Saucy Apple Cake

     This week I helped my mom with making a saucy apple cake to go with Sunday dinner. This is a rather quick dessert to make and can be made earlier in the day and then served later. This recipe has two parts, the cake and the sauce. The ingredients for the cake is as follows:
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter
1 egg
2 peeled and chopped apples
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Sauce:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup 18% cream

First, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Mix the cake ingredients in the above order, then place in a greased 9 inch square baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes or until tester comes out clean. For the sauce, bring all ingredients to a gentle boil in a sauce pan. Serve cake with warm sauce.

This dessert is also very good when topped with whipped cream or a side of vanilla ice cream. Try it out and let me know what you think, like it or love it?!

Cereal Bars

     This week I decided to go on a bit of a health kick and try to make something a little healthier, although it does contain marshmallows I figured baby steps is the best way. This week I made cereal bars, they are basically rice crispy squares just with different cereals and dried fruit. For this you will need 1 bag of marshmallows, 2 tablespoons of butter or margarine and 6 cups of your favourite cereal. I personally used 3 cups of Banana Nut Cheerios and 3 cups of Presidents Choice Crunchy Cranberry Almond cereal. First you will need to take a large saucepan (large enough to fit all ingredients), begin to melt the butter/margarine in the saucepan then gradually add in the bag of marshmallows, use a spatula to pull the marshmallow away from the sides as well as make sure you're using a non stick saucepan! After the marshmallows have melted and now look like glue, add in the cereal as well as anything else you would like such as dried fruits, chocolate, nuts, etc. Then pour into a non stick pan, something like a greased casserole dish works well, then place into the fridge to cool. After it is cooled, you may add a chocolate drizzle over the top or just cut and serve as is. These cereal bars are best kept in an air tight container as well as may be frozen and stored away for another time. 

Hazelnut Cake

    This week it was my sisters birthday so I assisted my mom in making a birthday cake! We decided to make a chocolate hazelnut cake with a whipped cream like frosting as opposed to the usual vanilla frosting. We started off with a basic chocolate cake recipe (the one used in my previous chocolate cupcake recipe), then added in roughly a cup and a half of chopped up hazelnuts. Once the cake had come out if the oven, we allowed for it too cool while making the whip cream frosting. The whip cream frosting consisted of 1 cup of heavy whipping cream, 1-2 teaspoons of white sugar and 2 teaspoons of chocolate hazelnut extract. After mixing all ingredients together, it is best to allow the frosting to chill and set in the refrigerator. After a few hours it is time to frost the cake, when doing so it is best to use a flat spatula in order to ensure an even spread along the cake. After we had a smooth even cover of frosting on the cake we took the extra frosting and piped it though a piping bag along the top of the cake and then topped it with cherries and crushed hazelnuts, as well as shaved chocolate pieces along the bottom. This cake was a great hit and loved by all, it's safe to say that it will be made and enjoyed again!

Valentine's Day Chocolate Cupcakes

     As Valentine's Day is tomorrow I thought that even though last week I made red velvet cupcakes in honor of the holiday, some more baked goods wouldn't hurt...Well anything more than the waist line. Seeing as chocolate is a token goodie for Valentine's Day, what better to make than chocolate cupcakes! I found this simple recipe online through a population recipe site of allrecipes.com, I enjoy using recipes off this site as they also provide nutritional information. The recipe is as follows:
Ingredients
1 1/3 Cups all purpose flour
1/4 Teaspoons baking soda
2 Teaspoons baking powder
3/4 Cups unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 Teaspoons salt
3 Tablespoons butter
1 1/2 Cups white sugar
2 eggs
3/4 Teaspoons vanilla extract
1 Cup milk

Directions
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line/grease muffin pan.
2) Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cocoa powder and salt. Set aside.
3) In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs followed by vanilla extract. Add flour mixture alternatively with milk; beat well.
4) Fill muffin cups 3/4 full.
5) Bake for roughly 15 minutes, allow to cool and frost.
6) Enjoy!

Once the cupcakes had cooled off, I proceeded to frost them using as basic frosting recipe that contains of 2 cups of powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons of butter, 2 tablespoons of milk and 1/2 a teaspoon of vanilla extract. I split this up into two bowls, one was to remain white and the other I added a small amount of red food colouring to make pink, then topped with sprinkles as everything is better with sprinkles on it. This is a very simple recipe for all to enjoy!


http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chocolate-cupcakes/

Red Velvet

     Seeing as Valentines Day is just a week away, I figured it would be a perfect time to make some festive cupcakes and whats better than red velvet with cream cheese icing. Yum yum. I actually received this recipe from a friend of mine, I've taken a few of her recipes before and they all turned out well so though this one would be good as well, and I was quite right as they turned out perfectly. The recipe is from an online site and I often try to not use cake mixes but this one was very simple and called for a box of white cake mix so I decided to give it a go. This particular recipe calls for 15 minutes of prep time and a baking time of 25 minutes, therefore a total of 40 simple minutes to make these cupcakes. The required ingredients and directions are as follows:
Ingredients:
1 Package of white cake mix
1 Package of non-instant pudding mix
Red food colouring as desired

1/2 Cup of buttermilk

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Prepare cake mix according to given directions, substituting half of the water called for buttermilk (approx 1/2 cup).
Stir in pudding mix and food colouring.
Pour into muffin tray and bake according to cake mix.

These were very simple cupcakes to make and tasted amazing, perfect for valentines day coming up or any time of the year.
Hope you try it out and enjoy as well as provide your feedback!


http://allrecipes.com/recipe/easy-red-velvet-cake/

Strawberry Love

     This week I was swamped with homework and working, so I took a little break from baking and decided to treat myself to someone elses goodies. There is a very yummy bakery near my house and I decided to go in one evening and see what they had to offer. The bakery had many good looking desserts from chocolate brownie bars, cookies, cupcakes and tarts. I decided to try something new and go with a strawberry tart. I love strawberries and anything dessert related really, so I figured this was a good choice. This particular bakery is very inexpensive, I purchased this tart for just over a dollar. Anyways, when it was time in indulge, I found out that the tart contained custard which is not a favourite of mine, more a whip cream kind of gal. Regardless, the top was very yummy and I'd purchase again just to eat the top off. :) I will also be looking into making my own strawberry tarts, with whip cream in the center though of course, so stayed tuned!

Peanut Butter Filled Cookies

     Now this has got to be the best of both worlds - Chocolate and peanut butter, how can it get much better than that. This was a not the easiest recipe to do, but I personally feel that it was definitely worth it. All of the ingredients required were every day items, in which I just found in the kitchen cupboards and did not have to make any special trips to the grocery store for items. The recipe calls for separating the wet and dry ingredients until the end, yet next time I make these I will combine everything as I go as I found that when combining at the end and using an electric mixer can be a real pain. I think more flour and dry ingredients ended up all over myself and the counter than stayed in the bowl. Once everything was mixed together, the batter was to be rolled and flattened into little balls, then the peanut butter filling was to be dropped in the middle. This was kind of an annoying step, as everything was sticking to my hands but after the first couple I started to get the hang of it. Overall, these cookies were quite yummy and I would suggest this recipe to anyone who loves peanut butter and chocolate! Check out the below recipe and steps and try it for yourself!
Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 1 1/2 Cups

Unsweetened cocoa powder - 1/2 Cup

Baking soda - 1/2 Tsp

Unsalted butter, softened - 1/2 Cup or 1 Stick

Sugar - 1/2 Cup

Brown sugar, packed - 1/2 Cup

Peanut butter, - 1/4 Cup

                       - 1/2 Cup for filling

Egg - 1 large

Vanilla extract - 1 Tsp

Powder sugar, sifted - 3/4 Cup

        Directions
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.       
-Combine flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda in a bowl and set aside.
-Cream butter using an electric mixer at medium speed for 1 minute. Gradually beat in granulated sugar, then brown sugar and finally ¼ cup peanut butter until everything is well combined.
-Add egg, vanilla extract and continue beating until well blended. 

-Using a spatula or wooden spoon, gently stir in the flour mixture. Shape dough into ¼-inch balls and place them on prepared cookie sheets. 

-For peanut butter filling, stir together powder sugar and ½ cup peanut butter until smooth. Shape mixture into ¾-inch balls.
-Flatten each chocolate dough ball and top with a peanut butter ball. Wrap chocolate dough over the peanut butter filling so that it completely covers the filling. Roll dough into balls, then slightly flatted them again, and sprinkle the top with some granulated sugar.

-Bake for about 8 minutes or until just set and surface is slightly cracked. Cool chocolate cookies on baking sheets for 1 minute before transferring them to wire racks to cool completely.

Source: http://www.grouprecipes.com/82963/peanut-butter-filled-chocolate-cookies.html