Fluffernutter Cake

I never had the nostalgia for fluffernutters (peanut butter and marshmallow fluff sandwiches) that many people who post fluffernutter related recipes seem to have. I never had one as a child because to my mom, a sandwich with marshmallow fluff on it was dessert, not lunch. My mom enforced a sort of unspoken ban on most all non-dessert items that were really sugary. Our sandwiches were always on brown bread. She would only buy things like Lucky Charms, Pop-Tarts, or toaster strudels (lol remember when those were a thing?) once in a great while. I remember one of my siblings learned to make cinnamon-sugar toast at school once, and she got mad when we tried to make it for breakfast. I don't feel deprived -- we still got other breakfast cereal whenever we wanted (which she did let us put some sugar on), there were plenty of other sugary treats in our lives, and as an adult now I am thankful she fought our impulses to raise us on food with some semblance of nutrition, as I think a mother should.

But I did not try peanut butter and marshmallow together until I was an adult and I wondered where it had been all my life. I think I came across it while reading recipes and cooking blogs, trying to figure out what kind of cake to make my husband for his birthday. I thought a fluffernutter cake sounded good so I suggested it to him, and his eyes lit up and he got excited. Deal. I remember not being particularly happy with the cake part of what I made for him that year but the frosting made quite an impression on me. I dreamed about it for long after it was gone. For years after that the only thing he wanted for his birthday was dirt cake (a favorite of both our families, as it turns out) but I wanted a redo, another chance to make a fluffernutter cake I was satisfied with.

This year I got the chance, and I enjoyed this one much more. It's dense, with a texture like a peanut butter cookie but more fluffy. The peanut butter frosting from my previous attempt was used for filling and decoration because I wanted something thick enough to firmly stick the layers of cake together and something that would hold up to piping. It worked for its intended purpose, and I am happy to report it is still every bit as delicious as it was the first time I made it. For the outside, I wanted a lighter textured frosting to contrast with the dense cake and strong flavor of peanut butter, so I made a seven-minute marshmallow icing for the outside. I forgot one of the egg whites somehow so the icing ended up a bit grainy and soft, but it was still edible. The peanuts sprinkled on top were a last minute decision and I rather liked the bit of texture and crunch they brought to the party. I have made better looking cakes, but this tasted good and he liked it. Happy birthday to my love.

RECIPES:
Cake: Peanut Butter Cake (from Sally's Baking Addiction, baked in two 6-inch springform pans)
Filling and decoration: Peanut Butter Frosting (from Eat, Live, Run; I halved the recipe)
Icing: Grandmama's Failproof 7 Minute Frosting (from Southern Plate; this made more than I needed but half the recipe probably wouldn't be enough)

Rainbow Confetti Cake

I usually make my own birthday cake every year as an excuse to try something from my neverending list of Things I Could Make. Before I could check my list to pick something out, though, I happened to see this on Instagram and it was so colorful and nostalgic (and easy to make) that I needed it to be my birthday cake. Smitten Kitchen seemed to know it was my birthday, haha. I made this cake to share with my friends after my birthday outing, during which we bicycled to a nearby small town and spent the afternoon sitting outside and drinking beer and playing beanbags and lying in the grass. It was sunny and warm as July generally is but not unbearably hot.

I sought out clear imitation vanilla extract especially for this cake, and I sincerely believe this is the thing that I miss from boxed mixes. Literally the only thing. I know real vanilla is superior in basically every way, but it's hard to beat nostalgia.

I loved how the cake turned out and would gladly make it again. Indeed I will have to in order to use up more of this clear imitation vanilla! Oh no. Twist my arm.

Edit: I made this again for my birthday in July 2019, still as delicious as I remember. I made it into 12 cupcakes but the cups were not filled quite as much as I'd have liked; 10 or 11 would have worked a little bit better. They took about 23 minutes to bake. Frosting was enough for a thin layer over the top plus 6 little piped stars on each one.

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RECIPE: Confetti Party Cake

Dirt Cake

Dirt cake is one of our family dessert staples. Imagine cookies 'n cream ice cream but not quite as cold so you can taste all the delicious flavors. I'm not sure when I first had it, but my mom has been making it all my life. It is a favorite birthday cake of my oldest brother, who was born in January, but we also made it in the summer. My mom still makes it whenever more than one of us comes home to visit. Imagine my surprise at hearing it was my boyfriend's favorite birthday cake too! It is not the only reason I married him but it certainly didn't hurt. He requested it again this year, and we shared this one pictured above at his birthday party.

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RECIPE:

Dirt Cake
from my mom, original source unknown
serves 12-20

20 oz Oreo cookies, crushed
¼ cup (½ stick) butter or margarine, softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
3 ½ cups milk
2 small packages (3.4 oz each) Jello instant French vanilla pudding mix
12 oz Cool Whip, thawed

Put Oreo cookies in a zippered plastic bag and crush into small pieces with a rolling pin. Set aside. Beat butter, cream cheese, and powdered sugar together in a large bowl until thoroughly combined. Set aside. In another large bowl, combine milk and pudding mix with a whisk until completely mixed. Let stand 5 minutes until thickened. Fold in Cool Whip to milk and pudding mixture. Mix pudding mixture into butter mixture until well combined. Layer 1/3 crushed Oreos, ½ cream mixture, 1/3 Oreos, ½ cream mixture, 1/3 Oreos in 9x13 inch rectangular pan. Refrigerate 1-2 hours or until flavors have blended. Store covered in refrigerator.

Notes:

• This recipe was written when standard packages of Oreo cookies were 20 oz. They are now over 25% smaller at 14.3 oz (booooo). You can still make it with one package of cookies but if you really like a lot of cookie crumbs in your dirt cake, consider buying more than one and having some leftovers, or buy another, smaller package.
• If you can't get Oreos where you live, you can substitute a different kind of chocolate sandwich cookie with vanilla cream filling (like Hydrox? Are those still a thing?)
• Do not use non-dairy milk. The pudding will not set.
• You can make this in individual servings too! Instead of putting the whole thing in a 9x13 pan, put a little bit of cookie crumbs in the bottom of a clear plastic cup, top with a few spoonfuls of the cream mixture, then sprinkle more cookie crumbs on top. This will make anywhere from 12-18 servings depending on how much you put in each cup.
• I recommend serving gummy worms/candies on the side if you have the urge to put them in at all. I have discovered I'm a dirt cake purist: no flavored cream (especially chocolate because it competes with the chocolate cookies) and absolutely no gummy worms or candies in it WTF gross. Something about mixing gummy and creamy textures is just really revolting to me and I can't be the only one who feels this way. Plus I imagine children would love the idea of putting their own worms in their dirt cake.