Chocolate Chianti Cake

I hope everyone had a  wonderful Holiday season! My waistline and I both thoroughly enjoyed our time with family and friends, eating away the days with delicious treats.  Alas, we all have to return to the real world eventually.  As I try to get back into the swing of things, I find myself preparing for the year ahead.  This year, this involves getting ready for a beautiful wedding between two amazing people who I went to high school with.  Unfortunately, their taste buds haven't had the pleasure of tasting any of my confections yet so I'm holding a little cake tasting for them.  This is fun, not only for them, but also for me because I get to make a couple different kinds of cake and frostings and fillings!  I hope they can find a combination that they love!

One of the combinations I made for them is this Chocolate Chianti Cake.  Have you ever had chianti?  It's a red wine, that has fruity notes to it and pairs really well with chocolate.  I first made this cake when I created a wedding cake for two back in high school.  This recipe is adapted from the wonderful Sprinkle Bakes blog which I love and read regularly.  She made cupcakes but it works just as well in a cake form.  And what can be more romantic at a wedding than a fruity chocolate wine cake?  I hope they like it! Apparently my family also enjoyed eating the extras.

Mini Rainbow Cakes

A lot of my inspiration comes from the wonderful teacher, Mrs. Lauri Berry.  She's has been my teacher for a long time and I wouldn't be the person I am today with her guidance.  She finds these intriguing recipes and shows them to me in the hopes that I will try them.  She found this recipe from a blog dedicated to Jello Shots.  Not exactly school appropriate, but no worries, there's no alcohol in this recipe.

At first, I was astounded that the recipe used box mixes and canned frosting.  This is practically against my religion.  However, I haven't found a vanilla cake recipe that never fails yet, so I tried it with the box mixes and I am so glad I did!  This process is lengthy and requires 110 billion % of your focus.  Follow the instructions to the T and you will end up with adorable cakes.  I put my little spin of these cakes (I couldn't control myself) and added a couple tablespoons of almond to the frosting.  It definitely took these cakes to the next level.  The whole pan, even the scraps, was gone within the hour of pulling it out of the freezer.  I'm certain several people even ate it completely frozen!

(By the way, I took some of these

 pictures using my new Instagram app, 

check me out at mgarstecki23)

This recipe would be perfect for a child's birthday party or a shower.  The servings are small enough to give you a taste, but not overwhelming.  Also, it looks so pretty!  Next I'll try this process with chocolate cake and ombre-colored frosting, yum!

Here's a step-by-step How-to!

Prepare the two cake mixes according to the directions.

Split the batter evenly between 6 bowls.

Dye each batter a different color.

This is your time to shine! Experiment with rainbow, shades of your favorite color, or and color combination that suits your fancy.

Just don't get too crazy.

Like this.

I know, I know.

Please forgive me.

Then bake each layer in a 9 by 13 foil or parchment lined pan, separately.  

Then let cool.

Prepare the frosting however which way you want ( Like almond ) and equally divie it up in between each layer.  

Let it freeze overnight covered by foil.  

Use a biscuit cutter to cut out the cakes.

Isn't that so cool?

Enjoy!

Nutella Gooey Butter Cake

Happy World Nutella Day!

Actually, the official day is this Sunday, February 5, 2012, but it's the Superbowl so I'm celebrating it early.  This cake is wonderful, it's amazingly simple to make and is so gooey and chocolatey, you'll be making it year-round.  My culinary teacher found this recipe from a blog called Plain Chicken, which after some research, I found has multiple recipes using Nutella, so maybe I'll dip into those concoctions as well.  I made this in my Culinary Arts class and the whole class was begging for a piece before it even came out of the oven.  You'll feast with your nose before you devour your piece.  Sorry that I don't have any pictures of the actual cake, but it got eaten so fast I didn't even have time to snap a single picture!

Nutella Gooey Butter Cake
make one 9 by 13 pan

Cake
1 (18 1/4 oz) package devil's food cake mix
1 egg
8 Tbsp butter, melted

Filling
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
1 cup Nutella
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
8 Tbsp butter, melted
1 (16 oz) box powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine the cake mix, egg, and butter and mix well with an electric mixer.  Pat the mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 13 by 9 pan.

To make the filling, beat the cream cheese and Nutella in a large bowl and mix until smooth.  Add the eggs, vanilla, and butter and beat together.  Next, add the powdered sugar and mix well.  Spread the Nutella mixture over cake batter and bake for 40 to 50 minutes.  Make sure not to over bake as the center should be a little gooey.

Recipe courtesy of www.plainchicken.blogspot.com

Suprise!!!! Chocolate Pudding Cake

I love surprise parties!!!!  And so I'm taking a momentary break from baking through the Scrumptious Cupcakes book.

Last night my friends and family threw a surprise party for my guy who just turned 18 on January 18th!! It's a golden birthday!!! So we decorated in all blue and yellow ( his favorite team is Michigan) and we had a great time.

I, of course, made the cake (and we bought a cake from Dairy Queen but shhh.... I haven't figured out how to make ice cream cake yet ).

It was quite the cake to make.  Granted, I started the process Friday night at nine thirty, but I had to work earlier that day so it was the only chance I had.

There he is, blowing out his 18 candles.

I found this recipe in the 2008 edition of The Best of America's Test Kitchen.  I highly recommend exploring one of these fine cookbooks because they house incredible recipes, both sweet and savory.

If you happen to have a copy of this book nearby, please flip to page 260 to see the glorious cake this post is all about.  Looks pretty right?  Then flip to page 291 for the recipe.  Yes, you did read that right, it calls for homemade pudding.  Jell-o is doing something right because mine is chocolate milk. So instead I whipped up one of the instant packages and it made just enough pudding to cover and fill in between the layers.  But it turned out just fine :)