Icing
Do you like cakes that are moist, dense and rich? Do you like peanut butter? Does the idea of a peanut butter frosting sound like a good reason to be alive to you? If you answered yes, yes, yes, yes and yes, then keep reading. If you don’t like moist, dense, rich cakes with peanut […]
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Here’s the beauty of this recipe: Chocolate. Espresso. Cream (cheese). I told you it was a beautiful thing. And the fact that it’s stuffed into a cupcake just makes it that much more irresistible. (I didn’t even add sugar to that list, and you were hooked, weren’t you?) (More on the cake: it’s significant and […]
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Frosting is a funny thing- some people eat it on its own (and could care less about the cake), and some people find it too intense (I can’t identify with those people but I know they are out there). Some people prefer it sweet (a.k.a. spreadable sugar), while others just want a touch of sweetness.
In my goal to make everyone happy, one recipe at a time, this one is for the freakazoids who don’t like their frosting too sweet.
It’s banana-ey, and it’s fluffy. And it’s topped with a glob of cream cheese frosting. Come on, doesn’t this cake have your name written all over it?
When you have a bunch of ripe bananas (don’t waste your time with bananas that are more yellow than black, my friends— when I made this cake, the bananas looked burned to a crisp), you must make this cake or cupcakes (or if you’re not in the mood for cream cheese icing [really?], consider making Banana Nut Bread instead).
Back to the cake. When to do a cake and when to do cupcakes? It’s one of life’s challenging questions, I know. A cake takes longer, which I always find annoying (waiting for something to finish in the oven- come on), and yet it’s easier to spread the frosting over. (There’s always pressure for frosted cupcakes to look so pretty, and what if you’re just not that type?) Cupcakes are more portable, though, so if you’re serving them at the office for a birthday thing, you can pop them into a tin and not have to take your massive cake transporter-container-minivan. Everyone finds cupcakes charming, so that’s always a win, but cake is also kind of homey when you’re a casual dinner party and you get to cut slices right at the table- like you’re sharing one big dish, without the group saliva. I’m no closer to an answer about what’s better, as it’s usually a game time decision for me. (In this case, I just wanted to use my cute new cupcake holders I ordered online. Sometimes it’s that simple.)
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Be prepared to swoon, chocolate lover.
This is the chocolate cake recipe that you will adopt as your own, so you might as well print it out right now and laminate it. You’ll bake this cake for your own birthday parties (tacky, but worth it), you’ll start eating it for breakfast (if you happen to have a piece left over in the morning), and you’ll find yourself craving it in the middle of the night when you get up to go to the bathroom (explaining why you might not have any left for breakfast).
This is the chocolate cake that’s decadently dense and rich- so much so that I was told “I love these brownies!” when serving last week (don’t get me started on brownies- I am forever married to the World’s Greatest Fudge Brownie recipe and can’t fathom a cakey brownie as an acceptable dessert experience). And how appropriate is it to slather a fudgy cake with an even fudgier icing- one that literally pours over the cake in a strangely seductive fashion? Oh, it’s appropriate, and it’s happening in this recipe.
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So here’s how this one is going to go down- take the World’s Best Fudge Brownies (your staple brownie, your go-to, your bingeworthy crutch of a recipe) and make it suitable for St. Patrick by adding Irish Cream in three separate stages:
1. In the batter- naturally. That one was obvious.
2. Brushed over the brownie just before taking it out of the oven… so it seeps in and infuses the crust with its Irish Creamy goodness.
3. In a glaze drizzled over the top of the finished and cooled fudgy splendor of a dessert.
Despite the triple threat of Irish Cream, it’s strangely not overwhelming. Some might say they don’t even recognize the flavor- they’ll just wonder why the brownies are so darned good. In a St. Patty’s kind of way. Cheers…
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Muffins are perfect for lazy bakers.
You know how it goes- you have a hankering to bake something… and you have a lemon in the fridge calling out to be zested, and yet you don’t want to go to the trouble of beating anything together. And you don’t want to go to the trouble of bringing a stick of butter to that perfect room temperature either (please tell me you’ve accidentally melted many a stick in the microwave in an impatient quest to soften butter, too).
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Some people are a bit weirded out by the melody of chocolate and cinnamon, but most people are intoxicated by it. Don’t hesitate to try it, especially if you’re a chocolate lover. A little cinnamon never hurt anyone- and as its proponents would suggest, it does wonders when combined with the magical duo of chocolate and coffee. It’s the crazy threesome of the baking world.
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Planning a dinner party? Maybe a party of one (that being you)? Then you’ve found the dessert to serve.
Chocolate and orange have been romantically involved for years, so it’s time to forge your own relationship with the two flavors. Take this oranged-up adaptation of the World’s Best Fudge Brownie and toss it into a cake pan… slather some orange cream cheese icing on top and watch the sparks fly.
Oh- please note my newest serendipitous technique, as made evident in the photo. See where the icing snuck into the cake in an odd but strangely appealing way? Yeah well, keep reading and learn the trick of the More Sweets, Please trade :).
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Don’t underestimate the powerful effect that icing can have on an already-spectacular dessert, let alone the smell of your kitchen when making it. For these Blondies, feel free to get creative and substitute white chocolate chips for the butterscotch ones in the recipe below. The purist in me keeps Blondies blonde, but if you’re feeling crazy, throw the semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips in instead.
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