Paula Deen's Pumpking Bars

As you know, I love Paula Deen! I made these pumpkin bars at my sister-in-laws for everyone to enjoy. They turned great! Nice and moist like pumpkin bars should be.

Pumpkin Bars recipe courtesy Patty Ronning as adapted by Paula Deen as found on Foodnetwork.com
Ingredients


Bars:
4 eggs
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
15-ounce can pumpkin
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

Icing:
8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Using an electric mixer at medium speed, combine the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin until light and fluffy. Stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix at low speed until thoroughly combined and the batter is smooth. Spread the batter into a greased 13 by 10-inch baking pan. Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting. Cut into bars.

To make the icing: Combine the cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the sugar and mix at low speed until combined. Stir in the vanilla and mix again. Spread on cooled pumpkin bars.

La Bete Noire

I walked over to say good morning to a colleague at work one Monday morning and she handed me a small slice of the most delicious chocolate cake. It turned out to be La Bete Noire (translation: black beast) which is a perfectly chocolate flourless cake topped with ganache. Of course, I asked for the recipe, which comes from Epicurious.

I just love this cake! I don’t tend to re-make recipes unless they are great. I have made this one twice in the last month. It turned out great both times and people loved it! I will continue to make it anytime I have somewhere to take it (it is too rich to make just for the two of us at home).

Although I was intimidated at first, the cake was not at all difficult to make. It was a little putzy and it takes a while to make because it needs to cool twice. I used half bittersweet and half semisweet for both the cake and ganache. I am always careful when I add the eggs so they don’t cook in the hot cake batter.



La Bete Noire by Jason Aronen as posted on Epicurious
Cake
1 cup water
3/4 cup sugar
9 tablespoons (1 stick plus 1 tablespoon) unsalted butter, diced
18 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped
6 large eggs

Ganache
1 cup heavy whipping cream
8 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped

Lightly sweetened whipped cream

For cake:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 10-inch-diameter springform pan. Line bottom of pan with parchment round; butter parchment. Wrap 3 layers of heavy-duty foil around outside of pan, bringing foil to top of rim. Combine 1 cup water and sugar in small saucepan. Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Melt butter in large saucepan over low heat. Add chocolate and whisk until smooth. Whisk sugar syrup into chocolate; cool slightly. Add eggs to chocolate mixture and whisk until well blended. Pour batter into prepared pan. Place cake pan in large roasting pan. Add enough hot water to roasting pan to come halfway up sides of cake pan.

Bake cake until center no longer moves when pan is gently shaken, about 50 minutes. Remove from water bath; transfer to rack. Cool completely in pan.

For ganache:
Bring whipping cream to simmer in small saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat. Add chocolate and whisk until smooth. Pour over top of cake still in pan. Gently shake pan to distribute ganache evenly over top of cake. Refrigerate cake in pan until ganache is set, about 2 hours. DO AHEAD: Can be made 2 days ahead. Cover and keep refrigerated.

Run knife around pan sides to loosen cake; release sides. Cut cake into wedges and serve with whipped cream.

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/La-Bete-Noire-235831#ixzz0fjQDanO7

Angel Food Cake

This is a recipe by Alton Brown from Food Network. This was my first try at making an angel food from scratch and it turned out pretty okay. It was wet, though, which I thought was weird. I guess I will have to work on that. Some of the comments on the recipe said they omitted the water so I think I will try that next time. I will also watch Alton's video of him making the cake: http://www.foodnetwork.com/videos/let-them-eat-foam/43745.html.

Angel Food Cake by Alton Brown on Foodnetwork.com
Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup cake flour, sifted
12 egg whites (the closer to room temperature the better)
1/3 cup warm water
1 teaspoon orange extract, or extract of your choice
1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a food processor spin sugar about 2 minutes until it is superfine. Sift half of the sugar with the salt the cake flour, setting the remaining sugar aside.
In a large bowl, use a balloon whisk to thoroughly combine egg whites, water, orange extract, and cream of tartar. After 2 minutes, switch to a hand mixer. Slowly sift the reserved sugar, beating continuously at medium speed. Once you have achieved medium peaks, sift enough of the flour mixture in to dust the top of the foam. Using a spatula fold in gently. Continue until all of the flour mixture is incorporated.
Carefully spoon mixture into an ungreased tube pan. Bake for 35 minutes before checking for doneness with a wooden skewer. (When inserted halfway between the inner and outer wall, the skewer should come out dry).
Cool upside down on cooling rack for at least an hour before removing from pan.
Cook's Note: Since they're easier to separate use the freshest eggs you can get.

Double Chocolate Brownie Cake

This isn’t a new recipe, but since so many of my friends and family love this cake, I thought I would include it.  This is a really easy chocolate Bundt cake with a chocolate cake mix base. It is really moist and chocolatey without being too much (but then again, I am a chocoholic). I usually dust the cake with powdered sugar as a finishing touch. One of my friends has also suggested that butterscotch chips are a good substitution.

Double Chocolate Brownie Cake by ECHIngredients

1 (18.25 ounce) package devil's food cake mix
1 (3.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup water
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt pan. Have all ingredients at room temperature.

2.In a large bowl, stir together cake mix and pudding mix. Make a well in the center and pour in eggs, sour cream, oil and water. Beat on low speed until blended. Scrape bowl, and beat 4 minutes on medium speed. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared pan.

3.Bake in the preheated oven for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool. OSZERO on allrecipes.com

Sour Cream Chocolate Cake

I thought this cake was okay but my husband loved it. I thought it was a little dry, but I suspect that was because I cooked it a little too long. I made it in 3 layer pans (instead of 2) so I cooked it for about 27 minutes. Next time I will cook it a little less. I didn’t use the frosting recipe that came with the cake.

I had some trouble with this cake. It was very delicate. After I took the cakes out of the pans I was moving them and tore one in half. So I tried to frost it back together and it didn’t work out. I put it in the middle of the non-ripped layers. It pulled apart and it stuck out about half an inch beyond the other layers. Plus, the frosting I used to “glue” it back together ran down the side leaving holes where the crack was. The worst part was I was making the cake to take to a party and I was so sad that it was so ugly. Fortunately, it was a Halloween party so I made it an “intentionally” ugly cake. I crushed up some chocolate sandwich cookies and pressed it into the frosting all over the cake so it looks like dirt. Then I decorated it with gummy worms and slugs. My husband put a couple of worms coming out of the hole on one side. It turned out not looking so terrible, but it still wasn’t attractive. Plus, the gummies didn’t taste very good with the chocolate frosting.

Sour Cream Chocolate Cake posted by Marsha Lawson on allrecipes.com
Ingredients

1 cup baking cocoa
1 cup boiling water
1 cup butter, softened
2 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sour cream

FROSTING:
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

Directions
1.Dissolve cocoa in water; let stand until cool. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Add vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with sour cream, beating well. Add cocoa mixture; beat well.

2.Pour into three greased and floured 9-in. round baking pans. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.

3.In a heavy saucepan, melt chocolate chips and butter over low heat; stir until smooth. Remove from the heat; cool for 5 minutes. Place in a large mixing bowl; add sour cream and vanilla; beat until blended. Add confectioners' sugar; beat until light and fluffy. Spread between layers and over top and sides of cake. Store in the refrigerator.

Chocolate Malt Cake

I got the recipe for this delicious cake from Bella Lately's blog. I would definately recommend this cake. It is deliciously chocolate and moist. While it seems that there is a lot of malt in the cake and frosting, it is certainly not overpowering. Even my husband (who says he didn't think it sounded good) loved the cake. I was a beautiful cake and I decorated it with malted milk balls.

Chocolate Malt Cake by Bella Lately

Makes 1 (9-inch) cake
2 1/4 c. all purpose flour
1 1/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 tspn baking soda
1 tspn baking powder
1/2 tspn salt
1 c. milk
1 c. malted milk powder
1 c. vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 c. sour cream
1 tspn vanilla extract

Chocolate Malt Icing (recipe follows)

Garnish: malted milk balls (and I used silver dragees to make it more Christmas-y ;) )

•Preheat oven to 350. Butter & flour 3, 9-inch, baking pans.

•In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

•In a small bowl, combine milk and malted milk powder, stirring to dissolve. Add milk mixture, oil and eggs to flour mixture, beating at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Add sour cream and vanilla, beating just until combined.

•Pour batter evenly into prepared pans and bake for 20 minutes. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove cakes from pans and let cool completely on racks.

•Ice and garnish w/malted milk balls if desired

Chocolate Malt Icing
Makes 4 cups
 1 c. butter, softened
1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 c. heavy whipping cream
1/2 c. malted milk powder
5 c. powdered sugar
•In a large bowl, beat butter and cocoa powder at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy.

•In a small bowl, combine cream and malted milk powder, stirring to dissolve. Add cream mixture to butter mixture, beating at low speed to combine. Gradually beat in powdered sugar until smooth.