Every single time I have made this cake, I make it with Ina Garten's recipe (Barefoot Contessa). I highly recommend you guys bookmark her recipe to make for next year. This year, I wanted to simplify my life and used a cake mix (white 18.25 ounce). Then, decided to make it healthier and modified the cake mix directions by omitting the water and replacing it with some applesauce and butternut squash puree (added extra vanilla extract). So then surely, I had to reduce the fat in the frosting. This recipe was my inspiration in lightening the cake. I was surprised that the cake was still good. Even so, with all my more health-conscious alterations, you should still make Ina's cake at some point--it's very, very good. HERE is her recipe. It's also WAY prettier!
By the way, Ina's original frosting recipe is a bit scary if you're trying to eat healthier. So this year, for the frosting--instead of using FOUR sticks of butter and 24 ounces of cream cheese, I used 1 stick of LIGHT butter, and 16 ounces of REDUCED FAT cream cheese (that's two 8-ounce packages of cream cheese). And yeah, it was still quite good! Just something to consider.
Wow, we are so alike! I made a cake that looked exactly like this except it was a cheesecake-bar type recipe! But it looked the same with the fruit flag! :)
ReplyDeleteThat's great Holly! I will have to try a cheesecake bar next year--sounds wonderful!-Anca
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