Gingerbread Poke Cake

This cake is the most lovely addition to a holiday spread with caramel and whipped cream topping and crushed gingersnap cookies on top.

I've made more poke cakes in recent years because I really just enjoy poke cakes. I won't say all, but I think most start with a box cake mix and just a few toppings - sweetened condensed milk and Cool Whip for sure. This gingerbread cake gets caramel sauce topping in addition to the milk. And the very top has crushed gingersnap cookies which is great for a bit of crunch and more spicy goodness. So if you're looking for a quick holiday cake recipe - this! This so much! It's great!

Peppermint Poke Cake

This holiday cake is so easy to make and loaded with chocolate and peppermint!

I think box cake mixes are awesome and I love how you can add a few more steps and change it up completely. I think at this point everyone knows what a poke cake is - you make a cake and poke holes in it and then pour stuff on top. This cake is topped with sweetened condensed milk and hot fudge. After some chilling, the cake is topped with whipped cream and other stuff - in this case, Andes mints and Oreos. I think this is my favorite poke cake of all the ones I've made. I love mint chocolate, so I guess it's not surprising. This is a really fun cake to make with kids (if you have any around) and is perfect for the holidays!

Ultimate Oreo Brownie Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

Get ready for a sugar overload with this vanilla and chocolate layer cake topped with chocolate ganache, brownies, chocolate chip cookies, and Oreos!

When my husband worked outside the home, he often brings in leftovers for lunch and ends up talking about how I cook and bake and blog. I end up doing a lot of making desserts to send to work with him. It's happened at every job he's had and I personally don't mind because I love to bake sweets and don't often make things like whole layer cakes for us. This particular cake was a sort of last hurrah before he left for his current job. I made a lot of cookies for his team, so we wanted to do a crazy over-the-top cake and ended up with this massive overload of chocolate! I didn't get a piece, but I did hear from my husband that it was super good and everyone loved it.

Homemade Apple Cobbler

Fall has arrived and it's time for the best apple dessert ever - this apple cobbler!

I tend to focus on pretty much all things pumpkin when fall rolls around that I forget about apples and making apple treats. I do like apple treats - just depending on what it is. It's kind of like how I am with bananas. I don't like bananas by themselves whole, but I'll eat them sliced. I don't care for apples when they are mushy but I'll eat apples baked into desserts, even if you still get whole pieces of baked apples. It doesn't make any sense, but I just go with it. I adore this apple cobbler and I have to admit that I am always grabbing for churro ice cream when I can find it for topping cobbler. It's amazing paired with cobbler. This one was especially good with churro ice cream and caramel sauce!

Strawberry Lemon Snack Cake

Sweet and sour and absolutely perfect for a snack or a little treat after dinner!

I have been trying for years to get behind lemon sweets and so far, to date, it has failed. I just don't like purely lemon desserts. Now throw a berry in there and I love it. I knew I would enjoy this dessert because strawberry is my favorite berry with lemon. I loved the consistency of the cake. It sort of reminds me of a cobbler in some ways. The lemon was just in the glaze although it would be great with a little lemon zest in the batter, in my opinion.

Buckeye Cheesecake Cake

What's better than chocolate cake? Chocolate cake with peanut butter cheesecake in the middle smothered in peanut butter frosting, chocolate ganache, and Buckeye candies!

I love seeing what cakes my kids will choose for their birthday cakes. For Matthew's 12th birthday last year, he chose this Buckeye Cheesecake Cake. I was a little surprised because of the cheesecake part, but that's what he wanted and that's what I made. The chocolate cake was fabulous - one of my favorites I've made. The combination of the lovely chocolate cake with the peanut butter cheesecake and frosting was fantastic. I personally found Buckeye candies at our local Cracker Barrel - you can also make a batch and freeze extras. They are sometimes also called peanut butter balls.

Copycat DQ Ice Cream Cake

Classic DQ ice cream cake with layers of chocolate and vanilla ice cream, chocolate crunch bits, chocolate fudge, and a light and fluffy whipped topping.

When I was a kid, Dairy Queen was a big deal. I loved going and getting the chicken strip basket and loved even more getting to turn in my coin for a Dilly bar. Occasionally, if it was a good year for my family, my mom would get a DQ ice cream cake for my birthday and I loved when she did so so much. I don't really even care for chocolate ice cream, but the DQ ice cream cake is supreme! My favorite parts are definitely the chocolate crunch bits AND the delicious light and fluffy whipped frosting. I'll be honest and tell you that I have no clue why I made this cake when I did. It was in the midst of all the birthdays, but it wasn't for someone's birthday. Because as an adult, you don't have to wait until your birthday to have the cake of your dreams, I guess!

Italian Love Cake

You will love this cake so much - with its moist chocolate cake layer, cheesecake layer, and mousse-like topping! It's amazing what you can do with a box cake mix and pudding mix!

So I'm still not sure how this recipe works, but apparently the layers are supposed to switch out when you bake. Somehow mine turned into a split deal which we found awesome! You get a little rich chocolate cake on bottom and top of the cheesecake-like layer. If you make this, please let me know how it turns out for you - if you get a flip flop layer deal or a split layer of chocolate cake. Regardless, it was one of the best cakes I've ever had. This cake was actually my daughter's 11th birthday cake...back in 2019. I'm so behind sharing recipes. That's why this cake features this gorgeous, fancy paper plate serving platter :)

Peach Crunch Cobbler

This peach cobbler has a good crunch and is fantastic on its own, but even better with ice cream on top!

This was supposed to be blackberry crunch cobbler, but I have had no luck finding blackberry pie filling. Is that a thing that exists in stores? I shop at Kroger - maybe that's why? If you have purchased blackberry pie, where do you get it? I decided upon peach because for whatever reason, we've been eating a lot of peach cobbler and cobbler-like desserts as of late. I thought this was one of the best cobbler recipes I've ever had. I also insist that you test out different flavors of ice cream for topping. Vanilla bean is bomb, but we love churro ice cream paired with peach cobbler. But there are also tons of other flavors that would work. The ice cream aisle has endless possibilities!

Cake Mix Coffee Cake

This moist yellow cake with a cinnamon brown sugar crumble swirl and topping is the perfect breakfast!

I haven't made coffee cake in a while but I really love it. What's not to love about cake for breakfast?! This coffee cake utilizes cake mix and it makes the most moist coffee cake I've ever had. I loved the walnuts and the crumble swirl is fantastic coupled with it actually being a crumble topping too. Honestly, I really like that this isn't a little 9x9 pan...it's a 9x13 and that means there is plenty of coffee cake. Some for breakfast, some for snack, some for second breakfast :)

White Vanilla Layer Cake

This stunning, classy layer cake has strawberry frosting made from fresh strawberries and a second frosting made with champagne.

At this point, I'm sure I've probably said this at least a dozen times, but one of my favorite things to do is make birthday cakes/desserts for my family members. I usually let the kids choose what kind of cake they want and like to surprise the adults (although I've begun to ask what the adults want and then pick something from there that fits). My mother-in-law always gets the fanciest of cakes and that seems pretty fitting with her nickname being Fancy. I chose this vanilla layer cake because it has champagne in the cake and the frosting, as well as fresh strawberries in the frosting. It looked so so pretty.

Red Velvet Sheet Cake #FantasticalFoodFight

Welcome to another Food Fight! Fantastical Food Fight is a group of food bloggers who will get a theme or ingredient each month and make some sort of variation for it. It could be traditional or nontraditional and can be found in a cookbook, on a blog, or be a blogger's own creation!

This month's Fantastical Food Fight theme is RED VELVET. This unfortunately is going to be the very last Food Fight due to my very busy schedule. I just started my masters program in Accounting at the beginning of the month and I'm trying to cut back on all my "extracurricular" activities, so to speak. I have had so much fun with my blogging friends and have enjoyed seeing what recipes they've shared each month. I highly recommend following their blogs that you can find below in the blog hop.

Red velvet was chosen due to it being Valentine's Day this month. Even though we are past Valentine's Day now, I thought it would still be fun to do it. Now, I was a little nervous about this month's theme because I generally don't care for anything red velvet. It's basically chocolate cake dyed red, but that red is so overpowering and I think that's why I don't like it. However, my family loves red velvet and I decided to try this really pretty sheet cake that had whipped frosting (my daughter's favorite) and raspberries. And surprise, surprise, I liked it! In fact, it's on my favorites list now. It wasn't overpoweringly "red-flavored" and the frosting was so perfect. My daughter and I especially loved the little raspberry on each piece. It complimented the cake very well.

Amazing Pecan Cobbler

Pecan pie has nothing on this Amazing Pecan Cobbler!

I have never really liked pecan pie. I think it's way too much sugar and that's coming from someone who loves sweets. However, it's my husband's favorite pie and that means every once in a while I will make him one because I love him. Sometimes he'll make a compromise and we pick out a dessert that is similar to what he wants but something I will eat. Because he definitely won't eat a dessert all by himself! Our compromise last year for the holidays was this pecan cobbler. It has the flavors of pecan pie but without being so overly sugary. I personally love cobbler and it's one of my favorite types of dessert, so I knew I would love this recipe. We ended up loving it so much that I made it for Thanksgiving AND Christmas.

Pumpkin Mug Cake #FantasticalFoodFight

Welcome to another Food Fight! Fantastical Food Fight is a group of food bloggers who will get a theme or ingredient each month and make some sort of variation for it. It could be traditional or nontraditional and can be found in a cookbook, on a blog, or be a blogger's own creation! For more details, check out this page.

This month's Fantastical Food Fight theme is PUMPKIN. I tried to make sure that we didn't repeat a theme/ingredient and it seemed like the perfect time to share some pumpkin recipes, so our theme for October is the ingredient pumpkin. It can be savory or sweet.

I chose to share one of my favorite quick treats or if I'm feeling like it, breakfast. Mug cakes are so super easy and a ton of them can be made with ingredients you already have on hand (especially if you bake a lot). I gotta say that it's really awesome to make a cake in less than 5 minutes. You get that little bit of sweet treat without all the mess and time. It's the best! This pumpkin mug cake is so much like a classic pumpkin cake and you could dress it up with pecans and caramel if you wanted to indulge a little more!

Sourdough Coffee Cake #FantasticalFoodFight

Welcome to another Food Fight! Fantastical Food Fight is a group of food bloggers who will get a theme or ingredient each month and make some sort of variation for it. It could be traditional or nontraditional and can be found in a cookbook, on a blog, or be a blogger's own creation! For more details, check out this page.

This month's Fantastical Food Fight theme is SOURDOUGH. I had this on my list of potential themes for a long time because I wasn't using my sourdough starter. I ended up starting a new starter and have high hopes that this one will go a little better. I think mine went south due to not using it and it needed to be cut down and fed instead of just fed alone. When I have sourdough on hand, it is used almost exclusively for the family recipe for sourdough coffee cake. I have found that it is actually quite similar to many recipes online, so I decided to make and share one that is similar, but not the same. To keep the family secret...well, secret.

This is definitely the very best coffee cake there is. Nothing to date has lived up to how good sourdough coffee cake is. I highly highly recommend trying it out for yourself, you will not be disappointed!

Strawberries & Cream Layer Cake

This beautiful layer cake is perfect for summer with fresh strawberries and light whipped cream!

Last October, we had another wedding in the family and I was asked to do the cake. I was tasked to find a strawberries & cream recipe for the bride and a marble cake recipe for the groom. I was really lucky and found the perfect recipe on the first try and bonus: the groom loved it too. I didn't use the whipped topping on wedding day but man alive, it was so wonderful. It's the perfect cake for summertime and it's really really pretty.

Bonus: this cake freezes REALLY well. I made it about a month in advanced and just made sure to wrap, wrap, wrap, and seal the layers. They defrosted pretty quickly and tasted just as amazing as the fresh cake did!

Chocolate Oreo Cake

This homemade dark chocolate cake is smothered in the best Oreo frosting ever!

My oldest kid, Matthew, is a boy after my own heart. He loves chocolate to the obsessive level that I do and pretty much always picks out a pretty extravagant chocolate cake of some sort for his birthday. Last year, he chose this Chocolate Oreo Cake and I gladly made it. It actually wasn't as much work as I thought it would be, which was great because it was a week after I was diagnosed with the flu and a pulmonary embolism, which came a week after getting a cardiac ablation. The last few years have been rough around his birthday but I definitely make sure that the kids are spoiled with whatever cake they want.

This cake is a dark chocolate cake made from scratch. It's moist moist moist! The frosting is sugary and full of Oreos. The combination of the cake and frosting is killer! Matthew definitely chose well.

Mrs. Field's Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake Copycat

The perfect treat for any special occasion is a huge, chewy chocolate chip cookie!

My youngest, Mason, is a very picky eater, as most toddlers are. So when he turned 3 last year, I thought instead of making cake or cupcakes that he wouldn't eat, I would make him a giant cookie cake with sprinkles. I figured he would be fine with the frosting because it was just around the edge and I could remove it from his piece. That little turkey didn't eat his cookie cake...and he was sneaking into the kitchen after his little party and eating the sprinkles directly from the cake. He turned 4 this past Sunday and I wisened up and just made him frosting-less funfetti cupcakes, which he loved.

I'm sure I have had Mrs. Field's Cookie Cakes before, but I'll be honest and say I cannot recall if I for sure have had that brand. However, I will say that this cookie cake tasted just as good as any one I've ever had. The frosting was perfect too :)

Chocolate Gingerbread Toffee Cake #FantasticalFoodFight

Welcome to another Food Fight! Fantastical Food Fight is a group of food bloggers who will get a theme or ingredient each month and make some sort of variation for it. It could be traditional or nontraditional and can be found in a cookbook, on a blog, or be a blogger's own creation! For more details, check out this page.

This month's Fantastical Food Fight theme is GINGERBREAD. I looked ahead in the calendar and our December event will occur on the 19th and I thought that may be pushing it for doing a Gingerbread Food Fight and what better way to say goodbye to all the pumpkin things this week (just kidding, I don't say goodbye to pumpkin things). I had no earthly idea what I was going to make when I decided on our November theme, so I took to my holiday food Pinterest board, as one does when they need to pick a holiday themed recipe and found this gorgeous cake.

I'll be honest and say that at first glance I thought it would be a poke cake and I was absolutely down to make a poke cake. They are fabulous. Then upon reading the recipe discovered that this is a from scratch cake recipe AND it contains molasses. I don't make near enough things with molasses but it reminds me of my grandma and that makes me happy. The cake itself was fairly easy to make. I have gotten into the (good) habit of setting a timer 5 minutes earlier than the lowest time the recipe says to cook the food for and then check on my food in 5 minute increments. It definitely helps lower the amount of near-failure moments. The gingerbread spices shined and were complemented beautifully by rich chocolate! My favorite part of this cake was the topping though. It's gingered Cool Whip with toffee bits and chocolate chips. That alone would be a perfect dessert, in my opinion.

Sugar Cookie Bundt Cake

Have your cookie as a cake, and eat it too!

I love sugar cookies and I love bundt cakes, so I figured I couldn't go wrong making this delicious dessert that combines the two. I also am right most of the time, so, of course, no big surprise when this bundt cake turned out wonderfully. I wish I still had the picture evidence, but I brought this to my mother-in-law's for Sunday family dinner and Nick put it in the car. And buckled it in the front passenger seat! It was the funniest thing ever. I guess I just risk going up and down hills and curves and chance that my cake will be okay. This tastes just like a sugar cookie would in cake form and the frosting was sweet sweet sweet!