Delicious and Rich Chocolate Birthday Cake

I jump at any opportunity to bake, so realizing my Dad's birthday was approaching I knew I had to find a great recipe to celebrate. Once again I found myself looking through the Flour Cookbook (I highly recommend it!) for a chocolatey recipe per my father's request! So I decided on the "Midnight Chocolate Cake", in the book it was paired with a milk chocolate buttercream frosting, but that recipe alone called for six sticks of butter!!! I couldn't bring myself to use that much butter for the icing on the cake if you will! Instead I paired the cake with Hershey's Perfectly Dark Chocolate Frosting! My own spin on the cake was fabulous and regarded as "one of the best birthday cakes EVER!"
When it came time to frost I was running a little short so I decided to not frost the sides of the cakes, which added a welcome casual feel to the cake! Find any opportunity you can so that you can make this cake, it so moist and delicious...even days later (yes I am still enjoying it!).

(the lighting was prettier in reality than through the camera lens, it was natural light through a lacy curtain) 

Because of copyright...I am going to put up the recipes for the Hershey's Cake and Frosting, I am still trying to figure out if I am able to post recipes from a cookbook, do any of you know the answer? The Hershey's one is excellent I have made it before- and the recipes are very similar, the only real difference seems to be that Flour uses butter, while Hershey's uses oil!

Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake 

"

• 2 cups sugar
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup HERSHEY'S 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
• "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING (recipe follows)

Directions

1. 1 Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.
   
2. 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 mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.
   
3. 3 Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost with "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING. 10 to 12 servings.
   
   VARIATIONS:
   ONE-PAN CAKE: Grease and flour 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Heat oven to 350° F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely. Frost.
   
   THREE LAYER CAKE: Grease and flour three 8-inch round baking pans. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost.
   
   BUNDT CAKE: Grease and flour 12-cup Bundt pan. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 50 to 55 minutes. Cool 15 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely. Frost.
   
   CUPCAKES: Line muffin cups (2-1/2 inches in diameter) with paper bake cups. Heat oven to 350°F. Fill cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake 22 to 25 minutes. Cool completely. Frost. About 30 cupcakes.
   
   
   "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING
   
   1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
   2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
   3 cups powdered sugar
   1/3 cup milk
   1 teaspoon vanilla extract
   
   Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency.
   Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting."- Copied from http://www.hersheys.com/recipes/recipe-details.aspx?id=184

Cornmeal Lime Zinger Cookies

When looking through my Flour cookbook for like the millionth time, no kidding I sometimes even read it while taking a bubble bath, these cookies finally caught my attention. At first I skipped over them because the combination of cornmeal and lime did not sound appealing to me. For some reason I found myself reading Johanne's into and background of the cookie, and I suddenly found myself wanting to make these cookies as soon as possible! She described this "addicting" lime glaze, and I was hooked. So finally the other day I went on a baking binge and got around to making these cookies!
These cookies are addicting as Ms. Chang said, there is the cake-like cookie topped with a zingy lime glaze! I will be adding these to my regular roundup of recipes! The recipe can be found below in the links, I am afraid of copyright if I were to post it.
Enjoy!

That glaze....nom, nom, nom (I may or may not have eaten the glaze straight from the bowl :) )

Recipe from The Flour Bakery Cookbook  and also found here Flour Cornmeal Lime Cookies

S'mores Brownie Bites

I AM SO SORRY that this post has taken me so long, in the middle of preparing to post something my power went out because of lightning! So that kind of threw off my mojo, but now I am back with a slew of recipes to post! First up is S'mores Brownie Bites

Seeing as it is summer, I have become obsessed with S’mores!  I have gaped, and gawked at completely homemade s’mores, s’mores bars, s’mores cookies and even s’mores cupcakes. I decided to combine all of these fabulous s’mores ideas into one delicious treat. So, I made S’mores brownies in muffin tins as an ode to s’mores cupcakes.  While I did not try it, I am sure you could make this recipe as traditional bar brownies.

These are supreme brownies. I used a slightly adapted form of the Nestle Toll House Double Chocolate brownies (found on the back of the Semi-Sweet chocolate chip bag) and added a bit of MollyCakes Magic in the form of fluff and ground up graham crackers!

For the first batch, I plopped one large cookie scooper of brownie mix into the muffin pan and then put a teaspoon of fluff on top sprinkled with graham crackers. While the first batch tasted good, they caved in, so for the second batch I used a mini cookie scooper and put two scoops of brownie into each muffin cup, then I put the teaspoon of fluff and a sprinkle of graham cracker. Finally, I put one more plop of brownie batter on top. The second batch turned out way more visually appealing!

Hope you enjoy these as much as I did and my parents (again they got to them before I could photograph a large batch in fact before I was able to photograph any)! So hopefully the ingredients will be enough to entice you!

Ingredients: 

2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter 

3 eggs

1 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 cup sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract 

1/4 tsp baking soda 

4 graham crackers crushed until powdery

Marshmallow Fluff 

Directions: 

Preheat the oven to 350 and spray a muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray. Then melt one cup of the chocolate chips and butter (either in microwave or on stovetop), until smooth and creamy. Away from heat, mix the eggs in the chocolate mixture, then mix in the flour, sugar, vanilla extract and baking soda. Stir in the other cup of chocolate chips. Scoop about two teaspoons of brownie batter into each muffin cup, then plop one teaspoon of fluff on top and sprinkle with graham crack powder. Finally then put on more teaspoon of brownie batter on top. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until brownies don't indent when poked or a skewer comes out clean. 

Recipe originally found on back of the Toll House Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chip Bag

Hope you enjoy!!

Molly

Don't venture into the Forbidden Forest...but do venture into the Black Forest Cookies

In high school I took a German History, which was taught by one of my favorite teachers. He would always mention black forest cake so one day while looking at recipe I came across this recipe and knew instantly that I had to make the cookies as a gift for him!! He loved them and they have been a hit ever since!! These cookies will have you addicted, my chocoholic friend instantly fell in LOVE with these and often requests me to make them. There is no shortage of chocolate in these cookies, there is cocoa and melted chocolate in the batter, on top of that there are chocolate chips mixed in!
What really makes these cookies are the dried cherries, the better the quality the better the cookie.
Be careful to guard some for yourself, as other members of my household got to my stash before I was able to photograph them. So, please forgive the quality of the following photo.

Enjoy!

Molly 

Just realized I forgot the recipe HAHA woops! Sorry so here it is!

Black Forest Cookies (Adapted from Martha Stewart) 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 8 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 package (about 12 ounces) milk chocolate chunks
• 1 1/2 cups dried cherries

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment. Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking power, set aside this mixture for later. In a saucepan melt the butter and chopped chocolate (can also do this in the microwave). After removing the sauce pan from the stove, whisk in the eggs and sugar until the mixture is smooth. Combine the chocolate mixture with the dry ingredients, be careful not to over mix. Stir in the milk chocolate and dried cherries, making sure they are evenly distributed. Refrigerate batter for 15 minutes (any longer and the dough becomes too tough to scoop). Drop a large cookie scooper worth of dough on the previously prepared baking sheets and bake for 9-12 minutes, cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes then transfer to metal rack to cool completely. 

Original Recipe from Martha Stewart

Oatmeal Cinnamon Chip Cookies

When I think of chips (I am talking about chips as in chocolate chips, not those greasy, but oh so delicious potato chips) I usually only think of chocolate chips, but little did I know there were cinnamon chips! In the future I hope to use them to make scones!
Now I was ecstatic to discover cinnamon chips because I love to add a dash of cinnamon to most recipes, including banana bread, cookies and muffins, even if it is not called for in the original recipe. You could call cinnamon my secret go to spice when I need that extra BAM as Emeril says!
I decided to ease my way into the land of cinnamon chips by beginning with Oatmeal Cinnamon Chip Cookie Recipe on the back of the bag! Of course I adapted it to my likings and here is what I came up with!

Oatmeal Cinnamon Chip Cookies


Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar packed
1/3 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1and 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 and 1/2 cups Old Fashioned Oats
10 oz. package of HERSHEY'S Cinnamon Chips


Directions: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. With an electric mixer cream together the white sugar, brown sugar and butter. Then beat in the eggs and vanilla extract. Add the flour and baking soda, then stir in the oats and cinnamon chips. Drop dough by the large cookie scoop onto ungreased cookie sheet. Then use plastic wrap to flatten the dough for even cooking. Bake for about 13 minutes, cool for two minutes on cookie sheet then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe adapted from HERSHEY'S

Hope you enjoy these cookies as much as I do!!
Also please "like" the new MollyCakes Facebook Page at MollyCakesBakes Facebook!
Enjoy!
Molly

Sugar and Chai Spice Cookies Makes Everything Nice

I love chai lattes whether they are hot or cold. So, you can imagine my excitement when I stumbled upon a recipe for chai spice cookies on the blog called mybakingaddiction! Immediately I bookmarked the recipe, and finally decided to use it while baking with a friend before she went away for a month. I have since made the cookies again and they were awesome! Not only do these taste delicious, but they make your kitchen house smell AMAZING!
The recipe calls for cardamom, which I had been wanting to buy for a long while, but just could not bring myself to because of the fourteen dollar price at my grocery store. One day I discovered that Target had cardamom for only eight dollars, again you can imagine my excitement!!!
I won't keep you waiting any longer because I know you can't wait to dig into these scrumptious cookies!!

Chai Spice Cookies 
Ingredients: 
2 and 3/4 cups of all purpose flour
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 and 3/4 cups of sugar
3 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon of finely ground black pepper
1 cup (2 sticks) of unsalted butter at room temperature
1 egg
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line baking sheets with parchment paper. Sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder in a large bowl, set aside for later. In a small bowl mix together the sugar, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cardamom, and black pepper. Save just under 1/4 cup of the sugar and spice mixture to roll the cookies in before baking. Using an electric mixer cream the butter and remaining sugar and spice mixture for 3 minutes. Then beat in the egg and vanilla extract. Stir in the flour mixture until the dough has just combined. Roll dough into balls the size of two teaspoons, then roll dough in sugar and spice mixture. Transfer onto cookie sheets. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, let the cookies cool for two minutes on cookie sheet before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe Originally from My Baking Addiction

Red, White Cake, and Blue!

Hello! One day while looking at food blogs I came across a technique to make a cake look like a flag when you cut into it (originally appeared on the blog 17 and Baking). Secretlifeofachefswife suggested a white cake recipe, but I decided to use a white coconut cake recipe from my Flour cookbook. Sadly, I do not think I can share the recipe as it is published in a book. Well anyways, the cake was DELICIOUS, I would highly recommend the recipe and the book! Here are some pictures of my cake, the flag is not so distinct but you can still kind of make it out. I promise next post will have a recipe, but it make take a few days as I am not feeling so great recently.

Enjoy!
Molly

MollyCakes: First is the worst...

MollyCakes: First is the worst...: Hello! I am so excited to finally get this up and running. This is going to be a very quick post, as it is my first post EVER. For a couple ...

First is the worst...

Hello! I am so excited to finally get this up and running. This is going to be a very quick post, as it is my first post EVER. For a couple years I have been into baking, but only recently have I gotten into baking blogs, the food and the pictures are ohhh so gorgeous. Well for my first post I will share  some pictures of cookies I made the other day. Remember when you were younger you would say "First is the worst, second is the best, third is the one with the treasure chest"? So this post may just be my worst (i made rookie mistakes :( )...please hang in there! At this time I won't share the recipe because I ended up using the wrong one ( I meant to use my chocolate chip cookie recipe which I thought I was using, but instead I used my Choc-oat-nut Cookies Recipe), while the results were edible they were certainly not the best. At a later date I will use the recipe the way it was planned to be made so for now here are some pictures! Sorry for the quality of the pictures, I am trying to learn more and more about food photography! 

Thank you so much and hope you continue to follow this!! 
Molly