for all you chocolate cake lovers

More birthdays = trying new recipes

Chocolate Chocolate Cake

After finally finding cake mixes in Taiwan, I've been excited to use one of the cake doctor's recipes. This recipe book is a guide to making any ordinary cake into an extraordinary cake! (The author probably uses that tag line somewhere but I don't care to find it. )

CAKE:

I sort of followed this recipe and it was delicious but many substitutions had to be made.

-Chocolate cake mix: I had to use the only vanilla cake mix we could find in Taiwan. I added a 1/4 cup of cocoa powder and a few extra tablespoons of sugar as a substitute.

-Sour cream: I had to use vanilla yogurt (can't find plain yogurt) because sour cream is ridiculously expensive in Taiwan.

-Instant chocolate pudding: I had to use non-instant egg custard pudding and added cocoa powder to make it chocolate. 

FILLING:

Getting some tips from Martha, I made a buttercream filling for the center by following this recipe.

CHOCOLATE GLAZE: 

I had to picky about which of the many online chocolate glazes I could choose from because of my lack of ingredients (cocoa powder and confectioner's sugar). But I lucked out because this recipe made a glaze that is similar to my mother's infamous boston cream pie chocolate glaze (a favorite).  

A happy pseudo-birthday to Erin and Amy! 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

This is one decadent cake recipe. But after looking at the pictures and celebrating the birthday of a peanut butter lover, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to try this cake. 

CAKE:

This cake gave me a few minor headaches in the wee hours of the morning. The batter is very runny and it never really set up well. The three separate cake layers stuck to the pan and all inverted when placed on a plate. It was my roommate Sunny who saved the 'look' by suggesting I serve the cake on a frisbee. 

FROSTING:

The recipe calls for a lot of cream cheese and we don't have the budget to buy more than 8 oz. I ended up trying to compensate with more peanut butter. The frosting ended up looking like cookie dough (I in fact had too much of this 'frosting' so I added flour and made some candy pb cookies with the extra). To moisten the pb frosting, I added a cup of vanilla yogurt and a few tbsp. of milk. 

GLAZE:

Looking at this cake you can already tell it's going to have a lot of flavor. I only did 1/2 of the amount of glaze that it called for because I only wanted it for decorating. Of course like all the others, I had to do all sorts of substituting to make up for the lack of ingredients. 

 -Semisweet chocolate chips: (the closest place to find those is 45 min. away at Costco), so I had to use their waxy, less flavorful chocolate baking chunks. 

-Corn syrup:  I substituted with liquid fructose flavoring. 

 -Half and half: I used this substitution recipe. 

With all of these adaptions it didn't quite turn out like the original images. My glaze was more of a shell around the cake. 

In aggregate, the cake was delicious but very intense. It needs ice cream or milk. It had a nice blend of different consistencies between the moist cake, creamy frosting and crisp shell. Peanut butter cups would have been nice to decorate with but when you don't have them, snicker bar chunks taste great too. 

A happy 23rd birthday for our one and only Brandon!

I have to admit I am looking forward to baking with normal ingredients when I live a normal life. 

3.14 (just a belated pie day)

Sweets in Taiwan just really don't hit the sweet tooth spot, so I guess that is why we keep attempting the culinary art of baking.  

So everyone apprised me about how to save the pie crusts from shrinking after it was baked and 1/2 of it's original size. 

I love banana cream pie and enjoyed this recipe: 

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups milk
• 3 egg yolks, beaten
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 (9 inch) pie crust, baked
• 4 bananas, sliced

Directions

1. In a saucepan, combine the sugar, flour, and salt. Add milk in gradually while stirring gently. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture is bubbly. Keep stirring and cook for about 2 more minutes, and then remove from the burner.
2. Stir a small quantity of the hot mixture into the beaten egg yolks, and immediately add egg yolk mixture to the rest of the hot mixture. Cook for 2 more minutes; remember to keep stirring. Remove the mixture from the stove, and add butter and vanilla. Stir until the whole thing has a smooth consistency.
3. Slice bananas into the cooled baked pastry shell. Top with pudding mixture.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 12 to 15 minutes. Chill for an hour.

Banana cream & mulberry baked pies were just what us teachers needed at the end of the week.

Maybe I am my mother's daughter

My mother is notoriously known for her baking. She can improvise, mimic and create all sorts of delicious baked goods. Well after the first cake I made in Taiwan, I somehow convinced my current roommates that I am skilled in the culinary art just like my mama smith and they have all requested I make them homemade cakes for their birthdays.

Building the cakes and designing them are 1/2 the fun (I'm sure you know the other 1/2). Too bad you can't taste them, but I'll give you my 9 judge's (roomies) verdicts on the recipes.

Susan's Carrot Cake: 1st Place

Recipe:

• 2 cups flour                                         
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 3 cups finely shredded carrots
• 1 cup cooking oil
• 4 eggs

Grease and lightly flour  2- 9” round pans.  In a mixer bowl combine the first 6 ingredients. Add next 3 ingredients, beating with electric mixer till combined. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Turn into pans. Bake in a 325 degree oven 40 minutes for the round pans. 

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 8 oz cream cheese
• 3 to 4 cups powder sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• Milk 

Erin's Banana Cake: 2nd Place

Recipe:

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons soda
• 2 Tablespoons oil
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (about 3)

Mix and bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• One 8 ounce cream cheese
• 1 cube butter
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

(I used hazelnut chocolate spread & cream cheese frosting between the layers and on top. Ferro Rocher's chocolate & bananas were also used for decorating. Creating 4 layers made this cake a little too dense; 2 layers would have worked much better.)

Sunny's Ice Cream Cake: 3rd Place

Recipe:

• Start at least one day before you need to serve the cake.
• Take the ice cream out of the freezer and allow to thaw for 20-30 minutes.
• Mix Vanilla ice cream with 4-5 Oreos. (1.5 quarts will fill a 9" cake pan).
• Line the round cake pan with plastic wrap. (chill the pan prior if possible)
• Fill the pan with softened ice cream
• Cover with plastic wrap, then foil. Place it in the freezer overnight to re-harden.
• Bake your favorite white cake recipe at least 6 hours before serving. The cake must be cool before proceeding.
• Assemble the cake by layering it above & below the ice cream with whip cream, chocolate syrup and bananas.
• Decorate quickly with whip cream, Oreos & chocolate syrup.
• Place in freezer for 3 hours so it can set.
• Remove from freezer 15-20 minutes before serving time.

Megan's White Layered Cake: 4th Place

Recipe:

• 2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup whole milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 4 egg whites

Sift the cake flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into a large mixing bowl. Add butter, milk and 1 tsp. vanilla & mix (batter will be thick). Beat for 2 minutes at medium speed. Then add the unbeaten egg whites and beat for 2 more minutes.

Divide batter among prepared pans. Bake at 350 F for 30-40 minutes. After cool, decorate with vanilla frosting and whip cream.

Attempt to make this not just a travel blog

Glancing quickly at my few posts, one would quickly find there is not much variety. I question what I should do to make this not such a travel blog? Well what are good mormon girls my age blogging about? their weekend trips with hubby, their 'new' style of jewelry, their child's dissipated 1st birthday party, their favorite great-grandmother's sugar cookie recipe, and their crafty beyond craft crazies.

Inspired by them, I baked a cake (from scratch- and loved doing it) for our roommate Callie's birthday and I've decided to post about it!

I'll be first to admit this is not an inherited recipe that's been memorized and perfected, it's google.com born. It was such a quick find that I noticed before putting it in the oven that the directions failed to mention how to include one of the listed ingredients.

With a little help from Megan to fluff up the grainy sugar powder (that's how it comes here) frosting, and Brandon as my 2:00 AM baking and music provider sidekick, the cake turned out excellent and everyone enjoyed it (at least that's what I was told)!

It's not nutritious but really delicious. It has the perfect amount of moisture, spice, and sweetness. Give it a try!

2/3 c. butter
1 1/3 c. sugar
1 c. milk
3 eggs
1 tblsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 c. all-purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder

*Mix the dry and wet ingredients separately. Add the flour mixture slowly (dry) to the wet. Bake for the 30 minutes @ 350 F. Top with your favorite frosting recipe. (I made a buttercream vanilla frosting, baked two cakes separately and placed strawberry jam between the layers, garnished with chocolate shavings, syrup and strawberries)