Spicy Chocolate Cake

Pinterest seems to have taken over any semblance of free time that I may have had. It's like StumbleUpon for people with ADHD.

But that does not make it a bad thing. If you actually go back to your board and find something that you truly want to create, then I think it is totally worth it.

Take this recipe. I found this pinned on Tuesday and had, had, had to make it. It originally came from this site and I can't seem to find a name to attribute it to. What you may notice if you click on that link is that the blog is in another language. According to Google Translator, it is Polish. Thank goodness Google has a translator.

You must make this cake.

If for no other reason than to smell it baking.

It is that divine.

Mix the yogurt, oil, vanilla and eggs and orange zest together in a bowl.

 In a separate bowl sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and cocoa. Add the sugar and salt, spice gingerbread spices.

 Don't know what gingerbread spices are? I didn't either. It is apparently a European thing because I went to two different grocery stores and no one had ever heard of them. Even the three little old ladies in the baking aisle. They were intrigued, though. So a quick Google search turned up a mix that sounded pretty good from food.com. I just added that mixture to the recipe below, but the site suggests adding it to pretty much everything so I might have to experiment with that.

Add the flour mixture slowly to the liquid mixture and then add in 1 cup of Coca Cola. The original recipe called for freshly brewed coffee. I didn't have any and I wasn't about to make any. I did have some Coke, so I substituted that in.

 Pour into prepared pans and bake for about 35 minutes.

 Layer and frost with the greatest cream cheese frosting ever created.

Now you may have noticed something a little bit different in the very first picture.

A few years ago, my kids received a giant pad of Christmas themed hidden picture pages. Every night for the past month, before going to bed, we complete a page. Hidden things are huge in my house. So this hidden Christmas tree cake fit in perfectly with our nightly routine.

Even better, this was super easy to achieve.While your layers are cooling, mix up any white or yellow cake. I used the Eggnog Cupcakes. You are going to use the same procedure that you would to make cake balls. If you have missed out on this craze, don't worry. I made them once and to be honest, I do not believe for one second that they are worth the trouble. Anyway, crumble up about a dozen cupcakes. If I were to plan ahead on this, I wouldn't use cupcakes. There are too many edges and they do not crumble well.

 Mix in about a half a cup of green tinted mascarpone cheese. I used about 40 drops of food coloring. I also did not use actual mascarpone. Our little grocery store does not carry it, but you can make your own or just substitute in cream cheese or even frosting. Mix this well to form a nice dough. About the consistency of play-doh.

 Turn one of your layers over so the bottom is facing up. To make a Christmas tree, you need to cut out a cone. This is a triangular circle, and I am pretty sure there is no more difficult shape to try to cut out of a cake layer. It helps to have some kind of pattern. You probably have a cup that will fit just right. Mine ended up being about 8 cm (3 inches) in diameter.

Slice in at an angle. 

 

It is better to go too shallow at first. You can always go in and make it steeper later.

 Remove the cone and smooth out the edges so you have a nice neat depression in the bottom of your cake.

Take a little piece of the green dough and form a cone that fits into your cut part.

Then form a pancake from the green dough that is a little bit bigger than your first one and press it down on top. 

 Repeat this step.

 Once more until the dough becomes even with the bottom of your cake layer. Flip this over onto your serving plate so the dough is on the bottom.

 Now you are going to make a cut out in the second layer that is a little smaller than the first. Mine ended up being about 6 cm (2 inches) in diameter.

 Repeat with the green dough.

 You will have quite a bit of dough left over. Make some cute little Christmas trees. Just form a tree from the dough. Take a pair of scissors and snip around to make it look like leaves.

 Sprinkle with powdered sugar because, you know, it is snowing.

 Layer and frost with the greatest cream cheese frosting ever created.

 When you cut into the cake, your little cones look just like a Christmas tree.

This was such a hit at supper time. I told The Kids that we had to find four Christmas trees. They found the first three on top immediately (my kids are so smart, you know) and were completely delighted when we cut into the cake to find the last one. I realize my tree isn't as pretty as it could have been, but to tell the truth, it came out so much better than I thought it would.

This really is a pretty simple cake to put together. I actually did it on a Tuesday night in a couple hours that included bake time. You could use any cake recipe, but I highly recommend you try this one at least once. It is super moist and the spices are to die for.

So go ahead, make a "fancy" cake for the holidays. Just try not to puff up too much with all the oohs and ahhs.


Click here for Printable Recipe


Spicy Chocolate Cake
1 and 3/4 cups flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup baking cocoa dark
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup oil
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup coca cola
Zest of 1 orange
2-3 teaspoons of the gingerbread spices
Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and cocoa. Add the sugar and salt, spice gingerbread spices. In a separate bowl mix the yogurt, oil, vanilla and eggs and orange zest. For the wet ingredients gradually add the flour mixture. Blend, adding in coca cola. Mix only just combined. Pour into two prepared round cake pans. Bake about 35-40 minutes, until a knife comes out clean. After baking, wait 15-20 minutes before removing. Baked layers allowed to stand until completely cool.

Eggnog Cookie Cups

I didn't use to like eggnog. For some reason, now, I can't get enough of it. I've already gone through about a gallon of it this season, so maybe it's just a grown-up thing. Or maybe it's the rum.

Either way, I found this Taste of Home recipe hiding in my email folder and figured I would channel my new eggnog obsession elsewhere.

Mix together the pudding, milk and eggnog in a small saucepan. Cook and stir until it begins to boil. Add half of the extract to the mixture.

Transfer the hot mixture to a small bowl...

...and cover the top with waxed paper. This will let the pudding set up without forming a skin on the top. Refrigerate overnight.

To make the cookie dough, cream together the butter and brown sugar.

Beat in the egg yolks and the rest of the extract.

Gradually add in the flour and salt.

Okay, this is where I stopped reading the instructions. I added in the sugar, allspice and nutmeg into the cookie dough. It did occur to me that maybe that was a heck of a lot of sugar, but, did not question my non-reading of the actual procedure. You are actually supposed to mix the sugar and spices together and roll cookies in that. Do what you want. Either way, you will come out a winner here.

Roll the dough into small (1 inch) balls and place in a greased mini muffin pan.

Use the end of a wooden spoon to made a small indentation in the middle of the ball of dough. Spread the dough out so it moves up the side of the cup.

Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes. While the cookie cups are still warm, use your wooden spoon again to make a small bowl.

The next day, get your eggnog pudding mixture out of the fridge. I have an electric cookie press my brother gave me that I use to fill these cookies. I have yet to press any cookies, but it is a wonderful tool to add filling to cookies and deviled eggs.

Aren't they pretty?

Not only are they pretty, but they are divinely delicious. The dough by itself could make an incredible cookie all by itself. I am slightly ashamed to admit that I ate these for breakfast one Saturday morning. Although, I dare you to avoid that temptation when you make them.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Eggnog Cookie Cups

1 package (3 ounces) cook-and-serve vanilla pudding mix

1-1/2 cups eggnog

1/3 cup milk

2 teaspoons rum extract, divided

1 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2 egg yolks

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup sugar

1/8 teaspoon ground allspice

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

In a small saucepan, combine the pudding mix, eggnog and milk. Cook and stir until mixture comes to a boil. Remove from the heat; stir in 1 teaspoon extract. Transfer to a small bowl. Cover surface of pudding with waxed paper; refrigerate until chilled.

In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg yolks and remaining extract. Combine flour and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well.

In a small bowl, combine sugar and allspice. Shape dough into 1-in. balls; roll in sugar mixture. With floured fingers, press onto the bottom and up the sides of well-greased miniature muffin cups.

Bake at 350° for 10-15 minutes or until light golden brown. Immediately remove from pans to wire racks to cool completely.

Just before serving, pipe or spoon pudding into cups. Sprinkle with nutmeg. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Yield: 2-1/2 dozen.

Dracula's Dentures

For years now, The Girl has been wanting me to let her take treats to her class Halloween party. I love Halloween, but this is never a good time of the year for me to try to add in anything, no matter how small.

This year, somehow, she talked me into it. We then hem-hawed around, putting it off until finally, this morning, we sat down to figure out what to make.

I get a newsletter from Nestle and these adorable treats were apart of last weeks update. The Kids fell in love and we ended up making these.

You need some cookies. Of course, Nestle wants you to use chocolate chip, so we did. Next time (and I'm sure there will be a next time with these) I think I will use sugar cookies. The chocolate chips just add in a whole new dimension of mess to this project.

You also need cookies that are more or less round so they match up. You could even (gasp!) use store bought cookies. Either way, they need to be pretty big. About three inches across is good.

Cut a cookie in half.

Spread a nice layer of red tinted frosting onto both halves.

Add mini marshmallows in a semicircle along the front edge to create the teeth. Another one in the middle helps to stabilize the whole thing.

Put the two cookie halves together to form a mouth.

Slivered almonds on either side of the two front teeth make the fangs.

These are the cutest scary cookies ever. They are really simple to make. Kind of messy and not really quick, but not difficult, either. So far, everyone who has seen them have laughed out loud.


Click here for Printable Recipe

Dracula’s Dentures
24 - 3 inch round cookies
1/2 cup prepared vanilla frosting, tinted red or pink
1 3/4 cups miniature marshmallows
48 (about 1 tablespoon) blanched slivered almonds

Cut each cookie in half for a total of 48 halves.
Frost bottoms of all cookie halves with frosting. Place 6 marshmallow teeth around curved perimeter of 24 halves. Top with remaining 24 halves. For additional support, an additional marshmallow can be placed behind the teeth. Insert two almond slivers in between teeth for fangs. If fangs do not adhere, dip tips into frosting.

Bunny Buns

We have been so busy lately. The last time I sat down in my own house was last Sunday. Today I slept in until 6:45 (that's AM) and I'm thinking I already need a nap.

When I opened my Reader, I had 387 unread messages. You cannot believe the temptation so just hit the Mark as Read button and be done with it. But I can't do that. I just can't. What if I miss something awesome? Unique? Delicious? Perfect?

Fortunately, I decided to hit a few posts just to see what was out there. I discovered the Recipe Shoe Box a few weeks ago. It just happened that the first post I saw was the one for these adorable rolls. The Kids were sitting next to (on top of) me barely awake when I opened her site. They both were instantly awake, rummaging through the kitchen looking for ingredients.

Add a package of yeast to 1/4 cup of warm water and set it aside.

In a large mixing bowl, add 1/3 cup of sugar, 1/2 cup of oil, a teaspoon of salt and a cup of hot milk. Heat the milk in the microwave for a little over a minute so it is hot but not boiling.

Mix in 2 tablespoons of orange zest, 1/4 cup orange juice and the yeast mixture.
Gradually add in the flour. I didn't quite use 5 1/2 cups. You want an elastic dough that isn't terribly sticky. Knead the dough for 5-10 minutes.Add a little olive oil to a large bowl.
Coat the dough with the oil (I had a little too much in there and just poured the excess off), cover and let rise for 1-2 hours.
It should double in size and look more like this.

Roll the dough out into a rectangle about 14 inches wide. I used a pizza cutter to cut the dough into 1/2 inch strips.

Fold one strip in half and twist it to make a loop.

Cross the ends again.

My strips ended up being a little bit too long, so I sliced off the tops of the super long ears. I used these scraps to roll into a ball. Place the ball into the loop to form the bunny tail.

Should your strips turn out to be the perfect length, take one of your strips and cut it into half inch chunks to form your tail.

Brush the tops of the rolls with an egg wash made by mixing a tablespoon of water with an egg white.
Put The Girl to work making those cute little bunny faces. Lara used round sprinkles for the eyes and noses, which I did not have. I had mini chocolate chips.
This is some pretty tedious work that does not hold a nine year old's attention very well. I think she made it through about half of them before she was ready to give up on the faces.
The Boy wanted a fat bunny, so I let him make one. This reminds me of a teddy bear bread I made a looooonnnggg time ago as a 4-H project.
Let these rise again in a warm place for another hour or so and then bake at 375 for 15 minutes.
Pretend there is a picture of me mixing up a glaze of powdered sugar, water and orange juice. If you don't like the orange (we surprisingly LOVED it) you can substitute water. Brush this on as soon as the rolls are out of the oven.

NOTE: If you used chocolate chips for the decoration, do NOT brush over them. Brush around. Otherwise, your poor bunny's face will look like The Boy's when he comes home from playing at my Dad's farm.
These may well be the cutest things ever made. And delicious. I couldn't really detect the orange in the dough, but the orange in the glaze was perfect. These are very sneaky since they are not as sweet as cinnamon rolls, you can eat about four of them before you start thinking maybe you are overdoing it.

It has been declared at our house that these are only to be made at each and every Easter from now until the end of time. There is also a restriction stating that they may ONLY be made at Easter time, unless we get actual rabbits and they have babies, then we can make these to celebrate.

Now if that's not a strong hint, I don't know what is.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Bunny Buns

1 Tbs. active dry yeast

1/4 cup warm water

1 cup milk

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup oil

1 tsp. salt

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup orange juice

2 Tbs. grated orange peel

5-1/2 cups flour

Ice cream sprinkles (optional for making faces)

Glaze

2 cups powdered sugar

2 Tbs. hot water

2 Tbs. orange juice

1 tsp. butter

In a medium sized bowl, combine the yeast and the warm water. Set aside. In another bowl, heat milk in microwave so it is hot, but not boiling. Blend hot milk with sugar, oil, and salt. Add eggs, yeast with water, orange juice, and orange peel. Add flour a few cups at a time to make a soft dough. Knead for 5-10 minutes. Place dough in a lightly greased bowl, turning once to grease surface. Cover and allow the dough to rise for 1-2 hours, or until double in size. Punch dough down and let stand for 10 minutes.

On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a long rectangle 1/2-inch thick. Cut dough into strips 1/2-inch wide and 14-inches long.

Roll the dough to make rounded snake shapes. Reserve 1-2 of the strips to cut into pieces about 1/2-inch long and roll into small balls (for the tails).

Place one long piece of dough on a greased cookie sheet. Place one end of the strip over the other to make a loop; bring the end that is underneath up and cross it over the other end. Place a ball of dough on top of the bottom loop (to be the tail).

To make faces, make an egg wash with one egg white and one tablespoon of warm water. Brush over the tops of the bunnies. Using a combination of sprinkles, raisins, chocolate chips, etc, make a little face at the base of the "ears".

Cover bunnies and allow to rise in a warm place for 45-60 minutes, until nearly double in size. Bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

For the glaze, stir powdered sugar, water, orange juice, and butter together. Frost bunnies with the glaze while still warm. Makes about 20 bunny buns.