May 19: National Devil's Food Cake Day

So how does Devil's Food Cake differ from chocolate day?

Well I did my research (I'm surprised I still know how to do research because I've been out of college almost a whole year!)

Devil's Food Cake is fluffier because it contains twice the usual amount of baking soda. It is also darker than normal chocolate cake.

But why is it called Devil's Food Cake? After doing my research, I still don't know! If people gave reasons, they sounded stupid. Someone suggested it is called Devil's Food Cake because the cake is reddish color (umm, hello it's a dark brown color, not reddish) and that red is associated with the devil. Not buying that.

I'm gonna go with the fact that it is sinfully delicious.

JazzyJ's Sinfully Delicious Devil's Food Cake Cupcakes:

Ingredients:
- 2 cups flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 2/3 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 cup hot coffee
- 1 cup applesauce
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla

 Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees
2. Mix together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
3. Add coffee, applesauce and buttermilk and mix well.
4. Add in eggs and vanilla and beat for about three minutes.
5. Pour into two 9-inch cake pans or cupcake molds (makes 24 cupcakes)
6. Bake for 30 minutes if making a cake, or 15 - 18 minutes for cupcakes.

Kahlua Chocolate Frosting:

Ingredients:
- 5 tablespoons butter, melted
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
-  4 cups powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup kahlua
- 1/3 cup whipping cream

Directions:
1. Mix together melted butter, vanilla, kahlua, whipping cream and cocoa powder.
2. Gradually add in powdered sugar until taste and consistency is what you want. You may need to use more or less powdered sugar.

When cupcakes are cool, frost and decorate to your pleasing. I would recommend decorating with colorful and snazzy sprinkles.

Sprinkles make everything better!

And fun cupcake wrappers make everything even better!

My mom and I might have a small addiction to fun and zany cupcake wrappers. My favorite might be the hipster looking bunnies. They are supposed to be Easter-ish, but you can't really tell, so I think you can use them year-around. 


 P.S. - I also have a love for sprinkles. You can't really tell, but some of those "devilish" cupcakes have bear, dolphin, and dinosaur shaped sprinkles on them.

Quote from my dad: "Scrumptious and delicious and with that special kahlua flavor, made them delightful!"

You know they are good because my mom ate two of them before I even made the frosting. She then ate another one with the frosting!

I'm not sure that 24 was enough! Maybe I should have made more.

You should make these cupcakes. You won't regret it. I promise.

April 22: National Earth Day

How did I celebrate Earth Day? Well it started out with me shoveling bark dust for a good three hours. Why? Because tough works makes you stronger. (And the fact my dad was paying me good money.)

But shoveling bark dust does tie in with Earth Day. Bark dust helps keep moisture in the dirt which is good for the plants and requires less water to feed the plants. It's always a good idea to preserve water. (In case you haven't heard about the drought happening in my beloved California.)

I also decided to bake a cake. Because cake is always good. And I had a really good idea in my head that only kinda turned out on the cake.

I have never understood how to frost a cake with white frosting and not get any cake crumbs in the frosting.

See? It's the Earth! And clearly you should be able to distinguish the continents based on their very realistic outlines. Three people commented on this cake and told me to take a geography lesson. So maybe the outlines don't quite look like continents. One continent features cow sprinkles, another dino sprinkles, and the third colorful bear sprinkles. See those little green and blue sprinkles? Those are dolphins swimming freely in the ocean. What do you do when you don't have blue sprinkles? Well clearly you distinguish the ocean from the land using blue M&Ms. Obviously.

                                                   Pure deliciousness. Happy Earth Day!

March 13: National Coconut Torte Day

I love coconut. And chocolate. So I decided to make a Chocolate Buttercream Coconut Torte for today! It was a good choice. I was a little nervous after the Blueberry Popover incident/failure, but I am confident to say that I have redeemed myself. This cake tasted like something I am sure royalty eats! It was very fancy and I felt like I was eating a true delicacy!

Isn't she a beauty?

Before beginning this baking adventure, I might recommend putting on a cute pair of slippers. I think the reason this torte was a success was because of my cute slippers!

Here is some fun information about tortes. What exactly is a torte you may ask? (I did actually ask this.) Tortes are normally flour-less or near flour-less. They are thinner than cakes and sometimes are made out of ground nuts. They are very fancy.

Personally, I think the reason why I like tortes so much is because they sound like turtles. We all know I love turtles.


Coconut Torte Recipe

Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup coconut flakes
- 1 cup flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 4 eggs, separated
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 1/4 cup butter
- 2 tbsp. rum (optional)


Directions:
1. Grease an 8 inch springform pan. Sprinkle 1/4 cup coconut flakes on the bottom and on the sides of the pan. However, I couldn't figure out how to get the coconut flakes to stick to the side of the pan, even when greased, so I just sprinkled them on the bottom and it turned out fine.

At this point, you may question why your mother has four different, yet similarly sized springform pans when you cannot ever remember her using them. Maybe she only bakes with them when I am out of the house?

2. Stir together the rest of the coconut (1/2 cup), flour, baking powder, and salt.

3. Beat the egg whites in a separate bowl until stiff peaks form and then gradually beat in 1/2 cup sugar.

4. Beat the egg yolks, 1/2 cup sugar, melted butter, vanilla, and rum until thick and pasty.

Note: It is important that when you add the melted butter into the egg yolks, it is cool. If not, you risk the hot butter cooking the eggs. We are not making an omelet here, we are making a torte.  You don't want it to turn out egg-y.

Another note: You may decide, since you have the rum out, to take a swig. You may then quickly remember that you are not a pirate, and that rum tastes better in cakes or in mixed drinks. You may need to recover by drinking some water. This is nothing to be embarrassed about. 

5. Fold the egg yolk mixture into the egg white mixture, and then into the flour. Don't over mix.

6. Spread mixture in the springform pan and bake at 325 degrees for 50 minutes.

7. Let cool until completely cool once out of the oven, then remove the sides of the springform pan.

8. The recipe I loosely followed (which should be noted that this recipe showed no pictures which I thought was a little sketchy) said to cut the cake into three equal layers. Well that's a joke! This cake was about one inch tall. How was that supposed to turn out well? I cut mine into two layers and just frosted between the layers and on top. The recipe also said to put chocolate shavings on top. Yes, because I have time to make my own chocolate shavings - NOT. Anyways, as you will see from the pictures, I only had two layers and no chocolate shavings and it still was something to admire!

Springform pan covered in coconut!

Ready to bake!

Baked!

See how thin it is? And you are supposed to make three layers out of this? I think not!

The two layers. If you look at the one to the left, you will see it is very coconut-y, that's what was on the bottom of the pan which was covered in coconut.



Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup coconut flakes
- 3 tbsp milk or almond milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 tablespoons rum (optional)
- 2 tablespoons cinnamon (see below)

So I realized that while I love cinnamon, and add it to almost anything, I have never added cinnamon to frosting. So I did today. I added about 2 tablespoons cinnamon to the frosting, and well, it gave it a kick! I was a fan! Only for the adventurous though :D

Mix the softened butter, cocoa powder, vanilla and rum together. Alternately add the powdered sugar and milk until you like the taste and consistency. Then add the coconut and stir well.

Frost between the cake layers and on top and then enjoy!