Baking Junkie

April, 2011

Tuesday, April 26th, 2011

Chocolate Cherry Coke Cupcakes

Recipe adapted from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen

Chocolate cherry coke cupcakes…the name just sounds refreshing doesn’t it? If you would have asked me two months ago I would have told you they sounded disgusting!

Fact #1: Some of you might cringe a little when you read this, but believe it or not I don’t drink soda (or pop, or coke, whatever you’d like to call it). I guess I can’t exactly say never, but I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve consumed soda in the past year.

Fact #2: I don’t like cherries or cherry flavored anything.

It’s quite a conundrum that a girl who doesn’t like coke, or cherries, would make chocolate cherry coke cupcakes. I never thought it would happen either. I’ve mentioned before that I’m making cupcakes for a wedding in June, and the groom requested some sort of chocolate cherry creation. It was fate when just a few weeks later I saw these in my Google reader. I sent the link to the bride-to-be (because let’s face it, she makes all the decisions anyway) and she gave me the thumbs up to try them out.

I have never made a cake with buttermilk,or melted butter, but I think I need to start doing it more often. This chocolate cake was so incredibly moist and mouthwatering! The frosting starts out like a basic buttercream but is flavored with cherry juice. Kristan added about half a jar of chopped cherries, but I only used a few. When I needed to thin the frosting out a bit at the end I added some milk instead of adding more cherry juice, but if you are a cherry lover then feel free to go with the juice. I thought the cherry flavor was perfect without being overpowering. The chocolate ganache on top is the perfect compliment to the rest of the flavors and is what completely makes the cupcakes in my opinion. I never would have guessed it, but these beauties have shot up the list and are now one of my top 3 favorite cupcakes! Enjoy!

Chocolate Cherry Coke Cupcakes
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1 box chocolate cake mix
1 stick butter, melted
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1 cup Coke

Cherry Frosting:
1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, room temperature
10 oz jar maraschino cherries
4 cups powdered sugar
1-2 Tbsp milk

Glaze:
4 Tablespoons melted butter
2 Tablespoons cocoa powder
1/4 cup Coke
2 cups powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together cake mix, butter, buttermilk, eggs and Coke until well combined. Pour into lined muffin tins, about ⅔ full. Bake for approximately 15 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

To make frosting, beat together the butter and four tablespoons of the maraschino cherry juice. In 1 cup increments add the powdered sugar and beat until fully combined. At this point you can add some coarsely chopped cherries (I only used a few, you could use as many as you like). If the frosting needs to be thinned you can add 1-2 Tbsp of milk or substitute with some of the remaining cherry juice. Frost fully cooled cupcakes, then place in the refrigerator to chill for about one hour.

To make the glaze, melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium low heat. Once the butter has melted add the cocoa powder and Coke. Once this mixture begins to boil remove from heat and whisk in the powdered sugar. Spoon over chilled cupcakes and top with remaining cherries (if there are any).

Tags: Buttercream, Cherry, chocolate, Cupcakes, Ganache

Posted in Cupcakes | 17 Comments »

Sunday, April 24th, 2011

Cinnamon Roll Cheesecake

Recipe inspired by Peabody

When I first started making cheesecake, I never imagined making anything other than a plain cheesecake. Derek and I were both completely satisfied with the recipe, and he never asked for anything different.

Then I saw Peabody’s recipe for cinnamon roll cheesecake, and my eyes were opened to a whole new world!

Cinnamon rolls and cheesecake are two of my favorite things, so the thought of combining them seemed perfect (why can’t I ever think of these things first??). While the original recipe looks great, I really wanted to play around with it a little. Many, many years ago my sister gave me a cookbook put together by her company. There are some great recipes, and one of them is for something called a graham streusel cake. It is very similar to a coffee cake, and it has always been a hit. I can’t get enough of the streusel made with graham cracker crumbs so I couldn’t wait to try it in this cheesecake. The premise is very simple: I use my basic cheesecake recipe (you could use this one or your favorite), pour down half the batter, cover with a layer of streusel, followed by remaining batter and then streusel again. Once the cheesecake has been made I drizzle it with the powdered sugar icing that I use on my actual cinnamon rolls. The hardest part for me is always letting the cheesecake cool before slicing into it. Enjoy!

Cinnamon Roll Cheesecake
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Crust:
1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 stick butter (melted)
1/2 cup sugar

Filling:
3 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3 large eggs

Streusel:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
½ cup brown sugar
½ tsp cinnamon
½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted

Topping:
2 Tbsp butter, melted
½ tsp vanilla
¾ cup powdered sugar
3 tsp milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. To make the crust, combine the graham cracker crumbs and sugar, then add melted butter, mixing with a fork. Press into bottom and slightly up sides of a 9 inch springform pan and bake in the oven for 8 minutes to set.

While the crust is in the oven, begin making the streusel. Using a fork mix together the graham cracker crumbs, brown sugar, and cinnamon, then add melted butter and stir into a crumbly mixture.

In a medium sized bowl beat together cream cheese and sugar. Add vanilla. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each egg. Make sure you scrape the sides of the bowl with a spoon or spatula to fully incorporate all of the ingredients.

Pour half of the cheesecake mixture onto the crust, then top with half of the streusel. Pour remaining cheesecake batter on top and add another layer of the remaining streusel. Place springform pan on rimmed baking sheet and place in the middle rack of the oven. Bake 50-60 minutes. Allow to cool fully (usually a few hours in the refrigerator).

To make the topping mix together the melted butter, vanilla and powdered sugar. Add milk to thin. Drizzle over cheesecake before serving.

Tags: Cheesecake, Cinnamon

Posted in Cheesecake | 8 Comments »

Wednesday, April 20th, 2011

Funfetti Cake Pops

Recipe from Bakerella

If any of you are food bloggers, or avid bakers, these are probably nothing new to you. Bakerella has created a cake ball/cake pop craze over the past few years, and with good reason. When I first heard of these a few years ago I knew that I needed to try them. I mean come on, cake, frosting, and chocolate? In a small little bite sized package so I won’t feel so bad for eating ~~one~~ six of them? Yes please.

Let’s travel back in time to Christmas 2008. My annual baking day where I spend hours upon hours in the kitchen. These were on the list. If only I hadn’t gone out for a friends birthday the night before and gotten zero sleep. These may have turned out better. I used almond bark, and this was before I knew that you could add shortening or vegetable oil to thin it out. Also before I knew you should keep the cake balls in the freezer for longer than 10 minutes before rolling them. Let’s just say it was a royal disaster that ended in me eating a handful of plain cake balls with no covering, and dumping the rest in the garbage.

Fast forward a few years and I have finally decided to attempt them again. I mean come on, I have a baking blog now. My skills have grown. Surely I candle these, right?

Sort of.

I was ambitious and used homemade frosting. I even kept them in the freezer overnight so they would be good and ready for dipping. I used candy melts this time.

Still fail.

Ok so not quite. Most people thought they looked fine. Me? I’m a perfectionist, and will always compare myself to Bakerella so of course I thought they looked horrible! How do people dip things and get a smooth coating, because I certainly couldn’t figure it out. At least the taste was fabulous, but I decided I just couldn’t take pictures of them for the world to see.

Fast forward another month, and I decided to give them one more try. I figured it must be much easier to use cake pops so that they stay on the stick while you dip them right? Ok so most of them did, but not all! I still found the process frustrating and was about to give up on cake balls/pops forever.

Until Derek woke up.

He saw how frustrated I was and did his husbandly duty by consoling me. Then he asked to try one, and wouldn’t you know it turned out better than any of the ones I had previously made. On his first try! He figured out that it’s much easier if you roll the cake pop around instead of just dunking it right in. Just continue rolling to let the excess drip off and easy peasy!

He’s pretty proud of himself.

So there you have it, my cake ball saga. Since I made these for Easter I decided to go with a funfetti cake mix and frosting, but any cake and frosting combinations can be used. Since Bakerella is the queen of these things I highly suggest checking out her website if you haven’t already. You’ll find a ton of great stuff there! Enjoy! Bakerella video

Funfetti Cake Pops
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1 box Funfetti cake mix
Ingredients listed on box
1 can Funfetti frosting
2 bags of candy melts (any flavor or color)
Lollipop sticks

Make cake according to directions on box. Once cake has cooled crumble it into pieces into a large bowl (you could also use a mixer). Mix with can of funfetti frosting. Roll into small balls and place on a large cookie sheet. You should get about 4 dozen. Place in freezer for at least 20 minutes to chill.

Melt candy melts in microwave according to package directions. You may add a tablespoon of shortening to thin if needed. Remove a few cake balls (I recommend no more than 5) at a time from the freezer. Dip the end of a lollipop stick into the melted chocolate, then stick into a cake ball. Dip entire ball into melted chocolate. Swirl around to remove excess. Place stick into a piece of styrofoam to dry. Repeat process with remaining cake balls.

Tags: Cake, Cake Pops, chocolate

Posted in Cake | 13 Comments »

Sunday, April 17th, 2011

Cinnamon Streusel Pancakes

Recipe adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod

I know that I have said it before, but for those of you who are new to the site let me just reiterate one thing:

I. Love. Breakfast. Foods.

I would be completely content eating breakfast for every meal (and I’m pretty sure I’ve done that before)! Lately I seem to have an obsession with pancakes. I have never had a problem eating pancakes from a mix, and still don’t, but my pancake horizons have been expanding. These oatmeal brown sugar pancakes were my first glimpse of the plethora of possibilities out there, and I didn’t think it was possible but I like this recipe even better!

Cinnamon is one of my favorite flavors, so anything with it in the title instantly draws me in. I like to make recipes like this when we have guests, but I couldn’t wait so I just made them on an ordinary weekend when it was just Derek and I. He doesn’t share my obsession with pancakes and is happy just eating one every once in a while, but even these got a reaction out of him. Any recipe that gets him to eat pancakes two days in a row is definitely a winner!

This is one of those recipes that I really have a hard time talking about, simply because I feel I can never fully express to you in words exactly how good they are. There was definitely some moaning involved while I was eating! One is definitely enough, because they are very, very sweet. You probably don’t even need syrup, although it just makes them even better.

My favorite thing about this recipe is that it has actually ended my search for the perfect homemade buttermilk pancakes. If you don’t think you’ll like the streusel, I beg of you to at least try the plain pancake recipe. They are fabulous! Light and fluffy, they taste just like something you would order at a restaurant. I have already made them again for a different (and spectacular) pancake recipe, plus just had some plain, and I’m amazed at how delicious each bite it. Have I convinced you yet??

Enjoy!

Cinnamon Streusel Pancakes
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2 cups all purpose flour
2 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
2 cups buttermilk
2 eggs
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract

Streusel:

6 Tbsp cold butter, cut into pieces
½ cup all purpose flour
½ cup brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Make the streusel first. Combine all ingredients and cut together using a knife or pastry cutter. Mixture should form small crumbles. Set aside.

In a large bowl whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
In a smaller bowl stir together buttermilk, eggs, oil and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. It should be a little lumpy.

Heat a griddle or pan, and either butter or coat with cooking spray. Pour approximately 1 cup of batter onto griddle, then pour approximately 2 tablespoons of the streusel on top. Cook for 2-3 minutes, or until bubbles form on sides. Flip pancake and cover remaining side with streusel. Cook for another 2-3 minutes or until browned. Repeat for remaining pancakes.

Tags: Cinnamon, pancakes, Streusel

Posted in Breakfast | 14 Comments »

Wednesday, April 13th, 2011

Pickle Roll-ups

For those of you who live in the Midwest, you most likely know how amazing these are.

For anyone outside of the Midwest, I completely understand that you may be cringing a little right now. Pickles, and ham, and cream cheese? Gross!

Far from it!

I have been eating these for as long as I can remember. They are a staple at Christmas every year. At first I remember thinking the combination sounded quite disgusting, but there is nothing quite like it. Not only do I bring a dessert to every potluck at work, but I usually end up bringing these as well, and there are never leftovers. When I made these last time I realized I didn’t have the right pickles at home and had to send Derek to the store, but he said he would only go as long as he could eat ~~five~~ a few.

The procedure is really quite simple. Spread some cream cheese on a piece of ham. Roll the ham around a pickle, slice and serve. This is easiest to do if you use large dill pickles. You could use the baby dills, but I would serve them as a whole instead of slicing. You also need to make sure you buy ham that is in the shape of a rectangle. The round slices you get from the deli just won’t work very well. When slicing, I try to cut off the very ends of the pickle, since they don’t wrap well. I usually save these for snacking! You should be able to get 3-4 slices out of each pickle, depending on how big you make them. Enjoy!

Pickle Roll-Ups
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10 slices of ham (rectangular in shape)
10 large dill pickles
2-3 ounces cream cheese

Using a paper towel, blot dry one piece of ham. Spread a thin layer of cream cheese on ham, then place a pickle at the edge. Roll and slice off ends. Slice remaining roll into 3-4 pieces. Repeat with remaining ingredients (you could make more or less depending on your needs). Chill until serving.

Posted in Appetizers | 22 Comments »