Red Velvet Cupcakes

Who doesn't love red velvet cupcakes?!  The recent red velvet cupcake craze has been pretty remarkable.  I  am a red velvet fiend, but I didn't fall in love with the RV until 2007.  I was at a friend's graduation party, and she had catered a red velvet cake.  One bite and I was in love with the almost-chocolate taste combined with the cream cheese icing--a perfect match.

I have been looking for  a good red velvet cake recipe pretty much since then.  I have gone all over the U.S. tasting red velvet cake--from Picadilly in Louisiana (the cake is rumored to have southern roots), to red velvet cheesecake at the cheesecake factory, and even Starbuck's--which only recently added red velvet cupcakes to their menu (avoid them at all costs--not worth the money, calories, and not fair to your taste buds!)  

So, I recently experimented with a recipe when I made these cupcakes for a fundraiser.  It was the BLSA (Black Law Students Assoc.) annual "Soul Food Lunch" fundraiser.  A portion of the proceeds went to the Haiti relief effort.  

Though the taste was not the best I've ever had (and I've had a lot), the texture was incredibly light and the cake absolutely melted in my mouth.  It was almost dangerous--multiple cupcakes could easily be consumed.  For that reason alone, I will be making these again.  Tomorrow actually.  I have a feeling that cupcakes and Champagne will make a great pair...

5 Minute Chocolate Cake

This is an excellent recipe for anyone who has ever had one of those *cravings* for something chocolatey.  This recipe requires no special equipment--just a mug and a fork!  The entire recipe, start to finish, takes less than 5 minutes.

As for taste, it hits the spot and satisfies that chocolate craving.  I recommend serving it with whipped cream or ice cream.  Mine came out a little dense and dry, so the ice cream I ate with it really balanced it out.  But I really couldn't complain for cake "baked" in a microwave!

Recipe- 5 Minute Chocolate Cake (thanks to the fabulous a. pankey for discovering this during her website browsing!)

4 tablespoons cake flour 

4 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 egg

3 tablespoons milk

3 tablespoons vegetable oil or melted butter

1. Mix the flour, sugar, and cocoa powder in a mug.

2. Add the egg, milk, and oil to the mug.  Mix well.

3. Microwave on high for 3 minutes.  The "cake" will rise several inches over the mug and then fall.  

4. Shake the cake out of the mug onto a plate. 

5. Enjoy!

Grandma's Cake

My grandmother in Prarieville makes this cake for every holiday. About ten years ago, I went to her house and she taught me how to make it. Pretty much everyone in my family has made this cake--my mother, my sister Lucy--even Stanley made it one year. My mom now bakes this cake on a regular basis because she has so many requests for it!

Lucy was adamant about having this cake at our Christmas party. Baking a cake from scratch is so time consuming, so I told her she'd have to bake it if we were going to have it! So, she did. And it was delicious! We even used the leftover icing to decorate cookies.

The name of grandma's cake is "million dollar cake." It has a pineapple filling and a cream cheese frosting.

Chocolatiest Chocolate Cake

My chocolate lovin sister got to celebrate her birthday again in Baton Rouge over Thanksgiving break. So, my mom and I baked her another cake. We didn't want to bake another German chocolate cake, so we started exploring chocolate cake recipes.

We decided on a chocolate cake with a mousse filling and chocolate ganache icing. Unlike everyone else in my family, I'm not a *real* chocolate lover, but we ALL agreed that this was the best cake we have ever made. All I can say is O-M-G--it was soooo good. I had it with vanilla ice cream. My younger sister is so crazy about chocolate she had it with chocolate ice cream (which would've been too much chocolate, even for Lucy).

Including the cake, filling, and icing, about 3 and a half pounds of chocolate went into this cake. (GASP). We spent $2.50 for every 4 ounces of chocolate, meaning we spent $35 on chocolate alone. We used a variety of chocolate--semisweet, unsweetened, and bittersweet. My mom made the actual cake, and I made the filling and icing. The cake is dramatically tall, and I decided to decorate it with chocolate shavings on top.

German Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Frosting

I baked this cake to help celebrate my roommate's birthday. The cake is German chocolate, made with the Baker's German Chocolate bar. The icing is chocolate frosting--just chocolate, powdered sugar, and a little bit of milk and vanilla. The cake came out suuuuuper yummy.

I had to buy cake pans from Target since I had none, and I was in SUCH a rush to make it because I went out of town this weekend. When I was checking out at Target, the cashier asked me what I was going to do with the cake pans. Curious, I thought. "Bake a cake," I responded. She looked at me like she didn't believe me and said, "YOU are going to bake a cake?" Um, is it that rare for someone to purchase cake pans, who plans on baking a cake??

Anyway, the cake pans were actually rather suspect. I guess you get what you pay for! I'll be hitting up a more trusted kitchen store to buy some quality cake pans real, real soon.

You can find the cake recipe inside the Baker's German Chocolate bar.

**Due to it being finals time, and I have numerous research papers to write and finals to prepare for, I will no longer be updating daily. I will try to update a few times every week.

Souffle

Being the lover of French food that I am, it should be no surprise that souffle is something I adore. This was my first attempt to make a souffle. I admit, it took me three days, but that's because of the egg whites! Souffles only have a few ingredients--mainly chocolate, eggs, and sugar. The only leavening agent is the egg whites, so if the egg whites aren't prepared correctly, the souffle won't rise. The lightness of a souffle can be attributed to the lack of flour and butter.

So, how do you prepare the egg whites correctly? There are a few cardinal rules:

1. Make sure that absolutely NO egg yolk is in the egg whites. Not even a trace.
2. Don't beat the egg whites until they are at room temperature.
3. If you over-beat the egg whites, you will end up with a sticky mess!
4. Be gentle when "folding" the egg whites into the egg yolk/sugar/chocolate batter.

If you can figure out the egg whites, the rest of the souffle is a breeze (assuming your oven heats evenly).

I was really shocked that my very first souffle came out so well! It was delicious--incredibly chocolatey. It is so chocolatey, you will need vanilla ice cream or whipped cream to go along with it. My roommate made souffle a few days ago (under my watchful eye). We halved the recipe and used the individual-sized ramekins. I also made a whipped cream to go along with it--just beat 1 cup of heavy whipping cream with 2 tablespoons powder sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.

Enjoy! (Will post recipe soon)