extract
1 teaspoon vinegar
Beat together all ingredients. Adjust for desired consistency – more sugar to thicken, non-dairy milk to thin.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Coconut Lime Cake
In the dreary days of mid-winter, when grey overcast, blustery rain, and fog blanket the short days- When the sun may not be seen for days on end and spring seems so far away- After the apples, pears and pomegranates of fall bounty have faded and spring’s berries have yet to appear comes the delight and annual surprise of citrus. Festive globes of sunshine popping up to cheer and fortify us against the remaining days of cold.
Ok, maybe a bit dramatic. But truly – ripe winter citrus is one of the great joys of the season. Mandarins, navel oranges, lemons, limes, and grapefruit store up the brightness and cheer of summer; saving it for December, January, and February. Love it!
So in celebration of the bounty of winter citrus today I tried a Coconut Lime Cake.
Ok, maybe a bit dramatic. But truly – ripe winter citrus is one of the great joys of the season. Mandarins, navel oranges, lemons, limes, and grapefruit store up the brightness and cheer of summer; saving it for December, January, and February. Love it!
So in celebration of the bounty of winter citrus today I tried a Coconut Lime Cake.
Coconut Lime Cake
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup sweetened, flaked coconut, divided
1 stick butter, softened
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lime zest
2 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
¼ cup half and half or cream
6 tablespoons lime juice, divided
1 cup powdered sugar
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9 inch round cake pan, line with parchment and grease parchment.
Zest and juice limes. Combine milk, half and half, and 3 tablespoons of lime juice in a small bowl and set aside. In a mini food processor or blender finely chop ½ cup coconut.
In a large bowl cream together butter sugar and zest; add eggs one at a time and beat well. In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and chopped coconut.
Add 1/3 flour mixture to butter mixture, blend well. Add ½ milk mixture, then ½ remaining flour, remaining milk, ending with remaining flour – blend well between each addition.
Pour into prepared pan and bake for 40-45 minutes until top springs back and toothpick inserted in center comes out almost clean.
Allow to cool 10 minutes in pan before turning out onto plate. Remove parchment and prick top all over with fork or skewer. Combine remaining lime juice and powdered sugar to make a thin glaze. Spoon glaze over top of cake and top with coconut.
(Addapted from Coconut Lime Cake on Pinch My Salt )
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Delicious Dish on National Public Radio
In case you've never seen the SNL Episode with Pete Schweddy.
http://www.hulu.com/watch/4156/saturday-night-live-nprs-delicious-dish-schweddy-balls
http://www.hulu.com/watch/4156/saturday-night-live-nprs-delicious-dish-schweddy-balls
Monday, January 25, 2010
Schweddy Strawberry White Chocolate White Cake Balls
So here they are, the first of this years Cake Concoctions, Etc.
I had a hard time trying to figure out what kind of cake I was going to make. I checked out the recipe for Red Velvet Cake Balls on Bakerella.com and I made them...but they kinda seem mediocre fun. I was going for fantastically fun. Funtastic.
Ingredients for Schweddy Strawberry White Chocolate White Cake Balls:
* 1 Box of White Cake Mix
- 3 egg whites
- 1 1/4 Cups of Water
- 1/3 cup Veggie Oil
* 2 24 oz bags of Nestle Premier White Morsels
* 1 cup of frozen sliced strawberries
* 1 tub of Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place bag of frozen strawberries in a small bowl to thaw. Cut the strawberries into smaller pieces. Mushy is alright.
Mix egg whites, water and oil in a large bowl. Make sure to grease baking pan to avoid tragic burns to your white cake.
Bake for 30 minutes or as directed.
Let the baked cake cool thoroughly. Once the cake has been cooled, place the cake into a large bowl and add frosting to mix. The mix should feel like Play-Doh.
I found that by chilling the mix for an hour or so made it easier to mold the balls without stickiness. I rolled balls the size of silver dollars and placed a divot in the ball to add some strawberry paste in the middle. Then, I added more mix to the top of the divot to fill the opening and re-shaped the ball.
After the balls were shaped, I placed them in the freezer to harden for ease when dunking the balls in melted chocolate.
After tasting one of the cake balls, I found that the balls were entirely too sweet for my liking. I think that adding a full tub of the whipped cream cheese frosting was over poweringly sweet. Maybe its because "I" am so sweet that I went into sweetness overload. We'll never know. So I decided to fix the over powering sweetness.
I had a hard time trying to figure out what kind of cake I was going to make. I checked out the recipe for Red Velvet Cake Balls on Bakerella.com and I made them...but they kinda seem mediocre fun. I was going for fantastically fun. Funtastic.
Ingredients for Schweddy Strawberry White Chocolate White Cake Balls:
* 1 Box of White Cake Mix
- 3 egg whites
- 1 1/4 Cups of Water
- 1/3 cup Veggie Oil
* 2 24 oz bags of Nestle Premier White Morsels
* 1 cup of frozen sliced strawberries
* 1 tub of Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place bag of frozen strawberries in a small bowl to thaw. Cut the strawberries into smaller pieces. Mushy is alright.
Mix egg whites, water and oil in a large bowl. Make sure to grease baking pan to avoid tragic burns to your white cake.
Bake for 30 minutes or as directed.
Let the baked cake cool thoroughly. Once the cake has been cooled, place the cake into a large bowl and add frosting to mix. The mix should feel like Play-Doh.
I found that by chilling the mix for an hour or so made it easier to mold the balls without stickiness. I rolled balls the size of silver dollars and placed a divot in the ball to add some strawberry paste in the middle. Then, I added more mix to the top of the divot to fill the opening and re-shaped the ball.
After the balls were shaped, I placed them in the freezer to harden for ease when dunking the balls in melted chocolate.
Heat two cups of White Chocolate Chip Morsels with two tables spoons of shortening. The consistency should be very dense, like thin pancake mix. (WARNING: DO NOT CHILL THE CHOCOLATE WITH A SPOON INSIDE...IT'S LIKE TRYING TO BREAK CEMENT TO GET IT OUT, AND WE ALL KNOW YOU CAN'T MICROWAVE METAL FOR GOODNESS SAKES...)
After tasting one of the cake balls, I found that the balls were entirely too sweet for my liking. I think that adding a full tub of the whipped cream cheese frosting was over poweringly sweet. Maybe its because "I" am so sweet that I went into sweetness overload. We'll never know. So I decided to fix the over powering sweetness.
I baked another cake using white cake mix. Once the cake was cooled, I added the cake to the existing thawed cake balls and mushed them together. I added 4 ounces of regular cream cheese and about 1/4 cup of strawberries to the mix. Then I rolled the balls and dunked the new mix in the white chocolate.
For future creation of the Schweddy Strawberry White Chocolate White Cake Balls, I will substitute the full tub of whipped cream cheese frosting for a full 8 ounces of regular cream cheese and half a tub of whipped cream cheese frosting. With box mixes combined, I was able to roll about 80 cake balls. I ran out of white chocolate for dipping (because I over heated one of the bags of white chocolate chip morsels) so I was only able to bring about 40 to work today. If your accident prone and not really the best of bakers, keep extra ingredients close by. Over all, preparation took about 2 hours, that's including bake time.
I HOPE YOU LIKE THEM!!
And so we have....Schweddy Strawberry White Chocolate White Cake Balls.
For future creation of the Schweddy Strawberry White Chocolate White Cake Balls, I will substitute the full tub of whipped cream cheese frosting for a full 8 ounces of regular cream cheese and half a tub of whipped cream cheese frosting. With box mixes combined, I was able to roll about 80 cake balls. I ran out of white chocolate for dipping (because I over heated one of the bags of white chocolate chip morsels) so I was only able to bring about 40 to work today. If your accident prone and not really the best of bakers, keep extra ingredients close by. Over all, preparation took about 2 hours, that's including bake time.
I HOPE YOU LIKE THEM!!
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Busy Woman's Black Forest Cake
So how do you follow that delicious Butternut Spice Cake we had last month? Well, you aim for a different approach... convenience! I work full time, commute 2 hours each day and have 2 daughters, ages 6 and 9 months. Time is something I have very little of, so when the need to bring a dessert to a family get together, or to say thank you to someone for a job well done or just when you have that sweet tooth that won't go away, you need cake.
It's pretty, it's tasty (I hope) and it's easy...I present to you Busy Woman's Black Forest Cake.
Recipe
It's pretty, it's tasty (I hope) and it's easy...I present to you Busy Woman's Black Forest Cake.
Recipe
1 box Betty Crocker Super Moist devil's food cake mix
1 1/3 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 pint (2 cups) whipping cream
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 to 3 tablespoons brandy, if desired
1 can (21oz) cherry pie filling
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 tablespoons sliced almonds
Preheat oven to 350 F for metal or glass pans. 325 F for dark or coated pans. Grease sides and bottom of two 9 inch pans with shortening or oil spray. Flour lightly.
Blend dry mix, water, oil and eggs in large bowl at low speed until moistened (about 30 seconds). Beat at medium speed for 2 minutes. Pour batter in pans and bake immediately.
Look it even has a happy face in the bowl...
Bake 30-33 minutes.
Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pans to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 1 hour.
In medium bowl, beat whipping cream with electric mixer on high speed until slightly thickened. Gradually beat in powdered sugar until stiff peaks form. Fold in brandy. In another bowl, mix pie filling and almond extract.
On serving plate, place 1 cake layer, bottom side up. Spread with half of whipped cream and 1 cup cherry mixture to within 1 inch of edge. Top with second cake layer, rounded side up. Frost top with remaining whipped cream. Spoon remaining cherry mixture over top. Sprinkle with sliced almonds.
Store covered in refrigerator.
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