Double Chocolate Layer Cake

I made this cake for my sister and my birthday. My sister is pretty picky about chocolate cakes and this cake hit the spot. It was extremely moist and the frosting is by far the best I've had. The only thing is the cake is only as good as the quality of chocolate you use. I used Scharffen Berger chocolate in the batter and Scharffen Berger and Ghirardelli Chocolate for the frosting (it was just too expensive for me to use all Schaffen Berger).


I made white chocolate mousse to put in between the layers but I didn't make it early enough to allow the mousse to harden up. I had to scrap it all off but as you can see, I couldn't get it all off.

You can find the recipe here.

"Cinnabon" Cinnamon Rolls

I’ve been reading the Daring Bakers blogs and their recent challenge was to make Cinnamon buns. I’ve made cinnamon rolls before but they were a disaster, extremely dry and it had an “eggy” taste. I didn’t even take a picture of it, that’s how disappointed I was. I got the recipe from the Food Network after watching Alton Brown’s episode of The Dough Also Rises. This time around, I decided to look on Recipezaar.com. The reviews for this recipe were really good so went to the market (again) and got all the ingredients. I got started and realized I forgot the milk =/ and made another trip. *Sigh*

This recipe is a winner! I followed the ingredients but the cooking time the recipe called for was too short. At 20min. the dough was not all the way cooked. So I put it back in for about another 10 min. I inserted an instant read thermometer and took the buns out when it reached 180˚F. The recipe I used the first time said to take out the buns when it reached 190˚F but that resulted in dry buns. The frosting was delicious!

You can find the recipe here.

Grapefruit Yogurt Cake

I was reading Fanny’s Blog and found the recipe for Grapefruit Yogurt cake. I've never made a yogurt cake but her picture and description intrigued me. I knew I had to make it. This was also the first recipe I'd seen for grapefruit. I followed her recipe exactly except for the size of her pan. I didn't have a 7½" pan so I used an 8½" pan which is why my cake turned out flatter then hers. I got a little impatient waiting for the grapefruit juice to soak into the cake so I made a number of holes. Next time, I'm going to try and be more patient =] The cake was just lovely; very similar to my Blueberry Cake, dense but still very moist. I'm going to make this for my sister, who loves grapefruit. Even Mr. Cutie Pie liked the cake.

Blueberry Coffee Cake

This is my favorite cake I've made so far. It was dense and moist. It didn't have a heavy butter flavor and the brown sugar topping was nice and crispy. When I visited my sister in Baltimore, we made the cake into muffins and they turned out just as good. For some reason, I like the cake after it's been refrigerated. My sister doesn't seem to care either way.

I can't remember where I found the recipe. I just saved it on a word document, so when I find it I'll let you know.

Little Boy Cookies

Little Boy Cookies

This time while I waited at my friend's house for bowling league to start, her little boy decided that we should decorate some cookies.

The little boy decorating them

And here he is putting the faces on the cookies. He actually wanted to make pirate cookies but since we didn't have enough time before we went bowling, he used M&Ms.

Cookies

M&M and Chocolate Chip cookies

Since Mr. Cutie Pie doesn't like a lot of sweets, chocolate chip cookies are just about the only thing I know he'll eat for sure. A lot of the cookies I've made in the past have been too flat for my taste. The perfect cookie size and texture for me would be fat, soft and chewy. I usually followed the recipe on the back of NESTLÉ®TOLL HOUSE® Morsels packages but the cookies were too thin for me. I've also tried Alton Brown's recipe for The Chewy cookie and although it was chewy, the cookies were still too thin.

I wanted cookies like the ones I bought from Campitelli Cookies . I finally found the recipe while looking through Mr. Cutie Pie's mom's cook books. I didn't have a lot of unsalted butter (less than ⅓) so I looked for cookie recipes that used a combination of butter and shortening. The whole recipe needed ⅔ butter and ⅔ shortening so I just cut everything in half. The recipe also stated that for a rounder cookie, add another half a cup of flour. The resulting cookies were exactly to my standards. The only difference I would make next time would be to make the cookies bigger.

Reese's pieces cookies

Chocolate Chip Cookies
⅔ cup shortening
⅔ cup butter or margarine, softened (I used unsalted butter)
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar (packed)
2 eggs (room temperature)
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
12 oz semisweet chocolate pieces (1 ½ cups)

Heat oven to 375°F. Mix thoroughly shortening, butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla. Stir in remaining ingredients. (For a softer, rounder cookie, add an extra½ cups flour)

Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light brown (if you're making large cookies, bake for about 12 minutes but do not over bake). Cool slightly before removing from baking sheet.

About 7 dozen cookies.