Me and my cake…Yum!

Have you ever seen a surprised loaf of cheese?

Well, let me tell you, I was about as surprised as they come on February 13 (our official founding day) when I was invited to the Cheese Factory where about 150 of my friends and family (employees and member-owners and their families) gathered for a party to celebrate Tillamook County Creamery Association’s 104^th birthday, and I was the special guest of honor!

We had birthday cake and any flavor of Tillamook Ice Cream a loaf could want! We played games like Beanie Cow Toss, Spin the Wheel, Pick-a-Milk-Bottle, and a family favorite, Bingo!

It’s not every day that a company turns 104, so it was sure nice to stop and recognize the hard work and dedication that everyone at TCCA puts into every product that is sold on store shelves!

One of my good friends having a good time playing Bingo!

My BFF Tillie even stopped by!

Everyone signed a giant birthday card for me, I’m hanging it on my wall!

The cake, it looks just like me!

By Loafy

Photo credit: LibAmanda (Flickr)/Creative Commons.

A friend from St. Louis keeps showing up to parties with a beautiful dessert that is gooey and so delicious. Is it cake? Is it pudding? Whatever it is, I decided it was time for this St. Louis classic to make its debut on the West Coast. The recipe for Gooey Butter Cake is amazingly simple – it just takes a few ingredients and a little time. Give it a try for your next holiday party!

Ingredients
1 box yellow cake mix (18¼ oz)
3 eggs
2 sticks Tillamook Butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
16 oz powdered sugar

Preparation
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Combine the cake mix, one egg, and one stick of melted butter in an electric mixer. When well mixed, pat the mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 13”x9” baking pan.

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the 2 remaining eggs, vanilla, and the other stick of butter and beat together. Add the powdered sugar (but reserve a bit for the topping!) and mix well.

Spread cream cheese mixture over cake batter and bake for 40-50 minutes, or until top is golden but center is still gooey. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and cut into bite-sized pieces.

This recipe was adapted from a recipe from Paula Dean. 

By Katie

On summer days like these, I find myself craving ice cream all the time. I’ve always been a sucker for a good ice cream cake, but with these hot summer evenings (and with no A/C) I couldn’t bear to heat up the oven – even to celebrate National Ice Cream Month. In that spirit, I decided it was time to find a low-maintenance, high-yumminess ice cream cake. This no-bake ice cream cake fits the bill perfectly.

Ingredients
12 ounces vanilla wafers or graham crackers, crushed
1 cup Tillamook Butter, melted
½ cup white sugar
1.75 quart Tillamook Udderly Chocolate Ice Cream
½ cup milk
7 ounces (usually 2 packages) instant chocolate pudding mix

Directions
To make crust, combine crackers, butter, and sugar in a bowl. Press mixture into bottom and sides of a 9”x13” baking dish.

In a separate bowl, mix ice cream and milk. Blend in pudding mix, then pour mixture into prepared crust. Refrigerate for 2 hours before serving. If desired, top with whipped cream or chocolate shavings when hardened.

I love how this recipe can be customized to include whatever I’m craving that day! I think my next combination will be graham crackers, Oregon Strawberry Ice Cream, and banana pudding, topped with fresh strawberries – yum!

By Katie

Most people are thinking about what they are going to make their sweetie for dinner tomorrow night, but there is a VERY important holiday (at least it’s a holiday in my mind) to celebrate today. February 13^th marks Tillamook’s Birthday! 103 years ago several small creameries teamed up to form the Tillamook County Creamery Association and deliver the highest quality dairy products to consumers. That’s something that we are still proud of and live by today. In honor of the occasion, we made a Baby Loaf cake!

How are you going to celebrate? Make your own Baby Loaf cake? Maybe grilled cheese for dinner? The possibilities are endless…

~ Laura of the Tillamook Team

By Laura

I was just out in Fayette, Missouri celebrating my grandmother’s 95th birthday. Of course no celebration is complete without eating my Gran’s food, or at least her recipes! This is one of my absolute favorite recipes from my grandmother – her famous…

SOUR CREAM COFFEE CAKE

2 sticks Tillamook Unsalted Butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup Tillamook Premium Sour Cream
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup chopped pecans
4 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350°F. Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs, vanilla and sour cream. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt, then add gently to the creamed mix. Mix well. To prepare the nut mix, combine the chopped pecans, brown sugar and cinnamon.

Grease and flour a bundt pan. Spoon in a layer of batter, then sprinkle with half of the nut mix. Add another layer of batter and nut mix. Finish with a layer of batter. Bake for 1 hour. Don’t forget the coffee!

From my Gran, Lily Haden Nicholl.

Photo Flickr/Erin (Creative Commons)

By Gillian

This recipe is called pound cake for a very good reason — because it takes a pound of each of the main ingredients to make the batter. Whoa! Every Christmas my grandmother, C-mama, would make this pound cake and it was the highlight of the feast. Rich and buttery, it can be served alone, with berries or, even better, Tillamook Old-Fashioned Vanilla Ice Cream. When we were children, we were scolded for making too much noise when the pound cake was in the oven. Too much noise would make the cake fall, C-mama would say. Hmmm? My grandmother was 96 when she passed away and, to this day, it just wouldn’t be Christmas without her pound cake served on a crystal cake plate in the center of the holiday treats. This delicious cake is not for the faint of calories!

C-MAMA’S POUND CAKE

1 pound Tillamook Unsalted Butter, softened
3 1/2 cups of sugar
4 cups flour
10 eggs, separated
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons lemon juice

Prepare a tube pan by lining it with greased craft paper. Cream butter and sugar; add beaten egg yolks and lemon juice. Sift dry ingredients together, adding it in thirds to the creamed butter and sugar. Mix well between additions. Beat egg whites until stiff and fold gently into the batter. Bake at 350 degrees until just golden brown, then cover top of cake with a piece of craft paper to prevent scorching. Continue baking until finished, approx. 1 1/2 – 2 hours (you can check doneness with a toothpick — when you can pull it out of the cake clean, it’s ready). Shhhh….remember not to make noise while cake is in the oven.

Photo: Flickr/Lindsey Turner (Creative Commons)

By Jala

I’m definitely in the mood for chocolate this month. The thought of Valentine’s Day makes me want something sweet! This recipe for Tillamook Ultimate Chocolate Cake used to be on the back of the Tillamook Butter box. It was really popular, and when we changed the recipe on the box to a different recipe, many people sent me requests asking for this particular recipe. It’s amazing – rich, creamy, perfect!

Here’s a little tip: You may want to dust the cake with confectioner’s sugar while it’s still warm. It melts a bit and tastes so very good! Share with your Valentine… or eat it all yourself!

Tillamook Ultimate Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:
12 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
¾ cup Tillamook® Salted Butter, plus 2 teaspoons to grease pan
¾ cup sugar
5 eggs, yolks and whites separated
⅓ cup flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Confectioners’ sugar
Prepared Whipped cream

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°. Butter a 9-inch round cake pan.  Line bottom with parchment paper, butter paper and sides of pan.

Melt chocolate, butter, and sugar in a large double boiler placed over simmering water. Stir until smooth. Transfer mixture to medium bowl. Let cool 10 minutes.

Beat yolks until blended. Whisk into chocolate mixture until smooth. Combine flour and cinnamon; whisk into chocolate mixture until blended.

Beat whites until stiff peaks form. Stir one third of whites into chocolate mixture to lighten. Gently fold in remaining whites until completely blended.

Pour batter into pan and bake 25 min.

Cool pan on wire rack. Turn cake out onto a plate. Dust with confectioner’s sugar. Cut and serve with whipped cream.

Serves 10

By Jennifer