Tag Archives: chocolate

Chocolate Cupcakes with Fluffy Frosting

I wanted to make cupcakes to take into work for Halloween but found myself not being satisfied with the chocolate cupcake recipes I was finding. So I decided to combine two recipes, one for the cupcakes and one for the frosting, to come up with these Chocolate Cupcakes with Fluffy Frosting. The cupcake recipe comes from Shape Magazine and is lighter in calories than normal cupcakes but you would never know it. The cake, which includes a wee-bit of coffee, is light and chocolately, just what I wanted. And the frosting (which I colored orange), while not lighter in calories, is thick and sweet. I made these cupcakes while The Rocky Horror Picture Show blared on my television in the background and the whole scenario got me into the Halloween spirit. Happy Halloween!

The cake ingredients:

Cream butter together with the sugars (I forgot brown sugar in my ingredients picture).

Slowly add in the dry ingredients, alternating with buttermilk.

Pour into cupcake pan lines with paper liners and back at 350°F for 20 minutes.

The frosting ingredients:

Cream together the butter and combine with the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla.

Drop in food coloring, if desired.

Additions: None

Omissions:

Almond extract

Substitutions: None

Overall Rating: Like It

Source: Shape Magazine and Coastal Living Magazine

Texas Sheet Cake

Some of you may have never heard of Texas Sheet Cake but it’s a thin, rich chocolate cake that I remember my mom making frequently when I was little. The cake itself isn’t uber-chocolatey like a death-by-chocolate cake but it doesn’t need to be. The batter is spread out onto a cookie sheet, baked thin, and covered with a velvety, sinful layer of more chocolate goodness. The frosting is the real star of this show. Butter, cocoa, and buttermilk are cooked together and then blended with powdered sugar, vanilla, and walnuts. As it cools on the cake, it thickens while still staying creamy and decadent. Texas Sheet Cake isn’t just a chocolate cake – it’s THE chocolate cake to make. Think of it like a lighter (in texture, not calories!) version of a frosted brownie. Whether you made it with your mom like I did or if you’ve never tried it before, please put it on your to-do list.

The cake ingredients:

Bring butter, water, and cocoa to a boil in a saucepan.

Add in the dry ingredients.

I’m pretty sure I used sour cream instead of buttermilk here now that I look at the pictures, but the cake turned out phenom anyway!

Pour the batter into a sheet pan and bake at 375ºF (Tip: make sure your pan isn’t as shallow as mine was or you might end up with frosting all over your counter…just sayin’!)

The frosting ingredients:

Add butter, cocoa, and buttermilk to a saucepan and bring to a boil.

Stir in powdered sugar and vanilla. Add in walnuts.

Carefully pour the cooked frosting over the cooled cake (again, make sure your pan is deep enough to contain the frosting!).

Once the frosting has cooled, dig in!

Additions: None

Omissions: None

Substitutions:

Reduced-fat sour cream for buttermilk in the cake

Overall Rating: Love It

Source: Better Homes and Gardens Magazine

Peanut Butter Cup Blondies

The name of these Peanut Butter Cup Blondies pretty much sums up this dessert. A simple batter of flour, sugar, butter and eggs is mixed with peanut butter and chocolate chips and topped with chopped up peanut butter cups. If you love peanut butter and chocolate (or just peanut butter), you should like these bars. Although they seem decadent, they aren’t overly sweet or buttery and according to Cooking Light each bar has only 153 calories so don’t let guilt consume you. Next time you get that peanut butter-chocolate craving, consider making these!