She's my kind of gal

I'd never heard of Plain Chicken before my friend Shelly sent me a link earlier this week to a cake Steph made.

How can cake get better? LINE IT WITH KIT KAT BARS AND LOAD THE TOP UP WITH M&Ms.

HAVE YOU EVER? Holy cow. I felt like I was going into a sugar coma just from looking at the picture.

Best Birthday Cake

adapted from The Cake Mix Doctor

1 package (18.5 ounces) plain butter recipe golden cake mix

1 package (8 ounces) reduced-fat cream cheese, at room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup water

4 large eggs

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Grease and flour two 9-inch cake pans. Set the pans aside. Place the cake mix, cream cheese, sugar, oil, water, eggs, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Blend on low speed with an electric mixer for 30 seconds, until the ingredients are well blended, then stop the machine and scrape down the sides. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes more, scraping down the sides again if needed. The batter should be smooth and thickened. Divide batter between cake pans. Bake the cakes until they are lightly golden and spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, about 40 minutes. Remove the pans from the oven and place them on wire racks to cool for 5 minutes. Remove cakes pans and cool completely. Frost with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

1 stick butter (8 Tbsp) softened

3 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup cocoa powder

2-5 Tbsp milk

1 Tbsp vanilla

Mix together butter, 2 Tbsp milk, cocoa powder and vanilla. Gradually add in powdered sugar. Add milk a tablespoon at a time until the desired consistency.

As I read the recipe, I was impressed that it was actually pretty easy.

And then, THEN. I starting poking around her blog and saw that she'd recently made Krispy Kreme Donut Ice Cream. SERIOUSLY. I ALMOST FELL OUT OF MY CHAIR. (I should hit the Caps Lock key and be done with it, right?)

There are a lot of chicken recipes on her blog, too. She is apparently a woman after my own heart. For a meat, chicken isn't bad. It took me a while to find a chicken recipe on her blog that I'd like to try, simply because I kept getting sidetracked by her breads and desserts ... but I finally found one: Cheesy Chicken Pesto Pasta. Perfect for me, because it has pasta (love), cheese (love), chicken (pretty good, for meat), and only a couple of other ingredients. EASY IS GOOD.

Check it:

Cheesy Chicken Pesto Pasta

2 chicken breast, cooked and chopped (I sprinkled my chicken with some garlic seasoning before I cooked it)
8 oz spaghetti
6 oz pesto
8 oz ricotta cheese
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella or Italian cheese blend
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400.

Cook spaghetti for 2 minutes less than the package directions specify. Drain the spaghetti well and transfer it to a bowl.  Stir in chicken, pesto, 1/2 cup mozzarella and 1/4 cup of the Parmesan cheese. Toss the mixture well and transfer it to a 9-inch square dish. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.

Bake until the cheese is melted, about 20 minutes. Turn the oven to broil and broil for 1 minutes or until golden.


When I get around to making it, I'll be sure to let you know how it goes!