Catching Some Bieber Fever

I caught some Bieber Fever last week in honor of making a special little girl, Lillie, her 6th birthday cake! I made a Hershey's Chocolate Cake with chocolate frosting and a homemade whipped cream filling covered in marshmallow fondant. It of course had to be his signature color purple along with silver and black accents.

"I Heart Justin Bieber"

I decorated along the edge with piano keys and song titles.

Happy Birthday Lillie!

Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus

My favorite way to make asparagus is to roast it with a litte olive oil and salt and pepper. This was my first time having prosciutto, it's a little bit saltier than I thought but really compliments with asparagus in this dish. It's good served warm or cold for a side or appetizer.

Prosciutto Roasted Asparagus

1 pound asparagus, trimmed

1 Tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
6 to 8 thin slices prosciutto, halved lengthwise

Preheat over to 400 degrees. Wrap each asparagus with 1 piece of prosciutto, exposing tips. Place wrapped asparagus on baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and toss. Roast until tender, about 15 minutes.

Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate

I know I've shared the recipes for these Hershey's Chocolate cupcakes here and chocolate cream cheese frosting here but they are just too good not to blog about again! I could eat the chocolate cream cheese frosting all by itself if it came too it, it's just seriously that good!! So when asked by my friend Meghan if I could make her come cupcakes for a little girls night get-together I knew these two would be the perfect pair to offer.

I even had some marshmallow fondant left over from the baseball cake I cut flowers out of and used as a cute little decoration.

Baseball Glove Cake

This week I finally got to make my first boy birthday cake! Jamie had asked me a few weeks ago if I had ever made any cakes for boys and that she wanted a baseball themed cake for her son Peyton's 1st birthday. Although I had yet to make a boys cake, I as definitely up for the task. She ended up wanting a baseball glove cake and after debating how to carve a glove out a cake, I found a baseball mitt cake pan at Hobby Lobby, score! I only buy cake pans I know I'll use more than once and this one I know I will be.

I used two cake batters, one for the baseball glove and the other I divided into a 6-inch round cake pan for the smash cake and two 8-inch square pans for the baseball base. All three cakes are a white cake with white buttercream frosting and the two larger cakes are covered with marshmallow fondant.

Happy 1st Birthday Peyton!

Baseball glove and base cake

Baseball Smash cake

White Cake

1 1/2 cups self-rising flour*

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

2 cups sugar

4 large eggs, at room temp

1 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

*If you don't have self-rising flour you can you only all-purpose flour and add 1 tsp baking powder.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a small bowl, combine the flours and set aside.

In a larger bowl cream butter with electric mixer for about 2 minutes. Add sugar then add eggs one at a time until combined. Alternate adding 1/3 of the flour then 1/2 of the milk until thoroughly combined. Add vanilla.

Divide batter among prepared pans. Bake 25-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean from center.

Best Buttercream

2 cups shortening

8 cups powdered sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

6 oz heavy cream

Cream shortening in electric mixer. Add sugar one cup at a time. Add salt, vanilla and cream, mix until fluffy, about 3 minutes

I usually only use butter in my buttercream but this is truly a really good buttercream recipe that I'll use for special cakes and occasions.

Cookies and Cream Chocolate Cake

Hope everyone had a wonderful and safe Memorial Day weekend. This weekend is extra special for our family because we have 3 wedding anniversaries to celebrate! Since we all were going to be together I couldn't pass up the opportunity to bake something. This is one of the best tasting cakes I've made so far and really isn't that hard.  

Cookies and Cream Chocolate Cake

Cake recipe from Hershey's

Cake:

2 cups sugar

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray two 9" pans with baking spray and line the bottom of the pans with parchment paper.

Add sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to a large mixing bowl or stand mixer and mix together until combined. Add eggs, milk, vegetable oil, and extract and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water on low speed until well incorporated. The batter will be thin. Divide batter evenly among pans and bake 30-35 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Run a knife around the edge of the cake and cool about 10 minutes. Invert onto wire racks covered with parchment paper and re-invert to another rack to cool right side up. Cool completely.

Filling:

2 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Approximately 20 Oreos

Pour heavy cream into metal mixing bowl and chill in the refrigerator. Crush Oreos in a food processor and set aside. Add vanilla extract to cream beginning on low and gradually increasing speed to medium high as cream thickens. Add powdered sugar slowly while mixing. Beat cream until it holds stiff peaks.

Gently fold in crushed Oreos.

Trim off any rounded tops on the cake layers and cut each layer in half horizontally so you have 4 layers. Brush off excess crumbs. Put a spoonful of frosting on the center of the cake board or platter and top with first layer of cake. Spread about 1/4 of the cream on the first layer and smooth out with a spatula. Add next layer of cake and repeat with next 2 layers, ensuring each layer is level. Once all the layers are stacked, place cake in the freezer for about 15 minutes to set.

Frosting:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2/3 cup cocoa powder
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup whole milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Melt butter and pour over cocoa powder. Beat on low speed until well incorporated. Add 1 cup powdered sugar followed by 1/3 of the milk, beating on low speed until incorporated, continue alternating until all the powdered sugar is incorporated. Add vanilla and beat on medium speed until smooth. Add more powdered sugar or milk to reach necessary consistency.

Apply a crumb coat of frosting, chill about 20 minutes and then frost with remaining frosting.

Pipe on remaining filling as desired to decorate and garnish with halved or quartered Oreos.

Not gonna lie, since I couldn't fit everyone's names on the cake and was writing the initals I felt like I was in grade school D+B= love

Happy Anniversary Karl and Mollie, Jordan and Stephanie, and to my husband Dave.

Can't wait to celebrate every year for the next 60+ years!!

Dinner Tonight

It's dinnertime and tonight I made cheeseburgers, fresh corn on the cob and just picked asparagus right from the garden.

Creamy Chicken & Spinach Pasta

I usually try to plan out our meals but tonight I just kind of "winged it" and through together whatever I had on hand which consisted of pasta and spinach. I found a recipes that included the ingredients I wanted to use and then just added whatever else I wanted that I thought would taste good.

Ingredients:

3 skinless, boneless chicken breast, cubed

1 cup chicken broth

1/2 onion, chopped
garlic
lemon juice from 1/2 a lemon
2 handfuls spinach
1 (8oz) pkg cream cheese
1 (16 oz) penne pasta
3 Tbsp Parmesan cheese

Directions
1.Bring large pot of water to a boil, and stir in penne pasta.
2.Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium heat,  saute onions and garlic. Add chicken cubes and cook in broth; simmering until done, about 10 minutes. Stir in cubed cream cheese, spinach and lemon juice. Return to simmer, and cook about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3.In a large bowl, mix together cooked, drained pasta, sauce and Parmesan. Let stand a few minutes before serving.