Happy Birthday to you...

Sometimes being able to bake something that impresses people can be the most wonderful thing in the world. Not everyone understands the love that goes into something, that it could easily take 5 hours to make a cake from scratch, that there are skills and challenges in every attempt.

And most importantly, people don't realize that you could put in all this effort and have a massive failure on your hands. I am so glad that wasn't the result this week when I took on the challenge of making a birthday cake for a co-worker.

Let me preface this by saying, I have never made a multi-layer cake and had it turn out pretty. I almost never make layer cakes because of this but I was not going to let the stop me when I found a recipe for a Salted Caramel Chocolate Cake.

OMG! So f'in good!

Are you ready? I think you are. Now there was a tiny little warning at the bottom of the recipe that said "This cake is a lot of work". I would like to go on record and say that was an understatement, but that all of that work was well worth it! The cake was a huge success and when the left overs made their way to the office kitchen they were gobbled up. When I went to collect my carrier there was a note.."This cake was delicious, can I please have the recipe."

That is the best compliment!

Salted Caramel Chocolate Cake

Prep 3 8 or 9" cake rounds - butter, the put in parchment rounds, butter again and then flour
Preheat oven to 325

3/4 c. cocoa powder
1 1/4 c. hot water
2/3 c. sour cream
Mix together in a bowl until completely blended, then set aside

2 2/3 c. flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Sift together in a bowl and set aside

3/4 c. (1 1/2 sticks) softened unsalted butter
1/2 c. vegetable shortening
Blend together until creamy and smooth using your beater blade (mine never got perfectly smooth)
Add 1 1/2 c. sugar
1 c. firmly packed brown sugar
Cream together
Add 3 large eggs at room temperature one at a time
1 Tbsp vanilla
Mix together until smooth - remember to scrape down the sides to make sure everything get mixed together

Alternate additions of the flour mixture and the cocoa liquid mixture

Divide between the three pans, spread out in the pans then tap the pans a couple of times on the counter to get some bubbles out.

Place in the oven and bake about 30 minutes (until toothpicks come out clean)

While the cakes are baking you have a good amount of work to do.
Salted Caramel Sauce
1 c. sugar
1/4 c. water
2 Tbsp light corn syrup
put in 2 qt sauce pan, stir together without splashing. Then turn the burner on high and just let the mixture come to a boil and boil until it is a light amber color. Remove from heat and let it cool for a minute or so (it will darken)
While you are cooking that mixture - heat up 1/2 c. heavy cream and 1 tsp sea salt (I did this in a double boiler so I didn't have to watch it like a hawk) stir to make sure the salt is dissolving
Once the caramel mixture has cooled for a minute add the warmed heavy cream mixture and 1/4 c. sour cream
Stir and pour into a heat proof container. Let it come to room temp and then cover and refrigerate.

Next!
Another caramel sauce
1 c. sugar
1/4 c. water
2 Tbsp light corn syrup
Stir and then put on high heat - cook until it is a light amber color. Remove from heat and let cool for a minute then add 1 1/2 c. warmed heavy cream

Put 1lb of dark chocolate pieces (chips and chopped chocolate) in a large heat proof bowl. Once you have the caramel sauce cooked and slightly cooled, pour it over the chocolate. Wait a minute or so and then start stirring the mixture so the chocolate melts.

Transfer the chocolate caramel mixture into your mixer bowl and turn the mixture on low to keep it moving. Do this until it is cool to the touch (this took over an hour for me) then add 2 c. of unsalted butter cut into cubes (using your beater blade).

Once the butter is incorporated and smooth, switch to the whisk blade and whip until the frosting is light and fluffy.

Construction of the cake
Put some frosting on the plate or container so the cake won't move around then put 1 cake layer on, top with 1/4 c. of the first caramel sauce and then top that with a round of frosting. Repeat all the way to the top layer.

I put all the frosting in a really large zip lock bag and snipped a big bit of a corner off (I didn't have any pastry bags that were really big so this was my easy cheat). This makes it really easy to frost this cake. I make a nice big swirl on each layer and then smooth over with an offset spatula (knife).

Oh yeah - because I am lazy I decided to melt some dark chocolate and just drizzle it on some parchment paper to make the decorative stuff on the top.

I didn't put the cake in the fridge and it didn't seem to need it (if it was warm outside I might have).

Good Luck and Enjoy!

Everyone has one.. here is mine

No picture this time, because to be honest I was in a mad dash to make it happen. Everyone raves about them, they are very delish but they turn out a little different every time. What is the mystery treat? Chocolate Chip Cookies of course! Mine are a slight variation of the Toll House brand cookie but then what recipe isn't a slight variation on this classic concoction?

Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 2 sticks cold butter
• 3/4 c. sugar
• 3/4 c. brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 1/2 c flour
• 6oz chocolate chips (or chopped high quality dark chocolate..my fave)
• you decide if you want to be nutty or not but no more than a half cup chopped (I would pick pecans over walnuts any day)

Put the butter in your kitchen aid and let it blend with the paddle until soft (you can skip this and use soften butter but this does change the texture). Once soft, cream in the sugars. Once combined add the eggs (one at a time) and vanilla.

Sometimes I sift my dry ingredients together but most of the time I don't. I just add the salt and baking soda to the mixture and then add the flour (don't over mix once the flour is in or you will get tough cookies). Then I stir in the chocolate chips.

Almost always yields exactly 3 dozen cookies. I use a cookie scooper that I think is 2 tbsp.

Bake 350 for 11-14 minutes - depending on your oven.

I always line my pans, sometimes with parchment sometimes with aluminum foil. You will find you get a slightly different result from each material. Aluminum tends to let the edges get more crispy and oddly enough can sometimes take longer to cook on.

Enjoy!

A girl on a chocolate mission...

Baking to celebrate seems logical, right? A girl at my office recently was hired permanently after years on the books as a temp. I promised her that in celebration of her hiring I would make her cupcakes. Her request? Chocolate with cream cheese frosting, easy enough! Except, wait, hold up! I don't have a good chocolate cake recipe, could it be?
It could be and it is! I spent my morning combing the web for a good recipe with the perfect balance of easy and tasty. I trust Ina Garten and tried her "chocolate syrup" cupcakes..they were a little disappointing. (Ina's are the short cupcakes, they have an odd texture and a really sticky crown)

I don't know where I found the recipe I ended up using, it was a combination of a few different recipes really. And it's pretty darn tasty (I haven't even frosted them yet), the recipes yields exactly 1 dozen cupcakes.
It is so good it might be my new favorite recipe - plus it's super easy!
Are you ready?

Chocolate Buttermilk Cupcakes
1/2 c. vegetable oil
1 c. buttermilk
1 t. vanilla
1 c. sugar
1 t. vinegar
1 1/2 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
1 t. salt

Mix the wet together with a beater and then add the dry ingredients, mix until blended. use cupcake liners and fill about half way. You should get exactly 12.
Bake 350 for 20-25 minutes (mine were done at 20) don't over bake!
These are delicious and not dry at all.

Now all I need to do is frost.. maybe I'll post frosted pictures but you've all seen a frosted cupcake before.

The downside! I started a new diet so while I tasted both cupcakes I need to leave it at that and stay away. Time to clean the kitchen!

Luck O'the Irish?

I'm not Irish, or at least I don't think I am, but this year for St. Patty's I've decided to embark on a new frontier...Baking with Beer! I love beer, I love brown beer, I love dark ales, I love stouts, so why not bake with them?
They won't be frosted until tomorrow but the cake is delish! Very moist with a nice crumb. I am by no means a master cup cake baker, or cake baker for that matter. This batter proved no different. It was easy enough to throw together and it smelled heavenly in the oven. I knew I was going to be pleasantly surprised when I tasted the batter and found it scrumptious.
This is not a chocolaty cake, and I wouldn't really say that it tastes like Guinness, I might try making it again without the cinnamon so that I can get more beer flavor. The plan is to frost with a simple cream cheese frosting (you know the one, 8oz cream cheese, 4tbsp butter, a tsp vanilla, 5 cups or so of powdered sugar..just beat the crap out of it until it is the right consistency).

Chocolate Stout Cupcakes
4 eggs
1 cup plain thick yogurt (greek style) or sour cream - they taste different in the batter but its a preference thing
12 oz guinness at room temp (or other dark stout)
4tsp vanilla
1 cup cocoa powder
2 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cinnamon (optional)
12 tbsp melted and cooled butter

Heat oven to 350
Prepare your vessels (I used cupcake liners this time but sometimes I use paper souffle, also called nut, cups) you don't need to butter or flour these but if you want to make a cake with this batter, grease your pan then line with parchment paper and grease the top of the parchment then dust the pan with cocoa powder (since this is a chocolate cake)
Melt butter in the microwave (don't go crazy here..just melt it)
Whisk together the eggs and yogurt (or sour cream), add guinness and vanilla.
Sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa, soda and cinnamon
Add dry to wet (1/3 at a time) either with a hand mixer or a stand mixer with the whisk attachment
Once all the dry is completely mixed into the wet slowly pour the melted butter in while still blending
I like to use a 1/4 cup scoop (cookie scoop, ice cream scoop whatever you call it, it has a sweeper to get all the batter out) to fill my cups, if I am using souffle cups they get a little more than this but this is the perfect size for cupcakes.
Bake 20-25 minutes - follow your nose, when you smell baked good fairly strongly they are probably done and ready to be checked. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out with some crumbs.
Cool on a wire rack and frost as desired.

If you are baking a cake I would say you probably should start with 30 minutes but again, follow your nose!

That was my fun little st. patty's day tribute for the year. I might still bust out some corned beef and cabbage.
It's been a while since I have posted. I had a fun little adventure teaching a co-worker to make spice cake from scratch but blogging wasn't part of the equation. Hopefully life will situate itself so that blogging becomes a little easier.

Eat up!

(update the next night.. frosted little beauties! One day I will learn how to frost and decorate..maybe...it takes more patience than I have)

Homemade Hot Fudge...for PMS..

It's hot as heck in Southern California today but those lovely hormones that bounce around monthly in women have compelled me to make and devour the best hot fudge ever.

When my American dream starts to unfold, I will be hosting an online community that brings together my customers and the world wide web in ways never done before. I also intend to regularly post recipes in the store and offer suggestions to those looking for easy to dos, delicious delights, and impressive treats!

But for today.. I will post my super secret (no more) hot fudge sort of recipe.. good luck with it.. it's really easy, I promise!

2 - 4 ounces of good semisweet dark chocolate (I use Scharfenberger from San Fran)
1/4 - 1/2 cup heavy cream (this one will really be as needed to get a good creamy consistency)
2 tbsp sugar (again this is sort of to taste but start with 2 tbsp, I generally think I end up with 3)

Put this is a small saucepan and heat over low/medium heat until melted and smooth - be patient, this will take time. Stir continuously. It will likely take about 5 minutes to get it totally smooth. Do Not Boil or Simmer - just allow to melt over low-ish heat.

When completely melted and smooth add the following

2 tbsp butter (it's best to use butter here rather than margarine) stir until completely melted

remove from heat and add

1 tsp vanilla

Pour over ice cream, cake, your fingers! It's really oh so very good. Put any left overs in a covered container and refrigerate up to 1 week. To reheat put desired amount and microwave safe container and heat for 30 seconds or less.

I think it is almost better the next day!

If you make it, let me know what you think!