Friday, April 9, 2010

April Birthday Lunch

Our April birthday lunch at work was for a 5oth birthday, so I wanted to do something fun. I probably got a little carried away, but I had a lot of fun making everything.


Dirt Cake

I had to rub it in a little bit that this was a milestone birthday. Although I had to be careful since I have my own milestone birthday in October and paybacks are hell. This cake was really rich, but in my mind you can't go wrong with pudding and cookies.




1 - 20 oz pkg Oreos
1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
8 0z cream cheese, softened
1 cup confectioner's sugar
3 1/2 cup milk
2 packages chocolate pudding
8 oz whipped topping, thawed
clean flower pot
gummy worms
Crush the oreos in a large plastic bag using a rolling pin. Cream together butter, cream cheese & confectioner's sugar. In another bowl, cream together milk, pudding & whipped topping. Combine the 2 mixtures and mix well (need a very large bowl).
Use a clean flower pot as the container. Fill pot with alternating layers of cookie crumbs & pudding mixture, beginning and ending with cookie crumbs. Place a few gummy worms throughout and on top for decorations. Keep refrigerated.
Notes: I used fat free milk, fat free whipped topping and low fat cream cheese and you couldn't tell the difference from using regular ingredients.
Sopapilla Cheesecake
My friend Sara sent me this recipe and told me I had to try it. I was skeptical at first because I really don't care for cheesecake at all. However, the ingredients to this sounded good, so I decided to give it a try. I think I have found a new favorite dessert because it was SO good. Almost everyone at the luncheon asked me for the recipe and everyone loved it. It was really easy to make too.

3 (8 oz) pkg. cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 c. white sugar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 (8 oz) pkgs. refrigerated crescent rolls
1/2 c. melted butter
1/2 c. white sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Honey and/or almonds

Preheat oven to 350°. Beat the cream cheese with 1 1/2 cups of sugar and the vanilla in a bowl until smooth; set aside. Unroll the cans of crescent roll dough, and use a rolling pin to shape each sheet into 9x13 inch rectangles. Press one sheet into the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Evenly spread the cream cheese mixture into the baking dish, then cover with the remaining piece of crescent dough.

Drizzle the melted butter over the top of the cheesecake. Stir together 1/2 cup of sugar with the cinnamon in a small bowl, and sprinkle evenly over the top of the cheesecake. Either sprinkle the top of the cheesecake with almonds or drizzle with honey.

Bake in the preheated oven until the crescent dough has puffed and turned golden brown, about 45 minutes.
Superman Cake Pops
The birthday person is a Superman fanatic so I was trying to find a way to incorporate this into a dessert or cake. And no, the Superman toy we stole from his office and put in green jello, aka kryptonite, does not count. ;) I saw this idea on http://www.bakerella.com/ and still had cake balls left in my freezer from Easter, so I decided to take on the challenge. For instructions on how to make the cake balls, see my previous entry from Easter.

I made the superman logo by printing out the picture from my computer and covering it with wax paper and then tracing it in royal icing. You have to let these dry for a day or two before you can handle them.

To turn the cake balls into cake pops you dip a sucker stick in a little bit of chocolate and then stick it in the cake ball. Place in freezer until set .


Dip the cake in chocolate and then place the sucker stick in a piece of styrofoam so the chocolate can set. Quickly and gently place the superman logo in place before the chocolate sets. When you are finished place back in fridge until completely set. It's best to only take a few out of the freezer at a time to dip otherwise they will start to thaw and fall apart in the chocolate.



I individually wrapped each one, so that it would look more like a sucker. I got the little bags at Michaels and the sucker sticks at Fischers, but I think both stores sell both items.




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