Dare to try someone else’s favorite | Chocolate cake with fudge frosting

It’s time for us to try another family’s favorite recipe. It might mean stepping out of our chocolate cake comfort zone because if you’re like me, you have your own favorite way of making chocolate cake and cupcakes. And your favorite frosting.

Since I’m not much of a cake eater anyway, the only one I make is heavenly chocolate cake with snow frosting. It has Miracle Whip in it which keeps the cake nice and moist. My favorite frosting is the white, sticky, marshmallow-like frosting that we call snow frosting (you may know it as 7-minute frosting). But last fall at the Minnesota Blogger Conference, my friend Michelle shared with me her recipe for margarita cupcakes and we got to talking about chocolate cake. She told me that her family’s favorite is a chocolate cake that she makes with sour cream. The dense, fudgy frosting is her favorite part.

In the picture below, I baked a dozen in my tiny tart pan and piled three into a cupcake tower topped with shaved white chocolate and mini chocolate chips.

I was skeptical. Everyone thinks their chocolate cake is the moistest — kind of like how every fisherman thinks he guts and debones a fish better than anyone and that there are “no bones in fish that he cooks” but there are always bones. (My dislike for bones is reflected in “Buffalo chicken dip for people who don’t like bones or blue cheese“.)

The cupcakes were a hit! I brought them along on our Easter weekend to Minneapolis and the kids (and moms) ate them up. I actually liked the frosting better the second day so it was a perfect treat to bake and frost the day before we left. Thank you, Michelle Hals, for sharing your family favorite with us.

Chocolate cake with fudge frosting

4 oz. unsweetened chocolate (4 one-ounce squares)
1/4 cup butter
1-2/3 cups boiling water
2-1/3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
2 eggs
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350°.

In a small saucepan over low heat melt chocolate, butter, and boiling water. Stir until melted and smooth. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl stir together flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.

In a small mixing bowl, beat eggs with a whisk and then whisk in the sour cream and vanilla until smooth.

Slowly add the melted chocolate mixture to the dry ingredient mixture. Stir until combined.

Now add the egg mixture to the cake batter and stir until silky smooth.

Pour into a 9×13-inch cake pan and bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes. You can also make two round cakes (bake for 35-40 minutes) or approximately 2-1/2 dozen regular cupcakes (bake 25 minutes).

The frosting is extremely generous so go crazy especially on the cupcakes!

FROSTING
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar
1 (12-oz.) package semi sweet chocolate chips, melted
2-3 tablespoons milk

Over low heat, melt the chocolate chips. Set aside to cool slightly.

Beat shortening and butter with an electric mixer until smooth. Add vanilla. One cup at a time, add the powdered sugar. Once the chocolate is cooled a little (just make sure it’s not hot), pour into the frosting mixture. Add milk as needed to get to your desired spreading consistency. Frost the completely cooled cakes or cupcakes.

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Put your eggs in one basket, baking with room temperature eggs

This Christmas, I gave each of my sisters a ceramic egg crate like this one from west elm. I use mine (pictured below) to keep eggs from rolling onto the floor when I’m bringing them to room temperature for baking.

This brought up the topic that a few people in my family didn’t know — using room temperature eggs in some recipes lends itself to successful baked goods, especially those that contain high fat content (which is mostly the kind I bake) and recipes that require whipping egg whites. The simplest explanation I found is on the American Egg Board’s website. Read it here.

Bringing eggs to room temperature only requires 20-30 minutes of sitting out. You do not want to beat cheesecake batter with cold eggs. They’ll curdle the cream cheese faster than a mass exit on the last day of school. And there is nothing you can do to smooth it out again. (Which is why you also want your cream cheese at room temperature when you mix cheesecake batter.)

Using room temperature eggs doesn’t seem to affect cookies or traditional cakes, but everything blends nicer if eggs sit out for 15 minutes or so before baking. For recipes that call for cold eggs, you still want to use eggs straight from the refrigerator.

Use room temperature eggs to bake Reese’s^® Salted Cheesecake, Andes Mint Cheesecake, and the ever popular Chocolate Explosion Cheesecake.

Reese’s Salted Cheesecake

Happy baking!

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{Boozy Sweets from the Big City | Margarita Cupcakes}

Pull up a bar stool. Or an office chair. Maybe even a reclining Adirondack chair by the pool. Because no matter where you indulge in these margarita cupcakes, you’ll be transported to a dreamy beach lined with sandy towels and sun-baked flip-flops.

Just hope no one steps on a pop-top and has to head on back home.

If you like margaritas, you’ll enjoy these light little cakes spiked with tequila and a twist of lime. Top them with a generous helping of the tart, salty frosting and it’s like licking the rim of your icy margarita.

The recipe is new to me. A fellow blogger from the Minneapolis area, Michelle Hals, shared it with me at Minnesota Blogger’s Conference. The recipe comes from her parents who got it from her dad’s cousin when he made the treats for a high school reunion. Michelle just started a new blog at http://www.michellehals.com so stop by and say hi. She also blogs at http://shelbellescraps.blogspot.com.

Thank you for sharing this family recipe with us, Michelle.

I lovingly call Minneapolis the big city because I live on an acreage in southwest Minnesota. I used to live in the Twin Cities and I love it there.

Margarita Cupcakes

Makes 18 regular-size cupcakes with generous frosting for each.

1 box white cake mix

7-1/2 ounces original margarita mix

2 ounces tequila (or triple sec if you prefer)

1/2 ounce orange juice

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

3 egg whites

Preheat oven to 350°.

In a medium bowl, add all ingredients and beat on medium-high until fluffy. If you prefer, use triple sec in place of the tequila. The important thing is to use a total of 10 ounces of liquid. Line a regular cupcake pan with papers or grease with non-stick spray. Bake 20-25 minutes or until toothpick or cake tester comes out clean. Transfer to cooling rack.

Simple Lime Syrup (optional)

If you’ve read my blog for a while, you know that I am not a huge fan of cupcakes because they aren’t usually as moist as I like. I found these cupcakes to be a little drier than I like, but an easy solution is to add the following simple syrup:

1 cup fresh lime juice

1 cup sugar

Combine the lime juice and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar completely dissolves. Bring it to a boil and continue to boil for 3-5 minutes until it becomes a golden color. Cool. Poke holes in the cupcakes with a toothpick. Using a pastry brush, generously brush the syrup over the tops of the cupcakes. Let soak in for 10 minutes and then frost the cupcakes.

Salty Lime Frosting

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

5 cups powdered sugar

3-4 tablespoons lime juice (use 3 and add more if needed for spreading consistency)

1/2 teaspoon salt

couple dashes of green food coloring if desired

In a medium bowl, cream the butter. Add the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the lime juice and salt, beating until desired spreading consistency. Add small amount of green food coloring if desired.

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Do you like your margarita rim salty or sweet?

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{I Was a Better Than Sex Cake Virgin}

Although the names and variations of this caramel cake are as broad as Pink’s hair color, the dessert has been a family tradition for some people for so long they can’t imagine there are people trying it for the first time. For me, it was only a few years ago. My friend, Caitlin O., shared it with us at work and even though I was “cake reluctant,” I slid my fork in it and with one sticky bite I was hoping not everyone in the department knew we had cake = more for me.

The recipe graces pages of community cookbooks, from fundraisers, employee-submitted, family heritage, etc., but to find Better Than Sex Cake in a church ladies cookbook, you’ll find it under a discreet name like Better Than Anything (or Almost Anything) Cake, Better Than Whatever you Wanna Call It Cake, or Heath Cake.

I know, I know – some of you have been reading my blog long enough to know I don’t like cake. Especially the kind you poke holes in and pour in Jell-O or pudding. But this is different. It’s sweetened condensed milk and caramel. You use your favorite caramel ice cream topping. (Like the butterscotch one I drink from a shot glass when I make Chocolate Explosion Cheesecake.) Are you with me?

Better Than Sex Cake

1 box (13 x 9-inch pan size) German chocolate cake mix, and ingredients to bake the cake

1 can (14-ounce) sweetened condensed milk

1 jar (approximately 17 ounces or so) caramel ice cream topping

1 tub (8-ounce) whipped topping, thawed

1 package (8-ounce) chocolate toffee pieces (I use Hershey’s Heath Milk Chocolate Toffee Bits)

Bake the cake according to package directions.

As soon as the cake is done, pull it out of the oven and poke holes in the cake with the handle of a mixing spoon. (I use a long-handled lemonade-stirring spoon.) Immediately pour the sweetened condensed milk evenly over the cake and repeat with the caramel topping.

Let the cake cool in the refrigerator until completely cool. Top with whipped topping and put back in the fridge. Immediately before serving, generously sprinkle the toffee bits on each slice. Store in the refrigerator.

Plan to share this cake because it’s best within 24 hours.

Will this be your first time eating Better Than Sex Cake? Do you have a different name for it?

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{I’ll have my cake but only eat the middle, chocolate peanut butter layer cake}

Having a love affair with baking means trying new recipes. But by no means does it mean you will like everything you bake. Has this ever happened to you?

You find a recipe that has you dashing to the store to pick up items you don’t keep on hand, (for me that’s whole milk and buttermilk), you spend a few hours in the kitchen gingerly assembling what you think will have you and your family fighting over the last slice, only to take the first bite and remember you don’t really like cake anyway. So what made you think THIS one would be so special?

It happens to the best of us. I chalk it up to “practice makes perfection” in the kitchen. My most recent incident happened with chocolate peanut butter layer cake. I don’t really like cake because I think it’s usually too dry, but this recipe had me at nutty peanut butter mousse layer. As it turns out, that was the only part I liked so I ate it out of the middle and tossed the extra calories in the trash.

If you like cake, peanut butter, and chocolate, there’s a good chance you will savor this extra sweet treat. Click here for Paula Deen’s Lipsmackin’ Chocolate Peanut Butter Layer Cake. The recipe was published in Paula Deen Best Desserts 2009.

I really liked the nutty peanut butter mousse (using creamy peanut butter instead of crunchy), so I may use it as a filling for my heavenly chocolate cupcakes with snow frosting.

Since Jason was crunching on celery while I was digging out the middle of the cake, he spread some of the mousse on his celery. That’s what’s so fun about working in the kitchen, you can go from chocolate layer cake to a new version of ants-on-a-log. And it’s ok, and probably healthier, not to like everything we bake.

Nutty Peanut Butter Mousse

1/2 cup peanut butter morsels

1-1/4 cups heavy whipping cream, divided

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (the recipe calls for crunchy but I like creamy)

1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar

In a small saucepan over low heat, melt peanut butter morsels and 1/4 cup whipping cream. Stir until mixture is melted and smooth. Stir in peanut butter and let cool.

In a small bowl, beat remaining 1 cup of whipping cream at high speed with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. It works best if you use a glass or metal bowl that you’ve chilled in the freezer along with the beaters. Add the confectioner’s sugar 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until stiff peaks form.

Gently fold the whipped cream into the cooled peanut butter mixture. Cover and chill. Use as filling for cupcakes or celery.

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What’s something you couldn’t wait to bake and it turned out you didn’t enjoy it as much as you thought you would?

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{…you scream! | Frozen grasshoppers with mint fudge sauce}

Wait! Before you think you don’t have the right pan to make this minty, fudgey, kids-love-it treat, you can make this easy recipe in a traditional 13×9-inch cake pan.

As a matter of fact, I’ve always made my grasshopper ice cream dessert in a cake pan, but I wanted to try it in my mini cheesecake pans. Next time, I’ll go back to my 13×9 pan because the minis melted quicker and were more cumbersome to handle. Besides, my son who claims these are one of his favorite desserts, ate two anyway. 

So here’s how you make it:

{Frozen grasshoppers with mint fudge sauce}

1 box of your favorite brownie mix for 13×9-inch pan – and the ingredients to make them

1/2 gallon of chip and mint ice cream

whipped cream

Andes Creme de Menthe Baking Chips to sprinkle on top

Mint Fudge Sauce* 

1 cup Andes Creme de Menthe Baking Chips

1 cup whipping cream

1 Tablespoon butter

Bake the brownies according to package directions in a 13×9-inch pan. Set aside to cool brownies completely. (If you use mini cheesecake pans, bake the brownies approximately 15-17 minutes and then gently press down with a tart shaper.)

Meanwhile, make the fudge sauce. In a small saucepan over low heat, combine 1 cup of Andes baking chips, whipping cream and butter. Stir together until melted and smooth. Set aside to cool. The sauce will not be thick. Drizzle half of the sauce over the cooled brownies. Store the remaining sauce in the refrigerator to drizzle over the dessert when serving.

Take out the 1/2 gallon of ice cream and let soften in the refrigerator until it’s smooth enough to spread over the brownies. Using all of the ice cream, spread evenly over brownies.

Cover the cake pan and freeze for at least 4 hours. Cut into slices to serve. Top with whipped topping, drizzle with mint sauce, and sprinkle with Andes baking chips.

*Instead of making the mint fudge sauce, you can simply use hot fudge ice cream topping.

You can make this dessert fit your taste. Use a different flavor of ice cream and ice cream topping. Maybe even a simple vanilla bean with caramel topping. What kind will you make?

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{To-live-for Pumpkin Butterscotch Coffee Cake}

I brought this cake to work in celebration of Kari’s birthday. On Monday, Mary sent me an email with the subject line “to die for”. She wrote: “The pumpkin brown sugar cake/coffee cake/whatever it is called was extremely delicious. I told Paige that my plan to just eat half and save the rest for the next day worked for about 12 seconds. I checked your blog but didn’t see the recipe there. Please share!”

So this one’s for you, Mary! And for those of you who have thrown out all your muffin recipes except the butterscotch muffins I made for the cops, this is very similar so your recipe box is getting even lighter.

The aroma of this cake baking in the oven is intoxicating. It is THE cake you want to bake if you have guests coming, your house is on the market and you’re holding an open house, or you can’t get the smell of your kid’s hockey bag out of the back entry.

1 cup butterscotch chips

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 3/4 cup white sugar

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup pure pumpkin

1/2 cup vegetable oil

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Streusel

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup chopped pecans

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Top the cake with a sprinkling of powdered sugar.

Make it:

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a regular-sized Bundt pan. Melt 1 cup of butterscotch chips over low heat on the stove or in the microwave, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and salt. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, oil, eggs, vanilla and melted (and cooled to room temperature) butterscotch chips. Gradually stir the pumpkin mixture into the flour mixture, stirring until well combined.

For the streusel, in a small bowl, mix the brown sugar, chopped pecans, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice.

Pour half of the cake batter into the Bundt pan. Toss the streusel mixture evenly over the cake batter. Pour the rest of the cake batter over the streusel. Bake at 350° for 60-65* minutes, or until toothpick or cake tester comes out clean. Remove from oven, turn the Bundt pan upside down onto a cooling rack and let cool for 15 minutes before lifting the pan off the cake. When cake is completely cool, sprinkle with powdered sugar.

*My Bundt pan is the Pampered Chef Stoneware Fluted Pan so the bake time may be longer than what it would take in a metal Bundt pan. You may want to check the cake after 50 minutes of baking time.

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Have you fallen in love with the pumpkin and butterscotch flavor combination?

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{Black Cherry Soda Cupcakes}

Two things inspired me to create these extra moist, richly decadent cupcakes — old-fashioned, glass-bottle black cherry soda and chic & stylish cupcake papers.

I found the Olde Brooklyn Brighton Beach Black Cherry Soda at a HomeGoods® in Minneapolis. I love drinking ice-cold soda from a glass bottle. Who knows if it really tastes better or if it’s just the sentimental feeling it sparks when you pop the cap off.

The stylish cupcake liners were given to me by Sutton Gourmet Paper. I was excited to try them because the company claims that the papers keep their color and design even after baking chocolate cupcakes in them. They are right! As you can see in my photos, the liners look just as pretty after I baked the cupcakes. Thank you, Natalie!

Cupcakes are *rock stars* of the bakery world right now (although getting a run for their sugar from the current pie craze), but I’ve never really been a big fan of them. They are often dry with a big glob of frosting on top. But these are moist with the perfect balance of chocolate and black cherry flavor infused in the cupcake and frosting.

Makes 24-28 cupcakes

1 package chocolate cake mix (for 9×13 pan)

1/2 cup cocoa

3 eggs

1-1/3 cup black cherry soda

1 teaspoon cherry extract

1 cup Miracle Whip salad dressing

1/2 cup cherry flavored baking morsels, finely chopped or ground—I used my cheese grater to finely grind the chips into tiny shavings

Let’s bake!

Preheat oven to 350°. Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Beat on medium speed until blended. Fill cupcake liners* 2/3 full. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting. Store frosted cupcakes in the refrigerator.

*Note: I used square cupcake pans.

Black Cherry Soda Frosting

8 ounces cold cream cheese

5 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened at room temperature

2 teaspoons cherry extract

1 teaspoon black cherry soda

2 to 2-1/2 cups powdered sugar

In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese and butter with a mixer just until blended. Be sure the cream cheese is cold and the butter is at room temperature. Add the cherry extract and the black cherry soda. Add 1/2 cup of the powdered sugar at a time and beat just until smooth. Add more/less powdered sugar and black cherry soda until you get your desired frosting consistency.

What’s your favorite glass-bottle soda?

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{Amaretto Pistachio Cakes}

Liqueur is a staple at my house but that’s because I love to bake with it. I may be of the rare few who visit their local liquor store with a recipe for something sugary-sweet tucked away in my purse. Don’t get me wrong. I like to drink the stuff (the sweet girly drinks with paper umbrellas and fruit threaded onto mini swords are my favorite), but I guess I bake more often than I drink.  

I use amaretto liqueur in my baking quite often and a few people have asked me lately what it is. It’s an almond-tasting liqueur. Disaronno^® is the brand I usually use.

This recipe has been modified from the Taste of Home Pistachio Bundt Cake recipe.

For the cakes:

1 package yellow cake mix (13 x 9 cake pan size)

2 packages (3.4 ounces each) instant pistachio pudding mix

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup amaretto liqueur

4 eggs

3/4 cup vegetable oil

For the white drizzle:

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tablespoon butter, softened

2 tablespoons milk

1 tablespoon amaretto liqueur

1/2 cup finely chopped pistachios

Grease a cake pan. I used my Pampered Chef Stoneware Mini Fluted Pan which makes six mini bundt cakes but you could use any type of pan you wish—muffins, mini loaves, square muffins, regular bundt pan, etc. 

In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, pudding mixes, water, amaretto liqueur, eggs and vegetable oil. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.

Pour into the greased pan(s). Bake at 350° for 30-35 minutes, if you are baking small cakes, or until cake tester comes out clean. Just watch them closely so you can adjust your baking time to the pan size you are using. If you are baking one cake in a bundt pan or 13 x 9 pan, bake for 60-70 minutes.

Cool completely.

To make the amaretto drizzle, combine the powdered sugar, butter, milk and amaretto in a small bowl. Mix on low speed until combined. Add more milk to reach desired consistency. Drizzle over cake. Lightly sprinkle with chopped pistachios.

Do you have a favorite baking recipe that uses liqueur?

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Frosting for the Cause | Chocolate Mint Mascarpone Cupcakes

I’ve been excited for this day to come since I signed up to post a recipe and a cancer awareness story at Frosting for the Cause. Although no one ever wants to see a friend struggle with cancer, I was honored to write my friend, Paulette’s story of hope; appropriately titled, “It’s Okay to be Freaked Out”.

Please take a few minutes to read Paulette’s story and learn about the project. The post also includes my recipe for Chocolate Mint Mascarpone Cupcakes.

You may also enjoy reading some of my favorites on the site from January and February: Doves of Hope by Frosting for the Cause’s founder and administrator, Paula Kelly-Bourque; sugar-rimmed  margarita cookies in Julie’s *Margarita* Sugar Cookies; lovely chocolate and peanut butter combo in Stephanie’s Chocolate Peanut Butter Whoopie! Pies; you will never forget these cigarette cookies in Callye’s *Nanny’s* Pecan Sandie Roll-Outs; a story that will touch your heart and make you cry in Amanda’s Chocolate Orange Sugar Cookies; a lot of detail in Robyn’s *Angry Birds* and *Thank You* Sugar Cookies; beautiful Nancy’s Ribbon Cookies with Butterfly Transfers; be inspired by this baker who is truly baking a difference in  Jen’s Black Forest Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting; and the coolest pink camouflaged cookies in Callye’s Camo Ribboned Cookies.

I hope this day finds you in good health, in good hands and in the hearts and minds of your family and friends. Go pink!

 

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