S'mores Cupcakes

A Chocolate Cupcake with a Graham Cracker Crust, Topped with a Toasted Marshmallow Frosting

Who Doesn't love S'MORES?!? And these are S'mores in cupcake form, I LOVE making these cupcakes...yet I haven't made them since before I had this blog. Well Christmas Eve was the day for them!

Aaaaaand.... I get to use my torch for this recipe! So much FUN!

The only downside to this recipe is that it doesn't last very long (maybe only a day or two). The sugar in the frosting starts to break down and seep into the cupcakes and all over the box....and you end up with a sticky mess!

The frosting is also kind of tedious. You have to heat the egg whites while constantly whisking until they are the perfect temperature then whisk in the mixer until it looks marshmallowey. If you heat the egg whites too long or too little, the frosting doesn't get those nice peaks. Which means they gloop all over before you can torch it.

This recipe came from Martha Stewart

Chocolate Cupcake with Graham Cracker Crust

(makes 2 dozen)

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (from about 20 squares)
• 1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 9 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 standard muffin tins with cupcake liners; set aside.
2. Sift 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together into the bowl of an electric mixer. Using the paddle attachment, mix ingredients together on low speed.
3. In a large bowl, mix together eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla. Add to flour mixture and beat on medium speed for 30 seconds. Scrape down sides of bowl and continue mixing on medium speed for 2 minutes. 
4. Add boiling water and stir to combine; set cake batter aside.
5. Place graham cracker crumbs, remaining 1/4 cup sugar, and melted butter in a large bowl; stir until well combined.
6. Place 1 tablespoon graham cracker mixture into the bottom of each prepared muffin cup. Use the bottom of a small glass to pack crumbs into the bottom of each cupcake liner. Reserve remaining graham cracker mixture for topping.
7. Place 2 teaspoons chocolate in each muffin cup on top of the graham cracker mixture.
8. Transfer muffin tins to oven and bake about 5 minutes.
9. Remove from oven and fill each muffin cup three-quarters full with cake batter. Sprinkle each with remaining chocolate and graham cracker mixture. Return to oven and bake, rotating pans halfway through baking, until tops are firm and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes. 
10. Transfer muffin tins to a wire rack and let cupcakes cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan and let cool completely.

Marshmallow Frosting

Ingredients

• 8 large egg whites
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Place egg whites, sugar, and cream of tartar in the heatproof bowl of an electric mixer. 
2. Set over a saucepan with simmering water. 
3. Whisk constantly until sugar is dissolved and whites are warm to the touch, 3 to 4 minutes.
4. Transfer bowl to electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, and beat, starting on low speed, gradually increasing to high, until stiff, glossy peaks form, 5 to 7 minutes. 
5. Add vanilla, and mix until combined. Use immediately.
6. Frost with a French Tip
7. Take a pastry torch/Creme Brulee torch and lightly toast the frosted cupcakes, taking care not to catch the liners on fire!
8. Enjoy!

Mudslide Cupcakes

Chocolate Cupcake with a Bailey's and Kahlua Frosting Swirl

I came across this recipe from Endless Simmer a few months ago and it has been on my to-do list for forever! I love Mudslides and turning them into a cupcake sounded AMAZING! ... And it was!

I made these when we went away for the weekend to Bennett Springs for trout fishing. The cabin had limited cooking utensils and measuring cups (only teaspoons and a 2-cup glass measuring cup... No Tablespoons! I had to do a lot of converting!) But they seemed to turn out pretty good. still. I made the frosting with a hand mixer... because I wasn't about to transport my stand mixer....well I was, but my fiance convinced me to leave it behind.

Doesn't the frosting look kind of like soft-serve ice cream?

And now for the recipe. I actually started sifting my flour a few weeks ago. Before, I always thought that was too much work and it couldn't possibly make a difference. Well, let me tell you, it absolutely does make a difference! The cupcakes come out super light and fluffy when you sift the flour, it is worth the extra step!

The only thing I really changed about this recipe was the Bailey's. The original recipe had you making your own home-made bailey's... but I used store-bought Bailey's instead. And it was delicious in my hot chocolate later that night! ;)

Chocolate Cupcakes

• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup warm water
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners; set aside.
2. Sift together cocoa powder, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. 
3. Add eggs, warm water, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla, and mix until smooth, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of bowl to assure batter is well mixed.
4. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full. 
5. Bake until tops spring back when touched, about 20 minutes, rotating pan once if needed. (It took only 15 minutes for me so make sure to check them early!)
6. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely.

Now for the frosting. You make one frosting base, then split it into two bowls. And turn one into Bailey's and one into Kahlua.

Butter Cream Frosting Base

• 3 large egg whites, at room temperature
• ¾ cup sugar
• Pinch salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature and cut into 16 pieces

1. Combine egg whites and sugar in a large heat proof bowl. Set the bowl over (not on) simmering water in a sauce pan and heat, whisking constantly until sugar has dissolved. The mixture is ready when with it is very warm to the touch, about 2 minutes and approximately 160 degrees on an instant read thermometer.
2. Remove from mixture from heat and transfer to a stand mixer bowl and beat on high until egg white mixture is fluffy, led to room temperature and holds stiff peaks, about 6 minutes.
3. Turn the speed to medium low, add salt and the butter a few pieces at a time, beating well after each addition. Turn the speed to high and beat until mixture is creamy, about 3-5 minutes more. Evenly split buttercream into two separate bowls.

Bailey’s and Chocolate Kahlua Frostings

• To make the Baileys buttercream add 3 tablespoons of Baileys into one bowl and beat until combined.

• To make the Chocolate Kahlua Frosting in the other bowl, add 2 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder, 4 oz of melted semi-sweet chocolate and 3 tablespoons of Kahlua and beat until combined.

Vanilla Bean & Dark Chocolate

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Hershey Special Dark Buttercream Frosting

Sometimes simple is perfect! Especially when its 9:30PM the night before your potluck at work! I almost forgot to make these, and for a split second I considered just buying cupcakes to bring..... don't worry! It was a short split second and I came to my senses!

So my Vanilla Bean Cupcakes are probably my most requested cupcake ever. Its got high quality madagascar bourbon vanilla and vanilla bean paste (that's what makes them so much better than all the other vanilla cupcakes!)

The cupcake recipe originally came from the Cupcake Project, but I have posted it several times in this blog.

Here it is again:


Vanilla Cupcakes (from Cupcake Project)
Yield: 16 cupcakes

• 1 cup granulated sugar 
• 1 T vanilla bean paste 
• 1 3/4 cake flour 
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt 
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature 
• 2 large eggs, room temperature 
• 1/3 cup full-fat sour cream 
• 1/4 cup canola oil 
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract 
• 2/3 cup whole milk 

1. Preheat oven to 350 F

2. In a small bowl, combine sugar and vanilla bean paste

3. Mix together cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

4. Add the vanilla sugar and mix until well combined.

5. Add butter and mix on medium-low speed for three minutes.

6. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, sour cream, oil, and vanilla extract until smooth.

7. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined.

8. Slowly add milk and mix on low speed until just combined.

9. Fill cupcake liners 1/4 of the way up. Place a mini-cupcake on top, cover with additional batter.

10. Bake for 14 minutes

11. When the cupcakes are done, remove them immediately from the tins.

Mmmm fresh out of the oven!

And here is the Chocolate frosting. Sean really wanted them to have this frosting (it is his favorite of all time!)

It originally came from Martha Stewart, but I have tweaked it some.

Dark Chocolate Frosting
This makes enough to frost about 25-30 cupcakes depending on how much you use on each cupcake.... I put the left-over frosting in the fridge so I can use it again this weekend.... maybe I will try and send Ben some more cupcakes!

• 4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 cup Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder
• 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup whole milk, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1. Combine the powdered sugar and cocoa powder
2. Add the butter, milk, and vanilla
3. Beat until Smooth
4. Add more powdered sugar if frosting is too thin.
5. Pipe onto dipped cupcakes (I used my Wilton #1M tip)

And of course I have to test one.... or three... to make sure they are good!

The best part about these was it only took about 45 mins from start to finish...including cool-down time! Fast, Easy, Simple.... and still Delicious!

Chocolate PB Cupcakes!

A Rich Chocolate Cupcake with Delicious Peanut Butter Frosting

I made these cupcakes last weekend, and they got rave reviews. The peanut butter frosting is rich and creamy without being too sweet. The chocolate cupcake was light and fluffy. An overall winner!

Well, these would be the subject of my next attempt to ship cupcakes to my brother, Ben in Texas. More to come on that story later. 

The recipe is from How Sweet Eats, a blog that I am obsessed with!

Now, I didn't stuff the cupcakes with the PB frosting, I think that might have been too much. And I probably should have added a bit more cream to the frosting, it was very thick....but it ended up working!

Chocolate Cupcakes:

made about 16 cupcakes for me

• 1 1/8 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup dark cocoa powder
• 1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon heavy cream
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons sour cream
• 1/4 cup homemade fudge sauce (recipe below)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a bowl, whisk egg and sugar until smooth and no lumps remain. 
3. Add milk, cream, butter and vanilla, and mix until combined. 
4. Stir in sour cream. 
5. Sift dry ingredients together and add to wet mixture. 
6. Mix until batter is smooth, then swirl in fudge sauce.
7. Line a muffin tin with liners and using a 1/4 cup measure, add batter to each cup. 
8. Bake for 15-18 minutes. Let cool before frosting.

Mmm... fresh out of the oven!

Fudge Sauce

This made way more than enough! Next time I would halve this recipe.

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup dark cocoa powder
• 2 tablespoons flour
• pinch of salt
• 1 cup boiling water or scalding milk
• 1 tablespoon of butter
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla

1. Combine sugar, cocoa, salt, and flour in a bowl over a double boiler. 
2. Bring water or milk to a boil. 
3. Gradually add hot liquid to sugar mixture. Stir constantly until mixture thickens.
4. Once it has reached the desired thickness, remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla. 

Peanut Butter Buttercream

So simple and easy to make!

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2/3 cup peanut butter
• 3-4 cups of powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1-2 tablespoons of heavy cream

1. Cream butter and peanut butter together in the bowl of an electric mixer. 
2. Add powdered sugar with mixer on low speed and gradually add milk and vanilla extract. 
3. Mix until frosting is smooth. If too thick, add more milk; if too thin, add more sugar. Frost cupcakes as desired.

Yummy!

And as I finish up this post, I really wish I had more of these!

Sugar-Free Dark Chocolate Tart

OK, so I know I don't have the prettiest picture of these, but they were delicious nonetheless.

My dad's birthday was last week, so I decided to try out a new sugar-free recipe, since he has already tried my sugar-free chocolate cupcakes.

This one turned out AMAZING. Nobody could tell that they were sugar-free!

The recipe is adapted from the Nourishing Gourmet.

This is the first time I have ever worked with Coconut Oil. Which is surprisingly NOT what I expected. Here's a pic:

Its more like shortening than oil. Actually, its nothing like oil. It was interesting to work with.

So here's the recipe:

Crust: 

Grease a spring-form pan with coconut oil, and set aside.

• 2 cups of almonds
• 1/4 cup of cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour
• 2/3 cup of coconut oil softened 
• 1/4 cup of DiabetiSweet (you can get it here)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Place almonds in a food processor, and process until a coarse flour. 
3. Add the rest of the ingredients and process until it forms a uniform dough. 
4. Press down into the greased pan and bake for 8-12 minutes or until the top is slightly browned.
5. Take out of the oven and cool. 
6. Once the crust is cool, making the filling.

Filling:

• 8 ounces of unsweetened chocolate
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil 
• 1/2 cup of Diabeti-sweet 
• 1 1/2 cups of coconut cream (I could not find coconut cream, so I used heavy cream and added a few drops of coconut extract, which I happened to have in my pantry).
• Dash of salt
• 2 tablespoons brewed coffee (I used chocolate flavored coffee)

1. Finely chop the chocolate and place it in a medium size, heatproof bowl. 
2. Add the coconut oil and the sugar, mix it into the chopped chocolate a little.
3. Heat the coconut cream (or heavy cream) on the stove until very hot. 
4. Pour over the chocolate. Let this sit for about one minute to start melting the chocolate. 
5. Using a rubber spatula, slowly stir together until it is all uniformly mixed in.
6. Add the coffee and stir until incorporated. 
7. Pour this over the crust and carefully place it in the fridge to set for at least 1 hour.

MMM, yummy filling!

Cute Kitty Cupcakes

Kitty cupcakes modeled after Hello, Cupcake's "Fat Cats Cupcakes". I don't have the book, so I was reading it on Google Books here.

Aren't they just so cute??

The gray one is my favorite!

But the orange one is cute too...this one has a messed up eye though :(

So, here is what you'll need:

my basket at Schnucks....got some weird look at 8am with only candy!

• Basic Chocolate Cupcake -- I used a VERY easy recipe from Baking Bites. I halved the recipe to only make 12 cupcakes. 
• 2 Jars of Vanilla Icing -- I usually hate pre-made frosting, but that is what the book called for. And it was so much work putting them together, I just went with the easy pre-made stuff. 
• Red, Yellow, and Black food coloring. I use Wilton's colors.
• Famous Chocolate Wafers -- I had no idea what these were. Turns out they are like oreo's without the filling. These are for the ears. 
• 2 packages of mentos -- for the face
• 1 box of runts -- you only need the heart shaped ones for the nose
• 1 package of starburst -- you only need 3 red ones for the tongues
• Black gel icing to draw the sleeping eyes

Ready for the instructions? It really wasn't too hard at all!

STEP 1: Bake 12 chocolate cupcakes. Any recipe will work. Here is the one I used

MMM, yummy! And it make exactly 12 cupcakes

STEP 2: Make up your icing. Take 1 cup of icing and place it in a piping or ziploc bag. This will be for the face. Divide the remaining icing into two bowls and tint one gray (using a little bit of black coloring), and the other one orange (using red and yellow coloring). These will be for the fur. Place each color into its own piping or ziploc bag. 

Note: Use only a little bit of black coloring, and let sit for 10 minutes. The black coloring will darken up over time, so be careful not to add to much at the beginning.

Then Snip 1/8 inch off the corner of each bag.

STEP 3:  Carefully using a serrated knife, make 2 parallel vertical cuts into the wafer cookies about 3/4 of an inch from the edges. This will leave 2 curved pieces that will become the ears. You will need to cut up 12 cookies (or more if the cookies break..... I think I went through like 25 or 30 cookies!)

The pieces you need look like this:

STEP 4:  Attach the cookie ears to the cupcakes using a little bit of icing. They should be sticking about an inch over the edge of the cupcakes. 

Like this:

At this point, I was afraid they would look more like bunnies than kitties!

STEP 5: Time to add some fur! Start by piping lines of frosting onto the ears. Then work your way around the edges of the face, moving inward. Squeeze the frosting onto the cupcake, and quickly pull away so that it makes little tufts of fur. Repeat around the whole face, overlapping the fur as you move inward. But make sure to leave a circle un-frosted at the base for the face. 

Repeat the same process with the white, filling in the gap you left. The white should overlap on top of the orange/gray fur. 

STEP 6: Prepare the face accents:

1. Make sure you have 24 mentos (which is 2 packs). I only bought 1 pack, and had to make a run to the store for more!
2. Dig 12 red runt hearts out of the huge box you got. 
3. Hope that your starburst package has at least 3 red starburst in it. Mine had exactly 3.
4. Cut each red starburst into quarters. Pop into the microwave for 5 seconds, then mold into little teardrop shapes for the tongues.

So Many Runts!

STEP 7:  Assemble the Kitties!

1. Place 2 mentos side by side on the white section of your kitty. 
2. Place a red heart above the mentos for the nose
3. Place the teardrop shaped starburst below the mentos, with the skinny side at the top for the tongue. 
4. Using the black gel icing, draw 2 sleepy eyes above the white section of the face. 
5. Step back and admire your work!

The book also made some of them with mini m&ms for eyes, but I thought the sleepy eyes were cuter, so I made them all sleeping :)

Now, I know its hard to believe because these are so adorable, but Sean does not want to take them to work!! He is "Too Embarrassed" by their cuteness!

Oh well, I guess I will have to find someone else to share them with! I don't think anyone else would complain about them  ;)

So many kitties!

Death by Oreo Cupcakes

It has been waaaayy too long since I have blogged some cupcakes. Lately, I have been making my Vanilla Bean and Chocolate Xtreme cupcakes like crazy! No one seems to want to try something new!

Well, I decided to make some awesome Oreo cupcakes last night for Sean's co-workers. But my cupcake baking adventure had some mishaps... don't know what was wrong with me last night!

So I forgot to add the boiling water to the batter... but I lucked out because they still turned out delicious, just really dense! Because I forgot the water, I only got 24 cupcakes (versus the 30 that I was supposed to get!). 

Then, I started making the frosting and forgot to add the sugar to the egg whites. I ended up with fluffy cooked egg whites instead of a nice swiss meringue buttercream. But I had enough eggs to do it over, and the second time it came out great! The only thing I would change would be to add more sugar; the frosting wasn't quite as sweet as I would like it to be.

Since shop n save didn't have mini Oreos, I topped them with shards of regular Oreos. I think that worked out just fine!

So here's the recipe. This came from A Cup Full of Cake.

Chocolate Cupcakes
(supposed to make 28-30)

• 3 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup Hershey Special Dark Cocoa Powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup whole milk
• 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate melted and cooled (I use 60% dark Ghirardelli)
• ½ cup plus 1 tbsp boiling water
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar 
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 24-30 Oreos 

excuse my dirty pan! 

1. Preheat oven to 350F with rack in the center.
2. Carefully twist off one side of the oreo and place the half with the cream filling down, filling side up in the bottom of each liner (Save the tops to garnish)
3. Whisk together the dry ingredients (sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt) in a large bowl.
4. In a large bowl or bowl of stand mixer whisk eggs till slightly thickened and a pale color
5. Add in the milk, vanilla, oil and vinegar and whisk/beat well
6. Add in the melted and cooled chocolate and whisk/beat until combined well
7. Either add the flour mixture into the wet ingredients OR the wet into the flour and mix just to combine. 
8. Add in the boiling water and mix again just to combine. 
9. Fill each cupcake liner 3/4 of the way with batter. 
10. Bake 15-18 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
11. Let cool for 5 min in pans and then remove carefully to a wire cooling rack. Cool completely before frosting

Oreo Frosting

• 5 large egg whites
• 1 cup plus 2 tbsp granulated sugar
• 2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into tablespoon sized pieces
• 1 1/2 tsp teaspoon vanilla extract
• pinch salt
• Oreo cookie crumbs (14 whole oreos, pulse in food processor until you get very fine crumbs)

1. Place sugar and egg whites in the heat-proof bowl of an electric mixer. Set bowl over a pan of gently simmering water, and whisk until sugar has dissolved and egg whites are hot to the touch, about 3 minutes. Test by rubbing the mixture between your fingers; it should feel completely smooth.
2. Transfer bowl to mixer stand. Using the whisk attachment, beat on high speed until mixture has cooled completely and formed stiff and glossy peaks, about 10 minutes.

Stiff Glossy Peaks should look something like this

    3.  Add the butter, one piece at a time, and beat until incorporated after each addition.
    4.  Switch to the paddle attachment, and beat on the low speed for a few minutes.
    5.  Add in the oreo cookie crumbs and beat to incorporate

    6.  Pipe onto cupcakes (I used Wilton #2D)

My camera decided to add some crazy lighting effects to this one

These were very rich, and the light airy frosting complemented the dark chocolate cupcake very nicely! And even with my little mess-ups they still turned out great. Now I wish I just had some more, I sent them all to work with Sean!

Angel Food and Fudge Frosting

Fluffy Angel Food Cupcakes with 'Hot' Fudge Frosting

I made these to take to dinner after my sister's graduation tomorrow. I have been dying to make these angel food cupcakes for weeks!

Both recipes come from different posts from How Sweet It Is:

Angel Food Cupcakes

Hot Fudge Frosting

The cupcakes were a little bit denser than I had hoped, but they were still yummy. The frosting however, was so AMAZING! I think I may have to find another cupcake to put it on... 

Angel Food Cupcakes:

makes 18 cupcakes (adapted for 18, recipe was originally for 36)

• 6 large egg whites 
• 3/4 teaspoons cream of tarter
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 + 1/3 cups sifted powdered sugar 
• 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Let egg whites sit at room temperature for about one hour before beginning. 
2. While eggs are resting, measure out powdered sugar and flour, then sift powdered sugar, flour and salt together. Set aside. Line a cupcake tin (or two) with cupcake liners.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place rack in the bottom third of oven.
4. Beat egg whites until frothy. 
5. Add in cream of tarter, then beat at medium speed until soft peaks form. 
6. Gradually add granulated sugar with the mixer still on medium speed, continuing to beat until egg whites thicken a bit more with opaque, soft, droopy peaks. 
7. Once there, beat in vanilla extract.
8. Remove the bowl from the mixer and sprinkle 1/4 of the dry ingredients over the egg whites. Fold gently with a spatula until combined completely. Continue with the rest of the dry ingredients in increments
9. Once batter is smooth, use a 1/4 cup measure to pour heaping scoops of batter into each liner. Bake for 18-19 minutes, or until tops are golden brown. Let cool completely, then frost as desired. ( I didn't follow this instruction and probably didn't put enough batter in the cups...they weren't as large as I would have liked)

Hot Fudge Frosting:

This made about twice as much frosting as I needed.... but that's OK. I am saving the rest for another day.

• 1 cup of butter (2 sticks), softened
• 3-4 cups of powdered sugar
• 1/3 cup special dark cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup hot fudge sauce
• 1-2 tablespoons milk, if needed

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter until smooth. 
2. Gradually add in powdered sugar about 1/2 cup at a time with the mixer on low, increasing it to medium-high speed once all the sugar has been added. 
3. Add the cocoa, vanilla and hot fudge, and mix until completely combined. If the frosting seems very thick, add some milk 1 tablespoon at a time and mix until it comes together.
4. I used Wilton 1E to pipe the frosting.

Yum Yum Yum!

Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake

3 layers of chocolaty goodness:

Bottom: Flour-less Chocolate Cake
Middle: Dark Chocolate Mousse
Top: White Chocolate Mousse

Recipe from: America's Test Kitchen

I made this cake for my boyfriend's mom's b-day. Since I usually don't have the opportunity to make a non-cupcake dessert I was excited to be able to make a cake! She (like me) loves chocolate, so this recipe was perfect!

It originally called for a 9.5 inch spring-form pan and said it served 12-16. Since there were only 4 of us, I cut the recipe in half and used an 8" pan, which I got from Williams-Sonoma while picking up a gift card. I never leave that store empty handed. : )

After using my brand-new $48 spring-form pan, I decided that I wish ALL my baking supplies came from Williams-Sonoma.....if only I could afford that!

All finished in the pan

Bottom Layer - Flour-less Chocolate Cake:
This was the first time I have ever tried to make a flour-less chocolate cake. The recipe said that it would fall after baking, and boy did it! It came out of the oven about 3-4 inches high and shrunk down to about an inch tall after cooling. Had the recipe not warned me, I would have freaked out a bit!

Now, this cake almost didn't make it into the oven....as it was pre-heating all the way up to 425, Sean was enjoying the left-over batter. Maybe enjoying it a little too much, as he knocked the cake pan off of the counter while trying to lick the bowl clean! Lucky for me, he has quick reflexes and caught the pan just before it splattered onto the floor! Phew!

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 3 pieces, plus extra for greasing pan
• 3.5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine (I used Ghirardelli)
• 1/3 teaspoon instant espresso powder
• 3/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs , separated
• Pinch table salt
• 2.5 Tablespoons packed light brown sugar, crumbled with fingers to remove lumps

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. 
2. Butter bottom and sides of 8-inch spring-form pan. 
3. Melt butter, chocolate, and espresso powder in large heatproof bowl set over saucepan filled with 1 inch of barely simmering water, stirring occasionally until smooth. Remove from heat and cool mixture slightly, about 5 minutes. 
4. Whisk in vanilla and egg yolks; set aside.
5. In stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat egg whites and salt at medium speed until frothy, about 30 seconds. 
6. Add half of brown sugar and beat until combined, about 15 seconds. 
7. Add remaining brown sugar and beat at high speed until soft peaks form when whisk is lifted, about 1 minute longer, scraping down sides halfway through. 
8. Using whisk, fold one-third of beaten egg whites into chocolate mixture to lighten. 
9. Using rubber spatula, fold in remaining egg whites until no white streaks remain. 
10. Carefully transfer batter to prepared springform pan, gently smoothing top with offset spatula.
11. Bake until cake has risen, is firm around edges, and center has just set but is still soft (center of cake will spring back after pressing gently with finger), 13 to 18 minutes. 
12. Transfer cake to wire rack to cool completely, about 1 hour. (Cake will collapse as it cools.) Do not remove cake from pan.

Yummy cake, just waiting to be cut and devoured!

Middle Layer - Dark Chocolate Mousse

This part was so yummy! Could eat it plain with a spoon!

• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder (I used Ghirardelli)
• 2.5 tablespoons hot water
• 3.5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine (I used Ghirardelli)
• 3/4 cups cold heavy cream
• 1/2 tablespoon granulated sugar
• pinch of table salt

1. Combine cocoa powder and hot water in small bowl; set aside. 
2. Melt chocolate in large heatproof bowl set over saucepan filled with 1 inch of barely simmering water, stirring occasionally until smooth. Remove from heat and cool slightly, 2 to 5 minutes.
3. In clean bowl of stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, whip cream, granulated sugar, and salt at medium speed until mixture begins to thicken, about 30 seconds. Increase speed to high and whip until soft peaks form when whisk is lifted, 15 to 60 seconds.
4. Whisk cocoa powder mixture into melted chocolate until smooth. 
5. Using whisk, fold one-third of whipped cream into chocolate mixture to lighten. 
6. Using rubber spatula, fold in remaining whipped cream until no white streaks remain. 
7. Spoon mousse into spring-form pan over cooled cake and gently tap pan on counter 3 times to remove any large air bubbles; gently smooth top with offset spatula. Wipe inside edge of pan with damp cloth to remove any drips. Refrigerate cake at least 15 minutes while preparing top layer.

We ended up eating exactly half of the cake

Top Layer - White Chocolate Mousse

• 1/3 teaspoon powdered gelatin
• 1/2 tablespoon water
• 3 ounces white chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli Chips)
• 3/4 cup cold heavy cream
• Grated bittersweet chocolate (used as garnish)

1. In small bowl, sprinkle gelatin over water; let stand at least 5 minutes. 
2. Place white chocolate in medium bowl. 
3. Bring ½ cup cream to simmer in small saucepan over medium-high heat. 
4. Remove from heat; add gelatin mixture and stir until fully dissolved. 
5. Pour cream mixture over white chocolate and whisk until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth, about 30 seconds. 
6. Cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally, 5 to 8 minutes (mixture will thicken slightly).
7. In clean bowl of stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, whip remaining cup cream at medium speed until it begins to thicken, about 30 seconds. Increase speed to high and whip until soft peaks form when whisk is lifted, 15 to 60 seconds. 
8. Using whisk, fold one-third of whipped cream into white chocolate mixture to lighten. 
9. Using rubber spatula, fold remaining whipped cream into white chocolate mixture until no white streaks remain. 
10. Spoon white chocolate mousse into pan over middle layer. Smooth top with offset spatula. 
11. Return cake to refrigerator and chill until set, at least 2½ hours.
12. Garnish with grated chocolate just before serving. 

You can see the 3 layers in this pic!

Now, my cuts are messy because I didn't follow the instructions. I was supposed to cut this with a cheese wire, but who has one of those!?!

This dessert would go perfectly at a restaurant, very elegant! (minus the rough cuts)