chocolate

It was my stepfathers birthday yesterday and this is the cake I made for him. It's this chocolate cake recipe and this chocolate buttercream recipe. Tomorrow I'll post a recipe for the world's best chocolate chip cookies. No, SERIOUSLY the BEST!!

Pumpkin Bread

Can you tell I like pumpkin? Just a little bit? haha well here is a recipe for pumpkin bread! I made these cookies the other day and had some left over pumpkin puree because I bought the bigger (29 oz.) can of pumpkin instead of the 15oz. So I made some bread. I love the moist and fluffy texture of this recipe as well as the sweet and spicy flavor. Perfect for fall! I added walnuts to mine but that is totally up to you.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup apple sauce
4 eggs, at room temp. and lightly beaten
16 ounces (2 cups) canned, unsweetened pumpkin puree
3 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
2/3 cup water
1 cup walnuts or chocolate chips (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and Flour or spray with pam, 2- 9x5 loaf pans. (I actually had enough batter for my loaf pans as well as 6 muffins) Stir together sugar and oil. Stir in eggs and pumpkin. Combine dry ingredients in separate bowl. Blend dry ingredients and water into wet mixture, alternating. Divide batter between loaf pans. Bake for about 50 minutes or until toothpick or cake tester comes out clean. Let stand for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and let cool.

Triple Chocolate Pumpkin Pie, I die!

Can I just tell you that I cannot wait for Thanksgiving!! I am so excited, not only does Thanksgiving mean delicious food and quality family time but it also means Christmas is like SUPER soon!! The year before last I made this pie and it was actually one of the first pies I have baked on my own. I usually bake cupcakes if you haven't noticed. But that Thanksgiving was the first Thanksgiving I cooked all by my big girl self. I chose this pie to make because I am a die hard chocolate fan but I also LOVE pumpkin pie! I am so excited to make it again this year, first of all so I can make it prettier! 2 years ago I kind of sucked, my piping bag exploded which explains the awful layer of milk chocolate smear on top! haha. But it tasted divine and I have been dreaming about it ever since! I am also making a classic pumpkin pie with a ginger snap crust... I will post the recipe for the crust on my next post. Yay for Thanksgiving and yay for Martha Stewart, she is the Thanksgiving queen! I am forever indebted to her for this recipe!

Serves 12

• FOR THE GRAHAM CRACKER CRUST
• 2 cups finely ground graham cracker crumbs (about 16 crackers)
• 3 ounces (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons packed light-brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3 ounces bittersweet chocolate (preferably 61 percent cacao), finely chopped
• FOR THE FILLING
• 6 ounces semisweet chocolate (preferably 55 percent cacao), chopped
• 2 ounces (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 can (15 ounces) solid-pack pumpkin
• 1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk
• 3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• Ground cloves
• 1 ounce milk chocolate, melted

Directions

1. Make the crust: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine graham cracker crumbs, butter, sugars, salt, and cinnamon in bowl. Firmly press mixture into bottom and up sides of a deep, 9 1/2-inch pie dish. Bake until firm, 8 to 10 minutes.
2. Remove from oven, and sprinkle bittersweet chocolate over bottom of crust. Return to oven to melt chocolate, about 1 minute. Spread chocolate in a thin layer on bottom and up sides. Let cool on a wire rack. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees.
   
3. Make the filling: In a large heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, melt semisweet chocolate and butter, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat.
4. Mix pumpkin, milk, brown sugar, eggs, cornstarch, vanilla, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and a pinch of cloves in a medium bowl. Whisk 1/3 pumpkin mixture into chocolate mixture. Whisk in remaining pumpkin mixture until completely incorporated.
5. Transfer pie dish to a rimmed baking sheet, and pour pumpkin mixture into crust. Bake until center is set but still a bit wobbly, 55 to 60 minutes. Let cool in pie dish on a wire rack. Refrigerate until well chilled, at least 8 hours (preferably overnight). Before serving, drizzle melted milk chocolate on top. Serve immediately.

FALL RECIPES!

Here is a delicious recipe for fall. I plan on posting more of my favorite fall recipes in the next couple of days. And I'm sorry for being such a bad blogger recently but I'm back!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies (cake like, fluffy, deliciously flavorful)

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup canned pumpkin puree
3 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 cups (12 oz bag) chocolate chips (milk or semi-sweet, I usually use semi-sweet)

non-stick cooking spray

 Directions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees and spray cookie sheet with non stick cooking spray
Using an electric mixer beat butter until smooth, beat in sugars a little at a time until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Then add in vanilla and pumpkin puree. In a large bowl whisk together remaining ingredients except for chocolate chips. Add flour mixture into butter mixture in thirds, scraping the sides of your mixing bowl down in between. Stir in chocolate chips. Scoop dough by heaping tablespoon onto the prepared cookie sheets and bake 15 to 20 minutes. ENJOY!

Monsters and Brides (not related whatsoever)

This week I made cupcakes for an old friend's bridal shower who's wedding is on Halloween (today) and I also made cupcakes for Halloween. The bridal shower cupcakes are vanilla and half of them have vanilla buttercream and the other half have a very light cocoa buttercream. The colors for the party were light brown, light pink and magenta, hence the light brown, light pink and magenta flowers. haha. And for Halloween I made these little monster cupcakes! They were so fun to make! I'm thinking I'm going to have to have some sort of monster themed party for my son in the future so I can make them again! I made green vampires complete with blood on their teeth, mummies, silly purple monsters, jack-o-lanterns,  and ones with sugar skulls.

SPORTS

this was the "play cake"

basketball mini's up close

football mini's up close... the little football's I made out of rice crispy treats and dipped them in chocolate and piped on the stitches with white chocolate.

the tower

Sports are usually not my cup of tea but I was hired to bake mini cuppys for a sports themed 1st birthday party and here is the turnout! Maybe I do like sports... Or at least sports themed cupcakes haha!

Sunflowers

So you know those cuppy's I made in the last post, those were samples I made for the bride to see and try and here is the real deal! This was the first wedding I have ever baked for!! I was super happy with the outcome! Poata (my hubby) built me this cupcake stand, he is amazing!

Birthdays and Weddings!

~My son's first birthday was last week! His party was "construction" themed. I made him a 3 tier chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream and german chocolate coconut pecan filling.  I also made some billy's vanilla cupcakes. The chocolate cake recipe I used was the last one that I posted for chocolate cupcakes. The butter cream was really good and held up to the heat. The recipe is:
 chocolate buttercream:
2 sticks butter (softened)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4-1/2 cup milk depending on your desired consistency
6-7 cups powdered sugar
1/2-3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder depending on how rich or dark in color you desire
directions:
beat butter for about 3 minutes and it is smooth and cream. Add vanilla extract. Slowly add powdered sugar and cocoa powder. The mixture will be very thick. Add milk, start with 1/4 cup and add more if you want it to be more spreadable.

~Then it was my brothers birthday two days later soooo I made VANILLA  cupcakes AGAIN! I seriously love that Billy's vanilla recipe. And so does my brother. But I forgot that his favorite was the coconut haupia cupcakes, next time.

~I am baking for a wedding this month and their theme is "sunflowers" so I made some sample cupcakes for the bride to see and try and she loved them.

New Fav Recipe: Chocolate Cupcakes

                                          (The pink ones are yet another batch of billy's vanilla cupcakes and the  turquoise ones are made from this recipe of chocolate cupcakes)

I know I have a lot of chocolate cake recipes on this blog so far but what can I say? I'm a chocoholic! But these are by far the easiest to make and the best! They are really chocolatey and rich and super fluffy and moist! Gotta love um! Makes 24. Recipe courtesy of bakingbites.

Easy Chocolate Cupcakes
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup water
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup vegetable oil or melted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup mini chocolate chips (optional but I didn't use them)

Preheat oven to 350F. Place liners in 2-12 cup muffin tins.
In a large bowl, whisk together cocoa, flour, white sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt until thoroughly mixed.
In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, water, buttermilk, vegetable oil and vanilla extract. Whisk into flour mixture until all of the ingredients are mixed in and no streaks of flour remain. Add in optional mini chocolate chips, if using.
Fill muffin cups evenly with the prepared batter.
Bake at 350F for 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean, or with only a few crumbs.
Remove cupcakes from the pan and cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.

Vanilla Doesn't Have To Be So Vanilla...

I will say it again, I love Billy's Vanilla Vanilla Cupcake recipe! It is sooooo super good! Here are a few ways I have made/ decorated these. You can have so much fun with them! And they are always a crowd pleaser! Some people don't like chocolate (CRAZIES if you ask me) but most people do love vanilla.