Dessert for Aspen’s Baptism Party

You might remember saying I had made dessert for Aspen’s baptism party. Here’s the post about it.

The week before her baptism and party, Aspen had been teething and needing her mama. So Julia took me up on my offer to help with a dessert for the party. I couldn’t completey make up my mind what to make, so I made two desserts.

The first dessert I made was a recipe I had book-marked from the Pioneer Woman. I have enjoyed most everything I tried from her site. The cake was even better a few days later.

Perfect Pound Cake

Perfect Pound Cake

Source: Pioneer Woman (she has a printer-friendly version on her site)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter
• 3 cups sugar
• 5 whole eggs
• 1 teaspoon butter flavoring (I omitted since I didn’t have any)
• 2 teaspoons lemon extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup Sprite, 7-Up, or Sierra Mist (I used 7-Up)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Cream butter. Add sugar, 1 cup at a time, mixing after each addition. Add egss, 1 at a time, mixing after each addition. Add butter and lemon extracts and mix well. Add flour, 1 cup at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add soft drink, then mix together until combined. Scrape sides of bow, then mix briefly.

Pour into a greased Bundt pan and bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes, until the cake is no longer jiggly.

Remove cake from oven and invert pan until cake drops out. (I did not wait until it drops out and I had it break, so be patient.) Slice and chow down!

Yield: 12

I felt the second dessert needed to be chocolate flavored, so I browsed my cookbook collection and decided upon these Cookies ‘n’ Cream Brownies.

Cookies 'n' Cream Brownies

Cookies ‘n’ Cream Brownies

Source: Taste of Home Prize Winning Recipes (go here for a printer-friendly version)

Ingredients – Cream Cheese Layer:

• 1 8-oz. package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Ingredients – Brownie Layer:

• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup baking cocoa (I used unsweetened cocoa)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 12 cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies, crushed

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 11-in. x 7-in. x 2-in. baking pan (I used a glass baking pan).

In a small mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth; set aside. For brownie layer, combine butter, sugars and cocoa in a large mixing bowl; blend well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine flour and baking powder; stir into the cocoa mixture. Stir in vanilla and cookie crumbs.

Pour into prepared pan. Spoon cream cheese mixture over batter; cut through batter with knife to swirl. Bake at 350°F for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with moist crumbs. Cool completely.

Yield: 2 dozen