Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

With summer approaching and everyone screaming for ice cream I thought it would be fun to do a ice cream cone cupcake. This is teacher appreciation week at our school so I thought it would be fun for the kids to give to their teachers. The teachers are my guinea pigs a lot for my new recipes, but this year I've not gotten to bake as much as usual. I'll blame it on my 5th grader and how busy she has kept me :) I'm sure it has nothing to do with the amount of subbing I've done, trained for and run a half-marathon, constant soccer Saturdays for both kids, and of course most recently making a colonial dress for that fabulous 5th grader!

A lot of times if I am making a cute or a decorated cupcake, I will just start with a cake mix. It saves a lot of time (and probably money) to just start with that. I used the Pillsbury Classic White cake mix that is really quite tasty and I made it according to package directions.

I placed my cones in my cupcake pan and I filled them pretty full. I didn't know how they would turn out, so I just did half my batter until I knew how they would rise in the ice cream cones.

Batter filled to nearly the top

I started these at 350 for 20 minutes (that's what how I normally do my cupcakes. This probably took closer to 25 minutes. Some of them rose nicely, others spilled over and were kind of ugly (but seriously aren't cupcakes like babies, there are no ugly ones!) For my next dozen I didn't fill them as full and it was a little better.

Some are good, but I chose on my next batch not to fill as full.

I don't generally use "store-bought" icing, but I was on a time crunch today and I had some available. To me the "store-bought" icing doesn't have the right consistency for doing the cupcake swirl. For whatever reason though I have always found that chocolate "store-bought" icing seems a bit stiffer and I will use that on occasion.  I also could not find my correct tips, so I improvised on that as well (with the purple icing) and I just cut a zigzag pattern on my pastry bag at the end where a tip would be. I did eventually find a tip that worked OK when I did the chocolate icing.

By adding less batter, it didn't quite fill as much as I wanted

Below is my end result with the sprinkles that came with the icing.

This was totally an experiment. I think in the future I just might make sure I have time to make some homemade icing AND the right tips, but I'm sure I will be doing these again.

German Chocolate Cake Balls

 OK, I admit it! I am a huge slacker! I have been really falling down on the "job" of baking and blogging. I've been doing a lot of subbing and (praise the Lord) I am finally able to run again, so I am of course training for a half marathon at the end of the month. Thankfully my mom has gotten into the baking portion, so I can still have stuff to write about. . . It can just be difficult to make time to write about it. A couple of days ago though, my mom and I got together and experimented with a ton of ideas which of course spawned even more ideas :). Today's cake ball is the German Chocolate Cake Ball. Very simple, very easy and quite tasty.

Remember the best thing about cake balls, they are really hard to mess up. As long as you combine flavors that you like (and like together), the are practically no fail. It takes a cake you bake and icing, or if you bought a cake at the store and have leftovers, that will work too.

Here is what I did for this particular cake ball. I started with a cake mix. Notice the box top for education? It's one of the reasons we get this brand. I baked it according to package directions. I normally use my jelly roll pan because it is really spread out and it takes less time to bake.

After I let the cake cool. I chopped it up and placed it in my stand mixer. I added icing to it and let it mix together. I used the coconut pecan icing. It gave it a nice texture.

Notice I've already cut off the box top on this one :)

After mixing together, I use my fabulous Pampered Chef mini scoop (some will call it a cookie dough scoop) and I got about 6 dozen on my cookie sheet. I line mine with parchment paper and get about 7 rows of 10 (give or take a few). Let them freeze for about an hour, longer if you don't have time to complete them. If you leave them in your freezer for more than a day, make sure you cover them or place them in a freezer safe bag after they are set. A lot of times, we will make some up and leave in the freezer for whenever we have the time (or the need) to make some.The really do last for a while.

Now you are ready to coat.

The best way for these to quickly coat is for your cake balls to be as COLD as possible. When it hits that hot melted candy, it sets up pretty quickly. The only issue is when you want to sprinkle something on top, like I did.This process was a bit more on the tedious side, but I REALLY like the results.

While my cake balls were setting up in the freezer, I took the time to toast some coconut (then I chopped it) and chop some pecans. You can buy toasted coconut, or you can just follow the package directions on the back of the bagged coconut. FYI--It says you can toast coconut in the microwave. . . let me put it this way. . . I wasn't successful!!!!! I do believe, that it turned out fabulously in the oven. :) I then mixed my chopped pecans and my chopped and toasted coconut together. I plopped my cake ball into my melted almond bark (remember to add about 1-2 TBSP of Crisco Shortening to help with consistency), swirled it around, then I laid it on parchment paper. I quickly sprinkled my mixture of coconut and pecans on top. Doing that step while the chocolate is still setting up ensures that most of the topping will set with the chocolate. I experimented a little with whether I like the combo, just the coconut or just the pecans. I went with the mixture, but I don't think you can go wrong with any of it.

Top: Coconut and Pecans
Middle: Pecans only
Bottom: Toasted Coconut only

Chocolate Covered Coconut Almond Cake Ball

I totally know I could have come up with a shorter title than "Chocolate Covered Coconut Almond Cake Ball" but the candy bar name was already taken. I don't know maybe I can call it "My Nutty Paradise" . . . because you know, coconuts come from Paradise :) and chocolate is paradise :) :) and it has a nut in it. OK that's it, I call dibs on a second name being Nutty Paradise for this cake ball! Because the Almond Joy candy bar is one of my mom's favorites and with all the Facebook suggestions, I discovered a "candy bar" theme, I decided to start with this one.

Ingredients:
1 baked cake, cooled
1 can of icing, vanilla
Whole Almonds
Chocolate Almond Bark
2 Tablespoons Crisco (or some type of shortening)

It's a pretty simple ingredients list. On a previous blog, Cake Leftovers? Make Cakeballs, I break down the basic way I make cake balls. Today, I started with a vanilla cake mix. I actually ran out of oil, so I added another egg to my mix and I used 1/2 cup of milk and 1/2 cup of water instead of just 1 cup of water. Follow your package directions or make one from scratch. Once it cools, I break it up and put it in my stand mixer. I added 1 can of vanilla frosting and 1 7oz package of coconut. I use my small cookie scoop and place small balls of my mixture on a foil lined cookie sheet. I freeze this for about 1 hour.

When I decided they were set up enough to cover in chocolate, I pulled them out of the freezer. You can definitely do this step in the refrigerator. I place a whole almond on top of my cake ball. Then I dipped it in chocolate, making sure I knew which side had the almond on it so I could place it on top. Quick tip for melting your almond bark. If you add a little bit of shortening as you are melting it, it really covers much better and smoother.

From my cake, I made approximately 5 dozen, but I only had enough to chocolate to cover about 4 dozen. I put what I had left in a freezer bag (without the almond) to coat another day. By having some in my freezer, these cake balls (or any of them for that matter) are the perfect thing to make for a WOW dessert when you are in a bind. I took these up to the school and the teachers really enjoyed them.

Chocolate Covered Cherry Cake Balls

Cake balls have become a little obsession of mine. Chocolate covered cherries have ALWAYS been an obsession of mine, so I just had to combine the two. It's the perfect way to use up leftover cake. . . or to just make a cake from a cake mix just for cake balls! One of the things I love about cake balls, is that even though they take a decent amount of time to complete, you can do it in about 30 minutes at a time, whenever you have time. How awesome is that?!

 From the time it takes you to make a cake from a cake mix until the time you take it out might be 30 minutes total. Let the cake cool. . . you can do it in about an hour or just let it sit overnight. Find your favorite flavor of icing (or one you think will go great with the cake you have made). Now you mix the two together. I generally put mine in my stand mixer and just let the two ingredients mix. I use my handy-dandy small "cookie" scoop (Pampered Chef is my favorite, but I left mine at my mom's house so I got another brand from the store). FYI--the other sizes work great too; cake balls are generally so rich the smaller pieces are better. Place it on a cookie sheet and put it in the freezer to let them harden as these are a little mushy. It doesn't matter how long you leave them in the freezer either. If you do leave them in for longer than a day, it would be a good idea to put them in a freezer bag. Sometimes, I will make a batch and only coat a few with candy and leave the rest in the freezer until I'm ready for more. Other times, like today, I made the whole thing. I totally intend to share! ;) Coat them in your favorite candy coating. I like Wilton Candy Melts and Almond Bark. Today I used chocolate Almond Bark. See how easy it would be to break it down into smaller time commitments? Each "step" of actual works takes about 30 minutes.

Now on to the specifics as to what I did on this day.

(Step 1) I used a Betty Crocker Cherry Chip cake mix. I baked it according to the package directions. (Step 2) After I let it cool, I combined a can of store bought cream cheese icing and my cake that I had broken up into my mixer. Since I didn't have a can of cherry icing, and I wanted a strong cherry flavor, I used about a half jar of maraschino cherries and juice. I mixed those right in there too. I lined a couple of cookies sheets with foil (parchment paper works really great here too, but I realized I was out), and I used my smallest scoop and got about 5-6 dozen from this. I really can't tell how many because I have eaten a few :)  Anyway, I popped these in the freezer for a couple of hours. I took a poll on Facebook as to what I should cover these with, vanilla or chocolate. Chocolate won. My plan was to do the chocolate until I ran out, and then finish up with vanilla, but my one and a half pounds of chocolate almond bark was more than enough to finish the job. One little trick that I know I have mentioned before, but it is most definitely worth repeating, add a little Crisco (about a couple of tablespoons) to your candy as your are melting it. It smooths out everything quite beautifully and makes for an easier dipping process. (Step 3) I melted this all together in a bowl in the microwave. I pulled my now frozen cake balls out of the freezer and I then kind of "reformed" them into the shape of a ball. I dropped it into my chocolate and swirled it around with a spoon. I placed it on waxed paper to set up. I found a few cherry flavored chips and melted those in a double boiler (ok so really it was a glass bowl on top of a saucepot filled with boiling water) and I "sprinkled" it on top.

The end result is quite tasty, at least it is to me. I am going to share these with the teachers at my kids' school and I hope they like cherry chocolate as much as I do. If not, I will just have to put the finished product in my freezer and pull a few out any time I need a pick-me-up, or a chocolate fix, or just because!

Crocking Cherry Chip Cake

It's another "Baking Monday" for me I suppose. . . it is Monday, right? With all of our bad weather (I know that is a relative term, but for us, the weather has been frightful) and the school cancellations, I am a bit confused on my days. I also decided since we were stuck at home, I would use my fabulous crock pot and make some lovely dinner. I have this amazing crock pot, we lovingly call it the "3-holer" because it is 3 smaller crock pots in one device. Anyway, I was looking on my favorite inspiration site, Pinterest, and found a fabulous new Chicken Chili recipe and then my old stand-by potato soup (I can't find the original link to it to give proper credit to its originator, but I will post a picture of my basic ingredients at the end).

Anyway, I was looking through Pinterest for a dessert to go in the crock pot. . . Logic told me I must put something in the final crock pot slot. . . upon my searching, I found this easy chocolate and fabulous dessert but I didn't have the ingredients. Since I was somewhat snowed in, and couldn't make it to the store, I took my cue from Rachael Ray who always says to look at a recipe for the "method." (I believe that the original person gave credit to Jello for the idea) I thought if it worked for chocolate pudding, chocolate cake and chocolate chips, surely, I can apply that method to what is in my pantry. I found a cherry chip cake mix, and some cherry chips, but I was struggling for the pudding. . . Cheesecake pudding mix, why not, it might be lovely! So I followed the directions on the page but I used my substitutions. You start by using a small box of instant pudding and 3 cups of milk (this is more than what you would use to make pudding). Whisk that up in the bottom of your crockpot. Then mix up your cake according to package directions. Poor the cake mix directly on top without stirring. Turn it on high and let cook. It will depend on the size of crockpot you put it in on the cook time. My crockpot was smaller and it took nearly 3 hours. (The original person posting said it took them about 2 hours) Then you put your "chips" (mine are cherry) on top, put the lid back on and turn the crock pot off. The heat will melt the chips nicely. I also didn't realize this is supposed to be a lava-type cake. I kept waiting for it to set up and it never did. . . Once I decided to test it, I realized the pudding didn't get mixed into the cake completely which makes for a liquidy goodness at the bottom. I am pretty certain that is how it's supposed to be. . . and if it isn't, it is quite a lovely mistake!

Now that this is a family approved recipe (all but my little guy, he's not a big dessert eater) I needed to blog about it. I realized the sky is the limit with the pudding, cake, and chip combos. Imagine putting on some mint chips on a chocolate cake, or using any number of different puddings. . . or maybe a banana pudding, and yellow cake and peanut butter chips (ok, so maybe that is just my own weird flavor combo). Anyway, I would love to know if you tried it and what flavors you used. I'm always looking for a new flavor combo.

Oh, and before I forget, here is the picture of the ingredients for my potato soup. Mix these ingredients and I put a little onion flake in it too. Cook it on low for several hours. Garnish with bacon, cheese, and green onions! Yummy!

Dessert Recipe Makeovers

With the weather potentially frightful weather later in the week, I had to get a few things done today. Write a blog post was not on my original agenda, but I thought hey, why not! While the weather was somewhat spring-like on this first day of December, I needed to get in a run. I wanted to spend the rest of my day baking. If I start a "baking day" with a run, I don't feel guilty at all about tasting my goodies!!!! This post is not my typical post. I am going to share three different "recipes" and my twist on them -- banana bread, peanut butter cookie yumminess (I really have no idea what they're called, they're just yumminess!!!) and another take on a butterfinger cupcake.

I have a go to banana bread recipe. It's pretty much the only one I use. I feel so much better about myself when I eat the whole loaf, er, uh, I mean when I have a slice :) because I use more whole wheat flour than white flour. I would love to take credit for its awesomeness, but I cannot. I found the original recipe here on the Betty Crocker website. I follow the recipe exactly. . . well, actually I never add the salt (I generally can't find it, but I normally don't add salt to my sweet things, even though I know the salt is supposed to bring out the flavor even more) and instead of nuts I add about a cup of mini-chocolate chips--depending on how many I have. (So I guess I don't really follow it exactly) I use the mini instead of the full sized because I like the bread's texture better when I do it that way. I don't know if it's actually the case, but it seems to give it a bit more moisture using the chocolate chips. I truly find the banana bread a little dull without that pop of flavor the chocolate brings. I also love to eat a slice warm with a little butter on it, but I find this recipe just as enjoyable really, really cold. The other incredible thing about this recipe is that it makes two full sized loaves.

I had to use the word "recipe" loosely earlier. My next tasty confection is what I lovingly refer to as peanut butter cookie yumminess. It takes 2 ingredients. Store bought peanut butter cookie dough and mini-Reese's peanut butter cups. Personally I think it works better if you use the mini-cupcake liners in your mini-muffin tin (I even spray my liners with Pam). If you are out of the liners, it will work but I think it's too difficult to get the cookie out without the liner even spraying it with Pam. Anyway, place the liner in the mini-muffin tin. Place a ball of peanut butter cookie dough in the lined muffin tin. Bake for about 10 minutes. While the cookies are still hot, place a mini-peanut butter cup into the center. Now let them cool before you eat them, uh, I mean, remove them from the muffin tin. You actually could remove the cookies first before you put in the peanut butter cup, but this blog is about how I do it and what works for me. Just because something works for me, doesn't mean it will work for everyone. Recipes are just guidelines anyway. :)

My last baking item for the day will be a take on a butterfinger cupcake recipe I tried earlier this year. You can find it's blog post here. It was very tasty, but I honestly thought the cake itself was a little too crumbly for my preferences. I thought I would see what I could do with a yellow cake mix and store bought chocolate icing. Duncan Hines really has a very flavorful "whipped" chocolate icing that is a good texture to make the cute little cupcake swirl. I actually used it for cupcakes for a friend's wedding. Anyway for a different take on the butterfingery cupcakes, I made my yellow cake mix just like the box said. Then I added about a cup of peanut butter and half a small package of butterscotch pudding mix. Adding a pudding mix really punches up the flavor of a boxed cake mix. With the cake mix I used, I got about 21 cupcakes. After baking and letting cool, I topped with the chocolate store bought icing.

With time later tonight, I might just make some pumpkin muffins. Another two ingredient "recipe." Any flavor of cake mix, I will be using one of the kids' favorites if I do it. . . cherry chip and 1 can of pumpkin. I bake in my mini muffin tin for 12-15 minutes. The fabulous thing about this recipe is the options are boundless. Play up the pumpkin flavor with a yellow and add cinnamon chips or pumpkin pie spice.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Balls

The other day, my friend Sara posted that she finally found a pumpkin cheesecake recipe that she enjoyed. As our church Thanksgiving dinner was approaching, I wanted to make something amazing. I decided I would try this Paula Deen Pumpkin Cheesecake recipe. I thought I would make it twice, once to try it out and make sure it was a good recipe and once for our Thanksgiving dinner at church. Let me tell you that the recipe was delicious! Well, I decided that I would repeat that for last night.

So I decided to make this pumpkin cheesecake on Saturday evening to give it time to chill and set up for Sunday evening. I made this at my mom's house and she was kind enough to bring it to church for me, she cut it for me and even brought be a little cool whip for the top. I, being a good girl, decided I would get my dessert and let others get in line for the food ;) I am so thankful that I picked my pumpkin cheesecake, because it tasted absolutely hideous! My face puckered up like it was the most bitter thing that had been placed in my mouth. I promptly pulled that off the dessert table and hid it from everyone else. Oh, my goodness this was bad! I forgot to put the sugar in the cheesecake. Funny thing is, this isn't the first time I forgot to put sugar in something pumpkin. When I was a teenager, I decided I would make pumpkin pie. My brother tasted one bite of it, discreetly made a funny face, and then continued to eat the entire slice. I didn't realize the problem until I took a bite. I left out all the sugar. We tried to rectify this by putting sugar in it later, but that's how I knew my brother really did love me. . . he ate my sugarless pie and acted like it was tasty! Anyway, I decided I would bring it home and see if I could salvage something out of this.

I put all of my cheesecake into a large bowl, graham cracker crust and all. I added powdered sugar, probably about 1 1/2 to 2 cups. I thought the powdered sugar would be better than granulated sugar (or plain sugar as we call it in our house). I was afraid the granulated sugar would be too grainy and not dissolve all the way. It might have been fine; that was just my thought process. I pretty much added powdered sugar--to taste. After this was all blended, I chilled it for a bit; it was pretty sticky. Once it firmed up a bit, I used my medium sized pampered chef scoop and made some "cheesecake balls" and placed them on parchment paper on a sheet pan. I placed them in the freezer to firm up some more. I left them there overnight, but probably an hour is all it needed.

After removing it from the freezer

Once I pulled them out of the freezer, I coated them in some white Wilton Candy Melts. I used my trick of putting about a tablespoon of Crisco in the candy melts to make them coat a little better. I also found some "pumpkin spice" candy melts at the store. I melted a little of that as a little decoration on top of them.

Covered in white candy melts

What I learned in all of this. . . sometimes mistakes are just absolutely horrible mistakes and you just have to throw it all away and start over. Sometimes mistakes can be fixed, and it turns in to something beautifully delicious!

Drizzled with "pumpkin spice" candy melts

******I need to add something here to my original post. Just because you don't royally mess up your cheesecake, doesn't mean you can't make cheesecake balls. Just the same with cake balls, just use your leftover cheesecake of whatever flavor, or use a store bought one or make one just to use as cheesecake balls. The consistency will be slightly different from a cake ball, but your end results will be AMAZE-BALLS!!!!! Use the method, you don't necessarily have to use the recipe, but the Paula Deen recipe that I have posted the link to is quite amazing.**********************