Top Secret Operation Step 1: Vegan Chocolate Cakes

There's a top secret project going on over here, it was started yesterday. I baked some vegan cakes. They weren't intended to be vegan, although to be honest most of my baking is vegan these days. The first snag in baking my normal cake recipe was the lack of flour in my house. However, I found some cake flour I forgot I had. But then, there were no eggs. So I tried a new-to-me chocolate cake recipe. It was totally easy, and smelled delicious.

Cake Ingredients

1 1/4 cups flour (I used about 3 Tbsp extra because I was using cake flour)
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup warm water
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp distilled white or apple cider vinegar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl, add water, vanilla, oil and vinegar and stir to combine. Pour into greased pan(s) - the recipe said 8x8, I used two 8 inch rounds. Bake for 30 minutes, or until cake tested come out clean.

Admittedly, my two layers were a little thin at first, but they rose a bit and seemed ok when they came out of the oven.

For my top secret project, I let these cool, wrapped them in plastic and aluminum foil, and put them directly into the freezer.

Next step, cake carving....

Vegan Mocha Fudge Cake

My first vegan cake!

This cake was. . . delicious. The recipe came out of a cute little cake cookbook that my mother in-law gave me for Christmas called 500 Cakes. The original recipe is simply called Chocolate Fudge Cake, but I made it with the mocha fudge cake variation, one of five takes on the original. Both the cake and the frosting have instant coffee in it. And if you like chocolate and coffee as much as me then you should go make this right now. Jenni, are you drinking coffee yet? 'Cause ya should.

Chocolate Fudge Cake

(for the cake)

1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
4 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup water
4 tbsp. vegetable oil (I used canola)
1 tbsp. white wine vinegar (apple cider vinegar would also be fine, or even lemon juice)

(for the frosting)

2 tbsp. vegetable oil
2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tbsp. boiling water
1 cup confectioner's sugar, sifted

Preheat oven to 350. Grease an 8-inch round cake pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.

Sift the flour, baking soda, and cocoa into a bowl, then stir in the sugar and make a well in the middle. Pour the oil, vinegar, and water in to the well and stir together quickly. Immediately pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 25 minutes until risen and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Turn out onto a wire rack and let cool completely.

To make the frosting, put the oil, cocoa, and boiling water in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir to combine, then gradually stir in the sugar and mix for about 2 minutes until thick and glossy. Add a drop more water if too thick. Pour the frosting over the cake and let it set for a few minutes before serving. [I just whisked it all together, didn't sift the confectioner's sugar or bother with the double boiler, and it was fine. . . ]

A few variations:

Chocolate & Orange Fudge Cake: Prepare the basic cake recipe, using orange juice instead of the water, and adding the finely grated zest of 1 orange with the oil and vinegar. [Note: If you make this you must invite me over to sample. Holy holy.]

Mocha Fudge Cake: Prepare the basic cake recipe, adding 1 tablespoon instant coffee dissolved in 1 tablespoon boiling water with the oil and vinegar. For the frosting, dissolve 1 tablespoon instant coffee in the boiling water before mixing with the sugar.

Chocolate Rum Cake: [I want this one too] Prepare the basic recipe, adding 1 tablespoon rum with the oil and vinegar. [Why stop at 1 tablespoon?]

German Chocolate Cake!!

About a month ago, I made my first German Chocolate Cake and it was delicious!! I mean, chocolate, coconut. . . hello?! Heaven! I topped it with a chocolate ganache just to make it even more chocolaty. Note: the recipe above is the same as the Betty Crocker recipe, so if you know Betty at all, you know it's a winner. Also, the pecan filling is not traditionally used on the sides of the cake. It's very goopy and hard to spread unless you let it cool in the fridge for a little while.

Cake Pops: A tale of triumph over disaster

This all started last Wednesday when I saw something awesome on the internet. Cake Pops. The idea is simple. Bake a cake. Crumble it up. Mix in frosting. Form it into balls. Put it on a stick. Dip it in chocolate. The result, essentially heaven on a stick. My options were clear. Make the Cake Pops.

Luckily, for me, I was invited to a triple birthday bash over the weekend, what a perfect venue for me to unveil these guys. I should have known, anyone who "experiments" in the kitchen knows that trying something new for a particular event is never going to end well. This would be no different.

I baked Martha's Yellow Butter Cake, which may have ended my quest for a good yellow cake recipe. It was pretty tasty. When it was sufficiently cooled I crumbled it up into a bowl, and put that in the fridge. Then I started in on Martha's Strawberry Swiss Meringue Frosting. I've fought with this particular recipe so many times. It sure requires a LOT of mixing. And this time, I nailed it. The frosting was perfect. And delicious.

I started adding the frosting to the cake, and here's where the fails began. I added too much frosting, so it was a little too gooey. I should have stopped, but I didn't really know until I had gone too far. Unaware of the potential disasters lurking in my future, I rolled the cake/frosting mixture into 1 or 1.5 inch round balls. Then I threw them back in the fridge.

I melted the chocolate in the microwave, following the package instructions, and after putting the candy sticks in the cake balls I was ready to dip. No dice. The balls were so gooey, and began to fall apart in the warmed chocolate. When flipped upright to harden, the chocolatey ball of goo just slid off the stick. I tried a few, and each one was worse than before. So I stopped. With only an hour before the party, I "cleaned up" by putting 40 balls of cake and frosting on cookie sheets in my fridge, and ran out the door.

Two days later, I was trying to figure out what to do with the cake balls when I realized they'd firmed up a lot more. So I tried it again. Success. They are not pretty, I have no idea how anyone made them look like little chicks - mine are clearly lumpy blobs. I guess, you have to start somewhere. You can follow the whole process here (note, there are a lack of pictures of the mess, who knew that it would be resolved and warrant documentation). Without further ado, I introduce you to my first Cake Pops!

and the nominees are...

Mini Raspberry Cheesecakes and Oreo Truffles.

I was invited to an Oscar party last night, and of course needed to bring some Oscar-worthy treats with me. I was disappointed in my execution of the mini-cheesecakes, those are definitely not winning for any type of technical or cinematic category. In my mind, I was making them with a chocolate crust, so they would be Black and White, very elegant. But, the chocolate crust was more light brown, and the cheesecake more very yellow. The whole thing just missed the mark I was aiming for, and while they were good (have you ever met a cheesecake that wasn't??) they just weren't the hit I'd hoped for.

The Oreo truffles looked small and delicate, and tasted AMAZING, a clear front runner in this race. But they weren't without their problems. The truffles were supposed to be dipped in melted chocolate, and I waited questionably too long to do this step. I pulled out my double boiler, dumped in the chocolate, and went to town melting it. It wasn't long after that it turned into one globby clump, took on a life of it's own, and told me that there was no way I was dipping anything into it - its consistency was barely even spreadable. Somehow, I'd managed to mess up the simple step of "melt chocolate". Infuriated, I rushed to the store for more chocolate, and called my kitchen-emergency hotline (thank, Mel!) to discover that, in fact, a ganache recipe she has made clearly states "Do not use chocolate chips". I had, in fact, used chocolate chips. They were on sale and cheaper than the bars that I would have had to buy. Bad move, Jenni. Luckily, I was able to make a game time switch, and got the good stuff. On second chance I melted the chocolate ok (actually, the white chocolate never recovered, but I ran out of time to fight with it.) While, even my visions for the truffles were not quite achieved, their taste made it a moot point.

And, the Oscar goes to....

Oreo Truffles, who are gladly accepting this award on behalf of Meryl Streep and her portrayal of Julia Child!

---

**Oreo truffles, totally simple:

Crush up Oreos in a food processor (save 9 crushed cookies aside for later). Combine remaining cookie crumbs, 8oz of cream cheese, and 1/2 tsp of vanilla with a mixer until mixed thoroughly. Roll into small balls and chill in fridge for one hour. Melt 1 pound of chocolate in a double boiler - careful, this part is apparently tricky. I ended up using one bar of milk chocolate and one bar of bittersweet chocolate together, I think it was a good choice. Dip the chilled oreo balls into chocolate and place on a wax paper lined cookie sheet. Sprinkle the remaining cookie crumbs on top. (I ran out of chocolate at one point, and simply rolled the oreo balls in the cookie crumbs for some - these were good too) Return to fridge to chill for one hour, or until you have to go!

Halloween Cookies!

Well these turned out MUCH better than the soup I made earlier in the week! There's been a couple of Fridays now at work where I've brought in baked goods. I think both times it was brownies. . . anyway, earlier this week, one of my students said to me, "So Melanie, I was thinking, since Halloween is on Saturday you should maybe make some kind of Halloween treat for us on Friday!" Because I really like this student, I said, Yeah, okay, why not. While you can go all kinds of crazy with Halloween baking (see Jenni's future post that I'm already jealous of!) I decided that for a weekday thing, for just my students, I would go for something easy that makes a lot: COOKIES!

My initial thought was chocolate cookies with orange and brown M&Ms. I didn't see any orange and brown M&Ms at the grocery store though. What I DID see however was Reese's Pieces, and since those are already Halloween colors, I bought them. After all, chocolate and peanut butter together is NEVER a bad idea.

I found this decadent recipe online for Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies and substituted 1 1/2 cups Reese's pieces for the 2 cups of chocolate chips, and I didn't use any of the optional walnuts. The only slight snafu was that the dough was really thick. I made it in my stand mixer and decided when it came time to add the candy at the end that I would just toss them in there as well. Luckily I only started with one cup. I added them in, put the mixer on the lowest setting, "stir," and they got crushed! Of course this wouldn't effect the flavor but I wanted to see the orange and yellow in the dark cookie. So I mixed the remaining half cup by hand. Also, I ran out of Hershey's cocoa powder but luckily had Ghirardelli cocoa on hand as well. The Ghirardelli is Dutch Processed unsweetened cocoa, which is darker and richer than the regular kind (I think I wanted it for a marble cake and/or chocolate ice cream at some point and that's why I had it). I can't say I wouldn't use the Ghirardelli next time as well! Boy is it good.

To say that these cookies are delicious would be an understatement. And having them warm out of the oven? CHOCOLATE AND PEANUT BUTTER HEAVEN!!! :)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

I think that peanut butter and chocolate might be the worlds most perfect combination. I mean, seriously. Name something that works together as well as these two...

Tonight, I created this chocolate peanut butter pie, without a recipe, using only my shear will to devour something delicious. Here's the recipe that resulted:

about half a package of Nilla Wafers, crushed fine
1/4 cup of butter
1/3 cup of peanut butter
16 oz. milk chocolate
1 container of Cool Whip

Melt butter and peanut butter over medium heat. Add to finely crushed Nilla wafers and mix well. Press into bottom and sides of pie plate (I used my springform pan). Cook in 375 degree oven for 10 minutes. Remove and cool to room temp.

On top of double boiler melt milk chocolate. Add to thawed Cool Whip and combine well (I didn't let the cool whip thaw completely, and when I added the hot chocolate it all went awry, so then I threw the mixture back into the top of the double boiler and melted it all together!) Spread chocolate into crust and chill, uncovered, at least one hour. (Once chilled you can cover it, but if it's warm when you put it in the fridge don't cover it or it'll rain all over your pie).

All I can say is....YUM-O!

Gifted

A friend of mine has a birthday coming up, and this can't come at a better time because, 1.) this blog needs something new and 2.) my stress levels have reached a dangerous high that perhaps even baking for others can't overcome. But, try I will. I have a vision, but for top-birthday-secrecy, I will not publish said vision here until it's all done.

Last night was baking night, and let me tell you, I needed it. For this particular cake I was using a brand new (...er, old) recipe. My BirthdayFriend recently lost his grandmother, and when he was home with family after her passing he was thoughtful enough to bring back an old baking cookbook for me. I decided that I would make one of those recipes for this cake! BirthdayFriend requested chocolate, so off I went. I settled on one entitled Sweet Chocolate Cake. (As a side note, this cookbook has some really strange recipes that I'm totally interested to try - a sauerkraut cake?! Really?!) The Sweet Chocolate Cake recipe was interesting because the author noted that she liked using brown sugar. The recipe said it would fill 3 8-inch rounds, which seemed ok because, for the cake in my mind, I needed 2 8-inch rounds and a little something left over. I would need to use my spherical ball cake pan for the left over - as I needed something spherical to add to the cake.

Sweet Chocolate Cake
4 oz. sweet baking chocolate
1/2 cup boiling water
1 cup butter
2 cups white or brown sugar*
4 eggs, separated
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 cups of cake flour, sifted
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup buttermilk**
(all ingredients at room temp, except for the boiling water...which is, of course, boiling)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and grease and flour 3 8-inch round pans. Melt the chocolate in the boiling water, and set aside to cool. Cream the butter, and gradually add the sugar. Add in the egg yolks and vanilla, and combine until smooth. Carefully add the cooled chocolate, and mix until well combined. Add in the sifted dry ingredients and the buttermilk in alternating batches, starting and ending with the dry ingredients. Mix thoroughly. Stiffly beat the egg whites and fold into the batter. Pour into pans, about 3/4 full. Bake for 35-40 minutes.

*I used one cup of each, the author was excited about the brown, but I was nervous about 2 cups of it!
**for which I used dried buttermilk (Saco brand, thanks LeahPants!)

I was excited, more than just to be baking again, because I could use something else I was given for Christmas. My mom gave me Wilton Bake Even strips, that make the cakes bake even so you don't have to level them. I have NO IDEA how they work. You first saturate them in water, then you wrap it around the outside of the pan, with the aluminum looking side facing out. You pin it closed, and just bake as normal. I was so excited to try these, it matches the first time I ever used the mechanical pastry bag (and you know how well that turned out!)

It was about here that I got carried away with my new baking gear (see, it HAS been a while since I've baked!!) Also for Christmas, my dad had given me these teeny tiny mini pans. Two tube pans and a springform. Adorable. So with the batter left over from filling my two 8-inch rounds, complete with Bake Even strips, I filled the mini pans from my dad.

It all went into the oven for 30 minutes. And then I realized. The SPHERICAL PAN! I had forgotten. In the glory of using all of my new gifts I had lost sight of the task at hand - BirthdayFriend's cake. So, later this week I will be "sculpting" spherical forms from the mini tube pan cakes!

When the cakes were done I was amazed, they were indeed level. I will not need to trim them - which is fabulous, because I am awful at that part. And, I ate some from the springform pan, it was good. The brown sugar was a good idea, although, I'm not sure I'd have done the full 2 cups.

The cakes are now carefully wrapped and in the freezer, waiting for decorating day!

Let the good times roulade

I admit that maybe I've become obsessive, but the pumpkin roulade was seemingly so easy that I just had to try again.  This time I was inspired by this recipe.  A red velvet cake with white chocolate mousse and raspberries inside.  Mmmmm mmmmm!  It sounded delicious and perfect for our Christmas dessert.  The results fell short of my grand expectations.  I submit to you people's exhibit A:

The problem was after the cake was cooked and rolled and cooled it completely cracked when being unrolled. I was left with about 5 long strips of cake. I proceeded to fill them and "roll" them back up the way they should be rolled. I wrapped it quickly and tightly in saran wrap and aluminum foil and put it in the fridge overnight where I hoped it would heal itself. It did not. I think that some pieces sunk further into the filling, and thus it looks all rolled back up on itself - although I can't really seem to figure out how it should have gone together.

It looked a little better when sliced, I submit people's exhibit B:

And, it tasted delicious!!

I think that perhaps the cake part was cooked too long, I'd attempt a shorter time the next time. It also seemed a little dense, I'd maybe go to 3/4 cup of flour or substitute cake flour instead.

4th of July Cupcakes

Better late than never, right? I made these cupcakes for Caitlyn's second (and not final!) birthday celebration. These were for a sleep-over she had with two of her best friends. I just plopped myself in front of the TV and went to town on these guys. It was fun! It also beat going crazy with smoothing over frosting on a cake -- over and over and over again, putting it in the fridge, and smoothing it over, over and over AGAIN. With cupcakes I feel like you can have more fun. It's okay for them to look homemade, right? What's also great about cupcakes is if you're making them for someone else, you can always have one or two for yourself. You can't exactly cut a piece of cake for yourself. . . and then give the cake away. Or maybe you can. . . extra frosting anyone?

That chocolate frosting

The recipe for that chocolate frosting I'm always referring to is actually a recipe for Mocha Buttercream Frosting. It offers a variation for Chocolate Buttercream Frosting, so see below for those changes from the original recipe here:

Mocha Buttercream Frosting:
Makes 2 cups, enough to fill and frost an 8-inch round 2-layer cake

Note from the author, Carol Gelles:
Mocha is a hard flavor to pin down -- not quite chocolate and not quite coffee. I think this frosting has a good balance between the two flavors. If you prefer mocha with a strong coffee flavor, halve the cocoa; for a more chocolatey flavor, use less coffee and 1 tablespoon more cocoa.

Note from Mel:
I always make a 9-inch round 2-layer cake and this much frosting is NOT quite enough, so I would recommend 1.5X or 2X the recipe for that size. . . 2X if you want left-overs for spontaneous cupcakes later in the week (not that I've done that).

1 Tbs. hot water
1 1/2 tsp. instant coffee granules
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
3 Tbs. sour cream
3 1/2 cups sifted confectioner's sugar (I usually don't measure this, OR sift. . . I just add it a little at a time and mix it well until the frosting's a good spreading consistency)

1. In a small bowl, stir together the water and coffee until the coffee is disolved.
2. In a large bowl, beat the butter until light and fluffy. Beat in the cocoa until completely combined. Beat in the coffee and sour cream. (Using a stand mixer doesn't mix this well enough. . . so while I DO use mine, I also have to get in there with a metal spoon to make sure it's really mixed well. . . it's annoying, but otherwise you're going to have spots of chocolate throughout later).
3. Beat in the confectioner's sugar one cup at a time until all the sugar has been incorporated.

Variation: Chocolate Buttercream Frosting: Omit the instant coffee and water and use 2 tablespoons milk instead.

Happy 4th of July. . . Birthday!

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY! I mean, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CAITLYN! This little girl shares her birthday with the nation, and embraces the red, white, and blue (and brown?) I imagine this will get old after a while, but when you're eleven, it's pretty cool. . . the cookouts, flags, and fireworks. . . all on your birthday. I get it.

So this is just the chocolate cake recipe on the back of the Hershey's cocoa container. The chocolate frosting is DELICIOUS. It's from 1000 Vegetarian Recipes -- one of my favorite cook books. I don't feel like getting out of my comfy chair to get the recipe, so if you want it, let me know. As for the decorations, yeah, my stars could've been a LOT better. Oh well. It was really late and I was tired. . . and she's eleven, so whatever.