Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Mousse Filling

Okay, so technically this was a birthday cake (if you're reading this, happy birthday Alicia!), but it would be PERFECT for Valentine's day. It was for my mom's friend's party, and she had asked me to make the cake. She said she liked raspberries, dark chocolate, and mocha. Figuring out how to combine ingredients like those is the fun part!
I started off with a simple chocolate cake recipe. I use it for all my chocolate cakes, because it's super simple and comes out moist and delicious every time. It's one of those "wacky cakes", which doesn't take any dairy or eggs but instead uses a chemical reaction with vinegar and baking soda. So yes, if you didn't smother it in cream and butter like I did, it would be vegan :) OK, so I'm going on about how easy this is, but I really messed it up. Like, dropped-a-cake-while-pulling-it-out-of-the-oven-and-had-to-start-all-over messed it up. Oh well, it just went from simple to time-consuming!!

The filling was the hardest thing for me to decide on. I knew from the start that raspberry mousse would be a good choice, but I couldn't find a recipe. Most of the recipes call for raw egg whites, but we knew there would be a little kid there, so that was out. (By the way, she asked me to make her a "rainbow ladybug cake" for her birthday. looking forward to trying to figure that one out...) I finally found one that used gelatin instead, which was another problem for my vegetarian-ness, but it was easily fixed by swapping in agar-agar (made from seaweed but works the same way).

The frosting was a simple chocolate buttercream. The cake was not hard to put together, especially because the layers aren't crumbly at all. I used some leftover mousse to write on top, but we still had TONS left. No worries, it was happily consumed with cake scraps. Enjoy!!
*Those silver balls? Put on with tweezers. One by one. Just saying.

Easy Chocolate Layer Cake (from Baking Bites)
(a.k.a. “Wacky Cake”)
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tbsp vinegar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups cold water
1 tbsp coffee powder

Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease two 9-inch round cake pans, line with circles of parchment paper, and grease again.
In a large mixing bowl, mix flour, sugar, cocoa, soda and salt. Make three wells in the flour mixture. In one put vanilla; in another the vinegar, and in the third the oil. Dissolve the coffee powder in the cold water (or just use cold coffee for a slightly more mocha taste) and pour the water over the mixture. Stir until smooth. Divide evenly into prepared pans.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Cool in pans on wire racks for 15 minutes. Turn cakes out of pans onto a plate (or another rack), remove parchment paper, and reinvert onto racks to cool completely before frosting.
If storing overnight before frosting (they can be made a day ahead), just wrap completely in plastic wrap and keep at room temperature.


Raspberry Mousse Filling (from Cook From The Hip)
10 oz bag frozen raspberries
1 cup sugar
1 envelope unflavored gelatin (I substituted an equal quantity of agar-agar)
1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Heat the raspberries and sugar in a small saucepan. Stir until all of the raspberries break down and are heated through. Run the raspberries through a strainer and into a new saucepan. Add the gelatin to the raspberries and heat until the gelatin is dissolved. Remove from the heat and set aside.
In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, whip the heavy cream until it form soft peaks. Fold the cooled raspberries into the whipped cream.


Chocolate Buttercream Frosting (from Savory Sweet Life)
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks or 1/2 pound), softened (but not melted!)
3 1/2 cups confectioners (powdered) sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract or 1 teaspoon almond extract
2-4 tablespoons milk or heavy cream

Cream butter for a few minutes in a mixer with the paddle attachment on medium speed. Turn off the mixer. Sift 3 cups powdered sugar and cocoa into the mixing bowl. Turn your mixer on the lowest speed (so the dry ingredients do not blow everywhere) until the sugar and cocoa are absorbed by the butter. Increase mixer speed to medium and add vanilla extract, salt, and milk/cream and beat for 3 minutes. If your frosting needs a more stiff consistency, add a little more sugar. If your frosting needs to be thinned out, add additional milk 1 tablespoon at a time.


<3

Vanilla Chocolate Chip Muffins

Sometimes you really need a last-minute treat. This used to happen all the time when I was at my old school, because we had these little groups called advisings that met once a week. My advising had a snack schedule, where each week somebody different would bring in a snack. I used to realize the day before that the next day was my turn, and I had to bake a quick treat (Seeing as how I was always bringing in homemade food, it was kind of expected of me). These were some muffins that I made one night for school, and they were pretty yummy. Not the greatest muffins out there, but I had been wanting to make a recipe from the book they are in, because as you look through it you really just want to dive in to a mountain of muffins and eat your way through. They are a nice last-minute treat or breakfast (hey, muffins are the perfect excuse to have cake for breakfast). Enjoy!

Vanilla Chocolate Chip Muffins (from Muffins Galore)

2 cups self-rising flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup superfine sugar (I just use regular)
Scant 1 cup milk or semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 400F. Grease a 12-cup muffin pan or line the cups with paper muffin cups.
Mix the flour and baking powder in a large bowl. Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar and chocolate chips.
In a separate bowl, mix together the eggs, milk, and vanilla extract, then pour the milk mixture all at once into the dry ingredients. Mix briefly until just combined.
Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups, dividing it evenly. Bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes, or until well risen, golden, and firm to the touch. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack. Serve warm or cold.
Muffin tip: For chunkier chocolate chip muffins, measure 1 cup from a bar/block of milk or semi-sweet chocolate, then cut it into small chunks using a sharp knife, and use the chopped chocolate instead of the chocolate chips.
Makes 12.

Apple Pieeeee

Remember way back when I made a whole bunch of TWD recipes and posted them all at once? Well, one of those was Dorie's DELICIOUS "all-american, all-delicious" apple pie. I just wanted to give a quick shoutout to this amazing pie, which I have made many times since then and made again recently. I think it's the perfect homemade apple pie - not too sweet, nice and cinnamon-y, and full of apples. I usually don't use Dorie's crust, but that's up to you - use your favorite recipe. Give it a try!

TWD: White Loaves

This is a quick post, as I am super busy tonight. This is the first ever recipe for the new book, Baking with Julia!! I am super excited to be in this group! It was chosen by the great girls at Slush and Someone's in the Kitchen.
This was a fairly simple recipe, and probably the most successful bread I've ever made (not that I've made many). I added in a little cinnamon sugar swirl with butter when I was rolling it up. This was delicious as toast, and I will make it again in the future if I want a simple white loaf. If using the cinnamon swirl bread and wanting to eat it plain, I would recommend adding in a little more sugar to the actual dough - it was a little bland, but did have a great texture. I'm sure it would be delicious with raisins as well.
Enjoy!

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Oh. My. God. How is it that I have been baking for years, and had never tried this until this past Thanksgiving?
As you can probably guess, I spend quite a lot of time searching through my favorite blogs and cooking websites looking for recipes. People always made pumpkin cheesecake around fall, and I always thought it looked SO good! This past October, we went out for dinner to an Italian restaurant in the neighborhood. We were with some guests from Brazil who had never had cheesecake before, so of course we decided that we had to order them a slice. When we asked the waitress, she said that they had just gotten their pumpkin cheesecakes. It was meant to be! :)
When it came time to plan the desserts for Thanksgiving, I decided that instead of pumpkin pie (we always do one pumpkin, one pecan, and one apple), I was going to make a pumpkin cheesecake. My dad, the pumpkin pie lover in the family, "reluctantly" agreed. I turned to a valuable source: Food Network! This recipe was so easy and quick, which is great, especially when there are so many other things to be made. I made it gluten-free for my mamma by substituting gluten-free shortbread for the graham cracker crumbs. It was delicious! Don't tell anyone, but I may have had it for breakfast the next day... shh...
It may be past Thanksgiving and Christmas, but no time is wrong for pumpkin desserts. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Cheesecake (from Food Network)
Ingredients
Crust:
1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 stick melted salted butter
Filling:
3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
1 (15-ounce) can pureed pumpkin
3 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
1/4 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
2 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

For crust:
In medium bowl, combine crumbs, sugar and cinnamon. Add melted butter. Press down flat into a 9-inch springform pan. Set aside.

For filling:
Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add pumpkin puree, eggs, egg yolk, sour cream, sugar and the spices. Add flour and vanilla. Beat together until well combined.

Pour into crust. Spread out evenly and place in oven for 1 hour. Remove from the oven and let sit for 15 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours.


*As you will notice if you click on the link, this is a Paula Deen recipe. Trust me, I know all about the whole diabetes scandal, but honestly, who cares what she decides to keep private? Yes, most of her recipes are full of fat, but no one said her show was meant to be about healthy eating. This recipe = yum!

BFMHTY: Almost Fudge Gateau

I apologize for the picture above... don't even get me started on my digital camera and its "food setting." Last night for dinner, my dad and I decided to make a special meal for my mom. Chocolate is her favorite, so I looked through the way-too-long list of recipes I haven't made from BFMHTY. Like I said earlier, I no longer have the goal of finishing the book, but I like the recipes from it and maybe it's something I'll want to do someday. I think it would be a fun summer project (although it might last two summers - seriously, the length of this list is depressing).
Anywho, I chose the almost fudge gateau. That name makes it sound delicious, and I love the little story before the recipe about Dorie's friend who gave up television to sit and watch her oven for half an hour while the cake rose. This cake was fairly simple (you know, for a master baker like me. yeah right, this is the girl who managed to make whipped cream into butter). Haha no, it is not a complicated recipe and is fairly quick.
The cake is, like the description says, moist and dense. It is very rich and chocolaty, and delicious! I recommend it. The recipe can be found in BFMHTY.
<3

Mini Cheesecakes and a new plan

This is another recipe I made for our New Year's party. I loved it! It's super simple and anyone (I mean anyone, even if you NEVER bake) can make it. It starts off with mini cupcake wrappers. You put a nilla wafer in the bottom of each one. I have made these like this before with success, but this time I just put some cookie crumbs in the bottom of each one because I wanted to make them gluten free, and I couldn't find gluten-free cookies that small. Over the "crust" comes a simple mixture of cream cheese, eggs, vanilla, and sugar (of course. what blog do you think you're reading??). They are baked for a few minutes and then topped with some sort of sweet deliciousness. I have made them with canned cherry pie filling like the recipe calls for, but this time I put a dollop of raspberry jam on top. They were delicious, and my best friend and I had fun making them. They are a great project to do with little kids, or just for a quick dessert. Enjoy!!

Mini Cheesecakes (from Allrecipes)
Ingredients
1 (12 ounce) package vanilla wafers
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (21 ounce) can cherry pie filling

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line miniature muffin tins (tassie pans) with miniature paper liners.
Crush the vanilla wafers and place 1/2 tablespoon of the crushed vanilla wafers into the paper lined miniature muffin tins.
Cream together with an electric mixer the cream cheese, sugar, eggs and vanilla. Fill each miniature muffin liner with this mixture, almost to the top.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 15 minutes. Cool and then top with a teaspoonful of cherry (or any other flavor) pie filling.


Now for the new plan. Remember when I was in Tuesdays with Dorie? I loved being in that group, and it motivated me to bake new things more often. Last year I had to drop out due to lack of time, and I just heard that they are starting a new book. I'm joining in again, SO here's my new plan:
I want to keep baking from BFMHTY. Sometimes. I love that book and it has been something I do for the past 2 years, but I realized that since I joined so late in, I'm not even halfway through with it. I love the recipes from it but don't want to have the goal of finishing it anymore. Maybe someday!
I bought Baking with Julia. I joined the new group! I'm not sure how far this will go - doing one every two weeks is definitely more manageable, so I think it will work out better this time. I'm excited to start from the beginning of a book with that group.
I may try to take up Daring Bakers again. I will keep looking at their challenges each month (somehow they still haven't kicked me out - I guess they don't check who posts each month), and I'll try to do them sometimes. I think this way I'll learn how to make things I wouldn't have otherwise. But no pressure on this one - baking new things isn't something I want to feel like I have to do.
So that's my plan. I hope you keep reading my blog, and follow along whatever crazy baking adventures I go on. <3