Follow Anne on Twitter for tour updates, recipes, and thoughts from the road!

December
1st: Chapel Hill, NC, A Southern Season, 4 pm
1st: Cary, NC, Barnes and Noble, Cary Commons, 7 pm
2nd: Grand Rapids, MI, Schuler Books and Music, 2660 28th St. SE, 7 pm
3rd: Park Ridge, IL, Dominic's Kitchen Store, 116 Main St, 5 pm
7th: Montgomery, AL, Capitol Books & News, 1140 East Fairview Ave, 4 pm
8th: Birmingham, AL, Books-A-Million, 757 Brookwood Village, 7pm

February
13th: Columbia, SC, Books-A-Million, 164 Forum Drive, 7pm

]]> http://www.cakemixdoctor.com/cakemixblog/2009_11/annes_fall_tour_dates.php http://www.cakemixdoctor.com/cakemixblog/2009_11/annes_fall_tour_dates.php Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:46:07 -0500 Thanksgiving is but a few weeks away, and I am sure many of you have already planned your menus, made travel arrangements, and thought about your table setting. Why not think, too, about people who don’t have turkey and the trimmings and the staggering numbers of kids in food insecure homes who don’t know where the next meal will come from.

This year I’m giving to my local food bank, the Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee. And I’m helping to arrange a food drive for Second Harvest through my son’s school. It’s easy to give canned goods for emergency food boxes. And it’s simple to organize a food drive at your local school, church, or place of business. The most needed items are canned meat, beans, fruits, vegetables, and peanut butter.

To give to Second Harvest, click here, or visit FeedingAmerica.org to find a food bank near you.

For those of you in the Lexington, KY, area, Joseph-Beth Booksellers is arranging a food drive for God’s Pantry, a local food bank, in conjunction with my book signing there at 7 p.m. Tuesday Nov. 3.

]]> http://www.cakemixdoctor.com/cakemixblog/2009_10/a_thanksgiving_challenge_lets.php http://www.cakemixdoctor.com/cakemixblog/2009_10/a_thanksgiving_challenge_lets.php Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:56:34 -0500 Anne kicked off her Cake Mix Doctor Returns tour with a visit to QVC last weekend, and she'll be back on this Friday, September 4th at noon to talk about the brand-new recipes and share stories of reader inspiration.

From left: Wedding Cake, Double Chocolate Kahlua Cake, Apricot Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Filling, Chocolate Chip Cappuccino Coffee Cake, Nancy's Cinnamon Swirl Coffee Cake, a platter of Whoopie Pies, Houdini Bars, and Music to my Mouth Brownies, Strawberry Covered Chocolate Cake (the book cover cake), Blueberry Muffin Crumble Cake, Smith Island Cake, Red Velvet Cake, and the Margarita Cake.

]]> http://www.cakemixdoctor.com/cakemixblog/2009_09/anne_is_on_qvc_again_this_frid.php http://www.cakemixdoctor.com/cakemixblog/2009_09/anne_is_on_qvc_again_this_frid.php Wed, 02 Sep 2009 11:49:46 -0500 Dinner Doctor Summer Strategies:

1. Cook with what’s on hand – corn, tomatoes, zucchini, blueberries, etc. I cannot get enough of summer food. So dinnertime for me is never a chore – it is a thrill.

2. Remember deviled eggs. Top with chopped fresh herbs like tarragon or chives.

3. Change up your typical marinades for chicken or flank steak by adding lime juice instead of vinegar, chopped cilantro for fresh Mexican flavor, and garnish the grilled meat with chopped tomatoes and avocado.

4. We grill burgers – of beef or turkey – over charcoal. If you’re serving a crowd, offer up buns and also big leaves of iceberg lettuce for those who are going bun-less to save calories. Offer your own or a good bottled pesto sauce along with the standard condiments.

5. Add a pinch of good curry powder to your favorite rice salad for an Indian flavor. Marinate chicken breasts in plain yogurt and crushed garlic. Drizzle with olive oil, then grill, and serve the chicken with fresh cilantro sprigs and sliced mango, alongside the rice salad.

6. In a pinch, bake brownies using a mix, but be sure to underbake them and chill before cutting. Cut into small squares or triangles, then dust with confectioners’ sugar before toting them to the picnic.  Place strawberries and raspberries on the platter, too, for color and good health.

Q. I have a recipe for a banana chocolate chip Bundt cake made with yellow cake mix and banana pudding. The cake is very light and moist but it has a cloying artificial banana flavor to it due to the pudding. Do you have any suggestions as to how to make a similar cake to this but with real bananas rather than pudding? Any help will be greatly appreciated. This is my husband’s favorite cake, but it’s just too fake tasting for me to serve to guests. – Annie Hesser
(Annie’s recipe calls for 1 package yellow cake mix, 1 package instant banana pudding mix, 1 cup oil, 4 large eggs, 1 cup milk, 1 cup whole chocolate chips and 1 cup chopped chocolate chips).

A. Annie, use vanilla instant pudding mix instead of the banana. Then substitute mashed fresh bananas for some of the oil and milk. Use 1 cup mashed bananas, which is about 2 large ripe bananas, then use just ½ cup oil and ½ cup milk. Keep the chocolate chips the same.

Annie followed my instructions and reports great results. She turned the batter into cupcakes, 24 of them, baked at 350 degrees for 22 minutes. She suggests a chocolate frosting, and I am thinking cream cheese frosting would also be yummy!

]]> http://www.cakemixdoctor.com/cakemixblog/2009_04/qa.php http://www.cakemixdoctor.com/cakemixblog/2009_04/qa.php Thu, 09 Apr 2009 09:19:45 -0500 Put on your red dress and bake a red velvet cake for Valentine’s. Just as that dress gets everyone’s attention so this cake turns a few heads, too. And when the batter is turned into cupcakes, there is more to go around, perfect for sharing with sweethearts large and small. Take these to the office, to school, to the weekend basketball game.

My favorite way to make this batter is to begin with a German chocolate cake mix and add buttermilk and a few other add-ins. These cupcakes are a fun twist in that the cream cheese frosting is flavored with a little peppermint extract and then topped with crushed peppermint candy. They are moist and memorable, a sweet token of your affection.

Red Velvet Cupcakes With White Chocolate Peppermint Cream Cheese Frosting from Cupcakes! From the Cake Mix Doctor

Try these other great Valentine's Day recipes:
Warm Chocolate Cupcakes with Molten Centers
Triple-Decker Raspberry Chocolate Cake
Love Cake with Rose and Pomegranate Buttercream Frosting
Lemon Lovers' White Chocolate Cake

]]> http://www.cakemixdoctor.com/cakemixblog/2009_02/red_velvet_cupcakes_for_valent_1.php http://www.cakemixdoctor.com/cakemixblog/2009_02/red_velvet_cupcakes_for_valent_1.php Wed, 11 Feb 2009 11:22:17 -0500 It’s inexpensive, retro, a party mainstay. Sure, it’s gotten its share of jokes, but not as many as the fruitcake! I say it’s time for a cheese ball comeback, perfectly time with our ailing economy. How about a pimento cheese ball rolled in chopped parsley alongside a blue cheese ball rolled in bright red pomegranate seeds? Here is a recipe that has been in our family for many years. It makes two small cheese balls rolled in chopped pecans.

Cheddar Cheese Ball

Makes 2 cheese balls
Prep: 15 minutes

16 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
8 ounces sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded (2 cups)
2 tablespoons chopped green onion
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce, or to taste
Cayenne pepper to taste
1 cup chopped pecans (preferably toasted)

1. Place the cream cheese and Cheddar cheese in a large bowl. Blend with an electric mixer until the mixture just comes together. Add the onion, Worcestershire sauce, and the cayenne pepper to taste. Continue blending until the mixture is smooth.
2. Shape the mixture into two small balls. Roll each ball in the pecans. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill until time to serve with crackers and fruit.

]]> http://www.cakemixdoctor.com/cakemixblog/2008_12/the_return_of_the_cheese_ball.php http://www.cakemixdoctor.com/cakemixblog/2008_12/the_return_of_the_cheese_ball.php Tue, 23 Dec 2008 19:14:01 -0500 Baking your own holiday gifts is a special and delicious way to show friends and family that you care. The Snowman Cupcakes (page 213) and Holiday Gift Cupcakes (page 216) recipes from Cupcakes! From the Cake Mix Doctor look as great as they taste, and their unique appearance makes the gift all the more special. Both recipes are also great choices for a special dessert at an office or classroom holiday party.

Snowman Cupcakes recipe from Cupcakes! From The Cake Mix Doctor

Thank goodness Halloween is just days away. It might cheer us up from all the dire economic news. I walked into a grocery store last week just to wander the aisles while my teenage daughter was shopping next door for a Halloween costume. I was overcome by the pleasant sights – big piles of pumpkins and apples, cinnamon wafting through the air from the bakery, gallons of apple cider in the cooler. For 10 minutes I felt as if I had been transported out of my real world and to the mountains of New England. Food – the sight, smell, and taste of it – has a way of comforting you. It might be the vision of fresh apples or the smell of your mother’s apple pie or the taste of a pie, cake, or muffin you only savor once a year.

We tend to bake with pumpkin just in the fall, and mostly around Halloween. I will roast wedges of small fresh pumpkins, drizzling them with olive oil and sprinkling with garlic slices before baking. With any leftovers, I’ll make pumpkin soup, pureeing the cooked pumpkin, stirring it into sautéed onions, adding chicken stock, then a splash of cream at the end. We stock up on canned pumpkin, too, because it’s tough to find in the stores after Christmas. Then I bake pumpkin muffins. All these thoughts danced through my head as I walked through that store. My daughter found her costume, I was refreshed and renewed, we turned the radio to music, not news, and smiled on the drive home. Here is a simple five-ingredient muffin recipe to bake with your family this weekend.

Pumpkin Muffins from Cupcakes! from the Cake Mix Doctor

]]> http://www.cakemixdoctor.com/cakemixblog/2008_10/bake_with_pumpkins_this_hallow.php http://www.cakemixdoctor.com/cakemixblog/2008_10/bake_with_pumpkins_this_hallow.php Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:15:02 -0500 It’s Monday, the stock market has dipped to new lows, we hear of bank failures and mergers, politics and debates and you wonder what I do in troubling times? I cook. This afternoon I am making oatmeal cookies with my 10-year-old son because he thinks I make the best oatmeal cookies in the world. These may be trying times, but when my son tells me how wonderful my cookies are things just don’t seem so bad.

My husband and I are not old enough to be children of the Depression (our parents were) but we have survived the financial ups and downs of family life by simplifying. Baking cookies is just one way to step back and savor the downturn. The kitchen smells wonderful, the ingredients are so basic you probably have them on hand, and your family will love you for it.

Other ways of cutting costs? Shop less, take catalogs immediately to recycling, drive less, eat out less, and pare down your schedule so you and your children do fewer activities. When you are at home more, your children are generally happier and more rested. You have more time to plan meals ahead, thus saving money. I won’t go so far as to say there is a silver lining to this economic mess we are in, but some of my favorite meals are pasta, beans, and a nicely roasted chicken. And oatmeal cookies.

]]> http://www.cakemixdoctor.com/cakemixblog/2008_10/step_back_with_baking.php http://www.cakemixdoctor.com/cakemixblog/2008_10/step_back_with_baking.php Mon, 06 Oct 2008 13:01:25 -0500 This week's winner for best advice for saving money on food goes to Elvia Montanez of San Dimas, CA. Elvia knows how to cook from her pantry, thus reducing trips to the supermarket and being creative with what she has on hand. She shared her recipe for a tuna sauce, which her mom used to make on Fridays during Lent.

According to Carol, school lunches have not only risen in price but they are often not filling enough for her sons who will be in 8th and 10th grades this fall. In addition they are not always as healthy as a home-packed meal . . .