Embarrassingly Easy Wedding Cake

All week long I watch what I eat.  Instead of snacking on chips, I might peel an orange or pop some corn.  Apple slices with a few cubes of cheese or a spoonful of peanut butter are wholesome snacks we turn to routinely.  [I'll admit, though, that too often what I'm "watching" is a bowl of ice cream going down my throat.]

However, my goal is to make the best choices all week long, then enjoy a dessert on Saturday night with my family.  As much as I love to cook, I am not much of a baker.  My Hubby chuckled when I recently pledged to make a homemade dessert every weekend.  He knows my track record.  For years, he's been asking me to make homemade cookies.  I oblige, but only about four times a year.  Before you feel sorry for him, remember that the soup is always flowing at our house...along with all kinds of other culinary goodness.  When it comes to dessert, it's just easier to pick up some Moose Tracks - or stop by Culver's - and call it good! 

Perhaps the motivation of this blog, combined with my own sheer stubborness, will finally result in homemade, sugary goodness being produced in my kitchen on a weekly basis.  And the beneficial thing about doing your own baking is that you know what is actually in the food your family is scarfing down.

Let me take a moment to lay out my plan for this blog, so you regular readers will know what to expect:

I'll aim to post each day before noon.  On Mondays, I'll send out my dinner plans for the week.  You can peruse it, and maybe it'll inspire you as you make your own plans!  Each subsequent morning, I'll post a recipe from the previous night's supper.  Friday is usually a cooking night off for me.  We may get pizza or go out for dinner.  So on Saturday morning, I'll feature my weekend dessert instead.  (If I actually make one!)

There will be no posting on Sunday.  I think it's important to shape the rhythm of our lives after God's pattern: six days of work, one day of rest.  Of course we'll still be eating on that day, and I may prepare a little food.  But the whole writing and photography frenzy needs to be set aside.

With that said, allow me to introduce to you a new, easygoing friend:  Embarrassingly Easy Wedding Cake.  Why use boxed mixes when you can quickly stir up simple batters like this?  I'm telling you, mixing up this cake and popping it into the oven took me seven minutes flat, and that included putting away each canister as I went. 

There are only five ingredients in this amazing dessert.  You can also whip up a little cream cheese frosting.  Or dust the top with powdered sugar and serve it warm as a morning coffee cake.  The flavors unfold with such a moist springiness - you'll love it!

This recipe was passed along to me by a friend in the 80s, when everyone was hung up on low-fat cooking.  Yes, it has sugar, the enemy of this new century.  And flour.  I actually use half white flour and half whole wheat to improve the nutritional content, and this change doesn't give my family a moment of pause.  My Kiddo just ate a warm morsel of it, unfrosted, and asked in amazement, "WHAT is in this?"  I asked her if she liked it, and she said, "I can't explain how good it is!"

Embarrassingly Easy Wedding Cake

1.  In a big bowl, mix the following by hand until well-combined:

• 2 Eggs, beated
• 1 1/2 Cups Sugar
• 1 Can of Crushed Pineapple (entire contents)
• 2 Cups Flour (I used half whole-wheat)
• 2 Tsp. Baking Soda

2.  Pour into greased 13" x 9" pan.
3.  Bake for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees, until golden brown and done inside.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1.  Beat together until smooth:

• 1 Stick of Butter (1/2 Cup)
• 8 oz. Cream Cheese

2. Beat in:

• 1 Tsp. Vanilla Extract
• 2 Cups Powdered Sugar
• A Pinch of Nutmeg

The finished cake...you can see the suspicious corner where we snuck a taste, fresh out of the oven!