I helped make 100 cake pops for a wedding this past weekend. It was a project for food stylist Karla Spies, she brought all the ingredients and supplies into the studio so we could record the assembly of making cake pops. She brought several decorating options and they turned out delicious.
Make vanilla cake from box mix cake.
Make homemade buttercream frosting.
Crumble cake into buttercream frosting.
Mix cake and frosting till they roll into nice balls.
1½cups (200 g) all-purpose flour (spooning into measuring cups, then leveling)
1¼tsp. (4 g) Diamond Crystal or ¾ tsp. (4 g) Morton kosher salt
¾tsp. (4 g) baking soda
¾cup (1½ sticks; 169 g) unsalted butter, divided
1cup (200 g) (packed) dark brown sugar
¼cup (50 g) granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 large egg yolks
2tsp. vanilla extract
6oz. (170 g) bittersweet chocolate or semisweet chocolate chips
Preparation:
Step 1
Place racks in upper and lower thirds of oven; preheat to 375°. Whisk flour, salt, and baking soda in a small bowl; set aside.
Step 2
Cook ½ cup (1 stick; 113 g) butter in a large saucepan over medium heat, swirling often and scraping bottom of pan with a heatproof rubber spatula, until butter foams, then browns, about 4 minutes. Transfer butter to a large heatproof bowl and let cool 1 minute. Cut remaining ¼ cup (½ stick; 56 g) butter into small pieces and add to brown butter (it should start to melt but not foam and sizzle, so test with one piece before adding the rest).
Step 3
Once butter is melted, add both sugars and whisk, breaking up any clumps, until sugar is incorporated and no lumps remain. Add egg and egg yolks and whisk until sugar dissolves and mixture is smooth, about 30 seconds. Whisk in vanilla. Using rubber spatula, fold reserved dry ingredients into butter mixture just until no dry spots remain, then fold in chocolate (the dough will be soft but should hold its shape once scooped; if it slumps or oozes after being scooped, stir dough back together several times and let rest 5–10 minutes until scoops hold their shape as the flour hydrates).
Step 4
Using a 1½-oz. scoop (3 Tbsp.), portion out 16 balls of dough and divide between 2 parchment-lined rimmed baking sheets. Bake cookies, rotating sheets if cookies are browning very unevenly (otherwise, just leave them alone), until deep golden brown and firm around the edges, 8–10 minutes. Let cool on baking sheets.
Step 5
Do Ahead: Cookies can be made 3 days ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.
I’m staying with the chocolate rum theme. These rum balls are inspired by some cake balls I had at a birthday party they were so addicting I wanted to keep eating them. I went home and started looking up recipes and found this version of cake balls, but with brownies and rum. Sign me up. I found that a cake like brownie mix soaks up the rum better and use about 1/2 cup of rum, a nice dark spiced rum. The added sprinkle of salt on top adds a nice contrast to the chocolate and hides where my toothpick was used during dipping. Use a microwave or a chocolate melter to melt the chocolate chips for dipping the brownie balls. I use almost a whole bag of chocolate chips for one batch of dough balls and I add like a teaspoon of coconut oil to the chocolate to thin it out just a touch.
November is always a big birthday month. Let’s bake a birthday cake, I usually go for my favorite chocolate. I wanted to make a chocolate rum cake this year. My friend dug up an old recipe she saved from the newspaper, it was titled Janice’s whiskey cake from the food section of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, March 27th 1996.
It looked like a classic, the recipe called for white cake mix and whiskey, I substituted chocolate cake mix and dark rum. It worked great, the instant pudding made it nice and moist. But still not enough chocolate for me, any excuse to top it with some chocolate ganache. I also made the ganache with a tablespoon of the dark rum. After melting the cream and chocolate I placed it in the refrigerator over night and then whipped it up the next day and spread it on top of the cake as frosting. The birthday guests really enjoyed this cake, it will make a repeat appearance.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease 12 muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.
Combine flour, sugar, 3/4 cup chocolate chips, cocoa powder, and baking soda in a large bowl. Whisk egg, yogurt, milk, vanilla, and vegetable oil in another bowl until smooth; pour into chocolate mixture and stir until batter is just blended. Fill prepared muffin cups 3/4 full and sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips.
Bake in preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.
Find yourself some nice chunky chocolate chips and try out this super moist muffin recipe.
If you know some bacon lovers, this chocolate bark is simple and yummy. A dark chocolate sweet and salty treat. I found the toasted hazelnuts at Trader Joes in their nut section. The recipe come from the book The Practical Paleo. Hey, if they can do chocolate and bacon I might be in.
Recipe:
1 cup dark chocolate chips
1 tsp. bacon grease (or coconut oil)
1/4 cup toasted hazelnuts
4 strips cooked bacon, chopped
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
I put the chocolate chips and the coconut oil together in a bowl and microwaved it for one minute. Stirred the chocolate and then microwaved it in 30 second increments till melted. The recipe calls for spreading the chocolate out on the parchment paper and let it cool for a minute and then spread the chopped nuts and bacon on top.
But I like mixing half of the bacon adn nuts in with the chocolate and then spread out on the parchment. sprinkle the rest of the bacon and nuts on top. And last sprinkle the sea salt on top. Let cool and break into pieces.
I just wanted to share this pretty cherry pie picture we had on set the other day. The amazing stylist Karla Spies was preparing it in the studio and I had the pleasure of getting to watch her and see all the trade secrets. First of all its really a mash potato pie with a layer of cherries on top, so I guess a savory sweet pie. And the other tip I learned was she made her lattice pie crust on a sheet of wax paper and then put it in the freezer so she could lay the whole top on perfectly. Then let it thaw out and crimp the edges.
It was a thing of beauty, of course those stylist always make it look so easy. Perhaps this will inspire you for those thanksgiving pies that are right around the corner.
Take the time to celebrate any occasion, these champagne floats are sweet, bubbly and creamy. Pick your favorite sherbet flavor scoop into the glass and pour some champagne over the top and watch all the sparkly bubbly action that comes to life with your first scoop. Or you can wait for the sherbet to melt and sip. Ice Cream and bubbly could be for breakfast or dessert.
I am lucky enough to have this served to me when I visit Wild Country Maple Syrup farm. This recipe transforms bacon into a sweet and salty candy treat with a nice thick chewy bite. Great to snack on its own or use in other recipes. I recommend a bloody Mary garnish.
Ingredients
1 pound sliced bacon
½ cup pure maple syrup
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a jelly roll baking pan with foil. Spray with nonstick spray.
Combine maple syrup, and cayenne pepper in a small bowl.
Drizzle the maple syrup over the slices of bacon and grind Black Pepper on top and for some more spice sprinkle some red pepper flakes.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes or until the bacon is browned and crisp.
Let cool on a rack for a few minutes to let them dry and stiffen up.
The rhubarb patch in the garden is ready for harvest and one of my favorite things to make is pie. This recipe is sweet and tart, what I like is there is only natural sugar in the pie. It’s made with maple syrup, lemon and ginger. Very simple ingredients and easy to make.