Bake Me More

As a last-minute “birthday cake” I found this recipe on my iPhone while working out. Yes, I iPhone while on the elliptical…  Anyhow, one of my apps is a Betty Crocker recipe search. I was looking for a quick easy recipe to put together. I didn’t have a lot of time, or to be honest desire, so this recipe fit the bill. A plus was I had all the ingredients called for.

The recipe is highly rated on the Betty Crocker site. Some of the reviewers noted that the caramel hardened quite a bit once cooled, but I didn’t have that problem at all. The cake is very moist, but not “mushy”. It is very rich too, I do suggest adding whipped topping or ice cream to mellow out the richness of the cake a little. I served the cake warm with vanilla bean ice cream. It was wonderful.

Photo from the Betty Crocker site

(I still have to photograph the dessert and post it, but I dislike posting recipes without pictures to influence you to make it!)

Chocolate Turtle Cake

A Betty Crocker Recipe -

Ingredients:

• 1 box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® devil’s food cake mix
• 1 1/3 cups water
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 3 eggs
• 1 bag (14 oz) caramels
• 1/2 cup evaporated milk
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 bag (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips (1 cup) *I used Ghirardelli dark chocolate discs
• Ice cream or Whipped cream, if desired
• Caramel and chocolate topping, if desired
• Chopped pecans, if desired

Directions:

Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Grease or spray bottom of 13×9-inch pan.

In large bowl, beat cake mix, water, oil and eggs with electric mixer on low-speed 30 seconds, then on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour half of the batter into pan. Bake 22 minutes (25 minutes for dark or nonstick pan). Refrigerate remaining batter.

Meanwhile, in 1-quart saucepan**, heat caramels and evaporated milk over medium heat, stirring frequently, until caramels are melted. Stir in pecans. Pour caramel mixture over warm cake in pan. Sprinkle with chocolate chips. Spread with remaining batter. Bake 25 minutes (29 minutes for dark or nonstick pan) or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Run knife around sides of pan to loosen cake. Cool at least 30 minutes. Serve with ice cream, drizzle with topping and sprinkle with pecans. Store loosely covered at room temperature.

**I microwaved the caramel according to the directions on the bag. It resulted in the same product a saucepan would have.

This is actually remarkably easy to prepare. It is taken from Taste of Home and is their ”make-over” version. Made over meaning time and preparation, not fat unfortunately. I used Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Fudge Brownie for the base, and their dark chocolate chips in the mousse. Otherwise, I prepared the dessert exactly as instructed.

Chocolate Truffle Dessert

Ingredients:

• 1 package fudge brownie mix (8” square size)
• 3 cups semisweet chocolate chips (1½ bag)
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream, divided
• 6 tablespoon butter, cubed
• 1 tablespoon instant coffee granules
• 3 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 14 to 16 Pirouette cookies, cut into 1½ inch pieces

 Directions:

 Prepare brownie batter according to package directions. Spread into a greased 9-in. spring-form pan. Place on a baking sheet. Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

 Place chocolate chips in a food processor; cover and process until finely chopped. In a small microwave-safe bowl, combine 1 cup cream, butter and coffee granules.

 Microwave, uncovered, on high for 1 to 1½ minutes or until butter is melted; stir until smooth. With food processor running, add cream mixture to chocolate chips in a slow, steady stream. Add vanilla; cover and process until smooth.

 Cut a small hole in the corner of a pastry or plastic bag. Fill with ¼ cup chocolate mixture; set aside for garnish. Transfer remaining chocolate mixture to a large bowl.

 Remove sides of spring-form pan. Spread about ½ of the chocolate mixture over the top and sides of the brownie layer.

 In a small bowl, beat remaining cream until soft peaks form; fold into remaining chocolate mixture. Spread over chocolate layer. Gently press cookies into sides of dessert.

 Pipe reserved chocolate mixture on top. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.

 *Afterthoughts: I took this to a small party and found that the kids were far less interested in this dessert than the adults. I believe this is mainly due to the addition of the coffee granules. If you want a “less adult” dessert, leave those out. This was very, very rich but went over great!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have been so busy lately I haven’t been able to post. Does that make me a failure? No. Just proves that life is very busy. I have all of these aspirations to bake, and even took butter out to soften the other night… only to put it away when I realized how tired I was. I did successfully complete another 5K today, shaving close to two minutes off of my time. It was no doubt my best run yet.

None the less… Did you know that October is National Cookie Month? I had this great idea to bake a batch of cookies every day this month to celebrate… I sort of don’t think that is going to happen… lol.

I will however get me some kitchen time, soon I hope. These are some of the recipes at the top of my list:

Soft and Chewy Sugar Cookies from Bunny at Bunny’s Warm Oven

Best Yet M&M Cookies from Anna at Cookie Madness

Cranberry Pretzel Macadamia Bars from Land O’ Lakes.com (though I think I will try the Cashew Version)

Hot Little Chocolate Chip Cookies Pies  and Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookie Duo from Jenny at Picky Palate

These Chocolate-Chip Cookie Dough Cookies from Peabody at Culinary Concoctions by Peabody look awesome too!

And for a fun easy treat, these Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Pretzels from Stephanie at Stephanie’s Kitchen

Of course there are thousands of beautiful recipes from fellow foodies that I would love to create, but I should probably stick with these.

Thanks for stopping by! Sorry to be on the dismally present list lately!

If you are looking for a quick, easy yet decadent (fool em all) dessert, this one’s calling your name. I have made this before and it turns out wonderfully. I have had a packed schedule all week and while I would love to make a torte from scratch, it just wasn’t going to happen today. So improvising let me here:

Dark Chocolate Brownie Torte with Chocolate Ganache

Brownies:

• 1 Box Dark Chocolate Brownie mix – 8″ size (I used Ghirardelli)
• Oil, Eggs and Water as called for on box
• Zest of 1 Orange

Prepare 8″ round cake pan with cooking spray. Follow baking directions for fudge-like brownies and bake. When done, remove and let cool for 10 minutes then remove brownie from pan to serving dish. Prepare ganache.

Ganache:

• 1 Bar (4 oz) Dark Chocolate Baking Bar, broken into small pieces (60% cacao)
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Place chocolate in small bowl and microwave  in small.

Microwave cream uncovered on high until boiling. Pour over chocolate and stir until smooth.  Cool for 10 minutes, the ganache will thicken. Pour evenly over torte. (You can heat on the stove top as well)

Allow torte to cool completely (or you will need a spoon!) Garnish with orange peel if desired.

Of course, I had already tossed the orange peel when I got to this step, so no decor!

In just a few hours my youngest will turn 8. I cannot believe how the years have flown by. In the course of these 8 years, her “idols” have changed. First it was (ugh) Barney, then Pooh, Butterflies, Dora… and currently Panda Bears, Hannah Montana and Guitars. Her idea of the perfect birthday party would be set in China with Miley Cyrus playing a black and white guitar. We gave her a guitar for Christmas and she actually cried. We also adopted a Panda Bear in her name through WWF. She is a loving, caring and sincere, hard headed red head who knows no enemies.

Naturally, her party has to revolve around music playing Panda’s. I started tonight working on her cake for her class at school. Tomorrow I will work on the cake for her party at home (which will be on the weekend).

I can’t wait to get pictures of this first cake posted. It is a sugar cookie “pizza” cake with chocolate “sprinkles” decorated like one of those giant cookie cakes you get from the fancy mall cookie stores. These type of cakes are a tradition for me to make for school parties. I deck them out in a real pizza box and slice them with a fancy pizza cutter right there in the classroom. I will get the pics up in the morning.

Happy Birthday Kenzie Bear!!!

Update: When I began piping the frosting on for the Panda, there was a thin layer of the top that kept coming off when I pulled the tip away. So I ended up putting a thin layer of frosting down and leaving it overnight to harden. I finished it this morning at 4 am, so it wasn’t exactly up to my expectations!