Strawberry and White Chocolate Layer Cake

Another Mother's Day has come and gone. I always stress about what dessert I'm going to make for special occasions. This year was no different. I would go back and forth between different cake flavors, but then I saw it, the showstopper, the cream of the crop, the ONE. Joy the Baker to the rescue! This cake was just beautiful and looked impressive even though it was pretty easy to make. I rarely make a 3-layer cake and that's why I didn't factor in the height being too tall for my cake carrier. I was so excited about the presentation as I used roses my own mother grew in her garden. I was able to find another cake carrier that fit but the flower completely flattened and didn't look pretty at all. Oh well, I don't think anyone in my family really cares about presentation anyway as long as it tastes good.

And just because I want to, here's a pic of 12-year-old me and my mom in Washington D.C.

Please excuse the photo quality here. Family doesn't want to wait for a food blogger to take 50 pics before digging into the cake.

The recipe can be found here. I followed it exactly minus the rose water.

Orange Cupcakes + Blog Anniversary

Well, hello there! It would appear this blog turns 1 year old today. I'm making a big comeback with these orange cupcakes. My dad crowned them his new favorite, the previous being Mint Chocolate and Hot Fudge.  There is orange zest in the cake batter, orange curd filling surprise, and orange buttercream. I originally tried to do this in a cake form; maybe you remember that disaster.  It was delicious but was not very presentable. Now these cupcakes are a whole different story. They didn't fall apart and they actually look pretty decent, at least in my opinion.

So, happy anniversary to this tiny blog and if you're still reading, thank you! If you were here, I would feed you with endless cupcakes and cookies. xo, Em

Orange Cupcakes with Orange Curd Filling and Orange Buttercream

Yield: 12 cupcakes

For the cake:
1-1/8 cups cake flour
1/2 Tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 egg white
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup buttermilk
Zest of 1 orange

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in medium bowl; set aside.

Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add egg white, beating well. Add egg, beating well after. Add orange zest. Beat until blended.

Combine milk, vanilla, and buttermilk in a small bowl together. Whisk until incorporated.

With electric mixer at low speed, add flour mixture alternately with milk mixture, beating well after each addition. Fill prepared cupcake tin to about 3/4 full.

Bake 20-22 minutes, or until wooden toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in pan on wire rack 5 minutes. Remove from pan and allow to cool completely on rack.

For the Orange Curd:
1/2 - 3/4 cups orange juice from 2-3 oranges
Zest from one orange
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 large egg
2 large yolks
1/4 cup granulated sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into chunks and softened
pinch of salt

Pour the orange juice into a small sauce pan over medium-high heat. Bring the juice to a rapid simmer and let it reduce down to approximately 1/4 cup. This should take 2-4 minutes.

Transfer the orange juice to a measuring cup to cool. Stir in the zest and lemon juice.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, yolks, and sugar. When the orange juice has cooled to room temperature, whisk it into the egg mixture in a steady stream.

Place a clean bowl with a strainer over the top next to the stove.

Pour the egg and juice mixture back into your small sauce pan and set it over medium heat. Stir slowly but constantly until the mixture has thickened to a pudding-like consistency - about 6-8 minutes or until the mixture is 180 degrees.

Strain the mixture into the clean bowl to remove the zest and any bits of cooked egg. (Alternatively, you can leave the zest in the curd for a chunkier texture.) Stir in the butter and the pinch of salt while the curd is still warm.

Place a piece of saran wrap over the curd so it doesn't develop skin and chill in refrigerator up to 2 hours.

For the Orange Buttercream:
1/2 cup (1stick) unsalted butter, room temperature but still able to hold shape
3-4 cups powdered sugar (start with 3 and add if not thick enough)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/2 Tablespoons fresh-squeezed orange juice, plus more if frosting needs thinning

Place the butter in a large mixing bowl and cream. Add 3 cups of the sugar, vanilla extract, and orange juice. On medium speed of electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy, about 3-5 minutes. Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes). If it becomes too thick, thin with more orange juice.

Cream Cheese Pound Cake with Lemon Glaze

It's officially March and I couldn't be happier! February was not a great month at all. I'm hoping March brings happier times and warmer weather. I usually love the cold weather for the simple fact that I love to wear my many coats (I'm obsessed), but I'm so over this cold weather now.  Being a grownup and having a heating bill is another reason I welcome the warmth. Duke Power, you are on my hate list.

I'm starting this month off bright with a delicious cream cheese pound cake from one of my favorite bloggers, Joy the Baker, topped with a bright and tart lemon glaze.  The trick to this pound cake, and most baked things, is not to over bake it, which I did the first time I made it.

The glaze is a perfect mix of tart and sweet, but of course you could use any kind of glaze you want.

If you really want to bump up the lemon flavor, you could add some lemon zest to the pound cake batter.  This recipe makes one 9x5-inch loaf or 3 mini loaves.

Happy March!

CREAM CHEESE POUND CAKE
Source:  Joy the Baker Cookbook

2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 large eggs


Preheat oven to 325*, making sure a rack is in the center. Grease and flour a 9x5-inch loaf pan or 3 mini loaf pans.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until soft and pliable. Add butter and sugar and beat until fluffy, approximately 3 minutes. Add the vanilla and mix until blended, then beat in the eggs one at a time.

With the mixer on low, slowly add in the flour mixture and beat until just incorporated. Stop the mixer and finish folding together the batter with a spatula.

Spoon into your prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes. Rotate the cake, and if it's browning too quickly, move to an upper rack. (For the mini loaves, I baked at 15 minutes, then rotated and baked another 15-20 minutes.)

Bake for another 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan for 20 minutes, then transfer onto a wire rack to cool completely.

It should last for up to 4 days at room temperature, well wrapped.


Lemon Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar
2-3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice


Mix together the powdered sugar and lemon juice and whisk until smooth.  Drizzle over cooled cake.  

Cookies and Cream Cupcakes

I didn't plan on posting these until later, but they were pretty popular on my Facebook so here they are! These have been on my list of cupcakes to make for the longest time and I don't know why I waited so long. I think an Oreo dunked in Oreo frosting is the new Oreos and milk, at least in my house. If you are not a fan of Oreos, you could just leave out the Oreo crumbs and have a chocolate cupcake with cream cheese frosting. That's what I had to do for my mom since she dislikes Oreos. I know, can you believe it???

Chocolate Cupcakes

Yield: 18-20 cupcakes

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 cups sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup warm water
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons Canola oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350*. Line muffin tins with liners and set aside.

In a large bowl, sift together cocoa powder, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add in eggs, warm water, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla and mix until well incorporated.

Spoon batter into the muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full. Bake for approximately 15 minutes, or until tops spring back when touched. Transfer cupcakes to a wire rack and let cool completely before frosting.

Cookies & Cream Frosting

Source: Your Cup of Cake

1/2 cup butter, slightly softened

8 oz cream cheese, cold

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3-4 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup finely crushed Oreos

Beat butter and cream cheese for 3 minutes. Add vanilla extract and slowly add powdered sugar until you reach your desired consistency. Gently stir in your crushed Oreos.

Happy Holidays

 

Christmas Eve is finally here!  I've been baking away the past few days and I really hope Santa brings me a dish washing elf.  I hope all of my readers have a wonderful holiday filled with family, friends, and delicious food!

xo,

Em

p.s. I made this red velvet cake with chocolate trees. More on this later.

Chocolate Gravy and Biscuits

Well, I took a little hiatus, but now I'm back with chocolate so hopefully you can forgive me. Chocolate gravy has been a favorite in my family for as long as I can remember. It's a very southern thing, so some of you may be be scrunching your nose and saying "ewww" like my teacher did in 11th grade when I mentioned chocolate gravy. You may be thinking it is a savory gravy with chocolate, but it's pretty much a dessert gravy, very sweet. My grandma would make this almost every time my cousins and I spent the night with her and it was one of the highlights of the visit. She, of course, made her own delicious biscuits and you could too, but this time I just used the Pillsbury biscuits.

Before we get to the recipe, here are some festive pics. It's always exciting when it's time to put up the tree. Pretty lights and sparkly colors.

I went with some friends to look at Christmas lights and Nessie was there! 

I could swim in that chocolatey goodness!

Chocolate Gravy
Yield:  About 2 cups

5 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
3 heaping Tbsp. flour
2 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa
2 cups of milk

*My grandma always used a cast iron skillet for this and so do I. You could use a saucepan if you don't have cast iron skillet.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, and cocoa; set aside.

Over medium-low heat, melt the butter in skillet. Whisk the dry ingredients into the melted butter and cook 1 minute, but don't let it burn. Next, start with 1-1/2 cups of milk and gradually stir into the butter mixture.  Continue whisking until it comes to a boil and thickens. This could take a while; you will get an arm workout, ha!  If it becomes too thick, gradually add more milk until you reach a pourable but somewhat thick consistency. Serve over warm biscuits.

It's Just a Bunch of Hocus Pocus

Happy Halloween! I look forward to this holiday every year. I hardly ever dress up in costume, but the pumpkins, fun food, and horror movies on TV make it exciting. I'm a horror movie fanatic, but my favorite Halloween movie will always be Hocus Pocus and below is my favorite scene in the movie.



These cauldron cupcakes are inspired by Winnie, Sarah, and Mary. I'm not the most artistic, but I tried my best to make them look similar to a bubbling cauldron. I just used my favorite chocolate cupcake recipe and marshmallow buttercream frosting. You can find the recipe here.  I used some green food coloring for the bubbling part and then a tiny drop each of green and yellow to make the swirl.

I also decorated a few with candy corn since I had so much of it. I used the same chocolate recipe.

We had a pumpkin carving party and I brought these pumpkin cupcakes, but used a basic cream cheese frosting.

I'm all for the fun-size chocolate candy bars you usually get in treat bags, but I thought I would make some Red Velvet Rice Krispie Treats this year instead. I wouldn't have traded these even for Kit-Kats as a kid. They are so good!

Red Velvet Rice Krispie Treats

Source: Pass the Sushi

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 (10.5 oz) bag of mini marshmallows
3/4 cup red velvet mix
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 cups Cocoa Krispies

Line 9x13 pan with parchment or wax paper and coat with cooking spray.

Melt butter in a large sauce pan and mix in marshmallows, red velvet mix, and vanilla extract, stirring constantly until marshmallows have melted. Fold in cereal until well combined. Transfer to prepared pan, pressing down until top is level. Let cool completely and cut into bars.