Chocolate Cupcakes with Peppermint Frosting

Merry Christmas! December is definitely a peppermint month and I have been waiting to try this recipe for a while and I have ended up so far making three batches of these. EC likes them a lot, he says the cupcake part is like a cookie version of Oreo cookies and the peppermint frosting combined with crushed candy canes is a nice refreshing topping.

In keeping in the spirit of the holidays, we found a Santa hat and bell cat collar at the dollar store and decided that Petey needed to again be subject to public humiliation at our expense. He was really good about it though, but he was really worried about being on the table, since usually when he gets on the table we squirt him with water. But he calmed down after a bit and I gave him some milk afterwards and he was all around a good sport about it.

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Chocolate Cupcakes with Peppermint Frosting

From Cooking Light

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Ingredients
Cupcakes:
1 cup packed brown sugar
6 tablespoons butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (about 5 1/2 ounces)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

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Peppermint Frosting:
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup (4 ounces) tub-style light cream cheese
1/8 teaspoon peppermint extract
16 hard peppermint candies, finely crushed (about 1/3 cup)
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Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°.
To prepare cupcakes, place brown sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed 2 minutes or until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Stir in vanilla extract.
Spoon batter into 18 muffin cups lined with paper liners. Bake at 350° for 12 minutes or until cupcakes spring back when touched lightly in the center. Cool in pan 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.
To prepare frosting, combine powdered sugar, cream cheese, and peppermint extract in a bowl, stirring until smooth. Spread about 4 teaspoons frosting on each cupcake; sprinkle evenly with candies.

Marshmallow Crunch Brownies

My mom makes these rice crispy treats that I think are amazing. The base consists of rice krispies, corn syrup, sugar, and peanut butter and on top is spread melted chocolate and butterscotch chips. Mmmmm. So when I found this recipe which is like my mom's chocolate crispy things ON TOP of a brownie I thought to myself, my arteries are going to love this. So I made them, then read the part of the recipe that said that you should chill these completely before eating and I was sad. When I bake, I like instant gratification, even if it means I burn my tongue. So I waited, and waited, and waited, and then I couldn't wait anymore and cut a little sliver while they were still warm, and HA, jokes on them - they are good warm too! They just don't cut as nicely. These are very rich though (as I am sure you can imagine) so it took EC and me a while to get through the pan. And, he liked them better chilled while I liked them better slightly warm, but either way, make sure you have plenty milk (or other complimentary beverage of your choice) on hand.

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Marshmallow Crunch Brownies

From noshwithme.com

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Brownie Ingredients

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate

2/3 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter

1 ¼ cups semisweet chocolate chips, divided

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

4 large eggs, room temperature

2 cups granulated sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

Topping Ingredients

7 ounces mini marshmallows

1 ½ cups milk chocolate chips

1 cup Jif peanut butter

1 TBSP unsalted butter

1 ½ cups Rice Krispies

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9×13-inch baking pan.
In a medium saucepan, melt the chocolate, butter, and ¾ cup of the semisweet chocolate chips on medium heat. Stir occasionally while melting. Set aside and cool for 5 minutes. In a medium bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, place the eggs and whisk thoroughly. Add in the sugar and vanilla. Stir the melted ingredients into the egg mixture, mixing well. Stir in the dry sifted ingredients and mix well. Fold in the remaining ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and even with a spatula. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the corner of the pan comes out with moist crumbs.
Remove the brownies from the oven, and immediately sprinkle the marshmallows over them. Return the pan to the oven for 3 more minutes.
While the brownies are baking, place the chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter in a medium saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until melted. Remove from heat, add the cereal,and mix well. Allow this to cool for 3 minutes or so.
Spread the mixture evenly over the marshmallow layer. Refrigerate until chilled before cutting.

Dreidel Cake

Happy Hanukkah in 10 days! One of my coworkers requested a dreidel cake this year for Hanukkah and I was happy to give it a whirl. And you would not believe the stress these little things caused. I decided the cake would be best a pound cake, since pound cake is a heavy cake which would make it easier to shape. The baking the cake part was easy, I used oversized muffin type tins and all I had to do was shave off the sides to make a dreidel looking cake. The tricky part came when I was trying to decide how to cover the things. First I tried fondant and since the dreidels were so small, that proved to be disastrous for me. So then EC had the brilliant idea of dipping them in chocolate. So we tried that and it seemed to work pretty well, but the chocolate stuck to some places more than others, so EC patiently trimmed it down. He likened it to carving soap when he was a cub scout, which made me thankful for him being a cub scout. Then I piped the Hebrew letters on the sides and while I was trying to move one of them to the fridge to help it set up, it tipped over and landed square on one of the freshly piped white chocolate letters, leaving a mushy mess. So I had to re-pipe the white chocolate letter.
But eventually it got done, and it was worth it because she squealed with delight when I brought it to her. All in a (long) days work!

Red Velvet Cake

Merry Christmas! Yesterday EC and I were invited by our friends to go and cut down a Christmas Tree. We went and it was so much fun! I have never cut down my own Christmas Tree before, it was slightly an adventure. We still had to pick one out, so we tromped around for a while and picked out a cute little Christmas tree. We got it home and it was slightly too tall for our apartment, so I had to trim it a little to get the star to fit. And then I was going to hang the Christmas ornaments on it that I bought the day after Christmas last year, so I opened up the box, and there were no ornament hooks in with the ornaments. I think that is slightly silly. Who sells ornaments without the hooks? So now I have to wait until tomorrow to go and buy hooks. But we got the lights on and the star, and it looks nice, except lights keep burning out, which then causes half of the strand of lights to go out. Oh the joys of having your own grown up Christmas tree.

I have officially started making Christmas goodies! Today I made Red Velvet Cupcakes, very festive. We sent some with EC as he went out Home Teaching which was slightly worrisome, since I have never tried them before and it is fast Sunday so I had to send them out without a taste test. But I have since tried one and it is A-OK. So here is the recipe!

Red Velvet Cake

Adapted from Mrs. Wilkes’ Boardinghouse Cookbook: Recipes and Recollections from Her Savannah Table by Selma Wilkes

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

1 tsp white vinegar

2 1/2 cups cake flour

1 tsp baking soda

2 to 3 TBSP cocoa powder

1 cup buttermilk

1 tsp vanilla

5/8 ounce bottle red food coloring

Preheat the oven to 350F. Cream the eggs, sugar, oil and vinegar. Sift the cake flour, baking soda, and cocoa together. Add the flour mixture to the creamed ingredients while beating. Slowly add the buttermilk. While still beating, add the vanilla and the food coloring. Pour into three 8-inch layer pans and bake for about 25 minutes. Press lightly;if the layers are spongy, then the cake is done. Frost the cooled layers, assemble and frost the top and sides. Serves 12 to 14.

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Velvet Cake Frosting

1(8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup butter

1 (1 pound) box confectioners sugar

1 cup chopped pecans

1 tsp vanilla extract

Combine the cream cheese and butter and melt over very low heat. Add the sugar, pecans and vanilla and mix well. If the frosting becomes too thick, add a little milk. Frost one 8-inch or 9-inch layer cake.

Steak Gorgonzola Alfredo

Last year for Valentine's Day my parents gave EC and I a gift of going out to a Restaurant on them. There was a price limit, but it was pretty high, so EC and I were pretty excited and decided to try one of the nicer restaurants in town. The restaurant we went to served almost everything and I ordered Steak Gorgonzola Alfredo Pasta. This was my first experience trying such a dish and I loved it! Gorgonzola cheese was something I had never tried before, and combined with alfredo sauce and medium steak, it was divine.

So when I saw a recipe for it on Olive Garden's website, I knew I had to try it. So I did. And I tell you what, the recipe says it serves four, but that must be four people who are football players and eat 10,000 calories in a day. It made so much that we had it for dinner twice and I had it for lunch three times. There was a lot of pasta. EC really liked it, he loved the flavor of the cheese. I am slowly learning that I should not each dishes that I love at restaurants and then go and try to make them at home. It isn't nearly as good for some reason. Here is the recipe. If you want to be ambitious like I was and also make your own alfredo sauce, click here for that recipe.

Steak Gorgonzola Alfredo

From Olivegarden.com

Steak Ingredients:

1 boneless top sirloin, 2 1/2 lbs

1 1/2 cups Italian salad dressing

1 T fresh rosemary, chopped

1 T fresh lemon juice

Spinich Gorgonzola Sauce:

16 fl oz alfredo sauce

4 c spinach, chopped

1 c green onion, chopped

3 T gorgonzola cheese, crumbled

1 lb fettuccine, cooked according to package directions

2 T balsamic glaze (I actually don't know what this is)

2 T gorgonzola cheese, crumbled

2 T sun-dried tomatoes, chopped (I couldn't find any of these)

Cut beef into 1" cubes and set aside. Combine salad dressing, rosemary and lemon juice in a large mixing bowl. Add beef pieces to the mixture and let marinate for at least 1 hour.

Heat alfredo sauce in large saute pan. Add green onion, spiniach, and gorgonzola cheese. Stir to thoroughly blend all ingredients.

Grill beef pieces to desired donesness.

Add hot, drained pasta to saute pan with heated sauce. Toss pasta with sauce, then transfer to a large platter. Place grilled beef pieces on bed of pasta. Drizzle beef with balsamic glaze. Sprinkle remaining gorgonzola cheese and sun-drien tomatoes over finished dish.

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

Happy December! I am so happy it is December! I love this time of year, the Christmas music, the shopping, the decorations, the food, all of it! Mostly I am excited to go and see my family and friends over Christmas because that is what the holiday is about to me. The holiday season also brings to mind peppermint things. I think December is definitely a peppermint month, where as October and November are pumpkin months. Fortunately, I made these Pumpkin Whoopie Pies in November, and I am just now getting around to posting them, so I am safe.

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies, isn't that a funny name? They basically tasted like pumpkin cookies with cream cheese frosting in between. Yumm. They were good, but this recipe made a TON so I gave a pan to one of my friends at work, as rent payment for my plant. It is still thriving, in case you were wondering. They are simple to make, simple to eat, what more could you want from a pumpkin treat (nice rhyming, eh?)?

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Cream Cheese Filling
Adapted from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito

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Pumpkin Whoopie Cookies:

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

2 TBSP cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

½ tsp ground fresh nutmeg

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed

1 cup canola oil

3 cups chilled pumpkin puree

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare to baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and spices. Set aside.In a separate bowl, whisk to sugars and oil together. Add the pumpkin puree and whisk to combine thoroughly. Add the eggs and vanilla and whisk until combined. Sprinkle the flour mixture over the pumpkin mixture and whisk until completely combined.Use a small ice cream scoop with a release mechanism to drop healing TBSP of the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, about 1 inch apart.Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the cookies are just starting to crack on top and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cookie comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool completely on the pan while you make the filling.

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Cream Cheese Filling

3 cups powdered sugar

½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

3 TBSP milk

1 tsp vanilla

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter until smooth with no visible lumps. Add the cream cheese an beat until combined.Add the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla and beat until smooth. Be careful no to overbeat the filling, or it will lose structure.

To assemble: Turn half the cooled cookies upside down. Pipe filling (about a TBSP) onto that half. Place another cookie, flat side down, on top of the filling. Press down slightly so that the filling spread to the edges of the cookie. Repeat until all the cookies are used. Put the whoppie pies in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes to firm before serving.

Lemon Supreme Pie

Happy Belated Thanksgiving! I hope your Thanksgiving was full of happiness, friends, family, and food. Mine was filled with three of the four. We were stuck here at home for Thanksgiving which meant we weren't able to celebrate with any of our family, due to the fact that they don't live anywhere near us and I wasn't allowed to leave the region. Seriously. So, instead we celebrated with two couples from our ward. It was kind of a Thanksgiving potluck, where we were instructed to bring the rolls, dessert, and ice cream. This may be silly of me, but usually ice cream falls under the dessert category in my mind, so I am still pondering why ice cream was such a vital part of Thanksgiving that it had to be mentioned specifically. While talking about this with EC he said "Don't you always have ice cream at Thanksgiving? My family always does." Silly me, I was under the impression that you ate pie for dessert at Thanksgiving, not ice cream. Anyway, I digress.

So, we took my mom's Award Winning Rolls, cheapo WinCo ice cream, and this Lemon Supreme Pie. The pie is also a recipe from my mom and contains a layer of a lemon-y cream cheese base and then a lemon pudding type filling. I think I used too much cornstarch though, because my lemon filling cracked, sigh.

We had a good time and ate a lot of good food. However, without the family there it didn't quite feel like Thanksgiving to me, so hopefully next year we will be able to talk them into coming up here. Until then, only 26 more days till we fly home for Christmas!

Yeast Raised Glazed Donuts

Finally, the moment BFF has been waiting for...Donuts!

Recently I got it into my head that I wanted to make donuts. I think it came about like this:

Me - Hey, EC, what do you want for dinner tonight?
EC - Hmmm, I know, donuts!
Me - Hmm, what is we made them this weekend instead?
EC - Ok.
Me - So, what are we going to have for dinner tonight?

The donut recipe that I found said to cut out donuts using a donut cutter and since I like to follow my recipes as closely as possible, I had to find a donut cutter. This meant me dragging EC to Michaels, Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and Walmart, and then later making EC call Macy's and Shopko for me, all to no avail. I was about to order one off the Internet and then I had a sudden burst of inspiration: TriState (sing it: We live in North Idaho, and it shows).

So EC called them up and apparently I wasn't the only one who's husband requested donuts for dinner, because they were out of donut cutters until Wednesday. WEDNESDAY - that meant I had to wait 4 days, and I hate waiting. But finally Wednesday came and I bought my little donut cutter. Then on Saturday I made the dough up for the donuts so the EC and I could make them together on Sunday.

Sunday came and making donuts was a family affair, even Petey got into it, by which I mean, sat in the dome box. I rolled out the donut dough, got out my new little donut cutter, pressed it into the dough....and the handle broke. I feel like that should be ironic. So EC used a cup and a large icing tip to cut out donuts and I used our newly acquired and newly broken donut cutter. We had fun, fried up the donuts, decorated them, and ate them. EC really liked them, he said they were better than store bought donuts. I am still slightly unsure of how I feel about them. I do know that they are much better fresh then they are the day after. The day old donuts were no good, ick. Thus ends the donut making adventure.

Yeast- Raised Glazed Doughnuts

1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 cup sugar
2 and 1/4 tsp instant yeast
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 large egg
1 cup milk
2 tbsp butter, melted
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
vegetable oil for frying

Glaze :
1/4 cup milk
2 cups confectioners sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Whisk together the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, combine the egg, milk, butter and vanilla and stir into the flour mixture, mixing until well combined. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes, then knead for 8 minutes until you have a smooth, soft dough. Place the dough in a buttered bowl, turn it over to grease the top and let it rise, covered in a warm place for 1 and 1/2 hours or for better result let it rise in the refrigerator overnight.
Deflate dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Gently roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thickness and cut into rounds using a doughnut cutter. Place in GREASED baking sheet and let rise again for 1 hour until doubled again.
Fry dough in oil (with temperature of 350 F) until golden brown. This should take no more than a minute for each side. Over cooking will make doughnuts tough. Drain on paper towels.
To make the glaze, stir the milk into the confectioners sugar until it is smooth, then add vanilla.
When the doughnuts are cool enough to handle (but still warm) dip the tops of the doughnuts in the glaze, then place on a rack or plate to let glaze drip down.

The Birthday Cake That Wasn't

Once upon a time there was a cake and it really wanted to be a birthday cake. So it got all dressed up, with special candles and went to a birthday party. Unfortunately the birthday girl was sick so she didn't come to the party, and so, after having it's candles compared to "ladders" the cake was eaten as just another cake. The End.

EC and I really enjoyed this cake. If you put the actual cake part in the fridge, it turn into a brownie-cake type thing, which is divine, and then, since I don't like real butter cream icings, I topped it with whipped cream. It was very yummy. It was fun to decorate too, although plain whipped cream is probably not my frosting of choice since it melts so easily. And I thought the candles and homemade chocolate chips were a nice touch too. All of this goes to show that I have way too much time on my hands and need someone to suggest a good book for me to read.

Devil's Food White Out Cake

From Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 sticks (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled
1/2 cup buttermilk or whole milk, at room temperature
1/2 cup boiling water
4 ounces semisweet or milk chocolate, finely chopped, or 2/3 cup store-bought mini chocolate chips


GETTING READY: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 8-x-2-inch round cake pans, dust the insides with flour, tap out the excess and line the bottoms with parchment or wax paper. Put the pans on a baking sheet.

TO MAKE THE CAKE: Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy. Add the sugars and continue to beat for another 3 minutes. Add the eggs one by one, beating for 1 minute after each addition. Beat in the vanilla; don't be concerned if the mixture looks curdled. Reduce the mixer speed to low and mix in the melted chocolate. When it is fully incorporated, add the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk, adding the dry ingredients in 3 additions and the milk in 2 (begin and end with the dry ingredients); scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed and mix only until the ingredients disappear into the batter. At this point, the batter will be thick, like frosting. Still working on low speed, mix in the boiling water, which will thin the batter considerably. Switch to a rubber spatula, scrape down the bowl and stir in the chopped chocolate. Divide the batter evenly between the two pans and smooth the tops with the rubber spatula.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, rotating the pans at the midway point. When fully baked, the cakes will be springy to the touch and a thin knife inserted into the centers will come out clean. Don't worry if the tops have a few small cracks. Transfer the cake pans to a rack and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unmold them and peel off the paper liners. Invert and cool to room temperature right side up. (The cooled cake layers can be wrapped airtight and stored at room temperature overnight or frozen for up to 2 months.)
When you are ready to fill and frost the cake, inspect the layers. If the cakes have crowned, use a long serrated knife and a gentle sawing motion to even them.

Oreo-Chunk Brownies

So remember how last time I was talking about making the rolls to enter a door prize drawing? Well, I was talking to EC on the phone while driving home from work on Thursday, and he said I had gotten something in the mail from University Housing. I was curious, so I had him open it over the phone. In it was a letter thanking me for coming to the potluck and informing me that I was a winner of one of the door prizes! I was/am so excited to win, because I never win anything! We won a $5 gift card to Starbucks which, as BFF told me, means I can get the good kind of hot chocolate with Whipped Cream. So I think from now on I will call those rolls "Award Winning Rolls", I think it is fitting.
I found this Brownie recipe one day while I was looking for recipes of things to do with Marscapone cheese. I don't know why this recipe popped up, but it did, and I have been wanting to try it ever since. These brownies are delicious! I don't own a 12x18x1 pan, and even if I did that is WAY too much brownie for EC and I, so I split the recipe in half. Unfortunately, it was still too much batter for my 8x8 pan, so I ended up with really thick 8x8 brownies and a thinner, nicer 8 inch cake pan of brownies. I can't say enough how yummy these brownies were, fudgey, perfect with ice cream, and they had Famous Amos chocolate sandwich cookies in them (I am too cheap to buy Oreos), mmmmm.

Oreo-Chunk Brownies
From Recipegirl.com

1 lb (4 sticks) unsalted butter
1 lb semi-sweet chocolate chips or chopped semi-sweet chocolate
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
2 Tbs instant espresso powder (I used hot chocolate powder)
7 large eggs
2 Tbs pure vanilla extract
2¼ cups granulated sugar
1¼ cups all-purpose flour, divided
1 Tbs baking powder
1 tsp salt
4 cups broken Oreos (about 40 cookies- 1 package)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour 12x18x1-inch pan. Line with foil or parchment that hangs over the sides for ease in getting them out (butter the foil/parchment).

In a heatproof, medium-bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water, heat butter, and chocolates until melted and smooth; cool slightly.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, espresso powder, vanilla and sugar. Stir the egg mixture into the slightly cooled chocolate mixture. Cool to room temperature.

In a medium bowl, sift together 1 cup of flour, baking powder, and salt, then add to batter. In a small bowl, stir Oreos and remaining ¼ cup flour. Stir cookies into chocolate mixture. Then pour into prepared baking pan and smooth top with a rubber spatula.

Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean with a few crumbs attached; do not overbake! Let cool completely, then cover tightly and chill overnight. Chilled brownies are easier to cut. Dump the chilled brownie pan onto a large cutting board, peel off the foil and cut into squares.

My Mom's Rolls

On Saturday we came home from doing something, I don't remember what, and there was a flyer on our door announcing a Thanksgiving Potluck at the Family Housing Community Center. There would be three different types of turkey available, steamed, BBQ, and deep fat fried, and if you brought a Thanksgiving-ish side dish you would be entered to win a door prize.
In true poor college student form, EC and I rarely, if ever, turn down an offer for free food. So I was left with the dilemma of what side dish I should make. Being indecisive, I couldn't decide. Luckily, EC was there for me and suggested my mom's rolls. Mind you, these rolls may look a little funny, but they are the best tasting things EVER. Especially if you make a turkey sandwich with leftover Thanksgiving turkey, mmmmm.
I think this picture looks a little funny, like the roll is gushing something, which it is, homemade blackberry jams made from the times we picked a plethora of blackberries. But, the rolls turned out awesome, EC and I hid two in his pockets before we went so we would be sure to get one, and it is a good thing we did, because by the time we got through the line they were almost gone. Victory is mine!

Mini Cupcakes

The problem with it only being EC, Petey, and I is that whenever I make a cake, there is always WAY too much for the three of us, especially since Petey only likes dairy, not cake. So when I had to make my final cake for class, I still had way too much batter, so I made mini cupcakes, because I believe most things are cute in miniature form: cats, cakes, cupcakes, dogs, children, etc. But then I was left with the dilemma of what to do with these cupcakes.

Luckily for me, "rent" was due at work - which means I give a baked good to my coworker and she takes care of a plant for me, this is the only way that I can get a plant to stay alive - and one of my other coworkers was especially helpful in a stressful situation at work, so I took these little guys to work with me and gave them to two well deserving people.

These cupcakes have taught me that I need to buy purple food coloring because my red and blue don't mix very nicely.

Marbled Cake

From MarthaStewart.com

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened, plus more for pans
1 3/4 cups cake flour (not self-rising), plus more for dusting
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup milk, room temperature
1/3 cup heavy cream, room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup best-quality unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup boiling water
2 tablespoons instant espresso powder, for mocha layers

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter pans; line with parchment paper. Butter lining; dust with flour, tapping out excess. Set aside. Sift together cake flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
Combine milk and cream in a small bowl; set aside. Cream butter and sugar on medium speed in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add eggs one at a time; mix well after each addition. Mix in vanilla. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with the milk mixture and beginning and ending with flour.
Combine cocoa and the boiling water in a medium bowl; for mocha cake, add espresso powder. Stir in 1 cup cake batter.
Fill prepared pans with spoonfuls of vanilla and chocolate batter to form a checkerboard pattern. Run the tip of a paring knife or a wooden skewer through batter in a figure-eight motion to make swirls. Bake until tops are golden, and a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, 40 to 50 minutes. Let cakes cool completely in pans on wire racks.

Final Cake

Since June I have been taking cake decorating classes at Michael's. It has been something that I have been interested in doing, and so while EC was gone during the summer and I was bored out of my mind, I happened into Michael's and saw that they were offering the beginning course, and I signed up. I have had the same teacher for all 4 classes I have taken, and she is wonderful! She is a professional cake decorator, as I have mentioned before, and I aspire to be like her. Wednesday was the final class of the final class and an adventure it was! I learned how to make carnations (as you can see) and with a little help from my blow dryer, I think they turned out very nice. We also learned these really ugly fantasy flowers and other basic fondant stuff that I probably could have figured out on my own, but enjoyed watching others in my class struggle with (wha ha ha). The spirals may have given me some issues and I had to take them home and finish them at home. The actual cake turned out amazing. It is a checkerboard cake with blackberry filling. I would like to mention that this is the first time that my checkerboard cake actually looked like a checkerboard, but since I took the cake to work and gave it to B, and I didn't have a camera at work, you can't see the checkerboard-ness, but trust me, it looked cool, and I am super proud I have finally figured out how to make checkerboard cakes.

I will post the recipe later!

Mazurkas

This past summer our friends took us to their sweet blackberry picking spot and EC and I went blackberry crazy! We ended up going out there to pick blackberries three times and ended up with gallons of blackberries, no joke. So with a freezer full of blackberries, I set out to find blackberry recipes, like my tart. The same friends who showed us the blackberry pickin' spot also gave me a recipe for Mazurkas.
I had never heard/seen/tasted Mazurkas before, and I lost the recipe a couple of times, so it has taken me quite a while to get around to cooking them. But once I did, I can honestly say they are the best looking Mazurkas I have ever seen, and also the best tasting.

We thought they were going to be a treat, since it has 3 cups of brown sugar in them, but it turns out that it also has 3 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour in them, so they aren't sweet at all, so we eat them for breakfast. However, it is a possibility that to the normal person they are sweet and my tolerance for sweet things has increased greatly in these past few months. Interesting thought. Either way, we still will be eating them for breakfast because they made A LOT and we are still trying to get through them.

No recipe for these, because I haven't gotten permission from my friend to post it, so if you want the recipe, you will have to talk to her.

Cheesy Jalapeno Bread

When my older sister was here visiting during Labor Day, we went to the Farmer's Market (in a lame attempt to show her everything there is to do here, it took 10 minutes) and we bought a jalapeno bread. It was really good, very spicy. EC and my sister really liked it, and I liked it pretty well too. Not too long ago I was perusing a website looking for bread recipes and I stumbled upon a recipe for such a bread. I decided that Cheesy Jalapeno Bread was something that I needed to conquer, so I set off to do just that.The bread is just a basic white bread recipe. Things got exciting when I was supposed to knead in 3 cups of cheese and 2 tablespoons of jalapenos. The recipe made it sound like the cheese chunks would incorporate nicely into the bread dough, and maybe it did for them, but my experience was not smooth. There were cheese chunks flying in all different directions, with me trying to shove them all back into the bread dough. Then when I baked it it rose A LOT. And since there was so much cheese in the dough, cheese began to drip off the bread and into the bottom of my oven, later causing a small oven fire and the smoke detector to go off. Then I didn't let one of the loaves cool enough before I took it out of the pan, and since it was top heavy and had cheese for an interior, it collapsed on itself.
But in the end, it was DEFINITELY worth it. This bread is pretty amazing, especially straight from the oven, all warm with warm, gooey cheese. I think my older sister will approve.

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Cheesy Jalapeno Bread

From Cast Sugar

Ingredients:
2 c. warm water (~110 F)
1/4 c. white sugar

1 1/2 Tbsp. active dry yeast

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 c. vegetable oil

6 c. bread flour, sifted
1 c. cheddar cheese, cubed
2 c. Monterrey Jack cheese, cubed
2 Tbsp. chopped jalapeno

In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar in warm water, and then stir in yeast. Allow to proof until yeast resembles a creamy foam (about 10 minutes).
Mix salt and oil into the yeast. Mix in flour one cup at a time. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth, about 10 minutes. Place in a well oiled bowl, and turn dough to coat. Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 90 minutes.
Punch dough down. Add cheese and jalapeno to dough and knead for about 5 minutes, until the cheese chunks are dispersed throughout (you will have some seriously bumpy dough!). Then divide dough in half. Shape into loaves, and place into two well oiled 9x5 inch loaf pans. Allow to rise for 30 minutes, or until dough has risen 1 inch above pans.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes.

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes

So, awhile ago I was talking with my BFF and she mentioned that she kinda missed the pink on my blog background (this was right after EC helped me give my blog a face lift). So I thought to myself, I should make her something pink, in remembrance of the background.So then we were talking earlier this week and I told her I would make cupcakes in her honor. She then told me that I should send them to her, so a conversation ensued about if mailing cupcakes would actually be possible or if they would just show up all smooshy and man handled. Well, I mailed them this morning, so I guess we will see in 2-3 business days how mailing cupcakes actually turns out.

These little gems are different. I wouldn't exactly call them sweet, but I wouldn't exactly call them not sweet either. They are pink lemonade cupcakes, so they have the tangy, lemonade taste, but not too tangy. I can't really describe them, so in order for you to get the full effect, you either need to make them or guilt me into making/mailing them for/to you. They are pretty good tasting, but as EC says, they aren't something you can sit down and eat 4 of at once (although I NEVER eat 4 cupcakes at once, NEVER). They didn't raise very high in the oven, which is possibly why you are supposed to fill the cupcake liners so full. I think they would be cute as mini cupcakes and was going to make some out of the leftover batter, but there was only enough for 12 regular sized cupcakes.

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes

From Cast Sugar

Ingredients:
1 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
Pinch salt
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1/4 c. vegetable oil
2 egg whites
1/3 c. thawed frozen Pink Lemonade Concentrate
1/4 c. buttermilk
2 or more drops red food coloring

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line muffin pan with liners.
In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, oil, egg whites and lemonade concentrate. Alternately whisk in flour mixture and buttermilk, making three additions of flour mixture and two of buttermilk, beating until just smooth. Add just enough food coloring to turn the batter a light shade of pink.
Scoop batter into liners (fill about three-fourths full). Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until tops of cupcakes spring back when lightly touched. Let cool in pan on rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool completely on rack. Top cooled cupcakes with frosting (see below).

Lemonade Buttercream:

3 c. + 3 Tbsp. confectioner’s sugar
1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature
1/8 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. pink lemonade concentrate
Red food coloring

Add the butter, confectioner’s sugar, salt, lemon juice, and a few drops of food coloring to the stand mixer and mix on low using the paddle attachment until combined. Turn the speed to med-high until the buttercream is fluffy and uniformly pink. Pipe or spread onto cooled cupcakes.

Broomstick Cheeseball

Happy belated Halloween everyone! I hope you had a safe, fun night. EC and I definitely did. And so did the cat, after we took off his costume and he sulked for a little while.
This year for Halloween I decided to be creative. OK, that is a lie. I decided once again to copy someone's creative idea and pass it off as my own. My cake decorating class teacher mentioned how she was going to make the Broomstick Cheeseball that is in one of the catalogs she gave me in the last class and I thought to myself, what a good, festive idea, I can do that! So I did. This is how mine turned out. I am sure hers is exponentially better, because she is a professional cake decorator and I aspire to be her, but I was pleased with the results. The cheeseball was pretty good too, although SUPER garlic-y. No joke, your breathe alone would kill Dracula.
Olive, Green Onion, and GARLIC Cheeseball
From my Mom!

2 packages cream cheese
6-8 green onions
1 small can chopped olives
2 cups cheddar cheese
1/4 cup garlic salt

Mix all ingredients until blended. Divide into three parts. Place on wax paper and shape into a ball. Wrap wax paper around ball and wrap the whole thing with Saran Wrap. Refrigerate until use. Eat with crackers, bread, or other cheeseball sides.

Happy Halloween!

So I am taking the fondant and gum paste class from Michaels. We just finished week two of our four week class and we learned how to do draped fondant. The picture that was supposed to be our inspiration was kinda lame, so I decided to go for a Halloween theme. I think the pumpkin is a nice touch, personally. It is a pumpkin cake, and since I posted it last time, no recipe this time.

On a happier note, we dressed up our cat. He is not amused. We were though.

Happy Halloween!

And the pumpkin obsession continues...

Yes, as you can see I am still going through a pumpkin and square things obsession. This week I needed to make a cake for my cake decorating class that I am taking, and I decided that since EC and I don't really need a whole 8 in. cake I would make a 6 in. cake. This left me with leftover batter, so I made cupcakes, which we are eating, so now that I think about it, it is still the same amount of cake. Sigh, another good idea gone to waste. I guess I should have thought that through better.
To make these little gems I simply used one of the first pumpkin cake recipes that came up in my Google search. They are pretty good, but it is the cream cheese frosting that makes them amazing, I think. But I have also recently discovered that I really like cream cheese frosting, not as much as EC does, but it is pretty yummy.
Pumpkin Cake
From This Site

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 large eggs
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups pumpkin puree or cooked mashed pumpkin

Preparation:

Combine sugar, vegetable oil, and eggs in a large mixing bowl; mix well. Sift dry ingredients into a separate bowl; stir into oil mixture, beating well. Stir in pumpkin puree.

Pour batter into two greased and floured 9-inch round layer cake pans (or two six inch cake pans and 1 cupcake pan). Bake at 350° for 35 to 40 minutes (less for cupcakes, be sure to check them often). Turn out onto racks to cool. Frost pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting and eat.

Rich Choclate Pumpkin Truffles

I was looking through a Lindt truffle catalog a while back and I saw an advertisement for Pumpkin Truffles. Chocolate and pumpkin combined, two of my favorite things. And I am obsessed with Lindt chocolate - I have even been to a Lindt chocolate factory. But, alas, Lindt Pumpkin Chocolates are not in my budget, so I thought I would give them a whirl at home. My first attempt was last weekend. I googled a recipe and the same recipe came up over and over. I thought to myself, "everyone is making this recipe, I want to try a different one." So I found a different recipe for pumpkin truffles and I was excited to try it. So after taking over a half an hour to melt the chocolate, my truffles were ready to be dipped. I dipped one, tried it, and almost had to spit it back out. Way too much ginger!! Ugh, I shudder at the thought.

So, I thought to myself, "maybe I will try the other recipe." So I did. Much better. So. Much. Better. Easier to make too. So, I gave all of the yucky ones to EC, which he happily ate (shudder), and I plan on indulging in the good truffles.

Rich Chocolate Pumpkin Truffles

From the Internet

2-1/2 cups (about 62) crushed vanilla wafers
1 cup ground almonds, toasted
3/4 cup sifted powdered sugar, divided
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup (6 ounces) NESTLE® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels, melted (follow melting direction on NESTLE package)
1/2 cup LIBBY'S 100% Pure Pumpkin
1/3 cup apple juice

Directions

COMBINE crushed cookies, ground almonds, 1/2 cup powdered sugar and cinnamon in medium bowl.
Blend in melted chocolate, pumpkin, and apple juice.
Shape into 1-inch balls. Chill.
Dust with remaining powdered sugar just before serving.

Elegant Chocolate Torte

Once again we had a birthday at my workplace. These people, they keep having birthdays. Seriously. This cake I was more than happy to make though, because it was for my part time office mate, and I really like her, she makes me laugh. And when I asked her what type of birthday treat she liked, she said all kinds, as long as it didn't have bananas or nuts in it. I could have hugged her for her simplicity and wide range. This allowed me to try a recipe I have been eyeing for a long time but couldn't bring myself to make it for just EC and I, because, in all reality, we shouldn't eat a four layer cake between the two of us. That isn't to say that we couldn't, but we really shouldn't.

I had so much fun making this cake. I loved curling the chocolate - mostly because all of the curls that didn't turn out had to be eaten immediately, or at least that is what I told myself. I thought the cake itself turned out ok. The filling was a homemade pudding, and the only type of pudding I have ever experience was the Jello brand, and I have to say, I am a bigger fan of the Jello brand, so maybe next time, for simplicity's sake I will use boxed pudding. But then I would feel like it wasn't completely homemade. What an internal dilemma.

And the drama with this cake - when I went to Winco to pick up chocolate syrup to make the cake, they didn't have ANY! The entire shelf was empty of all chocolate syrup! They had strawberry, crackle, carmel, hot fudge, but no chocolate syrup. So I had to go to a different store. And then when I got home I found some chocolate syrup in the fridge, which has led me to the conclusion that it is time to clean out the fridge and take stock of what is in there that is usable.

Elegant Chocolate Torte

From Taste of Home

Ingredients:
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1-3/4 cups milk
1 cup chocolate syrup
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

BATTER:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1-1/4 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup baking cocoa
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cups chocolate syrup
1/2 cup water

FROSTING:
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup chocolate syrup
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions: For filling, in a small saucepan, combine flour, sugar and salt. Stir in milk and syrup until smooth. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly; cook and stir for 1-2 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat. Stir a small amount of hot mixture into egg; return all to the pan, stirring constantly. Bring to a gentle boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in butter and vanilla. Cool to room temperature, stirring often. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Stir in vanilla. Combine dry ingredients; add to creamed mixture alternately with syrup and water. Beat just until combined. Pour into two greased and floured 9-in. round baking pans. Bake at 350° for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks to cool. Cut each cake in half horizontally. Place one bottom layer on a serving plate; spread with a third of the filling. Repeat layers twice. Top with remaining cake. In a mixing bowl, beat frosting ingredients until stiff peaks form; spread or pipe over top and sides of cake. Yield: 16 servings.