Chocolate Buttercream

When I was in High school I worked at the Shoprite Bakery. I never got to bake anything but I sure could write "Happy Birthday" on a cake if needed and I was a pro at using the bread slicer. Anyway, My experience at The Shoprite Bakery really jaded my view on Buttercream. The Buttercream mixture they have is to say the least, horrible. It's loaded with sugar and is practically a death wish for anyone with diabetes. The cake they make is pretty good but I could never eat more then a sliver because it's so sweet. Then I met Whipped Cream. Ahh, how I love you so. So light, fluffy and you taste JUST RIGHT! So anytime I've ever ordered a cake from ANYWHERE I've gotten Whipped Cream instead.

My mom's Birthday was this past Tuesday and we were on vacation and decided to have an impromptu COOKOUT!!! But we needed a cake. Where to get one? Hmmm.....

Hello?



Over here...





A little bit to the right....






left a little....












ME! I CAN BAKE THE CAKE!!!!!!!!!! DUH!!!!!!



SO, While I was at the grocery store getting my supplies, I had a revelation. What if, I could make my own buttercream that wasn't too sweet. Could it be done!? Could I make a Buttercream that didn't taste like a entire bag a sugar?!?
I can damn well TRY! So I grabbed my ingredients and was on my way. Once home I then realized, I don't own an electric mixer! Good thing Tim's father was around, because I put him to work. He whipped and whipped until he couldn't whip no more!!! Thank's Ernie!

Nervously I dipped my finger into the Chocolate Buttercream and took a taste. WOW! To my surprise it wasn't to sweet at all. In fact, if it was cold I'd mistake it FOR Whipped Cream! WOW! Man was I excited. So I baked up a beautiful Chocolate cake and slapped on the Chocolate Buttercream. Topped it with some white and milk chocolate drizzle, some extra chips and was so PROUD of my creation!

I am proud to say, I am no longer afraid of Buttercream (only Shoprite's)!!!




(Not Shown; Vanilla, Butter, Milk)





I love chocolate chips, they are so photogenic! Hey, look at the cupcake liner...too cute right? Get them here!





Can you just look at the scrumptious hunk of chocolate bliss?!!??! MMMM.

























Chocolate Buttercream
(Yields 3 Cups of Icing)

1/2 Cup Shortening
1/2 Cup (1 stick) Butter or Margarine, Softened
3/4 Cup Cocoa
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
4 Cups (1 lb)Sifted Confectioner's Sugar
4 Tablespoons of Milk

In a large bowl, combine and cream Shortening and Butter. Add Cocoa and Vanilla. Gradually add Sugar, one cup at a time. Icing should appear dry. Add milk.

You can keep the bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use.
When not in use it's best to keep in the fridge, in a airtight container. Can be stored for 2 weeks.


♥ cupcake

Ice Cream Cupcakes

On Sunday my Mom and I were at Stop and Shop looking for a yummy desert. We stumbled across these....




MMM- Vanilla ICE CREAM CUPCAKES! I know. SO AMAZING! We Had to get them. And I knew I had to Blog about them.


Look how cute they packaged them!!! In a little Cupcake Tray!





Let's get a little closer...








mmmmmmm!








ahhhhhh!








Whoa baby. That's one delicious cupcake!




Oh, I'm sorry.. I forgot to mention there were CHOCOLATE ones too! Silly me.



But you don't want to see those.



Really?



Are you sure??



OK, if you insist....












Ooooo the deliciousness.





Tell me how can you go wrong with an CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM CUPCAKE?! It's not possible!!!














Well, all good things come to an end. And unfortunately enough for our diets we ate them all...










OOPSS!!!!!!







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Stars and Stripes Cupcakes!

Here we go another set of adorable Red, White, and Blue Cupcakes. This time instead of doing cute toppers (which I loved). I made more stars and some stripes! Of course some of them had to be red, white and blue sprinkled too!

I am really getting the hang of fondant and am having fun creating new designs for Holiday's, Birthday's and such!!!

Cheesecake Pops!

WARNING: THESE POP'S ARE EXTREMLY DELICIOUS! IF YOU ARE ON A DIET....PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK.


Well, she did it again..Bakerella of course. Cheesecake Pops!? I mean come on now. What's next? I acutally saw them before on a bunch of Blogs but never tried them. When I saw Bakerella's I knew I had to do it!!!

These little pops are so darn cute and even more yummy, and they are super easy! You can use a Bakery bought cheesecake or make your own. I used one from a local Bakery and I had to resist not to eat the whole thing before I got home with it. I followed Bakerella's lead with the sprinkles and chocolate shavings. I also bought a Ready made Graham Cracker Pie Crust from the Bakery Isle of the supermarket, I thought it would be easier to use this rather then buying a whole box of graham crackers that I probably would end up throwing out because I wouldn't use it all. The ready made Pie Crust was the perfect amount.

Here's how I made them...

After getting home with my cheesecake (crustless btw). I stuck it in a big bowl and mashed it all up. Then shaped them into balls. FYI these balls are a little harder to make then regular cake balls because the cheesecake is so gooey.






Then I stuck those puppies in the freezer for about 45 mintues or so. While they were freezing I crumbled the Graham Pie Crust into the Pie pan it comes in.






Next, I rolled the frozen-ish Cheesecake Balls in the Crust. Now it was a little easier to shape the balls in balls not lumps. HEHE.






Popped them back in the frezzer for another 10 mintues. Then I got my chocolate and decorations ready, set up my styrofoam, and got started. I took my lollipop stick and stuck it in the chocolate first then stuck it in the Pop.

NOTE: These pops are MUCH heavier then Cake Pops. You need to make sure you only dip the pop once and get it completely covered in chocolate. Because they will start to slip down the stick if you play in the chocolate too long. I know from experiance.
=( Most of the time I spooned the chocolate over the pop to get it covered. But quickly! This will defiently take practice to get them perfect!

They still came out pretty:














Do you want to see the inside??

Should I post another Warning??

Oh lets just get to it....









♥ ♥ ♥ cupcake


Thanks Bakerella

Memorial Day Cupcakes!

I knew I wanted to make some Memorial Day Cupcakes, and I've had some fondant I bought a while ago still sitting around in the package because it intimidated me. But this past weekend, I conquered it! I planned everything out and knew exactly what I wanted to do.

I had to work all weekend, so I started to make cute little toppers the night before.

Problem #1- The rolled fondant I had was pastel. I had originally bought it for Easter. But you can't use pastel's for Memorial Day!

Solution- I decided to try and tint it darker. I broke out my food dye and started with the pink. First stuck the pink fondant in a small zip lock baggie and added the red food dye. I kneaded the fondant (while in the bag) with the red dye. Keeping it in the bag kept my hands and workplace neat and clean! As I was doing it I found that it was difficult to get a deep even red color but I'm really happy with how it came out...you'll see what I mean in a little bit. I repeated the same process with the light blue fondant.

Problem #2- After I rolled the red out flat, I realized that I didn't have a round cutter to make the base of my topper.

Solution- Sprinkle Bottle Cap! It worked to make the perfect size base for my toppers!

Next I used a small star cutter from William's Sonoma to cut out my blue stars. Making these was easier than I thought and most of the tools I used were everyday kitchen items.



Rolling Pin (used to roll out fondant)
Zip Lock Bag (helped me tint the fondant)
Red Food Dye
Fondant Shaping/Molding tools
Cheese Knife (used to lift the fondant shape off wax paper)
Sprinkle Cap (used to cut the base)
Star Cutter
Wax Paper

So I wanted to store these until the next day when I would be making my cupcakes. So I stuck them in an airtight container.



I love how they came out looking like TYE DYE!

So the next morning I started to make the cupcakes, Red Velvet of course. While my Cupcakes were baking I assembled my toppers. I used a little drop of water to attach the star to the base. After baking them and letting them cool. I frosted them with Vanilla icing and sprinkled about half of the Cupcakes. Then I frosted the other half (still using Vanilla) and topped them with the toppers. Next I used Clear Sparkling Sugar on the icing around the toppers. If you get sugar on the topper, just used a small paint brush to brush it off. I am so excited they came out as they did! ADORABLE!

















To make these Cupcakes you will need:

Red Velvet Cake Mix
Vanilla Icing
Red White & Blue Sprinkles, and Non Pareils.
Fondant (and the tools listed above)
Clear Sparkling Sugar


♥ ♥ ♥

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If Chocolate is a sin...send me to Hell!

These two things can only mean one thing....


Cookie Dough Brownies!!!!!!!!!



First, head on over to your local grocery store and as fast as you can..grab yourself some brownie and chocolate chip cookie mix. You also want to grab yourself an extra bag of chocolate chips (12 oz), Butter, & Heavy Whipping Cream. I'll tell you why a later. Got it all? Ok Good. Now I know your excited about this but try not to drive too fast when trying to get home from the grocery store, and get yourself pulled over. Somehow, I don't think the Officer would let you off easy if you told him you were rushing home to make Cookie Dough Brownies. He'd probably just look at you really funny, write you a ticket and you'd end up on Speeders on truTV. Sorry to say. So be careful.


Anyway, once your home....
Prepare you brownies and cookies as directed on the package. Spray a glass baking dish about 13 x 9 or whatever you have on hand, and pour in your brownie batter. Next form balls with the cookie dough and place them throughout the brownie batter. Sinful already I know! Once you've finished that push down on them slightly. Go ahead and bake them for 40 minutes in a preheated oven at 350 degrees. I know 40 minutes seems like a lifetime, but waiting will be worth it. PINKY PROMISE.

When you take them out of your oven...they will look like this..


Now you have to let it cool because next we are going to use those extra ingredients to make a wonderful Chocolate Ganache.

I've always wanted to make Chocolate Ganache because you can do so much with it. Top almost anything! So when I saw this Betty Crocker recipe featured on Bakerella's site and saw she used a Chocolate Ganache on top I knew I had to try that. Its super easy also.


Chocolate Ganache:

6 Tablespoons Butter
3/4 Heavy Whipping Cream
12 ounces Chocolate Chips

Heat the Butter and Heavy Whipping Cream in a saucepan until its just about to boil.
Take off the heat and add the chocolate chips.
Combine until smooth.

Top your completely cooled brownies and let stand until it has set. Mine took about 40 minutes to set. I also used a smaller dish (not 13x9) so the ganache went on thicker. Of course I could have only used half of the ganache...but I just couldn't control myself.

This is the final delicious product



Wow. Every time I look at them, my mouth waters.




Thanks Bakerella for the Chocolate Ganache recipe!
Thanks Betty for the Cookie Dough Brownies recipe!





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Cupcake Pops & Bites!

My favorite thing ever to do? Make CUPCAKE POPS! So I had wanted to make some for my Mommy for Mother's Day when she comes over. Then I realized I had M&M's from Easter that I never used.


See, HOW PRETTY?!


They have the cutest designs on them and are the perfect colors for Cupcake Pops!



Anyway... you know how this goes... but I just love taking step by step pictures.


You will need:

Any flavor cake (baked as directed and cooled)
Cream Cheese icing
Chocolate, Pink, and White Candy Melts.
Sprinkles of your choice.
Flower Shaped Cookie Cutter.
Lollipop Sticks.
Pink or Red M & M's.
Treat Bags.
Ribbon.
Styrofoam Block.

SO first you bake your cake. After you let it cool for about an hour. Next crumble up your cake in a large bowl and mix in the Cream Cheese Icing. Roll your cake mixute into small balls about 1.25" - 1.5". After freezing them for about 15 minutes, shape them into more of an oblong shape. Freeze them again for 15 minutes.



Using your flower shaped cookie cutter, push the cake through about half way, you want a mound on top. Now gently push the cupcake shape out by the bottom. Once more stick those babies in the freezer. While you wait get your chocolate ready! Prepare as directed on the package.


Ok now your ready to dip!

Carefully dip the bottom of the cupcake into the chocolate. You want the chocolate to cover to the point where the mound starts. After dipping in chocolate grab a lollipop stick and dip it into chocolate and quickly stick into the bottom of the cupcake. You can lay out a sheet of wax paper to place the cupcakes on upsidedown.



I usually let it dry for about 5-7 minutes, By the time your done dipping all the rest you can start the tops! Since this is about the 3rd time i've made these i've discovered tricks. My favorite one (acutally my boyfriend figured this one out) smush the mound down GENTLY a LITTLE bit. This helps it look more like a cupcake. =) Thanks BABY! Now just hold the pop upside down and dip the top of the cupcake into the color of your choice. You need to be carefull here. You don't want the chocolate to drip too far down the sides so usually I hold it upside down for a little. Another helpful trick is to tap your wrist SLIGHTLY or to slowly wiggle the pop. Before dry add an M & M and sprinkles! Let completly dry for about 15 minutes. Then you can wrap them in a treat bag and add a pretty ribbon.

I like to use certain color tops depending on the sprinkles I want to use. My favorite look is Pink or White with Pink M&M's and pastel Nonpareils.

Look how cute they came out!



OH MY GOD! I cant take it! SO CUTE! I LOVE IT! AHH!


Of course, if your like me and didnt have enough sticks you can make them into CUPCAKE BITES!




Thanks again Bakerella!