Tag: Soy Free

Easy Carrot Cake

Carrot Cake

Easter is almost here, and Carrot Cake is a “Go to” dessert for this holiday! However, this year is a little different…we can’t celebrate with extended family and friends, because of the Coronovirus that’s got us on lock down, but we can still eat!!

We aren’t making a huge Easter dinner this year, but one thing is for sure, we definitely still need dessert! Not to mention, this dessert has veggies in it! How bad can it be?!

Carrot cake is usually a lot of work, and let’s be honest, you only make this once a year. I like to make things easy, so I came up with this recipe! This recipe uses boxed cake mix! It doesn’t get much easier than that! With a few added ingredients you will have carrot cake in no time at all!

This carrot cake is very moist, fluffy and delicious of course! Topped with cream cheese frosting and cinnamon sugar, it’s a winner. Typically carrot cake has nuts incorporated in the recipe. I am allergic so this recipe does not call for any, but it would be a very easy add!

Cream Cheese Frosting

What is carrot cake without cream cheese frosting? It isn’t…You can opt to make homemade cream cheese frosting or you can use store bought. Either way it will be delicious. I have provided my cream cheese frosting recipe below, in case you want to make it! (You will only need to make half of the recipe) Let me tell you it is delicious, and actually simple to make.

Cake Ingredients

  • 1 Box yellow cake mix
  • 1 egg
  • 1/3 cup of Milk
  • 1/4 cup of canola oil (or vegetable)
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
  • 3/4 – 1 cup of shredded carrots (about 2 large carrots)
  • Cinnamon sugar (to sprinkle on the top)

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F
  • Grease an 9×11 baking dish / 11×7 if you want the cake thicker
  • Mix together the yellow cake mix, egg, milk and oil
  • Add in the vanilla and cinnamon until well incorporated
  • Mix in the carrots
  • Evenly spread into baking dish
  • Bake for 22 minutes
  • Let cool before frosting
  • Top the frosting with Cinnamon sugar

Enjoy!!!!

I hope you enjoy this recipe!!! Follow me for more ideas on Pinterest! https://www.pinterest.com/FunandFrosted/

Lemon Sugar Cookie Bars

Sugar Cookies + Lemon = Absolute deliciousness! I am so excited about these! They have the right amount of lemon flavor and the perfect cookie texture!!

Typically, when I think of sugar cookies, it’s usually in a “cut out” shape and is for some sort of occasion; Christmas, Easter, Valentines Day or in many cases Birthdays. Cutouts are great, but can be a lot of work. Making them into a cookie bar takes out all of that extra work, but they are still delicious!!

I love that these Lemon Sugar Cookie Bars are so easy to make! Also, you can easily substitute different flavors, and top them with frosting! Lemon is surely a hit, but I’m thinking lime or orange would be great as well! I included a recipe for the glaze, but it’s definitely not needed, it just adds a little more lemon flavor!

Also, whenever we have lemons, my kids cannot resist eating them to to see who can handle the sourness!! My mouth is watering just thinking about it!

Don’t Be Afraid to “Zest”

This recipe calls for the zest of a lemon. If you haven’t used zest from a citrus fruit before, don’t let that scare you. It’s super easy and it really gives it a lot of flavor. I take a cheese grater and scrape the side of the lemon until you see the white part, keep rotating the lemon until there is nothing left to zest! Easy as that!

Here Is What You Need

For the Sugar Cookie
  • 1 cup (2 Sticks) of Unsalted Butter – room temp
  • 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar + 3 Tbsp for the top
  • 2 Eggs
  • 1 Tbsp juice from a lemon + (1-2 Tbsp for the glaze)
  • 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 Tbsp lemon Zest (1 Lemon)
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
For The Glaze
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 1-2 Tbsp juice from a lemon
  • 3-4 Tbsp Milk

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F
  • Grease a 9×13 dish with baking spray, or you can use my cake release recipe
  • Using your stand mixer or an electric mixer, mix butter and sugar until well combined
  • Mix in the eggs, vanilla and lemon juice
  • In a separate bowl, mix together the dry ingredients; Flour, baking powder, salt and the lemon zest

Slowly pour incorporate the flour mixture into the bowl with the wet ingredients

  • Press the dough into the 9×13 baking dish
  • Top with 3 tbsp of sugar
  • Bake for 22-25 minutes
  • For the glaze, mix together the powdered sugar, and lemon juice.
  • Slowly mix in the milk until you get the consistency you desire. More milk for a thinner glaze, less for thicker

  • Wait for the cookies to cool before drizzling the glaze over top. You can glaze the whole dish or individual pieces, whatever you like!
  • Enjoy!

There you have it! Lemon Sugar Cookie Bars (Say that fast 3 times!) They are delicious and one of my absolute favorites!

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Bagels! New York Style

Bagels are one of my weaknesses, true fact. I don’t eat them often, but when I get a craving, I cannot get them out of my mind. So the other day, during “Coronavirus isolation”, was one of those days. I’ve always wanted to make homemade bagels, so I did!

I really wish I had Trader Joe’s, Everything but the Bagel Seasoning, but I didn’t so I made Salt and Plain bagels. We are on “lock down” here in Michigan, so it’s not like I am running out to the store to get a few ingredients here and there. I’m working with what I’ve got!!

If you have never made a bagel in your life, don’t worry you are in good company, I hadn’t either. I am admitting that to be transparent. They turned out great, and I am going to make these again, maybe Cinnamon Sugar bagels this time! I used my stand mixer with the hook attachment, but you can use your hands to knead the dough too!

Ingredients

Bagel

  • 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
  • 1 ½ tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 1 ¼ cups warm water (1/2 cup + 3/4 cup)
  • 3 ½ Flour – You can use All-purpose or Bread Flour
  • 1 ½ teaspoons salt

Toppers

  • Kosher Salt
  • Cinnamon Sugar
  • Trader Joe’s Everything but the Bagel Seasoning

Okay Here We Go!

  • Pour the sugar and yeast into 1/2 cup of warm water. Don’t stir, just let it sit for a few minutes.
  • Stir the yeast and sugar together, until it all dissolves in the water.
  • Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl.
  • Pour in the Yeast/Sugar
  • Pour in the remaining warm water. You may need more water – up to 1/4 more if needed.
  • If using your stand mixer, use the hook attachment and let the dough need for 10 minutes. If you are kneading by hand, make sure to flour the counter top and knead for 10 minutes.
  • You want the dough to be firm and smooth with some elasticity.
  • Lightly coat a large bowl with oil and turn the dough to coat. Cover the bowl with a damp dish towel.
  • Let rise in a warm place for 1 hour, until the dough has doubled in size. Punch the dough down, and let it rest for another 10 minutes.
  • Lightly coat a baking sheet with oil
  • Boil a large pot of water
  • Divide the dough into 8 pieces
  • Roll each piece into a ball.
  • Press your finger in the middle of each dough ball to form a hole. Stretch to create a big enough hole.
  • Place the 8 bagels on the cookie sheet and cover with the damp towel, let rise for 10 minutes
  • Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
  • In the large pot of boiling water, gently set each bagel in for 1 minute and then flip the bagel in the water for another minute.
  • Remove from water and place the bagels back on the baking sheet.
  • Now is the time to add your topping. Prepare an egg wash (whisk egg + water) and coat the top of the bagel and then put on the topping.
  • Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown
  • Cool on a wire rack
  • Enjoy!

Whew! We made it! I hope you enjoy your bagels! Subscribe to Fun and Frosted for more ideas!

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Harry Potter Birthday Cake

How fun is a Harry Potter Birthday Cake?!! My son is turning eight and he wanted a Harry Potter Birthday Cake! We love Harry Potter we have just finished watching all of the movies with the kids. We even have a dog named Gryffindor!

Besides actually frosting the cake with white, piping the details was easy. For some reason I find it more challenging to get a smooth frosted cake, with out any hiccups. I always find that the frosting pulls up and starts to rip the cake…just being honest here. We definitely had to do some frosting “surgery” on one of the corners.

I like to make things as easy as I can when making cakes. So, yes I used cake from a box… I mixed together Rainbow chip and Cherry Chip. Yes it tasted good, in fact, it tasted really good! I had some dad’s at the party ask me what flavor cake it was, because it was that good!

What Size Cake?

I opted to make a little bit of a smaller cake than I normally do; 15×21. Two boxes of cake mix did the trick and I baked it for about 30 minutes. Definitely check it when the timer goes off because every oven bakes differently.

Colors I Used For The Details

For the details, I used Wilton Buttercup Yellow and Burgundy for the colors. For the black, I bought pre-mixed black in a tube and put it into a piping bag. It’s difficult to get a good black frosting! I had to put a lot of burgundy food coloring in to make it not look like a pinky rose. For the lettering, I Googled “Harry Potter Font” to get the shape of the letters as accurate as I could! See below for my video on how I decorated it!

I hope you enjoy this!! Follow me on Fun and Frosted for more Fun!!

Strawberry Jello Pretzel Bars

Growing up my aunt would always make Strawberry Jello Pretzel Bars. They were by far, my favorite dessert. They always seemed difficult to make because of the different layers, but they are pretty easy! My mom adapted the recipe and made them all the time! My brother and I could not get enough of these things.

Strawberry Jello Pretzel bars are a go-to dessert for family events. They are a crowd-pleaser! They are sweet and salty, fruity and creamy…and above all they are delicious!

I have thought about trying different jello flavors and different crusts, so keep an eye out because I will try them one day and post them! Get creative!

When making these Strawberry Jello Pretzel Bars you are going to need to let them chill at least four hours or overnight, so plan ahead!

Start out by making the strawberry jello. You will need a big box of it. Follow the ingredients on the box and let that sit a bit while you make the rest of the layers.

For the crust you will need to crush up the pretzels. I use my food processor. You can put them in a ziplock back and smash them too. Either way is fine. Mix the pretzels with the melted butter and brown sugar for the crust. Press the pretzels into a greased 9×13 inch pan and bake for 10 minutes on 350 degrees. Let this completely cool before spreading on the middle layer.

For the middle layer you need cream cheese that is at room temperature. This is very important! If it is too cold it will be chunky. No one wants chunky cream cheese. Mix this together with the sugar and then fold in the cool whip. Once the crust is cooled you can spread this on! Make sure the spread all the way to the edges so the jello does not seep through.

Place your sliced strawberries on top of the cream cheese layer. Then pour on the jello very gently. You don’t want to break the middle layer. It will seep into the bottom and you will have chunks of cream cheese floating in the jello…

Refrigerate for at least four hours! I usually make this the night before to make sure the jello has set. This dessert does not disappoint! Enjoy.

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Gingerbread Bars

I have made these Gingerbread Bars for the past two Christmas’. They have been circulating around Pinterest from various blogs. I am not entirely sure where they originated from, but my guess is Six Sister’s Stuff. They always have great recipes and this one is no exception!

The holidays are so busy with gatherings and everyone always expects me to bring dessert! (which I enjoy!) I try to make a variety of desserts and different flavors to mix things up a bit. I can tell you my husband appreciates that! These Gingerbread Bars are an unpredictable dessert, and everyone loves them, including myself. These are one of my favorites…Yum!! I will be taking these to work tomorrow, for a holiday party. I guarantee they won’t last long 🙂

These Gingerbread Bars incorporate all of those spices associated with Christmas smells, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and molasses! This dessert is just the right amount of sweet!

This is definitely a recipe to hold onto!!

Ingredients for the Gingerbread Bars

  • 1/2 Cup butter, melted
  • 3/4 Cup sugar
  • 1/4 Cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • 1/3 Cup molasses
  • 1 Egg
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • 2 Cups flour
  • 1 Tbsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp ground cloves
  • 1/4 tsp Nutmeg

Gingerbread Bar Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
  • Grease a 13×9 baking dish. You can get my cake release recipe here. It’s easy to make and Soy Free!
  • In your stand mixer, cream together the butter, sugars, vanilla, and molasses.
  • Add in the egg, and mix until fully incorporated
  • In a separate bowl, mix together the dry ingredients
  • Slowly add them into the stand mixer, and mix thoroughly
  • Pour mix into baking dish and pat down to get it evenly distributed
  • Bake for 15-18 Minutes
  • Let cool before frosting!

Ingredients for the Cream Cheese Frosting

  • 8 oz cream cheese softened
  • 1/4 unsalted butter, softened
  • 4 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla

Frosting Instructions

  • In your stand mixer, cream butter and cream cheese together. Make sure they are both softened and at room temp. Otherwise your frosting will be chunky
  • Add in the vanilla and mix
  • Add in the powdered sugar slowly until all incorporated
  • Pour on the sprinkles, or cinnamon and serve!

Make sure to store them in the refrigerator!

I hope you enjoy these Gingerbread Bars. If you want more Fun and Frosted recipes, make sure to follow my blog, and my Pinterest page!

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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 🙂

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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