Category Archives: Delish Desserts

Tropical Cake

Posted on by

Listen guys, Spring has sprung and that means bright vibrant colors and flavors. I am not the baker of the two of us so this is a hella short cut move to make the most scrumptious Spring cake. It has the zip of citrus, and the tropical flavors I adored on my recent spring break trip to Costa Rica with the mango, guava and coconut.  With all this deliciousness, perhaps now I wont stop at the cupcake place on my walk home from work. This hits my baked goodness craving pretty well!

  • 1 Box of Duncan Hines lemon cake mix (Per box instructions 1 cup water, 1/3 vegetable oil and 3 eggs)
  • 1 can mango slices (hmpf, don’t hate. It’s not warm enough yet for fresh. I don’t live in Mexico, but if you do, then by all means rock some fresh fruit)
  • 1 cup shredded coconut

Glaze:

  • Half the jar of guava jam
  • Zest of two lemons
  • Juice of two lemons

Mix well

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix the oil, water, 3 eggs, shredded coconut, and cake mix. Spray pan well with nonstick spray. Coat the bottom of your 9″ pan with the glaze and the mango slices. Pour cake batter over the glaze, kind of like one would do for a pineapple upside down cake. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes and let cool for at least 15 minutes. Flip cooled cake on to serving dish. (Aint nothing wrong with a couple of shakes of powdered suga for presentation purposes and well, um, yumminess!)

Tropical Cake

Happy Eating, XO.

The 5 minute cake

Posted on by

OK So, it obviously still has to bake, butttttt it only takes 5 minutes to prepare or make (no lie). It’s yummy and if you’re in a pinch it’s a lovely dessert. PS our birthdays were last week so we are still in a sugary coma of cake cake cake [ahh the Rihanna song will NEVER get old, just like us by the way, never aging :)]

Anyway, take all of the ingredients below, mix well and bake for 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees, it’s literally THAT easy. My foodie tip would be to serve with cherry preserves, compote, jam whatever you can find. I just think cherries and almonds should be married so it’s like the most yum pairing ever! Having said that, the cake on its own is pretty divine

  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup of melted butter
  • 1 cup flour
  • 2 tsp. almond extract
  • 1 cup sugar
  • sliced almonds (just to sprinkle on top pre-baking, to let people know its an almond cake).
  • powdered sugar (just to sprinkle on top post-baking, it makes it look not so easy & more fancy)

5 minute cake_damndelish

Happy Eating, XO.

Get Sauced – Slow Cooker Applesauce

Posted on by

Apple butter is all the rage right now, right?! Apple butter is the new fall recipe. Pumpkin can suck it. (I mean, pumpkins have been coming up a little short. Ba da bum.) Jk, we still love you pumpkins.

Anyway, why are we talking about apple butter when the title says “applesauce”? Well, because in my haste to try to get together an apple butter recipe…I ended up making applesauce. Clearly, I missed the key step where you remove the top from the slow cooker to thicken the apple mush. But you know what this means? You now have two recipes in one! *Mic drop.

  • 6-8 gala apples (or whatever you have handy)
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1 tbsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • Dash or two of all spice, or pumpkin pie spice

Core the apples and roughly chop. It’s ok if the skin is still on. Place the apples in the slow cooker and mix with the water, cinnamon, sugars, and spice (and everything nice). Once the apples are fully sugar coated, cook them on low for 4 hours, stirring occasionally throughout until the apples are soft.

For applesauce:

At this point, toss the soft apples in a blender until fairly smooth. Some chunks are ok. Refrigerate up to a week in a sealed container or freeze.

For apple butter:

After 4 hours, remove the slow cooker lid and cook for 1 more hour. You’ll notice the apples begin to thicken and become dark brown. Toss them into a food processor and blend until completely smooth and the consistency is like peanut butter.

Apple Sauce | damndelish

Happy Eating, XO.

Churros – The stuff dreams are made of

Posted on by

My fondest memories of churros (if one could have fond memories of churros) is in my high school lunch room. I had never seen them before and fell in love at first bite. I mean, fried dough, rolled in a cinnamon-y sugar-y goodness? Shut up and take my money. Every day.

Recently, I went to a local restaurant Paloma where we got hot-out-of-the-oven churros, served with chocolate sauce for dessert. I can’t even describe to you how good they were. At that moment I knew I had to learn how to make them.  I NEED them in my life, (just like I need to sign up for that gym membership if this is going to keep happening…). Anyway, you know when we obsess over something that means we share it with you. Because you NEED these in your life too.

  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • ½ cup unsalted butter
  • 1 cup water
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 1 cup flour
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1/4 cup extra sugar to coat
  • 2 tsp cinnamon to coat

Combine 1 tbsp of sugar, water, and salt in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. While stirring, slowly add the flour until fully combined and a dough begins to form. Remove dough from the saucepan to a mixing bowl and let cool. (You’ll be handling the dough with your hands, so be careful not to burn yourself.) Fill a sauce pan with canola oil about 4 inches deep and heat on medium-high.

Once the dough is cooled, add the eggs and mix together. Slide the dough in to a pastry bag or cookie press with a large star tip (to get the ridged effect), or if you’re ready to just dive in these bites of heaven already, you can also use a sturdy ziplock bag, with a corner snipped off. (Be cautious with the ziplock bag, the first time I did this, the dough was so thick it split the bag.) Pipe the dough into 4 inch sections and drop in the oil. Fry for 2-3 minutes or until golden brown. Serve immediately.

Churros - damndelish

Happy Eating, XO.

Easier Than Pie

Posted on by

Galettes are the hot item right now, and why wouldn’t they be? They’re so ridiculously easy! One pie crust? Some fruit? Done. Guys, when I say it’s easy it’s no joke. I made this after work, just before a neighbor’s BBQ last Tuesday night. I made it again on Friday. It’s that good. Ok, I get that it’s hot and you don’t want to use your oven. But we promise, it’s worth it.

You already have a recipe for an apple galette to use up your fall apples, now it’s time to use all of those fresh summer strawberries. No pie plate? No problem.

Hint: If you see recipes for crostatas, they’re actually the same as galettes. Crostasas = Italian and Galettes = French. Take your pick!

Galette

  • 1 9″ or 12″ flat pie crust
  • 3 cups of sliced strawberries (roughly 1 small container)
  • 1/4 cup almonds, finely chopped
  • 1/4 cup sugar, plus some for sprinkling
  • 1 tbsp flour
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1 tsp water

Optional: Caramel topping

  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 tsbp water
  • 4 tbsp heavy cream
  • 1 tbsp whiskey (I used Jack Daniel’s Honey)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper (or this reusable mat. Mix together the almonds, sugar, and flour. Lay the pie crust flat on the cookie sheet and sprinkle the almond mixture on top, leaving roughly 2 inches free along the edge. Place the strawberries on top and begin to fold up the edges, creasing where needed. Mix together the egg yolk and water and brush along the crust. Sprinkle sugar all along the top. Bake for 30 minutes.

While the galette is baking, let’s begin on the caramel. In a small saucepan over medium high heat, pour in the sugar and water and bring to steady simmer. Swirl the saucepan to dissolve the sugar, don’t stir. After a couple of minutes you should begin to see the liquid turn amber. At this point, turn off the heat and stir in the heavy cream and bourbon. (If you have extra sauce, you can store it in the fridge up to 1 week. Ice cream topping anyone?)

You can serve the galette hot or cold.

Damndelish Strawberry Galette

Happy Eating, XO.