Friday, September 30, 2011

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

A little slice of Heaven! The cake is super moist, frosting is perfectly creamy, and ganache is out of this world. A perfect cake to celebrate Hayden's eight birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY HAYD!Recipe from SmittenKitchen
It makes a 3 layer cake, but I made one layer special for Tyler with no peanut butter frosting.

For the cake:
2 cups flour
2 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups water
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease the bottom and sides of three 8-inch round cake pans, set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Add in the oil and sour cream and whisk well. Slowly whisk in the water. Blend in the vinegar and vanilla. Whisk in the eggs and beat until well blended. You will have some strong arms.....
Divide batter into the three prepared pans and bake for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let them cool completely. These cakes are super moist and soft. I froze them for 30 minutes or so before I frosted them.

Peanut Butter Frosting:
10 ounces cream cheese, at room temp.
1 stick of real butter, at room temp.
5 cups confectioners' sugar
2/3 cup creamy peanut butter

With an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add the powdered sugar, one cup at a time. Continue to beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add in the peanut butter and beat until thoroughly blended.

To frost the cake, place about 2/3 cup of frosting between each layer and then spread the remaining frosting on the top and sides. I did a really thin coat first, froze it for 10 minutes then did a second layer with the remaining frosting. Place it in the refrigerator while you make the ganache.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Ganache:
8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Stir together the chocolate chips, peanut butter and syrup. Microwave the cream just until bubbly, about 1 1/2 minutes. Quickly pour it over the chocolate chips and immediately cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let sit for 5 minutes. Stir vigorously to combine. Pour over your chilled cake. Let drip over the sides of the cake. My drips turned out kinda ugly, so I ended up spreading it evenly around the cake. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Royal Raspberry Cake

Thanks to eat8020.com I came across this DELICIOUS Raspberry Cake recipe! 
It's easy to make and SO YUMMY!!!

Serves 8-10

INGREDIENTS
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 egg
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup milk
3 cups fresh raspberries

GLAZE
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbsp milk
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, use a hand mixer to cream together butter, egg, sugar, vanilla and milk. In a separate bowl add flour, salt, and baking powder. Spoon dry ingredients into wet and mix until dry ingredients are moistened.

Spray a cheesecake pan (a round pan with removable sides- a 13x9" cake pan will work as well) lightly with baking spray. Spoon batter into pan and cover the top of the cake evenly with raspberries.

Bake for 35-45 minutes (somewhat dependent on pan), or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

While cake is baking, whisk together GLAZE ingredients. When cake is removed from oven, gently brush the warm cake with glaze (I removed the sides of my cheesecake pan to brush the sides of the cake as well). Allow to set for 10 minutes and serve!

Monday, September 19, 2011

Zucchini-Feta Pancakes Topped With Sour Cream

You know, there are some foods that I just can't make when my husband is home. And seeing that these are called pancakes and yet are nothing like the traditional pancake, I knew there would be no way he'd be interested in eating them. So, Genevieve and I made them for lunch. Just the two of us. She made sure to let me know that we needed to save some for the boys, but half way through eating her first one, she stated that the boys didn't need any. She loved them and so did I. We halved the recipe and ate them all. Delicious!



Recipe from Williams-Sonoma's Cooking from the Farmer's Market

Here's what you'll need:


4 cups grated zucchini


salt and pepper


2/3 cup all-purpose flour


1 tsp. baking powder


1 cup crumbled feta cheese


4 large eggs, separated


1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions


2 Tablespoon chopped flat leaf parsley or 2 teaspoons dried parsley


1 Tablespoon chopped fresh mint (I omitted this)


olive oil for frying


Sour cream for serving





Put the zucchini in a strainer set over a bowl. Sprinkle with 2 tsp. salt and let stand for 15 minutes. Squeeze out any excess liquid. In a bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, 1/4 tsp pepper and 1 tsp salt. In another bowl, stir together the zucchini, feta, egg yolks, green onions, parsley, and mint. Stir in the flour mixture. In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites to soft peaks. Fold into the zucchini mixture.


In a frying pan over medium heat, warm the olive oil. Drop 4 spoonfuls of batter into the pan and fry the pancakes until crisp, about 2 minutes per side. Keep warm while cooking remaining pancakes. Serve topped with sour cream. The melted feta really makes them delicious. Enjoy!