Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting - Happy Graduation!

This past May/June, we celebrated 3 graduates in my family: my brother and my two cousins.  These three young ones will start college in the fall and I feel super old!  Ah-hem.  Anyway, I decided to get off my lazy butt and start blogging again since I have failed to keep this blog going!  I figured the most appropriate recipe for me is my "Chocolate Cake with Buttercream Frosting."

I baked this cake for the graduates to enjoy.  I was actually asked to bake a cake after my aunt and her husband tried my carrot cake and fell in love with it (I will post that in the near future)!  They actually wanted me to bake another carrot cake, but I vetoed since that took a lot of labor on my part (sorry! but next time!). 

Also, my sister is engaged and getting married in another year or so (she has yet to select a date).  I've volunteered myself to bake her cake!!! Okay, yes... a task that might be a bit too much, but if it turns out bad I can always run to HEB, right!?!?

So on to the cake... I mixed and matched recipes because I wanted to play with the American Test Kitchen cookbook my dad recently purchased, but I wanted to try out this butter cream frosting I found online (my sister told me she wanted butter cream frosting and not fondant for her cake). 

My cousins thanked me for a delicious cake and my aunt even called to tell me that my cake was the first to go (out of 3 cakes they had that day!).  So I am very pleased to post this on my blog.  I hope you enjoy!

Chocolate Cake: (adapted from America Test Kitchen)

• 1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
• 3/4 cup boiling water
• 1.5 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon instant espresso or instant coffee (optional, but highly recommended)
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Heat oven to 350 degree F
2. Line two 9" round pan with parchment paper on the bottom (grease the sides)
3. Whisk the cocoa and water together in a small bowl
4. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and espresso powder  
5. In another bowl, whisk together oil, egg, vanilla and cooled cocoa misture
6. Stir the oil mixture into the flour mixture and whisk until smooth
7. Pour the batter into the prepared pan
8. Bake between 25 to 30 minutes (to see if the cake is ready, take the cake out, insert a toothpick in the center of the cake.  When the toothpick comes out clean and with a few crumbs, your cake is ready)
9. Allow the cake (in the pan) to cool on the cooling rack for 15 minutes.  Afterwards, flip the cake over to remove from the pan and allow it to cool for 1-2 hours. 

While the cake is cooling, you should make your butter cream frosting.

Chocolate Butter Cream Frosting: (adapted from ezrapoundcake.com)

• 9 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 3 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature 
• 2 tablespoons of whole milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2.5 - 3 cups of confection's sugar (powder sugar), sifted

1. Melt the chocolate (you may either melt it in the microwave or over the stove) and let it cool to room temperature
• If you opt for the microwave, make sure you do not burn the chocolate! Just melt in increments of 2 minutes
• If you opt for the stove, either use a double-boiler pan or in a heatproof bowl, set it over boiling water (make sure they do not touch... I place a rack in my pan and place the bowl on top). 
2. Beat butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy
3. Add milk
4. Add chocolate and mix until incorporated (about 2-3 minutes)
5. Add vanilla 
6. Gradually add 2.5 cups of confection's sugar (on low speed) until the frosting is creamy and silky (add more sugar if needed)

Stuffed Shells (with love!!)

My boyfriend loves eating in, which is fine with me because I love being in the kitchen.  Last weekend he was craving for some "Stuffed Shells" and I've never made them before (nor had them either) so it was challenge I accepted! ;) 

After searching for a "good" recipe, I finally found one that I liked from http://blogchef.net.  I took his Stuffed Shell recipe and modified it (like always).  

Ingredients:

• 1.5 lbs of ground beef (we usually use lean)
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced 
• 1 bag of Italian blend cheese
• 2 cups of skim ricotta cheese
• 1 cup of bread crumbs
• 1 jar (26 oz) of spaghetti sauce of your choice
• 8 oz of tomato sauce
• salt and pepper to taste 
• jumbo pasta shells (one box)
• 1/4 cup of red wine (this is optional)

Directions:

Brown the meat with onion and garlic.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and just to save time... go ahead and cook the pasta according to the directions on the box/bag. 

 

After the meat and browned, drain the excess juices and let it cool for a good 5 minutes.  

In a mixing bowl, combine the meat, ricotta cheese, half the bag of Italian cheese,  bread crumbs, and salt and pepper for taste. 

 Carefully spoon the mixture into the shells.  Prior to putting the shells (or even putting the meat mixture in the shells), combine the spaghetti sauce with the tomato sauce.  Spread some of the sauce (do not use it all!) on the bottom of the baking dish.  Then carefully place and arrange the stuffed shells on the baking dish. 

After your shells are neatly placed, mixed the red wine with the remainder of the tomato and spaghetti sauce and cover the stuffed shells with the sauce.  Sprinkle the rest of the Italian blend cheese on top of the sauce.  Bake for 20-25 minutes.  

 Your stuffed shells should come out looking something like this! Bon appetit!

Sandy's Pot Roast - New Year... New Food... Better Blog

Hello... it's been a while since I last blogged.  I've actually been yelping a lot trying to keep my elite status for 2012 (which I finally received! yay me!).  But! one of my new year resolutions is to post more whether it's about places I've tried or about my baking/cooking adventures.  

So, to start my 2012 blog, I've decided to talk about my "Sunday Pot Roast."  This cozy recipe not only warms your body, but it's very comforting.  However, do know that this takes a few hours to cook.  

Ingredients: 

• 3-4 lbs of chuck roast (if you want more flavor, get 2 lbs of chuck roast and 2 lbs of bone-in beef short ribs)
• 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 celery, chopped
• 1 cup of baby carrot (or 2 carrots, peeled and chopped)
• 1 lbs of white mushroom (thick sliced or quarter- however you like 'em)
• 2 tablespoon of tomato paste
• 14.5 oz of chopped tomato (canned)
• 1/2 cup of tomato sauce 
• 2 teaspoon of sugar
• 1/2 cup of water
• 1/2 cup of red wine 
• 1 whole garlic, peeled and separated 
• 1 tablespoon of dried thyme 
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions: 

First off, make sure you get a nice piece of chuck roast (like the one shown below).  That baby was at least 3 lbs and I trimmed off some of the excess fat to make it a bit healthier.  

Then, pat the meat with a paper towel and season with salt and pepper.  I usually use fresh cracked peppers and sea salt to season my meat with.  Turn on your oven to 300 degree F.  In a dutch oven, add a teaspoon of vegetable oil and brown your meat (at medium-high heat).  I cut mine up to make cooking easier, but you can brown the entire meat intact if you'd like. 

After your meat is browned, take it out and place it on a plate or bowl (make sure it catches all the juice that's still coming from the meat) and set it aside.  

Reduce heat to medium and cook celery, onions, mushroom, baby carrots, potato, and tomato paste until the vegetables begin to soften.  

Then, add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, sugar, water, 1/2 cup of red wine, peeled garlic, and thyme.   

Place the meat and its juice back with the vegetable mixture.  Turn the heat back to medium-high and bring the pot to simmer.   Cover the dutch oven with its lid and place the dutch oven inside the oven (at the center) and cook for about 3 hours.  The pot roast will be done when the meat falls apart once you stick your fork in it.  If the meat does not fall apart easily, then cook it for another 30 minutes.  

We usually eat this with rice.  If you want more flavor, I recommend adding beef short ribs (with bone) and browning it with the chuck roast.  The bone will fall out once the pot roast is done and it's very good too!  

Bon appetite!