Cookies and Cream Buttercream Frosting

Recently, my friend’s husband hired me to make her birthday cake, requesting only that it be “chocolate and good.”

That meant I had lots of options.  Since I had recently created some chocolate cake goodness for the auction, I had an idea.

I used THIS cake as my inspiration, keeping the cake and ganache parts the same, but changing up the frosting a bit.

Instead of strawberries, I put about 15 Oreos in the food processor, pulsed them until finely ground, and folded them into the frosting.

Wow, that’s some creamy, Oreo deliciousness.

And the finished product doesn’t look too bad either.

A reminder too, that if you don’t have 3 6-inch pans like the cake recipe calls for, use two 8-inch ones.  Your result will still be amazing, just not quite as tall and skinny.

Cookies and Cream Swiss Meringue Buttercream
inspired by Sweetapolita

printer friendly recipe

Yield: ~5 cups

5 large, fresh egg whites (150 g/5 oz)
1 1/4 cups (250 g/9 oz) sugar
3/4 lb (3 sticks/340 g/12 oz) butter, cut into cubes and cool, but not cold
2 teaspoons (10 mL) pure vanilla extract
15 Oreos, finely crushed
pinch of salt

Wipe the bowl of an electric mixer with paper towel and lemon juice, to remove any trace of grease.

Add egg whites and sugar, and simmer over a pot of water (not boiling), whisking constantly but gently, until temperature reaches 150°F, or if you don’t have a candy thermometer, until the sugar has completely dissolved and the egg whites are hot.

With whisk attachment of mixer, begin to whip until the meringue is thick, glossy, and the bottom of the bowl feels neutral to the touch (this can take up to 10 minutes or so). *Don’t begin adding butter until the bottom of the bowl feels neutral, and not warm.

Switch over to paddle attachment and, with mixer on low speed, add butter cubes, one at a time, until incorporated, and mix until it has reached a silky smooth texture (if curdles, keep mixing and it will come back to smooth). *If mixture is too runny, refrigerate for about 15 minutes and continue mixing with paddle attachment until it comes together.

Add vanilla and salt, continuing to beat on low speed until well combined.

Add the crushed Oreos, and blend until combined.

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Six-Layer Dark Chocolate & Strawberry Buttercream Cake

I hate photographing inside with florescent lighting and having to use a flash.

Gross.

But it’s the best I could do.  By the time the cake was complete the sun was on it’s way down, a one year-old was incessantly pulling on my pant leg and we had to get this creation to the auction.

And that’s where the bad lighting and photographing took place.

So I made this cake for the silent auction/dinner we had at church on Friday.  The winner not only took home the cake, but also four more desserts of their choosing to be delivered once per week for the next month.  I’ve done something like this every year since we’ve been a part of the auction, and it’s always exciting to see who the winner is and what sweet treats I get to create for them.

One of the reasons I like this cake is its size: just six inches in diameter.  So it’s not a huge triple layer cake.  And each of those layers get cut in half so even though it’s a pretty tall cake, it’s still not huge.   If you don’t have six inch cake pans, however, just use two nine-inch pans and increase the baking time a little.

The frosting is amazing.  This was my first attempt at swiss meringue buttercream, and I’m SOLD.

So. incredibly. good.

(and not hard at all.)

While I have not sampled this amazing creation in its ‘sliced,’ fully assembled form, I can report that all of the components: cake, buttercream and glaze are DElicious. I had to sample to make sure the cake was worth auctioning, right?

I made just one adaptation from Sweetapolita’s original creation, replacing the coffee in the chocolate cake for just hot water.  Her awesome post can be found HERE.  And she has a WAY better picture too.

For ease of printing, I have created a printer friendly recipe of all three components of the recipe.

I just finished making a second one for a sweet husband who saw the cake at the auction and ordered one to surprise his wife for Valentine’s Day. I know, time is short, but you can get this made for someone you love!  Try it.

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Quick Vanilla Buttercream

Quick Vanilla Buttercream

printer friendly recipe

3 cups powdered sugar
1 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 to 2 tablespoons whipping cream or whole milk

In a standing mixer fitted with a whisk, mix together sugar and butter. Mix on low speed until well blended and then increase speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes.

Add vanilla and cream and continue to beat on medium speed for 1 minute more, adding more cream/milk if needed for spreading consistency.

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Reese’s Cup Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

I was hanging out at my friend Julie’s house the other day as she unpacked her groceries from Costco.  Along with gallons of milk (she’s got 5 boys), dried fruit and a bunch of other stuff that will be devoured in no time, out came a couple racks of ribs.

You see, Julie has got this Mother’s Day thing down.  She buys what she wants to eat for Mother’s Day and then lets her husband and boys do the work.  Everybody wins.  It’s what she likes and saves her husband time in deciding what to make, gathering ingredients and cooking.  Just one of the reasons I think she’s a genius.

So, here’s my question: what do YOU want for dessert on Sunday?

If you’re tempted by the rich combination of peanut butter and chocolate, let me suggest you hit print immediately and leave this winning recipe out for your husband to conquer.  If you’re feeling extra generous, you could even pick up any needed ingredients for your grateful baker.  Let him off easy, though and don’t expect any of the fancy piping.  But if he really loved you…

Happy early Mother’s Day readers! If you need any other dessert inspirations for your spouse or children to whip up for you, check the index for lots of ideas!

Reese’s Cup Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake
adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours
printer friendly recipe

Ingredients:
For the cake:
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 ½ cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled (optional)

For decorating:
1 ½ – 2 batches peanut butter frosting (click on the link)
miniature Reese’s cups, halved and/or chopped

For the cake, center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350.  Butter two 9-inch round cake pans, dust the insides with flour, tap out the excess and line the bottoms with rounds of parchment paper.  Place the pans on a baking sheet.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy.  Add the sugar and beat for about 2 minutes, until thoroughly blended into the butter.  Add the eggs and yolks one at a time, beating for one minute after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.  Beat in the vanilla.

Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk; add the dry ingredients in 3 additions and the buttermilk in 2 (beginning and ending with the dry ingredients).  Mix each addition only until it is blended into the batter.  Scrape down the bowl and add the melted chocolate, if using, folding it in with a spatula.  Divide the batter between the prepared cake pans.

Bake for 26-30 minutes or until the cakes feel springy to the touch and start to pull away from the sides of the pans.  Transfer to wire racks to cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unmold them and peel off the paper liners.  Invert and cool to room temperature right side up.

To assemble the cake, place one cake layer on cake plate or other serving plate.  Spread peanut butter frosting on top of the cake layer.  (If desired, sprinkle with chopped Reese’s cups.)  Place the second cake layer on top of the frosting.  Frost the top and outside of the cake with remaining peanut butter frosting.  Decorate with halved and chopped Reese’s cups as desired.

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Easter Basket Cupcakes

Every year I get excited to make Easter Basket Cupcakes ALMOST like we did as a kid. Back then there weren’t giant muffin tins and the only egg shaped candies besides a Cadbury Creme Egg were jelly beans. Times sure have changed. The Easter candy section at Target alone is out of control with WAY too many choices, which made it hard to decide just how to top this year’s cupcakes. In the end, I settled for a variety.

Easter Basket Cupcakes

Start with a white cake mix and follow the recipe…well mostly. Here are a few cake mix secrets:
1. Replace the water in the recipe for milk, especially whole milk.
2. Add in at least 1 teaspoon of GOOD quality vanilla. And an extra splash (or teaspoon) will only make it better!

Bake the cupcakes according to the directions on the package. If you’re using a large cupcake tin like I did, the baking time is about 20 minutes. I do large cupcakes for my ‘grown up’ friends and the regular sized ones for their kids and other littler folks.
After the cupcakes have cooled completely, make your frosting. (It’s not THAT much work and WAY better than Betty Crocker!)

Here’s the recipe:
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup shortening
2 1/2 – 3 cups powdered sugar
2-3 tablespoons milk (again, whole milk is best!)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 – 3/4 teaspoon almond extract
green food coloring

Combine butter and shortening until smooth and creamy. Add vanilla and almond extract. Add powdered sugar in 1 cup increments until combined. Then add milk and food coloring, mix until smooth and spreading consistency. I like to beat frosting for at least 5 minutes so it’s light and fluffy.Frost the cupcakes with a generous layer. It’s one of the best parts of the treat, after all!

As a kid my mom always put the sweetened coconut in a jar for me to shake. I loved that job! After you put the coconut in a container of your choosing, add a few drops of green food coloring, place the lid on tightly and give it a good shake.
Sorry no exact measurements here about how much coconut or food coloring. But if you don’t make enough or your ‘grass’ just isn’t green enough add a little more! And, if you’re grass is way too green, just add some more coconut and shake, shake, shake.
Now it’s time to add the eggs. Jelly beans seemed to stick a little better when I was a kid. Maybe it’s because they weren’t as heavy as the chocolate ones. Anyway, I like to put just a little frosting on the bottom side of each egg to ‘glue’ the eggs in place. After that, add a white pipe cleaner and you’re done! I’ve also seen these made with the thin ropes of red vines for the handle, but I’m sticking with Hall Family tradition, AND I think I prefer the white handle.
So, if you’ve got kids who need something to do this week, or need a cute little place card for your Easter dinner, this might just be for you. Give it a try and maybe you’ll have a new Easter tradition too!

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Instant Fudge Frosting

I thought I had found the ultimate chocolate frosting recipe when I made THIS cake, but I have to say this recipe is equal in chocolate deliciousness. Different, but definitely a million times delicious.

If you’re looking for a classic chocolate frosting give this one a try. It will remind you of one that you may have made in the past with cocoa, but kicked up to a higher level of chocolate goodness. While the frosting was intended and used for a birthday cake, I did not hesitate to reserve a bit of frosting for myself to make me some graham cracker sandwiches! If you haven’t tried it, you should!

Instant Fudge Frosting
from Sky High Cakes

printer-friendly version

6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
4 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
6 tablespoons half and half
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Using a stand mixer or food processor combine all of the ingredients until the frosting is smooth. Frost the cake and try not to lick your fingers too many times!

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Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting — of course!

First, a late birthday shout out to my fabulous husband,…and a preview of his cake:

I knew we were meant to be when I learned that his family has a long-time favorite carrot cake recipe just like mine does. They’re surprisingly similar and equally delicious. We probably should have done carrot cake for our wedding, but that darn Freeport Bakery had too many other tempting flavors.  And, truth be told, we’re kind of the carrot cake snob type — quite content with what we know we like (the homemade stuff!) and not really interested in or tempted by any other variety.   Hey, you might be too after you try this recipe.

The cake was just part of my favorite taste tester’s birthday. Stay tuned for the main course. All I’ll give you now is I learned a new skill — and thankfully the birthday boy’s dinner wasn’t a total failure since I was venturing a bit into the unknown.

This is such a basic, good recipe. It never, I mean never, disappoints. No crushed pineapple, shredded coconut or funky spices, like some of those other varieties. It’s just the basics — all in perfect proportion.

My Family’s Carrot Cake
I made one and a half of this recipe to achieve the three layers. My mom often makes it in a 9 x 13 pan, or you can go with 8- or 9-inch rounds. Lots of possibilities.

printer friendly recipe

2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup oil
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
3 cups carrots, grated

Heat oven to 350.  Butter two 9-inch cake pans and dust lightly with flour.

Sift the dry ingredients (sugar, flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon) into a large bowl.  Add oil, eggs and vanilla.  Beat well.  Fold in grated carrots.

Pour batter into pans. Set on the middle rack of oven and bake for 35 minutes (shift positions of cakes front-to-back if necessary about halfway through), until edges have pulled away from sides and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool on a cake rack.

Perfect Cream Cheese Frosting:
If you have some left over frosting, get out your graham crackers and make some dessert ‘sandwiches.’ What is it about graham crackers and homemade frosting? A magical flavor combination if you ask me. They even freeze well!

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
8 oz. (1 package) cream cheese, softened
1 pound (that the small box size) powdered sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Cream together the cream cheese and butter in a mixing bowl. Slowly sift in the confectioners sugar and beat until mixture is free of lumps. Stir in the vanilla.

Once cakes have cooled, frost. Sprinkle the top or sides with chopped walnuts.  You can always toast those walnuts for extra flavor if you think about it ahead of time!

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Triple Lemon Chiffon Cake

Sweet and good.

That’s a perfect description for this cake and for my most delightful mother-in-law.

We surprised her with a little birthday celebration over the weekend, and three layers of lemony goodness was part of the festivities.

If you’ve never made a chiffon cake, give it a try. It is so light and airy. You don’t grease the pans so that the batter can ‘climb’ up the pan as it bakes. Delicious, especially when some homemade lemon curd is sandwiched in between the layers. I adapted the recipe a bit and used all of the lemon curd, not just 1/4 cup in between each layer as the original recipe suggests. Skimping on the filling just seemed all wrong!

As for the whipped cream frosting, I was a bit skeptical. I almost went with a lemon buttercream instead, but decided to maintain the integrity of the original recipe…at least most of it. I knew whipped cream would pair up nicely with the chiffon cake, but it’s a bit finicky. If you over beat then it’s just going to be lumpy and on its way to butter. Under beat and it will just drip off of the cake. I decided to vary from the recipe just a little and stabilize my whipping cream. (See the end of the post for more about that.) That way, as long as I didn’t overbeat, my whipping cream would hold its shape for sure.

The whiteness of the cake was bugging me so I garnished the top with some candied lemon peel. That was a first, but surprisingly easy.

Bottom line, this was a lemony success.

I made the cake and lemon curd the day before, which made assembly, frosting and decorating much easier on the day of the party. See? Cake making doesn’t have to be a day long project. If you break it up into two days it’s actually much easier!

TRIPLE LEMON CHIFFON CAKE

adapted from: SKY HIGH – IRRESISTIBLE TRIPLE LAYER CAKES

printer friendly recipe

For the Cake:

8 eggs, separated
1/4 cup walnut oil**
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon of lemon zest
1/3 cup water

2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar
1 and 1/2 cups of sugar
1 and 3/4 cups of cake flour*
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt

*1 cup of cake flour is equal to 3/4 cup of all-purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons of corn starch

**almond oil, hazelnut oil, or canola oil will work also

Preheat the oven to 350. Line the bottoms of three 9-inch pans with parchment paper but do not butter or grease the pans.

In a large bowl whisk together the egg yolks, oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, vanilla and water.In the bowl of an electric mixer, whip the egg whites with the cream of tartar on medium speed until light and frothy. Slowly add 1/2 cup of sugar and continue to beat until soft peaks form.

Sift the flour, remaining sugar, baking soda , and salt into a large bowl. Whisk gently to combine.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour in the egg yolk mixture and mix to create

a smooth paste. Add one-fourth of the egg whites and fold in to lighten the batter. Fold in the remaining egg whites and divide the batter among the three pans.

Bake for about 16 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Transfer to wire racks to cool in the pans. Once cool run a knife around the cake to in order to un-mold the cakes. Carefully pull off the parchment paper from the bottoms of the cakes.

To assemble the cake, place one layer on a cake stand. Top with half of the prepared lemon curd and spread it evenly. Repeat with the remaining layers. Frost the top of the cake and the sides with the lemon cream frosting and garnish with candied lemon peel (if you decide to make some!).

Rich Lemon Curd:

makes about 1 cup

3 whole eggs
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 4 lemons)
grated zest of three lemons

1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 tablespoons of unsalted butter, at room temperature

Whisk together the whole eggs, yolks, sugar, vanilla, lemon juice , and lemon zest together in a medium bowl. Transfer to a small non-reactive saucepan. Gently heat the mixture, whisking until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Make sure not to boil the mixture.

Pour the mixture through a sieve into a heatproof bowl. Stir in the butter and cover the curd with plastic making sure the plastic touches the curd. This should prevent a skin from forming on the curd. Refrigerate until cold. Then remove 3 tablespoons of curd and set it aside for the icing.

Lemon Cream Frosting:

makes 3 1/4 cups

1 and 1/2 cups of heavy cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 tablespoons of sugar
3 tablespoon of lemon curd

Whip the cream, vanilla and sugar in a large chilled bowl until stiff peaks form. Fold in the lemon curd, forming a stiff frosting.

***For stabilized whipping cream:

1 tablespoon unflavored gelatin

1/4 cup cold water

Combine gelatin with water in a small saucepan. Lat stand until thick. Over low heat, stir constantly until just dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. It should still be liquid. Add it into slightly thick whipping cream with the mixer on low. Increase the speed and beat cream until thick.

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Santa Cookies

I’ve been busy. These little guys took some time — and I didn’t make just a hand full of them. I made more like 50. But it was really fun. Some women quilt or knit or scrapbook. I just make five batches of the world’s best sugar cookies, mix up a ridiculous amount of royal icing and start piping. Time consuming, YES, but I enjoyed it for sure. And, I loved that I was creating something to share. The fun didn’t stop when the baking and frosting were through. Delivering these little Santa’s was a treat too!

About halfway through the piping process I realized I should have taken pictures of the different stages. I’m learning. But, it really was pretty simple.

1. Pipe the outline of the face on all of the cookies. Flood the face with flesh colored icing (pink and yellow are a perfect combination for this).

2. Outline the red part of the hat. Flood the hat area with red and add red sparkling sugar.

3. Outline the white parts of the hat. Flood the rest of the hat with white and add sprinkles.

4. Outline and flood Santa’s beard. Add white sprinkles to give him some good scruff.

I used mini m&m’s for Santa’s nose and sugar pearls for the eyes.

Oh, and that brings me to another thing: Have you heard of Fancy Flours? They are such a great resource. They have every kind of sprinkle, cookie cutter, or cupcake topper imaginable. Pick a theme and they’ve got something for you.

I’m pretty sure you won’t be making a bunch of Santas like I did. (But if you do I want to hear about it!) Christmas is only 3 days away after all, but if you’ve got sugar cookies planned, give these a try. You will be so glad you did. It’s not very often that a cookie recipe calls for powdered sugar, but it sure works for this one!

Sugar Cookies

1 cup butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 ½ teaspoons almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
2 ½ cups sifted flour

Directions:
Cream butter. Add powdered sugar. Blend in egg, almond extract, vanilla, salt and flour. Chill dough until firm.*

Roll to ¼ inch thickness on well-floured surface. Cut with cookie cutters. Place on greased cookie sheets.

Bake at 375 for 8-10 min. Cookies should not brown. Frost and decorate when cool.

If you want a royal icing recipe, here it is:

Royal Icing

Ingredients:
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 tbsp. meringue powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
5 tbsp. water

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until the sheen has disappeared and the icing has a matte appearance (about 7-10 minutes). Transfer the contents of the mixing bowl to an air-tight container.

This will be the stiffest consistency of the icing, and at this point it is still too stiff to use for decorating. Add water a very small amount at a time and stir by hand until fully incorporated. Continue until the icing has reached a consistency appropriate for piping. If you are having any difficulty piping, it is still too thick. Add a little more liquid and try again.

Using a pastry bag, pipe around the edges of each cookie. Let stand so the icing will set. Make sure to keep the leftover icing covered at all times when not in use so that it does not begin to harden.

Once all the cookies have been edged, transfer some of the remaining icing to a separate air-tight container. Thin out by incorporating a small amount of water at a time, until the icing drips off the spoon easily when lifted and then smooths in with that still in the bowl. If you go too far and the icing is too thin, add more sifted powdered sugar to thicken it again. Once the icing has reached the desired consistency, transfer it to a squeeze bottle (or a plastic bag with a hole in one corner), and flood the area surrounded by the piping on each cookie. If it does not completely spread to the edges, use a toothpick to help it along. Allow to set.

Use the remaining thicker icing for piping decoration as desired. Gel icing color is best as it does not add a significant amount of liquid. Liquid food coloring can be used as well – add powdered sugar as needed to compensate for any thinning that occurs.

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Yellow Butter Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream

I’ve got some holiday treats in the works, but I just had to share these cupcakes first!  I recently helped out with a friend’s baby shower  and my assignment was cupcakes.  They needed to be tasty, cute and PINK…I can’t wait for Lacy’s little bundle to arrive!

I need to make cupcakes more often.  It really is portion perfection.  Just enough cake and frosting without feeling too indulgent.  If you’ve got a celebration coming your way, give cupcakes a try.  Even for the holiday season, change up the frosting color and add some cute Christmas-themed sprinkles.

One more thing: the next time you make a vanilla frosting, add in a splash of almond extract.  It’s another one of those ‘secret’ ingredients that makes your frosting extra tasty.

Yellow Butter Cupcakes
from Martha Stewart Living

Ingredients:

• 3 cups cake flour, sifted
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 9 ounces (2 sticks plus 2 tablespoons) butter, softened
• 2 1/4 cups sugar
• 5 large eggs plus 3 large yolks, room temperature
• 2 cups buttermilk, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk dry ingredients in a large bowl. Cream butter and sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition.

Reduce speed to low. Mix remaining wet ingredients in a bowl. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture in 3 additions, alternating with wet ingredients and ending with dry. Scrape sides of bowl. Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each full. I like using a cookie scoop for this so that all of the cupcakes are even.

Bake cupcakes until testers inserted into centers come out clean, about 20 minutes. Let cool in tins on wire racks. Makes about 36 cupcakes.

Vanilla Buttercream
This will make enough for one 2-layer 9-inch cake or about 2 dozen cupcakes. If you are icing a 3-layer cake (or 36 cupcakes!) just do one and a half of this recipe.

Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
6-8 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1-2 teaspoons almond extract (taste it to see how much of the flavor you want)
coloring (of course!)

Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add 4 cups of the sugar and then the milk and extracts. On the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy, about 3-5 minutes.

Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition, until the icing is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency. You may not need to add all of the sugar. Add any coloring at this point and mix thoroughly.

The icing can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

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