Red Velvet Cake Balls

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Pictures of the process here.

First of all, YUM. Secondly, YUM. Thirdly, YUM.

Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, I have to tell you that I have a newfound respect for people who dip chocolate by hand. What a pain in the ass. Lesson learned: Spend the extra money and buy the dipping chocolate in the little containers you find next to the strawberries in the produce section of the market. The one I used is called Dolci Frutta Fruit Dip Chocolate and it was delicious and you will thank me for it later! I got it at Pavilions which is owned by Safeway, in case you have a hard time finding it. This chocolate is so cool, once you dip the balls in it (yes, you may giggle) it hardens sorta like Magic Shell (please don’t tell me you’re not old enough to remember Magic Shell) and about five seconds later they are ready to eat.

So, not only are these good, they are easy! And I’ll even admit to using a box mix and canned frosting. I know, for shame! Am I still allowed to have a baking blog? Perhaps we can keep this admission on the down low. Thanks.

Ingredients
1 box red velvet cake mix (cook as directed on box for 13 X 9 cake)
1 can cream cheese frosting (16 oz.)
chocolate for dipping

Preparation

1. After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl.
2. Mix thoroughly with 1 can cream cheese frosting. (It may be easier to use fingers to mix together, but be warned it will get messy.)
3. Roll mixture into quarter size balls and lay on cookie sheet. (Should make 45-50.)
4. Chill for several hours. (You can speed this up by putting in the freezer.)
5. Melt chocolate in microwave per directions on package.
6. Roll balls in chocolate and lay on wax paper until firm. (Use a spoon to dip and roll in chocolate and then tap off extra.)

My notes:

• I used a small cookie scoop.
• Buy the dipping chocolate!
• I made the balls then refrigerated them overnight (covered with Press N Seal) and dipped them the next day with no problems.

Recipe from Bakerella.

Brown Sugar Pound Cake with Caramel Glaze

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I copied this recipe from the food section of the LA Times a couple of months ago and finally got a chance to make it. I had some leftover milk (I never have milk in my house) and a ton of powdered sugar, so I figured why not continue fattening up my coworkers right before Thanksgiving. They’re always up for sweets.

This is good. It’s dense, moist, and has a wonderful flavor. And it’s a little after 9:00 a.m. and one of the loaves is already gone. I think it’s safe to say it has the coworker seal of approval.

Cake Ingredients
3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter, softened, plus additional for greasing the pan
1 (1-pound) box dark brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
5 eggs

Cake Preparation

1. Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt and stir with a fork; set aside. Into a small bowl, pour the milk and add the vanilla; set aside.
3. With a mixer, beat the butter at high speed until light and fluffy. Add the brown sugar in three batches, then add all of the white sugar, beating after each addition. Add the eggs one by one, beating well after each addition.
4. Reduce the speed to low and add half of the flour mixture and then half the milk, beating until the flour or milk has disappeared into the batter. Add the rest of the flour and the rest of the milk in the same way. Quickly scrape the batter into the tube pan and bake until the cake is nicely browned at the edges, springs back when lightly touched at the center and a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out clean, about 1 hour and 10 minutes.
5. Remove the pan from the oven and leave it on a wire rack for 20 to 30 minutes. Loosen the cake from the pan with a table knife and turn it out onto a wire rack or plate, then leave it to cool completely. When cool, glaze with caramel glaze.

Glaze Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons half and half (I used whole milk)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Glaze Preparation

1. In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter.
2. Add milk and brown sugar, stir to combine.
3. Boil vigorously for 1 minute.
4. Remove from heat and beat in 1/2 cup powdered sugar.
5. Cool slightly then beat in the vanilla and remaining powdered sugar, adding more milk if necessary.
6. Quickly spoon over cake before glaze sets.

Cake recipe from the LA Times, August 22, 2007 (sorry, can’t find the link in their archives).

Glaze recipe from Cupcake Bakeshop.

My notes:

• I don’t own a tube pan, so I used two loaf pans instead.
• I didn’t have dark brown sugar, so I used golden brown sugar.
• The LA Times recipe included a caramel glaze, but it called for evaporated milk which I did not have in my kitchen, so I searched online for a different glaze recipe.

Leftover Halloween Candy Cupcakes

My coworkers had some leftover Halloween candy, so I had the brilliant idea of bringing more sugar to the office via leftover Halloween candy cupcakes! Because how can candy and a cupcake together possibly be bad? Well…

I found a recipe for candy cupcakes and it said to chop the candy and stir it into the batter. Since I’m not a huge fan of crunchy cupcakes, I had the brilliant [at the time] idea of chopping the candies into thirds and putting a piece directly in the batter, like I did for the cookie dough cupcakes.

Unfortunately, I didn’t take into consideration that the heat from the oven would melt the chocolate and caramel, thus causing it to stick to the bottom of the wrapper. Ooops.

I’m pretty sure my coworkers will still eat them.
– – –
As you probably did not notice, although I feel the need to share anyway, I now have a Flickr account solely for this blog, which can be found here. This means each recipe is sorted into its own set, and all sets of the same type of recipe are all part of a collection. Did that make sense? Maybe this will make it easier. Yes, I am slightly obsessive when it comes to organizing things.

I’ve moved most of my baking pictures over, but I am still in the process of adding captions and recipe links, so in the meantime, all of the previous posts still link to the pictures on the old Flickr stream.

That is all.

Happy (Early) Halloween

Sorry for the lack of new recipes, it’s been crazy here lately! I’ve been out a lot, and when I wasn’t out, I was glued to the TV and worried about my parents and friends down in San Diego who had to evacuate because of the fires. Everyone’s fine, but it’s been a super scary week.

Speaking of scary…

OK, not so scary. And yes, I forgot to add the mouths. Oops. Happy Halloween!

Milk Chocolate Mini Bundt Cakes

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My sister bought me this mini Bundt pan for my birthday, and I have been wanting to use ever since. The gift also gave me an excuse to try yet another Dorie recipe. Fortunately, this time, I was not disappointed.

Not only does my kitchen smell amazing, these little cakes are moist and delicious. The only negative is the glaze–I couldn’t get it anywhere near the right consistency, and after tasting the cakes with it, I wish I had just dusted them all with powdered sugar. Oh well, next time.

Ingredients
For the Swirl
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
2 tsp unsweetened cocoa
2 tsp sugar

For the Cake
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup whole milk
7 ounces milk chocolate, melted and cooled

For the Glaze
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 tsp light corn syrup

Preparation
Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat oven to 350F. Generously butter a 6-mold mini Bundt pan.

To make the swirl: Toss the nuts, cocoa and sugar together in a small bowl.

To Make the Cake: Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitter with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together on medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes, scraping down the bowl as needed. Add the egg and beat for 1 minute more, then beat in the vanilla. Don’t be concerned if the mixture looks curdled–it will smooth out soon. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add half the flour mixture, mixing only until it is incorporated. Add the milk, and when it is blended into the batter, add the remaining flour mixture, again mixing just to incorporate. Finally, add the melted chocolate and mix to blend.

Fill each of the mini Bundt molds with a little batter, then divide the swirl ingredients evenly among the molds and top off the Bundts with the remaining batter.

Bake for 20-22 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted into the centers of the cakes come out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and allow the cakes to rest for 5 minutes, then invert them onto the rack and let them cool to room temperature.

To make the glaze: Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of water. Stir in the corn syrup. Using a small offset metal spatula or a table knife, spread the shiny glaze over the tops of the Bundts, then scatter the nuts, if you’re using them, over the glaze. Let glaze set at room temperature; it will take about 15 minutes.

Makes 6 mini Bundt cakes (1 cup) or 12 really tiny Bundt cakes (1/2 cup).

My notes:

• My mini Bundt pan makes 12 tiny cakes rather than 6 small cakes so I only baked mine for about 17 minutes.
• I skipped the swirl part entirely.
• I omitted the nuts.

Recipe from Baking: From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan.

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