Molten Chocolate Cake

 

 I made this cake for Lenny and I for our Valentine's Day dinner.  Lenny just had deviated septum surgery on Thursday so he is still in a lot of pain so I wanted to make something that would be easy for Lenny to eat.  I settled on this because I had everything on hand.

Ingredients:

4 squares BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate

1/2 cup  butter

1 cup powdered sugar

2 whole  eggs

2 egg yolks

6 Tbsp.  flour

1/2 cup thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping (I used vanilla ice cream)

Directions:

HEAT oven to 425°F.
BUTTER 4 small custard cups; place on baking sheet.
MICROWAVE chocolate and butter in large microwaveable bowl on HIGH 1 min. or until butter is melted; whisk until chocolate is completely melted. Stir in sugar. Add whole eggs and egg yolks; mix well. Stir in flour. Spoon into prepared cups.
BAKE 13 to 14 min. or until sides of desserts are firm but centers are still soft. Let stand 1 min. Carefully run small spatula or knife around cakes to loosen; invert into dessert plates. Serve warm with COOL WHIP.

Picture from my kitchen, recipe from Kraft.com.

SUSIE Q CAKE

Ingredients:
1 box chocolate cake mix (devil's food)
1 1/2 c. milk
4 1/2 tbsp. flour
2 c. powdered sugar
1 c. Crisco
1/2 c. butter
1 tsp. vanilla

Directions:
Cake:
Make cake on the like the directions on the back of the box.

Filling:
Mix milk and flour in saucepan and cook until thick. Cool. Beat powdered sugar, Crisco and butter until fluffy. Add to milk and flour mixture, beat until mixed. Add 1 tsp. vanilla.
Putting it all together: Split 13x9 cake in half and fill with filling. Ice cake with chocolate frosting and enjoy.

I made two circle cakes instead of the one 13X9.

Picture from my kitchen recipe from Cooks.com.

Cookies and Cream Cupcakes

Ingredients:

18 chocolate sandwich cookies, plus additional as needed

Solid vegetable shortening, for greasing the pans
Flour, for dusting the pans
1 package white cake mix (18.25 ounces, with pudding)
1 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
2 cups heavy cream (whipping cream)

Directions:

Place the chocolate sandwich cookies, in batches, in a food processor and process until you have crumbs. You should have 2 1/4 cup crumbs. If not, process more cookies until you have the correct amount. Set aside.

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350F.
Generously grease two 9-inch round cake pans with solid vegetable shortening, then dust with flour. Shake out the excess flour. Set the pans aside.
Place the cake mix, water, oil and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping down the sides again if needed. The batter should look well combined.
Fold in 1 cup of the cookie crumbs until well distributed. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans, smoothing it out with the rubber spatula. Place the pans in the oven side by side.
Place a clean, large mixing bowl and clean electric mixer beaters in the refrigerator while the cake bakes. You will use these to prepare the whipped cream.
Bake the cakes until they spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, 28 to 32 minutes. Remove the pans from the oven and place them on wire racks to cool for 10 minutes.
Run a dinner knife around the edge of each layer and invert each onto a rack, then invert again onto another rack so that the cakes are right side up. Allow to cool completely, 30 minutes more.
Preare the whipped cream: Remove the chilled bowl and beaters from the refrigerator. Pour the cream into the bowl and beat with the electric mixer on high speed until it forms stiff peaks, 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 minutes.

Gently fold in 1 cup of the remaining cookie crumbs, distributing them well. Chill the whipped cream until the cake has cooled completely.
Carefully slice the cake layers in half horizontally, using a large, sharp serrated bread knife or a long piece of unflavored dental floss. You will have four layers.
Place the bottom half of a cake layer on a serving platter, cut side up. Spread with some of the whipped cream. Top with the matching top half of the layer, cut side down. Spread with whipped cream.

Next, add the bottom half of the second layer, cut side up and spread with whipped cream. Top with the matching top half of the layer, cut side down. Spread the top and sides of the entire cake with the remaining whipped cream using clean, smooth strokes.
Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup cookie crumbs on top of the cake. Place the cake in a cake saver or under a glass dome and chill until time to serve.

Store this cake, in a cake saver, under a glass dome, or lightly covered with a waxed paper, in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Picture from my kitchen and recipe from the Cake Mix Doctor.

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

The last of the Zucchini Bread that I will be making for awhile. This used up all the zucchini that I had. It was very yummy.

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups grated zucchini
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 tablespoon orange zest
• Whipped cream, for serving
• Zucchini ribbons, for serving

Directions

Preheat oven at 350 degrees F. Grease (2) 9 by 5-inch loaf pans.

Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, spices and baking soda.

In a large bowl, beat eggs until light and fluffy. Add sugar, and continue beating until well blended. Stir in oil, vanilla, zucchini, pecans, chocolate chips, and orange zest. Stir in sifted ingredients. Pour into prepared loaf pans.

Bake for 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove loaves from pans and cool. Chill before slicing. Serve with whipped cream and ribbons of zucchini.

Recipe from Food Network and picture from my kitchen.

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Here is some more Zucchini Bread made from the Zucchini that was left at church. It was so delicious, it almost tasted like eating a brownie.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 cups grated zucchini
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease two 9x5 inch loaf pans. In a microwave-safe bowl, microwave chocolate until melted. Stir occasionally until chocolate is smooth.
2. In a large bowl, combine eggs, sugar, oil, grated zucchini, vanilla and chocolate; beat well. Stir in the flour baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Fold in the chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared loaf pans.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a loaf comes out clean.

Recipe from Allrecipes and picture from my kitchen.