Shamrock Cake

Shamrock Pound Cake for St. Patrick's Day.

I made this Shamrock Cake for St. Patrick's Day.  It is necessary to make two 9x5-in. loaf pound cakes.  You could use any pound cake recipe for this, but I used 2 packages of pound cake mix.

In one of the pound cakes add 10 drops of green food coloring (more or less depending upon how green you want your cake) to your batter.  Mix and bake according to package directions.  Let cake cool completely.  Cut cake into 1-in. thick slices.  With a 2 1/2 in. shamrock-shaped cookie cutter cut shamrock shaped slices. 

Green pound cake out of oven.

Cut shamrocks out of one inch slices of cake.  (Use a 2 1/2 in. cookie cutter.)

Shamrock slice.

Stand shamrock slices at an angle in a greased 9x5-in.loaf pan.

Shamrock slices in center of second pound cake.  Batter poured around and over slices.

Prepare remaining cake mix according to package directions.  Pour batter around and over shamrock slices.  Bake and cool as package directs.

Second pound cake ready for the oven.

Finished Shamrock Cake.

I used a cream cheese icing and added green sprinkles as garnish. 

When you cut slices, the green shamrock is in the center of each slice.

Yield:  1 loaf (16 slices)

This recipe is from Taste of Home.

Macadamia Nut Cookies for an Aussie Themed Party

Macadamia nut, chocolate chip cookies.

I recently gave a little dinner party for family and friends, some of whom will be traveling to Australia this summer.  Although the barbecue and trimmings were catered, I wanted to make a dessert that would fit into the Aussie theme for the party.  I understand a traditional dessert in Australia is pavlova, but I wasn't keen to experiment with that. (However, my interest in this dessert has been piqued, and I plan to try making this before the summer ends.)

Pavlova, a popular dessert in Australia and New Zealand. (Photo from Wikipedia.)

Since macadamia nuts are native to Australia (not Hawaii as many believe) I decided to make macadamia nut cookies.  Here's the recipe I found from Taste of Home. 

Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour 
1 teaspoon baking soda 
1 teaspoon salt ( I omitted the salt, because the macadamia nuts I used were salted.)
2 jars (3-1/2 ounces each) macadamia nuts, chopped 
2 cups (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips 
1 cup (6 ounces) white baking chips  

Directions 

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. 

Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture and beat for 2 minutes. Stir in nuts and chips. Cover and refrigerate several hours or overnight.

 Drop by tablespoonfuls 2 in. apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 375° for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on pans for 1 minute before removing to wire racks; cool completely. Yield: about 6 dozen.

Chill in refrigerator for a few hours.

 

Drop by spoonfuls onto baking sheet.

 

Cool on rack.

Ready to serve.

 These are easy to make and are quite delicious.