Tag Archives: food

Key Lime Cupcakes

Posted on May 10, 2013 by easybaked

These cupcakes are filled with a sweet key lime filling and topped with key lime buttercream…what could be better than that? Oh, how about a graham cracker crust on the bottom of the cupcake? This dessert is as close to key lime pie as you can get…without it being a pie! (printer friendly recipe)

INGREDIENTS: (makes 24 cupcakes)

Filling:

1 cup key lime juice (a labor of love….!)
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
1 egg

Cupcakes:

2 cups of graham crackers (finely crushed)
3 Tablespoons of butter (melted)
1 boxed yellow cake mix (plus water, oil and eggs to make according to package)

Frosting:

2 sticks (8 oz) salted butter (at room temp)
2 sticks (8 oz) unsalted butter (at room temp)
3 cups of powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 Tablespoons of key lime juice

DIRECTIONS:

Filling:

Mix together key lime juice, sweetened condensed milk and egg and pour into a small casserole.
Bake at 325F degrees for 15-20 minutes (until center is set)
Cool completely.

Cupcakes:

Mix crushed graham crackers with melted butter.
Spoon about 1 teaspoon of this mixture into 24 cupcake liners in muffin tins (you’ll have a little left to garnish with at the end)
Press crumbs firmly into bottom of cup (I find my Mini Tart Shaper to be very useful for this)
Make cake mix according to box, and divide batter equally between the 24 cupcake liners.
Bake according to directions on box
Remove from oven and cool completely.
Core cupcakes (I love my Cupcake Plunger- it is so quick to use and saves the core to place back on top of the filling- to see a picture of how it works, click here).
Spoon cooled filling into a zip top bag and clip a corner off.

Pipe filling evenly into each cupcake, saving about 1/4 of a cup of filling to drizzle on the top at the end.
Place top of core back in place (you can trim some of the bottom off to make room for the filling if you need to)

Frosting:

Place butter, powdered sugar, vanilla and 2 Tablespoons of key lime juice into a large bowl.
Using a mixer, beat on high until light and fluffy.
Pipe frosting on top of cupcakes and drizzle remaining filling on top.
Sprinkle with remaining graham crust crumbs and ENJOY!!!!

My thoughts: I created these for a graduation party. The challenge was to create a key lime cupcake for someone who LOVES key lime pie. Key lime pie is one of my favorite desserts, so it was a fun task. These were a big hit. I love the balance between the tart center and the sweet cupcake and frosting.

It’s spring~ you NEED a key lime cupcake!!!

Easter Mini-Cheesecakes

Posted on March 22, 2013 by easybaked

These colorful mini-cheesecakes are made with malted milk ball eggs and have a sugar cookie crust…yum!

I love seasonal candy. I love Cadbury eggs at Easter and Tim Tams at Christmas and conversation hearts at Valentines Day….but the Whopper brand malted milk ball eggs are the best. Did any of you use the outside shell as colorful “lipstick” as a kid? So fun! Crunch them up in a whipped cheesecake and put them in a fun Mini Cheesecake Pan for a dessert that will make everyone smile!

INGREDIENTS: (makes 12 mini cheesecakes)

One Nestle Sugar Cookie Dough Bar (the refrigerated dough that is scored into 24 squares)
8 oz. of Philadelphia Cream Cheese (softened)
1/3 c. granulated sugar
2 t. vanilla
1 (8 oz) container of Cool Whip
2 bags (10 oz. each) of Whopper’s Robin Eggs (I used mini’s, but I’m sure the full size would work fine too.) You could use regular Whopper candies to get the same flavors when the seasonal Robin’s Eggs are not available.

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Prepare pan by placing the metal disks into each cup (the Mini Cheesecake Pan comes with metal disks that sit at the bottom of each cup- like the bottom of a spring form pan!)
Break apart 1/2 of cookie dough bar. (This recipe makes 12 cheesecakes but the bar contains 24 cookies. You can double this recipe and make 24 cheesecakes or just make the other 12 cookies another time.)
Roll each cookie dough square into a ball and put it into a greased cup in the mini cheesecake pan.
Bake at 350 for 12-14 minutes.
Cool completely.
In a mixing bowl, cream together softened cream cheese and sugar.
Add vanilla.
Smash one full bag of Malted Milk Chocolate Eggs. I put them in a ziplock , placed them on a cutting board and hit them with a hammer until they were in pieces about the size of mini chocolate chips.
Fold about 2/3 of Cool Whip and the one bag of smashed eggs into the cream cheese mixture.
Spoon cheesecake mixture into a large zip-top bag. Clip a large piece of one corner off and pipe filling evenly over each cooled cookie crust.
Use a knife or spatula to smooth tops of cheesecakes flat across top of pan.
Freeze for about 3-4 hours (or overnight)
Remove from freezer, pop cheesecakes out by pushing up on the bottom of each cup. (This took a little practice for me- you have to push it up high enough to grab it by the cookie part.)
Remove the metal disk from the crust.
Pipe remaining 1/3 of Cool Whip on top of each cheesecake and decorate with malted milk chocolate eggs as desired
Keep refrigerated until serving.

My thoughts: These are a yummy, colorful and fun Easter treat! They go together fast too- which is always a bonus for me. You can make these in a muffin tin, if you don’t want to invest in the mini-cheesecake pan- but mine has been a great addition to my kitchen- so many fun things to make in it!!! Hope you enjoy these fun little treats!!! ~r

Other Easter ideas from Easybaked (click on an image to get the recipe):

Other ways to use your Mini Cheesecake Pan:

14 Comments

Posted in Cheesecakes and tagged cadbury eggs, cheesecake, cool whip, Cream Cheese, cream cheese mixture, dessert, easter cheesecake, easter dessert, food, fun cheesecake, mini cheesecake, mini cheesecake pan, mini chocolate chips, philadelphia cream cheese, sugar cookie crust, sugar cookie dough, unique dessert recipe, whopper candy, whopper dessert, whopper eggs, whopper robin egg candy. Bookmark the permalink.

Gender Reveal (Surprise!) Cupcakes

Posted on March 14, 2013 by easybaked

These cupcakes hold a secret—- is it a boy, or is it a girl? The latest trend of having a gender reveal party is SO much fun when the gender is revealed with a yummy dessert! Plus, I’ve included free printable cupcake toppers to go along with your party theme!

A few weeks ago, Easybaked featured a Polka Dot Cake using a Cake pop maker. It was so much fun that I couldn’t help but think of other ways to use the idea. These cupcakes are just wonderful– when you bite in the color is seamless- you can’t even tell that the cake pop was baked ahead. Want to know how to do this?

Here we go:

INGREDIENTS:

1 white cake mix (for about 18 cupcakes) or 1 white/ one chocolate for a combo and about 36 cupcakes
The oil, eggs and water required by your boxed mix(es)
Gel food coloring
Frosting (I used my buttercream recipe ~double it if you add the second cake mix)

This little chart should help you see how many cupcakes are made with just the white mix and how many are made when you use both a white and chocolate mix (I’m bad with math…I need visuals!!):

DIRECTIONS:

Plug in/heat up your cake pop maker
Make white cake mix according to box.
Take about 3/4 cup (1 1/4 cup for the double batch!) of batter and place it into a smaller bowl.
Color the batter using color gel (I like Wilton brand of Gel food coloring because they always come out bright. Try Aqua or Pink.)
Follow the directions on your cake pop maker to use the colored batter to make cake balls. Helpful hints: work fast and use a small cookie scoop to evenly spoon batter into cups, and check them- I burnt my 1st batch following the directions! You should have enough batter to have a practice round and adjust.

While cake balls cool, spoon small amounts of your remaining white cake mix into 12-18 cupcake liners in a cupcake tin. (start with 12 and see how much batter you have left for the rest).
Spread the batter out along the bottom so you have a thin layer in each liner.
Set a cooled cake ball in the center of each liner and carefully scoop batter over the top (I found a medium cookie scoop to make this job MUCH easier!)

After your 12 are filled, continue on until you have used up all of your cake batter.
Bake at 350F degrees for about 20 minutes.
(If you are making the double batch, make your chocolate cake mix while the white cupcakes bake. Set these up with the cake balls hidden inside the batter and bake for the same amount of time.)
Remove from tins immediately and cool on the counter. Frost and decorate as desired.

Do you see how I piped the two-tone icing colors? I’m sure there must be a better method than this…I am so not a cake decorator. It turned out ok- but it was a little fussy to keep equal pressure on both colors at the same time.

The toppers are easy and inexpensive to make. Simply click here to get a free pdf file of the owl toppers. Print them on a heavy card stock paper, cut them out and use double sided tape to stick them back to back around a toothpick (one boy owl and one girl, back to back).

It’s a boy!!!

My thoughts: I love how the final cupcake is….just a cupcake. It isn’t anything fancy or cream-filled…just a cupcake with a surprise. These would be fun cupcakes for any party- you could even incorporate them in a game—whoever gets the (__color___) cupcake gets a prize! I hope these make their way into a party of yours soon! Enjoy!!! ~r

It’s a girl!!!

Want some other shower ideas from easybaked? Click on the image to be taken to the recipe.

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Posted in Cupcakes and tagged baby shower, baby shower dessert, baking, buttercream frosting, buttercream recipe, cake pop, cake pop maker, chocolate, cupcake, cupcake liners, cupcake toppers, cupcakes, dessert, desserts, food, free printable, gender reveal cupcakes, gender reveal party, owls, polka dot cupcakes, two-color frosting, unique cupcakes, vanilla, yummy dessert. Bookmark the permalink.

Rainbow Cake Roll

Posted on March 7, 2013 by easybaked

Fun rainbow-colored cake swirled with rich buttercream- a perfect St. Patrick’s Day treat!

~~I had so much fun making this cake~~ this cake was torture.

I love cake rolls like crazy, but I could not find a recipe that tasted good AND didn’t crack terribly when rolled up. I tried 4 recipes and finally settled on plain old cake mix again– it still cracked, but tasted soooo yummy and it was definitely the easiest.

I hesitated to post this, as it is essentially a recipe experiment *fail*, but then I thought it would be a good chance to ask all of YOU if you have a fail-safe vanilla cake roll recipe…? I love the technique and the colors- I just need a good recipe.

For now, we will go with the cake mix version~

Things to keep in mind if you want to try this recipe:

1. Use my buttercream recipe. When it is refrigerated it gets nice and hard, cementing your happy little cracked roll together and holding it together even at room temperature.

2. Set aside several hours and take your time.

3. Use color gels. You will not get the vibrant colors with liquid color.

Honestly, people loved this cake. Once it is cut you can barely tell it cracked. I made this one for my friend Dawn’s birthday and it was such a fun and cheery cake. She only likes white cake with vanilla frosting…this is a great way to spice up that combination with color!

Here we go:

INGREDIENTS:

1 boxed white cake mix (with oil, water and eggs according to box)
Gel icing colors (I use Wilton Brand gels)
2 sticks (8 oz) butter
1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
3. t. clear vanilla flavoring
Cool Whip Topping and sprinkles for garnish.

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350F degrees
Make boxed cake mix, but add just a little less oil and water. My Pillsbury mix called for 1 cup of water and 1/3 cup of oil. I used 3/4 c. water and 1/4 c. oil instead. I used the same # of eggs (3)
Scoop about 3/4 c. of mix into 6 or 7 small bowls and color as desired.

Cover the bottom of a standard jellyroll pan (mine is about 12″ by 17″, and about 1″ deep) with waxed paper- allowing the paper to extend just a bit over each end.
Lightly spray with non-stick cooking spray.
Spoon each color of batter into a small ziptop bag and gently pipe colors into pan in stripes. Just settle in and take your time here. This is a labor of love. Use paper towel to wipe up drips and remember that you are piping a THIN layer of cake– you don’t want to make it so thick you run out before you get to the end of the pan. Patience is the key…believe me, I’ve done this 4 times now with different cake recipes and it just takes time.

(It also involves a lot of dishes…pretty, colorful, messy dishes.)

Bake your cake at 350F degrees for 12-15 minutes– check often- you can’t roll a crunchy over-baked cake!
Remove from oven and place a clean towel that has been sprinkled with powdered sugar over the roll. Tip the pan over onto the towel and peel away the wax paper.
Gently roll cake up in towel from one short end to the other.

Refrigerate for one hour.
While cake is cooling, make buttercream icing.
Put softened butter, powdered sugar and vanilla in a large mixing bowl and beat on high until light and fluffy.
When cake is cooled, gently unroll (here is where the cracking happens…be gentle and patient)
VERY carefully, spread buttercream over entire surface of the cake and re-roll. I had cracks that went the entire length of the cake and still just gently rolled it together, letting the buttercream hold it together.

Gently place on a plate and refrigerate until buttercream hardens.
Once cake roll has hardened it can be easily moved and cut. Top it with whipped cream and sprinkles– that helps to hide some of the cracks

Not perfect, but so much fun!

My thoughts: I feel a little guilty publishing this on a site called EASYbaked, but I couldn’t resist. I would make it again- it just makes me smile. I hope a few of you brave souls will attempt this and enjoy it as much as I did! Please– if you have a good vanilla cake roll recipe I’d love to hear about it. You can link to your recipe if it is on a blog, or post the recipe in the comments or in-box message me on the Easybaked Facebook page. I’m excited to find a way to make this cake “perfect”

Happy Birthday Dawn!

Other happy rainbow desserts you might like for St. Patricks Day:

23 Comments

Posted in Cakes and tagged baking, birthday cake, buttercream frosting, buttercream recipe, cake, cake roll, colorful ideas, dessert, food, fun cake, fun dessert, Rainbow, rainbow cake, rainbow cake roll, St. Patricks Day, vanilla cake, vanilla frosting. Bookmark the permalink.

Mocha Caramel Cream Cupcakes

Posted on February 22, 2013 by easybaked

It’s that time of year here…that yummy cup of frou frou coffee just whispers your name until you find yourself nestled into an armchair at the local coffee shop watching it snow and sipping a mocha or a latte. One with chocolate drizzled on top…or caramel.

Why not capture those flavors in a cupcake?

These yummy treats are coffee-infused chocolate cupcakes filled with creamy caramel and topped with coffee buttercream.

Oh. My.

Bring it on winter!

Ingredients:

Cupcakes:

One boxed chocolate cake mix (plus water, oil and eggs to make according to box)
1/4c milk (warmed)
2 T instant coffee granules

Caramel Cream Filling:

1 cup sugar
1/2 c. water
1 c. heavy whipping cream
1 T. powdered sugar

Frosting:

2 sticks (8 oz.) salted butter
2 sticks (8 oz.) unsalted butter
3 c. powdered sugar
2 T. vanilla
2 T. instant coffee granules

Directions:

Cupcakes:

Place 2 T. instant coffee granules into milk and stir. Allow this to sit and dissolve.
Make mix according to box
Add coffee/ milk mixture to cake batter and blend well.
Scoop into 24 cupcake liners in cupcake tins and bake at 350F degrees for about 20 minutes.
Remove from tins immediately and allow to cool on counter.

Caramel Filling:

Combine sugar and water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir constantly and cook until mixture turns a caramel brown color. (about 10 minutes)
Remove from heat and slowly add cream, whisking vigorously (this will spit and splatter as you add it, so use caution!).

Chill in refrigerator until cold. (I did this the night before and just left it overnight)
When mixture is cold, add powdered sugar and beat on high until creamy and smooth.

Frosting:

Add 2T vanilla and 2T instant coffee granules together in a small bowl and allow the coffee to dissolve.
Place butters and powdered sugar in a large mixing bowl and beat on high until very fluffy.
Add vanilla/coffee mixture and beat until well combined.
Core cupcakes and pipe caramel filling inside.
Pipe frosting on top and sprinkle with a little cocoa powder.

My thoughts: Goodness, I love these cupcakes. The filling is a touch fussy since you need to chill it until cold, but I have to say that it is WORTH the wait. I’m on a diet and I took ONE bite (to get a picture of the filling, of course..!) and I couldn’t stop. I had to finish the cupcake. I blew my diet for this cupcake…it is just so good. Two people have asked for *just* a bowl of the coffee buttercream frosting…haha!

Sigh. I will dream of these cupcakes until the diet is over….in two months….and then I will eat 3 of them.

Make these and enjoy them on my behalf!!!! ~r

In other (non-recipe!) news, I finally have a DSLR camera! (Nikon D5200) Yay! I feel like my photos are a little off as I adjust to it though. I had a system for making my point and shoot work for me and now I’m trying to adjust my system to get the right lighting and exposure. I previously used a homemade light box to control my lighting and now I’m just so excited to sit down at a coffee shop and take pictures using natural light. Yesterday I met my friend Ben for coffee and before he could take a bite or sip of his treats I was like, “WAIT!!! I have to take a picture of that!” So much fun. So my apologies for my fairly awful pictures in this post– I’m learning!!!

Yummy coffee shop treats (and practice with my new camera!)

Want some other winter dessert ideas? Click on the image to be taken to the recipe.

37 Comments

Posted in Cupcakes and tagged baking, buttercream, caramel, caramel cream, caramel filling, chocolate, chocolate cake mix, chocolate cupcakes, coffee, coffee buttercream, coffee cupcakes, coffee granules, coffee mixture, cupcake, cupcake liners, dessert, filled cupcake, food, mocha, powdered sugar frosting. Bookmark the permalink.

Cookie Dough Frosted Cupcakes

Posted on February 15, 2013 by easybaked

Chocolate cupcakes topped with rich chocolate chip cookie dough frosting….my new favorite thing!

I love cookie dough. When I was a little girl we always got little nibbles of it when mom was baking. Now, of course, we know that those raw eggs could kill us…but I think that cookie dough might be worth that risk!!

The best part of this recipe is that the frosting truly tastes like cookie dough (a light creamy cookie dough) and there are NO eggs in it. So you could just eat it straight out of the bowl and forget the cupcakes….not that I would do that….ever….well…maybe just a little….

I made my cupcakes into minis- simply because I wanted to put a “scoop” of frosting on top and a full-size scoop would be a HUGE amount of frosting…I don’t have a problem with that, but I think most people might

INGREDIENTS:

One boxed chocolate cake mix (plus water, oil and eggs to make according to box)

***OR use your favorite cupcake recipe. This is really all about the frosting– so do your favorite thing with the cupcake recipe/ flavor***

2 sticks (8 oz.) unsalted butter(softened)
2 sticks (8 oz.) salted butter(softened)
2 c. powered sugar
1 c. brown sugar (packed)
3 T. vanilla
1/3c. flour
1 12 oz bag of mini chocolate chips.

DIRECTIONS:

Make cake mix (or your favorite cake recipe) and divide into mini cupcake liners in a mini cupcake tin. (makes about 48 mini cupcakes)
Bake according to box/recipe (mini cupcakes take less time, so adjust accordingly!)
Cool cupcakes completely.
Place all frosting ingredients except mini chips into a large mixing bowl and beat with mixer on low until combined and then high until light and fluffy.
Add mini chips (keep about 1/4 of a cup aside to sprinkle on top) and beat on low until fully combined.
Frost cupcakes. You can use a knife to just spread it on or use a small or medium Cookie Scoop to make your cupcakes look like mine do.
Sprinkle remaining chips on top and gobble these cupcakes up!!!

Cookie Dough Cupcakes2 My thoughts: These are dangerous cupcakes for me. I had to get them out of my house FAST. I seriously wanted to eat them all. Ah….cookie dough….sigh. Enjoy these so much!!!! ~r

Chocolate chips are an important ingredient here at easybaked~ click on an image to be taken to the recipe:

47 Comments

Posted in Cupcakes and tagged baking, chocolate, chocolate cake mix, chocolate chip cookie, chocolate chip cookie dough, chocolate chips, cookie dough, cookie dough buttercream, cookie dough frosting, cookie scoop, cupcake, dessert, food, mini chips, mini chocolate chips. Bookmark the permalink.

Chocolate Chip Oreo Brownie Cups

Posted on February 3, 2013 by easybaked

Chocolate chip cookie dough topped with an Oreo cookie topped with a chewy brownie… does dessert get better than this? Plus they are just so cute- and fun to eat!

These little dessert cups are incredibly easy to make. All you need is refrigerated cookie dough, Oreos and brownie mix (plus the oil water and eggs to make the brownies!)

They are so easy to put together:

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350F degrees.
Put 24 cupcake liners into cupcake tins.
Break apart refrigerated cookie dough (the Nestle brand comes already divided into 24 pieces)
Press cookie dough into the bottom of each cupcake liner so it covers the bottom of each cup (I thought that as the dough warmed a little bit to room temperature that this was easier).
Press an Oreo cookie on top of each bit of cookie dough.

Prepare the brownie mix as directed on box and scoop batter evenly into all 24 cups, covering the Oreo completely.

Bake at 350F degrees for 20-30 minutes. Check often and be sure you don’t over bake the brownie. They are much better a little chewy!
Remove from oven and serve warm or at room temperature.
I served with a little whipped topping and chocolate/ caramel drizzle.

My thoughts: These are a really easy and yummy treat. They are fun right out of the cupcake wrapper (eaten like a cupcake), or they are fun to dress up as a fancy dessert with pretty drizzles and toppings. The three layers of different flavor and consistency make this a truly unique dessert! Enjoy!! ~r

Other dessert cup recipes you might enjoy: (click on the image to be taken to the recipe)

24 Comments

Posted in Cookie Cups and tagged baking, brownies, chocolate, chocolate caramel, chocolate chip cookie, chocolate chip cookie dough, chocolate chip cookies, cookie cups, cookie dough, dessert, fancy dessert, food, Oreos, unique dessert. Bookmark the permalink.

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cake Roll!

Posted on February 1, 2013 by easybaked

This strawberry cake rolled with vanilla buttercream and dark chocolate ganache is not only a pretty Valentines Day treat, but such a yummy one! Plus, it looks A LOT harder to make than it really is!

February 1st. How can the first month of this year be gone already? I had already written a post for for this week when I looked at the calendar and thought, oh my- it’s time for a Valentine’s dessert! I had an unexpected day off of work this week and decided to experiment with turning an ordinary cake mix into a cake roll. I absolutely loved the results! Cake rolls will always be a little fussier than plain old cakes, but look at how cute it is…! If you’ve never made a cake roll, I will try to explain it as we go. I have a few pictures, but if you want a few more click here for my pumpkin roll recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

One boxed strawberry cake mix (I used Pillsbury this time)
Water, oil and eggs (we will adjust the amounts from the box just a bit!)
1/2c. heavy whipping cream
1 c. dark chocolate chips
2 sticks (8 oz) butter
1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
1 T. clear vanilla flavoring.

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350F degrees
Make boxed cake mix, but add just a little less oil and water. The Pillsbury mix called for 1 cup of water and 1/3 cup of oil. I used 3/4 c. water and 1/4 c. oil instead. I used the same # of eggs (3)
Cover the bottom of a standard jellyroll pan (mine is about 12″ by 17″, and about 1″ deep) with waxed paper- allowing the paper to extend just a bit over each end.
Lightly spray with non-stick cooking spray.
Pour cake batter into pan and gently spread it out to cover the entire bottom in a thin, but even layer of cake.
Bake at 350F degrees for 15-20 minutes- checking often to make sure it isn’t browning too much.
Remove pan from oven, sprinkle a clean kitchen towel with powdered sugar, lay it powder side down on the top of the cake and holding the towel in place, flip the pan over onto a flat surface. You will have your powdered towel, the cake on top and wax paper on top of the cake.
Peel the wax paper off and gently roll the cake up in the towel, rolling from one short end to the other- keep the towel on the bottom and wrap it up with the cake.
Refrigerate for one hour.
While this is in the fridge, make your ganache and butter cream.
For the ganache: heat 1/2 c. of whipping cream in a medium saucepan until it starts to bubble around the edges. Turn off the heat. Add the dark chocolate chips and cover for 5-10 minutes. Stir until smooth and creamy.
For the buttercream: Place (softened) butter, powdered sugar and vanilla in a large mixing bowl and beat on high until very fluffy and creamy.
After chilling for one hour, remove cake roll from fridge and gently unroll on a flat surface.
Gently and evenly spread ganache over entire surface of the cake roll.
Gently and evenly spread the buttercream over the ganache. This part was a little tricky- I wanted to make sure I didn’t mix the two layers, so I scooped the buttercream in little bits all over the top and then spread it a little at a time.

Gently roll the cake back up, leaving the towel behind. Carefully lift it on to a large plate and refrigerate it until the buttercream and ganache harden up.

The 1st time I made this it rolled beautifully and I just sprinkled it with powdered sugar….then when I made it for taking photos it cracked as I rolled. This sometimes happens with cake rolls and there’s an easy fix: make another batch of ganache and pour it right over the top! I think I actually liked it better this way! You can’t even tell it cracked, see:

When it is chilled, slice it and serve it with whipped cream and maybe even some chocolate covered strawberries? So yummy!!!!

My thoughts: I really had fun making this dessert. There’s just something about the pink cake and all that gooey chocolate that makes me smile! I hope this cake brings a smile to the faces of all the ones you love this Valentine’s Day! Enjoy!!! ~r

Want some other fun Valentines Day ideas? Click on the picture to be taken to the recipe.

22 Comments

Posted in Cakes and tagged baking, buttercream, cake, cake mix, cake roll, chocolate, chocolate chips, chocolate covered strawberries, chocolate ganache, creative dessert, dark chocolate, dessert, food, heavy whipping cream, how to make a cake roll from a box mix, jellyroll pan, pumpkin roll recipe, strawberry cake, Strawberry cake roll, unique dessert, valentines day, valentines dessert. Bookmark the permalink.

Polka Dot Cake!!!

Posted on January 25, 2013 by easybaked

It just makes you smile, doesn’t it? I don’t think I can adequately express how happy this cake makes me.

I made this cake for my friend Nikki’s birthday and it made her happy too…

I simply can’t take credit for the idea behind this cake, that credit goes to an adorable blog called “Once Upon a Pedestal”. I can’t even take credit for finding the idea… that goes to my wonderful Pinterest addicted friend Laura. I can tell you this: it is NOT hard to make. It does take some time, but it is very easy to put together, and the “wow” factor? Incredible!

The 1st question everyone asks is “How did you get the polka dots INSIDE the cake?” They are cake balls. To make this recipe, you will need one piece of special equipment: a cake pop/ doughnut hole maker. I feel like I walked by those like 100 times over the holidays in various stores and every time I thought, “I wonder why you would ever buy one of those?” Now I know! Here’s the one I got: Bella Sensio Cake Pop Maker

There are several brands and varieties- I’m sure they all work great- I would look for one that does 12 at once, just as a time saver! The good news? Once you make this cake, your friends will all want to borrow your cake pop maker and you won’t have to store it anywhere!

Are you ready to see how this is done? Here we go:

INGREDIENTS:

2 boxed white cake mixes (plus the oil, water and eggs to make them according to the package)
You favorite frosting (I used my buttercream recipe, doubled, which you can get by clicking here)
Sprinkles or candy to decorate the cake.

DIRECTIONS:

Plug in/turn on your cake pop maker to warm it up.
Make one of the cakes according to package directions.
Divide batter evenly into smaller bowls based on the number of colors you want to use (I did 4)
Color the batter using color gels (I love the Wilton brand in particular because it gives such a vivid color)
Following the directions for your particular cake pop maker, make cake balls using each of the colors.

(with mine I sprayed it with Pam, used a small (2 tsp) cookie scoop, rapidly scooped batter in and immediately closed the lid. My directions said 4-5 minutes and they all were burnt to a crisp– about 2 minutes worked perfectly for me. I just set them out on a plate to cool then…be prepared to experiment a little with this– you will have some extra pops at the end, so its ok if you mess some up!)

While cake balls are cooling, preheat oven to 350F, and make the second cake mix according to package.
Spray 3 – 6″ round pans with non-stick spray and set a circle of parchment paper in the bottom of each one (to keep your layers pretty!)
Spread a thin layer of batter in the bottom of each pan, place cake balls on top in any pattern you choose and divide remaining batter over the top of the balls so they are completely covered.

Ready to bake!

Bake layers at 350F degrees for about 30 minutes. You can use the toothpick test (I recommend it!) but be careful to hit cake and not cake balls….you can kind of tell where they are- they bump up just a bit.
When cooked all the way through, tip over on a cake rack to cool completely.
Trim, if needed, to flatten layers and use frosting to stack all three layers and cover the entire cake with frosting.
Decorate as desired.

My thoughts: I’m not a cake decorator, and my buttercream is a whipped frosting that is OH so yummy, but not very good for a smooth cake surface….it still makes me smile…bumps and all. You can decorate your cake however you like. I used Wilton Jumbo Confetti Sprinkles on this one. I really hope you give this cake a try– if you have any questions about the process just ask!! – or check out “Once Upon a Pedestal”, as her pictures were very helpful. She also uses a different type of cake pop pan than I did. I hope this recipe idea made you smile on this cold winter morning– enjoy!!!!! ~r

Other Easybaked cake recipes you might enjoy: (click on the photo to see the recipe)

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Posted in Cakes and tagged baking, birthday cake, brightly colored cake, buttercream frosting, buttercream recipe, cake, cake balls, cake mix, cake pop maker, cake pops, cakes for little girls, dessert, food, fun cake idea, kids cake, layered cake, party idea, pattern inside a cake, Polka dot cake, polka dots, recipe, sensio, Unique cake, vivid color, white cake. Bookmark the permalink.

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Posted on January 18, 2013 by easybaked

Everyone will love this classic oatmeal cookie (with chocolate instead of those yucky raisins!). It’s crisp on the edges and chewy in the middle-YUM!!! COOKIES!!!!!!!

My friend Laura kept telling me about a chocolate chip oatmeal cookie recipe from when she was a little girl. Her friend’s mom would make them and they are still one of Laura’s favorites.

Whenever a treat stays in someone’s mind from childhood you know it has to be a good one, so I asked for the recipe.

I texted Laura in the middle of the grocery store standing in front of the oatmeal (yes, I am one of those people…) She immediately scanned in the recipe and sent it to me, and here you have it….truly amazing oatmeal and chocolate cookies (Thank you Laura!!)

INGREDIENTS:

1 c. margarine
1 c. brown sugar (packed)
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
3 cups uncooked old-fashioned oatmeal (plain, and not instant!)
2 cups of chocolate chips (I added all my leftover chips- some milk chocolate, some dark, some semisweet. The original recipe calls for only a cup. That is crazy. I think I added 2 (maybe 3!) You need at least three chips for every cookie bite in my opinion!)
1/2 c. nuts (If desired ~I didn’t add them)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 375F degrees.
Line cookie sheet(s) with parchment paper – you don’t have to do this, but my cookies stuck a little bit to the sheets, so I did my next batch with paper and they slid right off.
Beat margarine and sugars together in a large mixing bowl until creamy.
Blend in eggs and vanilla
Add flour, soda and salt to cream mixture and beat well
Stir in oats, lots of chocolate and nuts (if desired)
Mix until well combined. I just used my hands at this point as it was such a stiff dough and I wanted to fully incorporate the two million chocolate chips I added.
Drop by about one tablespoon of dough (I used a Medium Cookie Scoop and it was a lifesaver!) onto parchment lined cookie sheets and bake at 375F for 10-14 minutes. Remove from cookie sheets while warm and cool completely on parchment paper or a wire rack.

My thoughts: These were really good cookies. You’ll notice a few differences in my recipe and the original.

I used margarine, not butter. I generally prefer butter in baking, but cookies are one exception. I nearly always use margarine as butter seems to make the cookies “spread” more, giving you flat, crunchy cookies instead of thick, chewy ones.

I never “sift” ingredients. I know that makes some of you shudder in horror, but I just never do. I put my flour in and sprinkle the other ingredients on top and hope for the best. I blame my mom for this. She never taught me to sift In this recipe if it makes you feel better to sift, by all means do it!!

I did not double this recipe. It overflowed my biggest mixing bowl. The handwritten notes on this recipe recommend making a double batch and freezing. I can only assume she mixed the batch up in her bathtub, as it would be a tremendous amount of cookie dough. I do NOT recommend doubling this. I did freeze some and I thought they were ok- a little dry. I’d stick with making them fresh, and in a reasonable amount.

I hope you enjoy these cookies as much as all of us here did! Happy baking!!! ~r

Want to try more cookie recipes from Easybaked? We have a lot of them! Click on an image to be taken to the recipe:

Chocolate chip cookies!!!

22 Comments

Posted in Cookies and tagged baking, chewy cookies, chocolate, chocolate chip oatmeal cookie, chocolate chip oatmeal cookie recipe, chocolate chips, cookies, dark chocolate, dessert, food, milk chocolate, nuts, oatmeal cookie recipe, oatmeal oatmeal cookies, semi-sweet chocolate. Bookmark the permalink.

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