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Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting

Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting from Cooking Light

I doubled the cake and made it in a cake pan so I could have 2 layers. It doesn't rise very much so if you are expecting a large cake you will be surprised! I sure was which is why I decided to make a second layer.

Yield

18 servings (serving size: 1 piece)

Ingredients

· Cake:

· Cooking spray

· 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

· 1/2 cup butter, melted

· 1 (8-ounce) carton fat-free sour cream

· 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

· 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

· 1/2 cup egg substitute

· 2 cups all-purpose flour

· 1 teaspoon baking soda

· 1/2 teaspoon salt

· 3/4 cup low-fat buttermilk

·
Frosting:

· 1/2 cup (4 ounces) block-style fat-free cream cheese, softened

· 1/4 cup butter, softened

· 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

· 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa

· 1 to 2 tablespoons evaporated fat-free milk

· 1/8 teaspoon salt

· 3 cups powdered sugar, divided

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.

To prepare cake, coat bottom of a 13 x 9-inch baking pan with cooking spray (do not coat sides of pan); line bottom of pan with wax paper. Coat wax paper with cooking spray; dust with 1 tablespoon flour. Set aside.

Combine 1/2 cup butter and sour cream in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk until well blended. Add granulated sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Beat with a mixer at medium speed 3 minutes or until well blended. Add egg substitute; beat 2 minutes or until well blended.

Lightly spoon 2 cups flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine 2 cups flour, baking soda, and 1/2 teaspoon salt, stirring well with a whisk. Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture; mix after each addition. Pour batter into prepared pan. Sharply tap pan once on counter to remove air bubbles. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pan. Carefully peel off wax paper; cool completely on wire rack.

To prepare frosting, place the cream cheese, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until fluffy. Add cocoa, milk, and 1/8 teaspoon salt; beat at low speed until well blended. Gradually add 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar; beat at low speed until creamy. Gradually add remaining 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar. Place cake on a serving platter. Spread frosting over top and sides of cake. Store cake loosely covered in the refrigerator.

Nutritional Information

Calories:

291 (25% from fat)

Fat:

8.1g (sat 4.1g,mono 3.3g,poly 0.4g)

Protein:

4.3g

Carbohydrate:

51.6g

Fiber:

0.9g

Cholesterol:

22mg

Iron:

1mg

Sodium:

285mg

Calcium:

54mg

Mu Shu Pork

Mu Shu Pork

1 large tree mushroom
¼ cup tiger lily buds
½ lbs pork cut into 1 ½ inch strips

MARINADE
1 tsp soy sauce
¼ tsp cornstarch
1 tbsp vegetable oil

12 Mandarin Pancakes
½ cup vegetable oil
3 eggs slightly beaten
½ cup shredded bamboo shoots
½ head cabbage, shredded
2 green onions, cut into 1 inch sections

SEASONINGS
2 tbsp soy sauce
½ tsp sugar
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp white pepper

Dash sesame oil
4 tbsp Hoisin sauce
½ tsp sesame oil


Directions

Soak mushroom and tiger lily in warm water for 20 minutes, drain. Remove steam from mushroom.
Combine pork with MARINADE ingredients in the order listed, mix well and set aside.
To steam, separate pancakes and fold them in half. Arrange inside a cloth napkin. Place napkin on rack in steamer (or double boiler) and steam for 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat and keep warm and moist in steamer.
To stir-fry, heat wok over high heat for 1 minute until hot. Add oil, swirling to coat sides. When oil is smoking hot pour in eggs and scramble until golden; remove and drain. Add pork, stir vigorously to separate and cook until well done. Remove and drain.
Remove all but 3 tbsp of oil. Return pork to wok an add mushrooms, lily buds, and bamboo shoots. Stir-fry for 2 minutes. Add cabbage, green onion, eggs and seasoning. Mix well and add a dash of sesame oil. Transfer to platter.
To serve, place green onion slivers on a small place. Combine Hoisin sauce and sesame oil; place on another small plate. Open wrapper, spread center lightly with sauce mixture and a few slivers of green onion. Spoon about 2 tbsp of pork mixture into the wrapper.

Mongolian Beef

Another really yummy dinner!

Ingredients

6 teaspoons vegetable oil

1 1/2 teaspoons ginger, minced

3 tablespoons garlic, chopped

1 1/2 cups soy sauce

1 1/2 cups water

2 1/4 cups dark brown sugar

vegetable oil, for frying (about 1 cup)

3 lbs flank steaks

3/4 cup cornstarch

6 large green onions

Directions

Make the sauce by heating 2 tsp of vegetable oil in a medium saucepan over med/low heat.

Don't get the oil too hot. Add ginger and garlic to the pan and quickly add the soy sauce and water before the garlic scorches. Dissolve the brown sugar in the sauce, and then raise the heat to about medium and boil the sauce for 2-3 minutes or until the sauce thickens. Remove it from the heat.

Slice the flank steak against the grain into 1/4" thick bite-size slices. Tilt the blade of your knife at about a forty five degree angle to the top of the steak so that you get wider cuts. Dip the steak pieces into the cornstarch to apply a very thin dusting to both sides of each piece of beef. Let the beef sit for about 10 minutes so that the cornstarch sticks.

As the beef sits, heat up one cup of oil in a wok (you may also use a skillet for this step as long as the beef will be mostly covered with oil). Heat the oil over medium heat until it's nice and hot, but not smoking.

Add the beef to the oil and sauté for just two minutes, or until the beef just begins to darken on the edges.

You don't need a thorough cooking here since the beef is going to go back on the heat later. Stir the meat around a little so that it cooks evenly. After a couple minutes, use a large slotted spoon to take the meat out and onto paper towels, then pour the oil out of the wok or skillet. Put the pan back over the heat, dump the meat back into it and simmer for one minute. Add the sauce, cook for one minute while stirring, and then add all the green onions. Cook for one more minute, and then remove the beef and onions with tongs or a slotted spoon to a serving plate. Leave the excess sauce behind in the pan.

Hot and Sour Soup

SOOOO sooo yummy!!!

12 pieces tiger lily buds

1 dried tree mushroom

MARINADE

1 tsp soy sauce

¼ tsp cornstarch

½ tsp vegetable oil

¼ lbs pork cut into 1 ½ inch strips

2 quarts Chicken broth

2 tbsp shredded bamboo shoots

½ carton (16 oz) firm tofu cut into squares

1 tbsp dry sherry

Salt to taste

Cornstarch paste

2 eggs, beaten

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp vegetable oil

6 tbsp red rice vinegar

1 ½ tsp white pepper

Chopped green onion

Directions

Soak tiger lily and tree mushroom in warm water for 20 minutes. Cut tiger lily in half; shred tree mushroom.

Combine MARINADE ingredients with pork in the order listed; mix well and set aside.

To cook, bring the chicken broth to a boil. Add pork, tiger lily, mushroom, and bamboo shoots. Return to a boil. Add tofu, sherry and salt. Stir in 3 to 4 tbsp cornstarch paste and continue cooking until reaching the consistency of creamed soup. Slowly drizzle eggs into broth in a thin stream; gently fold in soy sauce and oil. (If you wish you may set aside at this point)

To serve, mix rice vinegar and pepper in a large soup bowl. Pour in soup and stir. Sprinkle with chopped onion and serve immediately.

Jeff's Birthday Dinner

We headed down to San Jose to have dinner at my mom's house to celebrate Jeff's birthday!

We had great food! Hot and Sour Soup, Fried Rice, Mongolian Beef, Mu Shu Pork and Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting for dessert! (recipes coming soon in another post)

Foto Friday!