Triple Berry Coffee Cake

 This coffee cake is rich, moist, tangy, low in fat and full of antioxidants thanks to the addition of Thrive Freeze Dried Blueberries, Raspberries and Blackberries. I made a light crumb topping, but feel free to double the recipe if you would like a thicker topping on your coffee cake. Serve with a tall glass of coffee that will change your life.

Topping:

3T Thrive White Flour
3T Thrive White Sugar
1/2t Ground Cinnamon
1/4c Thrive Oats
3T Cold Butter

Mix all ingredients, breaking butter apart with with your fingers, into a fine crumble. Set aside. If you like a lot of topping on your coffee cake, double the topping recipe.

Cake:

2c Thrive Flour (White or Whole Wheat)
4t Thrive Baking Powder
1c Thrive White Sugar
2T Thrive Whole Egg Powder
1t Thrive Salt
1t Ground Cinnamon
2/3c Applesauce
1c Milk
1/3c Thrive Blueberries
1/3c Thrive Raspberries
1/3c Thrive Blackberries

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9" pie plate. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugar, egg powder, salt and cinnamon. In a seperate bowl, combine milk and applesauce. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir well. Gently fold in berries, then pour batter into pie plate. Sprinkle topping evenly over the batter and bake for 50 minutes or until cooked through.

Crazy Cakes

I have excellent willpower at the grocery store. I can avoid the cookie aisle, the ice cream section and the bakery with ease. Unfortunately that means that when I am really in the mood for something sweet, I'm basically out of luck. Last night I was desperate. I needed something with chocolate and peanut butter - but we were out of peanut butter. My solution to this problem was rather creative if I do say so myself!

The downside to baking late at night is that I'm forced to take pictures in my kitchen, which isn't exactly lit for professional food photography.  So I'm left with a picture that looks like it belongs on a box of cake mix in the 1970s. Sorry about that. The cake really is good, promise!

1c Thrive 6 Grain Pancake Mix
1c Reeces Puffs Cereal, crushed
1/3c Chocolate Chips
1/4c Shredded Coconut
2T Chopped Nuts (I used walnuts)
1/2c Milk

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease your choice of baking dishes. I used two small crocks, but ramekins, muffin cups or a small cake pan would all work just as well.

In a bowl, combine all of the ingredients and stir well. You may need to add more milk to get a smooth batter. Pour into greased baking dish and bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Top with frosting, whipped cream, or nothing at all.

If you don't have Reeces Puffs cereal, you could substitute Cocoa Puffs, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Cookie Crisp or even Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch. Feel free to be creative here :)

Chocolate Macaroon Cake

Rich, chocolate cake with a gooey, sweet macaroon center, topped with a delicate drizzle of vanilla frosting, a dusting of toasted coconut and pecan pieces. This cake looks really impressive when you serve it. No one will have a clue how easy it was to make!

 
2c Thrive Macaroon Cookie Mix
1/3c Hot Water

2c Thrive White Flour
2c Thrive White Sugar
3/4c Cocoa Powder
2t Thrive Baking Soda
1t Thrive Baking Powder
1/2t Thrive Salt
3T Thrive Whole Egg Powder
1/2c Applesauce or Oil
3T Thrive Instant Milk
1 1/2c Water
1t Vanilla Extract

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a bundt cake pan very well. Combine the cookie mix with hot water. Stir well and set aside.

In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt and whole egg powder. Stir well. In another bowl, combine applesauce, instant milk, water and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in small batches, stirring well between each addition, until all ingredients form a smooth batter. Pour batter into greased bundt pan and smooth gently with a spatula.

Give your cookie mix another good stir and the drop the mix by heaping tablespoonfuls onto the top of the cake batter, making a ring around the pan. Try to keep the cookie mix in the middle so it doesn't touch the outside or inside of the pan.

Bake the cake at 350 for 35-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool for about 10 minutes before turning it out onto your cake plate. Once the cake is completely cool, you can frost it.

This cake is very sweet all on its own, so I would suggest a light frosting, glaze, or even just a dusting of powdered sugar. One of my favorite tricks is to microwave about half a cup of vanilla frosting in 15 second intervals until it is slightly liquid. Drizzle it over the top of the cake slowly, then sprinkle the frosting with just a little toasted coconut. A few chopped walnut or pecan pieces would be an excellent addition.

Two Layer Oreo Filled Cake with Cookie Crumb Frosting

"That cake should be illegal. It's like heroine." ~ My Husband

He's right, this cake is amazing. Ignore the ridiculous amount of sugar, use the applesauce instead of the oil if it makes you feel better, and just go for it.

For the cake:

2c Thrive White Flour
2c Thrive White Sugar
3/4c Cocoa Powder
2t Thrive Baking Soda
1t Thrive Baking Powder
1/2t Thrive Salt
3T Thrive Whole Egg Powder
1/2c Applesauce or Oil
3T Thrive Instant Milk
1 1/2c Water
1t Vanilla Extract

Filling and Frosting:

2 8oz Packages Mini Oreo Cookies
3 1lb Tubs Vanilla Frosting (feel free to use homemade)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a cake pan. For this cake, I used an 8" pan and made 2 layers. For a 12" cake pan, you'll need to double the recipe. Or you could just double the recipe anyway and make more layers.

In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt and whole egg powder. Stir well. In another bowl, combine applesauce, instant milk, water and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in small batches, stirring well between each addition, until all ingredients form a smooth batter. Pour half of the batter into each cake pan and bake at 350 for 25-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the cakes completely before frosting. You can freeze the layers if you want to make them easier to frost, but in my experience that makes the cake more crumbly when you serve it.

While the cakes are baking, make your frosting. Pour 1 whole bag of mini oreo cookies and half of the other bag into a large zip top bag and seal. Use a rolling pin or mallet to smash the cookies into powder. You could also do this in a food processor, but I prefer the bag method (less stuff to clean!). In a medium bowl, combine cookie crumbs with 2 tubs frosting. Mix well and set aside. Do not refrigerate.

 To assemble your cake: Center the first layer on your cake plate. Slide several strips of wax paper or tinfoil under the edges of the cake all the way around - this will keep your cake plate clean while you frost the cake. Apply a one inch layer of vanilla frosting to the top of the cake, then put a layer of mini oreo cookies over the frosting. Gently push the cookies into the frosting. Center the second layer over the filling and frost the whole cake with the cookie crumb frosting. Store at room temperature until ready to serve.

You'll have some cookie crumb frosting left over. Smear it on graham crackers. Trust me.

Peanut Butter Cake for One!

1T Thrive Flour (heaping)
1T Thrive Brown Sugar
1T Thrive Whole Egg Powder
1/2t Thrive Baking Powder
2T Peanut Butter (other nut butters work just as well)
Up to 1/3c Water
1T Chocolate Chips (optional)
1T Chopped Nuts (optional)

Combine flour, brown sugar, egg powder and baking powder. Mix in peanut butter, any optional ingredients and enough water to bring batter together. Pour into a greased ramekin (coffee mug works too) and microwave for 90 seconds or until the top of the cake looks dry.

Wish you had frosting for your cake? Combine 2T Thrive Powdered Sugar, 1t Thrive Instant Milk and 1t water. Mix until a thick frosting forms and drizzle it over the top of your cake!

I have to tell you all about one of my all time favorite (non Thrive) food items. It is called PB2. Some genius figured out how to press all of the oil out of peanuts, leaving only peanut powder. This peanut powder is then packaged in pretty little jars and sent directly to your house. Once mixed with water (or jelly or honey or olive oil), it tastes like gourmet peanut butter! The best part - 2 tablespoons of the stuff has only 52 calories and less than a gram of fat!! PB2 can be used in place of regular peanut butter in all of your recipes, including this cake. Try it in cookies, shakes, sandwiches, even sprinkled on popcorn. I order mine online directly from Bell Plantation, but I have also heard that it is available at Air Force commissaries. Cost, about $5 a jar and worth every single penny.