Chocolate Fudge Sour Cream Bundt Cake

I'm playing catch up tonight.  I made this bundt cake per Nathan's request for his birthday back in November.  It was simple and oh so good.  I found the recipe at melskitchencafe.com.

Chocolate Fudge Sour Cream Bundt Cake

For the Pan:

• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder

For the Cake:

• 1 cup (2 sticks, 8 ounces) butter
• 1/3 cup (1.25 ounces) natural, unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup water
• 1 3/4 cup (8.75 ounces) all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups (11.5 ounces) granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 large eggs (3.5 ounces)
• 3/4 cup (6 ounces) sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 to 2 cups (6 to 12 ounces) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips

For the Glaze:

• 1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla

1. Preheat the 350 degrees F. In a small bowl, mix together the butter and cocoa powder for the pan until the mixture is well-combined and pasty. Use a pastry brush or folded square of wax paper to wipe the cocoa/butter mixture into a 10- or 12-inch bundt pan until the inner surface is evenly coated.
2. In a medium saucepan, combine the butter, cocoa powder, salt and water. Heat until the butter is melted and whisk to combine well. Set aside to cool to room temperature (just slightly warm is ok, too, but let it cool more if it's overly warm or hot).
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar and baking soda. Pour in the chocolate mixture and stir to combine.
4. Add the eggs and whisk to combine. Stir in the sour cream and vanilla extract until the batter is smooth. Fold in the chocolate chips.
5. Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan and bake for 40-45 minutes until the top lightly springs back and the cake is baked through.
6. Let the cake cool for 5-10 minutes in the pan before turning it out carefully onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
7. For the glaze, place the chocolate chips in a medium bowl. Heat the cream to a simmer (either in the microwave or in a saucepan) and pour over the chocolate. Let the mixture sit for a few minutes without stirring. Add the vanilla and stir the mixture until it is glossy and smooth. The glaze will set up as it cools; if you want a thin drizzle, pour it over the cake while the glaze is still warm but if you want a thicker frosting, let it cool slightly.
8. Once the cake is cooled, place it on a serving plate or cake stand and pour the glaze over the cake letting it drip down the sides.

Raw Chocolate Pudding

No posts in almost a year and then four posts in one day!  This chocolate pudding has been a lifesaver since we started no sugar this month.  It's no Hunt's snack pack but it's surprisingly satisfying - and full of so much real food!  I found this recipe posted on Good Things Utah's Instagram account.

Raw Chocolate Pudding

2 avocados
3 T hemp seeds
1 T flaxseed meal
1 1/2 c. purified water
1 banana
1 c. cacao powder
4 t vanilla
1 t cinnamon
15 mejool dates, pitted
2 T organic maple syrup

Blend all ingredients in a blender until smooth like pudding.  Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and then enjoy!

Unbelievable Chocolate Cake

Made this cake for Bryce's birthday - his pick - and it was delicious!  Mel never lets me down.  Make note though, I didn't say healthy, just delicious.

Unbelievable Chocolate Cake

• 1 ¼ cups unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 ½ cups all purpose flour
• 2 ½ cups sugar
• 2 ½ teaspoons baking soda
• 1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
• 1 ¼ teaspoons salt
• 2 large eggs plus 1 large egg yolk
• 1 ¼ cups warm water
• 1 ¼ cups buttermilk
• ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, making sure the baking rack is in the middle of the oven. Prepare your cake pans (2 circular 9" pans work great) by cutting out a piece of parchment or wax paper to line the bottom of the pan. Grease the pans, place the parchment or wax paper in the bottom of the pan and lightly grease again. Dust the pans with flour (or cocoa powder if you don’t want the white dusting on the finished cakes). Set the pans aside.
2. Using a fine mesh strainer, sift together the cocoa, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. Add the eggs, yolk, warm water, buttermilk, oil and vanilla. Mix on low speed (with a handheld mixer or in the bowl of an electric stand mixer) until smooth, about 3 minutes.
3. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans. Bake the cakes for about 32-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean or with moist crumbs. Do not overbake! Remove the pans from the oven and set the pans on a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes. Gently run a thin knife around the edges of the pans and unmold the cakes, removing the parchment paper liners from the bottom of the cakes. Let them cool completely, top sides ups, on a wire rack.
4. Trim the tops of the cake layers with a long serrated knife to make them level. Frost as desired.  I used the recipe below:

Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 3 3/4 cups powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2/3 cup heavy whipping cream

Mix the cream cheese, vanilla and butter with an electric mixer until light and creamy. Gradually beat in the powdered sugar until smooth. In a separate bowl, beat the heavy whipping cream until stiff peaks form. Fold the whipped cream into the frosting and whip to combine (don’t overmix or the frosting will become too stiff). The frosting should be smooth and creamy. 

Toffee Brownie Trifle

I love trifles for feeding a crowd.  This recipe called for cake-like brownies but the next time I make it I'll make them the regular way, with only two eggs instead of three.  The pudding combo was yummy (I used cheesecake and white chocolate) and you can never go wrong with toffee bits and mini chocolate chips.

Toffee Brownie Trifle

1 package brownie mix, prepared according to package directions (13 x 9 pan size)
2 1/2 cups cold milk
1 package (3.4 ounces) instant cheesecake or vanilla pudding mix
1 package (3.3 ounces) instant white chocolate pudding mix
1 carton (8 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed (I used 8 oz. heavy whipping cream, whipped with 1/3 c. powdered sugar.)
2 to 3 Heath candy bars (1.4 ounces each), chopped (Toffee baking bits and chocolate chips work great too!)

1.  In a large bowl, beat milk and pudding mixes on low speed for 2 minutes. Let stand for 2 minutes or until soft-set. Fold in whipped topping. 
2.  Cut the brownies into 1-in. cubes; place half in a 3-qt. glass trifle bowl or serving dish. Cover with half of the pudding. Repeat layers. Sprinkle with chopped candy bars. Refrigerate leftovers. Yield: 16 servings.  

Peanut Butter & Chocolate Banana Bread

I just came across this picture today and realized I never posted this recipe.  This is a fun twist on regular banana bread or even chocolate banana bread... add peanut butter into the mix!  If you can't tell, I'm a sucker for sweet breads.

Peanut Butter & Chocolate Banana Bread

2 c all purpose flour
1 c sugar
1 TB baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 c mashed ripe banana (approx 2 med)
1/3 c milk
1/3 c peanut butter
3 TB oil
1 egg
1 c milk chocolate morsels, divided (Or use 3/4 c. morsels inside and 1/4 c. minis for on top)

Preheat oven to 350° F. Spray bottom only of loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray. In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add bananas, milk, peanut butter, oil and egg; stir until dry ingredients are moistened. Stir in ¾ cup of the milk chocolate morsels. Spoon batter into pan. Sprinkle remaining ¼ cup of milk chocolate morsels evenly over batter.

Bake 60 minutes or until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Watch and check the last ten minutes because oven temperatures vary and you do not want to overcook it! Cool in pan 10 minutes. Loosen sides of loaf from pan; remove loaf to non stick cooling rack and cool completely.

Makes 1 loaf.

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Here's another great recipe for using up all that garden zucchini! 

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Beat:

3 eggs

2 cups sugar

1 cup oil

2 tsp vanilla

 

Add:

2 cups grated zucchini

2 1/3 cup flour

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup cocoa

Preheat oven to 350. Pour batter into greased (or use nonstick cooking spray) and sugared loaf pans Sugaring is just like flouring a pan–but do it with sugar. It makes for a sweet and crispy crust.  Sprinkle a large handful of chocolate chips over the top of the bread.  Mini chips work great.

Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes.  Makes two regular size loaves.

Double Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Here's another great use for zucchini!  And I'd be willing to bet most kids would have no idea it's in there.  This cake comes out super moist and delicious and takes very little time to make!

Double Chocolate Zucchini Cake

1 Chocolate Devil’s Food Cake Mix
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cloves
2 cups of shredded and seeded zucchini
½ cup buttermilk
1/3 cup of oil
½ cup of chopped nuts (optional)
½ cup of semi sweet chocolate chips (mini chocolate chips work great)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease and flour 13 x 9 cake pan.  Mix all ingredients except nuts and chocolate chips on low speed for 2 minutes.  Pour ingredients into cake pan and top with nuts and chocolate chips.  Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted middle comes out clean. 

Mom's Ice Cream Dessert

This is an ice cream dessert my mom used to make on special occasions.  I don't know why it's taken me 11 years of marriage to finally make it for the first time!  But it brought back good memories of home.  It's really pretty easy to make too.

Mom's Ice Cream Dessert

24 Oreos, crushed
1/3 cup butter, melted

Mix together and press in bottom of pan (9x13). Put in freezer.

1 carton Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream

Pull out of freezer and allow to thaw slightly. Cut into slices and lay on top of Oreo crust. Put back in freezer.

In saucepan combine:

4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup powdered sugar
2 TB butter
2/3 cup evaporated milk

Boil until thickens. Cool until barely warm and pour over ice cream. Cover dish with foil and freeze. Take out and soften a little before serving.

Layered Mint Candies

Several years ago my friend Marianne made these for a Christmas party.  She was kind enough to share her recipe and I've made them each Christmas season since.  Our church had an early Christmas gathering this past week and each of the women were supposed to bring a favorite holiday treat...I brought these.  I think of them as homemade Andes mints. 

Layered Mint Candies

1 T. butter
1 1/2 lbs. white candy coating, divided (You can get this at Walmart.)
1 cup (6 oz.) semisweet chocolate chips
1 tsp. peppermint extract
4 drops green food coloring
3 T. heavy whipping cream

Line a 13X9 pan with foil.  Grease the foil with the butter and set aside.  In a saucepan on the stove top or in the microwave, melt 1 lb. of the candy coating with the chocolate chips.  Spread half into the prepared pan and set the remaining mixture aside.  Melt the remaining candy coating.  Stir in mint extract and food coloring.  Stir in the cream until smooth.  Spread over the first layer of chocolate.  Refrigerate for 10 minutes or until firm.

Warm the reserved chocolate mixture if necessary and spread over the mint layer.  Refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm.  **I like to refrigerate for 20-30 minutes and then slice my pieces before refrigerating it fully.  The candy seems to crack less if you cut it before it is completely cold and hard.  When fully refrigerated, lift foil out of pan and break pieces apart (if you pre-cut them) or cut them into squares.  Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.  

Peanut Butter Marbled Brownies

 

I made these the other night for a get-together with some friends and they were gobbled up!  I think this may have been the first time I've ever made brownies from scratch!  I usually just use a box mix and add things to it.  I love the combination of peanut butter and cream cheese in the marble part of this mix.  This recipe comes from The Sisters Cafe. 

Peanut Butter Marbled Brownies

6 oz. cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
2 Tb milk

1 cup butter, melted *for lower fat version read note

2 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips

Lightly grease a 9×13 inch baking pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a medium bowl, beat together the first 5 ingredients until smooth.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together melted butter, 2 cups sugar, and vanilla.  Mix in eggs, one at a time.  In a separate bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt.  Mix into the batter.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Spread batter into prepared pan. Drop the peanut butter filling on top by large spoonfuls.  Using a butter knife, gently swirl peanut butter filling through the chocolate batter to create a marbled effect.  Once you are done swirling, you may need to tap the pan on a towel covered counter to make the batter settle.  Bake in preheated oven for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted one inch from the edge comes out clean.  Cool completely, then cut into small squares.

*To cut calories you can substitute 1/4 cup of applesauce for 1/4 cup of butter.  In fact, with most recipes you can substitute up to 1/3 of the fat with applesauce without compromising the taste.

Fudge

The last time I made fudge it really didn't come out great. It was too soft. This time was much better. I tried a new recipe I found on allrecipes.com. I don't know about you but it's just not Christmas without fudge. (Just try to overlook the amount of sugar in this - holy cow!)

Fudge

1 cup butter
12 oz. semi sweet chocolate chips
1 (7 oz) jar marshmallow creme
1 cup chopped walnuts (I omitted.)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups evaporated milk
4 cups white sugar

1) Line a 13X9 dish with tin foil and butter the tin foil.

2) In large saucepan combine butter, sugar and milk. Bring to a boil and let it boil for at least 5 minutes, maybe as long as 10. Stir constantly.

3) Remove from heat and stir in chocolate chips, vanilla and marshmallow creme. Mix until chocolate chips are completely melted. Then stir in walnuts (if you choose). Spread mixture into prepared dish. Refrigerate until cool and hard.

*A tip when cutting. I pulled the entire thing out of the pan by grabbing the edges of the tin foil. Then I cut a large section at a time and transferred it from the tin foil to a cutting board to cut it up further. This way you don't end up with pieces of tin foil in your fudge. :)

Black Bottom Cupcakes

I first tried these at a stake relief society social in our BYU married student ward. The wife of one of our high counselors made these. Many years later, I finally decided to give this recipe a try. They were just as good as I remembered and easy too!

Black Bottom Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

1 cup water
1/3 cup oil
1 Tbsp vinegar
1 tsp vanilla

Mix dry ingredients together. Add remaining ingredients and using a mixer, blend well. Fill lined muffin cups 1/3 full with batter.

Filling:
1 - 8oz. package cream cheese
1 egg
1/3 cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips
chopped almonds (I omit.)

Combine cream cheese, egg, sugar and salt. Beat well. Stir in chocolate chips. Place heaping spoonful of mixture on top of batter in each muffin cup. Sprinkle with additional sugar and chopped almonds (I omit both.) Bake at 350. I bake one muffin tin at a time (so 12 muffins) and it takes between 18-20 minutes to cook. Makes 24 cupcakes.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Candies

These are a tasty, if fattening, treat. They're pretty much homemade Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. This time we gave most of them away. That was a good thing because I could have eaten the whole pan myself.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Candies

1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
1 lb package powdered sugar
1-12 oz. package chocolate chips
1-2 teaspoons creamy peanut butter

Melt butter. Add graham cracker crumbs (I crush mine in a blender), peanut butter and powdered sugar. Using a mixer, blend well. Pat into a 9X13 pan. Melt chocolate chips and 1-2 teaspoons of peanut butter (makes the chocolate spread easier) and spread evenly over top. Refrigerate 10-20 minutes. Cut into squares.

Peanut Butter Cup Trifle

So this was my first ever trifle. I found an inexpensive trifle dish at WalMart a month or so ago and had been waiting for company to come into town so I could make this dessert and have people to help me eat it! This dessert is really rich and filling! The recipe has you add peanut butter to the pudding but I bet it would be great (and less peanut-buttery) to just use plain vanilla pudding. But either way - it is good!

Peanut Butter Cup Trifle

9x13 pan of brownies, cut into 1 inch pieces
5.1 oz instant vanilla pudding
3 cups milk
½ cup creamy peanut butter
2 tsp vanilla
8 oz container thawed whipped topping (Cool Whip), divided
20 peanut butter cups, crumbled (buy in a 10-pack. Not the bite-sized)
6-8 peanut butter cups to garnish.

Combine pudding and milk. Beat for 2 minutes. Add peanut butter and vanilla, beat until smooth. Gently fold in 2 cups cool whip.

Layer in trifle dish ½ the brownies, ½ the crumbled peanut butter cups, ½ the pudding mixture. Repeat. Top with cool whip and peanut butter cups. Chill until serving.

Caramel Brownies

So lately I am trying to eat healthier than I have in the past. I am trying to use more natural ingredients and less processed foods when I cook/bake. However, I've always had a big sweet tooth! It is one of my weaknesses and not something I am ready to let go of yet. So for now, I'll continue to make fattening desserts because they taste so good! I got this recipe from my friend Robyn, shortly after Ben & I were married. It always gets rave reviews and it is so easy!

Caramel Brownies

7 Tbsp margarine melted (I use butter.)
1/3 cup evaporated milk
1 German Chocolate Cake mix (I usually use Betty Crocker.)

Mix together and put half in a greased 9X13 pan. Bake at 325 for 7-8 minutes.

45-50 caramels (I use the Kraft brand.)
1/2 cup evaporated milk

Melt together 1-2 minutes in microwave, then stir and repeat. Do this until caramel is all melted and mixed together with milk.

After cake comes out of oven, sprinkle with 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips. Pour caramel mixture over top and drop remaining cake batter by spoonfuls on top of caramel. Return to oven for 18 minutes.