Raspberry White Chocolate Muffins

I HAVE BEEN ABANDONED. Okay, maybe that's a little dramatic. In reality I'm home alone this weekend because my mom is in Las Vegas for five days to celebrate my aunt and uncle's 10th wedding anniversary. I was left home alone with a stocked kitchen. Unfortunately, the raspberries in the fridge were starting to get soft. I was bored. So this happened.

I have no other excuse except boredom. But I mean, come on. My mom left me alone. She should have expected this, right?

All the messy glory.

What you'll need for the muffins:

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup fresh raspberries
• 1 cup white chocolate chips

What you'll need for the crumble topping:

• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons melted butter

To make:

-Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line one 12 cup muffin pan with paper liners.

-Prepare the crumble by whisking together the flour and sugar, then drizzling the melted butter and mixing until coarse crumbs are formed. Set aside.

-In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl whisk together vegetable oil, egg and milk until well combined.

-Pour wet mixture over dry ingredients and stir with a large wooden spoon. Fold in raspberries and chocolate chips evenly, then pour into the liners.

-Bake for about 18-20 minutes then let cool on a wire rack.

Cooper gave these muffins his stamp of approval!

Enjoy!

Cupcake Chaos

I don't exactly have a recipe to share, but I just wanted to post some pictures from my baking adventure today with my little sisters. Emily is 7 and Alaina is 3- they freakin' rock my world. Being a big sister is the best thing in the entire world and I don't know what I'd do without them.

These girls have always wanted to bake with me, and since the weather is mild and I currently have no life today was the perfect day to make it happen! I decided I'd let them have fun and make these cupcakes as crazy as they wanted. I bought a ton of food coloring, a box of cake mix, sprinkles, and stuff to make frosting. The girls were ready to make their very own tie dye cupcakes. If you don't know how to make tie dye cupcakes, they're pretty simple; all you need to do is separate white cake batter into various bowls, squirt and mix some food coloring in them, then layer the batter and bake!

First you might want to test the cake batter out, you know... Just to make sure it's edible. Alaina did a pretty awesome job of this. 

I don't know if you can tell, but Em was really excited to dye our cake batter!

I'll gladly take that "coolest sister on the entire planet" award any day now... Alaina says I deserve it.

Emily was my happy and focused helper. 

I was super impressed with their work. Look at all those colors!!

Those girls are just lucky that they're cute and didn't have to deal with the aftermath of our baking. I think my hands are going to have dye on them for the next three years.

Our assortment of sprinkles and our buttercream frosting! (always made with 1 cup butter, 4 cups powdered sugar and a tablespoon of vanilla!)

Our cupcakes were so pretty! Definitely ready to be frosted!!!

They were super focused on their sprinkles.

 Alaina's prized cupcake.

Emily's prized cupcake.

 Alaina's way of helping me clean up included licking the beater and eating all the sprinkles she could off of the counter. I think she has the right idea.

They might be nothing but chaos, but they look kinda cool on the inside. That's all I have for today!

Chocolate Wasted Cake

So, I'm going to be completely honest with my readers (even if there are only a few of you guys. You still matter)... Right now I'm going through and awful breakup and all I have any desire to do is sob, eat chocolate, and get wasted. Unfortunately, I haven't reached the legal drinking age and my appetite is screwed up so chocolate isn't an option, but that wouldn't stop me from abandoning my crying for a little while to create this monstrosity.

Meet the chocolate wasted cake. It is everything that you've dreamed of but have also feared because it has seriously potential to put you in a diabetic coma by just sniffing it. I'm not even kidding. 

I made this cake a couple of weeks ago with my friend, Dylan (pictured above, staring at my camera like a creep). He's been supportive and understood my desperate need to bake and not talk about all the crazy crap that I've been dealing with. I'm really happy he came over, and we had a lot of fun making this. It might have been a bad idea to let him choose this recipe and then send him home with half a cake (he later even made his own version!).

So let's get chocolate wasted, everyone.

What you'll need (for the cake):

• 3 cups flour
• 2 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 cup cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups milk
• 1 cup butter, melted
• 4 teaspoons corn syrup
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 semi-sweet chocolate chips

What you'll need (for the frosting):

• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup cream, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup chocolate chips

Melted chocolate to drizzle on cake (I had issues with this, because I got distracted...)

• 2 cups chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• chocolate chips for side of cake and chocolate candies, chopped,  to top the cake with

To prepare the cake:

-Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

- Grease and flour two 8 or 9 inch round cake pans and set aside.

- Sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl, then set aside.

-In a separate bowl, mix together the milk, corn syrup, butter, and vanilla.

-Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and stir until combined. Fold in chocolate chips.

-Pour even amounts of batter into the prepared pans and bake for 30-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Place on a cooling rack and allow the cake to cool completely before decorating. 

To make the frosting:

- In a bowl, beat the butter until smooth. Beat in the powdered sugar, cream, and vanilla into the mixture until smooth.

- Place chocolate chips in a small bowl over a pan of barely simmering water. Heat and stir occasionally until the chocolate is melted and smooth. 

-Remove chocolate from heat and slowly mix chocolate into frosting mixture. 

Dylan was hard at work to place chocolate chips all around this freaking cake.

To assemble the cake:

-Frost the bottom layer of the cake, place the next layer on top and continue to frost.

-Place chocolate chips on sides of cake, then chocolate candies on top. Drizzle cake with melted chocolate.

-Dig in and try to not lose a foot to diabetes.

Elmo Cupcakes

About two months ago, I was asked if I could make cupcakes for a two year old's birthday party. Hazel is Noah's niece and she's pretty much the most brilliant child on the planet. She's goofy, smart, adorable, and her personality can just about make anyone happy. She calls me "Tourtney" and I basically melt when she's around. Ashley requested Elmo cupcakes, so I started brainstorming!

Luckily I'd previously made Cookie Monster cupcakes so I had some ideas. I used the Wilton grass tip to make fur, and Wilton Candy Melts and black gel to make the eyes. The mouths are half an Oreo and the noses are just orange Dots.

Ashley also requested a sheet cake. I've never attempted. I had originally planned on making one from scratch, but I got too scared... I got a plain one from Target with just white frosting and decorated it from there. I think it turned out just fine. Maybe next time I'll make my own.

I was so fortunate to be able to attend the party. Ashley and Trevor have always welcomed me into their home and I was so happy I was able to do this for them. They're great parents to Hazel and their newest addition Hope. They really enjoyed the cupcakes, and I was more than thrilled to do it for them. I'd do it again if I could.

One final picture- this is the birthday girl! Hazel was so excited about her Elmo cupcakes and I was just ecstatic that a two year old could actually recognize the cupcakes as Elmo. It was a wonderful day with wonderful weather and I will never forget it.

Marble Cake

Let me begin this post by warning you all that I do not do cakes. They always turn out lopsided and weird looking, so I've been a strictly cupcake girl for years. After my boyfriend, Noah requested that I make him a cake, I decided to leave my comfort zone for once. This cake did by all means not turn out perfect, but hey, it's an improvement! Maybe there will be further experimentation in the future.

My inspiration for this cake came from Will Arnett's character, GOB, on Arrested Development and one of his most popular lines, "I've made a huge mistake." If you haven't seen Arrested Development, you're missing out on one of the world's many fine creations and I suggest you watch the three original seasons, plus the 4th season made especially for Netflix that has become available for streaming within the past week.


I'd never made marble cake before this night. And yes, I do mean night. I finally finished this cake around 11 o'clock at night, so excuse me for the sloppy work. I normally wouldn't share work like this that I'm not so proud of, but this recipe honestly produced the best marble cake I've ever had. It was a perfect mix of light fluffy vanilla and deep, rich chocolate cake that was so moist it practically melted in your mouth. The middle layer of chocolate frosted perfectly complemented my grandma's own vanilla frosting. I don't know how that is possible, but seriously. This was amazing. I can't believe I gave this entire cake to Noah and his family and I only ate a piece. I probably would've eaten the entire thing in one sitting if I had the chance.



What you'll need:

For the yellow cake batter:

• 1 1/2 cups cake flour (and yes, this was actually the first time I used cake batter. Maybe that's what helped make this cake so good?)
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

For the chocolate cake batter:

• 1 cup cake flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
• 1 cup freshly brewed coffee

For the middle layer of chocolate frosting:

• 2 1/2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cups powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons of milk (at least. You might need more to reach a desired consistency)

For the rest of the frosting (my Grandma Pat's recipe!):

• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/3 cup cream or milk

Holy bajeesus. I know that's a lot of ingredients. And it's quite a bit of work, but I promise you that it was a ton of fun to make! 

To make:

-Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease either 3 8 inch round cake pans, or 2 9 inch round cake pans (works best with two, but it's really up to you!). You can line the pans with parchment paper before you grease if you want assurance that the cakes will actually come out in one piece!

- You'll end up needing about 4 large mixing bowls for each lot of wet and dry ingredients. Get ready to dirty some dishes!

- In one mixing bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients for the yellow cake batter. In another bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients for the chocolate cake batter. Set both dry mixes aside.

- For the yellow cake batter, cream together the butter,  eggs, egg yolk, vanilla, and two tablespoons of the buttermilk. Once that is mixed well, add the rest of the buttermilk. Slowly add the yellow cake batter dry mix to this wet batter and mix.

- For the chocolate cake batter, repeat the same procedure as the yellow cake batter. Cream the butter, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and buttermilk. Add the chocolate batter dry ingredients, then to help combine, slowly add the coffee. 

- Starting with the thicker vanilla batter, layer the two batters in each pan, or swirl with a knife if desired.

-Bake for about 25 minutes, allow to cool completely on a metal rack before frosting. 

Okay, mine didn't turn out as pretty as it could've... Better luck next time!

On to frosting! 

-First I trimmed each cake to make sure they wouldn't end up lopsided (I just learned this trick... Boy I was sure missin' out in the past!)

-For the chocolate frosting, beat the melted butter and cocoa powder together until combined. Add 2 tablespoons of milk and vanilla and beat until smooth. Then add the powdered sugar and beat. You'll probably need more milk, which is no big deal. Just get it to a consistency that you desire. You'll put this frosting on top of the first layer of the cake, kind of making it a cake sandwich with a chocolate frosting center. 

-My grandma's recipe is pretty simple; Just beat all the ingredients together and frost!

So this was definitely an experiment that I'll remember. No, this is not the most gorgeous thing I've ever baked, but it was pretty tasty and it's opened doors to a lot of other things I might now try. Thank you Noah, for requesting this, otherwise I never ever would've even tried. Oh and thank you to Arrested Development, always and inspiration!

Enjoy!