Really, how can you go wrong with peanut butter and chocolate?  These cupcakes were really dense — that might be from something I did wrong, but in this case I think I actually made them correctly.  The chocolate was intense, the peanut butter was intense, and a glass of milk was a necessity.

First, you create the chocolate batter.  Start with 4 oz. semisweet chocolate (I used chocolate chips), 2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, and 1/2 cup butter in a double-boiler.  I just received a double-boiler for Christmas so this was its inaugural run.  If you don’t have one, set a heatproof bowl over a pan of water on the stove.

I think we’re off to a good start with that pan!

Once it’s all melted and smooth, remove it from the heat and let it cool just a bit.  Then whisk in 3/4 cup sugar followed by 3 eggs.  Whisk until it’s nice and smooth, and then stir in 2 teaspoons of vanilla.  Next you can add the dry ingredients of 2/3 cup flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, and 1/4 teaspoon salt.  If you want to be perfectly correct, you should combine those dry ingredients in a separate bowl and then add the whole she-bang to the chocolate mixture. Yeah, yeah whatever.  Ok, back to the good stuff.

Now the peanut butter batter.  No steps for this one, just put 4 tablespoons  of melted butter, 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar, 3/4 cup smooth peanut butter, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla into a bowl and mix it all up like so…

Finally, line your muffin tins with paper liners.  Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Then, spoon about 2 tablespoons of chocolate batter into each cup.  Then spoon about 1 tablespoon of peanut butter batter on top of the chocolate in each cup, followed by one more tablespoon of chocolate batter, and then one final tablespoon of peanut butter batter.  Now, swirl the top of each cupcake with a toothpick or fork (I used a fork to get it done a little quicker).  Then bake them for 35-40 minutes and remove when a toothpick comes out with just a few crumbs.

And here they are.  Marble-y and Delicious!

I adapted this recipe from a cookbook I absolutely love, Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes.  It is a beautiful and fun book that’s great for the recipes, but really fun to just sit down and read too.  I definitely recommend it.

Since I’ve now been banned from making desserts “just for the fun of it,” I now enjoy making them for every possible occasion I can find.  Next on the list, a potluck Super Bowl party we’ll be attending.  I’m going to start through my cupcake book now to pick out a couple new recipes for Sunday.

- Clarissa

Ok,  I’ll confess, it’s actually chocolate cake that just looks like a pint of Guinness.  I did find a recipe that uses Guinness beer in the cake, but I decided that’s something better kept for private tastings than birthday party debuts.  I was also informed that the birthday boy’s favorite cake is chocolate with chocolate frosting, so I stuck with what works.  The birthday boy also happens to be a huge fan of all things Guinness – hence the shape of the cake.  I’m not THAT crazy.

I was going for something like this glass but with lines like the ones we brought home from Ireland…

See, even the little harp?  I was proud of the little harp.

The frosting is the super fudge-y stuff I used earlier on those stinkin’ Hawkeye cupcakes.  Point of order, they were amazingly good, but I say stinkin’ because they’re Hawkeyes and have been the most popular photos and recipe on this site.  Just wait until Michigan gets good enough again at some sport to warrant some cupcakes

Anyway, back to the Guinness.  Here’s some proof of how good it was.  They look just moments from slipping into a chocolate coma, don’t they?

- Clarissa

Remember that delicious-looking photo I posted of the red velvet cake?  You’d better, because that was, like, three days ago.

Some very smart readers requested the recipe, so I thought I’d share it with all of you.  Now the origin of this exact version of the recipe would quite possibly require a genealogy library.  I got it from my mom who got it from her mom who got it from some family member, but exactly who is a mystery to us.  Either way, it’s old, amazing, and uses butter with reckless abandon.

A couple tips on the cake.  First, be confident when you buy all of that food coloring because you will get strange looks — I even got a “what are you going to DO with all of that?” Then, once you get home be very careful with the food coloring.  Hopefully you aren’t as clumsy as I, but just in case, Bon Ami used right away works beautifully to remove red food coloring stains from counter tops.  Not that I have any experience or anything.

Second, the frosting is a bit of a delicate process.  If you’re good at making gravy you’ll be good at making this.  I am not good at either, but learned something this time around:  Start with the flour and just a little milk.  Use a whisk, spoon, or fork to get rid of ALL the lumps before proceeding with the rest of the milk.  Don’t be lazy now because even the small lumps at this point look huge when spread on the cake.  Not that I have any experience with that one either — hey, at least I learned and did better this time.  One final tip on the frosting, wait until the last minute (or at least day of) to frost the cake.  Remember all of that red food coloring?  It eventually, and not so slowly, bleeds into the beautiful white frosting.  On the other hand it’s an easy way to get a pink Valentine’s Day cake going.

Here’s the recipe…

Waldorf Astoria Cake

Ingredients – Cake

• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 oz. red food coloring
• 1 tsp cocoa powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup butermilk
• 2 1/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp soda
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp vinegar

Ingredients – Frosting

• 3 tbl flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla

For cake, cream shortening and sugar.  Add eggs, beating after each addition.  Separately make paste of red coloring and cocoa (really more of a liquid than paste, in my opinion).  Add to mixture and mix.  In a separate bowl, combine flour and soda.  In another bowl, combine buttermilk and salt.  Add to mixture alternating between flour mix and buttermilk mix, mixing after each addition.  Add vanilla.  Add vinegar.

Pour into greased cake pans (this recipes works well for 8 or 9 inch round pans).  Bake at 350 degrees for __ minutes.  The recipe seriously has the __ typed in it.  So basically start with 25-30 minutes and just watch it until a toothpick comes out clean.

For frosting, combine flour and milk in a saucepan (remember the trick).  Cook on the low to medium heat until thick, stirring consistently.  Cool (if you’re impatient like me put it in an ice bath).  When completely cool, add remaining ingredients and beat until fluffy.

- Clarissa

Over the holidays my family held an anniversary party for my parents.  All eight of my siblings came to town toting their spouses and children for the big event.  It was great to have everyone together for a weekend of camaraderie, sharing memories, and just plain fun.

So, all that’s well and good, but what about the cake?  This was my first attempt at a tiered cake (outside the one in cake class that didn’t go so well) so I was pretty proud.

I gave myself a hard setup deciding to make red velvet cake.  On top of that, I was instructed that it HAD to be the special butter frosting included in the red velvet recipe.  That frosting is amazing (how can it be bad with six sticks of butter?) but doesn’t make for a perfectly smooth covering.  Despite all of that, it got rave reviews and was a hit!

Don’t get any red cake on the wedding dress!

- Clarissa

Cute, cute, cute, right?  I had fun making these cupcakes for a Hawkeye tailgate.  I’m proud of how they look, but they seriously tasted even better.  They use my now favorite go-to recipe, Hershey’s chocolate cake.  Earlier I gave you the Wilton chocolate frosting recipe, but this time I actually used the frosting recipe from Hersheys.  I learned that it doesn’t hold up quite as well as the Wilton recipe, but tastes 8 1/2 times better (that’s right, exactly eight and a half).  It’s truly like eating spreadable fudge.

The “I”s were made with fondant that I cut into I shapes, dried, and then placed on top of the cupcakes.  They fell down a little bit during the 10+ hour car trip, but you get the idea.  Of course, not as pretty as “M”s would’ve been — what we don’t do for love.*

*NGHubby is a huge U of Iowa fan.  While I don’t especially dislike Iowa, I never ever thought I would be making U of Iowa cupcakes.  Good thing they turned out so darn cute.

You gotta try this frosting right away.  Or just make some and eat it right from the bowl — it’s that good.

“Perfectly Chocolate” chocolate frosting

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
• 2/3 cup HERSHEY’S Cocoa
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.

- Clarissa

I just had to post a couple quick pictures of the inside gooey deliciousness of the ice cream cake.

Isn’t that amazing?  Mmmm mmmm

Missed the ice cream cake discussion?  Start with the first ice cream cake post.

- Clarissa

The ice cream cake was a HUGE success.  I don’t want to pat myself on the back too hard, but it was awesome.  Even better, it received rave reviews from the birthday boy as well as a couple visitors.  Here’s the finished product:

Now the fun part, how to make it yourself.  I explained the inside last week in “Fake” Dairy Queen ice cream cake.  So once the ice cream and oreo layers are stacked and well-frozen, we’re ready for frosting.

I learned that ice cream cakes need a little different frosting because the frosting needs to allow freezing.  The frosting used to cover this cake is a mixture of half vanilla ice cream and half Cool Whip.  I know, I know, I am very outspoken in my hatred of cool whip, but in this case I needed something whipped that is made to be frozen (unlike real whipped cream).  So I bit my tongue and bought a container of cool whip.  It didn’t help that NGHubby taunted me as I removed the cool whip from my grocery bag.  Anyway, half ice cream and half cool whip in a bowl and mix them together well (but not too much so they get soupy).  Then place the bowl back in the freezer for just a few minutes to be at a perfectly spreadable consistency.  After that, work very quickly to spread the icing over the entire cake.  If it gets too soft, just throw everything back in the freezer for a few minutes again.  To make the ridges in the cake, I used a little triangle tool that Wilton makes that I just slid along the side of the cake.  I think it adds a nice touch for about 60 cents at Hobby Lobby.  That’s another funny story because I got an interesting look when I used a 40% off coupon to buy a 99 cent item.  Hey, 40 cents is 40 cents.

Next is the decorative icing.  To be as close as possible to Dairy Queen, that is half whipped buttercream icing and half Cool Whip.  You can make some vanilla buttercream (and whip it to be a little lighter than the normal stuff) or buy a container of whipped vanilla icing.  Combined with half cool whip, the frosting freezes nicely instead of cracking like pure buttercream would do.  Again, you need to work fairly quickly with this icing (partly because the canvas will melt beneath you).  So plan what you want to do with it before removing anything from the freezer, and don’t hesitate to return it all to the freezer for a few minutes if it starts to feel too soft.

After that, it can be served anytime, but I thought it was nicer after an overnight in the freezer.  I never thought I would say this when I started the ice cream cake adventure a week ago, but I absolutely recommend this cake!  It tastes amazing and is really quite easy to make using all purchased ingredients.  It does require advanced planning because of the freezing required between each step, but the actual hands-on time is quite minimal.  I would estimate total prep time at 3-4 days, but hands on prep time of no more than an hour total.

So, here’s your ingredient list — now get going:

• 2-3 types of ice cream (vanilla plus two others unless you use vanilla as one of your flavors)
• 1 package of oreos
• 1 small jar of hot fudge topping
• 1 container of Cool Whip (or two for a larger cake)
• 1 container of whipped frosting (or a couple cups of homemade whipped buttercream icing)
• Food coloring if you want colored frosting

Update: See the inside in the Update to ice cream cake post

- Clarissa

A long-standing birthday tradition in my family was to pick what kind of cake Mom would make for our birthday dinner or party.  One time I said cheesecake and was told I was supposed to say vanilla or chocolate (or maybe fun-fetti).  Now that Adam and I continue that in our family, I have had some strange requests to which I respond, “you were supposed to say vanilla or chocolate.”  But, of course, just like I got my cheesecake as a child, I oblige Adam’s birthday cake wishes as well.  Two years ago was chocolate pecan pie and last year was french silk pie, so who knows what to expect.

With Adam’s birthday arriving today, I asked him last weekend what kind of cake he would like.  This year an ice cream cake was the style of choice.  That was not at all what I expected, but I’m always up for a new adventure.  So, after some good old-fashioned Google searching, I took bits and pieces of recipes to create a Dairy Queen (-ish) ice cream cake.

The recipe starts with any two types of ice cream.  The traditional cake would be vanilla and chocolate, but I went out on a limb to use our favorite peppermint stick flavor instead of vanilla.  So the cake ended up like this, from the bottom up — oreo and butter crust, chocolate ice cream, crushed oreos, hot fudge, a few more crushed oreos, peppermint ice cream, and frosting.

I read conflicting opinions on starting from the top vs. starting from the bottom.  It seems to me not to really matter, so I actually did a combination.  It’s easiest to use a high cake pan and do the whole thing in there, although that does require more advanced planning because each layer has to freeze.  I don’t have a tall one, so I used two.

After the ice cream softens a bit to be spreadable and you’ve covered the inside of the cake pans with plastic wrap, spread the top flavor (peppermint in my case) into the first pan.  Then,  sprinkle a layer of crushed oreos on top, followed by slightly warmed hot fudge.  That pan immediately goes into the freezer before the fudge gets through to melt the ice cream.  For the second pan, mix some crushed oreos with a couple tablespoons of melted butter and press it into the bottom of the pan (I made up that step, but it seemed like that would pretty much make that special Dairy Queen crust).  Then, spread the chocolate ice cream into a nice thick layer.  If your birthday boy requests extra oreos like mine did, you can put another layer of crushed oreos on top of this layer too.  I also thought that extra layer of oreos would help bond the two ice cream layers together when stacked.  After all of that freezes overnight, you can stack them up on a cake board placing the crust layer on the bottom (with plastic wrap removed ) and then flip the top layer over on top.  Put it all back in the freezer.

That’s as far as I got for the day, so we’ll talk about the special frosting and if I succeeded in making it like Dairy Queen in the next post.

Update: Continue to “Fake” Dairy Queen ice cream cake – Part II to see the finished product and learn how to create it yourself.

- Clarissa

This weekend NGHubby and I enjoyed a fun trip to Nebraska to see where pork comes from.  Really…we toured the Farmland plant and saw pork complete from pig to bacon, sausage, ribs, dog food, and human pharmaceuticals.  I was afraid I might have some trouble viewing it and still eating my daily morning bacon, but it was so impressive that it actually makes me enjoy bacon more.  I also learned that I could keep my kitchen a whole lot cleaner because if they can make pork in a place that spotless (the workers actually wore perfectly clean white clothing) what’s my excuse?  So, this trip to the pork plant inspired a new series of bacon recipes on NGH — stay tuned for that in the coming weeks.

For now, though, we’re back to the sweeter life and continuing last week’s frosting series with a very handy icing tool, Royal Icing.  Royal icing is very easy to work with (easier than buttercream in my opinion) and can be used in many different applications.  Because it dries very hard and sturdy, it’s perfect for creating flowers and decorations as well as icing cookies to be mailed.  Decorations made with royal icing can be stored in a plastic container or ziplock for months.

Last week I used royal icing to decorate some cookies we mailed to a friend who lost his brother.  I know, not the most traditional condolence gift, but NGHubby actually came up with the idea that I think is great because cookies make anyone feel a little better.  Because royal icing hardens very nicely, the cookies can be stacked so it’s perfect for shipping.  For these cookies I used the recipe below to pipe the outlines on the cookies and designs, and then added some water to the icing to spread within the outlines.  This was my second attempt of decorating cookies using royal icing, so I have some more practice to do, but I think they turned out pretty well.

Here is a picture of some of the finished cookies (they are big Kansas State fans).

and my frosting replica of the K-State logo…

To show you the versatility of royal icing, I also used it to create these flowers…

that were eventually made into this “basket of flowers” cake.

A couple warnings for your work with royal icing.  First, it dries very quickly so be sure to keep it covered when you can while working.  You can keep extra frosting for weeks in a glass container to use later.  Second, be sure the icing touches absolutely no grease (or it will separate strangely) so all utensils and containers should be completely grease-free.

Finally, here’s the recipe.  I can’t wait to see your creations!

Royal Icing (Stiff Consistency)

Yields 3 cups

• 3 tablespoons meringue powder
• 1 lb. confectioners’ sugar (about 4 cups)
• 5-6 tablespoons lukewarm water

Place confectioners’ sugar and meringue powder in a bowl.  Stir or mix at low speed until blended.  Add water and mix 7-10 minutes at low-medium speed until icing loses its sheen.  To prevent drying, be sure to cover the bowl with a damp cloth while working with icing.

Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.  To reuse, beat on low speed to restore original texture.

- Clarissa

After a quick Halloween insert, we’re back to the World (icing) Series.  I wrote last week about the basic Wilton frosting recipe used for cake decorating.  Today we get chocolaty!  I used it on this cake…

and then modified it a little for this one…

The chocolate frosting starts with the exact same recipe as the “regular” frosting and then adds the best ingredient — chocolate.  As a recap, start with the shortening, flavoring (vanilla in this case), and water.  Then add the sugar and meringue powder.  Next, add cocoa powder or unsweetened chocolate squares and an additional 1-2 tablespoons of water.

The recipe below makes the deep dark extremely chocolaty frosting shown in the first picture.  For the lighter chocolate I used on the second cake, I made the basic frosting and then just added cocoa powder and water slowly until it was the color I was looking to get.  That method created the light brown color and a nice chocolate flavor that was not so rich that half the frosting gets left behind on guests’ plates — perfect!

Wilton Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

• 1 cup solid vegetable shortening
• 1 teaspoon flavoring (I’d suggest vanilla for the chocolate frosting)
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 lb. pure cane confectioners’ sugar (approx. 4 cups)
• 1 tablespoon meringue powder
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder or 3 1-ounce squares unsweetened chocolate (melted and cooled)
• 1-2 tablespoons water

Cream shortening, flavoring, and water.  Add sugar and meringue powder and mix until ingredients have been thoroughly mixed together.  Add chocolate and water and mix until all ingredients are thoroughly mixed.  Blend an additional minute  until mixture is creamy.

You won’t be able to resist licking the beaters with this one!  Next, we’ll talk about frosting coloring and consistency.  I’d love to hear your stories and see the pictures of your adventures with the chocolate frosting.

- Clarissa