Banana Cupcakes

Today is my niece, Claire's first birthday. She had an adorable cupcake themed party. So I made different sized cupcakes and a small 5 inch cake for Claire to dig into. I thought that banana would be a good flavor for a 1 year old. She was so cute and had a really good time eating up her cake.

Banana Cupcakes

adapted from Sky High

2 sticks butter, at room temperature

2 c. sugar

7 egg whites

3 c. cake flour

3 1/2 t. baking powder

1 1/2 t. cinnamon

1/2 t. salt

3/4 c. milk

1/2 c. over ripened bananas, mashed

In food processor, process milk and mashed bananas into a smooth, light puree. Shift together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt, set aside. Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg whites, 2 or 3 whites at a time. With mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients and banana puree alternately in 2 or 3 additions, beating until just blended between additions. Divide batter into muffin tins and bake in a 350 degree oven for 18-20 minutes.

Cream Cheese Frosting

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2 - 8 oz. packages cream cheese, at room temperature

1 stick butter, at room temperature

1 box powdered sugar

Cream together cream cheese and butter. With mixer on low speed, slow add powdered sugar until well incorporated.

Brownie Bottom Cheesecake

I love having a reason to bake something for a celebration. Recently a coworker got a promotion and I think that is a perfect reason for a special treat. And this brownie bottom cheesecake was definitely a special treat.


Brownie Bottom Cheesecake
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adapted from Cupcakes, Cookies & Coffee Cakes

brownie bottom:
1/2 c. butter
4 oz. semisweet bakers chocolate, chopped
1 c. sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 c. milk
1 c. flour

cheesecake:
18 oz. cream cheese (2 1/4 packages), softened
2/3 c. sugar
3 eggs, beaten
1 t. vanilla
1/2 c. sour cream

Melted chocolate, for drizzling

Melt butter and chocolate in large pan over low heat, stirring frequently, until smooth. Remove from heat and beat in sugar. Add eggs and milk, beating well. Stir in flour and pour into a greased 9 inch springfoam pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool slightly while preparing cheesecake. For cheesecake, beat together cream cheese, sugar, eggs and vanilla until well blended. Stir in sour cream, then pour over brownie bottom. Bake in 325 degree oven for 45 minutes, or until the center is almost set. Let cool before removing for the pan. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours for cutting. Drizzle with melted chocolate.

Coconut Cream Pie

This is the dessert that I made for Easter dinner yesterday. Pie seems to be a good spring dessert and since my boyfriend, Stephen loves coconut, I decided that coconut cream pie was a good choice. It was rich, full of fat and yummy.

Coconut Cream Pie

Coconut Cake

I never used to eat coconut much before I met my boyfriend, Stephen, but now I love it and can't get enough of it. Luckily I made this cake for someone else so there was no temptation of a piece of cake to throw me off my plan. But it was very difficult for my finger to not slip into the frosting.

Coconut Cake

* I toasted the coconut flakes in a dry skillet over medium heat, tossing occasionally so it doesn't burn.

Jumbo Chocolate Cupcakes

For Christmas, my Aunt Alice gave me a jumbo-size cupcake pan. So when she asked for some jumbo cupcakes for Valentine's Day, I was more than willing to try out my new pan. I was so excited with how they turned out. And I think Aunt Alice was pretty pleased with them too.

Chocolate Cupcakes

*The 6 jumbo cupcakes use the same amount of batter as 12 regular sized cupcakes. (This recipe makes 12 jumbo cupcakes)

Buttercream Frosting

*The white frosting has coconut extract and the pink frosting has vanilla extract.

Red Velvet Cookie Sandwiches

After I made these, I told myself that I would have just a bite of one of them, for quality control purposes, of course. Well, the next thing I know, the whole cookie sandwich was gone. And it was heavenly. The sugar must have gone straight to my head, because soon after I started dancing around my apartment like a complete idiot. But the dancing makes up for eating the cookie sandwich, right?

Red Velvet Cookie Sandwich

adapted from Rachael Ray Magazine

1 stick butter, at room temperature

3/4 c. sugar

1 egg

1 T. red food coloring

1 t. vanilla

1 3/4 c. flour

1 T. cocoa powder

1/2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

1/2 c. buttermilk

8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature

1 stick butter, at room temperature

1 lb. powdered sugar

1 t. vanilla

Beat together butter and sugar for about 3 minutes. Add egg, red food coloring and vanilla, beat until well incorporated. Mix together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Alternately beat flour mixture and buttermilk into wet ingredients, starting and ending with buttermilk. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray. Spoon out 1 tablespoon of batter onto parchment paper, and slightly spread batter into circular shape. Bake in 350 degree oven for 10-12 minutes, or until cooked through. Place cookies on rack to cool completely. Beat together cream cheese, butter, and vanilla. Slowly incorporate powdered sugar. Spread 1-2 tablespoons of cream cheese frosting on the bottom of one cookie. Place the bottom of another cookie on the frosting to make sandwiches.

Kahlua Brownies with White Kahlua Sauce

I love cookbooks. I will look through my cookbooks just for pleasure. So I was very excited when my best friend, Kelly, gave me a new cookbook for Christmas. So I made these brownies for dessert on Christmas. I swapped the coffee in the recipe for Kahlua, and they were the best brownies we have ever had. I'm not even kidding.

Kahlua Brownies with White Kahlua Sauce

adapted from Cupcakes, Cookies, & Coffee Cakes

1/4 c. butter

4 oz. semisweet baking chocolate, chopped

2 T. Kahlua

1 1/4 c. sugar

3 eggs, beaten

3/4 c. flour

1/3 c. milk chocolate chips

Sauce

1/2 c. heavy cream

3 oz. white chocolate chips

1 T. Kahlua

Place butter and semisweet chocolate and Kahlua in a pan over low heat. Stir until just melted and combined. Let cool slightly. Whisk in sugar and eggs. Mix in flour and chocolate chips. Pour batter into 9x13 inch greased pan. Bake in 350 degree oven for 30-35 minutes. While brownies are baking, make sauce by combining cream, white chocolate and Kahlua in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir occasionally until melted. Cut brownies and spoon sauce over brownies.

Chocolate Cupcakes

I'm sure like everyone else, my December was extremely busy. And when you are that busy, something's got to give. Unfortunately, that 'something' for me was my blog. I made these amazing cupcakes for my friend, Edith, for her birthday. The cupcakes, by the way, didn't last more than 2 days...

Chocolate Cupcakes

* I didn't make the coffee filling, and they were great without it.

Christmas Cookies

Every year, I give my coworkers homemade goodies for Christmas. This year I found these cute little bins that were the perfect size for Christmas cookies.

The Caramel Swirl Blondies are amazing. They have a great combination of flavors. It doesn't make very much batter, but the blondies puff up a lot as they cook. These are a new favorite.

The Pineapple Coconut Cookies turned out differently than I expected, but they are really good. They spread out a lot. I made them smaller than the recipes calls for, but I still ended up cooking them for 8 minutes.

The Snickerdoodle recipe is one that I have had for years. I just don't know where I got the recipe from.

Caramel Swirl Blondies

Pineapple Coconut Cookies

Snickerdoodles

1 c. shortening

1 1/2 c. sugar

2 eggs

2 3/4 c. flour

2 t. cream of tartar

1 t. baking soda

1/4 t. salt

2 T. sugar

2 T. cinnamon

Cream together shortening, sugar and eggs. Sift flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix well. Roll dough into balls the size of walnuts. Mix cinnamon and remaining sugar together. Roll the dough balls in the cinnamon sugar. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 11 minutes.

Cheesecake with Strawberry Sauce

The strawberries for the sauce were fresh frozen from a family friend. And they were just perfect for this cheesecake. Which was amazing. It was light and creamy and so yummy! I didn't have a particular reason for making the cheesecake, but it became part of dessert on Tuesday. And didn't last much longer than that.

Cheesecake

Strawberry Sauce

2 c. frozen strawberries, thawed

1 c. sugar

1/2 c. water

1 t. lemon juice

Place strawberries, sugar and water in medium saucepan. Bring to boil, reduce and let simmer for 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice.

White and Chocolate Cake???

Today is Lillian's birthday. Who is Lillian? Well, she is my boyfriend, Stephen's little sister. And Lillian is 13 years old. So what kind of cake does a 13 year old want? A white AND chocolate cake, of course.

I took a marbled cake recipe, but instead of marbling the two batters, I kept them seperate in two 8-in round pans.

White and Chocolate Cake

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

My Baby's Birthday

Today is my boyfriend, Stephen's birthday. He had the day off, so I took the afternoon off too. First, I surprised him by taking him to get a massage, which he LOVED. Then we went to the gym together and I worked out with him. My abs are already sore, and we only worked out 6 hours ago... so I might be struggling tomorrow. Then we went to dinner and went back to my house for cake. I would say he had a pretty good birthday!

Chocolate Indulgence Cake

Vanilla Buttermilk Cake

My baby niece, Claire, was baptized yesterday. And I had the honors of making the cake and mini sandwiches. There is no picture of the mini sandwiches, well, because they are just sandwiches on flatbread. The only thing special about them was the pesto. I took store-bought pesto and mixed it with canned artichoke hearts in the food processor. But this blog is about the cake.. The cake recipe was from a cookbook, Sky High, that I got from my friend, Corley. The recipe was for a 3-layer cake, but I made two 8-in cakes and two 6-in cakes, so that it could be a cute little 2 tier cake.

Vanilla Buttermilk Cake

from Sky High

4 whole eggs

2 egg yolks

2 t vanilla

1 1/4 c. buttermilk

3 c. cake flour

2 c. sugar

4 1/2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. salt

2 sticks butter, at room temp

Put all eggs in a medium mixing bowl with vanilla and 1/4 cup buttermilk. Whisk to blend well. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large mixer bowl and whisk to blend. Add butter and remaining 1 cup buttermilk to dry ingredients and mix on low speed until combined, then increase speed and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the egg mixture in 3 additions, scraping sides of bowl and mixing until only thoroughly incorporated. Divide batter amongst desired, greased cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 28-32 minutes or until done.

Meringue Frosting

* In between the layers, I mixed 3/4 cup raspberry preserves with 1/4 cup meringue frosting. Then added fresh raspberries on top of the cake.

Banana Bread

For Christmas, I made banana bread for my boyfriend, Stephen's parents. When we went to his parents' house at Easter, his little sister waited until Stephen walked out of the room, turned to me and said, "Now that he's gone... do you think you could make some more of that bread?" She asked me to make 2 or 3 loafs of the bread. I only agreed to making one, and it took me a while to get around to that. So this is for you Lillian.

I have had this recipe for well over 10 years and I have no idea where I got it from. So, unfortunately, I cannot give the source credit for it.

Banana Bread

1/4 c. butter, softened

1/2 c. brown sugar

1 egg

1 t. vanilla

1 1/2 c. flour

2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

1 c. oatmeal

4-5 overripe bananas, smashed

Mix together. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

Chocolate Raspberry Cake

Ok, are you ready for this? It is my boyfriend's, brother's girlfriend's birthday... Did you get that? Stephen and I were not able to stay and try the cake with them yesterday, so I hope that she liked it.

Though I don't mess with baking recipes, I did get a little creative with this cake. I used my favorite chocolate cake recipe, added fresh raspberries in between the layers and on top, and used a meringue from Rachael Ray mag in between the layers and on top.

Chocolate Cake

Meringue

Adapt from Rachael Ray Magazine

4 egg whites, at room temperature

2/3 c. sugar

In a heatproof bowl, whisk together the sugar and the egg whites. Place over a saucepan of barely simmering water, making sure the water doesn't touch the bowl, and heat just until the sugar dissolves, whisking constantly. Remove from the heat and beat on high speed until stiff, glossy peaks form.

Caramel Layer Brownies

When I was in college, my mom would send me care packages. My mom makes the best care packages. I'm not going to pretend that I can make a better care package than my mom, but she's never sent homemade brownies in her care packages. I'm just sayin'...

These brownies are addictive. They are from-scratch with a layer of caramel in the middle, with a chocolate glaze on top. I admit, they are over the top, but once you try them, you won't be able to stop. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Brownies

2 oz, unsweetened baking chocolate, chopped

1 c. margarine

1 c. sugar

4 eggs

2 t. vanilla

1 c. flour

1/2 c. cocoa powder

1/2 t. salt

Caramel Filling

1/2 bag Kraft Caramel Bits

2 T. milk

Melt in small sauce pan.

Chocolate Glaze

Adapted from The Treasury of Creative Cooking

2 T. margarine

2 T. cocoa powder

2 T. milk

1 c. powdered sugar

1 t. vanilla

For brownies:

Preheat oven to 350.Melt margarine in microwave. Stir in chopped chocolate and stir until melted. In bowl, mix sugar, eggs, vanilla and chocolate margarine. Add flour, cocoa powder and salt. Mix until just combined. Pour 1/2 of brownie mixture to greased cake pan. Bake until just done. Top with caramel topping, add the rest of the brownie mixture and bake until just done. Let cool and top with warm chocolate glaze.

Chocolate Glaze:

In sauce pan, bring margarine, cocoa powder and milk to a simmer. Remove from heat, add powdered sugar and vanilla. Mix well and pour over brownies.

Baklava

I actually have a good reason for baking again. No really, I do. My nephew, Luke, has a swim-a-thon tomorrow evening and after the swim-a-thon they are having a party. The parents were asked to bring an international dessert. Since Kris doesn't make any kind of dessert, it was Aunt Leah to the rescue. And I decided that baklava was my international dessert of choice. See, I told you I had a good reason this time.

Baklava

Chocolate, Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have no good reason or cute story behind making these cookies. I wasn't craving them, nobody asked for them, I just wanted to make some triple chocolate cookies.

Chocolate, Chocolate Chip Cookies

** After chilling the cookies, let the dough come back down to room temp. If you put the cookie dough in the oven cold, they spread too much and get crispy. And I say BOOO to a crispy cookie. Oh, and I left out the cloves. Wasn't the flavor match I was looking for today.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sometimes, I just feel the need to bake. Also, I realized yesterday that I have not baked anything for my boyfriend, Stephen, for quite awhile. He's been deprived. I know, I know, I really should take better care of him...

Baking is about measuring and science. I don't mess with science. I find baking recipes, I don't try to create my own. This is my favorite recipe that I've tried. These are soft, puffy, yummy cookies.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

*Note: The cookies have just a little bit of crunch around the edges after baking. I have found that the next day, they have softened up.