Heaviland Chocolate Mint Cake (chocolate birthday #3)

This was probably my favorite of the three chocolate cakes, but mostly because chocolate and mint is one of my all-time favorite combinations.  Right up there with chocolate and peanut butter!  The cake is super moist, but the topping/frosting is really the star of this dessert.  Make sure you leave time for the finished product to chill before serving.

Click here to see Jessie's post of the recipe.


2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 pinch salt
2/3 cup shortening
2 cups boiling water
2 eggs, beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan. Sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cocoa and salt. Set aside. 
2. Melt the shortening in the boiling water, then stir into the flour mixture until blended. Beat in the eggs, then stir in the vanilla. 
3. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool. 

FROSTING:
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon water
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
3 drops green food coloring
TOPPING:
1 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips
6 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract 

1. In a bowl, combine the frosting ingredients until smooth. Spread over cooled cake. 
2. For topping, in a microwave-safe bowl, melt chocolate chips and butter; stir in extract. Spread over frosting. Refrigerate until set.

Flourless Chocolate Torte (chocolate birthday #2)

I'd never made a torte before, but found this to be relatively simple, and it was a complete hit at my husband's 40th birthday party (especially with the men!).  I omitted the almond extract, but included some whiskey, and served it decorated with fresh raspberries and mint leaves.

you can find the recipe for this special dessert here

9 ounces good-quality dark chocolate — 65% or higher, finely chopped 
9 ounces unsalted butter (18 tablespoons)
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
7 large eggs — at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon pure almond extract
If you are feeling dangerous: a few tablespoons rum — bourbon, or whiskey 
Optional — for serving: powdered sugar, berries, and/or sweetened whipped cream

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. 
Grease and line a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper. Grease again.  

Melt the chocolate and butter together in a double boiler or in a microwave-safe bowl, until the chocolate is almost completely melted. Remove from heat and stir until smooth and totally melted. Stir in the sugar, then let cool for a few minutes.

Add the eggs, one at a time, fully combining between each addition. After all the eggs are added, continue to stir until the batter becomes thick, glossy, and utterly gorgeous. Stir in the vanilla extract, almond extract, and any optional boozy addition you desire.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake 30-35 minutes, until the torte jiggles slightly in the middle but is not completely set. Begin checking at the 30-minute mark to ensure the torte does not overbake. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then unmold. Dust with powdered sugar. Cut into wedges and serve alone or with whipped cream, berries, or anything else your heart desires.

Ridiculous Chocolate Cake (chocolate birthday #1)

We did some serious birthday celebrating recently: two major 40th birthdays, and a special guy turning 12!  All three birthday persons requested chocolate cake.  And, to my baking delight, all three desserts were new-to-me recipes!  Not sure I'll ever make three different chocolate cakes in four days again, but it was a fun baking spree while it lasted!

the recipe for this extremely easy, moist, decadent cake can be found here

• 1 (15.25 ounce) box chocolate cake mix
• 1 (3.9 ounce) box instant chocolate pudding
• 1 (16 ounce) container sour cream
• 3 eggs
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Frosting

• 1/4 cup butter, room temperature
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup heavy cream

Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Liberally grease a 10- inch bundt pan with butter or shortening and lightly dust with flour. Set aside.

1. In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment combine all the cake ingredients. Mix on low for 30 seconds until combined and then on medium speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Stir in the chocolate chips and pour the batter into the prepared pan.
2. Bake for 55-60 minutes, until the cake is set. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then invert the pan onto a cake plate. Cool completely before frosting.
Frosting:
1. In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on low speed beat the butter, cocoa powder and powdered sugar until combined. Add in the vanilla and cream and beat on medium speed for 1-2 minutes until creamy, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary.  
2. Frost the top of the cake and garnish with more chocolate chips if desired.

Surprise Inside {birthday cakes}

My oldest two gingersnaps have birthdays within a couple weeks of each other.  My daughter asked for her cake to be pink and purple and my son wanted a superhero birthday cake.  I love baking my kids special birthday cakes.  And at this age, I feel far less pressure to make it actually taste good, so I put all my focus on what it looks like for them.  Sugar just tastes like sugar when you're three years old, right?!

I decided to use the surprise affect on the cakes this year.  My daughter was thrilled with the bright pink "3" on the top of her cake, but was even more excited when we cut into the cake, revealing the three layers and shades of pink and purple.  It was as easy as two white cake mixes, two canisters of white frosting, and food coloring.  Done.  

For my son's cake, I went with one of the few ideas I found online that didn't use fondant.  His name begins with an R, hence the "super R' on top.  If I were to do it again, I would squeeze in more M&Ms.  The less frosting that shows through underneath the better.  

Chocolate frosting on the outside.  M&Ms on top.  Whoppers bordering the bottom. 

My son was so excited about the primary color surprise when we cut into the cake.  Again - white cake mix, white icing, and food coloring.  Easy peesy, but the kids thought it was great!

Race Track Cake

My oldest gingersnap turned four last week!  I get excited about making fun birthday cakes for my kids.  In keeping with tradition (second birthday and third birthday), my son requested a transportation-themed cake that was pretty simple to put together and could be adapted for any age.  We found several race track cake pictures online, but this is the one he wanted . . .

I started with a 9x13 pan of cake, thanks to the help of Betty Crocker.  I made a "four" stencil using an empty cereal box and cut out the shape while it was still in the pan.  After transferring the four onto a large jelly roll pan covered with wax paper, I went at it with the icing, using small ziplocs with a tiny hole cut in the corner for the yellow and black outlines.  The icing mess was an easy clean-up by cutting away the wax paper.  The "race flag" is sharpie on white paper.  Finally, I found a highly skilled and experienced car owner to select and place four race cars on the track.

He told me it looked exactly like what he wanted, which is all I was going for.  We had fun eating it, too!

Train Cake

My son turned three this week!  Last year, I made him a dump truck cake.  This year, I let him help me decide what the mass of sugar he would inhale would look like.  He asked for a train cake and this is what he got!  Not the smoothest frosted cake, but a train cake to be sure, and he was excited, which is all I care about.  You can find the original instructions here, but I am posting them with the changes I made (minus the pictures and diagram at the bottom).


1 family-size frozen pound cake (16 oz), thawed (I couldn't find a family-sized cake, so I bought two smaller ones and just pieced the train together using my own measurements instead of following the cutting guide you'll see below)
2 cans (16 oz each) vanilla frosting
Yellow food coloring
Blue food coloring
3 Twizzlers
4 Rolos
2 Tootsie Rolls
4 Ring Dings or Ding Dongs
8 mini-Oreos
4 Oreos
1 bag plain M&Ms
5 Hershey's Sticks or Kit Kats for the track (optional)

Trimming the cake:

1. Using a bread knife, trim a ¾-inch piece off both short ends of the pound cake to make the cake about 9 by 4 ½ inches.
2. Cut the pound cake as indicated on the diagram to make two 2 ½ by 4 ½-inch cars, one 4 by 3 ½-inch car, and one 1 by 4-inch slice. Reserve the 1 by 4-inch piece and set aside.

For the colored frosting:

1. Spoon the contents of 1 can of vanilla frosting into a bowl. Add a few drops of blue food coloring to tint it a light blue.
2. Divide the remaining can of vanilla frosting in half and spoon into separate bowls. Add yellow food coloring to one bowl of frosting to tint it yellow; add red food coloring to the other bowl of frosting to tint it red.

For the engine decorations:

1. Heat the Tootsie Rolls in the microwave for 2 to 3 seconds. Roll out each Tootsie Roll on wax paper and cut into two 1 by ½-inch rectangles for the train windows.

Frosting the cake:

1. Lay the trimmed 1 by 4-inch slice flat on a serving platter. Spread the top with some blue frosting.
2. Stack the 4 Ring Dings, spreading frosting in between each cake, and lay the stack on its side to make the cylindrical front engine.
3. Place the 4 by 3 ½-inch piece upright behind the stack of Ring Dings.
4. Spread the entire engine with blue frosting to cover and make smooth.

Assembling the engine:

1. Add 2 mini- and 2 regular-size Oreos to either side for the engine's wheels.
2. Press the Tootsie Roll windows into the sides of the upright cake.
3. Trim off the large end of one Rolo.  Press caramel side into the nose of the engine.  Place a small dot of frosting on the center of the Rolo and add a blue M&M.
4. Gently press one Rolo, fat end up, into the top of the engine.  Stack two more Rolos on top, matching the skinny end with skinny end and fat end with fat end.  
5. Cut two picees of Twizzler, the same length (shorter than the "smoke stack" of Rolos), and gently press them next to each other in the top of the third Ring Ding. 

Decorating the middle car:

1. Set one of the 2 ½ by 4 ½-inch pieces of pound cake behind the engine. Frost with the yellow frosting.
2. Trim the Twizzlers with a serrated knife to fit the length and width of the top edges of the cake.
3. Fill the top of the cake with the M&Ms.
4. Attach the mini-Oreos, two on each side.

For the optional train tracks:

1. Cut 3 of the chocolate sticks in half.
2. Place the pairs of halved chocolate sticks in front and in back of the middle car and caboose. To complete, place the 2 long chocolate sticks in front of the engine cake.

Cake Anatomy:

 

Cake Cutout:

Dump Truck Cake

My son turned TWO this month! He loves everything and anything associated with "wheels", so after being inspired by a post my friend did about her son's birthday cake, I tried my hand at this dump truck. You'll notice I made several changes in my version. Most of them weren't intentional and just sorta happened. But the little man was appropriately excited when he saw his birthday cake, which was all I needed to be satisfied.


1 (9 by 5-inch) loaf pound cake
1 can (16 oz) vanilla frosting
Red food coloring
4 Twizzlers or Red Vines
1 cup coarsely crushed chocolate cookies
½ cup thin pretzel sticks
Brown M&M's Premiums or Peanut M&M's
2 chocolate-covered doughnuts
6 mini chocolate-covered doughnuts
8 yellow M&M's
1 bar (4 oz) white chocolate
2 mint Mentos

Trimming the cake:

1. Place the cake on a clean work surface. Using a bread knife, trim the top to make it level.
2. Cut a 2-inch piece from one short end of the loaf cake. Cut a wedge from the top of the remaining pound cake, 1 ½ inches down on one short end (see template). Set the wedge aside.

For the white and red frosting:

1. Spoon ¼ cup of the untinted vanilla frosting into a small resealable plastic bag.
2. Add red food coloring to the remaining frosting to tint it red.

Assembling the cake:

1. Cut a 1-inch slice from the long edge of the reserved wedge; discard the scrap and place the slimmed wedge on a serving platter, wide cut side down. Spread some of the red frosting on top.
2. Place the larger cake on top of the trimmed piece, as pictured. Spread the top and sides of the larger cake with some of the red frosting and make smooth.
3. For the dump truck's cab, place the reserved 2 by 5-inch loaf end in front of the large cake and cover with red frosting.

For the candy decoration:

1. Trim the red licorice to match the dimensions of the truck trailer and use to line its top edge. Place a trimmed piece of licorice along the top back edge of the cab of the truck.
2. Fill the top of the cake with crushed cookies, pretzels, and M&M's. Allow some of the cookies and pretzels to fall onto the serving platter.
3. Press the regular-size and the mini-doughnuts onto the sides of the cake as tires. Snip a small corner from the bag with the vanilla frosting. Pipe a dot of vanilla frosting in the center of the doughnuts and add the yellow M&M's to the center.
4. Insert 2 pretzel sticks into the top back corners of the truck cab.
5. Cut the white-chocolate bar into a 1 ½ by 3-inch rectangle and two ½ by 1-inch rectangles. Press the smaller white-chocolate "windows" onto the sides of the truck cab. Press the large rectangular white chocolate "window" into the front of the cab.
6. Press the Mentos underneath the large window on either side of the front of the cab for the truck's lights.

Cake Anatomy:

Cake Cutout:

14-Layer Cake

14 layers?! Yes. 14 layers. I'd been wanting to make this cake since I first saw it, so I took advantage of my mother-in-law's Kitchen Aid and being at my in-law's house (AKA, free babysitting!) to try it out. It was so much fun! I'm not going to try and post the recipe. I wouldn't do half as good as where I found it, so just go here. But I'll share some pictures of my 14-layer baking extravaganza!  This would be fun to adapt to a person's age for their birthday cake - turning ten = ten layers!

Dividing the batter among 14 aluminum baking pans.

The finished product before cutting into it.

It worked! And it even tasted pretty good.