Category: Desserts

Key Lime Cupcakes

Recipe here.

For Girl’s birthday party tomorrow.  Had to try one tonight…you know, just to make sure that they were OK…before I served them to the children.  I wouldn’t want to serve them an inferior baked good, you know…

The verdict?  Yum!  The cake itself is rich and moist and slightly Red Velvet-y (because of the buttermilk,) but without any chocolate flavor, of course.  I omitted the green food coloring, so the cakes are white on our cupcakes, rather than green (eww!)

The frosting is creamy and delicious with a PRONOUNCED lime tang.  I love citrus and the flavor of these definitely does not disappoint.  I sprinkled a TINY bit of extra lime zest on top of each cupcake after frosting.  I didn’t frost them too heavily, so had an extra cup of frosting leftover.  I’ll have to come up with something to do with it.  It might be really nice on a loaf of zucchini bread…

White-on-White Buttermilk Cake with Jack Daniels Buttercream

Recipe here.

I actually made this in January, but somehow forgot to post it until now (just came across the photos when clearing off my laptop’s desktop,) but it was definitely more memorable than my behavior would have you believe.  This was a delicious, rich cake that was fluffy and sweet without being cloying and would be a perfect birthday cake for anyone except the most fervent teetotalers.

Will be a definitely repeat…possibly for Hubby’s birthday in a couple of months?

Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake

Recipe here.

We made this recently for a birthday cake for one of  The Boy’s pals.  It went over quite nicely, even though some friends initially expressed concern about the mayonnaise in the batter.  Apparently, it is a regional (The Carolinas, I believe?) specialty and may (or may not, depending upon which account you read) have originated due to creative solutions to deal with WWII food rationing.

Either way, it was rich and tasty.  If you think about it, mayonnaise is made from eggs and oil, anyway, so adding mayo rather than those two ingredients, independently isn’t really a deviation from most “normal” cake batters, anyway.

I forgot to take another photo of the cake after we actually sliced and served it, but epicurious has some good photos, if you follow the recipe link.

Peanut Butter Milk Chocolate Puddings

Recipe here.

Make these now.  Really.  Yum.  They are like a creamy pudding-like version of a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup.  Absolutely delicious and very simple.  They would be perfect for a dinner party, because they can be prepared in advance (they actually need to chill for a couple of hours before serving.)  They are VERY rich and you could probably make them a little smaller than the recipe calls for to stretch the number of servings to 8 (rather than the specified 6,) without feeling too deprived.

We will DEFINITELY be making these again.

Mexican Chocolate Eclairs

So, I decided to spice up the eclairs that I made recently to go with last night’s Mexican meal.  I used the same recipe, but added about 1/8 tsp. of Cinnamon Spice Blend to the vanilla filling and 1 teaspoon of McCormick Cocoa Chile Blend to the chocolate glaze.  I really liked the original version a lot, but this was a fun variation, too.  I have had fun playing with chocolate and spices in the past (with Winter-Spiced Molten Chocolate Cakes here and Cinnamon Cupcakes with Chile-Chocolate Buttercream here.) There was just enough chile “kick” in these without being too hot and the cinnamon really added a lot of depth to the filling.  If I’m going to do this again, it’s probably not worth using a subtle vanilla bean, if I’m just going to cover it up with cinnamon.  If I doctor it again, I’d probably use vanilla extract in the filling and not waste the effort (and money!) on a vanilla bean unless I’m keeping the filling plain vanilla, where the bean’s flavor can be appreciated.

Oz-cakes

Boy and Girl both had roles in their school’s production of The Wizard of Oz.  I have, historically, made something to contribute to the concession stand, but I’ve just now gotten around to posting about it.  I made some “Yellow Brick Road” cupcakes (yeah, I’m pretty proud of the brick pattern – can you see it in the photo?) and some that just had little character picks (I just LOVE internet shopping) on them.

The kids had a ball in the show (Boy was “Uncle Henry” and Girl was “Dorothy”.)  I won’t say anything else here, because I am absolutely incapable of anything approaching impartiality on this subject and I don’t want to drone on and on with my superlatives…suffice to say that it was a great show and an overall fantastic experience for all involved.