Chocolate Yogurt Bundt Cake

I am a very picky chocolate cake eater.  If it's dry, or too bread-like, well then… no.  NO!  It must be moist, not overly sweet but not overly bitter and VERY chocolaty.  Chocolate chips and/or chocolate icing are a bonus.  I become irrationally nervous when I try out a new recipe, as I was yesterday, but I found one that DID NOT disappoint!  I used this recipe with several adaptions: brewed coffee instead of water, whole milk plain yogurt instead of sour cream, no glaze - but I did add a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips to the batter.  It came out better than I could have imagined, to the point where I cannot stop eating it.  I keep pretending that I'm British and that it's tea time and that I should accompany my tea with cake.  I don't drink tea.  I just eat cake, a lot.  

Mini Pecan Cake with Maple Buttercream Frosting

Hello People!  The Milly & Grace Giveaway is off to a great start.  I'm loving all of your comments about what you would purchase, and now I want everything that you want.  Thanks for that.  You should know, by the way, that all clothing is 30% off right now with free shipping... get on that.   

So I promised you I would display something on my new cake stand.  Well, remember the gloriousness of this mini cake?  Yesterday I followed the same recipe, but threw in a tablespoon of toasted, chopped pecans.  Then I made a simple buttercream consisting of 3/4 cup powdered sugar, 3 T softened butter, a splash of cream and a splash of maple syrup.  A perfect individual cake for an autumn evening.  You should put on some sweats, cuddle with your cat, and eat it slowly while staring softly into space...   

Polka Dot Cake

You guys, my baby turns 1 in a week.  I have a 1 year-old and a 4 year-old, excuse me, 4 AND A HALF year old (that's very important to include these days, apparently).  Time to sob in a corner, buy more anti-aging cream and bake some birthday cake.  Which is only my favorite thing to do in the world (bake, that is, I hate skin care).  Let me refresh your memory with Jack's first birthday, his second, his third and his fourth.  See?  I obsess.  This birthday was no different.  A friend showed me this Polka Dot Cake recipe probably 6 months ago and it was decided.  Done!  I knew little Etta Bo Betta would be smashing her face in polka dots by the time she turned one.  While that is still a week away, I made this cake for a small family gathering last night and it was a success!  Fairly simple, not overly time-consuming, and it yields fantastic results.  I used a store-bought cake mix for the cake balls and bought this (oh, I think I just might use it again), I used this recipe for the actual cake, and made my buttercream seen here.  With the leftover balls, I decorated the bottom of the cake and also I ate them.  

Happy 1st Birthday to my spunky little tiger, we love you : )         

Balls!

White cake batter...

Little Avenger helping out...

It's the whole family!  Etta wants out.

Bye bye balls...

And hello again!  

(I've heard freezing the balls helps them to not rise to the surface during baking, but in the end it didn't really matter much.) 

Frosting and layering...

Polka Dot Party!

Even her baby book matches which was a total accident.  

My breakfast...

S'mores Cake

Remember S'mores Cookies and S'more Cookie Bars and my sister's S'more Pops?  Well now I present you with S'Mores Cake.  Thank you Food Network for this recipe.  I was convinced it would be an overly sweet monstrosity but it was not!  The bittersweet chocolate ganache certainly helped, and I also went with 3 layers instead of 4.  Tip: definitely microwave the marshmallow fluff for 10 seconds (no more than that or it will explode!) to make it easier to spread.  And don't worry about the presentation of the cake - s'mores are supposed to be a gooey, sticky mess of deliciousness.  Also, it's even better the next day.  I used a boxed chocolate cake, by the way, so go ahead and judge me.  Make this!!  The perfect way to end the summer.

4-0 Cake!

Someone in our house is turning 40 this week, and it's not me, and it's not my kids... so I'll let you figure that out.  As you know, I go a little coo koo roo over birthday cakes, and this was no exception.  I thought about baking 40 cakes, and then I thought about checking myself into a mental institution instead.  AND THEN, I found this alphabet/number pan, and my sanity was saved.  How cool is it??  You rearrange these 2-inch squares to form any number or letter you fancy!  And as long as you spray the pan, they pop right out leaving a perfectly formed cake.  I'm obsessed.

Have some happy weekends, ok?  And stay tuned next week for an exciting announcement : )  

Tres Leches Cake

I don't know very many Spanish words, but I do know that "Tres Leches Cake" means something wonderful.  It means milk, and it means a lot of it - 3 different kinds to be exact - and all of that together means a super moist cake.  And that means bueno, which my computer just tried autocorrecting to Bruno.  Maybe my computer thinks the cake is so good, Bruno Mars should write a song about it?  Or maybe my computer is just a STUPID IDIOT.  Kidding, computer... never break.      

I made this cake for my mom's birthday (which falls on Cinco de Mayo) and it sure was a crowd please.  I used this recipe, because she never steers me wrong.  The pictures are sorta lousy, because I was too busy licking the whipped cream frosting bowl clean.  No bueno, Bruno : ( 

Cinnamon Roll Cake

A thing called Cinnamon Roll Cake exists in this world, in case you were wondering.  I made it.  And I would love to tell you how crazy delicious it was, but I didn't try it.  I baked it for a Teacher Appreciation Lunch, and I thought it would be rude to present it with a teeny, tiny slice missing.  Hey Teachers, I appreciate you!  But not enough to give you an entire cake?  Yeah, that wasn't going to work.  So I had to fold in the cinnamon sugar swirl and sneak in the gooey, brown sugar filling and drizzle the creamy frosting on top and then give it all away.  Woe is me : (

I used this recipe, and was very curious about the addition of vanilla pudding mix.  You should make it, and tell me what you think.  It's research, for me, so you should probably do it.  (I'm trying to help you out here.)  By the way, if you're a teacher, I appreciate you like crazy!  I wish I could send you all cakes without teeny, tiny slices missing.    

*Update: I snuck into the preschool kitchen and snagged a bite of the leftovers.  Yup, crazy delicious.  I was even told that one teacher had a dream about it last night.  What I like to hear.

Power Ranger Cakes

Success!  Jack turned 4!  There was a party!  The Bounce House only collapsed on the children twice!  Relax, everyone is fine, no need to call the authorities.  There were 5 cakes!

I know it sounds crazy to make that many cakes BUT, there were many, many children and as you can see - each cake is only 8 or 9 inches round (I have no idea how big my cake pans are).  The theme was Power Rangers so I thought, wouldn't it be fun for the kids to pick which color Ranger they wanted to eat in cake form?!  Does that sound weird?!  Also, when you get a little help from the store, anything is surmountable!  I made my own buttercream but used boxed white cake mix (3 of them), separated the batter into 5 bowls, used food paste to color them, and then baked them...

I love making cakes with candy melts on top (as you can see here, here and here).  It's such a fun way to make an average, store-bought or semi-homemade cake look professional and fabulous THAT'S RIGHT FABULOUS.  And it's really easy to do!  My favorite product to use are these Wilton Candy Melts, because they melt beautifully and the colors are vibrant and last.  But you could also use white chocolate and dye it (I've just found white chocolate doesn't melt as well).  All I do is conduct a 'google image' search for what I'm looking for, in this case, Power Ranger masks.  I find one that's a decent size for my cake (or I adjust the printing settings to make it so).  I place the image under parchment paper and I trace with the melted candy!  You can use a piping bag, but I always put mine in regular old sandwich bags with the ends clipped and find that works really well.      

Here, the images are taped onto the counter with parchment paper taped over that.  

They're halfway done with melted chocolate (but next time I'll use Wilton's black candy melts because the color will last longer)...

I find I have a much steadier hand if there is wine involved...

Let the melts cool and harden before placing them atop cakes.

Buttercream recipe: 4 sticks unsalted butter at room temp (I like to use European style if I know I'm really going to taste it), 4 cups powdered sugar, 1 T vanilla and 1 tsp cream (or milk).

And for no reason other than I feel like sharing, I picked up flowers for each Power Ranger too.  The ninjas look much lovelier in flower form, don't you think?  Ok, time to start planning my 6 month-old's first birthday!  Just kidding, that was a joke, no it wasn't.

(Also, a Brobee Cake and a Wubbzy Cake)

Chocolate Mayonaise Cake

Now don't freak out.  I know this doesn't sound right.  Chocolate - mayo - cake??  Did I make a typo up there??  No sir ma'am, I did not.  Think about it, what is mayo made of?  Eggs, oil, vinegar.  What makes a cake moist and delicious?  Eggs, oil, vinegar.  I'm telling you, this was THE BEST chocolate cake I have ever made.  From here on out, mayo is going in ALL of my cakes.  And if you hate the condiment, you would never know it.  It doesn't taste like mayo, you silly billies, it just makes the cake ridiculously moist and delicious, and full of rich chocolate flavor.  

Oh, and also, the chocolate buttercream frosting.  I mean, shut up, just shut up recipe with your PERFECT chocolate buttercream frosting.  It's absurd.  Warning!  There are 3 sticks of butter in it, but, if you splurge a little and use the unsalted European kind (found in your regular market) you will not regret it.  You will stick your face in it.  It's just a wonderful, wonderful cake.    

I used this recipe, so there you go.

Ombre Cake

My niece celebrated her 7th birthday over Thanksgiving break - and I volunteered to make her a cake at the very last second.  Boxed everything (I'm sorry, Martha).  But to make it more fun and slightly more creative, I decided to divide the cake batter into 3 bowls, and to add varying degrees of red food coloring for an ombre effect.  In case you're unfamiliar with the word/trend, it means "having colors or tones that shade into each other."  You're welcome for your morning lesson of learning.

Heart Shaped Ombre Cake...

Chocolate Chip Banana Snack Cake

Hello!  It's me.  I'm tired.  If I stop making sense somewhere in this post, chalk it up to no sleep and too much coffee...

I have some business to take care of first, and I'm going to use numbers like a Type A freak...

1. The winners of the Weelicious Cookbook are Kristen (commenter #12) and Valerie!  Please email me (contact info under 'Find Siri') and I will get you your books!

2. A huge, fat, gigantic THANK YOU to all my guest bloggers these past 2 weeks.  You saved my life and this blog.

3. Chocolate Chip Banana Snack Cake.  I'll stop with the numbers now...

With both of my childbirth experiences, I've come home from the hospital and all I can think about are the nurses who took care of me while I was there.  Honestly, when I come back in another life as a better person, I will come back as a Labor & Delivery RN.  Unless karma is a real thing because then I'll probably come back as a piece of chewed gum.  Anyway, those nurses are angels, catering to you in your most humble, most vulnerable, most joyful life moment.  So after giving birth to both of my babies, I brought baked goods to the hospital as a small token of thanks.

After giving birth to Etta, I found this recipe but added 3 ripe bananas to the wet ingredients.  I also used mini chocolate chips in the batter.  It was stupid good.  Moist, messy, full of chocolate and banana flavor - I want more right now.  

Sugar and Charm Guest Post ~ Mocha Chocolate Icebox Cake

by Eden at Sugar and Charm...

Hi Siriously Delicious readers!  I'm so excited to be guest posting for Siri while she takes a little time to bond with her precious baby girl.  Since we both have a considerable amount of love for sugar and Siri makes such amazing desserts, I knew I could only contribute a deeelicious treat!  This Mocha Chocolate Icebox recipe was shared with me because of its overwhelming goodness.  It's an Ina Garten recipe (love her desserts) and I've been dying to make it!  Get ready to drool... it consists of homemade chocolate chip cookies, layered with a chocolate, mocha, mascarpone whip and then set out so the flavors can blend together.  Almost like a tiramisu, but with chocolate chip cookies!  Honestly, it tastes too good to be true, but you'll have to make one to believe it.  It's fairly easy to make and to save time (if you don't want to actually turn your oven on), you can use chocolate chip cookies from a bakery.  Besides the cookies, this is a non-bake dessert : )  

Instead of buying cookies, I made my own and used the simple chocolate chip cookie recipe on the back of the Ghiradelli chocolate chip bag (minus 1/4 cup flour) and they were great!

For the recipe, click here.  I substituted Bailey's Irish Cream instead of Kahlua and also added an extra half teaspoon of espresso powder.  

Enjoy!