Noah's Chocolate Birthday Cake

Chocolate cake is not my favorite thing. Is it yours? I feel like it tends to be dry and just doesn't interest me. So when I asked Angela what flavor Noah would like for his birthday cake I cringed when she said "chocolate or strawberry". I would have normally gone with strawberry but he's 4 and likes firetrucks and I thought the pink cake would clash with the truck. So that leaves chocolate - sigh. I started by telling you that so you'd understand that when I tell you I ate an entire piece of this cake, it is seriously not a normal thing for me! This one turned out so moist (gross word but best cake texture), rich, chocolatey...and even though it weighed a ton (I think 'cuz of the cars on top!) the cake was very light - not easy to do with a chocolate cake. I'm pretty sure that, once again, the secret is filling it with stabilized whipped cream (are you tired of my mentioning stabilized whipped cream yet? HA!).

I made a doctored up boxed triple chocolate chip cake mix (extra egg, scoop of sour cream, dash of vanilla, small box of chocolate pudding) in 2 9"pans. Let them cool; meanwhile, make 2 cups of stabilized whipped cream (click here for the recipe) and buttercream frosting. Divide the buttercream so you can dye a small portion red for the name, leave enough white to frost just the top of the cake, then add cocoa powder to the rest to make chocolate frosting.

After they cooled completely, put one layer on a serving plate and tuck small pieces of parchment or waxed paper under the edges all the way around to keep the plate clean while decorating. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a big open tip with the chocolate buttercream frosting and pipe a fat circle on top of the cake layer around the top edge. This creates a dam to keep the whipped cream inside the cake. Then spread lots of whipped cream inside the frosting circle on top of the bottom cake layer. Top with second layer and frost the top with white frosting, and the sides with chocolate buttercream.

To decorate I searched for a firetruck but of course couldn't find one...I did find this set of little trucks tho and one is a firetruck so I changed my plan a little. Using a smaller round cardboard circle to mask the top of the cake and keep it clean, I sprinkled crushed chocolate wafers around about 1.5" of the outer top edge - then lifted off the cardboard and piped his name in red frosting using a small pastry tip. To finish I piped big swirly stars in a pattern around the top and bottom (using them to hold the trucks from tipping off the cake - the cookie crumbs made it so the cars wouldn't stick!), then put thin oreos around the bottom (they reminded me of tires)...of course when Noah saw the cake the first thing he did was pull oreos off hahahah.



PS: I washed the trucks before putting them on the cake!

PPS: I added some seedless strawberry jam to the top of the bottom layer of cake before the whipped cream to tie in the second flavor he likes, but everyone said they couldn't taste it at all and wouldn't bother adding it next time. Did it help make the cake so moist? Maybe, but you really didn't notice it so...I'll leave it up to you if you want to add it!

Buttercream Frosting:

-1 stick soft unsalted butter

-4 cups confectioners sugar

-1 teaspoon vanilla extract

-pinch of coarse salt

-milk or cream (a couple tablespoons, add a little at

a time until you get the right consistency)

cream the butter until smooth, add the

remaining ingredients and beat until smooth

and fluffy. 

Funfetti Cake Dough Brownie Layer Cake

Once again it was my sister's turn at work to bring birthday dessert ...and we know what happens when it's my sister's turn - she either buys something or asks her baking sister if she'd like to volunteer :). Last year it was Sprinkles No-Bake Cheesecake (click here for that recipe), here's what "we" (meaning me) came up with this time - 3 brownie layers sandwiched with a funfetti cake dough (unbaked! you don't use eggs in the dough so it's safe to eat raw), drizzled with chocolate ganache, topped with tons of sprinkles and a bit of buttercream decorations. Whew - it's super rich and decadent, very impressive looking, and according to my sister everyone loved it. Yay!

I followed the recipe as printed (I know, I rarely do that!), even making the brownies from scratch based on the recipe author's promise that they are delish - and they are - if you want to make brownies from a box you'll need 2 boxes. Oh wait, I did make one change and that is I used 9" pans instead of 8" and baked them for a few minutes less. I think this would also work in a 13x9 pan and just do a bottom brownie, top with funfetti dough, then another brownie layer - I might try that in the future. Here's the recipe (with any notes I made in parentheses):

Brownies:

• 1 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 3 cups sugar
• 3 teaspoons vanilla
• 6 eggs
• 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup dark cocoa
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt (note: I used coarse salt)

1. Line the bottoms of three 8" cake pans with parchment paper and grease the sides. (note: I used 2 9"inch pans, baked 2 of them reserving 1/3 of the batter and then baked the remaining 1 after removing the brownies from one of the pans...this is because I only have 2 pans!)
2. Mix together the oil, sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl. Add eggs and mix until well combined.
3. In another bowl combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt.
4. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture until well combined. 
5. Pour the batter evenly into the three pans and spread evenly. (note: this made 5 cups of batter, I took out 1/2 cup and baked it in a small ramekin (so I'd be able to sample!), each 9" pan got about 1 1/2 cup of batter).
6. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with a few crumbs. (note: bake less if you use a larger pan).
7. Remove brownies from oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then remove to cool on a wire rack. 
8. While brownies are cooling make the funfetti cake dough.

Cake Dough:

• 1 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• two boxes funfetti dry cake mix
• 1 1/3 cups flour
• 3-4 Tablespoons milk
• 4-5 teaspoon sprinkles
• 3/4 cup white chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.
2. Mix in vanilla.
3. With the mixer on low speed, add one entire box of dry cake mix, plus 1 1/2 cups from the second box of cake mix; mix until combined.
4. Add 1 cup flour, mix until combined.
5. Add milk and up to an additional 1/3 cup of flour to preferred thickness (note: not knowing what it was supposed to be like I didn't know the "preferred thickness! It needs to hold it's shape when sandwiched in between the brownies so it needs to be really thick). 
6. Stir in sprinkles and chocolate chips. Set aside.

To assemble the cake:

Once the brownies are cool you can put the layers together. Either pile the funfetti dough onto the brownies and stack, or use this method to have clean edges and sides of the cake.

1. Place 6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips in a bowl. 
2. Microwave 1/2 cup heavy cream until it starts to boil. Remove from microwave and pour over chocolate chips. Cover the bowl with saran wrap for 5-7 minutes. 
3. Whisk chocolate and cream until smooth.
4. Using one of the same cake pans that you baked the brownies in, put saran wrap in the bottom and up the sides of the pan - you'll use it to lift the layers out of the pan.
5. Place the first brownie into the bottom of the pan. Add about 3 Tablespoons of chocolate ganache (that's the chocolate and cream mixture you just made) on top of the brownie and spread into a thin layer. This will help the dough stick to the brownie. (note: I didn't use that much after I did it the first time - the ganache ran out the sides and made it messy. Just use enough to thinly coat the brownie).
6. Put half of the dough into the pan and spread evenly on top of the brownie.
7. Remove the first two layers from the cake pan and place on it's serving dish. 
8. Repeat steps 5-7 with the second brownie and remaining cookie dough, remove from pan.
9. Put more chocolate ganache on top of the dough layer from the first section of cake, spread thinly. Place the second section of cake onto the first.
10. Put more chocolate ganache on top of the top cookie dough layer and spread thinly. Top with remaining brownie.
11. Press more sprinkles into sides of cookie dough, if desired. 

To finish:

1. Place 6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips in a bowl.
2. Microwave 1/2 cup heavy cream until it starts to boil. Remove from microwave and pour over chocolate chips.
3. Cover bowl with saran wrap for 5-7 minutes.
4. Whisk chocolate and cream until it's smooth. 
5. Allow to sit for a few minutes until it just starts to thicken, then pour over the top of cake letting it run down the sides. Top with sprinkles.
6. Place cake in the fridge and make the chocolate icing.

Chocolate Icing:

• 1/4 cup softened butter
• 1/4 cup shortening
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup dark cocoa
• 1 Tablespoon milk

1. Beat the shortening and butter together until smooth.
2. Slowly add the powdered sugar and cocoa, mix until smooth.
3. Add milk and mix until smooth.

Pipe icing onto the top edge of the cake, finish with more sprinkles if desired!

*With the little ramekin brownie,  I made Dave a mini baby cake with a bit of the cake dough and ganache so he could try it...the man didn't stop raving the entire time he ate it! I quote "that's as good as it gets", and "that was over the top", and "that was unbelievable" hahahaha. Definitely a hit!

found the recipe here on Pinterest.

Birthday Party

Couple quick birthday party ideas from Brooke's b-day last weekend:

1) Jen did a "make-your-own-pizza" station on her island for the girls using pre-baked mini crusts and a bunch of toppings - I love that she set up everything down the middle of the island so they could assemble their pizzas from all around the island instead of going in a line...good thinkin'. The girls then put the pizzas on cookie sheets (2 or 3 per sheet), we baked them at 450' for about 7-8 minutes until the cheese melted and the bottoms browned.

2) For her present I wrapped and numbered 14 things and put them all in one big box that I also wrapped so it just seemed like she was getting one gift - I do this at Christmas too so everyone just has one box to open but then inside are all their gifts. I got Brooke a couple real gifts then bought silly/fun little things to come up with 14 total - candy bar, bath bomb, nail polish, etc. I numbered the best gifts #13 and #14 so she worked her way up to the good ones.

Click here for the post about her (overly sprinkled) cake!




one year ago today: beans in marinara sauce inspired by a dish we had in Greece.

She's 14!

Happy Birthday to my blogger buddy (and niece) Brooke!

She celebrated with her friends yesterday and asked if I'd make her a cake (like she had to ask, of course I will hahah) then sent me a beautiful inspiration picture of a cake she found on Pinterest and I thought "great, no pressure" but told her I'd do my best ;). It actually wasn't hard to do at all, just super super messy because of the mounds of sprinkles involved!

I baked a 2-layer doctored-up vanilla cake mix (extra egg, sour cream, vanilla, sprinkles in the batter) and made a double batch of buttercream frosting and tinted it bright pink. My favorite new thing is combining different kinds of sprinkles together to make a really cool new mixture - I literally mixed together just about every kind of sprinkle I had in my cupboard to come up with this fun idea...there's different sizes and shapes, multi-colored sugar, silver balls for sparkle - love this!

Frost the layer cake making the sides and top smooth - before it sets up pat on handfuls of the sprinkle mixture halfway up the sides. Around the top edge pipe big mounds of frosting (they remind me of Peeps!) - I did 14 mounds for her 14th birthday, then pile on sprinkles in the middle of them. I mean really pile them on! When you cut the cake sprinkles just fall off which was really cool actually and everyone loved it. They loved this cake so much in fact, that 10 girls ate the entire thing in probably 15 minutes! Seriously, I don't think I've ever had a cake just devoured like that - got home and Dave goes "there wasn't even a tiny sliver left for you to bring home?" HAHA!

Fudgy Chocolate Frosting

Made this cake for a birthday party - the request was for vanilla cake with chocolate frosting. Well I've done lots of that before and wanted to try something different; came across this old recipe from 2/2008 Better Homes and Gardens in my "to try" file and and decided it was time to see if it's a good variation on chocolate frosting...and it is! This will move to my recipe folder for sure, it's a keeper.

Fudgy Frosting

In large pan over low heat melt and stir one 12-oz pkg. semisweet chocolate pieces and 1/2 cup butter. Cool 10 minutes. Stir in 8-oz carton sour cream. Stir in 4 1/2 cups (1 lb) sifted powdered sugar; stir until smooth. Makes 4 cups.

I frosted a doctored up white cake mix with this frosting and it's really rich, thick, heavy, dense (all those kinds of words - I guess that's why they named it "fudgy"!). It's so rich and dense it almost seems like you could roll it in balls and make truffles out of it. So good...if you like chocolate that is, 'cuz it's super chocolatey haha.

For the cake: add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract to a white cake mix, substitute melted butter for the oil, and use milk instead of water. It makes a difference, you'll see! Oh, and I sprinkled a little sugar on the tops of the cake batter before baking to help them not crown in the middle so much - it works to help keep the layers flat so you don't have to trim them before frosting. This combination of cake and frosting was super easy to frost too, not many crumbs and the frosting spread easily.

served with a side of vanilla and chocolate ice cream - see how even and
 flat the layers are? sprinkling sugar on the batter before baking really helps with that.

Brownie, Oreo, and Reese's Ice Cream Cake

I asked Brooke if she wanted me to make or buy her a dessert for her birthday dinner last night (that's usually my assignment - yay!), she texted back "MAKE". I replied "did you just yell that at me?" and she said "no, I screamed it at you"! Ok then, I guess I'm making it hahaha. I laughed. Her request? Ice cream cake, any flavor as long as it has peanut butter please.

First I baked the brownie crust (using 1/2 of a boxed mix) in the bottom of a 8.5" springform pan, then put the other layers on top. Note * I will do this differently next time and bake the brownie in a different 8.5" pan, then put it in the springform pan that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray and lined with plastic wrap...the brownie baked in the bottom made the cake SO hard to get out this way! The pan really needs to be sprayed and lined before assembling the cake. Fair warning people. Other than that this is a super easy dessert to make - really you just wing it, whatever flavors you like and use your imagination for toppings and candy.

first layer of fudge, cookies and
peanut butter cups

For this one I put on a layer of chocolate ice cream (let it stand on the counter for a few minutes to soften up, then mix it well so it's smooth but not melted), put in the freezer until it's hardened up. Warm a jar of hot fudge until it's spreadable and put a layer of that on top of the ice cream followed by chopped up oreo cookies and chopped mini reese's peanut butter cups. Freeze again. Then add a layer of peanut butter ice cream (I just put vanilla ice cream in a bowl and using my electric mixer beat in a big spoonful of peanut butter - voila, peanut butter ice cream), freeze. To finish I spread a thin layer of cool whip on top, drizzled with additional warmed hot fudge (I put it in a ziplock baggie and cut off the tip to control the drizzling), topped with more chopped oreos and reese's. Freeze until ready to serve.

finished peanut butter cake

Now here's a funny thing - since not everyone at the party could eat peanut butter (Dave), I thought I'd be nice and make a second ice cream cake using the other half of the brownie mix, topped with chocolate ice cream, hot fudge and chopped oreos, topped with banana split ice cream, finished with cool whip and chocolate drizzle. Everyone except my sister ate the banana split one! Even Brooke - after she specifically asked for peanut butter. Good grief. I left both of the cakes with my sister, hopefully someone helps her eat the peanut butter one - there was a ton left!

banana split cake

top of banana split cake before the
drizzle froze to the aluminum
foil I wrapped the cake in, and then
 pulled off when unwrapping. ugh.
note to self - wrap these in plastic!

Raspberry and Whipped Cream Filled White Birthday Cake

That's a long title I know, I don't know how better to describe it though - oh, and there's raspberry buttercream frosting! OMG this is one of the best cakes I've made in a long time. It's wicked good - fluffy and melt in your mouth delicious.

I doctored a boxed white cake mix: replace the oil with melted butter, add an extra egg, and a dash of vanilla. I just read about a different technique I've never heard before, which is to lightly sprinkle sugar on top of the batter before you put it in the oven, they say it helps the cakes to not dome up too much - ok, I'll try it. Bake according to directions, I tend to pull them out a couple minutes before the suggested time. Run a knife around the edges, flip the cakes onto a cooling rack but leave the pans over top of them until they are totally cool. I feel like this helps keep them moist. Yep, the sugar on top of batter worked - cakes are pretty flat so I won't have to trim them down, yay! I poorly divided up the batter and got one cake bigger than the other (usually I measure better) so I cut the bigger one in half - it's now a 3 layer cake. If you get even layers it'd be fine to just do 2 layers - although more layers means more filling...just sayin'...

I tried a new thing - lightly sprinkle sugar on top of the
batter before baking to help keep them from doming too much. 

run a knife around the edges, flip over onto cooling
 rack - leave the pans on top of cakes until completely cool.

oops, didn't measure batter very good, got uneven
layers so I cut the taller one in half - this is now a 3 layer cake.

Now the really delicious part - filling and frosting!

-Filling is seedless raspberry jam and very lightly sweetened fresh whipped cream. I added a little scoop of the buttercream to the whipped cream but that made it break down a little, next time I will just do stiffly whipped cream.

-Raspberry Buttercream Frosting: Beat in a mixer 1cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), approx. 5 cups powdered sugar, 1 Tablespoon vanilla, 5 Tablespoons heavy cream for a few minutes until light and fluffy. Beat in a couple tablespoons of the seedless raspberry jam, then add more cream or powdered sugar to make it the right spreading consistency.

To assemble:
Put down one layer on a cake plate or whatever you are serving it on, brush with 2 Tablespoons seedless raspberry jam. To help keep the whipped cream from squishing out I piped a circle of buttercream around the top edge of the layer (over the jam) and filled with whipped cream. Top with another cake layer; repeat brushing jam, making a frosting dam, and filling with whipped cream. Put the last layer on top, cut side down. Frost the entire cake with a thin crumb coat (essentially frost the whole cake with thinned down buttercream to make the cake have a smooth base and cover up loose crumbs), put in freezer for a few minutes to set up. To finish, I frosted the sides pretty smooth (I didn't do it super perfect) and made large swirly flowers with a large 1M frosting tip. It's a very easy thing to do - just hold the tip 90' (straight down) to the top of the cake and starting in the center of each flower squeeze out frosting while directing the tip in a spiral. It sort of looks like a wedding cake more than a birthday cake haha, but it's spring and for a womans birthday so I think it's fine. You can frost this using whatever technique you want, just smooth it on or swirl it with a spoon - it tastes so good it doesn't really matter if there are swirly flowers on top!

brush bottom 2 layers with jam, pipe an edge of buttercream  on the top edge to help keep the whipped cream from squishing out. Don't overfill with the whipped cream. 

frost entire cake with a crumb coat, chill for a few minutes to set  up. 

using a 1M tip swirl spirals of frosting on top to look like flowers. 

I tied balloons onto skewers to stick in the top of the birthday cake for decoration (and to help it look
less like a wedding cake!). I made this for a friend who is having a dinner party so didn't want to stick the balloons in yet.  

I made a baby tester cake from the batter before baking - spoon out a little bit into a greased ramekin and bake along side the 9" cake layers. That way I could taste what this cake will be like!

German Chocolate Cupcakes

I have 2 BFF's that are September babies and both happen to love german chocolate cake  - L. always manages to visit me around her birthday so I make it for her, but M. hasn't figured out that I can't ship this cake very easily and if she wants it she will need to come see me haha!! I'm not even going to question if L. only visits for her cake fix...and M. this is a bribe for you to come see me, there will be cake!

I usually make this as a multi-layer cake with layers of filling but this time I decided to experiment and put the filling inside of cupcakes instead - judging by L. eating these for breakfast this morning I'm thinking it was a success!

I doctor a german chocolate cake mix with sour cream, an extra egg, less water, and mini chocolate chips in the batter; the filling is coconut-pecan (see below for recipe); the topping is basic chocolate ganache. I make the filling pretty thick so it's easier to spread and stays between the cake layers instead of squishing out.  For the cupcakes I put 2 T. of cake batter in each cup, topped it with 1 T. of filling, then added another 1 T. of batter on top - this picture is what they looked like with filling on batter and then batter on top. Bake for approx 18 minutes, cool, then drizzle ganache over top. Delish!

COCONUT-PECAN FILLING

1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
4 large egg yolks, slightly beaten
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 package (7 oz) sweetened flaked coconut
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans

Place the evaporated milk, sugar, butter, egg yolks, and vanilla in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until thickened and golden brown in color, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from the heat. Stir in the coconut and pecans. Cool the filling to room temperature before spreading, 20 minutes.

*I've used this recipe for years, I think it came from the Cake Mix Doctor. I don't use all of the cooked milk mixture so the final product is a little thicker - it's easier to spread and fill. I usually use a 2 cup bag of larger pecan pieces (chop up 1 1/2 cups of the bag for the filling, use the other 1/2 cup pecans to decorate the top of the cake), for the cupcakes I used pecan chips instead.

Sprinkles!

Saturday was the 6th anniversary for my husbands ukulele group - yep, I said ukulele group - he asked me to make chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting (the sprinkles were my idea, he's a man and doesn't care if they look pretty!). I didn't want to tell him that I feel like chocolate cupcakes tend to be dry and just made sure to watch them closely so they wouldn't overbake at all. I made the cake using a boxed mix (triple chocolate fudge - why not use a shortcut when they taste just as good as homemade!), it said to bake for at least 34 minutes and I took them out at 30, they turned out perfect. I also measured exactly 3 tablespoons into 24 muffin cups and ended up with uniform cupcakes for once (I usually just eyeball it and get some that are shorter than others!). 

Topped with homemade chocolate buttercream (click for the recipe, it's delish and that totally makes up for using a cake mix in my book. I have an aversion to store bought canned frosting - there really is a huge difference - but I don't know why that wouldn't work the same as homemade in regards to piping in on your cupcakes...but really, homemade is pretty simple and tastes SO much better - just sayin') that I piped onto the cakes using a 1M tip and a #16 decorating bag - I put the tip at an angle at the top of each cake and squeezed the bag while making a spiral pattern. 

Then came the pretty sprinkles - I have found that if I add them after frosting each cake, they tend to stick better than if you wait and do them after you have frosted them all. He didn't bring any home after the party and I'll take that as a sign they were a hit!