My delicious birthday cake

It was my birthday yesterday. I really love birthdays! That must be why I love January. Not only is it my birthday but it's my mother in-law's, my dad's and my little girl's!
I can remember being a little girl and being so excited that it was just someone's birthday! It didn't have to be mine. I would put up balloons on the cupboard's and try to decorate as much as a little girl could!
I would sit with a HUGE smile on my face....it was seriously HUGE! I was a weird kid. I used to sit and smile the huge smile when I coloured. I remember someone asking me why I was smiling and I just thought "why wouldn't you smile? you're COLOURING!"
Anyway, could you guess what kind of cake I made for myself? ...and don't say "aw, you had to make your own cake?!" YES! I love making cakes! It's like 2 birthday presents in 1! You all know what I love; so naturally I made a vanilla cake.

Just kidding! Obviously I made the most chocolate filled cake that I could get my mouth around. I found a delightful recipe in the back of the new Looneyspoons cookbook. To raise the intensity of the chocolate meter, I used only dark chocolate! I also had to adapt the recipe a bit. The original called for a cup of coffee.  I switched it to chocolate milk. More chocolate couldn't hurt right?

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Died-and-Gone-to-Heaven Chocolate Layer Cake
Adapted from The Looneyspoons Collection

Cake
3 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups flour
1 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 cup chocolate milk
3/4 oil
1 tsp vanilla
4 oz (113g) unsweetened chocolate, melted and slightly cooled

Frosting

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 cup whipping cream
6 oz (170g) unsweetened chocolate
2 tsp vanilla
1 pkg cream cheese
1 cup butter, at room temp

-Preheat oven to 350F. Place parchment paper in 3 9-inch round cake pans.
- Combine sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.
- In another large bowl, beat eggs with electric mixer for 3 minutes until they are thick and lemon coloured. Add buttermilk, chocolate milk, oil, vanilla and melted chocolate. Mix until well blended.
- Grdually add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix on medium until batter is smooth.
- Divide batter evenly between pans and bake for 25 -30 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
- Let cake cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool completely before frosting.

- To make frosting; whisk together sugar, cocoa powder and whipping cream in a medium pot. Cook slowly over medium heat, whisking constantly, until mixture comes to a gentle boil. Cook 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate until melted. Stir in vanilla and let cool to room temp.
- In another large bowl, beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add cooled chocolate mixture and beat until well blended. Refrigerate frosting for 1 hour. If you wait too long it will get too hard to spread!
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This recipe makes a 3 layer cake! It's intense, chocolate and labour wise! oh, and It tastes better cold. The icing gets fudge like. We stuck it outside because there was no room in the fridge.

I thought it was worth it for a special birthday cake.

...and I promise the next post will not be chocolate!!

Banana mmmuffins!

Well, we didn't have a very good night last night. Kaiya, the poor little girl; has a fever and she was up all night. Of course, she decided to go to sleep once the other 2 woke up!

I got the kids ready for church and was going to drop them off so Grandma could watch them. Everyone was bundled up, buckled in and ready to go! I sat down to start the car and it just wouldn't start! My new neighbour came out to help me...it still didn't work.

Oh well! We decided to come inside and the kids wanted to bake!

How rude of me, I don't think I've introduced my most recent addition to the family:

She wanted to bake too!!

My brand spankin' new Kitchen Aid mixer!! I have been coveting those that own one of these for quite some time. It was my birthday present (thanks Dustin!!)

Anyway, back to baking. I had some bananas that were turning brown so we decided to make banana muffins! These really are the best banana muffins you will ever make, and they're so easy! To compensate for the car mishap, I added some chocolate chips. Chocolate will only make things better.
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Banana Muffins
makes 12 muffins

3  large bananas, mashed
1/2 cup white sugar
1  egg
1/3 cup oil or melted margarine or butter
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Mix the mashed banana, sugar, egg and oil together in a large bowl.
In a separate bowl, mix together baking soda, baking powder, salt and flour.
Mix wet and dry ingredients together and fold in your chocolate!
Pour into lined muffin tins, and bake at 350 degrees for 18- 20 minutes.
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Look who's trying to sneak one!

I usually double the recipe because they really don't last long around here! I substituted a 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour in these ones. I did it because I was too lazy to go downstairs to get some more white I'm trying to eat better!

Enjoy these. They're so good!

Starting out!

Here it goes!

I have finally decided to join the blogosphere! I have an overload of recipes and need to archive them, plus why not share them?

My first recipe. What should it be? There are a multitude of delicious desserts out there! First, I think you should know, I love, and I mean really love chocolate. It has always been one of my favourites growing up. So why not share one of my favourite brownie recipes?

I remember when I was a brownie...(not just a cookie!), I baked up a batch of brownies so I could complete my baking badge. I brought them to my sisters "flying up ceremony". I'm not really sure if that's what it's called, but that's what I'm calling it. She was moving up to Girl Guides; she made some wings, and I made brownies. I guess in the chaos, no one realize that I baked the brownies for my badge. I never ended up getting my baking badge, I should probably write a letter to the brownie headquarters because I deserve my badge!

Well, here it is, a beloved brownie recipe:
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Fudgy Brownies


1 1/3 cups of all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter
1 cup Fry's cocoa ( or any another premium cocoa)
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla


Stir together flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl.
Melt butter in a large saucepan, and remove from heat.
Stir in the cocoa and blend in the sugar, eggs and vanilla.
Add dry ingredients until you get a delicious smooth chocolate batter.
Resist the urge to eat it...ok, have a little taste!

Place parchment paper or grease your 13" x 9" rectangular pan and pour the goodness in!
Bake in preheated 350°F oven for 30 to 35 minutes.
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These guys are way better once you let them cool down. I'm so impatient, I usually burn myself because I want to taste things, but wait! Be patient with these ones. They are well worth the wait.