{Red Velvet CUPCAKES}

I have been obsessed with CUPCAKES lately!  They are so fun to bake, create and EAT!!;)  So I whipped up a YUMMY batch of my infamous RED VELVET CAKE cupcakes for a friend of mine yesterday...

Go HERE for the recipe!!

Another WONDERFUL tool I used this time was a cupcake filler tube that attatched to my piping bag.  I got it along with a cupcake kit off of Amazon but I have read that you can use any narrow round tip to accomplish this.  Happy baking and let me know if you have ANY questions!

ENJOY!!

--Brownie Sheet Cake--

We had this growing up a lot at my house in the summer.  Especially at picnics because you make it in a jelly roll pan and there is a lot to go around.  I LOVE it because it's rich and yummy but not as fudgey as most brownies are -- don't get me wrong I am a huge ooey-gooey brownie fan but when your craving something sweet and cakey this hits the spot!!  And SHHHH they were really yummy for breakfast this morning;)

Brownie Sheet Cake:

In sauce pan combine --
1 c. water
1 c. butter
3 TBL. cocoa
Bring to boil and take off heat to cool slightly.

In a bowl add:
2 c. flour
2 c. sugar
1 tsp. soda
Mix together and add --
2 eggs
1/2 c. buttermilk -- whisked together

Combine together with cocoa mixture and mix till smooth.  Will be rather runny.  Pour into a jelly roll pan and bake at 400* for 20 minutes.

Frosting:

In sauce pan combine --
1/2 c. butter
2 TBL Cocoa
Bring to boil and take off heat.

Add to 1 lb. powdered sugar
Mix in 1 tsp. vanilla
1/3 c. milk - add gradually till frosting is smooth (add more milk or more powdered sugar if too thin or too thick)

**Frost brownies while still hot so frosting seeps into the cake;)**  ENJOY!!

♣GREEN Velvet Cake Balls♣

I have been baking up a storm this past week:)

But I had to try the famous Red Velvet Cake Balls in GREEN!!

I used my homemade recipe that you can find HERE and used 1 bottle of GREEN food coloring instead of 2 red.  I cooled the cake, added about 1/2-3/4 of the homemade frosting and mixed it well with a spoon.

Rolled them into cute little balls...turning my hands a pretty shade of GREEN!!  Placed them  on a cookie sheet with wax paper and put them in the freezer for 1/2 hour.

Then it's time to dip!!  I mentioned telling you all about my new easy dipping method last fall and got horrible morning sickness and never got a chance to make them.  So here is my tutorial...

First - melt your chocolate according to package.

Then stick a ball on a toothpick (I stick toothpick into the flat end of the ball) and dip about 3/4 of ball in chocolate.

Second - place on a foam block to dry.

Third - take half dipped ball off the toothpick and redip just the bottom of the cake ball into the chocolate.

Fourth - place on clean wax paper to dry again.  Next I would drizzle with more chocolate or white almond bark, but I accidentally put holes in my bottles warming them up in the microwave:(  And you can't find baking stuff around here!!

The next thing of course would be to DEVOUR this scrumptious little treats...

But beware they may turn your mouth GREEN!♣

I definitely prefer the homemade recipe over the box mix any day!!!!

Of course I had little helpers that were dying to try some dipping of their own.  So I gave them toothpicks, let them dip away and we sprinkled them with yummy lemon, lime sprinkles:)

~ReD VeLvEt CaKe~

I recently commented about my red velvet cake and frosting recipe on Bakerella's blog and realized I didn't have it written out very clear.  I copied it directly from a recipe card of my mom's that she has used since I was little.  So she probably wrote it out the way she would understand it:)  Well I decided to post it again since I got so many emails about it!!  I LOVE using this recipe for my cake pops, especially since it's so hard to find red velvet cake mix in a box around here.  I am thrilled to be making them next week for St. Patty's day and I am going to experiment making the batter green instead of red.  I will post after I am done!  Maybe I will attempt some shamrocks...we will see;)  Hope this recipe helps and PLEASE let me know if you have any more questions!!

Red Velvet Cake and Frosting Recipe:
1/2 c. Butter or 1 Stick
1 c. Granulated Sugar
Beat together till fluffy.
2 Eggs - add one at a time and beat well.
Make a paste of 2 TB. Cocoa and 2 oz. Red Food Coloring (2 bottles). Add to above mixture.
Add:
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 c. Buttermilk
2 3/4 c. Flour (sifted)
Alternate the milk and flour.
Last add 1 TB. Vinegar and 1 1/2 tsp. Soda
Mix really well - Bake 300* for 25-30 minutes.

Frosting:
Cook together -
1 c. Milk
5 TB. Flour
Cook till thick, stirring constantly to avoid burning and then add 1 tsp. Vanilla.
Cool well before adding to butter/sugar mixture or it will melt butter and be runny.
Cream 1 cup of Butter or 2 sticks and 1 c. Granulated Sugar.
Mix together and beat with hand mixer till smooth and creamy - this takes quite a long time to fluff up.  The mixture will turn from a yellowish color to more of a white color.  Then frost the cake and...
Enjoy!!

*Cake Mix Tips*

I LOVE using cake mixes from a box...especially for my cake pops!  But I am not a fan of how sometimes they just don't taste moist or as good as homemade.  So I got excited when I found this tip on a blog (sorry don't remember where I found it).

'I make wedding and other celebration cakes that people rave about and they all come from a box. My best secret is 1/4 - 1/2 cup of sour cream mixed in at the end of chocolate, yellow or other dense cake mixes for the moistest treat ever.
You can also throw in a small tub of any flavored yogurt with your white cakes, yellow cakes, butter cakes.
For filling or frosting try the same flavor of yogurt with cool whip or fresh whipped cream and a stabalizer. Add a layer of fresh fruit, another layer of pie filling or glaze = yummo.
Also if you think of ANY candy bar you love, you can't go wrong. Throw them in, layer them in or dissect the little guy to figure out its bits and peices and turn your cupcake into its little clone. Caramel, truffle or peanut butter centers, crispy chocolate, gnachey outsides. The world is yours!!!
I have personally been on a year long fast from sugar. Can you tell? I still bake it all for others and love to encourage them to enjoy so I can live vicariously:)'

---Cookin' Up A 4th of July Celebration---

Nothing is more fun than having a great BBQ on the 4th of July with good friends!!
This year I wanted to make a festive cake to go along with our Celebration.
So I baked a Red Velvet Cake and topped it with blueberries and raspberries (another alternative is strawberries☺) to make a beautiful flag!:)

Red Velvet Cake and Frosting Recipe:
1 cube Butter
1 c. Sugar
Beat together till fluffy.
2 Eggs - add one at a time and beat well.
Make a paste of 2 TB. Cocoa and 2 oz. Red Food Coloring (2 bottles). Add to above mixture.
Add:1 tsp. Vanilla
1 c. Buttermilk
2 3/4 c. Flour (sifted)
Alternate the milk and flour.
Last add 1 TB. Vinegar and 1 1/2 tsp. Soda
Mix really well - Bake 300* for 25-30 minutes.
Frosting:
Cook together -
1 c. Milk
5 TB. Flour
Cream 2 cubes Butter and 1 c. Sugar.
Add 1 tsp. Vanilla to cooked mixture, cool and than add to sugar mixture. Beat till smooth and creamy - this takes quite a long time to fluff up. Frost and add fruit on top.
Enjoy!!

Adding to the theme of the fun cake we served refreshing drinks...
Red Tampico Tropical Punch
White Pina Colada's
Blue Berry Kool-Aid

Another fun recipe I like to make in the summer and take to BBQ's --
Italian Spaghetti Salad:
1 pkg. Cooked Spaghetti Noodles
1 jar Creamy Italian Dressing
1 can Olives - drain and slice
2 cans Diced Tomato's rinsed and drained
1 pkg. bite size Pepperoni
Optional veggies that you might like - carrots, celery, green onions.
Cool spaghetti and add about 3/4 of the bottle of dressing or till well coated (too much dressing may cause it to go runny). Than add other ingredients. Mix well.
Chill before serving. I like to make the night before-tastes better the longer it sits.
Enjoy!!

~CAKE POPS~

These cake pops are the most HEAVENLY little treat!! I came across them on BAKERELLA's blog and fell in love. She is an amazing, creative cook that is very talented. Mine are nothing compared to her creations. So check out her blog for more than a dozen ideas on how to make and decorate these fun new "pops"!!

I went crazy and made three different batches in one day. I baked basic boxed brownies, boxed strawberry cake with confetti frosting, and a homemade red velvet cake with frosting from scratch. That is why my pictures are all different. The recipe for each of them are at the end. I made a lot of mistakes and my last batch of pops turned out the best so please read and follow all directions if you want to learn from my mistakes - lol!!

I wanted to get them all baked fast, so I used a 13x9 pan, two round, and two heart pans. But any cake pan will do :)

Basic Cake Pop Recipe:
1 box cake mix (cook as directed on box for 13 X 9 cake)
1 can frosting (16 oz.)
Wax paper
1 pkg chocolate or vanilla bark (Kroger brand is good) or any color chocolate melts
Lollipop sticks

After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl.
Mix thoroughly with 1 can frosting. (I use the back of a large spoon, but it may be easier to use fingers to mix together. But, be warned, it will get messy. Also, you may not need the entire can of frosting, so start out by using almost the entire can and add more if you need to.) I will admit I used the whole can and it made them too soft and not really cake-like, made it harder to roll and keep ball shape. So I prefer to use about 3/4 of the can:)

Brownie Pops:
I used a basic brownie boxed mix and after cooling I stirred in a 8 oz. pkg of cream cheese. I would suggest not using the full package if you don't want them to be as gooey as mine were (they sure tasted yummy though). They were harder to roll, keep shape, and dipping was a challenge. So use 1/2 of an 8 oz. pkg!! These were my favorite dipped in the white chocolate.

Red Velvet Cake and Frosting Recipe:
1 cube Butter
1 c. Sugar
Beat together till fluffy.
2 Eggs - add one at a time and beat well.
Make a paste of 2 Tbl. Cocoa and 2 oz. Red Food Coloring (2 bottles). Add to above mixture.
Add:
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 c. Buttermilk
2 3/4 c. Flour (sifted)
Alternate the milk and flour.
Last add 1 Tbl. Vinegar and 1 1/2 tsp. Soda
Mix really well - Bake 300* for 25-30 minutes.
Frosting:
Cook together -
1 c. Milk
5 Tbl. Flour
Cream 2 cubes Butter and 1 c. Sugar.
Add 1 tsp. Vanilla to cooked mixture and than add to sugar mixture. Beat till smooth and creamy - this takes quite a long time to fluff up.

Some other ideas and instructions for making cupcake pops click on the link below!! Have fun and ENJOY!!
cupcake pops

I had to take a picture of my RED hands from rolling the red velvet cake balls. Luckily it didn't stain! This was from the two bottles of red food coloring you add to the batter. Mine were a little gooey from using too much of the frosting though.

Roll mixture into quarter size balls or egg shapes and place on wax paper covered cookie sheet. (Should make 45-50) Melt chocolate in the microwave per directions on package. (30 sec intervals, stirring in between.)Dip the tip of your lollipop stick in a little of the melted candy coating and insert into the cake balls. (Insert a little less than halfway.)Place them in the freezer for a little while to firm up. This is a very important step...I learned the hard way and my balls kept falling off the sticks. My last batch I got fed up, went back to her blog and found out I was suppose to stick them in freezer. Wow did they work so much better!!

Once firm, carefully insert the cake ball into the candy coating by holding the lollipop stick and rotating until covered. Once covered remove and softly tap and rotate until the excess chocolate falls off. Don't tap too hard or the cake ball will fall off, too.Place in a Styrofoam block to dry. During this process I was having problems and not enough sticks, so I just dipped mine into chocolate. I wanted them to look like speckled eggs so I added pink and purple sprinkles to the white, vanilla bark. If anyone knows a good trick to dipping chocolates and making them look pretty -PLEASE- let me know. Mine didn't look as well as I hoped!!

I packaged some of them in fun Easter/Spring bags and tied them with a pretty bow!

The fun speckled egg pops I put in flower pots with "Nest" Krispy Treats (basic rice krispy treat recipe that I substituted chow mien noodles instead of rice krispy's) and chick Peeps for decoration. These where a fun treat that we gave to our family and friends for Easter!!

++Quick Delicious Banana Cake++

This is a great way to use up your banana's that are starting to turn brown. Sorry the pictures do the taste no justice and I am still learning new tricks to taking food pictures (and listening to my hubby chuckle as I take snapshots of our food). It's very moist, yummy and makes your house smell so good while it's baking!!

Banana Cake:
1/2 c Sugar
1/2 c Butter - softened
1/2 c Banana's (3 medium)
2 tsp. Vanilla
1 tsp. Soda
1 c Sour Cream
2 Eggs
2 c Flour
3/4 tsp. Salt
Cream sugar and butter, add wet ingredients, mix together dry ing. and stir into batter. Mix well and bake at *375 for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

Frosting:
1/4 c Butter
2 c Powdered Sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla
3 Tbl. Milk
Melt butter over heat and stir till it starts to brown. This will caramelize it. Take off heat add vanilla, powdered sugar, and slowly add milk to get smooth consistency. If frosting is too runny or thick add more pd sugar or milk till you get it smooth.

Cool cake and frost. Enjoy!!

TRIPLE CHOCOLATE PB PUDDING CAKE

Saw this on GTU today...
Chocolate and Peanut Butter - can't go wrong - looks DELICIOUS!!

Ingredients:
Nonstick cooking spray
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ cup chocolate milk or milk
2 tablespoons cooking oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
½ cup peanut butter flavored pieces
½ cup semisweet chocolate pieces
½ cup chopped peanuts
¾ cup sugar
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 ½ cups boiling water
Coat a 3 ½ or 4-quart slow cooker liner with nonstick cooking spray; set aside. In a bowl stir together flour, the 1/3 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons cocoa powder, and baking powder. Add chocolate milk, oil, and vanilla. Stir until batter is smooth. Stir in peanut butter flavored pieces, chocolate pieces and peanuts. Spread batter evenly in bottom of prepared slow cooker. In a bowl combine the ¾ cup sugar and the remaining 2 tablespoons cocoa powder. Gradually stir in boiling water. Pour evenly over batter in slow cooker.Cover; cook on high-heat setting for 2 to 2 ½ hours or until a wooden toothpick inserted 1 inch deep into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let stand 30 to 40 minutes to cool slightly before serving. To serve, spoon the warm cake into dessert dishes. If desired, top with scoops of ice cream. Spoon pudding mixture over the cake and ice cream. Makes 8 servings.