Cake Recipes Your Family Will Love
Can you use some cake recipes your family will love? Some of these recipes are at least 50 years old and have been handed down from generation to generation. Others are made partly from scratch, and some are totally from scratch. In other words, some don’t use a cake mix.
We can use our pantry and refrigerator items to make these cake recipes. I love it when I can make a dessert to take somewhere and I don’t have to run to the store to get the ingredients. It’s so inexpensive to make a cake from scratch, and tastes so much better, right?
Secret To Moist Cakes
For one thing, make sure you use real butter instead of margarine or shortening if your cake recipe calls for it. Butter rocks in the baking world. That’s why those really yummy cookies that cost $3.00 a piece are so good, they use lots of butter and only the best ingredients.
When my mother was alive she used to make birthday and wedding cakes and sell them for a profit to the neighbors. It was truly a blessing to our family. One thing I learned from her was after you bake a cake, you let it rest in the pan for ten minutes. Then use a plate covered with a sheet of parchment paper on it and put them upside down on top of the cake and pan and turn them over ever so carefully so the cake is out of the pan and on the plate with the parchment paper. Next, you cover the cake with plastic wrap and put it in the freezer. Yep, a warm cake in the freezer.
The day you will serve the cake, remove the cake from the freezer and place the frozen cake on the cake platter or plate you will serve it on. Cover it with fresh plastic wrap and let it thaw for 4-5 hours. Remove the plastic wrap right before frosting it. You will love how moist your cake will be, I promise.
The picture below is my chocolate cake made in two Bundt cake pans. I love taking a small cake to people because sometimes a full cake is too much. Yes, I keep the other one! I love chocolate cake! I love these two Bundt pans: Small Bundt 6-cup Cake Pan
How Can I Tell If The Cake Is Done?
Set the timer according to the recipe and insert a toothpick in the middle of the cake, and if it comes out clean, the cake is done. Another way to tell if a cake is done is to pull the cake gently away from the edge of the pan, if it comes away easily, the cake is done.
Cake Recipes Your Family Will Love
Basic White Cake
I use this cake when we have fresh fruit in season. It’s great with freshly sliced strawberries, fresh peaches, or raspberries. Add some whipping cream and you have a fabulous dessert! Of course, you can frost it with your favorite icing or frosting too.
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup oil
- 2-1/4 cups flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 1-1/2 teaspoons soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 eggs, slightly beaten
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup cocoa
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 cup butter
- 6 tablespoons buttermilk
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 by 13-inch cake pan. Combine the butter, water, and oil in a saucepan. Bring it to a boil. Add the flour, sugar, soda, salt, and vanilla. Blend in the eggs and buttermilk. Beat until smooth. Bake for 37 minutes or until done. You can also use a greased cookie sheet, bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
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Combine the cocoa, butter, buttermilk in a saucepan, cook slightly. Beat in the powdered sugar and mix until smooth. Add the vanilla and blend well. Frost the cake when slightly cooled.
Fancy Chocolate Cake
This is my all-time favorite chocolate cake. Be prepared to hand out the recipe if you make this one. This is the cake recipe I divide in two to take one cake to another family and I keep one. I either frost it with Ganache or my cream cheese frosting. It’s a keeper! I have shared this cake before, but I want it on my cake recipes post for future reference for my readers.
- 1 package chocolate cake mix (Duncan Hine’s)
- 1 package INSTANT Chocolate pudding 5-5.9 ounces
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup water
- 4 eggs
- 3/4 cup mini chocolate chips or regular size chocolate chips
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Preheat oven to (350°F) = (176°C) degrees.
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I place everything but the chocolate chips into the mixer bowl. I blend until completely mixed, about 1-2 minutes.
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Fold in the chocolate chips.
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Grease a Bundt pan and scoop the mixture into the Bundt pan. Bake for 50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
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I wait for about 5-10 minutes before inverting the baked cake onto a parchment paper-lined dinner plate.
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I freeze the cake overnight or until I need it for a party.
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The day of the party I remove the frozen cake and place it on the platter I will use to serve it. Remove the parchment paper and cover the cake with plastic wrap until partially thawed and ready to frost and serve.
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Frost with cream cheese frosting or whipped cream and sprinkle with crushed candy canes or chocolate ganache.
Ganache Frosting
- 3 cups chocolate chips (I buy semi-sweet)
- 3/4 cup butter (softened)
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If you don’t have a double-boiler to melt the chocolate chips and the butter then use your microwave. I microwave for one minute, stir and repeat this process. Once the mixture is totally melted be ready to drizzle the chocolate over the cake. Put in the refrigerator to let it set up.
Cream Cheese Frosting
This is my mom’s recipe she used for years to frost cakes. It’s really creamy and just the right flavor for any cake.
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1 8-ounce pkg. of cream cheese, softened
- 3-3-1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
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Combine the ingredients in a mixing bowl. Beat the ingredients until smooth. This makes enough for one cake or 36 cupcakes.
Texas Sheet Cake
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup oil
- 2-1/4 cups flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 1-1/2 teaspoons soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 eggs, slightly beaten
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup cocoa
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 cup butter
- 6 tablespoons buttermilk
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 by 13-inch cake pan. Combine the butter, water, and oil in a saucepan. Bring it to a boil. Add the flour, sugar, soda, salt, and vanilla. Blend in the eggs and buttermilk. Beat until smooth. Bake for 37 minutes or until done. You can also use a greased cookie sheet, bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
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Combine the cocoa, butter, buttermilk in a saucepan, cook slightly. Beat in the powdered sugar and mix until smooth. Add the vanilla and blend well. Frost the cake when slightly cooled.
Final Word
I hope you try my cake recipes, let me know which one is your favorite. There is something about making a cake that’s moist. You may hear people say they like pie more than cake because
Do you have anything on beef jerky?
Hi Sandra, I have made hamburger jerky.https://www.foodstoragemoms.com/hamburger-jerky/ It’s really good! Linda
Cakes, oh my! I love cakes but cakes don’t love me!! Cake goes directly to my belly!! LOL. That being said, one thing that I learned when I was growing up was to put the cake layers in the freezer for about 15 minutes before frosting it. This kept the crumbs out of the frosting. One thing I learned also when I took a Wilton cake decorating class was to have a small bowl of frosting set aside – add a few teaspoons of water or milk (depending on the type of frosting) and “loosen” the frosting a bit. Frost the cake with this and let it set up to keep the crumbs from mixing into the real frosting! That was extra work for me so I used the freezer method instead as my mother taught.
Now that I am a single, I don’t make cakes anymore. I just cannot have them around my apartment. It doesn’t matter what size they are – I’ll eat them!! So, if I am craving cake, I go to a bakery and get one slice which is generally enough for 2 servings or 3!! But, because I have no control, I’ll eat it all anyway!
My mother made a cake that she did not have a recipe for (before I was born). She called it a cream cake and while she was alive, I searched for a similar cake recipe. At the time, they had a milk cow, fresh cream and eggs. She measured everything in a tea cup (not sure if she did not have measuring cups or not). The recipe that I found that was similar called for: 1 1/4 cup flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 1 cup sugar, 1/3 cup cream, 4 eggs, 1/8 tsp salt, 1 tsp vanilla. Mix well and baked at 375 F for 30 minutes. (Not sure of the size pan.) She was at the time, using a wood cook stove so was not even sure of the temperature! She only made this when people stopped by.
Hi Leanne, I know I can’t eat cakes very often either! But when I need to take one somewhere, I have the recipes on my blog! I love your tip on frosting cakes! I would love to make that cream cake!!! Linda
I have a Texas Sheet Cake recipe, but with 1tsp. added. It is so good! Thanks, Carol
Hi Carol, is it cinnamon you add? What’s the 1 tsp.? Linda