THE RECIPE

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Triple Chocolate Ice Cream Cake {Recipe}

My sweet little boy got his tonsils and adenoids removed the week before Easter.
So, I decided I would try to make it a little easier for him to enjoy the Easter goodies by making an ice cream cake.
(I did not, however, get great pictures of the finished product because of the recovering child, and a family that was rather eager to dig in!)

I'd never made one before, and I have to say, even though it wasn't exactly easy or quick, it wasn't really hard either. It just takes some pre-planning. In order to get everything ready, you need to plan to get the pieces in the freezer at least a day ahead of time.

What You Need:
The recipes for each of these is linked or posted below
Chocolate Cake (homemade or from a mix)
Chocolate Ice Cream (homemade or store bought)
Chocolate Fudge Sauce (homemade or store bought)
Whipped Cream Frosting
Toppings:
Go nuts! Sprinkles, crushed up candy, mini chocolate chips, crushed Oreos, fresh fruit, etc.

Click Here to Read More>>

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Chocolate Martini Cupcakes {Recipe}

Cupcakes and Cocktails. They go together perfectly. So, when I agreed to hold a little party to benefit my kids' school, I decided to make these... Chocolate Martinis with Chocolate Martini cupcakes.
(We also made some Strawberry Margarita Cupcakes, if you're interested in that recipe.)

What You Need
For 24-30 Cupcakes:
6 oz. (about ¾ cup) semi-sweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup whole milk
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)
3 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 1/2 Tbsp. cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup vanilla-flavored vodka*
1/4 cup chocolate liqueur (like Godiva)
*Note: If you want a “boozier” flavor, add ¼ cup vanilla vodka and ¼ cup plain vodka.

For the Icing:
4 egg whites (at room temperature)
1 cup sugar (not powdered sugar)
3 sticks (1 1/2 cups) butter
2-3 Tbsp. Cocoa Powder
1/4 cup vanilla vodka
2-3 Tbsp. Chocolate Liqueur

Click Here to Read More>>

Friday, April 11, 2014

Special Easter Treat Ideas

I don't know what we're doing for our Easter treats this year, but what I do know is that it will be very, very CHOCOLATE because my family gave up chocolate for Lent.
Below are my ideas from the last few years.

Easter Basket Cake

The basketweave technique looks really amazing.

This post includes video of how to make a cake that looks like an Easter Basket.

Easter Egg Cake Truffles

These are just like cake pops, but you make them with toothpicks, instead of lollipop sticks.

Easter Egg Cookie Pops

There's just something better about when you put anything on a stick.

Click the link to see how to make cookies on a stick.

Easter Cookie Bouquet

These Cookie Pops are perfect to make a bouquet.

Click this link to see how to make a cookie bouquet of your own.

The Simple Easter Egg Cake
An oval pan, some pastel colored icing... it's all you need.

Simple Spring Cupcakes

These might be a little more generically spring than Easter, but they fit the color scheme here.

Click the Links Below to See:
Vanilla Sugar Cookie Recipe
Royal Icing Recipe
How To Make Cake Pops
Spring Decorating Ideas

And don't forget, if you shop at Amazon.com through my link, you support this blog and its contents. Thank you!

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Orange Cream-sicle Cake {Recipe}

During a recent bout of strep throat in our house, my boys decided that they would live on the ice cream treat, orange creamsicles.

True to form, I decided to try to make a creamsicle cake. One of my boys has since declared it his favorite cake of all time. (Though that may just be because it's what he was eating at the time!)

What You Need:
1 white boxed cake mix
3 (large) eggs
1/2 cup (1 stick) melted butter
1/4 cup orange juice concentrate
1 cup milk (not pictured)*
1-2 Tbsp. orange zest

Cream Cheese Icing (To decorate with this "petal effect," make a double batch of icing.)

*Note: You could also use 3/4-1 cup fresh squeezed orange juice instead of the concentrate... and add 1/4-1/2 cup milk to that. I didn't have enough oranges to make that happen.

Click Here to Read More>>

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Simple, Special Cakes

Click on the video above or this link to see the segment on the Fox 9 website.

This morning, I'm headed to Fox 9 to do some "Simple, Special Cakes."

I'm going to demonstrate how to do some of the fancy finishes on cakes that look amazing, and also help to cover up if you're not the best at keeping crumbs out of your icing -- yet.

You can come learn these techniques and some others at a class this spring/summer.
I'll be in White Bear Lake Thursday, April 24 and in Northfield Thursday, June 26.

And if you're interested in my Wilton classes at the Hobby Lobby in Woodbury, check out my schedule of classes here.

Click the Links Below to See:
How To Make a Petal Cake (like Leah's)
How to Make an Easy Ruffle Cake (like Cody's)
How To Make a Ruffle Cake
Community Education Cake Decorating Classes
Wilton Classes in Woodbury, MN

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Demons in the Kitchen

So, you know how sometimes you just don't have anything new to share on your blog about baking because pretty much everything you've tried lately as ended up like this:

Or this...

Or this???

Yeah, so, I call that demons in the kitchen. And that's what's going on lately around here.

Even though I did succeed with this:

The icing still isn't right enough for me to share it with you.
But I'm still working. I have a few more ideas coming soon... hopefully.

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

One Million Visits! Thank You!

I'm really excited that I have hit a big milestone, ONE MILLION PAGEVIEWS on my blog!
Thank you for being one of those pageviews right now!!

It's kind of fun for me to see what are the most popular posts from those million views: