Chocolate Cake Recipe

I promised I'd post the cake recipe, so that's why there's 2 posts today. I got this one from a NESTLE cookbook that a friend copied for me. Here is the standard recipe meant for two 9" round pans:

Chocolate Cake
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
1 cup water
1/3 cup NESTLE Cocoa
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.

In large mixer bowl, beat sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add flour, water, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Beat until blended and smooth. Pour into prepared pans.

Bake 28 to 33 minutes or until wooden toothpick inserted into centers comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes; remove from pans. Cool completely on wire racks. Fill and frost with favorite frosting. Makes 10-12 servings.

(My daughter requested I add chocolate chips to the filling, but I decided to add them to the cake instead. It worked out very well. I tasted the tops of the cake when I levelled it. Yummy!)

Bowling Pin Cookies

Well, I fell in love! How about you?

I was even more creative than usual today! I started the day making paper bags from a roll of paper out of the craft room. The paper bags will be loot bags for the bowling birthday party. So I stamped them with stars and added a black explosion shape with a white bowling pin pasted on. They looked so good, that I decided to make bowling pin cookies for the "loot". So I made a batch of sugar cookies. Then I found an old, split, metal cookie cutter that was shaped like a mushroom. I reshaped it into a bowling pin, and voila!

I was only planning on making one bowling pin per child (8) because I thought I would have to cut them all by hand. After my miraculous creation of a cutter, I went crazy and did up the whole batch! 4 1/2 dozen, I think. Then I iced them with royal icing. (Found out it is hard to ice a cookie while taking the picture of doing so!)

Anyway, there are the white bowling pins... well, not quite, eh?

So, I tinted some piping gel red and started giving these guys their stripes.

They looked great! But not really fun.  So I added smiles and eyes to 10 of them, to decorate the place settings at the party.

The cookie recipe I used was originally in the Sesame Street's "Big Bird's Book of things to Do" (or something like that) that I got when I was 7. The recipe was called "Cookie Monster's Cookie Dough". Of course, what ELSE would Sesame Street call it? So, here it is:

Cookie Monster's Cookie Dough

Blend in a mixing bowl:

     3/4 cups butter, softened

     1 cup sugar

Beat in:

     2 eggs

     1 tsp. vanilla

Add:

     2 1/2 cups flour

     1 tsp. baking powder

     1 tsp. salt

Mix all together. Chill for 1 hour. Roll out chilled dough to 1/4 inch thick (or slightly less) and cut into shapes. Place cookies on cookie sheet so there is 3/4 inch between cookies. Bake at 400 degrees F for 6-8 minutes. (My little bowling pins took exactly 6 minutes!)

Now, go eat some COOOOOO-kies! Gobble, gobble, gobble, yum, yum, yummmm.

or, if you're like me, you want to ice them. I covered 2/3 of my bowling pins with this recipe:

Royal Icing

1 egg white

pinch of salt

1 tsp. lemon juice

1 1/2 cups icing sugar

Mix all ingredients together and use immediately or cover closely and refrigerate. This icing hardens quickly.



That is also the recipe I use as cement for my gingerbread houses. Not only does it harden quickly, it does get quite hard. If it is too stiff, you can add a wee bit of lemon juice. Have fun creating!

Two Tier, Two Layer Chocolate Birthday Cake, part 1

So, I found about 200 ideas that I looked at on the web last night. In the process, I learned that a 9 x 13 cake has been done SOOOO many times, that it is boring. I also learned that MMF is MarshMallow Fondant. Now you know. I already like fondant, and am willing to try new, cheaper things, so when I am out of fondant, I will make some MMF. Back to my cake story - I liked one that had two round tiers. So I doubled my usual chocolate cake recipe that fills two 9" round pans and filled two 8" and two 9" pans. I am out of time tonight, so I'll give you the recipe tomorrow.

While these cooled, I made a chocolate fudge icing to be a thick surprise between the layers.

Then I levelled the cakes. I used a long, serrated edged knife as seen here and just "sawed" off the tops. I saved those tops for week-day dessert. I looked at the cuts from eye level to see if they looked level. I trimmed a bit and then filled the layers and stacked them. I cut down the 8" cake to give it straight sides and make it a more noticeably different size of 6 1/2".

The party is on Thursday so I covered the two tiers separately and froze them. Earlier today, I cut out 17 three inch high bowling pin shapes from a mix of white fondant and gum paste. That was fun. They will go around the cake. Stay tuned.

Bite-Size Chocolate Banana Chip Muffins

Are you one of the lucky ones to get the "Milk" calendar every year? We got one in 2009, and I found this recipe that I clipped from it, just when I needed a little something for a bake sale at the school. I had all the ingredients - especially two very ripe bananas so I went for it.

I packed them 2 to a small ziplock baggie, added a pretty label to the bag and my children said they went quick, at $1 per bag. I kept enough at home to try them and they were good. Soft. Chocolately with just a hint of banana. Here's the recipe:

Bite-Size Chocolate Banana Chip Muffins

1 cup flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

2/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 egg

1 cup Milk

1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2)

1/4  cup butter, melted

1/2 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Butter non stick miniature muffin pans or line with paper liners.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, whisk together sugar and cocoa; whisk in egg, Milk, bananas and melted butter. Pour over dry ingredients and sprinkle with chocolate chips; stir just until moistened.

3. Spoon into prepared muffin pans, mounding as necessary to fill 24 deep or 36 shallow cups. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes or until tops are firm to the touch. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes. Transfer to rack to cool completely.

I would have to say I like my usual banana chocolate chip muffins banana chocolate chip muffins  better - I guess it is the oats that add some texture. But if you prefer smooth, these are the ones for you! Enjoy.

Now, I must go do some research - I have to come up with a "bowling" theme cake for my soon to be 9 year old! I was thinking a 9 x 13 slab cake, and use fondant covered candles as bowling pins and a rice krispie treat covered in fondant for a ball, with a "9" on it. Do you have any ideas?

Nuts and raisins Quick Bread

A while ago, we found a recipe in the newspaper for a whole wheat, nut filled Quick bread. I made it a couple of times now, and tonight I felt like having it again. It has tasted different all three times! That's because the main source of nuts has changed - the first time I used boxed granola and muslix cereal mixed together, the second time, I used walnuts and pecans and tonight I used a combination of peanuts, raisins and home-made granola. I still liked the first one best, but tonight's was almost as good. I ate it for dessert. And, oddly enough, my biggest raisin-hater had two pieces! I guess he liked the nuts.

This is a very hearty loaf. One piece is so full of nuts, raisins and whole wheat flour that you'll fill up in no time! A far cry from the delicate and soft yeast rolls I told you about a month ago.

Here's the recipe from the paper:

Hearty Nut Quick Bread

1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cups white flour

1/4 cup ground flax seeds

1/2 cups rolled oats

2 Tbsp. brown sugar

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 cup cold butter

1 cup nut&seed trail mix

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup craisins

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

1 egg

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.
• Whisk together first 7 ingredients.
• Cut in cold butter until it looks like coarse meal.
• Chop the nuts and seeds to chop the larger nuts.
• Add nuts, seeds & fruit to the mixture. Mix.
• In a small bowl, whisk egg into buttermilk.
• Pour wet into dry and mix until almost combined. Then tip onto a floured surface and knead it all together. Split into 2 balls.
• Place each ball on a baking sheet. Cut large, deep "X" in each.
• Bake at 350 for 30 - 35 minutes. (Or longer, in my experience. Check that a toothpick comes out dry).

If you're looking for something hearty, satisfying and nutty, give this one a try. It is easy and well worth trying! Crunch, Crunch!

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

When I tell the family I am going to make cookies, these are the ones I always mean. They are at least as healthy as a Quaker (peanut-free) Chocolate Chip Chewy Granola bar, but more satisfying and definately more delicious - at least fresh out of the oven!

When I make some, I make a double batch since they always go quickly. That means 8 dozen cookies! I use my bread making bowl - it's the only one big enough! Today I worked the dough so quickly that I broke a wooden spoon! I've also broken a Tupperware Silicone spatula mixing these before, so maybe I should invest in a good, solid, metal mixing spoon. Don't be alarmed, however. The dough may be stiff to mix (although it is probably due to the volume), but the cookies turn out soft and chewy and delicious if they're not overbaked. Do you want the recipe? Read on. I'll list the original recipe for 4 dozen cookies.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

Beat together:
     1 cup softened butter
     1 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed
     2 eggs
     2 tsp. vanilla

Add in:
     3/4 cups white flour
     3/4 cups whole wheat flour
     2 cups rolled oats
     1 tsp. baking soda
     1/4 tsp. salt
     1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Mix until combined. Drop by tablespoon-fulls onto ungreased or parchment lined cookie sheet. Flatten slightly with a spoon or your palm. Bake at 375 for 6-8 minutes. (I personally set my convection oven to 360 and bake for 7 minutes). If you want soft cookies, remove from oven when the centre of the cookies are still light and puffy but the edges have begun to brown. Let stand for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet and they will finish baking. Move them to a wire rack to cool completely. If you prefer crunchy cookies, just bake them until they are golden brown all over and remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.

    

Kaiser Rolls p. 493

Welcome to March! Here, it came in more like a lion than a lamb. Snow, rain, wind. Not so nice. So I needed to make something nice inside the house. What started off as a frustrating recipe turned into a wonderful kaiser for my lunch! And then another! This was another recipe where the liquid measure was either too little, or the flour too much. I had another thick, hard lump at the beginning. Then I added another 1/4 cup water and it worked itself out. I used the amount of flour called for and here is the result:

Lovely, tasty, light and crunchy kaiser rolls! They were not too hard to make. The shaping was supposed to be the tricky part, but I think they turned out ok.

The children ate theirs with peanut butter and jam and I had one with cheese. They made a beautiful lunch for everyone! Tonight, I plan to have them for supper with leftover meat, cheese, peppers and onions. Yum yum.