Tag Archives: baking

Frosty Fall Pudding Treats

Posted on October 27, 2013 by Ruthanne

Who says you can’t do frozen treats for Halloween?? These yummy little frosty pudding cups have a Golden Oreo crust and are decorated like fun candy corn treats!

I’m back with a recipe in my Chicago Metallic Mini Cheesecake Pan.
For those of you who haven’t gotten one of these yet, they are SO much fun. I’ve done some of my favorite desserts in this little pan. You can do this particular dessert in cupcake liners placed in muffin tins, but they are just SO cute in the mini cheesecake pan.

Here’s how the pan works: You get a pan that looks just like a muffin tin but each cup has a hole in the bottom. You also get 12 little metal disks that fit perfectly in each cup, covering up that hole. You make, bake, freeze, etc. your dessert and then just push up through that hole in the bottom and the disk pushes out with your little dessert on top. I love fun individual desserts, so this is pretty much the perfect idea, in my opinion!

These are really easy, but they need to freeze for several hours/overnight, so make them ahead.

Here’s the recipe: (printable version)

INGREDIENTS:

One package of Golden Oreos
1 package (4 servings, 3.3 oz.) of Jell-O Instant White Chocolate Pudding
1 1/2 cups of cold milk
1 (8 oz.) container of Cool-Whip topping (thawed in refrigerator)
Food colorings in yellow and orange
Fall sprinkles

DIRECTIONS:

Crush about 2/3 package of Golden Oreos in a food processor or large food chopper.
Add orange food coloring until desired shade of orange is reached and mix on high until cookie bits and color are well combined.
Place metal disks into cheesecake pan and spoon cookie crumbs evenly into all 12 wells of mini- cheesecake pan (or cupcake liners), and press firmly into bottom (I use a Mini Tart Shaper– and I love it!)
In a large mixing bowl, mix cold milk with pudding for 2 minutes.
Add yellow food coloring to get desired shade and mix until well combined.
Fold in 1/2 of the Cool Whip (the rest will be used as topping- keep it refrigerated until use)
Spoon pudding mixture into a large zip-top bag (and zip it tight).
Cut a corner of the bag off and pipe pudding mixture into each cup, all the way to the top.
Use a knife to smooth the tops flat and cover entire pan with plastic wrap.
Freeze until serving (at least a few hours)
Before serving, remove pan from freezer and allow it to warm up a little bit before popping desserts out.
Press a finger up through the hole in the bottom of the pan, pushing each dessert up- grab it by the crust and take metal disk off the bottom.
Serve immediately, or place in a sealed container back in the freezer until ready to serve.
Pipe remaining Cool Whip on top of each little dessert cup and decorate as desired.
Enjoy!!

My thoughts: There are two things that make a dessert perfect in my mind. Taste and the amount of smiles that happen when you serve them. These are really yummy (how can you go wrong with pudding and Oreos???) and the number of smiles….? Well, you are just going to have to make them to see that for yourself! Enjoy!! ~R

Other mini-cheesecake pan recipes you will love:

5 Comments

Posted in Cookie Cups, Frozen desserts and tagged baking, cool whip, dessert, fall, favorite, Golden Oreo, Halloween, individual dessert, kids, mini cheesecake pan, oreo, pudding, recipe, white chocolate pudding. Bookmark the permalink.

Halloween Cookie Swirls!

Posted on October 23, 2013 by Ruthanne

These festive, fun cookies are made with refrigerated cookie dough, and are SO easy! A little chocolate on the bottom and you have not only cute cookies, but really yummy ones as well!!!!

I keep seeing these swirled cookies online and I decided I simply had to try them in halloween colors this year. They were a little time consuming, simply because you need to color your cookie dough and then blend the colors together. Not hard at all– but set aside a little prep time.

Want to see how to put these together? Here’s the recipe: (printable version)

INGREDIENTS:

1 tube refrigerated cookie dough (I used Pillsbury)
Gel food coloring in the colors you desire
1 bag of Wiltons dark chocolate candy melts.

DIRECTIONS:

Divide cookie dough into 4 equal parts and color each part using food color gels. (I recommend wearing food-prep gloves to save your hands from being colored along with the dough! Also, start with the lightest color 1st)
Starting with the lightest color, divide each part of dough into small balls (about the size of a small grape)
Take one ball of each color in your hand, and gently squeeze it into a 4-color ball.

Roll each ball out into a long strip and then gently coil it together into a cookie. Tuck end under cookie and gently place on parchment paper on a cookie sheet.

Bake at 350F degrees for time recommended on cookie dough tube.
Remove from oven by sliding parchment paper off cookie sheet and on to a flat surface.
Cool cookies completely
Melt Wiltons candy melts in 30 second increments in the microwave, stirring between until smooth.
Spoon a bit of melted chocolate on a clean piece of parchment paper- make it about the size of one cookie.
Gently press a cookie on top of the chocolate until you can see it around the edges.
Allow chocolate to cool and harden.
Peel away parchment paper and ENJOY your cute cookies!!!!

Halloween Swirl Cookies!!!
My thoughts: These were a fun Halloween baking project. I really enjoyed how each cookie looked so unique and I learned as I went how to swirl them most effectively (so that all the colors can be seen on top). I loved using the pre-made cookie dough, that saved a lot of time! I hope you get a chance to try these!!! Enjoy!! ~r

Other fun Halloween ideas from Easybaked:

5 Comments

Posted in Cookies and tagged baking, chocolate, cookie dough, cookie sheet, cookies, easy cookies, fall, food coloring, Halloween, holiday cookies, parchment paper, recipe, refrigerated cookie dough, sugar cookies, swirled cookies. Bookmark the permalink.

Toxic Slime-filled Cupcakes!

Posted on October 17, 2013 by Ruthanne

Fudge cupcakes filled with toxic green slime! Yummy white chocolate pudding makes the slime and fun buttercream and bones complete this mad-scientist dessert. Print some free radioactive cupcake toppers and you have such a fun October treat!!

These cupcakes are delicious….. I know the green slime might throw you off, but that slime is the creamiest pudding filling….oh my. It is like a custard filled doughnut…but better.

I’m a scientist in my day job, so when thinking creepy I tend toward the blood and guts variety more than ghosts and monsters. I knew I wanted green slime, so I looked up recipes for ideas (realistic slime….it needed to be realistic….) and I came across an adorable blog with the idea of using plain old pudding with green food coloring– easy! Plus I loved her frosting “blob” technique, so a few parts of this recipe are borrowed from ideas on Make Bake Celebrate.

I also created some free printable “radioactive” cupcake toppers for you. Just click here for the link, print 2 pages on card stock, cut them out and use double-sided tape to stick them back-to-back over a toothpick. Easy-peasy and a perfect finish on these! Aren’t they fun?!???

Lets make these cute little cupcakes together! (printable recipe)

INGREDIENTS:

One boxed cake mix (plus water, oil and eggs to make according to box)
One box (3.3 oz.) Jello Brand White Chocolate Pudding (instant)
Milk (to make pudding according to package)
Green food coloring gel
Purple food coloring gel
2 sticks (1 cup) salted butter
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter
1 teaspoon clear vanilla
3 cups powdered sugar
Sprinkles/ decorations for tops of cupcakes (I used Wilton Bones Sprinkles)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
Make cupcakes according to box and divide evenly into 24 cupcake liners placed in cupcake tins.
Bake according to times given on boxed mix.
Remove from oven and cool completely.
Make pudding according to package and at the end add green food color gel (I used Leaf green by WIlton ) until it looks like radioactive slime!!! Carefully spoon into a zip-top bag.
Core your cooled cupcakes- you can use a paring knife to just remove a core, but a cupcake corer is much faster and more uniform. I use the Chicago Metallic Cupcake Plunger and it is cheap and small and perfect for the job!
Carefully clip a corner of your green slime (pudding) bag and fill each cupcake cavity about half full of “slime”.
Trim a little off the bottom of the “core” you removed and place it back on top of the filling- like a little cupcake cork!

Make frosting by combining butters, powdered sugar and vanilla in a large mixing bowl and beating it on high until light and fluffy.
Divide frosting in half and mix green into one half and purple into the other half until fully combined.
Place each color of frosting in a bag that has been fitted with a Wilton 2A round decorating tip. Pipe round dots of frosting in alternating colors all over each cupcake top.

Add sprinkles, bones, skulls, eyeballs…. any cool and creepy decorations you want!
Top each cupcake with a free printable topper and ENJOY!!!!

My thoughts: I would make these again in a heartbeat. I might make them again this weekend. Yes, they are super fun, but the pudding is really SO good inside! I feel like every cupcake should have pudding inside…! I always love to watch the reactions when people bite into things for the first time– and these don’t disappoint!!! Lots of laughter and smiles at this yummy green slime! Enjoy!!!!!! ~r

Other fun Halloween treats to try!!

27 Comments

Posted in Cupcakes, Seasonal dessert, Uncategorized and tagged baking, best, buttercream, chocolate, creative, cupcake, cupcake toppers, cupcakes, edible, fun, green slime, green slime filled cupcakes, Halloween, kids party, mad-scientist, party, radioactive, sprinkles, unique. Bookmark the permalink.

Creepy Broken Glass Cupcakes!

Posted on October 9, 2013 by Ruthanne

These delicious Red Velvet cupcakes with smooth cream cheese icing are topped with all the makings of a horror movie (or, according to my friend Ricky, a Stephen King novel!). These are just in time for your creepy October festivities!!

[and if you aren’t a fan of the decorations, they are an amazing cupcake all by themselves!]

Ok. These were really fun to make. I’d seen SO many examples of these online– this is not an original idea. However, I made it my goal to create these in the easiest possible way, with the fewest steps and NO candy thermometers! Not original, but EASY!!!

Note: I did a cake mix fix by swapping out the water and oil for milk and butter and adding one extra egg. It was SO good! (Thanks for the idea Rex!) Heavy and moist cupcakes with exceptional flavor. I highly recommend it, but you can certainly make the mix as directed for these cupcakes.

Here’s how they are made: (printable recipe)

INGREDIENTS:

The cupcakes:

One boxed Red Velvet cake mix
Milk (in the same amount as the water required by the mix)
Eggs (in the same amount as required by the mix PLUS one extra egg)
Butter (twice the amount of oil required by mix- for example if the box calls for 1/2 cup of oil you would use 1 cup of butter). Measure and then melt before adding to mix.

The icing:

1 package (8 oz) cream cheese (softened)
1/2 cup of butter (softened)
1 teaspoon vanilla
dash of salt
4 cups powdered sugar
1 cup white chocolate chips (melted)

The glass candy:

1 cup of granulated sugar
1/2 cup of light corn syrup
1 teaspoon of clear flavoring (I used raspberry)

The edible blood:

1 (14 oz.) can of sweetened condensed milk
Red gel food coloring
Black gel food coloring
1 teaspoon of clear flavoring (I used raspberry)

DIRECTIONS:

I recommend making the decorations 1st (the glass and “blood”) and keeping them until just before your party to decorate with. They will both keep for several days, so you can make them ahead of time.

Candy Glass:

Cover a cookie sheet with wax paper and spray the wax paper liberally with non-stick spray.
Place granulated sugar and corn syrup into a microwave safe bowl and mix them together.
Cover bowl with plastic wrap.
Microwave on high for 3 minutes.
Remove from Microwave and CAREFULLY remove plastic wrap (beware of hot steam!)
Stir well and re-cover with fresh plastic wrap.
Microwave on high for another 3 minutes, but watch mixture after about 2 minutes. Because microwaves vary, you need to watch it to make sure it doesn’t start to turn color. If you cook it too long it will be an amber color instead of the nice clear glass you want. My microwave was perfect at 2 and 1/2 minutes.
CAREFULLY remove from microwave and CAREFULLY remove plastic wrap.
This is soooo hot and sticky– using caution to not touch any of the hot candy, pour it out over the greased wax paper and allow it to sit and harden completely (at least a couple of hours)

When candy glass is hard, tap a knife tip into glass to break it into sharp pieces.
Carefully (the pieces are actually sharp!) push pieces up off of wax paper and onto a plate.
Candy glass can be kept in a zip top bag or an air tight container for about a week. Moisture (including the moisture from the frosting on the cupcakes) will eventually start to break the glass down.

Edible Blood:

Place sweetened condensed milk into a small bowl and mix in red food color gel and flavoring until you get a brilliant red color. Add a TINY bit of black (use a toothpick- black goes a long way!).
Mix and adjust until you get a nice dark red color.
Spoon “blood” into a zip-top bag and seal TIGHTLY. Keep refrigerated until use.

Cupcakes:

Make cake mix according to box (swapping in cake mix “fix” ingredients if desired)
Divide equally into 24 cupcake liners in cupcake tins.
Bake at 350F degrees according to times on box.
Remove cupcakes from oven and cool completely.

Frosting:

On medium speed, beat together cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and salt until creamy.
Gradually add powdered sugar, beating until smooth.
Melt white chocolate chips in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring between, until smooth.
Add melted white chocolate to icing and beat on low until completely combined.
Place in a zip-top bag fitted with a decorating tip and pipe frosting on top of cooled cupcakes.

Decorating:

Put parchment paper on a counter to protect it from all that red food coloring.
[or- use a large platter or tray that you will serve the cupcakes on- blood splatter and all!]
Place frosted cupcakes on protected surface and press 2 to3 pieces of glass into the top of each.
Clip the corner on the bag of edible blood and drizzle over the top of the glass and the cupcakes, allowing it to drip down the sides of both.
Serve the same day after decorating.
Use care transporting and serve with plates and forks, or you will all have red fingers!!

My thoughts: These are such yummy cupcakes all by themselves. But the decorating was SO much fun! My friend Amber helped and we both were a little in awe of how realistic they looked…and how yummy they tasted! I wasn’t sure how the sweetened condensed milk would taste on the cupcakes, but I added a little raspberry flavor and oh my…so good!

Setting up for photos was fun too…splattering fake blood everywhere and letting it drip off my cupcake stand was interesting…not my typical cupcake photo shoot!

I really hope you get a chance to try these– even if you just go for the yummy cupcake recipe minus the drama!

I will leave you with a little insiders look at my picture-taking experience:

So fun!!!

Here are some other fun “creepy” October recipes to try:

83 Comments

Posted in Candy, Cupcakes, Seasonal dessert and tagged baking, best cupcake, broken glass cupcakes, cake mix, candy, Candy glass, chocolate, cream cheese icing, creative party dessert, easy, edible blood, glass candy, Halloween, Halloween dessert, Horror movie dessert, October, party, recipe, Red Velvet cake mix, red velvet cupcakes, Stephen King. Bookmark the permalink.

Candy Corn Peanut Bars

Posted on October 5, 2013 by Ruthanne

A chewy cookie crust topped with peanuts and sweet candy corn. So many fun fall flavors in one little bar cookie!

I confess. I hate candy corn. Everyone I know loved these cookie bars, but I had to make a little section of no-candy-corn just for me. This recipe is easily made with or without the candy corn. The candy makes it pretty though…and that counts for a lot!

Want to know how to make these easy little cookie bars?

Here you go (printable recipe)

INGREDIENTS: (makes about 24 bar cookies)

Crust:

1 boxed yellow cake mix
1/3 cup butter (melted)
1 egg

Topping:

3 cups mini marshmallows
1 (10 oz) package of peanut butter chips
2/3 cup light corn syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 c. butter
2 cups Rice Krispies
2 cups salted, roasted peanuts
One bag of candy corn

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350F degrees
In a mixing bowl, combine cake mix, 1/3 cup of melted butter and one egg. Mix well, kneading with clean hands at the end.
Carefully press crust into the bottom of a greased 9×13 pan. (I line mine with parchment paper)
Bake at 350F degrees for 12-14 minutes.
Carefully pour mini marshmallows over top of hot crust and place in oven for about 5 minutes (until marshmallows puff up)
Cool.
In a large saucepan, heat peanut butter chips, corn syrup, vanilla and 1/4 cup of butter until all chips are melted and smooth.
Add Rice Krispies and peanuts and combine well.
Working quickly, spoon topping over marshmallows and then press candy corn on top.
Chill before cutting and ENJOY!

My thoughts: I can’t believe it is already October. When I spotted candy corn at the store I did a double take. October….already? These are an easy and fun treat for all of your fall parties and events. Hope you love them!! ~r

Other fun fall recipes:

8 Comments

Posted in Bar cookies, Candy and tagged baking, bar cookies, cake mix, candy, Candy corn, cookies, desserts, easy dessert, fall, fall desserts, Halloween, marshmallows, mini- marshmallows, peanut butter, peanut butter chips, peanuts, sweets. Bookmark the permalink.

Peanut Butter Fudge Cupcakes

Posted on September 28, 2013 by Ruthanne

These mini fudge cupcakes are topped with the creamiest peanut butter frosting ever! If you like peanut butter and chocolate together you will LOVE this recipe!!

Ah peanut butter… I just crave it sometimes! Add chocolate and you pretty much have achieved perfection in the dessert world (at least in my humble, not-allergic-to-peanuts, view). These cupcakes are easy to make and they won’t last long! Here’s how to make them: (printable recipe)

INGREDIENTS: (makes about 40 mini cupcakes)

Cupcakes:

1 1/2 cups of dark chocolate chips
1 stick (4 oz.) salted butter
2 T. cocoa powder
4 egg yolks
6 egg whites
pinch of salt
1/2 c. sugar

Frosting:

3 sticks (1 1/2 cups) butter (softened to room temperature)
1 cup of creamy peanut butter
3 cups powdered sugar
1 Tablespoon vanilla
One bag of mini Reese cups (optional for decoration)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
In a microwave safe bowl, melt chocolate with butter in 30 second increments, stirring between until smooth and creamy.
Whisk cocoa powder into melted chocolate.
Add egg YOLKS and whisk until smooth. Set aside.
Add a pinch of salt to the egg whites and whisk until foamy.
Add sugar gradually to egg whites while beating on high until medium peaks form.
Add 1/3 of egg whites to chocolate and mix well- until completely combined and smooth.
Add remainder of egg whites and fold in gently until completely incorporated.
Spoon batter into mini-cupcake liners in tins (fill about 3/4 full) and bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.
Remove from oven and cool completely.
To make frosting, place butter, vanilla, and peanut butter into a large bowl and mix on high until smooth (about a minute)
Add powdered sugar and beat on low until combined and then on high until light and fluffy.
Place frosting in a zip-top bag fitted with a decorating tip and pipe on top of each cooled cupcake.
Top each cupcake with a mini Reese Cup and a sprinkle of cocoa powder (as desired)
Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Fudge Cupcakes!!
My thoughts: Yum….! Yep, that pretty much sums up my thoughts…mmmmm….! I hope you enjoy these as much as I am right now!!!

Other peanut butter-y recipes you will love:

25 Comments

Posted in Cupcakes and tagged baking, chocolate, cocoa, cupcakes, dessert, flourless chocolate cake, fudge, mini cupcakes, mini dessert, peanut butter, peanut butter cups, peanut butter frosting, Reese Peanut Butter Cups. Bookmark the permalink.

Salty Caramel Cheesecake Bars

Posted on September 20, 2013 by Ruthanne

Creamy caramel cheesecake over a pretzel crust is topped with a layer of dulce de leche and dark chocolate. Sweet and salty perfection!

I’ve been craving caramel lately. Maybe because it’s fall now and caramel seems to be a fall treat. Whatever the reason, I went on a hunt for caramel cheesecake and found this one at Bon Appetite. I wanted to add salty to the recipe, so I used a pretzel crust instead of grahams and added dark chocolate. It is really good. A subtle caramel flavor with just a hint of salt from the crust.

Want to know how these are made? Here you go: (Printable recipe)

INGREDIENTS: (makes 24 cheesecake squares)

Crust:

3 cups of crushed pretzels
2 Tablespoons of sugar
1 stick (1/2 cup) of butter

Cheesecake:

3 packages of cream cheese (8 oz.), softened to room temperature.
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons of vanilla
1 can (13.4 oz) of Nestle La Lechera Dulce de Leche (or 1 cup of your own- find recipe here)

Topping:

1 bag (10 oz.) Nestle Dark Chocolate Morsels.
12 Tablespoons of butter

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 325F degrees.
Make crust by combining crushed pretzels, butter and sugar together and pressing into a greased 9×13 pan.
Bake at 325F for about 10 minutes. Cool completely.
In a large bowl, cream together sugar with cream cheese.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating on low speed between each one.
Add vanilla and 1/2 of the can (about 1/2 cup) of Dulce de Leche.
Beat on medium until completely combined.
Pour cheesecake over cooled crust and bake at 325F for 45 minutes. (Until center is set)
Cool at room temperature.
Carefully spread remaining Dulce de Leche over the top of the cooled cheesecake.
Melt 12 Tablespoons of butter with dark chocolate chips until smooth.
Pour over top, carefully spreading chocolate to cover entire cheesecake.
Carefully set pretzels on top of chocolate. Each one will be in the center of one piece when it is cut, so place them according to how big you want your pieces.
Lightly sprinkle with coarse salt.
Refrigerate overnight.
Before serving, allow cheesecake to warm a little and then using a sharp knife, cut into squares with a pretzel centered in each.
Enjoy!

My thoughts: These are really so yummy. My only problem? The crust was a little crumbly (you can see in the pictures). I’m almost positive I didn’t get my pretzels chopped fine enough. Make sure you chop/food process them into FINE bits- not coarse.

If you don’t want a salty crust just use graham crackers– or Oreos…oh my, caramel cheesecake over Oreos? Yes, please! The cheesecake is delicious. It would be good over any crust. I hope you enjoy trying it!!! ~r

Other caramel desserts you might enjoy:

7 Comments

Posted in Bar cookies, Cheesecakes and tagged baking, caramel, caramel cheesecake, cheesecake, cheesecake bars, chocolate, Cream Cheese, crust, dessert, dulce de leche, nestle la lechera, pretzels, recipe, salt. Bookmark the permalink.

Lady Bug Oreo Pops!!

Posted on September 13, 2013 by Ruthanne

What could be better than a cute ladybug cookie on a stick? Biting in and finding an OREO!!!!!

These cookies are such a fun treat! Perfect as favors and prizes at parties- they just make you smile.

We’ve done lots of Oreo Pops here at Easybaked. The technique is the same for these as for our Original Oreo pops. To see the how-to photos and technique, click here.

Here’s what you will need for about 24 Oreo Pops.

INGREDIENTS:

One box of Double Stuff Oreos
One 12 oz. bag of Wiltons candy melts in yellow
One 12 oz. bag of Wiltons candy melts in red
One 12 oz. bag of Wiltons candy melts in dark chocolate.
One bag of mini M&Ms.
24 lollipop sticks
Candy Eyes (if desired)

DIRECTIONS:

Carefully twist apart all of the Oreo cookies.
Using one of the pop sticks, make an indentation in the white filling of each cookie.
Melt the red Candy Melts in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring until completely melted and smooth.
Dip the end of one stick into the melted candy melts, drizzle a little in the center of the white cookie filling and then gently press it into the indentation made.
Place the top of the cookie back on and allow white chocolate to harden (5 minutes or so), cementing the cookie back together with a stick inside.
Holding the stick, lower the entire Oreo into the bowl of melted red chocolate, spooning it over the top and sides to cover it completely.
Allow the excess chocolate to drain off and gently place covered Oreo on a piece of parchment paper to harden.
Add two brown mini M&Ms to each half of the pop (use the photos as a guide– leave room for the top to be dipped in chocolate and for a line to be drawn down the middle.)
Dip half of the pops in the red chocolate and then melt the yellow chocolate and repeat the process with the 2nd half of the pops.
When candy melts have completely hardened, melt a the dark chocolate melts.
Use a spoon to gently scoop chocolate over the top tip of the cookie, making a head on your ladybug.
Set each pop on parchment paper and add candy eyes (if desired) before chocolate hardens.
After dipping the tops of all pops, and placing eyes, spoon remaining chocolate into a small ziptop bag and clip a corner.
Pipe a line from the head of the ladybug across the top toward the stick. (use photos as a guide).
Allow pops to harden completely.
Enjoy!!!

My thoughts: I’m addicted to Oreos. I keep making Oreos into pops because it gives me an excuse to eat the extra Oreos that break.

True confession.

The other reason: they make people smile. It never fails, you hand one of these crazy fun pops to anyone and they smile. Even if they can’t or won’t eat dessert….they smile. These pops are like puppies. They make people happy! Every few months I feel an overwhelming urge to make a different variety to share with you….so I hope that you enjoy them– and that you smile 🙂 ~r

Other Oreo Pop ideas we have tried:

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Posted in Cake Pops, Candy and tagged baking, candy, chocolate, dessert, easy, fun, kids, ladybug, m&m candies, oreo, oreo pops, picnic, recipe, sweets. Bookmark the permalink.

Red Chocolate Cream Cake

Posted on September 6, 2013 by Ruthanne

This dense chocolate cake is filled with a wonderful cream (think twinkies!) and covered in a rich fudge frosting. Every bite is soooo delicious!

This recipe is a little slice of my past (no pun intended). This is my grandmother’s Red Chocolate Cream Cake. It is the cake I’ve had nearly every birthday of my life. Every time I eat it I remember being a little girl at grandma’s house. It is definitely an old-school recipe. Don’t file this one under “easy”, but it is worth every minute of effort in putting it together. I just love family recipes!

Yep- that’s my cute little six-year-old self with a birthday cake from grandma! Fun memories!

Want to know how to make this? Here we go: (printable recipe)

INGREDIENTS:

Cake

1/4 cup Crisco
1/4 cup salted butter (at room temp)
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 unbeaten eggs
2 1/4 cups cake flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
2 squares (1 oz. each) of unsweetened baking chocolate (melted and cooled)
1 teaspoon red food coloring
1 teaspooon baking soda
1 Tablespoon vinegar

Cream Filling:

2 Tablespoons flour
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup Crisco
1/4 cup salted butter (at room temp)
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of salt

Icing:

1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup salted butter (cut into cubes)
1 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoons vanilla
2 1/4 cups powdered sugar

DIRECTIONS:

Cake:

Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
Cream shortening and butter together and add sugar. Mix well.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating on low between each one. Beat until creamy.
Sift flour and salt together.
Add flour/salt, alternating with buttermilk, beating on low speed. Do not over-beat.
Add food coloring and warm (not hot!) melted chocolate. Mix on low speed.
Lastly, in a small cup mix together baking soda and vinegar and add to the batter while foamy.
Mix but do not over-beat.
Divide into two 9-inch pans that have been sprayed with cooking spray and have a circle of parchment paper set in the bottom.
Bake at 350F degrees for 25-30 minutes. Check at 25 by inserting a toothpick. When it comes out clean, cake is finished.
Remove cakes from oven and allow them to set in pans for 5-10 minutes.
Tip cakes out of pans on a cake rack and cool completely.

Filling:

While cake is baking, start to make filling.
In a small saucepan, cook flour and milk together on stove, stirring often until thick and smooth. Cool completely.
Add the rest of ingredients to a mixing bowl and cream together.
Add cooled flour mixture and beat on high until a light whipped cream consistency (about 5 to 8 minutes).
Trim layers of cooled cake and place filling between the two layers.

Icing:

In a saucepan on the stove, heat milk, butter (cut into cubes) and chocolate until completely melted and smooth.
Cool completely. Add powdered sugar and vanilla and beat on high. Frost top and sides of cake.
Enjoy!!!

Grandma's Red Chocolate Cream Cake!
My thoughts: I have a lot of thoughts… At the front of my mind is this: My grandma Ann is 95 years old and she made this cake well into her late 80’s for us. At age 42 I am barely able to keep track of all these steps…I am very impressed by her baking and multi-tasking abilities!!! Wow.

Ok- other thoughts: This cake tends toward dry. Mine turned out great this time, but sometimes it’s a bit dry. Be meticulous with your measurements and err toward less rather than more with the dry ingredients. I also read that you can add a bit of oil to any cake recipe to moisten it up. Might be worth trying? That said- the flavor of this cake is out of this world- really, no other cake I’ve had tastes like this one. It’s wonderful!

The filling….beat it FOREVER. The biggest mistake I’ve made with this cake over the years is the cream filling. You really do need to beat it for 5-10 minutes. For a girl without a stand mixer this is an ETERNITY of beating filling, but you really have to. It is soooooooooo good. I think I need to double it next time, I like it so much.

The frosting is a glaze-type frosting. It is very soft at first. The best thing to do is to refrigerate about half of it until it is spreadable, frost the tops and sides, and then pour the remaining soft frosting over the top and just smooth it over the whole thing. Eventually all of it hardens into a spectacular smooth fudge icing. You will love it!

I hope you get a chance to try this incredible cake!

Many thanks to grandma Ann for the wonderful recipe (and for celebrating my birthday by making this cake for so many years!)~ Love you!!

Celebrating grandma’s 95th birthday this year!

Cakes!!! Other fun cake recipes!!!

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Posted in Cakes and tagged baking, cake, cream, dense chocolate cake, dessert, fudge icing, glaze, grandmas cake recipe, homemade cake, layer cake, recipe, twinkie filling, white cream filling. Bookmark the permalink.

Coconut Cupcakes

Posted on August 31, 2013 by Ruthanne

These coconut cupcakes are infused with coconut cream and topped with smooth coconut buttercream frosting….YUM!!!

Coconut is one of my very favorite flavors. So many people dislike it and I just can’t understand!! Starbucks used to have the most amazing coconut mochas– discontinued due to lack of interest. Recently, Cheesecake Factory discontinued my favorite cheesecake- coconut cream pie. What is this world coming to?

If you like coconut, you will enjoy these cupcakes so much- they are positively bursting with coconut flavor. Honestly, they are my new favorite cupcake, followed closely by cookie dough cupcakes. If you don’t like coconut you should make cookie dough cupcakes. You need cupcakes today.

Yum…..

Here’s how to make them: (printable recipe)

INGREDIENTS: (makes 12 cupcakes)

Cupcakes

1 ¼ cups of cake flour
1/2 cup of sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
3 egg whites and ½ egg yolk at room temp
1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
1 teaspoon coconut extract
1/3 cup cream of coconut (plus a little to brush on top)
2 teaspoon water

Coconut Buttercream Icing:

2 sticks (1 cup) of butter at room temperature.
2 cups powdered sugar
3 teaspoons coconut extract
1/2 cup shredded coconut
White food coloring gel.

DIRECTIONS:

Cupcakes:

Preheat oven to 325F
Add flour, sugar, baking powder and salt to a large mixing bowl and using an electric mixer combine these dry ingredients well.
Cut (room temp!) butter into 1 tbs pieces.
Add these pieces one at a time to dry ingredients while blending on low speed.
Mix until butter pieces are separated into small bits (no bigger than pea-sized)
In a smaller bowl, whisk together the rest of ingredients.
Slowly add half of liquid mixture to dry, while mixing on medium. Mix until completely combined.
Slowly add the rest of the liquid and mix on high for about a minute until well combined.
Divide batter into 12 cupcake liners in a cupcake tin.
Bake for 15-18 minutes until a toothpick inserted into middle comes out clean.
Allow cupcakes to cool in pan for about 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Poke holes into tops of each cupcake and use a pastry brush to brush coconut cream on top of each cupcake.
Allow coconut cream to soak in while you make icing.

Icing:

Add all ingredients except shredded coconut into a mixing bowl and combine with a mixer on low. Then whip on high until light and fluffy.
Frosting will be an off-white color because of the butter. To make it more “coconut” colored you can add white food coloring gel to your desired shade of white.
Add shredded coconut and blend well.
Scoop icing on top of each cupcake using a cookie scoop. Evenly divide icing among the 12 cupcakes.
Press coconut on top and sides of entire scoop of frosting.
Enjoy!

My thoughts: There are so many fun little cupcake stores out there. I’ve been trying them out and picking my favorites. I’ve come to the conclusion that made-from-scratch cupcakes have more potential than boxed mixes. Potential for both good and bad. I’ve had some terrible cupcakes and some absolutely heavenly ones. I’ve decided that I need to be brave and venture into developing my own from-scratch recipes for cupcakes. This was my 1st attempt and I was really excited they turned out well! If you need a QUICK coconut cupcake recipe, use a white cake mix with some coconut flavoring and this coconut buttercream. Here’s to new adventures in life! Enjoy!! ~r