I was baking cupcakes and trying to find a good chocolate frosting recipe that didn’t taste like pure sugar. After a few unsuccessful attempts and a new craving for coconut cake, I found what had been missing. Cream Cheese! The coconut cake frosting I made had a cream cheese base and it dawned on me that’s what I should use for most frostings. A few weeks passed and I tried it, chocolate frosting with a cream cheese base. It called for half the amount of powdered sugar which was a good sign in itself. After it was made I put it in the fridge to harden, well when I pulled it out I thought I had screwed up because it was too hard. I mixed it up and it was perfect, the cream base combined with the coldness make it so easy to spread. Anyways, here she is!
100 chocolate wafers, melted (8 ounces)
6 ounces of Philly’s cream cheese, softened
2 tbsp. milk
2 c. powdered confectioners sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
Melt chocolate; cool slightly. Blend in cheese and milk. Add sugar gradually. Stir in vanilla. Frosts two 8″ layers.
My mom always made white cakes growing up and I never really liked them as much as yellow, no offense Liz. There is something about yellow cake with chocolate frosting that I just love. This is a good, basic yellow cake recipe great for layer cakes, sheet cakes and cupcakes.
2 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 stick (8 tbsp.) unsalted butter, softened
1 c. sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 c. 2% milk
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Sift together flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
Beat butter and sugar in mixer on medium-high until pale and fluffy (2-3 minutes). Beat in one egg at a time then add vanilla and blend until thoroughly mixed, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture and milk alternatively ending with the flour mixture. Mix until the batter is smooth but be careful to not over mix.
Spread batter evenly into pans or cupcake holders and bake for 20-25 minutes. Put a toothpick in the middle to test, if it comes out clean – the cakes are done.
Set the pans on a cooling rack for a few minutes then completely transfers the cakes over to the cooling racks and let stand until cool.
Spread one of the many frostings on it and you are good to go!
Simple and delicious!
1 package of cream cheese
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
1/3 c. lemon juice
1 tsp. vanilla
Let cream cheese reach room temperature and soften.
Add all ingredients and beat until smooth.
Pour into crust (pre-made works as does homemade) and refrigerate for three hours. Top with various fruit topping.
In the fall time this is one of my favorite things to make. Brings me back home to the autumn nights when it was chilly and this cake is heavy enough to warm you up!
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2 c. flour
2 c. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 c. oil
4 eggs
2 c. pumpkin
Mix all ingredients together. Add 1 cup of chocolate chips and stir in.
Put in grease bundt pan and cook for 60-80 minutes.
So easy and so good …
1 3/4 c. white sugar
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. butter
4 tbsp. cocoa
1/2 c. crunchy peanut butter
3 c. oatmeal
1 tsp. vanilla
Combine sugar, milk, butter and cocoa. Bring to a boil and boil for 1.5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in remaining ingredients.
Spoon onto wax paper and let harden.
Happy New Years! This past year we did chocolate fondue for dessert and it has now become a favorite of my kids … they live for Fondue’ing. It’s not really a recipe, just a fun reminder of all the good things you can dip into melted chocolate – tested and approved!
In fondue pot, melt chocolate wafers – I prefer milk chocolate. Melt and stir constantly until smooth.
Brownies
Graham Crackers
Apples
Bananas
Mangoes
Strawberries
Marshmallows
Rice Krispy Treats
To do the best Double Dip, don’t forget to put out:
Nut mix – my favs are cashews, peanuts and almonds. All lightly salted of course.
Peanut butter
Jams – my favorite is Raspberry.
