Fun and Frosted

Perfect Sugar Cookie Recipe from the 1940’s

This sugar cookie recipe is very special to me, because it was my grandmother’s recipe. She clipped it out of a newspaper sometime in the 1940’s. It was re-written on a piece of paper, which I still have, stains and all!

Everyone needs a basic sugar cookie recipe! Growing up it was always a tradition to make these sugar cookies for Christmas with my mom. I have carried this tradition on with my kids now too! I can remember as a kid always eating these while frosting them. I couldn’t resist. My kids do the very same thing! Frost one, eat one, frost one, eat one! Lol! These sugar cookies are the best! Let’s be honest, we need to continue to pass along recipes from the past when we can. These cookies are made with love!

This recipe makes a lot of cookies! You could cut it in half, thirds or make the whole thing and freeze some fully baked cookies for later. Bake these right, and they are soft and oh so delicious! Depending on the size of the cookie they will need to bake at different times. The bite size cookies can really bake in 4-5 minutes and the larger cookies are done in about six minutes. I like them a little brown on the bottom, but not on the top. Underdone is better than overdone!

You are definitely going to need a stand mixer for this recipe. There is a lot of flour and you have to add it slowly while the dough is mixing.

Sugar Cookie Recipe

1 1/2 cups Shortening (I use Spectrum because it is soy free!)

3 Cups sugar
3 Eggs
1 Cup milk
3 tsp vanilla
8 1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp cream of tarter
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt

Instructions

Heat oven to 400 degrees F
Blend shortening, sugar, eggs, milk and vanilla

In a separate bowl, mix together dry ingredients

Slowly add in the flour mixture into the wet ingredients until well incorporated

Once it’s mixed, put in the refrigerator for 15+ minutes until chilled

On a well floured counter roll out dough 1/8th of an inch thick

Bake 5-7 minutes

Let fully cool before frosting

These cookies are so good! I hope you enjoy them 🙂

One Happy Camper Birthday Cake!

Franklin Is One Happy Camper

My nephew Franklin just turned one and he had such a fun birthday party theme. He was “One Happy Camper”. This theme was perfect because he is always so happy and smiley! Just look at him!

Of Course he needed a cake (or two) for his party! (recipe below!) I love making the cakes for my family. It is so fun, and I always get to partake in eating them! LOL

The hardest part about making a cake is deciding on what to make. So when the theme is chosen by someone else it makes it easy for me!

I decided to do a tent and a campfire in the woods for the sheet cake. I frosted the bottom half with chocolate buttercream (recipe below) for the “ground” and used regular buttercream (recipe below) dyed blue for the sky. Once that was all smoothed out I did the details! Making the fire was my favorite part. I got the new Wilton color swirl coupler. How it works is you put up to three colored frostings that are in separate bags in the same coupler. So when you go to pipe the frosting it swirls the colors together out of one tip! Genius! It was super easy.

Here are the tips I used for the decorations

Here are the colors I used for the cake decorations. I always prefer to make the piping bags with the frosting before I start. It can be time consuming and when your in the “zone” decorating it’s hard to stop and fill more bags…

Since this was a 1st birthday party, we needed a smash cake of course! This was super fun and easy to make. I frosted the cake with chocolate buttercream (recipe below) and made a big campfire using the frosting and the color swirl tool I mentioned above. How easy is that?! Franklin definitely “smashed” this cake. It was such a mess, but well worth the cleanup. (especially because I didn’t have to clean it!)

How cute are these cookies?! I sadly did not make them, but someone did and they were awesome! We were all “One Happy Camper”!

The party was such a great time and a big success! As long as the birthday boy was “One Happy Camper”, so was everyone else!!

Check out my other cakes by visiting my cake gallery and also below are some more posts you might enjoy. Subscribe to Fun and Frosted to stay in the loop!!

12×18 Sheet Cake great for any Occasion

A Birthday Party in the Trees

Frozen Birthday Cake

Lemon Buttercream

Lemon Buttercream is so delicious! My dad is a true lemon lover and he just celebrated his 66th birthday. So what better to make then lemon cupcakes with lemon buttercream! I will say he probably loves chocolate more than lemon, but my mom does not and I aim to please everyone!

This lemon buttercream has just enough sweet and tart to make the perfect frosting. It is so simple to make and I used real lemons. My kids liked watching me make this because they could not resist taking the left over lemons and licking them……soooo sour! My mouth is watering just thinking about it. Anyway you only need 4 ingredients! Butter, lemon, powdered sugar and heavy whipping cream (or milk will do).

This buttercream tastes so good on lemon cupcakes, and it’s not too much lemon, I swear! Both kids and adults were raving about these cupcakes! And if I am being completely honest, I made the cake from a box mix – Betty Crocker Super Moist Lemon! So good, and soy free!

As you can see below the buttercream has the perfect consistency for piping!

Ingredients

1 Stick of unsalted butter

Juice from 1 lemon

5 cups of powdered sugar

4-5 Tbsp of heavy whipping cream

Instructions

You need to start with your butter at room temperature. You can put it in the microwave for 15 seconds to speed up the process.

Then in your stand mixer, cream the butter.

Add in the juice from 1/2 of a lemon

Then add in the powdered sugar 1/2 a cup at a time while continually mixing. while alternating with 1 tbsp of cream until all used

Gradually add in the rest of the lemon juice.

If you want your buttercream to be creamier – add in more cream!

Store in the refrigerator if you are not going to use right away. You can store for about a week (depending on the expiration date of your butter and cream).

Put in a piping bag and decorate your dessert or spread on with a knife!!!

Cream Cheese Frosting

Cream Cheese Frosting! Yum!!! I made this frosting recipe to go with the delicious homemade cinnamon rolls I made for Thanksgiving brunch. I have to admit that I do use canned cream cheese frosting from time to time, but there is nothing like homemade frosting!

This Cream Cheese Frosting recipe is really simple, and in all honestly takes less than 10 minutes to make. However, cream cheese can be frustrating to work with. If it’s not at room temperature, it will get CHUNKY. No one wants chunky frosting…

You are going to have to let the cream cheese sit out for at least 30 minutes. You may even need to put it in the microwave for 15-20 seconds. You do not want it to melt though so be careful! Also make sure that the butter is room temperature as well.

Cream together the butter and the cream cheese and then add in the vanilla and salt. After that add in the sugar one cup at a time and alternate with one tablespoon of the heavy whipping cream. Easy as that!!!

Tip – If you are putting this on Cinnamon rolls, you probably only need half of this recipe. You can also add in more cream if you want this to be more of a “drizzle”.

Store the frosting in the refrigerator until needed. You can store up to 1 week. I hope you love it as much as I do!

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Cinnamon Rolls

Easy Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Cinnamon Rolls

The holidays are here, and I have time off from my job, so I decided to do a lot of baking! We are having brunch at my parents house on Thanksgiving and then off to the in-laws for turkey dinner. So, I don’t have to host, but I still have a lot to make!

I have always wanted to make homemade cinnamon rolls, so that is exactly what I am going to make for brunch. I don’t get to eat them often…but when I do I always think “These are soooooooo good I need to eat these more often!!!” However, this isn’t the quickest of recipes because you are dealing with yeast and the dough needs to rise, however the time you put in will be well worth it!!

The best cinnamon roll I have ever had is at Gaston’s Tavern at Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World. They are the BEST! If you have never been, you have to go there. They are gigantic! We normally split one between two people, but honestly I could eat one all to myself. Unfortunately, we are not going to Disney World anytime soon, so I wanted to bring Gaston’s Cinnamon Rolls to me! I did a lot of research for Cinnamon Rolls and came across a copycat recipe for Gaston’s Tavern Cinnamon Rolls from a blog called Crafted From The Kingdom and I am so excited to try them!!!

TIP – Want to make mini cinnamon rolls? Cut the recipe in half! This will give you less dough to roll out, resulting in smaller cinnamon rolls! Bake at the same 375 degrees and 20 minutes!!

Ingredients

Dough

1 1/2 Cups Milk
1/2 Cup Butter
6 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour Divided (For Gluten Free swap out the flour for Gluten Free flour – make sure it say 1 to 1 ratio!!)
2 Packets Rapid Rise Yeast .25 oz Packets
1/2 Cup Sugar
1 Teaspoon Salt
1/2 Cup water
2 Large Eggs
1/4 Cup Melted Butter

Filling

2 Cups Brown Sugar
2 Tablespoons Cinnamon
1 Cup Butter Softened

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 8 oz Pack Cream Cheese
1/4 Cup Butter
4 Cups powdered sugar
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
3 Tablespoons heavy whipping cream

Instructions

In a saucepan, put the milk and butter together and turn burner on low until melted.

Remove from heat once the butter has melted, and allow to cool slightly.

In your stand mixer, with the mixing blade, add 2 1/2 cups of flour, yeast, sugar, and salt. Mix together

Add your water and eggs, as well as the warm butter/milk. Mix well.

Add the remaining flour (4 cups) 1/2 cup at a time. When the dough starts to form a ball, it’s ready!

remove mixing blade and attach a dough hook
Mix for 5 minutes

Once the dough is ready, transfer to another bowl that is lightly floured, and start working on the filling

In your stand mixer, using the paddle attachment, mix the brown sugar, cinnamon, and softened butter.

Roll out the dough as wide as you can.

Spread the filling evenly going all the way to the edges

Starting at a short end, roll the dough.
If you want smaller Cinnamon rolls, cut the dough in half before you roll it up!

Cut the dough to the size you want. The bigger you want, the farther apart you cut!
Place the rolls, swirl down, in a greased 9×13 pan.

Preheat your oven to 375 Degrees F. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Then cover loosely with foil and bake another 10 minutes.
Melt 1/4 cup butter and drizzle over the rolls
Make your frosting while the rolls are baking.
When your rolls are ready, spread on the frosting!

Recipe

I hope you have or will go to Gaston’s Tavern to taste these amazing Cinnamon Rolls. In the meantime, Make these Cinnamon Rolls!!!

Need a Gluten Free Version? Swap out the Flour for Gluten Free Flour!

Cream Cheese Frosting

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Simple Cinnamon Cupcakes

I needed a simple dessert to take to a holiday party with adults and children. Cupcakes are simple, especially for a party. You can just grab one, they are already portion controlled and there is no cutting involved. They are kid friendly and adults love them too!

These cupcakes needed simple and different than your “ordinary” cupcake. I wanted them to be festive for the holidays and delicious of course! I came across a lot of different cinnamon cupcakes, but I really wanted a recipe that was easy. So I decided to just start with a box of cake mix and add some cinnamon, and that’s what I did! I can’t thank myself enough, because these simple cinnamon cupcakes were amazing!!

I used a box of yellow cake mix, and followed the instructions on the box. Additionally, I added two teaspoons of cinnamon and one tablespoon of pure vanilla extract. That was it! So simple and yet so very tasty. Not only did I make cinnamon cupcakes, I topped them with cinnamon buttercream. Now I know you might be thinking, “that’s too much cinnamon”…but it wasn’t, I swear they were sooooooo good! I do have to say these cupcakes would be great with regular buttercream or cream cheese frosting, but please try with the cinnamon buttercream first!!

If you really want to “wow” your guests, pipe on the frosting with a little swirl and put in a pastry box. You can buy the boxes at Joann fabrics, Walmart and Party City. I swear people are more impressed with the box I bring them in than the cupcakes themselves! Everyone at the party thought I bought them!

Side note – These cupcakes can be eaten for breakfast…….just sayin’

Here is the recipe for Simple Cinnamon Cupcakes

You can’t forget the cinnamon buttercream!

I hope you enjoy these cupcakes as much as I do! Be sure to follow Fun and Frosted for more easy and fun recipes!

Here are some other recipes from Fun and Frosted!

Cinnamon Buttercream

Easy Banana Bread

Cinnamon Buttercream

Buttercream is arguably the best part of a dessert. Lately I have been making a good amount of buttercream frosting, and this is my new favorite. With the holidays right around the corner this is the perfect recipe. To me cinnamon represents all the smells and tastes of the holiday season. I just love it!

This recipe is great for holiday desserts, and sweet breakfast treats too! Can you imagine this on banana bread?! I can, and I am going to make some, just as soon as my banana’s turn ripe enough!

I created this cinnamon buttercream to go with my cinnamon cupcakes for a work party. They turned out so delicious and it was just the right amount of cinnamon. Everyone at the party, adults and kids alike, thought I bought them and that is always the highest compliment!

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter
1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
6 cups confectioner’s sugar
3-4 tablespoons heavy whipping cream or milk

Instructions

In your stand mixer (I use my KitchenAid) with the paddle attachment, add the softened butter. If you don’t have enough time to let this softened, you can stick it in the microwave for 15 seconds or so and it should do the trick!

Beat butter on medium to high until creamy
Add vanilla and salt

Gradually add powdered sugar and alternate adding in cream
Continue beating for 2-3 minutes on medium
Turn to high speed once sugar is incorporated
Add in the cinnamon and fully mix it

If frosting is too stiff add in more milk or cream 1 tsp at a time and beat until combined.

Spread on Cake and/or put in piping bags

Enjoy 🙂

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Check out these other great Fun and Frosted recipes

Easy Buttercream

Cinnamon Swirl Cake

Red Velvet Bundt Cakes

Easy Banana Bread

Baking banana bread is usually an afterthought for me. I only think about it when I go to throw away the really ripe, brown bananas. Then I think, what a waste, (light bulb goes off in head) “I should make Banana bread!” It is always so delicious and I always say I need to make this more often. The loaf gets eaten in one day in my house. The kids LOVE it. In addition, if you don’t have time to make banana bread, but you have the perfect ripe bananas; freeze them until you are ready to bake!

Now that you have your mind set on making banana bread, do you have the rest of the ingredients? That is always the question. Lucky for me I always have ingredients on hand. I usually keep a stock of the necessities; Flour, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, baking powder, and baking soda. If you have these on hand at any given time you are usually good for some type of recipe!

Why is Banana Bread so good?

Let’s be honest, banana bread can be eaten at any time of the day. Breakfast = Yes, Lunch = Yes, Dinner = well, maybe, Snack = Yes! Warmed up with butter or honey? Room temp with nothing on it? Count me in! It’s so moist with lots of flavor and not too sweet. Can you tell I love Banana bread? LOL

Here is what you need!

1/2 Cup butter (softened)
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/4 Light brown sugar
2 Large eggs
2 Tsp Vanilla extract
3 Large ripe bananas (mashed)
1 tsp Baking powder
1 tsp Ground cinnamon
2 Cups flour
1/2 tsp Baking soda
1/2 tsp Salt

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F
Grease a 9×5 loaf pan – You can use my Cake Pan Release recipe instead of spray – It’s amazing! (and soy free!)

Using a stand mixer (I love my KitchenAid!) with the paddle attachment, mix the butter and sugars until combined

Add in the eggs and vanilla
Add in the mashed banana and stir by hand

In a separate bowl, mix together the dry ingredients

Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until well combined. Do not over mix

If you want to do any add-ins now is the time! Chocolate chips, nuts, more cinnamon?
Bake for 45-55 minutes depending on your oven.
Let the banana bread cool for a few minutes before transferring to a baking rack
And because this is Fun and FROSTED – You can Always add on some buttercream once the bread has cooled…just sayin’!

I hope you love this recipe as much as I do! Be sure to check out some of my other great recipes!

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Red Velvet Bundt Cakes

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

I love chocolate chip cookies, and better yet chocolate chip cookie bars! And because of my allergies, I always have to make them from scratch. That is one of the reasons I got into baking.

These Chocolate Chip cookie bars are a mix between a cookie, a cake and a a blondie. They are chewy, a little cake like, but not too crumbly. In addition this recipe is fun and easy and can be changed up with different toppings. You can add sprinkles, any kind of baking chip and you can change up the cake mix! These are delicious served with Ice cream as well!

What’s in them?

1 box of cake mix – I chose Betty Crocker French Vanilla
1/4 Cup of canola oil
1 Large egg
1/3 cup milk
1/2 Cup white chocolate chips (I use Tollhouse Simply Delicious – They are soy free!)
1/2 Cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I use Tollhouse Simply Delicious – They are soy free!)
Chocolate Buttercream – Click here for my recipe!

Suggestions to change it up!

Use Butterscotch chips
Mint Chocolate Chips
M&M’s
Break up pieces of candy like Butterfingers, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
Add in Marshallow fluff and swirl it around
Use Chocolate Cake Mix
Use Cherry Chip Cake Mix
Serve with ice cream!
The possibilities are endless!!!

How to Make it

Mix together the cake mix, egg, vanilla, and milk
The batter will appear thick and almost sticky, but that is okay. If you need to add more milk you can
Add in your chocolate chips
Grease a 11×9 baking dish with a baking spray or my Cake Pan Release (Soy Free!)
Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes
Let cool completely before frosting – or you can eat without frosting!
You can top with any type of frosting. I chose Easy Chocolate Buttercream and topped with sprinkles! Delicious!!

These Chocolate Chip Cookies Bars are great for any type of occasion – Birthday parties, Holiday occasions or just because you want a chocolate chip cookie! I love them because they are quick and easy, and they get eaten up fast.

Here are some other Fun and Frosted Recipes

Here are some other great recipes from Fun and Frosted you will be sure to enjoy. I invite you to comment on my site if you have tried these!

Cinnamon Swirl Cake

Easy Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

I hope you enjoyed this recipe. Be sure to subscribe to be the first to know when I post a new recipe!

Chocolate Chip Cookies Bars is a recipe derived from Sally’s Baking Addiction

Easy Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

If you are familiar with my Easy Buttercream Frosting recipe, you’ll be sure to love this Chocolate Buttercream! It’s creamy and silky, but not too rich. In addition, it has a great chocolate flavor and has the right amount of sweetness. Perfect for any cake, cupcake or even cookie! Above all, it only takes about 10 minutes to make and is super easy.

Good For Piping

Easy Buttercream is great for piping on a cake. I decorate a lot of cakes that require a lot of detail and this doesn’t disappoint! It will harden overtime, so make sure you frost the cake completely in good timing.

Storing Your Buttercream

When you are not using the buttercream keep it in an air tight container so it doesn’t dry up. You can store this buttercream for up to a couple of weeks in the refrigerator. And as I noted in the recipe, make sure it comes to room temperature before using!

How to make Easy Chocolate Buttercream

In your stand mixer (I love my Kitchen Aid!) with the paddle attachment, add the softened butter

You are going to want to beat the butter on medium to high until fluffy and make sure it gets creamy. You don’t want chunks of butter in your frosting (or maybe you do?! Up to you.)

Add in the cocoa, vanilla and salt.

Add in one tablespoon of cream and then gradually add the powdered sugar then mix a bit and alternate adding in cream. Keep doing this until you have used all of the sugar and cream.

Continue beating the buttercream for 2-3 minutes on medium

Turn to high speed once sugar is fully incorporated – You will know!

If the frosting is too stiff add in more cream

If you want a stronger chocolate taste, add more cocoa, but be sure to add more cream too!

Spread on your dessert, or fill up a piping bag to pipe on to your dessert!

If you like this Easy Chocolate Buttercream Recipe, be sure to check out my Easy Buttercream recipe.

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