Chocolate Cake and Frosting- With NO butter or milk?! Yes!!

Chocolate Cupcakes and Frosting- no milk or butter!

Cole has his preschool birthday party tomorrow and he gets to bring a treat to celebrate with his classmates.  He asked for chocolate cupcakes, green frosting and pirate flags- done!

I am always looking for new recipes and I think I just might have found one that I will use forever more. BOTH the cake AND frosting recipe doesn't use any milk or butter, crazy right?!  Best part is the cake is super moist and the frosting is creamy- perfection.

Here is how I made them-

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  In a microwave safe bowl measure 1 1/2 c water.  Add 4 ounces or 1/4 cup chocolate chips to the water and microwave for 90 seconds.  Stir and microwave another 90 seconds until chocolate is melted.  Whisk together, adding 1/3 c cocoa powder until smooth.  Set aside.

In my mixer I beat 1 c oil, 1 c sugar, 1 c brown sugar, 3 eggs and 1 tsp vanilla.  Mix on high for about 3 minutes- it will become light and fluffy.

In another separate bowl, stir together 2 1/2 c flour, 1 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp baking powder and a dash of salt.  

Add the flour mixture and chocolate mixture alternately to the oil mixture in the mixer, stirring well after each addition.  When all ingredients have been added, keep mixing for another solid minute to combine.

I made cupcakes which the recipe made 30 of ... I baked at 350 degrees for 20 minutes and let cool.  If you decided to make a sheet cake instead increase your time to about 35-40 minutes. 

For the frosting I used this ...

 

yes, organic all vegetable shortening.  It is non-hydrogented too, which means it doesn't have any of the bad fats in it, hooray!!

In a bowl I used 1 cup shortening, 16 ounces (1/2 my 2 pound bag) of powdered sugar and 1 tsp of vanilla.  I beat it well until it was smooth and added the coloring.  Done!

Frost, decorate and enjoy!!

Baked Chicken with a Swiss Cheese & White Wine Sauce

Baked Chicken with a Swiss Cheese & White Wine Sauce

Over the Christmas holiday we joined my parents for dinner and my Mom made this chicken that I hadn't had in years.  Oh. My. Goodness.  SO good.  I got the recipe from her and it is an absolute must in the menu rotation!!

I actually made this last minute the other evening, so I used frozen chicken.  Place 4-6 chicken breasts in a prepared 9x13 pan - less chicken just means more sauce, which is never a bad thing!

Cover the chicken with about 1 1/2 c chopped onion.  Slice an 8 oz pkg of swiss cheese and lay on top of the chicken as well.  

In a bowl, mix together 1/2 c white wine with 2 cans cream of chicken soup.  Pour over the chicken as well.  In another bowl, mix together 1/2 c melted butter with about 1 c bread crumbs.  Sprinkle the bread crumb mixture on top of the chicken and bake.

If the chicken you began with was thawed, bake for 1 1/2 hrs at 350 degrees-  If you used frozen chicken bake for about 2 hours at 375 degrees uncovered. 

As this bakes your home will smell fantastic.  We enjoyed this with a side of green beans and rice pilaf.  Using more chicken for this recipe also provides yummy lunches for the hubs the next day too!

Thanks to my Momma for passing along another family favorite!!

Caramelized Topping for Breads, Cakes and Ice Cream

Caramelized Topping for Breads, Cakes and Ice Cream

Coffee Cakes and Banana Breads are made all the time in our house and sometimes it is nice to have a little something to change up a recipe, taste and texture to the usual.

SUPER simple and always tasty- 3 ingredients and 3 minutes is all you need.

In a saucepan melt 1/2 c butter.  Add 1 c brown sugar and 1 tbsp cinnamon to melted butter.  Constantly stir until a thick caramelized sugar is created.

I have used this to top coffee cake batter and when using it for banana bread, be sure to wait a bit into your baking to add.  I typically bake my banana bread for 70 minutes at 325 degrees, so with about 20 minutes remaining, add the topping.  By waiting, you can be sure that the topping doesn't bake into the bread and it remains the topping you desire.  Also, be sure to cover with foil during the remaining bake time to prevent burning.  

If you find you have a little extra, it is a great ice cream topping as well!

Buttermilk-Raspberry Cake

Buttermilk-Raspberry Cake

I read a recipe recently that sounded super yummy, but I didn't have all the ingredients and since I was baking with my boys, I had to adapt to a minor mishap- in the end, we had a delicious Saturday morning breakfast.

Begin by preheating your oven to 350 degrees.  Cream 1/2 c butter with 2 c sugar ... when I bring out my beaters, the boys arrive at my side with their little step stools and the helping begins!

Add 1 egg and 1 tsp vanilla until well combined.

In a separate bowl, place 2 c raspberries.  Mix in 1/4 c flour to lightly coat the berries.  By doing this, the berry coloring will not bleed into the cake. 

Mix together 2 c flour, 2 tsp baking powder and a pinch of salt and then add to the raspberries.  At this point my little helper turned the beaters on high and we had a beautiful, bright red batter.  No problem, tastes the same.  The number one rule in baking with your kiddos after safety is ADAPT!  

At this point mix in 1/2 c buttermilk to the batter.

Prepare a 8x8 square baking pan and pour the batter in.  

Sprinkle some sugar on top and bake for 45 minutes.  Let it cool for a few moments and then serve!

Coffee Cake in a Pinch

Coffee Cake in a Pinch

It has been quite a while since I have blogged and shared some recipes.  This holiday season was rough to say the least.  Between injuring my foot in the beginning of November to just recently seeing healing finally take place to a loss of a job in our home, things just haven't been the same.

We are praising God that a job has come with growth potential, but in the mean time I am learning to cook and bake on a smaller budget, causing me to use the very last of each and every ingredient before shopping again.  Regardless of family income, I think this is a great frugal way to bake anyway!!  Why waste what is still good and useful??  It may take meal repetition at times, cooking for a few days at a time and LOTS of creativity, but it's a good challenge and I am up for it, are you?  

Well, this morning I looked into our fridge to find myself in the exact situation I just described.  I had just a little bit of some staple items so I went with it- the best thing about this recipe is that it was like it was made for our exact morning's time allowance and ingredients on hand.  Most coffee cakes take a bit of time to prepare and/or bake- this had about 5 minutes prep and 25 minutes to bake and even better ... right out of the oven I could slice it and it didn't crumble so it was perfect for Jeremy's breakfast on the way to work.

ok, enough rambling- here is how you do it-

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.  Oil a 8 inch square pan and set aside.

In a bowl stir together 1 1/2 c flour, 2 tsp baking powder and a pinch of salt.  Add in 3 tbsp melted butter and mix with an electric mixer.  Add 1/3 c sugar with 1 egg and continue to beat together.  Finish by mixing in 2/3 c milk.  Pour batter into your prepared  pan.

For a sugary topping, melt 1 tbsp butter in a saucepan.  Once melted, add 1/2 c brown sugar with 1 tsp cinnamon.  Take off of the stove and scatter on top of the batter evenly.  

Bake 25 minutes and serve.

I love that there wasn't an absurd quantity of any one ingredient, it preps and bakes quickly and all the ingredients are what would be in a typical kitchen!

Maple Bundt Cake with Meringue Topping

 

Maple Bundt Cake with Meringue Topping

We love coffee cake in our house, but I thought I would try something a little different for breakfast today.  Maple has a great breakfast flavor so that was the inspiration.

In a bowl combine 2 c flour, 2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp baking soda.

In a separate bowl place 1 1/2 sticks of softened butter to begin mixing.  Add 1/2 c packed brown sugar to the blended butter.  One at a time add 2 eggs and then 1/2 c of maple syrup as well as 2 tsp vanilla.  Once all mixed together add the dry ingredients with a cup of sour cream in rotating additions until all is well incorporated.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare a bundt pan and pour the batter evenly into the pan.  Bake for 35 minutes.

Let cool for 15 minutes and remove from pan to cool a few more minutes.

To make the meringue use an electric mixer and beat 3 egg whites and 1/4 tsp vanilla on high until soft peeks form.  Add 1/3 c sugar and continue to beat on high until the peeks are stiff.  Use a spatula to scoop the meringue onto the cake.

I placed the cake on a cookie sheet and set my oven to broil.  Place the cake in the oven for only a few minutes- just long enough for the meringue to brown.  I drizzled a little maple syrup on top of the meringue right after as well.

Cool, slice and enjoy!

Dulce De Leche

Dulce De Leche

I came across this idea and I couldn't help but try it to confirm that it ACTUALLY worked and now that I know it does I HAVE to share it with you all!  

Take a can of sweetened condensed milk ...

Peel the wrapper off and wash the outside ...

Fill your crock pot with enough water to completely cover your can ...

and let it sit on low for 8 hours.  Remove the can and let it cool completely in your frig.  Once cool, open the can and you have dulce de leche ... AMAZING!  

We have ours for ice cream toppings, filling for ebelskivers and to dip our marshmallows in- what will you use your's for??!