Skipping TWD this week...

Not only are bananas my least favorite fruit on the planet (can't even stand the smell) but neither one of my kids like whipped/pastry cream and only one likes the banana. Well, I guess I could have made it and given it away but I made something else instead....have a look see:

Yep....Smitten Kitchen's Homemade Oreos!

Recipe adapted from Retro Desserts, Wayne Brachman

Now...these won't stay around for long. They are going to my youngest son's Easter party at pre-school. I debated whether to do these or sugar cookies and frankly, didn't want to spend a day frosting cookies...so Oreos it was. (I also had some left over Whoopie Pie filling in my fridge that I needed to use up :) )

In her post, Deb indicates that you can leave out a full 1/2 cup of sugar if you want the more authentic less sweet taste of an Oreo chocolate wafer. I did that and of course she was right. It also cuts the sweetness of the filling. Oh...and I didn't use her recipe for filling...I had made Whoopie pies for a baseball snack a week ago and needed to use that filling up. It uses marshmallow creme, butter, powdered sugar and vanilla. It was super soft and runny so I added about a cup of powdered sugar and beat it for a few minutes. That did the trick. Deb's recipe calls for butter, vegetable shortening, powdered sugar and vanilla so you can see the difference.

Let me tell you...I'd rather eat these over anything banana any day! And of course, I did....someone had to eat the singleton.

Wow...who new painting my fingernails would serve a purpose, considering I paint them about twice a year! (Does anyone think that might be too much filling for an Oreo?)

Make sure you stop by TWD to check out what the others made....and thank you to Amy from Sing for Your Supper for making this week's selection. If I liked bananas...I sure would have baked along with you!

Thanks for stopping by....

TWD: Berry Surprise Cake

Well...here I am...a day late and more than a dollar short. We have Mary Ann from Meet Me in the Kitchen for this week's TWD choice. My Berry Surprise Cake almost wasn't a cake at all. I was going to do the playing around alternative with the berries, filling and whipped cream topping...but after reading about the cake on the TWD site, I decided to go ahead and try it. And to tell you the truth, I LOVE TO EAT CAKE!

The cake part was fairly easy but did involve a lot of steps. I was very very careful not to over mix the batter but also wanted to get all of the flour incorporated. I think I did OK. I didn't have an 8" springform pan so I used the 9". My cake did sink a little in the middle but nothing catastrophic. The layer was however a little on the thin side so instead of the hole out of the middle, I sliced the cake into two layers and went from there. I didn't have any Chambord for the syrup so I used Cream de Cassis instead. After slicing the cake into two layers, I brushed on the sugar syrup...unsure when to stop as Dorie said there would be extra but didn't day how much extra. I just guessed. I threw an extra tablespoon of sugar into the filling based on the suggestions from other bakers..I thought some lemon zest might be nice as well....maybe next time.


I did like the fact that I didn't have to wash the mixing bowl after every use...just keep adding ingredients to the dirty bowl and move on! I did actually have blackberries for the filling and top of the cake...but when I went to add them to the filling...my kids had eaten the entire basket! Good thing I had the blueberries...or it would have just been a Surprise Cake!


I did actually make this cake yesterday (Tuesday) but by the time I was finished...the light was gone, I couldn't get a photograph and I had to go to karate with the oldest kid. We will have this for dessert tonight. I will let you know what I think tomorrow.

Don't forget to check out what the other bakers here accomplished here.

Jeez...I need me a cake plate!!