Chocolate Cupcakes So Good, the Frosting is Optional

Yep, you read that right. A cupcake so moist, so delicious, that you might not even want frosting. I stumbled onto this recipe several years ago when two of my kids and I were craving cupcakes. You know, the fancy kind they make on TV. An internet search led us to this recipe that had a chocolate ganache coating and a marshmallow frosting. Except we ended up loving the cake so much, that nowadays it's referred to as "those chocolate cupcakes that don't need frosting."

One of the other things I really like about this recipe is that while it is made from scratch, it's still has the nice, fluffy texture of a good box mix. There's nothing dense about this cake.

Here's what you'll need to make them:

• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1 cup half and half
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water

By the way, this recipe came from www.thefoodnetwork.com/cupcakewars.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two regular size cupcake pans with liners.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, combine the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the eggs, half-and-half, oil, and vanilla and beat on medium speed for two minutes. Stir in the boiling water until fully combined. (FYI, batter will be thin)

Fill the cupcake liners three-quarters full with batter and bake until the cupcakes spring back when touched with your finger, 10-15 minutes. Let cool in the pans for a few minutes, and then removed to a wire rack to cool completely.

These were from my oldest son's birthday this past weekend. They are his all-time favorite cupcakes.

So last week I told you about the baby birds that had hatched in the bucket outside of our dining room window.

This picture was taken the day after my post. Would you believe that when I went to check on them the next morning, they were gone? Hatched, grown, feathered and gone all in ten days or less. Nature is truly amazing.

And since we're in the dog days of summer, I just can't help but share a gratuitous grandbaby picture to brighten your day.

Don't you wish you could rock pink sunglasses like that?

Well, I'm gearing up for RWA next week, but first I have a proposal to finish up. Then I'm New York City bound and praying there won't be another blackout.

What exciting, or mundane, things are going on in your world?

Three time Carol Award finalist Mindy Obenhaus lives on a ranch in Texas with her husband, the youngest of her five children and two dogs. She passionate about touching readers with Biblical truths in an entertaining, and sometimes adventurous, manner. When she's not writing, she enjoys cooking and spending time with her grandchildren. Learn more a mindyobenhaus.com.

Chocolate Cake with a Secret Ingredient!

Missy Tippens

Last week, my daughter wanted to make a birthday cake for her boyfriend, so we went searching for recipes. We settled on this one at Taste of Home Magazine:

They had an article by Katie Bandurski about making Ina Garten's Famous Chocolate Cake. What's interesting is that they said it's actually originally a recipe from Hershey's, called Black Magic Cake.

We just followed along at Taste of Home because she shared her take on the recipe. The secret ingredient?

Coffee! A cup of hot brewed coffee in the cake. And a tablespoon of instant coffee powder in the icing. We happened to have instant espresso on hand so used that.

Since you can find the recipe at the link, I thought I'd just share our photos.

 Used cocoa to dust the buttered cake pans. A trick I learned, probably on Food Network, to keep from having white flour all over your chocolate cakes.

Action shot!

See those swirls in that last photo? That wasn't intentional! We messed up and forgot to scrape the bowl while mixing, so had a clump of fudgy dough in the bottom. OOPS! We decided to just swirl it though both pans.

Next, the icing (or do you call it frosting?)...

Chocolate melted over a double boiler.

The instant espresso mixed with a little water.

Whipped in the stand mixer with all that yummy butter (below). By the way, we did what the author of the Taste of Home article did, we did NOT use the egg yolk. I'm weird about raw eggs. I won't use them uncooked in recipes and wash my hands every time I touch raw egg! My poor kids always felt deprived that they never got to eat raw cookie dough. (Ruthy is shaking her head right now. She loves to live dangerously.) :)

Ta-da! Michelle's first ever homemade layer cake that she did mostly by herself. I think she did a great job icing it. And her boyfriend and his friends loved it!

I wish I could have tasted it! That's one drawback to making a cake as a gift. haha I did, however, slice a tiny bit off the bottom to make the cake layer sit flat. That gave me a little nibble. And we had a nice bowl of icing to lick. :)

So the big question of the day: Do you say icing or frosting?

After more than 10 years of pursuing her dream of publication, Missy Tippens, a pastor’s wife and mom of three from near Atlanta, Georgia, made her first sale to Harlequin Love Inspired in 2007. Her books have since been nominated for the Booksellers Best, Holt Medallion, American Christian Fiction Writers Carol Award, Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence, Maggie Award, Beacon Contest, RT Reviewer’s Choice Award, and the Romance Writers of America RITA^® Award. Visit Missy at www.missytippens.com, https://twitter.com/MissyTippens and http://www.facebook.com/missy.tippens.readers.

Chocolate Bundt Cake

If you're like me, you follow different chefs for different kinds of foods.

When I want down home southern cooking, I go to Paula Deen. If I'm looking for Texas ranch-style dishes... of course! The Pioneer Woman.

But when I want melt-in-your-mouth elegance, it's Martha Stewart.

I found this recipe on her website, and it was everything she (or her website writer) promised!

Chocolate Bundt Cake

ingredients:

2 1/2 cups flour (Now the website said "all-purpose" flour, but if you've seen me make cakes before, you know I always use cake flour. Swans Down, Soft as Silk, Wondra...it doesn't matter, as long as it's cake flour!)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup whole milk (Since I don't buy whole milk, I add about a Tablespoon of cream to the 1% milk and call it whole milk. No one can tell the difference!)
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the glaze:
1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 Tablespoons butter

Preheat the oven to 325°. Grease a 14-cup Bundt pan.

I haven't tried it, but I'm sure you can bake this in a 9 x 13 inch dish. You would have to adjust the baking time, though.

Whisk the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt together in a medium bowl.

Mix the milk and sour cream together in a small bowl. Do you see how I cheat and use measuring cups to mix the ingredients? Fewer dirty dishes for the win!

In your mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until they are light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then the vanilla.

Reduce the mixer speed to low, and add the flour mixture alternately with the milk mixture, ending with the flour mixture. Be sure to scrape the sides of your mixing bowl once or twice.

Spoon the batter into your prepared bundt pan.

Bake at 325° about 55 to 60 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.

Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack, and then invert it onto your serving plate.

And don't worry about that little divot on the far side. The chocolate glaze will cover it up!

Once the cake is cool, make the glaze by melting the ingredients together in a microwave (carefully!) or in a double boiler. Cool the glaze until it has thickened to a pourable consistency, and pour carefully over the cake, letting the glaze drip down the sides part way.

Of course, I forgot to take a picture of the cake at this point - but it was beautiful. And my guests that night thought it was delicious.

But you really can't fail with chocolate cake, can you?

What is your favorite dessert to serve to guests?

No Time to Cook - A Survival Guide

March is Speedbo #NoLimits Writing for March, check it out here Month for me. I'm writing as much as I can. Unfortunately for ManO, I'm not cooking as much as I should. I had plenty of food in the freezer, ready to pull out in an instant. But three snow storms hit in two weeks. Forced to raid my stash, I'm scrambling. You may not be a writer but it's March, when garden chores pick up, sports start, and folks just want to get out of the house. See #Cabinfever #cure. Life's busy again.

So here I am, trying to get hundreds, no thousands of words written a day, and hopefully not starve our household in the process. So I'm turning to my favorite snacks and picking the best restaurant to grab meals for lunch and dinner. But I'm also going through Yankee Belle and finding the quickest, easiest dinners I can for poor ManO.

Lunch is about quick snacky meals, leftovers or getting out of the house.  Writing at home can be productive but I need breaks for mental and physical reasons. Sometimes it's better to write somewhere else and eat there so you don't feel guilty about taking a spot for hours.

Snunches (snacky lunches): I'm a big fan of fruit and cheese. I take it up a notch by putting a sliced pear (high fiber) and Tillamook cheese on a rice cake and broiling or microwaving til the cheese melts. Nuts or hard boiled eggs are great for snunches too.  And then there are salads I can pre-make and stick in the fridge.

My pear-and-cheese toast would have looked more scrumptious on a pretty plate but I'm so busy I had to eat it off my beaten up but beloved mini cookie sheet.

Favorite lunch franchise of the moment:  - Zoe's Kitchen
I am fortunate to have a local Mediterranean restaurant run by the same family for decades but I discovered Zoe's down the street. It is my favorite place for soup, hummus and a salad, enough to take leftovers home. Healthy, healthy, healthy AND gluten free options galore. AND their seating space is HUGE so I can sit down and read research or plug in and type. 

When I want to eat the Mediterranean Diet but don't have time to cook, Zoe's is where I go.

Yankee Belle Quick Dinners are perfect, for when you have a few moments to cook or can let the oven or crock pot do the work. Dinner is about keeping ManO happy and myself fueled.  All these meals can be adapted by using veggies or gluten free pasta, bread or cake mix/all purpose GF flour.


Jan Drexler's Quick Chicken for Speedbo 
Ruthy's easy barbecued beef sandwiches
Missy's Quick Chili
Virginia's Huevos Rancheros 
Mindy's easy chocolate cake

Now why the chocolate cake? Well, for one, Mindy's posts are full of chocolate ideas. But two. your family may need a reward for leaving you alone to do what you need to do during busy times. Who am I kidding? I need a reward during Speedbo!

Lastly, let the leftovers do the work: Pinterest, that treasure chest of so many good ideas, got me thinking about a great leftover idea. Cupcake leftovers. These aren't Jan's delicious cupcake war desserts but taking leftovers like turkey and dressing, spaghetti, mac and cheese, etc. and putting them in individual cupcake/muffin liners, freezing and then putting them in a freezer safe bag to be reheated later in the week. I remember mini pot pies when I was a child but also spaghetti and mac and cheese in round tins. Works as well today.

So, when life is crazy busy, what do you eat that requires little or no cooking? Where do you like to go to get a healthy meal  you didn't have to fix yourself? Are you ready for the busyness of Spring?

Cupcake Wars, the first salvo

I've told you how my daughter loves to watch cooking shows, right?

The current favorite has to do with cupcakes. When I watch the show, I think "No one in their right mind could call that a cupcake, let alone eat it!" 

But wait until you get a look at what Carrie gleaned from watching those shows!

I'm calling this week's post "the first salvo" because we're talking chocolate. Delicious chocolate. Next week will be vanilla - and you don't dare miss that post!

Both cupcakes have the same basic feel to them. A delicious cake with an awesome frosting.

Wait a minute - did I hear someone say they always use a cake mix? If you've never made cake from scratch, this is the time to try it. Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy!

Basic Chocolate Cupcakes

Yes, Carrie cooks with a candle burning for ambiance :)

Ingredients:

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups cake flour - Wondra, Soft as Silk or Swan's Down are some brand names.

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 large eggs

3/4 cup coffee

3/4 cup buttermilk or sour milk

1/3 cup melted butter

Start out by whisking the dry ingredients together. Our mixer has whisk attachments, and Kitchen Aid mixers do, too. If your mixer doesn't, you can whisk them by hand.

In another bowl, whisk together all the wet ingredients: vanilla, eggs, coffee, milk and butter.

* cooking note: if you don't have buttermilk or sour milk on hand, stir 3/4 teaspoon lemon juice in 3/4 cup milk and let it sit for 5 minutes. There you go - sour milk!

Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry until you have a smooth batter.

Pour into lined muffin tins and bake at 350° for about 20 minutes.

Now comes the crowning glory for these cupcakes - the frosting.

A few weeks ago, Ruthy shared her buttercream/satin icing recipe here. I think this frosting recipe might top that one. You'll have to be the judge!

Whipped Brown Sugar Buttercream Frosting

Carrie found this recipe on one of her favorite blogs - http://www.ihearteating.com/

Ingredients:

7 Tablespoons all purpose flour
1 1/4 cups milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 cups butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
a pinch of salt

In a small saucepan, whisk the flour into the milk and heat, stirring constantly until it thickens to the consistency of a thin pancake batter.

Remove from heat and allow it to cool to room temperature. Stir it occasionally as it cools. Once it's cool, stir in the vanilla.

Cream the butter, sugar and salt together until creamy, about 3 minutes on medium high speed.

Now add the cooled milk/flour mixture.

Beat the frosting on medium to medium high speed for about 5 minutes, until the frosting has the consistency of whipped cream. A whisk attachment on your mixer is perfect for this task.

Now, this next step is quite dangerous. Taste the frosting - just a taste! You'll be tempted to finish off the entire batch, but don't!

When you taste it - just a little bit, remember! - if you can still feel sugar granules, keep beating until you can't.


Now it's time to frost the cupcakes. Carrie likes to use her piping bag with an open star decorating tip, but you can also use a plastic bag with the corner snipped off.

After you frost the cupcakes, decorate the top with some bits of shaved dark chocolate.

These are the best chocolate cupcakes I've ever had, and the frosting is melt-in-your-mouth fabulous.

Next week we'll have the next salvo in the cupcake wars - vanilla with cherry/almond frosting. Don't miss it!