Ombre Chocolate Cake

I've been dreaming of making i am baker's rose cake for a while. It's so beautiful and, from her description, pretty easy to make. I was stuck on what cake to pair it with. I found the Black Magic Cake, which looked deep, dark, and decadent. I was going to use raspberry jam for the filling and simple buttercream (made with a combo of butter and shortening) for the roses.

Despite my best intentions, things didn't turn out quite the way I expected. Mostly due to user error.

The cake is incredibly simple to make. It is very moist, deep and decadent and delicious. However, I underbaked it just a touch, which made constructing the layers a little hard. And the crumb coat wasn't great because the moist cake kept, well, crumbling.

My second issue arose when, for some bizarre reason, I decided to decorate the cake while the girls were awake and running around. Now, while the rose technique is easy, you definitely need a chunk of uninterrupted time to get the crumb coat done well, especially on this cake recipe. In short, I needed more of my attention, and more icing, than I could give at the moment, so I scrapped the rose idea.

I found a great ombre variation of the rose cake, which has also been kicking around in the back of my head. I had an idea to make a chocolate ombre frosting design, I just needed to go to the store to get some frosting. I didn't have enough of my buttercream to finish the cake, and I didn't have enough powdered sugar to make any more. Also, I was just at that phase where I wanted to get the damn thing done.

What happened next was a lemons-into-lemonade moment. After our playdate, I went to give the girls a bath before naps, only to discover we had no water. A call to the water company revealed there were a bunch of main breaks in the area and who knew when we'd get water back. I pack up the girls, in their pjs, to go to the store to get bottled water, paper plates, and... chocolate and vanilla fosting.

Fate has a great sense of humor, because water was back when we got home.

By this time, I was too tired to even pipe any frosting, so I just mixed and smeared around the cake. In about 10 minutes, I had an ombre chocolate cake. And, it looked fairly good, much to my surprise.

Now, I'm going to say something shocking: while I like frosting, I don't like massive amounts of frosting. I also don't like avocados, so, who knows. Next time I make this, I'll probably do a Dream Whip or whipped cream-type frosting. The cake is dark and lucious, but it doesn't really need a "big" frosting to balance it out.

I will definitely try both the cake recipe and the rose technique again. But only during naptime.

Ruffle T-Shirt Refashion

I have an amazing supply of plain t-shirts. Scoop, crew, v-neck, usually in a nice jewel tone or black or gray. The Merona brand from Target is my favorite. But right now, the trend is for embellished shirts, with sequins, ribbons and ruffles. I tend not to do a lot of emphasis on my top half, since I have broad shoulders and a big chest, so I passed on the fancy shirts.

Until I found some really cute stuff on Pinterest (go figure). This tutorial for vertical ruffles caught my eye, but then I found this one, with two long ruffles and buttons, and decided to go for it.

I had a dark gray shirt that was getting too short, so I cut the sleeves off that for the ruffles and put them on a light gray, scoop-neck t-shirt. I had a bunch of black buttons in my stash, from projects that never happened, so this whole new shirt didn't cost me anything. It was so quick and easy, the longest thing to do was hand-sewing the buttons on.

For my next refashion project, I may do the vertical ruffle shirt or one of the other beautiful shirts from the same site.

Lip Balms and Lotion Bars

I guess it was inevitable that I would try to make my own bath products. It's a little like baking, and, really, for me lip balm is a basic food group. My friend, S, made two kinds of sugar scrubs and a solid lotion bar as Christmas gifts for everyone, which inspired me to scan Pinterest for recipes.

I made two kinds of lip balm and a solid lotion bar. I made the Minty Chocolatey and a variation of the Coco-Rosey lip balms from Crunchy Betty. They were both really easy to make, honestly. Just some melting in a saucepan and pouring into tins. I got the butters and oils at Whole Foods, in the beauty section, and the tins are 2" round wedding favor tins/boxes from Michaels.

I made a Sweet Orange Hibiscus balm instead of the rose version. I steeped hibiscus tea, instead of rosebus, and used sweet orange essential oil. It smells divine, but doesn't have a lot of color from the flowers. I don't know if there's a difference between petals for tea and just dried petals, but I'll definitely try it again to find out.

The lotion bar recipe is from SoapNuts.com.

Basic Lotion Bar

3 oz. beeswax

3 oz. cocoa butter

3 oz. sunflower oil (may substitute sweet almond, jojoba, etc.)

essential oil or fragrance oil

Melt beeswax and cocoa butter together in top of double boiler.

When melted, add sunflower oil and stir until completely mixed.

Stir until mixture cools slightly before adding essential oils, about 1 teaspoon. Pour into molds and let harden.

I added Chamomile and Geranium essential oils and a little bit of Vit. E oil, to make it a little less hard. I just used a mini muffin tin, this recipe filled up about 9 molds. I popped them out and put them in the round tins.

For the lip balms, I got all fancy and made labels with my Silhouette machine and vinyl, bit I ran out of steam for the lotion bars. I may just use the labels that come with the tins and, gasp, actually write the description on them.

I've handed them out to friends and The Bean's teachers, who were very appreciative. In Colorado, especially during the winter, keeping hands and lips moisturized and crack-free is a big chore.

Holiday Baking

It's been a while, hasn't it? Somehow time got away from me after Thanksgiving. I got started with my usual holiday baking and sweets making, then I decided I really wanted a dog (Our first dog, Buddy, passed away in May), and I've been busy with our new dog, Mr. Baggins, and trying to entertain the girls during Winter Break from preschool.

I made the usual cookies this year, and tried a few new recipes, too. My mom and I would make Spritz cookies during our CookiePalooza, and I still had the cookie press, and I thought the girls could help me decorate them, so I made a couple batches of dough. What I forgot was how tempermental both the press and dough are. If the dough is too cold, it won't come out of the press. If it's too warm, it won't stick to the parchment paper. And, in a kitchen with an oven going, I found it frustrating to find that magic dough constistency. And trying to explain this problem to a 3-year-old who's excited for sparkly cookies doesn't go well. I did get the cookies made, but I don't think I'll make them again. They are delicious, but, compared to the other doughs and their ease of baking, it's not worth the effort for me.

I did find success with Salted Caramel Sortbread. They're seriously easy and insanely delicious. I've never made shortbread with melted butter, but it's genius.

May you have a happy, and decadent, new year!

Ornament Wreath

I didn't really need a new door wreath for the holidays, but, let's be honest, I really wanted one. However, I wanted a fun, bold wreath that wouldn't break the bank. Which, is a little harder to find.

On Pinterest, I found a fun wreath that didn't cost too much money; it just required some ornaments and a wire hanger. (Go ahead, make the Mommy Dearest joke. You know you want to.)



I found a set of shatter-proof ornaments at Costco for $20. Somehow, I didn't have a glue gun, so I popped over to JoAnn's and got one (seriously, how did I not have a glue gun?) and started on my wreath.

The tops of my ornaments didn't slide up, but I put a ring of glue around the base to secure everything. I grabbed a hanger from The Boy's closet, put some Vampire Diaries on (if you don't watch this show, you really should), and started stringing ornaments.

It's best to mix sizes, so they can slide snugly on the wire. There's really no rhyme or reason needed, unless you're set on a particular color pattern.

I didn't have any wire cutters, so I used some pliers to wrap the wire around the hook at the top and tied a nice ribbon to hide it.

Like I said, I got my ornaments for cheap at Costco, but if you're willing to wait, you could get some on sale after the holidays and stash them for next year. It's a quick, cheap and extremely easy project that has a lot of impact!

Plane Activity Kit

The holidays are here, which often means travelling. We've tried to get everything down to a science when going on plane trips with the girls. Snacks, DVDs, games on the iPad, the usual suspects. For our trip to visit my parents in Florida for Thanksgiving, I took an idea from something I found on Pinterest, and made activity boxes with all sorts of fun things in them.

I got plain, clear plastic craft storage boxes to hold everything. I personalized each box with the girls' names and some fun travel images. Inside, I had beads (in little, plastic pill-type boxes), string, pipe cleaners, crayons, stickers and lots of different kinds of paper. The scrapbook section of the craft store has tons of paper with different textures, which I thought might make coloring more fun.

The boxes were a big hit. My oldest spent a good 30 minutes making a bead necklace and bracelet for grandma, and the little one had fun with some lacing cards and strings I'd packed for her. I was even able to read a few pages of my book while the girls were busy. I don't know the last time I was able to do that while on a plane with them!

Peanut Butter Cup Mousse Cake

I made this cake years ago for a friend's birthday, then filed the recipe away for safekeeping. I found it a little while ago and just had to make it again. It's definitely complicated, but if you can spread the work out over a few days, it's manageable. I made the cake the first day, made the mousse and assembled the cake the next day, and glazed it the third day.

It's amazingly light, considering it's chocolate and peanut butter. The chiffon cake is spongy, and the mousse is creamy and not overwhelming, thanks to the whipped cream. I think the peanut topping is important, texture wise, as it adds a nice crunch to all the light smoothness.

I found the recipe in the now-gone Chocolatier Magazine, but it looks like the Godiva version is really similar. My recipe substitutes cocoa powder for the Godiva Dark Truffle Hot Cocoa Powder and decreases the amount of milk chocolate in the glaze.

Cocoa Chiffon Cake:
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sifted cake flour
1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder, sifted
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 eggs plus 3 egg whites, at room temperature
1/4 cup plus 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Peanut Butter Mousse:
1 3/4 cups (10 ounces) peanut butter chips
3/4 cup whole milk
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar

Milk Chocolate Glaze:
8 oz. Milk Chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Garnish
1/3 cup unsalted roasted peanuts, finely chopped

Make Cake:
1. Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350ºF. Lightly butter bottom and sides of a 9-inch round cake pan. Line with a circle of baking parchment or waxed paper. Dust side of pan with flour and tap out excess.
2. Stir together flour, 1/2 cup sugar, cocoa, baking powder and salt in medium bowl.
3. In large bowl, whisk together 2 whole eggs, oil and vanilla until frothy. Sift flour mixture over egg mixture and stir until smooth. Mixture will be stiff.
4. In a grease-free medium mixer bowl, with the whisk attachment, beat egg whites until frothy. Gradually increase speed to medium-high and continue to beat until they start to form soft peaks. Add remaining sugar, 1 teaspoon at a time. Continue to beat until egg white mixture forms a stiff, shiny meringue.
5. Using large rubber spatula, gently fold 1/3 egg white mixture into the egg- flour mixture to lighten it. Fold in remaining egg white mixture. Do not over mix batter. Scrape into prepared pan and spread evenly with a spatula.
6. Bake for 15 minutes or until cake springs back when gently touched in center. Cool cake in pan 5 minutes. Invert to wire rack and cool completely.

Make Mousse:
1. Put peanut butter chips into large bowl. In small saucepan, heat milk to a gentle boil. Pour hot milk over peanut butter chips. Let stand 30 seconds. Whisk until smooth and add peanut butter and vanilla. Let stand 5 minutes or until tepid.
2. In chilled bowl, beat cream and confectioner’s sugar just until soft mounds barely start to form and cream in still pourable. Do not over beat cream. Gently fold 1/3 whipped cream mixture into peanut butter mixture to lighten it. Fold in remaining whipped cream. Do not over mix mousse or it will become grainy.

Assemble Cake:
1. Lightly oil bottom and side of a 9-inch fluted tart pan with removable bottom. Line bottom and ides of pan with plastic wrap, smoothing out any wrinkles, and pressing it into ridges on sides of pan. Scrape peanut butter mousse into pan and spread it in an even layer, filling in all fluted indentations in side of pan with mousse.
2. Remove paper circle from bottom of cake. Place cake on top of mousse in tart pan and gently press into place. Cover layer of cake with plastic wrap. Freeze for 3 hours or until firm.
3. Remove plastic wrap from cake and invert onto a cardboard cake round. Lift off side and bottom of tart pan, using a thin bladed knife if necessary. Peel off plastic wrap from peanut butter mousse layer.

Make Milk Chocolate Glaze
1. Put milk chocolate in medium bowl. In small saucepan heat cream to a gentle boil. Pour hot cream over chocolate. Let mixture stand for 30 seconds. Whisk until smooth. Stir in vanilla.. Cool glaze until it starts to thicken slightly.
2. Place cake on a wire rack over baking sheet. Pour milk chocolate glaze over cake, covering it completely. Refrigerate on wire rack for 5 minutes or until glaze is set. Sprinkle cake with chopped peanuts and refrigerate until serving.