Recipes

I don't have many to post at the moment - if this page ever gets unwieldy, though, I'll subdivide it.

Bold indicates necessary ingredients or supplies. Underline indicates an optional component.

Low-effort cake with buttercream frosting!

First, get your hands on a box cake. Look at the ingredients. I like to substitute butter for whatever oil it recommends, milk instead of water, and add an extra egg. Just overall improves the cake. You can also add vanilla or other flavorings, or a bit of food coloring; otherwise, bake the cake as instructed. My buttercream recipe makes enough to thoroughly cover the top of a 9*13 inch cake, so keep that in mind when deciding what shape your cake will take.

If you so desire, you can make the frosting while your cake is baking; this will suck if you're impatient like me, however, because then you'll be stuck waiting for your cake to cool before you can frost it. I recommend finding something else to do for the ~half hour as your cake bakes. Unless you're worried about your buttercream coming out grainy; I don't much care, but I'm told leaving it overnight will solve that problem. To each their own.

When the time is up, stick a toothpick or knife in the center of your cake, straight in and out: look to see if it's cooked all the way through. There should be no smear of batter visible on your sticker of choice - if it's slightly damp with a few crumbs sticking to it, you've nailed the baking time. If it's a bit gooey, put it back in for five minutes, then poke again an inch or two away from the original spot. Repeat until satisfied. When you're happy with the doneness of your cake, take it out to cool. Once it's no longer hot enough to burn, you can pop it in the fridge (or a particularly cold room) to hurry it along.

While your cake is cooling, get out a mid-sized bowl, a stick of butter, and two cups of powdered/confectioners sugar. First, put the butter in the bowl. You shouldn't melt it, but it needs to be soft enough to mash and fold. You can either beat this by hand with a rubber spatula (info below), or use an electric mixer/beater of some sort - this is such a small amount, I never bother with a mixer. Beat it until it's fairly creamy. Then, start adding the powdered sugar; you can sift it for a smoother frosting. Fold the sugar in as you go.

Once you've added all the sugar and it's mixed fairly thoroughly, add two tablespoons of milk. Mix that in until it's all smooth. Once your buttercream is done, you can add flavoring like vanilla extract or food colorings. Then, just sit it on the counter (covered if you have pets!) until you're ready to frost your cake. You can just plop it on top and start spreading it; so long as your cake has completely cooled, the frosting will hold its shape very well. Once you're satisfied, you can add any final touches like sprinkles or other decorations, and your cake is ready to be served or stored for later.

From start to end, this recipe should take between 1 and 3 hours to complete depending on how long your cake takes to heat up and cool down (that's the most time-consuming part, prep and cleanup not included). A "stick" of butter is a half cup; for conversions to other units, consult your local search engine. Enjoy.