Mocha Frosted Chocolate Cake

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On Memorial Day, we had a few of our close friends over for a little BBQ. The evening was enjoyable, filled with food, cornhole and a backstabbing game of phase10 twist. However, the evening was also a bit solemn as we said goodbye to two of our closest friends, Adam and Leslie Bean. A fabulous couple whom we feel privileged to have known these past 6 years. Adam was recently accepted to Johns Hopkins University so they will be moving to Baltimore after spending the summer at an archeological dig in Jordan. 

I have never been good at saying goodbye to those I love. I usually end up awkwardly changing the subject. To this day I cringe when I remember my response to my favorite youth pastor of all time when he and his wife told me they were moving away... 

"You're moving? Well, you sure didn't give us much time to throw you a going away party!" This is what I really wanted to say, "But, I love you! Why are you doing this to me! You can't go!"

As you can see, I am definitely not one for goodbyes. So, what is my secret to dealing with them now? Cake!

You can tell my degree of sadness by either the size of the cake or the amount of sugar added to it. I think the picture above should clue you in on how much we love the Beans.

This recipe is from the May issue of Real Simple magazine which had a section devoted to different cake, filling, and frosting combinations to mix and match. 

This is what I came up with...

Mocha frosted double layer chocolate cake with white chocolate chips and chocolate shavings on top. If that doesn't make saying goodbye easier, I don't know what does.

Chocolate Cake Ingredients: 

1 c. unsalted butter

3/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder

2 c. all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1-1/2 c. sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

3 eggs

1-1/2 c. milk

Chocolate Cake Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter two circular pans, line with parchment paper, butter and sprinkle with cocoa powder.

Mix butter and sugar on high until fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs. On low, slowly add flour, then milk, flour, then milk, until all ingredients are mixed together. Pour batter into pans and bake until toothpick comes out clean.

I used two 9-inch round pans and baked them for 30 minutes. Let the cake cool completely before trying to remove from the pan.

Coffee Frosting Ingredients:

1 tbsp. instant coffee powder

1 tbsp. hot water

2 c. butter

1 lb. powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Coffee Frosting Instructions:

Combine instant coffee powder and water. Stir until powder is completely dissolved. Set aside. In a large bowl, mix butter on high until fluffy. Slowly add sugar, coffee mixture, vanilla, and salt. Mix on low until smooth. 

I ended up adding a second 1/2 batch of the coffee mixture to my icing (because I really like coffee), if you do this you must also add a little bit more powdered sugar or your icing will be too runny.

Frosting Tips:

1. Frost the top of the first layer, then stack the layers.

2. Frost the top of the cake before moving to the sides.

3. Allow the icing to firm in the fridge before adding toppings.

I hope your cake tastes as delicious as ours did. Happy baking!

Google Recipes

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A guest post from a very talented individual Jack and I have had the pleasure of getting to know over the past 2 years. I love this new feature on Google. If you haven’t tried it yet, give it a shot. It is fabulous!

I am Mary Jackson, friend of Tiffany and co-worker (and friend) of Jack. I was talking with Tiffany about a blog post I was writing for the Milligan library blog that related to cooking. Tiffany suggested that it might be a good choice for her blog (which I love). 

 

This spring Google launched a new feature, Google Recipes.  I stumbled across it when I was craving lemon meringue pie. I did a regular Google search for lemon meringue pie, then realized while scanning the recipes that I didn’t have a required ingredient, cream of tartar. I went back to revise my search and what did I see:

I could now filter my results: by ingredients that I did (or did not) have, by cook time and by calories. WOW! I quickly clicked the NO box next to cream of tartar and instantly I had a new list of recipes that did not require me to make a trip to the store. The best part is you don’t have to do anything. If you type search terms into the regular Google search box and it yields results including recipes, the recipe features automatically pops up on the left hand side of the results. I love it! And the lemon meringue pie made without cream of tartar? Delicious.

Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Balls

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-the kitchen curtains

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One of my favorite guilty pleasures growing up included a tub of peanut butter, a jar of jelly, and a spoon.  Yes, I realize this is ridiculously unhealthy but how can you resist? Luckily, my peanut butter cravings have diminished enough for my husband to not be completely disgusted by me, however these tiny treats take me back to my love affair with peanut butter.

Ingredients:

1 lb. powdered sugar

1/2 c. butter

2 c. peanut butter (smooth or chunky)

1 package of dipping chocolate (almond bark brand works well)

Instructions:

Blend peanut butter and butter with mixer. Add powdered sugar.

If you use smooth peanut butter try adding corn flakes to the mix and taking out a little bit of powdered sugar. This gives you a more subtle crunch than you would get with crunchy peanut butter and it just happens to be my favorite way to eat peanut butter balls.

Shape dough into 1-1.5 inch balls and place on a cookie sheet.

Ok, this next step is IMPORTANT...once all the balls are rolled place the sheet in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. The peanut butter must be firm before coating with chocolate or they will fall apart.

Melt dipping chocolate in a double boiler. You can microwave if your chocolate allows but read the directions carefully. 

I do not own a double boiler so instead, I put a glass bowl on top of a pot of boiling water to melt the chocolate. This works well, but be sure the two are a good fit. You want to avoid letting out steam that will get into your chocolate and cause bubbles.

Next, drop a couple of peanut butter balls into the chocolate at a time, use two spoons to move the peanut butter balls around until coated. Carefully drop onto wax paper and let cool.

 

I know that seems like a lot of writing to explain this process but it's really very simple, waiting to eat the finished product is the hardest part. Enjoy!

Pecan Tarts

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I made these tasty pecan tarts this weekend, recipe courtesy of momma Mary, for the Chamber Youth Leadership graduation reception at Milligan. These mini tarts are quick and easy to make, not to mention they taste phenomenal. Great for any shower or large get-together.

Ingredients:

Shell:

1/2 c. butter

3 oz. cream cheese

1 c. flour

Pecan Filling: 

2 tbsp. butter

3/4 c. brown sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

1 egg

1 c. chopped pecans

Instructions:

Starting with the shell, blend butter and cream cheese. Once blended, add flour and mix. Dough will be crumbly. 

Mix dough into 1.5 inch balls and place each in muffin slots on a mini muffin pan. 

Use a mini-tart shaper to press down in the middle of the dough, pushing the dough up along the sides of the pan. 

If you do not have a tart shaper, like me, use the end of another tool from your vast array of cooking utensils. I used the blunt end of a pizza cutter.

I also flattened out the edges of my dough, pressing them into the side of the pan so there would be more room for filling.

Now to the filling... 

Mix all filling ingredients except the pecans with a blender. 

Once ingredients are combined, pour in 1 c. of chopped pecans and mix with a spoon.

Now, fill your tart shells with the filling. Fill only to the top edge of the shell. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes and voila! Mini pecan pies. 

A few tips: 

1.) You do not need to grease or spray your muffin pan prior to filling with dough. The butter in the dough keeps it from sticking.

2.) If you have trouble getting the pies out of the pan, use a thin piece of cardboard or a thick piece of paper to slide along the edges and it will pop right out. 

3.) Dust the end of your dough-pressing tool with flour to keep it from sticking.

4.) Although small, these are fairly rich so you really do not need to make them any bigger than mini-muffin size.

Happy baking!

My First Catering Gig

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-the kitchen curtains

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I love summer and I love Saturdays and today is both (at least summer break, even if the weather is still spring). I am currently sitting at my kitchen table, cookbooks haphazardly strewn about, coffee in hand, laptop playing Feist, and way too many baking supplies crowding the already crowded counter tops. 

I always seem to have great expectations for my summers. You would think a break from all the classes and studying that normally consume my days would free up some time, however, that does not seem to be the case so far. 

My list of things to do looks something like this:
1.) finish Avynlea's blanket before she arrives: Due date T-one month
2.) cut a sew 50 yards of fabric into table runners for Kelly's wedding
3.) finish at least 1 of the 3 wardrobe transformation projects originally intended for the blog 2 months ago
4.) read the book Ellyn sent me
5.) practice my violin so I continue to shame my instructor
6.) fix the curtains in my kitchen
7.) make curtains for the spare room instead of the sloppy draped fabric that's been there for 2 years now
8.) finish my picnic quilt

The list goes on, but I think that gives you a good idea. Back to the point of this post...my boss asked if I would be interested in catering this Chamber Youth Leadership graduation ceremony on Monday. Because I love to bake, and can't seem to turn down a challenge, I eagerly agreed. So, this weekend, my list will have to wait. 
Here's what I am making:

-red velvet cake cookies with powdered sugar coating

-shortbread cookies with cream cheese frosting, sprinkled with cocoa powder

-pecan tassies (mini pecan pies)

-chocolate covered peanut butter balls 
-homemade cheesecake layered brownies

-sparkling pineapple/orange punch
So far this morning I have made red velvet cookies and pecan tassies. Included are a few pictures. You can find the red velvet cookie recipes here. The shortbread is basically the same recipes as my Rummy Shortbread Cookies, minus the rum. I know, big disappointed sigh from my readers, but high school students and parents, I figured it's better to not chance anyone being offended.

I stole the pecan tassie and the peanut butter ball recipes from my mom-in-law. Thanks mom!

I am freezing the juices from my punch into two flower-shaped rings for the punch bowls and putting my home-grown mint leaves into the mix. I think it will turn out very nicely (will post a picture here once it is frozen so keep checking back).   I'll be sure to post the pecan tassie and peanut butter ball recipes shortly for you all when my oven isn't beeping at me. Have you ever catered an event for 75-100 individuals? Feel free to leave any tips you may have. Wish me luck!

Rummy Shortbread Cookies

I made these cookies for our New Year's Eve get together this year and they were a hit. The cookie is a simple shortbread recipe that takes about 10 minutes to throw together and the frosting was a combination of ideas from Linda (Aunt Willies Wildflowers) and the Pioneer Woman. You can see her original hard sauce recipe here.

I also made these more recently for a catering event and added chocolate shavings to the top, making the shortbread look much more elegant. 

Cookie Ingredients

2 c. butter
4 c. flour
1 c. white sugar
2-3 tsp. vanilla extract (I always put more vanilla)

Cookie Prep

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Soften the butter. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add vanilla. Add flour. Mix well. Place dough balls onto a non-stick sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Some recipes have you cook these longer but they tend to harden once you pull them out of the oven so I like to pull mine out early so they are still somewhat soft.

The frosting combines Linda's powdered sugar frosting and the Pioneer Woman's idea to add liquor to the mix, she uses whiskey, I went for rum.

Frosting Ingredients

1 stick of butter
1-1.5 c. powdered sugar
2-3 tbsp rum

Frosting Prep

Barely soften the butter and mix it around in the bowl. Add in the powdered sugar. I don't normally measure this out. When Linda makes her frosting she uses more of a pour and stir, pour and stir effort until you get the consistency you want to frost with. Once that is all mixed together, add in the rum. This is really to taste so you might as well start out slow and taste as you go until you are satisfied.

Before you frost the cookies make sure they are cool. If the cookies are not completely cool you will have runny rum sauce all over the place.

Once cool, frost the cookies. My last addition to these cookies was to add a dusting of cocoa powder, really yummy addition. You could also try coffee grounds, brown sugar, chocolate shavings, the possibilities are endless.