FLOWER CUPCAKES

How cute are these?! Cute chocolate and vanilla flowers...or something like that-only rather than smelling them, I'd much prefer eating them. Anyway, I've been on a mission to find the quintessential most fudgiest, most chocolaty, most sinful, most sink-your-teeth-into-heaven kind of chocolate cake. And folks, I think I just found one and it has been staring me in the face for years. Right there on the back of the Hershey's cocoa can. This cake is just that; fudgy, chocolaty, rich, dark, and sweet. This recipe satisfied 6 regular sized cupcakes and one rather large 8X8 cake which I then cut in half (cross-sectioned) and then created 2 layers from each half resulting in a wondrous very high 4 layer cake. I frosted the cupcakes with chocolate and vanilla buttercream using large open and closed flower tips.

The cupcakes and frosting were a cinch to whip up and I highly recommend you do so! The cake baked very dark and rich and the buttercream was a great compliment. Oh, and did I mention that I filled these bad boys? Yep. Nutella. I filled each cupcake with Nutella to the brim for an extra blast of chocolate-ness. One more thing, this is a one-bowl recipe. I repeat, one bowl recipe! If that doesn't have you rushing into the kitchen as we speak then I don't know what would! Ready. Set. Go.

Deep Dark Chocolate Cake from Hershey's

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sugar
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa or HERSHEY'S SPECIAL DARK Cocoa
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water
• ONE-BOWL BUTTERCREAM FROSTING(recipe follows)

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round pans or one 13x9x2-inch baking pan.

2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of electric mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes for round pans, 35 to 40 minutes for rectangular pan or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. (Cake may be left in rectangular pan, if desired.) Frost with ONE-BOWL BUTTERCREAM FROSTING. 8 to 10 servings.


ONE-BOWL BUTTERCREAM FROSTING *for the vanilla buttercream I eliminated the cocoa*
6 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
2-2/3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa or HERSHEY'S SPECIAL DARK Cocoa
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat butter in medium bowl. Add powdered sugar and cocoa alternately with milk, beating to spreading consistency (additional milk may be needed). Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.

TWD:CAPPUCCINO BUTTERSCOTCH CRUNCH BARS

Whitney of What's Left On The Table is to thank for this weeks TWD recipe. Although the original recipe called for chopped Heath Bar bits on top thus resulting in a Caramel Crunch Bar; I went with chopped cappuccino and butterscotch chips on top. That explains the renaming of this recipe above. A buttery shortbread kind of a crust smothered in milk chocolate and topped with cappuccino and butterscotch chips. Yum. This recipe was sinfully easy and even more sinful to shovel down my gullet. The crust has bits of finely chopped chocolate, of your choice, throughout, which created a super chocolaty treat. I went with milk chocolate as opposed to bittersweet chocolate because, lets face it, I prefer a less sophisticated chocolate in a bar such as these. I want to get the closest to an original Hershey's bar as I can! I put these in the freezer and slowly but surely they are vanishing before my own eyes. Eeek.

You can find the recipe here! Be creative and switch up the toppings. Butterfinger, anyone?

BIRTHDAY COOKIE CAKE

In addition to the cupcakes below I made a birthday cookie cake for the boys. I used this very basic cookie dough recipe, flattened it on a round pizza pan, baked it, cooled it, and lastly, decorated it. This was SO GOOD. The cookie was super soft and chewy with chunks of milk chocolate chips. This was probably the biggest hit of the night and it was so easy to make. I used canned chocolate and vanilla frosting (the nerve!) for the border piping and decorations. I'm trying to work on my handwriting so I used a plain round tip for the happy birthday slogan. How'd I do?

If you need something quick, fun to make, and very tasty then go with this cookie cake. You can change it up and add peanut butter, nuts, raisins, oats, etc. I will definitely be making this again in the near future!

BANANA SPLIT CUPCAKES

My dogs are 1!! Happy Birthday to Boomer & Bentley!! Since I don't have any children yet (I'm still young!) my dogs are my children for the time being. I got Boomer and Bentley last April when they were 8 weeks old and 10lbs each. My have they grown into beautiful big boys weighing in at 70lbs a piece! Wednesday was their 1st birthday and in honor of them, I'm throwing them a birthday bash tonight filled with cupcakes...and cake...and crunch bars...and cookie cakes...and--yea, you get the point.

Here are some before and after photos:

Baby Boomer & Bentley at 10 weeks old

Grown up Boomer & Bentley at 1 year!

And yes, I realize that they are bigger than me. And I swear, I'm totally sane.

These banana cupcakes are one of several desserts that I made for the party. I used this basic banana cake recipe and added mini chocolate chips. I topped with whipped cream, Hershey's chocolate sauce, sprinkles, and a maraschino cherry! For the whipped cream I literally just dumped whatever I had left in the carton, whipped it up, and added an extremely large amount of powdered sugar until it was very sweet! I put the cream in the fridge for about 20 minutes before decorating and it piped beautifully. The cold whipped cream also enabled the chocolate sauce to hold its drizzle. These tasted exactly like a banana split and were really easy to make. Enjoy!!

TWD:DEVILS WHITE OUT CAKE

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you Stephanie of Confessions of a City Eater for being bold enough to
choose this cake for our TWD selection this week. You see people, this cake is the cover to the bible
that is Baking: From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan. This very cover is the cover that
inspired so many to purchase the book, bake the recipes, and experience the mind blowing delectable
outcomes! Again, thanks Stephanie! So, where do I start? This cake was a true winner. The chocolate
layers were as rich, moist, and chocolaty as can be. I used Lindt bittersweet chocolate as well as chopped
Trader Joe's milkchocolate throughout the batter. Now the frosting...oh the frosting. Billows of
marshmallow meringue blanketed the surroundings of the chocolate layers like white on rice. I used
my mini kitchen blow torch to brown the top of the cake which, by the way, was baked in a 5 inch pan

so that I had enough batter to make these......

Cupcakes! Yes, delicious little mini devils white out cakes topped with swirls of browned marshmallow
meringue and a sprinkle of chocolate flakes. Talk about the perfect the little treat. These tasty little
cakes definitely suffice. In conclusion folks, this cake is a keeper! This is the kind of recipe I will print
from the book,laminate, frame, and hang in my kitchen as a story in the bible of Dorie Greenspan which
should never be forgotten! Please do yourself a favor and check out the recipe at Stephanie's blog here!