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Tuesday, 6 September 2011

The cake for our 2 year

 So I wanted to make Marshall a special cake for our 2 year anniversary (which was last week Thursday, September 1st).

I couldn't find a recipe that worked for me, or something that fit all my requirements so I pull from 5 different recipes and made a cake up.

I guess it would be called something like Triple Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake. I'm not sure if I love that as a name, but it's a start. I'll see if I can come up with something that makes it sound just as decadent as it was (any suggestions I'd love to hear them!).

In any case I'm really happy with how it turned out and for one sort of cake it is it's a perfect treat and a seriously delicious cake! 



Hershey's Special Cake

3 oz. Chocolate Chips
1/4 cup Butter
3/4 cup Sugar
1 Egg
1/4 teaspoon Salt
3/4 cup Flour
1/2 cup Milk
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 tablespoon White Vinegar


Heat oven to 375.

Melt the chocolate chips, set aside to cool slightly.

Mix together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat well. Stir together flour and salt.

Add to butter mixture; alternating between the flour mixture and the milk. Beat well until blended. Add chocolate beat until smooth and blended.

In a small cup mix baking soda and vinegar. Stir until baking soda is devolved. Add to batter; beat until blended.

Pore batter into 6''-9'' spring form pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until tooth pick comes out clean.


Chocolate Chunk Pecan Brownie
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup butter or margarine
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup chopped pecans


PREPARATION:
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 13x9" baking pan. In medium saucepan over low heat, melt butter. Add sugar, vanilla and eggs; blend well. Add flour, cocoa and salt; mix well. Stir in chocolate and pecans. Pour into greased pan.

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until set. Cool 1 hour or until completely cooled. 

 

Peanut Butter Frosting:
1 cup whip cream2 1/2 cups icing sugar
1 cup peanut butter
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix everything together adding a little bit of whip cream at a time to get to desired consistency.

Chocolate Mocha Frosting:
1/2 teaspoon instant coffee crystals
2 teaspoon hot water
2 cups icing sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 tablespoons butter
2 to 4 tablespoons milk

- In a small bowl dissolve coffee in hot water.
- Add remaining frosting ingredients; beat until smooth. Add enough milk for desired spreading consistency.

Cherry Chocolate Frosting: 
1/2 cup chocolate chips
2 teaspoons oil
Reserved 2-3 teaspoons cherry liquid

In a small saucepan, melt chocolate chips and oil until smooth, stirring constantly. Add enough cherry liquid for desired dripping consistency; beat until smooth.


Assembling and order of cake:
1) Bake the cake
2) While the cake is in the oven start on the frostings
3) Bake the brownie
4) While the brownie cookies finish up on all the frostings and set aside
5) Wait until the cake is cool then cut in half
6) Pipe a thick layer of peanut butter icing on the bottom layer of the cake
7) Cut the brownie into pieces and put a layer of brownie on top of the peanut butter frosting
8) Put mini peanut butter cups in between the brownie pieces (the peanut butter frosting will oz a little, but it just adds to the cake so don't worry)



9) Spread all of the mocha frosting on top of the brownie layer and in the cracks between the brownie pieces
10) Put the top layer of the chocolate cake on top
11) Drizzle a layer of the chocolate cherry frosting over the top of the cake until it starts to run down the sides. Let the frosting set a little and then repeat that as many times as you like to get as thick of a top frosting layer as you like.

This cake may seem like a lot of effort and a lot of steps but it's seriously easy and so worth it!!

Baking My Way: Pillsbury Chocolate Chip Yogurt Cookies

I LOVE these cookies! If you don't oven cook them they are the softest sweetest, melt in your mouth goodness! You might think you'd taste the yogurt and that would turn you off from these cookies but you don't notice it at all. It just adds to the softness of the cookie which is alright by me! I think these are a must try! I think they would also be good with chocolate covered raisins.


I give these a 5! They are some of the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever made! (1 being "I'll never bake them again" and 5 being "They are now one of my favorites")

Ingredients

1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup shortening (I used butter)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup nonfat plain yogurt (I used vanilla)
1/2 c mini choc chips (I just large ones, I like them better!)

Directions
Heat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, combine sugar, brown sugar, butter, and shortening; beat until light and fluffy.

Add yogurt and vanilla; blend well. Stir in chocolate chips.

Drop by teaspoonfuls 2" apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake for 8-12 min or until light golden brown.

Sunday, 4 September 2011

Savory Sunday

Wow! You guys really bright your A game this week! There were so many recipes I wanted to try in there! It was hard picking but I have some seriously tasty features this week, yum!!

I picked a couple of zucchini dishes because I got the mother of all zucchinis this week while thrifting. The MCC stores out here are full of fresh garden grow goodness this time of year!  (I'll post a picture yet! It's half the size of me!!)

Now here to these great recipes and the party!

Garden Lasagna from Hungry Homebody

Chicken Meatballs from Tools for Kitchens

Zucchini Noodles from Mrs. No-no Knows

Homemade Tortillas from Like Mother, Like Daughter

Yogurt Honey Mustard Chicken Tenders from From Which Things Grow

Here's how it will work:

1) Link up to the link below (link as many as you want but try to link something savory if you can)
2) Grab the Savory Sunday button and put it in the post you are sharing
3) Leave a comment after you post
4) I'd love for you to become a follower if you're not but it's not a requirement :)




Friday, 2 September 2011

Baking My Way: Grandma's Thumbprints

These cookies are sinful. Not sure why they'd call them Grandma's Thumbprints when they taste that good. They are a rich and very nutty (or at least the way I made them) cookie. I will most definitely make these cookies again and I think they made it to Marshall's favorites list (of this baking challenge).

You are supposed to make these cookies smaller and crush up or even grind up the pecans but I liked them this way. I think I would try to make them smaller next time that way I don't eat so many of them! One cookie was pretty sweet! (but I loved every bite of it!) 



Cookies
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup butter
2 eggs, separated
2 cup flour
1/8 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans

Frosting
2 cups icing sugar
1/8 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter, softened
1/2 tsp vanilla
1-2 tbsp milk



Cookies:
Heat oven to 325F.

Combine brown sugar and butter; beat until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks; blend well. Add flour and salt; mix well.

In a small bowl slightly beat egg whites. Shape dough into 3/4'' balls. Dip in egg whites; roll in pecans. Place on cookie sheet 2'' apart. With thumb make indentations in center of each cookie.

Bake for 12-15 minutes.

Frosting:
Combine all frosting ingredients, adding enough milk for desired consistency; blend until smooth. Spoon or pipe frosting into center of each cookie.

Thursday, 1 September 2011

Health Tip Of The Week: Hand Sanitizer The Villain


With all the flues and colds we deal with every day, and especially this time of year there is now hand sanitizer everywhere! Almost every shop or business I go into has it on their desk or somewhere for you to use. But you should know more about this product before using it!

The ingredient Triclosan (which is in almost all hand sanitizers) has been linked to liver and kidney failure, abnormal cell growth, it causes a resistance to antibiotics, and is linked to allergies and reproductive system problems.

It kills germs alright, but it also kills the good germs that fight off the bad ones!

Also on the American Medical Association website they don’t even recommend using antibacterial hand soaps.

This knowledge is out there, but you’re not going to find it if you don’t look a little!

What to do instead? What we should be doing anyways: wash our hands with regular soap and water; a lot! Wash them-of course-when you go to the bathroom, come home from shopping or work, and before and after cooking.

Hand sanitizer might be quick but think of your long term health!

(these stats are from the Centre For Disease Control)

Tuesday, 30 August 2011

Baking Goal: Hummingbird Cake


Don't you want to eat this whole cake just by looking at it!
Check out the the recipe at The Cozy Little Kitchen

Monday, 29 August 2011

Super Blueberry Lemon Muffins


These muffins are wonderful!! They're the right balance of sweet, soft and fluffy, and I love the sugar coating on top. They're a serious treat in the morning!

Muffins
2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Rind of 1 lemon
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Lemon Butter Topping
1/4 cup melted butter
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar


Muffins:
Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and lemon rind.

Beat egg; add milk and butter

Add egg mixture to dry ingredients. Stir until just mixed (batter will be lumpy). Stir in blueberries.

Fill muffin pans/liners 2/3 full.

Bake at 375F for 20 minutes.



Topping:
Combine melted bitter and lemon juice. Measure sugar in separate dish. Dunk tops of slightly cooled muffins into lemon butter and then sugar.

Makes 16 medium muffins.
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