Sour Cream Peach Muffins Recipe

Sour Cream Peach Muffins

1 1/2 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup oil
1 egg
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups peaches, fresh or canned, drained and chopped
1/2 cup chopped nuts

Combine brown sugar and oil and egg in a mixing bowl. In another bowl, mix sour cream, salt, vanilla and baking soda. Add this to the mixing bowl and slowly blend in flour. Do not overmix. Fold in peaches and nuts. Pour into muffin cups and sprinkle with sugar and/or cinnamon. Put a bit of butter on top of each. Sprinkle nuts on top for more nuttier flavor. Bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes. Makes 15-20 muffins.

Apple Streusel Muffins Recipe

Apple Streusel Muffins

2 cups flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups chopped apples
1 1/2 cups shredded apples

Topping:
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon flour
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter, softened

In mixing bowl, mix flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and set aside.

In large mixing bowl mix butter and sugars until creamy. Add eggs and mix. Mix in shredded and chopped apples and vanilla. Gradually stir in flour mixture until well mixed. Batter will be thick.

To mix topping, combine brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and butter in a small bowl and mix with a fork to get smallish crumbly chunks.

Grease regular-sized muffin tins (or use paper liners) and fill each space with muffin batter. Then, sprinkle about a half teaspoon of streusel topping on each muffin.

Bake at 375F for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the muffin comes out clean. Makes about 16 muffins.

Lemon Pound Cake Recipe

Lemon Pound Cake

1 cup (2 sticks) butter
2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
5 eggs, beaten
juice of one lemon (about 1/4 cup or 3 tablespoons)
zest of one lemon
1 tablespoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Butter or oil two loaf pans or one bundt pan.

In bowl, mix flour with baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In large bowl, cream sugar and butter together until smooth. Add lemon zest.

Alternately add eggs and flour mixture, then add vanilla and lemon juice.

Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Chocolate Muffins with Chocolate Chips

I found the original recipe for these Chocolate Muffins (are muffins just cupcakes without frosting?) on the internet, looking for a recipe with oil instead of butter, and then tweaked it. These are fabulous! So rich and tasty! Highly recommended.

And here’s the recipe:

Chocolate Muffins with Chocolate Chips

1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 cup hot water
1/2 cup oil
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp vinegar
6 oz. pkg of chocolate chips

In a large mixing bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients. Mix/whisk together until blended.

Add water, oil, egg, and vanilla to dry mixture. Mix things together and then add the vinegar and mix until the batter is smooth and free of lumps.

Line a cupcake tin with paper cups. Fill each cup 2/3 full with batter. Sprinkle a few chocolate chips on top of the batter in each cup, about 8-10 chips per muffin.

Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. Makes about 16 cupcakes.

Chocolate Eclair Cake Recipe

Chocolate Eclair Cake

1 Large Box of Jello Vanilla Instant Pudding
Milk
Graham Crackers
Cool Whip
Chocolate Icing

Mix pudding and cool whip.

Microwave frosting for about 40 seconds.

Layers in 9×13 inch pan:
graham crackers (on bottom of pan)
pudding and cool whip mixture
graham crackers
pudding and cool whip mixture
Layer of frosting

Refrigerate overnight.

Chocolate Pound Cake with Ganache Icing Recipe

Chocolate Pound Cake with Ganache Icing

1 1/2 cup butter
3 cups granulated sugar
5 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons cocoa
1 cup milk
6oz. mini chocolate chips (optional)

Beat butter and sugar together, cream well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each one is added. Beat in vanilla.

Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then add the dry alternately with the milk to the creamed mixture.

Pour the batter into a greased 10-inch tube pan, leveling it in the pan somewhat as batter will be rather thick. Bake at 325° for 80 minutes, or until chocolate pound cake bounces back when touched lightly in the center with finger. Let cake cool completely before adding ganache.

Ganache Icing

1 cup heavy cream
12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Pour chips into a medium mixing bowl. Then, pour heavy cream into a small saucepan, and heat on low to medium heat until milk JUST begins to boil. Remove from heat and pour over chocolate chips. Mix with spoon or whisk until all chips are melted and mixture is smooth. Cool icing until it’s a thick texture, but not too thick, because you’ll want to drizzle it over the cake. Then, take a spoon and start drizzling!

We recommend keeping the cake in the refrigerator, especially during warm months.

Carrot Cake Recipe

Carrot Cake

Mix:
2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt

Add and Mix:
1 cup vegetable oil
2 small jars strained baby carrots (baby food works)
3 eggs

Stir with a spoon (don’t beat) until mixed.  Grease and flour a 9×13 inch pan and spoon the batter into the pan.  Bake at 300 degrees for one hour.  Cool.

Frost with cream cheese frosting, if desired.

Note: You can add a little bit of grated carrot to the cake mix if you like. Adds a little more ‘orange’ color and carrot flavor.

Happy Birthday Cake, John!

In honor of John’s birthday, we had cake for breakfast! *grin*

yellow cake with chocolate buttercream frosting

This is a homemade yellow layer cake with chocolate buttercream frosting. It’s not the neatest decorating job, but at least now I know what a cookie gun can do well, and can’t, in terms of frosting. (Next time I will use an icing bag to manually control the flow of frosting better. Notice how I blamed the tool instead of the user – hah!) Still it tastes really good, which is the most important part!

Below is the recipe for both the yellow cake and the chocolate buttercream frosting, although I switched out some fo the all-purpose flour for some cake flour to give it a slightly finer texture.

Happy Birthday, John!

Yellow Cake with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Yellow Cake Recipe

2 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups milk
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 stick softened butter
1 tablespoon vanilla
3 large eggs

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Mix in milk, oil, and softened (not melted) butter, and vanilla. Mix in three eggs and stir until well combined and as smooth as possible.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Oil 2 or 3 9-inch round pans for layers. Bake 20-25 minutes, 20 minutes for three pans, 25 for two, although each oven is different. If toothpick comes out clean, you’re done. Cool on baking rack before turning out of pan.

Chocolate Buttercream Recipe

(This recipe will cover a two layer cake, and MAYBE three if you stretch it. However, you can always make another ‘half’ batch of frosting so you’re not skimping.)

1/2 cup soft (not melted, but very soft) butter
2 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cups cocoa
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup milk

In medium bowl, sift sugar and cocoa together to get rid of any clumps. (Can also toss them into the food processor together for a few very short bursts.) Set aside.

In large bowl, mix butter and vanilla together. Add sugar and cocoa mixture. Then add milk and stir until smooth. If too thick add a teaspoon of milk at a time until desired consistency. If too runny, add a touch more powdered sugar until desired consistency.

Frost yellow cake layers when completely cooled.

Devil’s Food Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

I hadn’t planned on making cupcakes today, but you gotta follow your impulses! Maybe this is my way of celebrating the Spring Equinox! Yeah… I’m SURE that’s what it was… that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. 😀

So I used a recipe I got from the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook that we got for Christmas – Devil’s Food Cupcakes. I halved the recipe though, because I only wanted a dozen, and then I tossed together a classic vanilla buttercream frosting.

Devil's Food Cupcakes

As you can see in the photo, instead of spreading the frosting on with a knife, I got a little fancier. I made a pastry bag with wax paper (and tape), cut off the tip, inserted a decorating tip, then swirled the frosting in a spiral. Then, I sprinkled it with a touch of additional cocoa.I purposely didn’t lay the frosting all the way to the edge of the cupcake to be sure that none of it would fall off the side, to make it easier, or maybe ‘cleaner’ for the fingers, plus, I don’t like cupcakes that are overloaded with frosting.

I almost don’t want to eat them now! Of course, I don’t expect that sentiment to last long – this is CHOCOLATE we’re talking about here – LOL.

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Chocolate Ganache – Easier Than I Thought

A while ago, I had an impulse to try making chocolate ganache. For a long time I’d thought ganache to be this tremendously tricky thing (probably because the word ‘ganache’ SOUNDS complicated, although apparently it comes from the French word ‘jowl’, which makes sense, but suddenly makes it seem NOT so exotic anymore – heh), but when I found a recipe, I was pleasantly surprised and thought, “Hey, even *I* could make this!”

I used the chocolate ganache recipe from allrecipes.com (minus the rum – that just leaves heavy cream and chocolate chips), and poured the finished product over a single layer of a chocolate mayonnaise cake that I had made earlier just for this experiment.

It is recommended pouring the ganache on top of the cake when the cake’s on a baking rack so it doesn’t pool and the sides look smooth, but I did it right on the plate because I didn’t feel like messing with the rack, but in the future, I’d recommend the rack method. (You can see a bit of the pooling in the image above.)

Anyway, it came out nicely, I think. Next time, however, I’m going to add a touch more chocolate than is recommended and wait a tad longer for the ganache to cool, as it was a little thin when I poured it on the cake.

Also, if you whip the ganache in a mixer for about 5 minutes I hear you’ll get fantastic frosting, although I haven’t tried this myself yet.

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