German Apple Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

In honor of my hubs' birthday this weekend (Happy Birthday honey - I love you!!), I'm reposting this delicious cake recipe.  This is the cake he requested for this year.  I think he has a thing for cream cheese - last year he had carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and the year before that was Creamy Baked Cheesecake!  Maybe I'll update later with a better pic, but in the meantime go ahead and drool over that cream cheese frosting!  This cake is sooooo yummy and you only need a small piece because it's so rich.

German Apple Cake

2 large eggs 
1 cup oil
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla 
2 cups flour
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 cups sliced peeled apples (I use Granny Smith)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F for a glass pan or 350 for a metal pan..  Grease 9x13 pan.  In large bowl, beat eggs and oil until fluffy.  Add sugar and vanilla and whip ingredients together.  Add remaining ingredients and mix well.  Spoon batter into greased 9x13 pan.  Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour - toothpick should come out clean. Cool and frost.

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

1- 8 oz. package cream cheese
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar
(Enough to frost one 9x13 cake.)

Beat ingredients together until smooth.  Frost cake. Store in refrigerator.

This is a great cake for Fall, but we love it any time of year!  Do you like apple cake?  Are you like us - you like cream cheese frosting on anything you can get your hands on?!  :)

This post linked to:
~ Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam
~ Tempt My Tummy Tuesday at Blessed With Grace

Have a fabulous weekend friends!

Rustic Italian Bread Salad

I told the story in a past post of how I got a cream cheese cookbook for free (I also posted the recipe for Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream - drool) and this is another recipe out of that fabulous book.  The pics are actually from last year, but it was right before a blogging break and I never got the recipe posted.  It's simple and really good!

With all ingredients except cream cheese and dressing.

With cream cheese and dressing drizzled over - yum!

Rustic Italian Bread Salad

4 oz cream cheese, cut into small cubes
1 teaspoon minced garlic, divided
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 ciabatta sandwich rolls, cut horizontally in half
1 large avocado, sliced
4 cups baby arugula (could substitute baby spinach or romaine or a mixture)
1 pound grape tomatoes, coarsely chopped (I halved them)
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil (I used extra virgin olive oil)
1/2 teaspoon sugar

Heat oven to 400 degrees F.  Cover baking sheet with parchment paper.  Place cream cheese cubes on sheet.  Spray cubes with cooking spray or oil.  Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic, lemon zest, and fresh ground pepper.  Bake 8-10 minutes, until lightly browned.  Cool slightly.

Cut each bread piece diagonally in half and place on baking sheet.  Spray with cooking spray or oil.  Bake 3-5 minutes on each side or until golden brown on both sides.

Arrange bread slices and avocado on platter or in dish.  Top with arugula, tomatoes, and cream cheese cubes.  Beat balsamic vinegar, olive oil, sugar, and remaining garlic with whisk until well blended.  Drizzle dressing over salad.

Enjoy!

I always enjoy having a new salad to try.  And I love bread and cream cheese and balsamic and...well it's all good!  Have you ever made bread salad?

This post is linked to:
~ Things I Love Thursday at The Diaper Diaries
~ Chic & Crafty at The Frugal Girls

Have a super day friends!

Tasty Tuesday ~ Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream

Oh this is such a yummy recipe!  But I have to tell you a story first (isn't that always the way with bloggers?).

I was recently getting ready to make a cheesecake (this one) and needed a few things from the grocery store.  Hubs and son were forced decided to go into the store for me.  I had asked for 3 packages of Philadelphia cream cheese.  They called me while they were in the store and asked if I could use 1 more package.  Of course I could find a use for 1 more package of cream cheese, but why the 4th?  Hubs told me that son had spotted an offer - buy 4 packages of Philly and get a free cookbook.  I told them to go for it and assumed I'd be sending some proofs of purchase for a booklet.  But out of the store they came with this:

An actual cookbook!  And a nice one at that!  It's full of yummy recipes!  It's called Spread a Little Joy - OK I will - LOL!  Well yes I did look at the dessert section first and saw this recipe and knew I HAD to make it, especially since a few ladies would be coming over to my house and could taste test it for me (they all loved it)!  :)

I like this ice cream recipe because you don't need an ice cream maker!  It's very simple to make and it is SO rich and delicious - you only need small servings!  You might want to serve some at a holiday gathering.

Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream

1 pkg (8 oz) Philadelphia cream cheese, softened
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
1/3 cup whipping cream
2 teaspoons lemon zest
1 1/2 cups fresh strawberries, hulled (I was able to get fresh at the store, but you could try frozen whole strawberries partially thawed if fresh aren't available)
3 honey graham crackers, coarsely chopped

Mix cream cheese, condensed milk, whipping cream, and lemon zest in bowl with mixer until well blended.  Freeze about 4 hours or until almost solid.

Beat frozen cream cheese mixture with mixer until creamy.  Put strawberries in blender and blend until smooth (my old blender had a hard time; could also try a food processor).  Add berries to cream cheese mixture along with chopped graham crackers and mix well.  Freeze 8 hours or until firm.

Take ice cream out of freezer about 15 minutes before serving.  Let stand at room temperature so it will soften a little before scooping.  Makes about 4 cups of ice cream.  Enjoy!

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Are you going to try it?  It really is simple and anybody that you serve it to will be oh so impressed with your culinary talents (while you chuckle to yourself at how little you worked making it)!

I'm linking this up to Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam, where you can find all kinds of yummy recipes!

Have a tasty day friends!