All-New Cake Mix Doctor - Anne Byrn [137]
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Gotta Have a Glaze?
Whisk 1 cup of confectioners’ sugar with 1 to 2 tablespoons of milk and drizzle this glaze over the cooled cinnamon coffee cakes.
4. Place the pans in the oven side by side. Bake the cakes until they are golden brown and the tops spring back when lightly pressed with a finger, 40 to 45 minutes. Transfer the cake pans to wire racks and let the cakes sit until nearly cool, 20 minutes. Slice and serve the cakes while still a bit warm.
Keep It Fresh! Store these cakes, covered with aluminum foil, at room temperature for up to four days or for up to one week in the refrigerator. Freeze the cakes in the pans, covered with aluminum foil, for up to three months. Let the cakes thaw overnight on the counter before serving.
How to Soften Brown Sugar
Nothing is more frustrating than finding hard brown sugar in the bag or box. You know the routine: You dip the measuring spoon or cup into the bag and it hits the sugar like a rock. I have found that buying brown sugar in resealable plastic bags keeps it soft and fresher longer than in boxes. And if you have leftover brown sugar in a box you should transfer it to a resealable plastic bag for storage to keep it soft and fresh. But that’s shoulda, woulda, coulda. How to soften brown sugar that wasn’t sealed up and stored airtight?
Place no more than one cup of brown sugar at a time in a microwave-safe glass bowl. Cover the brown sugar with two pieces of wet paper towel. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap. Now place it in the microwave oven on high power for 1½ to 2 minutes. Carefully unwrap the bowl, remove the paper towels, and fluff the brown sugar with a fork. Let the sugar cool, then use it in your cake batter.
BIRTHDAY CAKE FORA CROWD
HERE IT IS, the sheet cake everyone needs when hosting a birthday party for a gaggle of kids or hungry adults! Or if you promise, quite bigheartedly, to tote the birthday cake with you. This is the type of birthday cake we love at our house. It’s not covered with decorations—maybe a handful of sugar sprinkles and some birthday candles. But it is big on flavor and memories. The yellow pound cake stays moist for days, and the pan frosting is the most decadent and nostalgic frosting I know.
serves:
16 to 20
prep:
25 minutes
bake:
35 to 40 minutes
cool:
30 minutes
Vegetable oil spray, for misting the pan
Flour, for dusting the pan
1 package (18.25 ounces) plain yellow or vanilla cake mix
1 package (3.4 ounces) vanilla instant pudding mix
1¼ cups milk
½ cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Chocolate Pan Frosting (make the amount for a sheet cake; page 476)
Multicolor sugar sprinkles, birthday candles, and other decorations
Recipe Reminders
MADE FOR
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PREP NOTES
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DON’T FORGET
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SPECIAL TOUCHES
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1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly mist a 13 by 9–inch metal cake pan with vegetable oil spray, then dust it with flour. Shake out the excess flour and set the pan aside.
2. Place the cake mix, pudding mix, milk, oil, eggs, and vanilla extract in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer on low speed until the ingredients are incorporated, 30 seconds. Stop the machine and scrape down the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed