frosting

Lunch Lady Brownies

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Oh boy! Chocolate lovers unite! Who knows why these are called Lunch Lady Brownies?! I’m guessing it’s what we had in the cafeteria at school back in the day? Or maybe they even still have them? All I know is, they are tasty! And the frosting is what does it for me. So gooey and delicious 🙂 This is a great brownie recipe for any occasion and I love that it makes a lot. Or you can simply halve it.

So, let’s go get our hair nets on and become lunch ladies! Actually, I kind of see myself as a lunch lady in the future 😉 Who knows! For now, let’s just bake…

What you will need:

13 x 9 inch baking dish lined with foil and then sprayed with non-stick spray

1 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs
4 teaspoons vanilla extract

Chocolate Frosting

1/4 cup unsalted butter at room temp
1/4 cup 2% milk
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2-3 cups powdered sugar (depending on how sweet you want it, I used 2 and was happy)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. In a large bowl, beat melted butter and cocoa powder until smooth. Add in flour and sugar and beat until just combined. Beat in eggs and vanilla until just combined. Do not over mix.

Pour into prepared bake dish. The batter will be thick, smooth out evenly to all sides of the pan. Bake for 22-25 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes before frosting.

To make the frosting, beat all ingredients together until smooth. Pour over warm brownies. Allow to cool completely before cutting and serving.

Cover and store in the fridge. Enjoy!

I actually like them cold but you can bring to room temperature before serving.

Gingerbread Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

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Even though it’s not Christmas anymore, I feel like gingerbread is a great winter flavor. So don’t be discouraged to still make this! No need to wait 11 months 😉 I whipped up this cake annnd it is AMAZING! The perfect dessert to serve at a dinner party or in the morning with a cup of coffee or an afternoon tea. And this Frosting! Holy moly delicious deliciousness! Cream cheese frosting is one of my favorites and it’s really easy to make! No different than a regular buttercream. The recipe is in the post.

Go grab your aprons, start your ovens and let’s get to baking this gorgeous cake!

What you will need:

8 or 9 inch round springform pan sprayed with non-stick spray

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup boiling water
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2/3 cup molasses
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs

Cream Cheese Frosting:

6 oz. cream cheese at room temp
1/3 cup unsalted butter at room temp
1 3/4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Optional decorations (cranberries, little gingerbread cookies, etc.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In another bowl, whisk together boiling water and baking soda. Whisk in molasses and sugar until sugar is dissolved. Let cool a few minutes before adding in eggs.

Whisk in vegetable oil and eggs into molasses mixture. Whisk into the dry mixture 1/3 at a time, mixing well after each addition. Pour into prepared pan and bake about 30 minutes or when a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool on a wire rack about 10 minutes.

Once slightly cooled, remove the side of the pan by first sliding a knife around the edge. Make the frosting.

Beat cream cheese and butter until smooth and creamy. Add in powdered sugar and vanilla and beat until smooth. Frost the cooled cake and decorate how you want. Store covered in the fridge.

Before serving, remove the cake from the fridge for 10-20 minutes to soften the cake.

Enjoy!

 

Cranberry Orange Cake

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The perfect Christmas cake! It is not only so gorgeous, it is super tasty, too! I found the recipe on alattefood.com so go check out her site if you have not been there yet! She has some great recipes. I changed a few things in this recipe but for the most part, it’s the same. If you love the tartness of cranberry, this cake is for you. Just know that this recipe is more involved than other cakes I have made, so make sure you have a lot of time and patience before starting. So, come on! You got this…

What you will need:

Cake:

3 round cake pans either 8 inch or 9 inch sprayed with non-stick spray (note: My cake is only 2 tiers because the other tier did not make it out of the pan. We had a little baker catastrophe. BUT it was still eaten ;))

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp corn starch
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
4 eggs, separated at room temp
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temp
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup milk (I used 2 %)
1/2 cup sour cream or Greek yogurt
Orange zest from 1 orange
1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries + Tbsp flour

Frosting:

1 cup unsalted butter at room temp
4 oz. cream cheese at room temp
Orange zest from 1 orange
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp fresh squeezed orange juice
4 cups powdered sugar
Optional: cranberries and orange slices to decorate

Preheat oven to 325 degrees fahrenheit. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, corn starch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat butter until smooth. Add oil and sugar and beat until nice and fluffy. Add in vanilla and egg yolks and beat until well combined.

In another bowl, mix together the milk, sour cream or yogurt, and orange zest. Alternating with the flour mixture, beat into the butter mixture until just combined. Flour mixture, milk mixture, flour mixture, milk mixture, etc.

Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold into the cake batter.

Toss the cranberries in 1 Tbsp of flour and then fold into the cake batter. Evenly pour batter into prepared cake pans.

Bake for 20-25 minutes. Allow to cool completely on wire racks.

Make the frosting

Beat butter and cream cheese until well combined. Add in orange zest and vanilla and beat until combined. Beat in orange juice and 2 cups of powdered sugar. Beat until you reach desired consistency, adding more powdered sugar as needed.

Frost the cooled cakes, decorate and enjoy!

I stored my cake covered, in the fridge but let it come to room temperature when serving. I know! A lot of steps but it’s definitely worth it 🙂

Oh, and last but not least, I tossed my cranberries in a bowl with a tiny amount of water and granulated sugar to get that candied look.

Heart Cake

Tis the season for heart shaped cake! I love this chocolate cake recipe and to make a heart shape is so easy! All you need is 1 square pan and 1 round pan and you can do it. You can even just use a boxed cake mix to keep it super easy. But the recipe I use below is delicious! And, you don’t need to use a mixer. Just your own strength and a whisk. So, let’s go bake a cake for our loved ones…

What you will need:

1 8 inch square pan, greased
1 8 inch round pan, greased

For the cake:

2 cups all-purspose flour
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 eggs
1 cup warm water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the buttercream frosting:

1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temp
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup milk
3 cups +/- powdered sugar
Food coloring (optional)
Sprinkles (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda and cocoa powder. Set aside. In another large bowl, whisk together the eggs, water, oil and vanilla. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet until combined. Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for 25-27 minutes. Note: My square cake was done before the round so always check before the timer goes off.

Allow to cool 15 minutes on a wire rack before inverting to finish cooling completely.

To make the frosting, beat butter until smooth and creamy. Add in vanilla and 1 cup of powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Add in milk and another cup of powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Keep adding powdered sugar until you reach a nice, spreadable consistency.

You will also need a big plate that the cake will fit on. Cut the round cake in half and arrange on plate in a heart shape:

Frost, decorate, slice and enjoy!

Cake Pops

Oh, the ever so popular cake pop. Seriously. You see these everywhere and I’ve been wanting to make some for the longest time. Well, that time has come! And they are super easy! Time consuming, hell yes! But easy and beautiful and delicious? Yes and yes and yes 🙂 Honestly, I probably won’t ever make them again. I’d much rather make a cake and frost and decorate that, then do all these steps. But, at least I tried it once!

In this post I will tell you everything I did and used so hopefully it inspires you to make your own! Perfect for a birthday party, bridal or baby shower or just as a special treat. So, let’s go make some cake pops…

What you will need:

1 box of cake mix (I used Duncan Hines Lemon Supreme)
3 eggs
1 cup of water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 can of frosting (I used Duncan Hines Lemon Supreme)
Chocolate for coating (I used Ghirardelli White Chocolate Melting Wafers)
Lollipop sticks
Cookie sheet lined with parchment paper
Styrofoam
Sprinkles

 

First, make the cake. I made cupcakes using the Lemon Supreme cake mix. It helps to do this the day/night before making the cake pops so you have more time and it lets the cake cool and rest.

Then, once your cake is cooled completely and you are ready to make the cake pops, gather all your other supplies and ingredients. With your hands, crumble the cake into a large bowl. Stir in about two scoopfuls of frosting, adding more until the crumbs stick together. I used about half of the 16 oz. can of frosting. Form balls as big or as little as you like, placing them on prepared cookie sheet. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.

While the cake balls are in the refrigerator, melt a little bit of chocolate. This is for the sticks that are going to go in the cake balls, as shown below;

Cover about a half inch of a lollipop stick and place in the center of a cake ball, only going about halfway in. Continue until all your cake balls have sticks in them and place in the refrigerator for another 15 minutes.

Melt more chocolate. This is for covering all your cake balls so make sure it’s enough. I used about 10 ounces of white chocolate and covered about 13 cake pops. Tip: Once chocolate is melted, stir in about a teaspoon of vegetable oil for a thinner, smoother, shinier coating. Pour melted chocolate into a tall glass for easy dipping.

I had a few fails;

Carefully, dip each cake ball into the chocolate. Immediately put on the sprinkles you are going to use and then stick the cake pop into styrofoam to dry. Store covered at room temp or in the refrigerator . Enjoy!

Crazy Color Cake 

I really don’t know what to call this cake. I wanted to make a fun cake out of new food coloring we got a few days ago. This is what I came up with! It’s really just a vanilla cake with vanilla frosting. No crazy ingredients or flavors. Just crazy colors. The recipe is for a single tier cake so it’s perfect if you aren’t feeding a lot of people. But if you are, just double it and you can make a 2 tier cake! It came out super moist and delicious. I also changed the frosting recipe a bit from what I usually do. It turned out pretty good! So, let’s go bake a cake!

What you will need:

8 inch round cake pan, greased

For the cake:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
Dash of salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temp
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
Food coloring of your choice

For the frosting:

1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temp
2 1/2 +/- cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Food coloring of your choice

In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In another bowl with an electric hand mixer (or you can just use a spoon), beat butter and sugar until smooth and creamy. Add egg whites one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Add the flour mixture in 2 additions, alternating with the milk until a nice batter is formed.

Divide the batter equally into bowls depending on how many colors you are using. I used 3:

Then add your food coloring to each bowl and stir until the desired colors are reached.

Next, by heaping spoonfuls, drop the batter into your prepared cake pan, alternating colors. Smooth the top and bake for 25-30 minutes.

Allow to cool for 10 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the frosting. In a bowl, beat butter until smooth and creamy. Add 1 cup of powdered sugar and the vanilla and beat well. Add another cup of sugar and beat well. Slowly add in more powdered sugar until you get a nice, smooth frosting. Beat in food coloring.

Frost and decorate your cake! have fun and enjoy!

Peanut Butter Cake with Chocolate Frosting

So, it was just my husbands birthday and we went to Key Lime Cove for the night. It was a lot of fun and our 3 year old loved it! When we got home I wanted to make him a cake, even though it wasn’t his birthday anymore. But it’s what I do! He LOVES peanut butter. I’m sure I’ve mentioned that before. So I always try to incorporate it when I’m making him desserts. The buttercream frosting is one I always use but the cake is new and super delicious! It is a little bit dry, more so than I would have liked. But it tastes so peanut buttery that it works, especially with a cup of coffee 😉 And the frosting is super yummy. Oh, and the best thing about this recipe is that it is only one tier so it does not make a lot. Perfect for my family of 3. So… let’s go bake a cake!

What you need:

8 inch round cake pan, greased

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
Dash of salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temp
2/3 cup creamy peanut butter
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup milk

For the frosting:

1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temp
3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 Tablespoons milk +/-
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and baking powder. Set aside. In another large bowl, beat together the butter, peanut butter and brown sugar until nice and smooth. I just used a hand mixer since we aren’t making a lot of batter. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until combined. Slowly add in the flour mixture, alternating with the milk until just incorporated. Batter is thick. Spread evenly into prepared pan and bake for 28-30 minutes. Let cool about 10 minutes before inverting to cool completely.

Make the frosting. Beat butter until smooth and creamy. Add half of the powdered sugar, the vanilla and 2 tablespoons of milk. Beat until creamy. Add the rest of the powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon of milk and beat until creamy. Add the cocoa powder and 1 tablespoon of milk and beat until you reach desired consistency, adding more milk as necessary.

Tip: I used a hand mixer for this as well. Adding the ingredients slowly really helps get a nice, fluffy buttercream frosting. Also, beating. Beat and beat some more until your hand hurts 🙂

Frost the cake, decorate and enjoy! Store covered.

We didn’t have any candles so I used matches 🙂 I wanted to see what it looked like.

Liam’s 3rd Birthday Cake

This is actually the same exact recipe as my 31st birthday cake found here. I’m sorry I don’t have pictures showing the process but it’s hard taking pictures of myself and I made this early in the morning before anyone was up.

And I felt I still needed to blog about it 🙂 This was a lot easier than it looks, I’m sure. I liked that I could be sloppy with the frosting because it’s a volcano. Doesn’t have to be perfect. And instead of using 4 tiers, I saved a little extra cake batter to fill another small pan to make it 5 tiers and to look more like a volcano. I was going to use dry ice, but too much stress. So, if you want to make this cake, feel free to use dry ice in the top tier, all you do is place a shot glass inside the top tier with the dry ice so it doesn’t ruin the cake. And for the “lava” I just used powdered sugar and a tiny bit of milk and food coloring to make it red/orange. Pour it over the top and voila! Gravity does the rest.

I got the dinosaurs at Dollar Tree and the #3 candle at Target. I would also recommend using some sort of support in the cake because 5 tiers is tall! I used a wooden kabob stick which worked perfectly. I put it in after all the tiers were on and frosted.

Here’s Liam super excited to eat his birthday cake!

P.S.- I know I’ve been slacking in the blogging world. I have something in the works, though so please stay tuned! I’m very excited for my next baking adventures 😉

Banana Cake with Spiced Vanilla Buttercream 

I know, I know. Another banana cake recipe. But this one NEEDS to be made!! So delicious! There are no words to describe this buttercream. Holy moly get in my belly RIGHT NOW. Yes, I am screaming! I found this recipe on Pinterest as a “picked for you” and tried it. I changed it a bit but love how it turned out. Definitely different than other banana breads I’ve made. Read the entire recipe before starting and you will see why. Go start those ovens…

What you will need:

9 inch springform pan, greased

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cups vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ripe bananas
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 1/2 cups buttermilk

For the buttercream:

8 oz. cream cheese
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
3-4 cups powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 325 degrees fahrenheit. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In another large bowl (or bowl of your electric mixer), beat oil and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla.

In a medium bowl, mash bananas with the lemon juice. Add to the wet mixture and beat until combined. Slowly add the dry ingredients, alternating with the buttermilk until everything is combined. Pour into prepared pan and bake for about 60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

IMMEDIATELY put in freezer for 30 minutes. This is a new step I learned makes the cake stay moist. It worked really well and cooled the cake quick so you don’t have to wait forever to frost.

To make the buttercream:

In a large bowl (or bowl of your electric mixer), beat cream cheese and butter until soft and smooth. Beat in vanilla and cloves. Slowly add in powdered sugar 1 cup at a time until you reach desired consistency. Frost the cooled cake. I mean, it’s gorgeous!

Slice and enjoy!

Store covered in the fridge 🙂

Birthday Cake

AH! It’s my 100th post! So cool that it just happens to fall on my 31st birthday. Well, yesterday was my birthday so close enough 😉 Naturally this post is about cake.  And not just any cake. A chocolate cake with chocolate AND pink buttercream frosting and 4 tiers! What?! If you follow me on Instagram you know that these pans were my great grandma’s. Never been used, stashed away for me to break them in 🙂 I was super excited to try them out and wanted to make a different shaped cake. It turned out great and the pans are amazing! They will definitely get a lot of use. So, here we go! Put on your aprons and let’s make a cake…

What you will need:

Here’s a picture of the actual recipe and then I’ll tell you what I used/did.

3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 cups granulated sugar
3 eggs
3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled

For the buttercream:

1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
About 5 cups powdered sugar
A few tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
Food coloring (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease your pans with butter. In a large bowl, beat vegetable oil and sugar until well blended. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla. Whisk together flour, baking soda and salt and then add about a third of it to wet mixture. Add half of buttermilk and alternate with flour. Beat in lemon juice and melted chocolate.

Evenly pour batter into pans. This was tough for me since I never used 4 different sizes at once. Bake the smallest size for about 30 minutes. The other ones were all done at different times, I just kept an eye on them to make sure they didn’t over bake.

Allow to cool 10 minutes before inverting to cool completely. Level the layers by using a serrated knife, then frost with buttercream.

To make the buttercream:

In a large bowl, beat butter until smooth and creamy. Add 2 cups of powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon of milk. Add 2 more cups of powdered sugar and another tablespoon of milk and vanilla and keep beating until you reach desired consistency. Since I used pink frosting, I took out about 1/2 cup at this time and set it aside. Add cocoa powder to remaining buttercream with another tablespoon or 2 of milk and beat until nice and creamy. Frost the cake!

For the pink, I added 2 drops of red food coloring to the frosting I set aside and piped it on using a Wilton #8 tip. Very time consuming! Thank God I don’t get paid for this because I was stressing out! Not perfect, but it’ll do 🙂

Slice and enjoy!

And here’s my beautiful set up. I’m 31, not 12 , I swear 😉

Here’s the cake after about 11 of us dived in 🙂