Coffee Cake

So, in the past I've listed for you guys a few things this New England girl is totally missing out here in paradise. Now, I would never ever in a million years move back to Massachusetts because Hawaii living is just too darn amazing. However, I miss 2 items in particular sooo much: Coffee Milk and Fluff.

Those reading who aren't familiar with these items, let me explain. Coffee Milk is a Rhode Island thing apparently but anywhere you go in MA, you can find it. It almost tastes like those frappuchino in the glass bottles things that Starbucks sells. Fluff is marshmallow creme. Out here they offer the Kraft brand and no offense to Kraft but they ain't got nothin' on the Fluff brand. Not to mention its three times the price I paid for Fluff back east.

My wonderful friend Casey sent me Fluff and Coffee Syrup to make coffee milk and I was beyond excited. It inspired me to get a little creative, so I chose to use some of the coffee syrup in this Coffee Cake. (If you don't have access to coffee syrup like me, I would just substitute some vanilla extract or even a little Kahlua if you're feeling sassy.) I always wondered why it was called Coffee Cake and it had no coffee flavor. Then I realized it's because you're supposed to eat it alongside coffee. Duh, Cait.


Anyways, When making this coffee cake, I realized a little too late I didn't have enough all purpose flour. So, I ended up using some whole wheat flour. I wanted to explain because I didn't want you to read the recipe like "dude, this has 2 sticks of butter in it, did this chick honestly think swapping in some whole wheat flour was going to make a difference?!" So, I'm listing the recipe exactly how I made it but you can feel free to go all purpose, all the way if you'd like!

Total fail on getting a decent picture of this one, Sorry!

2 sticks butter, room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
3/4 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp coffee syrup
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg

Crumble:
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
5 tbsp melted butter
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp coffee syrup

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 9x13 baking dish. Beat together butter and sugars. Add in egg one at a time. Mix in sour cream, vanilla extract and coffee syrup. In a separate bowl, sift together flours, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Slowly add into wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, sugar, melted butter, cinnamon and coffee syrup until well combined and "crumbly".

Pour half of the wet mixture into baking dish. Cover with half the crumble. Layer remaining wet mixture and top with remaining crumble mixture. Bake for 40-45 minutes until a knife inserted into the middle comes out clean. Drizzle with a glaze if desired (1 cup powdered sugar whisked with 2-3 tbsp milk).

Red Velvet Cake

Ok, so first I'd like to apologize for my absense. I've had a stupid cold for over a week now and haven't felt like standing, never mind testing out new recipes. I got back in the kitchen today and tested out a recipe for Red Velvet Cake and it came out perfect! I was so pumped. I was really nervous the cake would be dry but it was perfect!

Next, I'd like to apologize for the lack of picture. I had leftover frosting from some cupcakes I made last week. However, the frosting was purple and I just couldn't bring myself to put a mismatched cake + frosting combo up here. I will be making this in the future and hopefully I'll remember to update it with a picture when I make it with normal white frosting.

Cake:
1/4 cup shortening
1/2 cup oil
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup cocoa
2 oz red food coloring
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
2 3/4 cups sifted all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp distilled white vinegar

Frosting:
4 oz cream cheese, room temperature
1 stick butter, room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 9 inch pans.

Using an electric mixer, beat shortening, oil and sugar together until well combined. Beat in eggs one at a time.

In a separate bowl, mix together cocoa and food coloring. Add in to shortening mixture.

In another bowl, mix together buttermilk, salt, vanilla, and almond extract. Add into mixture 1/2 cup at a time, alternating with adding 1/2 cup flour at a time.

Next, mix together baking soda and vinegar. Fold into batter. Do not beat into mixture, gently fold it in. Pour into prepared cake pans and bake for 30 minutes.

Beat together cream cheese, butter and sugar with electric mixer. Add in powdered sugar one cup at a time until well combined and no clumps. Add in vanilla and almond extracts.
Allow cake to fully cool and frost cake.

Cookie Dough Truffles

Let's just start off by saying YUM. These are seriously sinful. I tried to give a bunch of them out so I didn't have them sitting in my fridge willing me to eat them and gain 6 pounds. They were easy enough to make. I made a large batch so the most tedious part was rolling them in the chocolate. Then there was the waiting game while the chocolate hardened. Jon didn't do so well with this part, he just ate them with the mostly melted chocolate, haha.


1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 cup chocolate chips
11 oz bag chocolate chips (for outside coating)
Sprinkles to decorate (optional)

Using an electric mixer, beat together butter and brown sugar. Add in vanilla extract, baking soda and salt. Alternate adding in flour and sweetened condensed milk. (Add 1/2 cup flour, then 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk, 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk). Fold in 1 cup of the chocolate chips. Form dough into bite sized balls. Set on baking sheet with wax paper. Set in refrigerator for about one hour.

Once the dough has set, use a double boiler or microwave to melt chocolate chips. Using a fork or slotted spoon, dip each dough ball into chocolate until fully covered. Add sprinkles while chocolate is still soft if desired.

Funfetti Cupcakes

So, my younger sister's 22nd birthday was this past week and she hearts cupcakes. I decided it was a good time to try and master my own cupcake batter from scratch. I have tried other people's cupcake recipes and I'm always left wanting something more. It's major Goldilocks syndrome where the cupcakes are too moist or too dry, or too sweet or not sweet enough. I think that with this batter I found the "just right" formula. I based my batter recipe off of the Vanilla Cupcake recipe from joyofbaking.com and then my frosting is off of Rachael Ray's vanilla frosting. I did add some cream cheese to her frosting recipe which I think made it even more delicious.

Makes about 24 cupcakes

Batter:

1 cup butter, room temperature

1 1/2 cup granulated sugar

6 eggs, room temperature

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp almond extract

3 cups all purpose flour

3 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup vanilla yogurt

1.75 oz package sprinkles (about 1/4 cup)

Frosting:
4 oz cream cheese, room temperature
1 stick butter, room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp almond

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pan(s) with cupcake liners. In electric mixer, beat butter until smooth. Add in sugar 1/2 cup at a time until combined with butter, pale and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add in vanilla and almond extracts.

Sift flour, baking powder and salt in mixing bowl. Add flour into wet mixture a little at a time. Mix in vanilla yogurt and sprinkles. Use an ice cream scoop to divide batter evenly among pan. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until inserted knife or toothpick comes out clean.

While cupcakes are baking, beat cream cheese, butter and sugar with electric mixer. Add in powdered sugar one cup at a time until well combined and no clumps. Add in vanilla and almond extracts.

Once cupcakes are cooked and fully cooled, frost and enjoy!

Here ^^^ are some pictures of fun times with my younger sister. I especially love our level of hotness on that see-saw. Thanks Mom for photographing me while wearing a tap costume in my everyday life. Really appreciate that one.

I know my sister probably won't read this because she is pretty much banned from the kitchen so reading a cooking blog would be silly, but just in case-- Hau'oli lā hānau Krissy!! <3

S'Mores Pie

I finally got a new plate to display food on for here. Oh, I'm fancy!

I have been doing SO good recently with eating right and going to the gym. I have been eating salads 6 days a week, working out 2-3 hours 4-5 days a week and cut out a lot of the processed foods I used to eat daily. You don't need to pat me on the back for it, I clearly am doing that myself. Ha!

Thennnnnn, I had my friends come over about a week ago. The variety of delicious foods we had was ridiculous. We had kalbi, steak, chicken, my famous dip, hot dogs and S'MORES. For some reason, we managed to not eat all of the supplies we had bought to make s'mores.

So the other day, as I'm eating my carrots like a champ, I look around my kitchen and see the workings of a s'mores pie. I decided that nutella, aka my BFF, would be my stand in for the chocolate. Mainly because I'm looking to get rid of the jar of Nutella so I don't wake up at 2 am one of these days getting chocolate wasted and needing an intervention. It doesn't hurt that Nutella is delicious and also easier than having to melt down chocolate.

Crust:
1 1/4 cup crushed graham crackers (1 honey maid packet)
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup melted butter

Filling:
10 oz bag marshmallows
4 tbsp water
1 cup nutella
2 cups whipped cream

Mix together crushed graham crackers, sugar and melted butter. Press into pie dish.

Melt marshmallows and water in microwave on high for 30-45 seconds. Stir together until smooth. Mix in nutella until smooth. Fold in whipped cream a little at a time until fully incorporated. Pour over pie crust.

Refrigerate for 3-4 hours until set. Enjoy!

Sponge Cake

So, I'm usually the type to create my own recipes but when it comes to baking, it's a little harder to just throw stuff together. This recipe I adapted a little from a Glorious Sponge Cake recipe I found on allrecipes.com. I had oranges, so I decided to substitute that for the lemon flavor this recipe had. I also cut the recipe in half because I just wanted a one layer 9 inch sponge cake for a tiramisu, which I will post the recipe for that soon.

3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp Orange juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp Orange extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 tsp Orange zest
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9 inch round cake pan with butter and flour. Separate eggs, and beat yolks until thickened. Add sugar until incorporated. Add orange juice, vanilla extract, Orange extract and almond extract. Add flour and baking powder.

In a separate bowl, beat egg whites to stiff peaks. Add in Orange zest, cream of tartar and salt.

Gently fold egg white mixture to flour mixture.

Pour in prepared pan and bake 40 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Varies on oven.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Gooey Cake

Aloooooooooooooha!

Okay so have you read the title yet?? Yeah, we're doing gooey butter cakes the way they're meant to be done, with Chocolate and Peanut Butter.

I fell in love with Gooey Butter Cakes watching Paula Deen on Food Network. She made a Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake. Unfortunately Jon doesn't like Pumpkin so I was the only one who appreciated its yumminess. So I was forced to get creative and start reworking the gooey butter cake to something Jon and I both love. And after much experimenting I got this amazing cake out of it that is always requested for bake sales and parties.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Gooey Cake

Filling:
1 8 oz container softened cream cheese
1 1 lb box powdered sugar
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup peanut butter (creamy or crunchy, whichever you like)
1 stick melted butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract

"Cake":
1 box brownie mix
1 egg, beaten
1 stick melted butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 13 by 9-inch baking pan. First combine brownie mix, egg and melted butter in mixing bowl. Pat mix into prepared baking pan. Next, using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese until light and fluffy. Slowly beat in powdered sugar. Add eggs one at a time to mix. Next, beat in peanut butter. Then mix in butter, vanilla and almond extracts. Make sure it is fully combined, and then pour over top of cake mix.

Bake for 35-40 minutes at 350 degrees. Cake will be slighty gooey in middle. Let cake cool before serving.

The cake is also very yummy if you let set in the fridge for an hour or so, it won't be warm, but it will be easy to serve and just as tasty!

Calories: 16 servings, 393 calories per serving

Feedback is always appreciated, cookingwithcait@gmail.com