Red, White and Blue 4th of July Bundt Cake

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By Christy

Happy early 4th of July! I am so excited about the 4th this year because I am actually celebrating twice: this weekend with some of my family and next weekend with my closest friends. I can't wait! I got so excited as I was packing my bag this evening that I decided, "Why not bake a 4th of July cake?" lol

This cake is super simple, but looks really pretty! Using food coloring and layered cake batter and icing creates a fun and cool effect that taste great too! If you remember, Mom did a version of this exact type of thing but in cupcakes last year. I'm just showing you additional creative ways to display a simple, traditional white cake with white icing.

Cake:

Prepare any white cake mix

Red and Blue Food coloring

Take the cake batter once prepared and split into 3 equal portions. Add red food coloring to one bowl of batter and mix until well combined. Add blue food coloring to another bowl of batter and mix until well combined. Leave 1 of the bowls of batter original, it will serve as the "white".

Using any types of cake pans, (I chose bundt). Spray the pan with cooking spray.  Pour the red batter into cake pan first and smooth over bottom. Next use the "white" cake batter, spreading it evenly over the red layer, without blending the colors. Finish up by completing the 3rd layer with blue. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until the cake passes the toothpick test.

Vanilla Icing:

I made simple buttercream icing, just like they taught me in my first cake decorating classes.

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup Crisco

1 tsp clear vanilla extract

4 cups powdered sugar

2 tbsp. milk

Beat the butter and Crisco together until smooth. Add vanilla. Slowly add the 4 cups of powdered sugar until well blended. It will be very thick. Add milk and beat until smooth. Using food coloring make whatever colors you like. For this cake obviously I used red and blue. Decorate as you so choose. I used disposable icing bags but just cut the tip of the bags instead of using icing tips and thought it turned out great. Sprinkles are also a fun option to add to the top of the cake to really add that wow factor.

Happy 4th of July!

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Opera Cream Cupcakes

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By: Sarah

A few weekends ago, one of my favorite couples, John and Allison, got married.  My husband and I had so much fun celebrating their big night with them.  The wedding was held in a beautiful cathedral with breathtaking stained glass windows.  Allison looked stunning as ever and John couldn't have been more "John" in his boots.  Also, the reception was top notch! The shabby chic decor was so adorable and the food, drinks, and dancing made the night perfect.  

At John and Allison's couple shower, I had my first ever experience with Opera Cream Cake.  At first the cake just looked like a regular chocolate cake with white buttercream icing, but when I tasted it, I couldn't place the flavors or consistency.  The white icing just melted away in my mouth and had the perfect hint of vanilla.  I fell in love with this cake right then and there.  Since then, I've been researching this so called "Opera Cream" cake and I found that I'm not the only one in love.  I'm not sure where Allison had her Opera Cream cake made, but I found a bakery in Cincinnati that is known for this exact dessert.  (We were in Cincinnati, so I'm guessing her cake had to come from here.)  This bakery is called the BonBonerie.  I also found several message boards and websites that rave about the BonBonerie and their Opera Cream when I googled Opera Cakes. Since then I have been looking at pictures of this cake online trying to figure out how I was going to get my next fix.....

My first piece of Opera Cream Cake.

So tonight I decided that I must recreate my new favorite sweet. I happened to come across an Opera Cream Icing recipe, so I gave it a try. Now it's been a little while now since I had my first official taste of the real Opera Cream Cake, so I don't really remember all of the details of the cake, but I tried my best to recreate it.  I have to say,while it may not taste exactly like the BonBonerie's cake, this cupcake and icing turned out to be superb!  The icing is so light and airy and melts away on your tongue.  It is pairs well with chocolate because it's not overly sweet.  My husband even rated this cupcake a 9.5 on a scale of 1-10 (this never happens)!  By the way - Husband -  if you are reading,  I want my next birthday cake from the BonBonerie :) 

Opera Cream Cupcake

1.  Make your favorite chocolate cupcake recipe. Tonight I made my favorite Pillsbury Moist Supreme Cake Mix in Dark Chocolate. 

2.  Let cool.

Opera Cream Icing

by cooks.com

5 T flour

1 cup milk

1 cup granulated sugar

2 sticks butter

1 tsp. vanilla

1.  Cook flour and milk in a small sauce pan stirring frequently.  Once it is thick like paste remove from heat. Cool completely.  

2.  Cream together butter and sugar and put in refrigerator.  

3.  After the paste is completely cool remove mixing bowl from refrigerator. Combine the paste with creamed butter and sugar. Add vanilla.  Beat mixture with an electric mixer until thick and smooth.  Make sure all grains of sugar have dissolved.  In hot weather, due to the high butter content, frosting should be refrigerated.  

How to assemble cupcakes:

Filling - I filled my cupcakes with the opera cream icing.  I used an icing bag and a small round tip to fill the cupcakes.  Just stick the tip into the top of the cupcake and squeeze icing in until the cupcake starts to bulge at the top.  

Icing - I didn't use a tip, but just a plain plastic icing bag with the tip cut off.  

Chocolate Drizzle - Today I used Smucker's Chocolate Magic Shell to drizzle on my cupcakes. Once the cupcake has the chocolate drizzle, put in the refrigerator to get hard.

Mini Chocolate Chips - Cover as desired.

Enjoy with a tall glass of milk ;)

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Cookie Apple Cobbler

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by

Cindy

Summer is in full swing now and nothing is more all American than apple pie or ...maybe apple cobbler.  My favorite apple recipe is the Apple Dumpling recipe made with Mountain Dew.  Maybe anything would taste good cooked in Mountain Dew - lol.  This recipe comes close to being as good but is a lot easier.  It only takes a few key ingredients and the other ingredients are usually in the pantry.  It is very sweet so the brown sugar amount could probably be lowered to 1/2 cup.  So if you don't have a lot of time and you're looking for a great all American apple pie type dessert, this is it.  Don't forget the vanilla ice cream.  I like the cobbler to be a little warm and then add the ice cream so it melts just a little.  Some things are just better with ice cream.

Cookie Apple Cobbler

6 cups sliced peeled apples

1 cup packed brown sugar  (3/4 cup if desired less sweet)

2 T all purpose flour

1  t ground cinnamon

1/2 t ground allspice

2 T lemon juice

1 roll refrigerated sugar cookies

2 T granulated sugar

1.  Heat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl, mix apples, brown sugar, flour, 1 t of cinnamon, allspice and lemon juice; toss to coat apples well.  Spoon into ungreased 9 1/2-inch glass deep dish pie plate or rectangular pan.

2.  Crumble cookie dough evenly over apples.  Sprinkle the granulated sugar evenly over the cookie dough and then sprinkle with cinnamon.

3.  Bake 35 to 45 minutes or until the top is golden brown and apples are tender.

recipe adapted from

Pillsbury.com

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Tagalong Cupcakes

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Long time, no blog! The last few months have been pretty crazy for me. For the first time in my graduate career I was juggling 2 classes which proved to literally take all of my free time after working full time, and taking a trip to China for school for 2 weeks. But good news! As of Friday I am officially DONE!

I know Girl Scout season is long gone but every year I always support the Girl Scouts by buying cookies. My sister and I were Girl Scouts into High School and my mom was always our leader. She did a great job and we always got to do fun trips, crafts, and get togethers. If you were never a Girl Scout, let me tell ya...Selling cookies was a big deal! Mom would take me door to door in our town to sell cookies to our close family and friends, I took my cookie from to church & to school, and back in the good ole days, I would get out the local phone book, Mom put dashes next to the names I should call and I gave my cold calling a true effort. Now a days things are much more technologically savvy. The last two years, all I have had to do is click a link, pick out my cookies, and the next moment I have ordered my cookies. Pretty cool progress in the Girl Scout cookie world.

I am a sucker for 2 kinds of girl scout cookies, Tagalong and Samoas. So of course I felt the need to buy a few boxes of those and while I was at it i thought, why don't I try making a cupcake inspired by these amazing cookies!!!? That is how the Tagalong Cupcake came about. I am not for sure the right words to describe this cupcake... Sinful, Amazing, Beautiful, Scrumptious... the list could go on and on! They really were a sight to see in all their peanut butter and chocolate goodness!

Ingredients for Cupcakes:

1 Chocolate Cake Recipe or box cake mix made per directions

24 Reece Cups

24 Peanut Butter Cookie Sandwhichs (I bought Kroger Brand)

Preheat Oven to 325. Put your cupcake liners in your cupcake pan. Remove 1 cookie from the peanut butter cookie sandwich and put the cookie with the most icing in the bottom of the muffin liner, icing facing up. Next fill the cupcakes about 2/3rd full and push the Reese's Cup into the batter (I scored mini Reese's Easter eggs on sale right after easter...Seriously, that's how long ago I made these cupcakes! LOL). Bake for about 25 minutes or until the cake is firm.

While your cupcakes are cooling it is a great time to start of the icing. I paired the Chocolate Cupcake with a rich and delicious peanut butter buttercream frosting. It is sooo good and kinda has a similar flavor that peanut butter pie filling consists of. And it is just basically a glorified vanilla buttercream recipe, so if you can make that, you will have no issues making the peanut butter version.

Peanut Butter Buttercream

2 stick softened butter

1 cup of smooth peanut butter (You can use chucky, but if you are going to pipe the icing it may be tricky with the tips)

2 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp heavy cream

Whip the butter until smooth then add peanut butter. Slowly add the sugar and salt and mix on medium until well incorporated. Scrap down the sides of the bowl, and start mixing again. Add the vanilla and the cream. Beat until the icing is nice and fluffy. I would recommend a minimum of 2 minutes up to 5. If you find your icing to runny, add a little more powdered sugar. If you find it too stiff, add a little more cream (one tsp at a time)

Chocolate Ganache Coating

Ingredients:

1 bag of chocolate chips

1 cup peanut butter cookie crumbs (use the left over cookie tops left over from making the cupcake portion)

Use a double boiler, or you can do like me with 2 sauce pans. Fill one deep sauce pan with water and put your chocolate chips in a smaller sauce pan that can easily sit inside the other.

Cook the chocolate chips over the water until the chocolate chips are 2/3rds the way from being completely melted. Do not let the chocolate boil. Once the chocolate chips have almost melted, take the pan off the heat and continue to stir until all the chocolate chips have completely melted. Pour the chocolate into a deep cup, that is big enough for a cupcake to be dipped in to. I used a coffee mug. Let the chocolate cool for 15 minutes before starting to dip your cupcakes. At this time put your cupcakes in the freezer for the 15 minute waiting period. Having cold cupcake helps the chocolate harden much quicker. Once the chocolate has cooled a little bit, dip each of the cupcakes and while they are still wet garnish with cookie crumbs. I just used a food processor and chopped the cookie tops left over from making the cupcake portion. I also topped mine with a 1/2 of a Tagalong but after the fact I don't recommend this because the cookie got very soggy and it truly was a waste of an amazing delish cookie.

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Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cookie Pie

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by 

Cindy

This week I made something that has ingredients that we all know that I love - chocolate & peanut butter.  This pie tastes just like a Reese Cup.  It is super rich and I think it would be better in bar form instead of pie form.  The bars could be cut smaller and then if someone wanted more they could have another bar.  The girls at the office really liked this pie, but as I said the pieces were cut very small because of it's richness. It is very quick and easy and makes a very impressive looking dessert. Who doesn't love a Reese Cup??? lol

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cookie Pie

1 roll (16.5 oz) Pillsbury refrigerated chocolate chip cookies with walnuts

3 cups powdered sugar

1 cup peanut butter

2 T butter or margarine, softened

1/4 cup water

1 cup milk chocolate chips, melted

1.  Heat oven to 350 degrees.  In the bottom of an ungreased 10 or 9 inch springform pan, break up cookie dough.  With floured fingers, press dough evenly in bottom of pan.  Bake 14 to 18 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool 15 minutes. For bars spread dough in a 9 x 13 pan and bake 10 to 15 minutes.  

2.  In medium bowl, mix powdered sugar and water.  Then add butter and peanut butter until well blended.  (If necessary, add additional water 1 teaspoon at a time until mixture is smooth.)  Pour mixture over baked cookie crust and smooth out evenly over crust.

3.  Melt the chocolate chips in 10 to 20 seconds intervals stirring each time until just melted.  (Over melting will cause the chocolate to harden.)  Spread melted chocolate chips over peanut butter mixture. 

 If desired, carefully swirl chocolate with fork.  Garnish with pecan halves.  Refrigerate 1 hour or until chocolate is set.  To serve, take it out of the refrigerator for about an hour and let it come to room temperature, so that when it is cut the top chocolate layer won't break.  

recipe adapted from

Pillsbury .com

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