recipe #17 - Burger Cake

I really enjoy baking cakes for my friends on their birthday.  In the past I have made a timbit cake filled with smaller timbit bits inside, a cake with pudding inside, a cake covered in reese peanut butter cups and cupcakes galore.  My good friend Laura requested a cake that looked like a burger to fit in with her burger, beers and bowling theme. I am all too happy to oblige.

I cheated with using box cakes and icing, but I figured if I was going to decorate this then I was going to 'cheat' somewhere in the process. Therefore I will not write out an ingredients list, but I did end up going to Michaels to find the 'cheese'. I was told to say it was magic that I used for it, but really it's a sheet of edible sugar.

In all its glory

yum!

Aftermath - It was really hard to cut

I normally hate decorating cakes but I found this one let me be very creative. I did google images of burger cakes for inspiration but when it came down to it I just let my creativity flow. I've already been asked to make a barbie cake next year. I'm already figuring out how I will decorate her dress. I'm thinking Banksy mixed with Marie Antoinette.

-mjb

recipe #16 - Banana Skor Bit Muffins

Hello Blog,

I have missed you.  However here is a great banana muffin recipe I adapted from the Joy of Cooking.

Ingredients:

-1 1/2 cup flour
-1/4 cup wheat germ
-1/2 cup rolled oats (not instant!)
-2 tsp baking soda
-1 tsp baking powder
-1 tsp cinnamon
-1/2 cup skor bits (the recipe called for walnuts, but I thought skor bits would be better and I had them in my pantry)
-1 large egg
-3/4 cup brown sugar
-2 mashed bananas
-1/3 cup coconut oil (I've been reading alot of other blogs that have been using coconut oil and I've been dying to try it, so I did instead of vegetable oil)
-1 tsp vanilla
-1 tbsp greek yogurt

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Put 12 liners into a pan.
2. Whisk together, flour, wheat germ, rolled oats, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon in a medium bowl.
3. Stir in skor bits.
4. Whisk together egg, brown sugar, bananas, oil, vanilla and yogurt in a large bowl.
5. Fold in flour mixture into wet mixture. Divide the batter and add a spoonful of skor bits on top.
6. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Muffin

Happy Sunday!

recipe #10 & #11

If you know me you know that fall is my favourite time of year. The leaves are changing, it's sweater season and most of all pumpkins!

This year was no exception, I counted down the days to Starbucks pumpkin spice lattes!

So without further adieu I bring you two pumpkin recipes; browned butter, pumpkin & butterscotch chip blondies (slightly adapted from) and pumpkin syrup (which I plan to make my aforementioned lattes).

Pumpkin Recipe #1 - Browned butter, Pumpkin & Butterscotch Chip Blondies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter *unsalted)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 cup flour
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1 cup butterscotch chips

Ingredients

1.  Preheat oven to 350°F

2. Spray & line a pan with parchment paper

3. Brown butter by placing butter in a saucepan on low heat stirring occasionally

4. When it starts to bubble, turn to very low heat and stir frequently. The browned butter is ready when there is a 'nutty' aroma and turns brown. Remove from heat

5. In a large bowl, whisk together sugars and browned butter

 

6.  Whisk in egg and vanilla and pumpkin puree.

7. Whisk together spices and flour.

8. Fold in butterscotch chips

9. Transfer to prepared pan *i realized after mixing together the ingredients my original pan was too big*

10. Bake until top is golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean (mine took about 35 mins)

11. Let cool and then cut into pieces.

Closer look. A friend told me later on in the evening that it tasted like a dessert of the future. I'm not sure what that meant but I'll take it.

Pumpkin Recipe #2 - Pumpkin Syrup

Ingredients:

1 cup water
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp of pumpkin puree
2 tsp cinnamon and nutmeg (original recipe calls for pumpkin pie spice, which I didn't have)

1. Bring sugar and water to a boil

2. Reduce heat and add in pumpkin puree and spice. Bring to a simmer and once all the pumpkin has mixed into the syrup, remove from heat and let cool for 10 mins

3. Tranfer to an airtight container and store in fridge up to 3 weeks.

Enjoy!

recipe #9

hello blog

i have missed you.

I love baking for my friends for their birthdays or just plain ole hangouts. I've been wanting to try this recipe for ages. I present to you, Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes.

I cheated and used box mixes for this. I always end up doctoring them anyways. My tip is to use White chocolate pudding mix along with the rest of the ingredients they suggest on the back of the box.

Ingredients:
2 Boxes Cake Mix (i did both chocolate and vanilla)
1 box of white chocolate pudding
eggs, oil and water as per the box instructions
1 container of icing (i also cheated with store-made)

i was way too excited for the trio colours from this box

place cones in muffin tray (i wrapped tin foil around the cones to keep in place during baking)

Action Shot of batter

Fill 1/3rd into cones as to not overflow (I learned the hard way with the vanilla ones)

Bake as per the box instructions

The chocolate ones turned out perfect

finished ice cream cone cupcake

I would love if I could find sugar cones that had a flat bottom for the next time I make them

current song obsession
lcd soundsystem - release

recipe #7 - shortbread cookies

This is one of my favourite recipes for cookies. I stole it from a friends mom.

Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies

1 cup butter; unsalted, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup brown sugar; packed
2 cups flour
1 cup of semisweet chocolate chips; i actually used 1/2 cup chocolate chips and 1/2 skor bits

1. Measure Butter, sugar, vanilla and flour into a bowl
2. Combine until dough forms a ball
3. Add chocolate chips and work into dough
4. Roll into 1 inch balls; place on ungreased cookie sheet
5. Press with fork
6. Bake at 325 degrees for 10-15 minutes

dough

ready for the oven

*I didn't really take that many photos because I did this spur of the moment and my camera was dying.

weekend playlist:
zombies - this will be our year
phantom planet - do the panic
lykke li - love out of lust
beach boys - i wasn't made for these times

recipe#5

***Sorry for the lack of updates! I wish I could say it was because I was super busy, but that is further from the truth. Anyways I'm going to do two updates tonight to compensate.

I've been following Bakerella for a longtime and for Christmas I received her book 'Cakepops'.

 This weekend for Earth Hour I finally decided to try my hand at them. I didn't take photos as I went because it became quite the endeavour. I must give her props for all her cute designs because I do not think I have the patience for it or the kitchen space. However the cakepops/cakeballs came out pretty cute and better tasting than the new Starbucks rip off ones, if I do say so myself.

Here is a photo of the finished product:

If you would like to make them yourself go here! You will not be sorry. They are a crowd pleaser and who doesn't love eating something off a stick?