Chocolate Cake

This chocolate cake recipe was awesome. To be honest, chocolate cake is not my favorite, but this was really moist and really delicious. The frosting was great too, really thick and not too sweet. I used Hershey's chocolate cake recipe and altered their frosting recipe.






Ingredients for the cake:

2 cups sugar
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup Cocoa
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Stir together all of the dry ingredients. Mix in the eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla and beat for a few minutes. Add in the boiling water. Pour batter into two 9 inch cake dishes (make sure they are well buttered and flowered). Bake for 30-35 minutes. Allow to cool about 10 minutes, take them out of the dishes, then let cool completely. Frost and decorate!

Ingredients for the frosting:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
2/3 cup Cocoa
2 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt the butter. Beat in the cocoa powder. Add in the powdered sugar and milk alternatively. Add vanilla.

Yum!

-I

Mini French Silk Chocolate Pies

So it's been a while since my last post...and since I last baked. Today I made mini French silk chocolate pies (frankly, I couldn't find a pie dish so I used a cupcake pan instead).

It was fairly easy to make, and pretty tasty!

Ingredients for the crust:
1 and 1/2 cups crushed oreos
1/2 stick unsalted butter
1/2 tablespoon sugar

Preheat the oven to 375. Mix all of the ingredients until well combined. Press into a greased pie dish, or in a cupcake pan (made 9).

Ingredients for the filling:
1/2 cup butter at room temperature
3/4 cup white sugar
2 one ounce squares of unsweetened bakers chocolate
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
2 eggs

Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Melt and cool the chocolate in a separate bowl. Combine the chocolate and vanilla to butter mixture and beat again. Add in each egg, one at a time, and beat for 5 minutes until light and whipped. Put the filling in the crust and refrigerate for at least a few hours. Enjoy!

-I

Butterscotch brownies

These blondies are from my Gramu's recipe. They are gooey, moist, and absolutely delicious. They are a great treat for someone who doesn't like chocolate, but as a chocolate lover I will vouch that these are pretty damn good! I have had tried a few butterscotch brownies, but these are definitely the best.



Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup coconut
3/4 cup nuts


Preheat the oven to 350 F. Melt the butter in a pot over the stove on low heat. Stir in 2 cups of brown sugar. Take off of the heat. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Sift and add in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Blend together, then add in the coconut and nuts. Pour into a greased 9x13 inch pan. Bake until they become browned on top for about 30 min. Let cool, and cut into bars.

-Irene

Soda v Powder

My friend Samuel Patrick Cloud sent me this article...the mystery is revealed!

http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/06/what-is-the-difference-between-baking-powder-and-baking-soda-in-pancakes.html

The difference between baking powder and baking soda!


-I

Marbled Cheesecake

This cheesecake turned out really sweet, but had a great flavor. It went pretty fast...It was easy to make, but even though I used a spring pan, I had a little problem with the crust sticking to the pan...hence the sub par appearance. I altered this recipe from Baking Bite's blog.





Ingredients:
2 cups crushed graham crackers
1/4 cup sugar
1 stick of butter, melted
2-8 oz. packages of cream cheese, softened
1-14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
3 eggs, room temperature
2 oz bittersweet chocolate
2 oz white chocolate
*Alternatively you can use all bittersweet chocolate, or all white chocolate (though since white choc is so sweet, I suggest using a bit less if that's the way you go).

Preheat the oven to 350
Mix together the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter until the mixture starts to get clumpy. Press the mixture into a 9' pan (I suggest using a springform one if you have it) and bake for 10 minutes. Set aside.
Reduce the heat to 300
Melt the chocolates in a bowl in the microwave and set aside.
Beat the cream cheese in a separate bowl until smooth. Then, beat in the condensed milk. Add in eggs, one at a time, incorporating each of them. Pour half of the batter into the bowl with the melted chocolate. Alternating, pour the chocolate batter and the plain batter into the baking pan. Swirl with a knife to get the marbled look. Bake for 55 minutes. The cake will still be a bit loose; it will jiggle fairly evenly. Leave out for an hour, then refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Enjoy!

-Irene

Butter Break-up Cookies

I made these cookies for Wan as his break-up cookies, because it's easier to give someone than moral support...Joking...
This recipe for butter cookies was taken from Baking Bites. It is a simple recipe that makes basic butter cookies, but it is easy to make them look all snazzy with different sprinkles or other toppings!





Ingredients:

1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. salt
2 1/2 cups bleached all-purpose flour
Sprinkles, sugar, or whatever you want


Mix together the butter and sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy. Next, add in the egg, egg yolk, vanilla, and salt. Slowly add in the flour until the dough becomes smooth. Divide into 2-4 logs (depending on how big you want your cookies to be) and roll them into wax paper. Freeze for at least two hours (you can freeze up to a few days to make for later!).

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Slice the logs into pieces about a 1/4 an inch thick. Place on the cookie sheet and decorate! Bake for about 12-14 minutes, or until the edges turn a light brown. Cool, and eat!

-Irene

Yellow Cake with Strawberries and White Chocolate Frosting

I made this cake for my friend Berto's birthday. I thought the frosting was pretty good (REALLY SWEET) and the cake was good, but I will continue to seek for a perfect yellow cake recipe.

Ingredients for the cake:
2 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla
3/4 cup milk
strawberries (for the cake decor)
grated white chocolate (also cake decor)

Beat together the butter and sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the eggs in, one at a time. Add the vanilla. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the dry mixture to the butter mixture alternatively with the milk. Divide between two 9 inch spring form pans (or make sure to grease and flour the pans really really well.)
Bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees.


For the frosting:

6 oz of white chocolate
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup butter (softened)
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 cups of powdered sugar

Melt the white chocolate with the cream in the microwave. Then add the butter and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Gradually at the powdered sugar until the frosting becomes fluffy. You can add more or less sugar depending on how you'd like the consistency and sweetness to be.

Frost and decorate the cake as wanted!

-Irene