Classic Sour Cream Pound Cake

I love a good pound cake, don’t you? A good easy pound cake recipe doesn’t even need frosting, which is perfect for me because I like cake more than I like frosting. Since I started blogging I’ve made several flavored variations but never a classic vanilla pound cake and so I set out to find my favorite recipe and THIS is it!

If you love a dense yet moist and tender, flavorful vanilla pound cake recipe with the perfect texture, then you’re going to want this recipe for classic pound cake. It’s the perfect base for ice cream, whipped cream, or berries.

Rainbow Frosting Cupcakes

One of my favorite frosting techniques is rainbow swirl frosting, and I think you’ll be surprised how easy it is to do. Next to sprinkles, swirl frosting is one of my favorite ways to decorate birthday cakes, rainbow cupcakes, and cookies. You can use any colors you want to dye frosting – I’ve used this same method to make Unicorn Cupcakes!

Make my rainbow cake with this colorful frosting and you’ve got an explosion of rainbows for any party. You can use my homemade American buttercream recipe or even cream cheese frosting for this (or use a can of frosting, I won’t tell). Kids and adults alike with love this frosting! It’s so pretty you can’t help but smile.

Ingredients Needed

• Vanilla Buttercream Frosting: For the best flavor, use my homemade recipe, or three cans of store-bought white or vanilla frosting.
• Food Coloring: Gel coloring is the best for getting bright and vibrant colors. I usually use americolor gel food coloring but Wilton works too.
• Cupcakes, Cookies, or Cake: Use your favorite vanilla cupcakes, chocolate cupcakes or anything you want to decorate with the frosting. Use colorful cupcake liners for even more rainbow fun!

I used the colors of the rainbow for this recipe. If you can’t find all of these colors, you can follow the instructions on the box and mix the ones you have to create the colors you want.

Normally my mom will eat anything I make. But the two things she doesn’t like are gingerbread and eggnog. She’d help me make gingerbread men when I was a kid…but she’d never eat them. And she’d just make disgusting faces when my dad and I guzzled the eggnog.

My parents were both big time “your tastes will change” and “you’ll like it when you’re older” people. And I have to give it to them…they were sort of right. I eat pork chops now. And I like spinach – but only raw. But I’ll never, ever eat mustard or white bratwurst, thankyouverymuch.  My point? Tastes change as you get older. I’m going somewhere, I promise.

The point is that my mom put aside her dislike of gingerbread and eggnog to try this cake roll at Thanksgiving. She’s doesn’t suffer from food neophobia (it’s a thing) like I do. And guess what?

She LIKED this Gingerbread Cake Roll. And she even liked the Eggnog Whipped Cream!

Pretty much my point is that even if you don’t like these essential Christmas ingredients, there is still a very good chance you’ll like this cake roll.

How to make Gingerbread Cake Roll

Let’s break down this cake roll recipe, shall we? We’re old pros at cake rolls around here, right? Oh, you’re not? Okay then, go read my step-by-step photo tutorial of how to make a carrot cake roll and my tips and tricks for cake roll success in my zucchini cake roll recipe.

{Or maybe you could go drool over the lemon cake roll. Or the ice cream cake roll. I’m Crazy for Cake Rolls around here!}

The cake part of this roll is a gingerbread cake. It’s a similar recipe to the Spiced Apple Cake Roll, but with more spice and molasses. You bake the cake in a jelly roll pan (a 10×15 pan with 1″ sides). I always like to line my pan with foil and spray with the floured cooking spray for easy removal. I’ve been told you can also use parchment, but I’ve never tried it.

I always bake my cakes at 350°F for about 10-11 minutes. A toothpick will come out clean. Err on the side of more done to less done but not so much it’s totally dried out.

You roll the hot and just out of the oven cake up in a clean kitchen towel that’s been coated with powdered sugar. Then you let it cool completely.

Note: because of all the molasses and the applesauce in this cake, it’s a moist one. The exterior of the cake is one that will transfer to your fingers. That’s okay, mine still rolled and unrolled just fine.

When the cake is cool (about 2 hours or you can wait until the next day), you make your whipped cream. I infused my whipped cream with some low-fat eggnog. I added only a few tablespoons so it’s not too strong, but the eggnog flavor is there. If you really don’t like eggnog, you could fill this cake with plain whipped cream or lemon whipped cream, or even ice cream.

Once it’s filled you can wrap it in plastic wrap and chill it for up to 2 days. Before I served it I piped on some whipped cream. Note that the whipped cream won’t  be perfect two days later, but if you stir it up a little, there should be enough  that’s okay to pipe onto the top of the cake. (I made this on a Tuesday, and served it on a Thursday.)

Ingredients Needed

• Unsweetened Cocoa Powder: Just a little bit of cocoa is traditional in red velvet recipes.
• Buttermilk: The acid helps activate the baking soda. Did you know you can make buttermilk at home?
• Vegetable Oil: I always use oil in my red velvet cake recipes – that’s the traditional fat to use.
• White Vinegar: Helps the cake rise and gives the signature tang of red velvet.
• Red Food Coloring: Make red velvet the perfect color. You’ll need about a tablespoon of regular food coloring, or less if you’re using gel food coloring.
• Instant Vanilla Pudding: This is the pudding element of the layered trifle.
• Eggnog: We’re making the pudding with eggnog, like my eggnog pie!

Champagne Cake Recipe

Champagne gives this cake a delicious taste, but it also replaces the milk in a typical pound cake recipe, which keeps the cake moist and makes it airy and light. The key to this is that the champagne or sparking wine you use needs to be bubbly! If the alcohol is flat, the results will not be that same. This cake is great for a New Year’s Eve party or really whenever you want.

For the most part, the alcohol will cook out of the cake in the oven. So anyone can eat it, but once you add the sweet champagne reduction and frosting, the champagne gets added right back in! This pound cake is not at its true form without the frosting and glaze! They add so many amazing elements to the cake!

Ingredients Needed

• Eggs: Large eggs get beaten for 5 minutes and cause the cake to rise and be spongey.
• Unsweetened Cocoa Powder: You can use regular cocoa or Dutch process.
• All Purpose Flour: Be sure to measure it correctly
• Powdered Sugar: Helps aid the rolling process. 
• Chocolate Chips and Heavy Whipping Cream: Makes the delicious ganache!

How to make Truffle Cake Recipe

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a jelly roll (10×15”) pan with foil and spray with cooking spray (I like to use the spray with flour).
• Beat eggs at high speed for 5 minutes, until frothy and dark yellow. Beat in sugar, water or coffee and vanilla extract.
• Whisk together salt, baking powder, cocoa and flour. Stir into wet ingredients just until blended.
• Spread in prepared pan. Batter will be in a very thin layer and you will need to use a wooden spoon or spatula to spread it to all the corners of the pan. Bake for 9-15 minutes or until it springs back when poked.
• While the cake is baking, set a clean kitchen towel out on a large work surface. Sprinkle liberally with powdered sugar (about 1/4 cup). As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, turn it over on the kitchen towel sprinkled with powdered sugar. Remove foil carefully.
• Working at the short end, fold the edge of the towel over the cake. Roll tightly, rolling up the cake into the towel. Let cool completely while rolled, at least one hour.
• While the cake is cooling, place heavy cream and chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl or measuring cup. Heat for about 45 seconds, then whisk until smooth. If the chocolate doesn’t want to melt, you can heat in additional 15 second increments until it will. Chill until the mixture is thick about 15-30 minutes. Once it’s thick and chilled, beat it with a hand mixer until lighter in color and fluffier.
• When you want to assemble the cake, unroll the roll carefully. Spread the frosting evenly over the top.Re-roll your cake, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and chill for about an hour before serving. Dust with powdered sugar and cocoa before slicing and serving.

Ingredients Needed

• Unsalted Butter: Melted. If your butter is room temperature, it melts better!
• Sugars: You’ll need granulated sugar and packed brown sugar for different parts of the cake.
• Eggs: Large eggs add moisture and fat to the cake, keeping it moist!
• Cinnamon: Can’t have a cinnamon roll cake without ground cinnamon!

How to make Cinnamon Bun Cake

• Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl.
• Mix melted butter and sugar in a large bowl with a hand mixer at medium speed. Mix in egg and vanilla. Stir in milk, then stir in flour mixture until just mixed. Pour cake batter into a 9×13-inch baking pan that’s been sprayed with nonstick spray.
• The swirled cinnamon roll center is a mixture of butter, brown sugar, and all-purpose flour. It becomes thick when mixed, so you drop it all over the cake then swirl it with a knife.
• Bake for 30-35 minutes in a 350°F preheated oven. Cool 10 minutes then glaze with a simple powdered sugar and milk icing.
• Cool completely or to at least warm (not hot) before serving.