Cupcake Tuesday-Double Chocolate

Happy Tuesday everyone!  I made you something special, some DOUBLE chocolate cupcakes! Most of you should be excited, however I have a little secret to share.

I don't really like chocolate cake.  I mean I'll eat it, but the issue is that I'm SUPER picky about it.  It has to be perfectly moist, just the right level of bitter, and yeah it usually just isn't worth it in my book.

But for you, these are going to be worth it!  Because the chocolate frosting is going to keep them moist, and the yogurt/sour cream in the batter is going to make the texture to die to for.  It's going to be exciting.

Look at these little cupcakes, standing at attention looking all proud.

Chocolate Cupcake

makes 24
2 sticks butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
vanilla
salt
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line two cupcake pans.

In a large bowl whip together the room temperature butter with the sugar until they get nice and light and fluffy.  Add the 2 eggs, one at a time and beat for about another minute.

When the eggs are fully incorporated add in the vanilla, salt and cocoa powder.  Mix well.

Next, measure out your baking soda, baking powder and flour in a medium bowl.  Add about 1/3 of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat until just combined.  Add the sour cream.  Follow that with another 1/3 of the flour, the yogurt and the last of the flour, beating well after each addition.

Scrape the sides of the bowls and mix one last time to make sure it is all combined.

Scoop into the cupcake pans using a 2 oz ice cream scoop, or filling about 2/3 of the way full.  My rule with chocolate cake is that it should look like chocolate ice cream before it bakes

Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

2 8 oz blocks cream cheese

1 stick butter, room temperature

1/4 cup cocoa powder

3-4 cups powdered sugar 

In a medium bowl combine the cream cheese and the butter with a mixer until it gets a little fluffy, this will take about 2 minutes.

Add in the cocoa powder and briefly mix until combined.

Now slowly add the powdered sugar, about 1/2 cup at a time, keeping the mixer on low to let it mix in.  Once you have the right sweetness, scrape the sides and mix on medium for about 20 seconds to make sure everything is smooth.  The secret to this frosting is to beat it like there's no tomorrow, don't be afraid of over-beating.  People are always surprised that a cream cheese frosting can be so light.  That's one of the main reasons to add the powdered sugar so slowly while letting the mixer run.

Once the cupcakes are cooled, pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes.

Enjoy!

Love, 

Keely

Sunday School-Peach Bundt Cake

So I've sort of fallen in love with my bundt pan.  It makes everything so much prettier than it otherwise would be, and it makes a normal cake seem much more brunch (but that may just be me!).

So, going along with the peach situation (oh my gosh the peaches are so good!) I made you a peach bundt cake, and since it has fruit in it you SHOULD eat this for breakfast, and lunch, and dinner.

Have a wonderful Sunday my friends!

Peach Bundt Cake

adapted from Taste of Home

1/3 cup butter

1 1/4 cups sugar

2 eggs

vanilla

1 cup peach puree

2 cups flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

salt

1 cup sour cream

Diced peaches

2 Tablespoons maple syrup

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease a bundt pan, extra well!  I use so much non-stick spray, it's just ridiculous

In a large bowl add the butter and sugar.  Cream with a mixer together until lighter in color and slightly fluffy.  Mix in the peach puree.

Add the eggs and vanilla to the butter mixture and mix well.

In a medium bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt

Add 1/3 of the flour to the butter mixture and mix until incorporated.  Add 1/2 of the sour cream.  Add another 1/3 of the flour, then the last half of the sour cream and finally, the last 1/3 of the flour.

Scrape the sides of the bowl and then mix in the chopped walnuts.

Pour half the batter into the greased pan.  Toss the diced peaches in maple syrup and pour over the batter.  

Spoon the other half of the batter over the peaches.

Bake for 45-50 minutes.  Allow to cool and flip out of pan.

Top with more peaches and a drizzle of maple syrup.

Slice and enjoy!

Love, 

Keely

Weekly Wrap Up

Happy Friday Lovelies!

What a wonderful week it has been!  It was nice and relaxing and lovely and great.  There was family, roommate time and friend time, all great things!

I've done plenty of baking, watched a lot of How I Met Your Mother (I have a problem).

It's been fun, back to real life and FINALLY not housesitting for an extended period of time!

I started doing Capoeira.  This is my fancy shirt (aka not fancy shirt).  I'm having so much fun and actually making it to classes!  Total win!

IKEA chocolate cake, yum!

The roomie and I assembled some barstools!  Our apartment feels complete!

Swing dancing!  I love swing dancing!  Isn't it such a fun room!

My friend and I decided to make a little sign for our treats that we bring to church.  Nothing fancy but it totally help!

My uncle's beer, best beer EVER!

OH MY GOSH the weather is finally cooling down a bit!

Chocolate peanut butter cupcakes, recipe later!

Rehung some decorations!  Loving it!

Have a great weekend!

Love, 

Keely

Weekly Wrap Up

Happy Friday lovelies!

I hope you have had a wonderful week!  I have really been enjoying myself this week!  It's been raining a lot which I always love (except on days when I wear my hair curly...).

It's been super busy at work recently and I have spent LOTS of time watching the Olympics, I am in love!  Have you seen white water canoeing, what is that!?! It's SO amazing!

Don't forget to check out my sponsor giveaway here!  Today is the last day!

In other news...I only have 6 pictures to share with you, so this is going to be quite short :)

You may have already seen these, but the recipe for these Olympic cupcakes can be found here!

The roomie and I head out to a Lumineers/Cake show at Red Rocks, rain or shine people.  The first half of the show was in the rain, still so amazing!

My empty blog calendar for August, don't worry though, I got it all filled up.  There are some changes coming (nothing too major).

Olympics and blogging, what a great way to spend a Tuesday night!

This is my slightly messy hair.  I do love it, however, because of the way you can see the blue weaving through!  I am in love with having color in my hair (might do purple next...)

At work we did an outdoor space, and this was the one time I DID NOT want rain, but alas, you win some you loose some.  Needless to say, there was a slight weather delay.

So there you have it loves!  A VERY brief view of my week!  What were you up to?  Any big weekend plans?

Love, 

Keely

Sunday School-Ideas

So things are getting a little busy around here on Sundays!  Due to some insane busyness I don't have a new recipe for you!

But I still wanted to share with you some old recipes so you can still have some great brunch adventures!

How about some crepe cake?  So delicious and gooey!

Some delicious cinnamon pancakes!  Makes me hungry just looking at them!  Perfect way to start a Sunday morning/afternoon.

And finally, you need something wash all this down, so how about a nice, fizzy, raspberry maple drink!  If you're feeling super adventurous you could even try to put this syrup on some fresh pancakes!  

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a lovely Sunday and while you're here check out the new Smashed on Sunday link-up!

Love, 

Keely

Sunday School-Banana Nut Brunch Bundt

Banana nut brunch bundt, trying saying that three times fast!

The great news about this cake is that it's practically dessert but the bananas make it totally ok for brunch, which means you're a winner!

The cake is dense, flavorful and moist.  It's so yummy with some scrambled eggs, some fruit salad, and it's pretty easy!  You could definitely make it the night before and take it to brunch, super fancy style!



Love brunch, wish I could have it ever Sunday :)

Banana Nut Bundt

adapted from Taste of Home

1/3 cup butter

1 1/4 cups sugar

2 eggs

vanilla

2 large mashed bananas

2 cups flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

salt

1 cup sour cream

chopped walnuts

powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease a bundt pan, extra well!  I always freak out about it, so I use a lot of spray.

In a large bowl add the butter and sugar.  Cream with a mixer together until lighter in color and slightly fluffy.  Mix in the mashed bananas.

Add the eggs and vanilla to the butter mixture and mix well.

In a medium bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt

Add 1/3 of the flour to the butter mixture and mix until incorporated.  Add 1/2 of the sour cream.  Add another 1/3 of the flour, then the last half of the sour cream and finally, the last 1/3 of the flour.

Scrape the sides of the bowl and then mix in the chopped walnuts.

Pour the batter into the greased pan.



Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Remove the cake from the oven and turn upside down on a cooling rack.  Allow to cool for 10 minutes.

When the cake is removed from the pan dust with powdered sugar and sprinkle some more chopped nuts on top.

Enjoy, my loves!

Love,

Keely

 

Sunday School-Crepe Cake

It's Sunday!  Today is a day to sleep in (or go to church, but that is the beauty of my church meeting on Tuesday nights, I still get to sleep in on Sunday) have brunch, play outside, do some shopping, make a big dinner and have dessert.

It's the dessert part (and I guess if you stretch it the brunch part) that I'm aiming at here.

Sunday's are my favorite days.  I never really realized that until I started going to my Tuesday night church but it's such a great day!  I love to get creative on Sundays, spend time with people on Sundays

Have you ever heard of a crepe cake?  Well I saw some on Pinterest and it seemed easy enough so I decided to just go for it.  You just need crepes, and filling of choice (I used ganache, Nutella and salted caramel).  Here's what it looked like.



Ah, drippy, salted caramel.  I love you, oh so much!



Making crepes is way easier than people claim.  All you need is a pan and some butter and a batter, easy as pie (actually far EASIER than pie).



Simple, wonderful layers.

We're going to start with the ganache, and then the caramel, cause that's really the order things need to be done in.

Chocolate Ganache

3/4 cups chocolate chips

1/2 cup heavy cream

vanilla

Set up a double boiler and add in your chocolate chips and heavy cream.

Cook over medium heat and stir frequently until the chocolate is mostly melted.  When there are just a few chocolate chunks left, remove from the heat and continue to stir until completely smooth.  Add the vanilla.  Set aside and allow to cool.

Salted Caramel Sauce

1 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup water

1 tablespoon light corn syrup

1/2 cup room temperature heavy cream

vanilla

In a medium sauce pan briefly stir together the sugar, salt, water and corn syrup.  Bring to a boil over medium high heat.  Allow to boil for 8-10 minutes or until the liquid turns an amber color.  Keep an eye on this, you do not want it burn!

As soon as it turns a dark amber, remove from the heat.  Slowly add the room temperature cream, stirring constantly.  It will boil up, just keep stirring.

Once the mixture has come together, add a dash of vanilla and allow to cool.

Simple Crepes

adapted from She Knows

2 cup flour

4 eggs

1 cup water

1 cup milk

salt

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/4 cup melted butter

In a large bowl mix together all liquid ingredients (this everything but the flour).  Whisk together until the eggs are well incorporated.

Slowly add the flour and whisk until well incorporated.

(See that was easy).

Spray your non-stick pan and pre-heat it over medium-high heat.

Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to scoop out the batter into the middle of the pan.  Swirl the pan around to spread out the crepe.  Allow to cook until the edges barely turn brown.

Use your thinnest spatula (or your awesome flipping talents...it's all in the wrist) to flip to the other side and cook for another minute or so.

Slide out of the pan and onto a plate.

This is where the fun starts.

To be totally honest the easiest way to build this is to do it while the crepes are cooking (finish one crepe, layer with ganache while another one is cooking, so on and so forth).  So let's do that.

Take that first crepe and spread some ganache on it.  Now keep cooking crepe number 2.  Slide that on top, spread on ganache (or caramel, or Nutella, you can decide on the ratios).  Nice work, just keep stacking!

Congrats you did it!  Now pour any left over caramel all over the top of that.  Nice work, add some extra sea salt for good measure and hazelnut whipped cream if you're feeling super adventurous.

Wow that looks amazing.  You enjoy that! You earned it!



Love,

Keely

Sunday School-Sugar Free Roasted Strawberry Buttermilk Cake

Wow, that is one long title for a cake, but it's going to be delicious.  And by sugar-free I do not mean that this is packed full of fake sweetener, nor do I mean that this is particularly healthy, there is still some butter and buttermilk in it (you could make it lighter by using non-fat buttermilk.)

So instead of refined sugar I used agave.  This created a much less-sweet cake, but that's ok because the strawberries really shine through which makes it amazing!

And let's talk about the roasted strawberries.  Roasting them caramelizes their sugars and makes them so sweet and delicious, adding salt just makes them taste more like strawberries, it's amazing!

And look at how delicious those strawberries make the top of this cake look!



Are you hungry yet?

Ok good, let's get going on this!

Roasted Strawberries

adapted from Joy the Baker

1 carton strawberries cut into halves or quarters (you can use more if you would like)

1 tablespoon butter

2 tablespoons real maple syrup

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon sea salt

Preheat the oven to 400.

While you are slicing your strawberries, put a pat of butter on a edged cookie sheet (edges are super important!  If you don't have a cookie sheet with edges you can use a pyrex) and put in the oven until melted.

Swirl the melted butter around the pan and pour the sliced strawberries on top of it.

Drizzle with maple syrup and olive oil and sprinkle some salt all over those strawberries.



Now mix everything together, it's looking yummy!

Throw that pan in the oven for 20-30 minutes or until the strawberries are nice and tender and their juices have formed a syrup.

Buttermilk Cake

adapted from Joy the Baker

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/3 cup pure agave

salt

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

1/4 cup butter, melted

vanilla

Roasted strawberries

So while your strawberries are roasting you can go ahead and get this together, it's pretty simple and all you need is a bowl and a whisk!

Preheat oven to 400.

In a large bowl mix together all your liquid ingredients (agave, eggs, buttermilk, butter, vanilla).  Give them a quick whisk and make sure that everything is incorporated.

Then add in the flour and the baking powder.  Whisk until smooth (don't over whisk, it's ok if the batter is mostly smooth with a few chunks).

Butter and flour a pie pan, this will prevent the cake from sticking.

Scoop the cake in, all of it may not fit, you can make it into a cupcake or two if you feel like it.  Smooth out the top a little bit.



This is where this cake gets taken up a notch, it's about to get exciting.  Take your strawberries and spread them evenly over the cake, adding some of the syrup as well.



Throw that puppy in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until nice and golden brown and firm.

Allow to cool and slice and serve, everyone will be so impressed with your skills (especially since the name makes it sound so fancy!).

Also, for the record, this cake was so easy that I was able to make it with this much counter space.



I had just moved and that's about all I could clear off at the time, so no excuses, just go and bake and love it!

Love,

Keely

Weekly Wrap Up

This week was so lovely!  The weekend was so busy and full of such great community!

I headed down to my city's "First Friday" at one of the art districts, there was a Cinco De Mayo party, cupcakes to be made for my pastor's son's 13th birthday, brunch to attend and that was just the weekend!

Again, it is always so fun for me to look back at the pictures that I have taken and posted to Instagram in a week to remind myself of everything that happened!



On Friday my co-workers and I headed to Noodles and Company for what ended up being a LONG lunch, the drink machine was amazing!



I spent a bit of time on my own before heading down to first Friday.  I armed myself with my journal, my nook and a nice cup of tea.



Livin' in a hipsters paradise.  My friend and I had so much fun hanging out at First Friday, we know we'll be going back in June!  We saw an amazing wall of doors, we ate from a delicious food truck and we saw Brazilian Martial Arts Dancing (then we left the art district and got ourselves some ice cream, who can say no to ice cream made with beer?)



Every good Cinco de Mayo party calls for some sangria, right?  Ok, well maybe not but I made some any (recipe coming in June).  I kind of love sangria :)



To make up for the non-Mexican-ness of my sangria I showed up at the party with a platter of these guys, Mexican chocolate mini-bundts!  Mini-bundts are my new favorite thing, they're so adorable and tiny!  I'm still working on getting the frosting situation just right but I'm always up for a challenge.



Real-life baking.  I always make a huge mess and then have to tote everything around in unattractive carriers from place to place in my car (the box of cupcakes were for my pastor's son's birthday...Mexican chocolate cupcakes and vanilla with salted caramel buttercream cupcakes...yum!)



This was a total hit at the brunch I attended!  We settled on a "Mexican" theme due to Cinco de Mayo and so I made a tres leches baked French toast with a banana caramel sauce.  I was worried it would be too sweet but it was just right! (Recipe coming in June!)



When I don't go to the grocery store I force myself to be creative.  I was going to make orange bundts with some sort of raspberry topping, but I didn't have any sour cream so I subbed in apple sauce.  I ended up with an apple orange mini-bundt with brown sugar cream cheese frosting and raspberry orange glaze.   I heard good things about them :)



More solo time, me, a park bench, a cup of iced coffee and my nook (not pictured).



My church is unique.  We meet on Tuesday nights and we meet at a concert venue.  This week I was on "bartender" duty (no alcohol was served) which meant that I was behind the bar for the worship portion of the night.  Ever sang worship from behind a bar, give it a try some time :)



Mini golf!  I took the girl that I mentor mini golfing, she had never been before.  It was so fun to watch her get so excited about the little dorky things that us adults are so jaded by.



A "beauty" shot of the completed sangria, posted a few days later.  Wish I was drinking some right now.  (Again I REALLY love sangria!)

Well there you have it.  Another week down and another look behind the scenes of my "glamorous" life.

Love,

Keely