Carrot Cake for Two

February 4, 2013 By 1 Comment


It’s not my fault. It just happened.

One minute I was slicing up veggies to make lunches for the week and the next thing I knew there  were two carrot cakes in the oven. I blame the carrots. I was chopping away and I started thinking about how sweet and delicious those carrots were going be be when they were all roasted up with the broccoli and the cauliflower. They were begging me to make them into a dessert. So I may have accidentally on purpose left that one really big carrot in the sink and then packaged up all of the other veggies. And the apples were out too, waiting to be baked into oatmeal breakfast muffins, so I needed some of that in there too.  [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bread, Desserts, Snacks Tagged With: , , , , ,

Chocolate filled Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

September 22, 2012 By 2 Comments

I love autumn. Halloween and Thanksgiving. Leaves changing and big fat pumpkins. And the smells!! Apple cider and pumpkin pies. That being said, I keep picking places to live that don’t really experience all four seasons. I really miss autumn and those smells. I keep lingering in front of Starbucks hoping to catch a whiff of an autumn brew.


During the last week of August I told J that it was almost time to put up the Halloween decorations and he said no. Can you believe that? I mean, come on it was almost September which means it was almost October, which means it’s almost Halloween so it’s totally time to decorate, right? I don’t see any flaw in that logic but apparently he did. Grrr. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Desserts, Holiday Baking Tagged With: , , , , ,

DIY Cake Stands

June 24, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Cake stands are pretty. They are elegant. They just make food look better, right? And they don’t have to just be for cake! They make appetizers look more appetizing and desserts look dainty. There is just something about elevating food that literally elevates it.  That being said, cake stands are kinda spendy.  Well, at least the pretty ones are.  And if you want to have say, three or four cake stands for food and put them out on a table in a nice display, well that can be even spendier.  So why not make your own?

You can make it any color you want. Any height. You can stack and stagger to make them multi tiered. Really the possibilities are endless! Get creative folks.  You’ll need a base, a plate, some sturdy glue,  a ruler or measuring tape and a marker and some heavy books.  And possibly some spray paint and embellishments like ribbon and such.

Check out places like dollar stores and thrift stores (value village, goodwill) for plates and bases. I picked up two plain white plates that I liked because they had frilly edges for $1 each.  For bases I picked a small vase and an embellished planter pot ($2 apiece) . You could also use different glasses, bowls, candle sticks.

Assembly is easy.  Use a ruler to mark the middle of your plate. Clean the plate and your base to prepare for gluing. I used a little bit of rubbing alcohol but check the directions for the glue you chose. Apply the glue to rim of your cup, vase or planter and put the cup down on the plate. Top with a few heavy books and leave to dry. Go do something else.  Do not be impatient like I was and knock the plate off the stand and have to start over because you can’t stop checking to see if it’s dry yet. I was going for a pink and white theme so I didn’t repaint, but a few light coats of spray paint and you could make these any color you wanted! Gorgeous!   I added a pink ribbon and bow using scrapbooking glue dots. And then of course I had to make a big tall cake to put on top of it!

Like I said the possibilities are literally only limited by your imagination! Today I realized there are tons of these on pinterest too! If we weren’t getting ready to move (again! I know, what’s wrong with me?!) I’d be busy making oodles of these!

Happy Eating!

~Nikki

Filed Under: DIY Crafts Tagged With: , , , ,

In Search of the Perfect Chocolate Cake

May 15, 2012 By 1 Comment

Do you use cake mix? Or make it from scratch? I’ve always been a fan of the cake mix. I add things to it. I make fancy frostings and decorations. I make piggy pop cake pops. But I usually stick to the mix for the basic chocolate or white cake.  It’s a little funny I suppose because I insist that everything else must be homemade. I don’t particularly like to take shortcuts. But usually I’m using cake as a part of something else and not making cake for the sake of cake so I look at the cake mix as an ingredient more so than a mix. Plus I can never remember to buy cake flour (easy substitute, btw if you’re forgetful like me, swap two tablespoons of corn starch for two tablespoons of all purpose flour for each cup of flour a recipe calls for).

And I found this amazing cake mix. I mean really, it is the moistest, most delicious chocolate cake ever. And it comes from a bag.  J loves it. I make something with this cake mix every week almost. It’s gotten so bad that we make excuses to make cake. And then stand in the kitchen and eat it while it’s still cooling on wire racks.  No big deal, right? Why mess with what’s already perfect and delicious, right?

But we’re moving and now I don’t know if I’ll be able to purchase that cake mix still. And I use it all the time. So I have to figure out something that tastes similar. And is hopefully just as easy. Okay, well I’m probably not going to get a chocolate cake recipe that’s as easy as just adding eggs, water and oil, but a girl can dream right?

My first attempt at making my own version of this cake turned out really good. But the chocolate isn’t quite right. It’s more like a semi-sweet chocolate taste and I’m going for a rich cocoa taste. Not that this recipe isn’t worth sharing with you. It’s a dense, slightly brownie like cake. It just means I have more tinkering with chocolate cake to try. I’m not quite sure how to modify it to get that taste that I’m looking for. Oil instead of butter?  A different brand or more cocoa? More eggs? Any suggestions are welcome!

In the mean time, try this the next time you are craving a chocolate cake and enjoy!

Happy Eating!
~Nikki


Print
Chocolate Cake
Author: 
Recipe type: dessert
Serves: 24 cupcakes or 2 8″ rounds
 

Ingredients
  • ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • ½ cup boiling water
  • 2 cups cake flour, sifted,
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 ¾ cup sugar
  • 1 cup butter
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • ½ cup plain yogurt

Instructions
  1. In a small bowl, sift cocoa powder and add boiling water. Mix until well combined and set aside to cool.
  2. In another bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt and stir to mix the ingredients well.
  3. In a third, larger bowl (I know, this already has three bowls, it’s definitely not as easy as cake from a mix, but it’s yummy, I promise!) beat the butter until fluffy, about three or four minutes and then add the sugar and continue to beat for another three or so minutes. Add the vanilla and one egg at a time, beating each egg until it is well combined (it shouldn’t look slimy or shiny) before adding the next egg.
  4. Get that cocoa mixture that you set aside and resist the urge to dip your finger in it and taste! It’s bitter because the sugar hasn’t been added yet. I was bad and I let J try it. His bitter face was priceless! Bad Nikki, don’t let people try things you know don’t taste good! Now, add the yogurt to the chocolate and whisk together (I need a mini whisk, not that a fork doesn’t work just fine for this, but aren’t mini kitchen implements much more fun?!).
  5. Now, back to the butter and eggs. With the mixer on low add a scoop of the flour mixture and mix until well incorporated. Then add some chocolate mixture and repeat and scrape sides of the bowl. Continue alternating until everything is in one bowl.
  6. Scoop the mixture (about ¼ a cup) into lined muffin tins or pour into two greased and floured 8 inch round pans and bake on the center rack at 350F until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. 20-22 minutes for cupcakes or 30-35 minutes for cakes.
  7. Place on wire rack to cool completely and top with your favorite frosting (I made raspberry buttercream but just about anything goes with chocolate cake, right?)

Filed Under: Desserts, Misadventures Tagged With: , , , , ,

Cake Makes Everything Better

May 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment

I absolutely had to share this delicious cake with you! Not long ago I ducked into the upper elementary staff room at my school and they insisted that I join them for cake. Those ladies are always trying to feed me. I swear, they want to fatten me up.

Anyways, cake here can leave a lot to be desired, it’s usually very dry and the icing is usually waxy. Ech. Oh but this cake. This delicious cake. It had this delicious creamy custard frosting and filling. But that’s not why I wanted to share this cake with you. What I really wanted you to see was what is ON the cake.

Do you see it? Those are Kit Kat candy bars along the outside of the cake! How clever and ingenious is that? Because now you don’t have to worry about how pretty the frosting on the the outside of the cake is because you can just pretty it up with candy bars. The coordinating ribbon was also a lovely finishing touch and helped to keep the candy bars in place.

And really, who doesn’t want a side of candy bar with their slice of cake?

It has me thinking, what clever ways could I jazz up a cake? You?

Let them eat cake! And candy bars too!

Happy Eating!
~Nikki

Filed Under: Desserts, DIY Crafts, Randomness Tagged With: , , ,