Amish Friendship Bread

This isn't a bread, per se, but much more like a moist, sweet cake!

General Guidelines 

Do not use any metal spoons or bowls for mixing.
Do not refrigerate.
Do not forget to let the air out of the bag every day or two.
Do not flip out if you forget about it for a couple of days.
It is normal for batter to rise, bubble and ferment.

Instructions 

Day 1: Do nothing
Day 2: Mush the bag
Day 3: Mush the bag
Day 4: Mush the bag
Day 5: Mush the bag
Day 6: Add 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, and 1 cup milk to the bag. Mush it all together well.
Day 7: Mush the bag
Day 8: Mush the bag
Day 9: Mush the bag
Day 10: Bread baking day! Read the rest of this page thoroughly and get to cooking.

1. Pour your mix into a non-metal bowl. 
2. Add 1½ cup flour,  1½ cup sugar, and  1½ cup milk. Mix it well. 
3. Measure out 4 separate batters of 1 cup each into 4 one gallon sized Ziplock bags. Keep a starter for yourself, and give the other 3, along with a copy of these instructions, to friends. Write today's date on each bag so your friends will know what to designate as Day 1.
4. Preheat your oven to 325 
5. To the remaining batter in the bowl add the following: 

• 3 eggs 
• 1 cup oil (or  ½  cup oil and  ½  cup applesauce)
• ½  cup milk 
• 1 cup sugar 
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla 
• 1½ teaspoon baking powder 
• ½ teaspoon baking soda 
• ½ teaspoon salt 
• 2 cups flour 
• 1 large box of instant vanilla pudding 

Grease 2 large loaf pans and then mix ½ cup sugar and 2 teaspoons cinnamon in a bowl. Dust your greased pans with half the cinnamon/sugar mix. Split batter evenly between the two pans and sprinkle the tops with the remaining cinnamon/sugar mix. Bake for 1 hour and cool for 20 minutes before turning out the loaves.

Birthday Cake Surprise!

Happy Birthday AMERICA!

Looks can be deceiving!

My Genius mom made the BEST B-day cake ever! I was going to log in as her to do this post in her name - but then I would sound boastful and conceited instead of proud and impressed!  She saw it on Studio 5 and instead of thinking "man those girls are crazy!" she thought "Hey! I think I can make that!" Now who's the crazy one?  The original cake was created by Elissa @ 17andbaking.com 

They both used 9" baking pans and now I see the wisdom in that but we wanted to feed a crowd so we went with an 11".  It made stacking the thin layers tricky and it sort of broke apart as we served it.  I think a smaller pan would have remedied both problems - but otherwise we really had a glitch free success!  

To the instructions already! 

3 separate bakings, 3 separate cakes! 

one red velvet, 

one white {dyed blue} 

and one more white (no egg yolks to keep it pure white!)    

The original also dyed the red layer from a white cake mix - we got the idea to use a red velvet mix from make it & love it

Slice the red and white layers horizontally into 2 pieces

White layer down first - FROST

Red layer down - FROST

Set aside

Layer without frosting the remaining red layer, white layer and uncut blue layer 

Center a cylindrical object on top - we used a cereal bowl, and cut straight down through all 3 layers!

Place the blue ring on top of your frosted layers

frost the inside of your blue ring and then place in your red and white circles

Frost to finish!

we kept it simple to up the 'WOW' factor!

Cut dramatically, make sure all eyes are on you!

voila!

If my instructions were confusing check out this studio 5 video:

Happy Birthday AMERICA! 

Chocolate mayo cake-just try it!

Ok, I promise not to do anymore posts for a while to give everyone else a turn. :) Sorry! This is yet another hand-me-down, but from my other grandma who grew up in Germany during WWII. It is the most moist and delicious cake you will ever eat....well, that's homemade. And I absolutely PROMISE it tastes NOTHING like mayonnaise! I tried it out on my in-laws, and you don't do anything to upset in-laws. :) (They loved it, by the way.) So, just try it.

Chocolate Mayo Cake

1 C warm water
3 1/2 Tbsp. cocoa
1 1/4 C sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 C flour
2 tsp. soda
1 C mayo
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix everything together in one bowl.

Pour into greased pan(s). (Random note: I always coat the pans with butter (or tons of spray), then sprinkle some flour over that. This way, the cakes just slide right out of the pans.)
For two layers bake at 350 for 30 - 35 minutes.

For one layer? (We don't bake one layer cakes at my house, so I have no idea how long to cook one layer...just keep checking it and don't let it burn.) :)

Frost with cool whip, frosting, or cream cheese frosting. (also, at this point, you will probably lose your camera that you gave to your two year old to take pictures with, so revert to using your camera phone...)

(you can just buy the cream cheese frosting from the store, but I've never tried it and this kind is superb)

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz. cream cheese, softened. (HAS to be Philadelphia brand-spend the extra 20 cents-trust me)
2 Tbsp. butter, softened (margarine is fine)
2 tsp. vanilla
4 C powdered sugar

Mix all ingredients together except the powdered sugar.
When mixed well, slowly add the powdered sugar.
If too thick, add a few drops of milk.
If too thin, add more powdered sugar.

TA-DA! Enjoy!!!