7-Layer Magic Bars

.  Life...life.  Oh, how you slay me.

Yeah.

Some major changes have been going on in my life as of late.  Nothing I care to talk about at the moment, but it fully explains my extended hiatus from LSM and the blogging world.  I realize I've been alluding to this for the past several months but you'll just have to bear with me.  Sooner, rather than later, I'll get back into some sort of routine and I'll be back raring to go.  Trust me, it's been eating away at me that I haven't been able to get in the kitchen.  And now more than ever I could really use that baking stress relief.  But patience is a virtue, right?

However, in true Jess fashion, I did manage to squeeze in a quick baking sesh last week in honor of one of my co-workers.  A few months ago, my co-worker made a bet with a buddy of his to see who could lose the most weight by the New Year.  Honestly, I give him props.  I could never do the diet thing because I would be the most crabby person on Earth.  My family refers to it as 'low blood sugars.'  I don't know what they're talking about though [wink, wink].

Anywho, my co-worker pulled out the mighty win and promptly requested a baked goodie for his efforts.  And he knew exactly what he wanted.  I mean, what better way to celebrate a victory than with a bar layered with all of the most wonderful ingredients one can find in the baking aisle?  Count me in!

Whether you call them Magic, Bars, 7-Layer Bars, or a combination of the two, these bars are legit.  Simply the most addicting, classic bars you will find.  And when I say seven layers, I mean seven layers.  One after the other.  Let's count them, shall we?

Graham Cracker Crust [1]

Walnuts [2]

Semisweet Chocolate Chips [3]

White Chocolate Chips [4]

Butterscotch Chips [5]

Shredded Toasted Coconut [6]

Sweetened Condensed Milk [7]

Mmmmmhmmmmm.

If that isn't convincing, then...you're just SOL, huh?  Just kidding.  But you won't regret this one.  And whadda ya know, they're easy peasy.  Basically a sprinkling of ingredients and into the oven they go.  You're welcome!

Until my next post, but who knows when that will be  .

Adapted from Brown Eyed Baker

Ingredients:

1 c. sweetened flaked coconut

1/2 c. unsalted butter

1-1/4 c. graham cracker crumbs

1 c. chopped walnuts

1 c. semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 c. white chocolate chips

1/2 c. butterscotch chips

1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk

Directions:

1. Place oven rack in lower middle position.  Heat oven to 350°F.  Spray a 13x9-inch pan with cooking spray; set aside.
2. Spread coconut evenly on a baking sheet.  Bake 4 minutes or just until outside edges begin to brown.  Set aside.
3. Melt butter and combine with graham cracker crumbs in a small bowl.  Press crumbs evenly into bottom of prepared pan.
4. In order, sprinkle walnuts, chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, and coconut in even layers.  Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over layers.  
5. Bake 25 minutes or until top is golden brown.  Cool completely in pan before cutting (about 2 hours).  

Yield: 2 dozen bars

Pina Colada Dip

.  Hello all!  I hope everyone had a wonderfully romantic Valentine's Day.  Well, for those of you who wanted a romantic night, I guess.  My V-Day was actually much more exciting than I planned, but that's always a good thing!  So a week ago, I decided I needed to do something extra special for Robbie, I had to top last year's V-Day surprise.  Now, if you know Robbie, you know that he hates surprises.  He hates attention.  So guess what his wonderful girlfriend had to do?  Mmhmm, I had to completely embarrass him to show him just how much I love him.  That's logical, right?

So long story short, I showed up at Robbie's work [with a cheesy bear, caramel apple, and box of chocolates in hand] and took embarrassment to a brand new level.  Not only did we end up having the entire office staring at us, but I got the tomato-red face and nervous chuckles galore from Robbie.  It was utterly embarrassing for us both but it was easily one of the best moments of our relationship.  I'll never forget his adorable face as he smiled to the room in humiliation.  In the end, he admitted he was happy to see me [thank goodness], but tried to make me promise to never do it again.  I had my fingers crossed though.

So now that V-Day is over and I'm guessing many of you have had your fair share of chocolate candy [I know we have!], I figured this would be a good time to pass out a fruity recipe: Piña Colada Dip.  I hesitate to call it 'light' because let's be honest, it's not exactly healthy.  But the fruity-ness of the dish is outrageously refreshing and seriously addicting.  I could have easily eaten this dip entirely by myself but since I made this for our guests at our Mexi-themed Super Bowl gathering, I did leave a spoonful or two for everyone else.  I'm such a great host.  I served this dip with Vanilla Wafers and fresh strawberries, which I absolutely loved both.  But you can also serve this recipe with a variety of accompaniments, such as graham crackers, pineapple slices, angel food cake pieces, etc.  You get the point.  Have at 'er!  .

From Val So Cal

Ingredients:

1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened

1 (7 oz.) jar marshmallow creme

1 (8 oz.) can crushed pineapple, drained

1/2 c. sweetened flaked coconut

Various fruits, crackers, or cakes to serve

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, beat cream cheese and marshmallow creme until fluffy.
2. Fold in pineapple and coconut.  Cover and chill until ready to serve.

Secret Recipe Club: Christmas Cake Truffles

. Third time really is the charm.

Don't get me wrong, I was elated with my first two SRC assignments, which produced the Danish Puff and Victoria Sponge Cake.  Both were outrageously delicious and I had such a good time perusing the blogs.

But this time around, the blogger herself, Gloria from The Ginger Snap Girl, truly intrigued me.  Why you ask?  Well we have quite a number of [odd] things in common, which I realized while reading her 'About Me' page.  Let me demonstrate:

• Gloria has three cats and I have three dogs!  First off, I don't know many people with three of anything.  And second, we both have animals named Oliver!  Crazy.
• Gloria's husband is from Chicago [hello, my all time favorite city!] while Gloria is from California [whaaaat, my all time favorite state!].
• Gloria's family LOVES food.  Hmm, I vividly remember mentioning my family's passion for food in one my of posts.  Oh yes, yes I did.  But Gloria didn't really hone her cooking skills until college.  What the...neither did I!!  Sophomore year to be exact.
• Last but not least, Gloria began blogging in early 2010.  Okay, let's just take a gander over at my archives.  Yep, that's exactly when I started as well.

Is this weird or am I just imagining things?  Pretty amusing to me and needless to say, I loved browsing through Gloria's recipes, which include both baking and cooking dishes.  I have to admit, I was tempted to make some of Gloria's savory dishes for this SRC post because they just sounded so amazing.  Chicken Piccata [I adore capers), Cheeseburger-stuffed Mushrooms, Cheese and Chive Bread, and Garlic Basil Shrimp with Orzo Pasta.  Gah, mouth watering.

But I forced myself to stick to LSM's roots.  And of course, Gloria didn't lack any sweet recipes.  I debated between several items: Chocolate Chubbies, Chocolate Truffle Cookies, or Chocolate Malted Layer Cupcakes.  Obviously the chocolate bug was creeping around...but I ultimately decided on the irresistible Christmas Cake Truffles.  Why?  Well, they're absolutely perfect for the season, duh.  And I've also been dying to make cake balls for some time now but have never gotten around to it.  So here was my chance.  Gloria also provided a beautiful step-by-step tutorial, which was greatly comforting for my first attempt at cake ball-making!

And the results?  Little mounds of rich perfection.  Seriously, if you've never had a cake ball/truffle, you are missing out.  Big time.  These lovelies are truly truffle like, actually not what I was expecting in the least.  The centers are creamy, made so by a mixture of soft red velvet cake and a coconut-marshmallow cream cheese frosting.  And what's a truffle without some chocolate?  Mmhmm, the centers are encased by a layer of scrumptious chocolate.  Cake, special frosting, and chocolate all in one bite.  What's not to love?!

Yet again, I had a fabulous time getting to know a fellow blogger.  Thanks Gloria for the wonderful recipe and tutorial, I can't wait to share these with everyone! .

My Notes:

• Gloria's recipe called for a boxed cake mix and store-bought frosting, but she mentioned you could use a from-scratch recipe as well.  I opted to use my Red Velvet Cake, the one Robbie made me for my birthday, simply because I loved it so much and knew it would be great.  And it was more than great!  So if you decide to use my recipe, hop on over to the post for directions on how to make the cake and frosting.  It's a fun one, too, there's videos!  Otherwise, reference Gloria's ingredients and directions below.
• If you decide to use my recipe, you'll also need 2 ounces of red food coloring for the cake.  I put the batter into a 13x9-inch pan and baked at 350°F for 30 minutes, which is when a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake came out clean (from here, pick up at Step 2 below).  While the cake is cooling, make the frosting.  And if you're not a coconut fan, feel free to leave that out of the frosting.  Not saying I encourage you to do so [you'll regret it], but you know, just in case.  I used about 2 cups of the frosting for the filling.
• For some reason, the filling started to pop out through the chocolate a little bit.  It seems like there was some moisture, so some of the cake balls cracked slightly [see pictures below].  This doesn't effect their outrageous taste whatsoever, but just giving you the heads up! 
• I realized that this recipe is an ABSOLUTE perfect family activity on say, oh, Christmas Eve?!  Once the filling is ready, everyone can cover and decorate their own cake balls.  What a fun little night!

From The Ginger Snap Girl

Ingredients:

1 box red velvet cake mix (and ingredients on box to prepare cake)

1 container cream cheese frosting

2 (14 oz.)  bags dark cocoa candy melts

Additional candy melts, sprinkles, gels, etc. for decoration

Directions:

1.  Mix and bake cake mix according to box instructions.  Let cool.

2.  Once cooled, cut cake into sections and place cake into food processor.  Pulse until cake is crumbly (or, you can use your hands, fork, etc.).  Place crumbs into a large bowl.

3.  Add about 2/3 of the canned frosting to the cake crumbs and mix to completely combine, until you have a fudge-like consistency.

4.  Using a medium-sized scoop or tablespoon, scoop dough and place cake balls onto parchment- or foil-lined baking sheet (make sure that whatever you place the cake balls on can fit into your freezer!).  Take each ball and roll in hands to form a smooth ball and place back on baking sheet.  Place baking sheet in freezer for 1 hour.

5.  Once ready to decorate, place chocolate candy melts into large bowl and melt in microwave (heat at 30-second intervals until completely melted and smooth).  

PLEASE NOTE! 

If you're using sprinkles, make sure to have the sprinkles ready to use.  The chocolate melts very quickly, so you must decorate the cake balls immediately after covering in chocolate.  I found it best to set up a short assembly line: dip in chocolate, place on parchment paper, and cover with sprinkles.

6.  Place one cake ball into bowl and using two forks, roll ball in chocolate to cover completely.  Using the forks, take cake ball out of bowl, letting excess chocolate drip off, and place onto parchment paper.  Decorate as desired.  Let cake balls set (only a minute or two).

Yield: about 60 cake balls

King Congo Bars

. I have good news to report...

THE FOAMERS ARE 4-0!

Oh yes, mark us as undefeated! 

Okay, wait a minute, Jess.  Take it back a step.  Who in the world are the Foamers?!

Oh yeah...let me explain.  You know that softball team I talk about every week?  The team that gives me a legitimate excuse to make an extra batch of treats every week?!  Well, we're the Foamers.  Now let me explain to you exactly what a Foamer is. 

So, I work for the railroad, right?  Yes.  Union Pacific Railroad to be exact.  No, I don't work on the tracks or out on the trains, we'll leave that to people who actually have muscles.  Anywho, one of our managers [who is a self proclaimed Foamer] introduced me to this term a while back while traveling for one our audits.  She explained that a Foamer is someone who [not literally] 'foams at the mouth' when they hear or see trains go by and can rattle off information about that particular train.  Crazy, right?  Oh, those railroaders.

But that's how we got our name for the softball team.  A little weird sounding, I will admit.  At first it sounds like we're some rabid dogs, while in fact we're just a bunch of train-loving youngsters.  Good story?  Probably not.  But it's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

Now back to our game.  I'm going to say that all of our success was probably due to these little [BIG] bars right here.  King Congo Bars.  They just sound masculine, huh?  And they are, and I think they are the reason we won our game on Wednesday in the LAST inning.  Why?  Because I basically threatened 'no win, no treats.'  Juuust joking, I didn't.  But we did win in the last inning and got to celebrate with Capri Suns [no joke, someone brought those!] and these delicious hunks of goodness.

I can't really think of any other way to describe the consistency of these bars except to compare them to Pecan Pie.  You know, that sticky, gooey filling?  That's kind of what they're like.  Chock-full of semisweet and white chocolate chips, pecans, dates, and coconut.  Then, finished with a crunchy, thin layer of chocolate.  YUM!  You can imagine the sweet, chewy greatness in your mouth.  Or you can just whip up a super simple batch of these yourself.  Your choice .

From A Passion for Baking

Ingredients:

3/4 c. unsalted butter, melted

2-1/2 c. firmly packed light brown sugar

3 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2-3/4 c. all purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1 c. semisweet chocolate chips

1 c. sweetened shredded coconut

1/2 c. white chocolate chips

1/2 c. chopped pecans

1/2 c. pitted, diced dates

Topping:

1 c. semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1.  Heat oven to 350°F.  Generously spray 13x9-inch pan with nonstick cooking spray.

2.  In mixer bowl, blend butter and brown sugar.

3.  Add eggs and vanilla extract and blend well.

4.  Fold in flour, baking powder, salt, chocolate chips, coconut, white chocolate chips, pecans, and dates. 

5.  Spoon in prepared pan and using wet fingertips, spread batter evenly among pan.  

6.  Place pan in oven and immediately reduce oven temperature to 325°F.  Bake for 35 minutes or until bars are set but still seem soft.  Take pan out of oven and immediately sprinkle with chocolate chips and let sit for 1 to 2 minutes.  Using a spatula, smear chocolate chips around to make a glaze.

7.  Cool for 20 minutes and freeze for 1 to 2 hours before cutting and serving.

Yield: 2 dozen bars

Tried & True Tuesday: Kitchen Sink Cookies

. Whew, what a whirlwind [but faaaaantastic] weekend!  You know those weekends that you just don't want to end?  It was one of those...

Let me start from the beginning.  Bacon-loving friend and I decided quite a while ago that we wanted to make a trip up to Minne to shop our little hearts out visit my family and maybe see an attraction or two [MOA, MOA, MOA!].  So this last Friday after work, we packed up my car and made the seemingly endless car ride through Iowa and up to the Twin Cities.  We wandered on in to the darkness of Woodbury around 11 P.M. where my parents welcomed us with [of course] food, food, and more food!  Always a wonderful way to end a long day of work and driving ☺

The next morning, Saturday, we woke up at the crack of dawn to make it to our hair appointments (yes, I made hair appointments for us.  We were getting everything out of this trip that we could!).  I ended up not changing much [surprise, surprise] but Bacon-loving friend added some bangs and a wonderfully rich chocolate brown tint to her hair.  Fortunately, she loved the new do and I have to add that it's super cute!  Great choice, my dear.

Then, we traveled on over to the cities so I could show off the infamous Salty Tart.  Remember this place?  It's where I interned a few summers back and really found my love and passion for great baking.  I'd already had a huge interest but seeing Michelle work her magic, yet still remaining ridiculously modest, was awe-inspiring.  I really can't say enough about this woman, she's touched my life in a way that she'll probably never know.  But anywho, I took some pictures of our experience there so I'll be posting those later on.  Now back to our Minne adventures!

After a little treat for Bacon-loving friend [I had to make her try something so she could know first hand the delight that is the Salty Tart], we finally made our way to the Mall of America (a.k.a. MOA, as mentioned above).  And boy was that place a sight to see!  I realized I hadn't been back to Minne, as well as the mall, since last November!  Geesh, that's just weird.  So needless to say some of the stores had changed but it was still the same ol' mall I know and love.  We spent the rest of the day there, walking around every floor and hitting some of the stores on our list.  Eventually fatigue got the best of us so we headed home to hang out with the family for the rest of the night.

But don't worry, after a teensy bit of sleep, we were up again on Sunday and out at the mall by 10:30 A.M., prepared to shop 'till we drop!  We made our way to some of the stores that we skipped over the previous day and then geared ourselves up to travel across the street to Ikea.  If you've ever been to an Ikea store, you know how unbelievably large they are!  But that didn't phase us, we walked through the entire building looking at every piece of furniture and knick-knack they made.  Bacon-loving friend made a great coffee table purchase and I found a few baking supplies and house decorations.  All in all...success!

After a great dinner at a restaurant in Woodbury with my parents, pure exhaustion settled in and we didn't move from the couch the rest of the night.  I've always felt like I can hold up pretty well, but Bacon-loving friend definitely showed me up in this department.  While sometimes I felt like I couldn't go on, she was raring to go.  In the end though I'm glad, we were there for such a short time so there was no room for my baby-ness.  No mercy!

Then on Monday, we made the lame-o drive back to Omaha and back to reality.  It's always a bummer, that return trip, but I guess I'd rather have a great weekend and suffer through that drive back then not have those couple of days at all.  Agreed?

So now let's get to this recipe.  I chose Kitchen Sink Cookies, from A Passion for Baking, not only for their addictive nature.  No, not the entire reason.  But you know that feeling when you may be leaving for the weekend or perhaps returning from a trip, and you have all kinds of left over ingredients in your kitchen?  What to do, what to do?!  Well, this is a great recipe to use up that odd array of ingredients.  I mean really, there's everything in these but the kitchen sink!  And what you get from this recipe is MmMmm, goodness!  These cookies are soooft, yet chewy, with a crunchiness from the rice cereal, chocolatey yumminess, and caramelized marshmallows.  Umm, not one of those things sounds bad to me so there's next to no reason that these cookies aren't ridiculously delish.  Yes, delish.

Hope everyone had a lovely Memorial Weekend, by the way!  Enjoy these little guys! .

Kitchen Sink Cookies

from A Passion for Baking

Ingredients:

1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened

1/2 c. unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1-1/2 c. firmly packed light brown sugar

1/4 c. sugar

1-1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 eggs

2 c. all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1-1/2 c. rolled oats

2 c. crisp rice cereal

1-1/2 c. miniature marshmallows

1/2 c. butterscotch chips

1 c. semisweet chocolate chips

3/4 c. chopped milk chocolate bar

1 c. sweetened shredded coconut

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350°F.  Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In mixer bowl, cream softened and melted butter with brown sugar, sugar and vanilla extract.  Add eggs, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and blend well.  Stir in oats, rice cereal, marshmallows, butterscotch chips, semisweet chocolate chips, milk chocolate pieces, and coconut, to make well blended cookie dough.
3. For each cookie, scoop 2 to 3 tablespoons dough and place on baking sheets 2 inches apart.
4. Bake 12 to 14 minutes or until set all over (crisp edges and some marshmallows leaking out).  

Yield: 36 cookies

*My Notes:

• I used 2 heaping tablespoons of dough for each cookie and packed them together into a cylinder, like I've previously done with other cookies.  This made 3 dozen cookies for me, but you can get more or less depending on how much dough is used for each cookie.
• While the cookies are baking, I kept the dough in the fridge so the batter wouldn't get too warm.  This prevents the dough from spreading too thin while in the oven and gives you a more plump cookie.

Easter Carrot Cupcakes

. Whew, what a crazy last 24 hours!  It's been filled with batches of [botched] cupcakes, a little sleep, full day of work, my mom and brother coming to Omaha for all of 2 hours, and a new little addition to the household for the coming month.

And who is this new member of the family, you ask?!  Well it's that little [big] guy below, my brother's beagle, Leo!

Whether we're prepared for a four dog adventure or not, we got it!  My brother has finals during the first week of May and along with that, working, and productive extracurriculars, his time at home is going to be severely limited.  So, as a good sister would (wink, wink), I offered up my services to watch Leo for the month of May.  My boyfriend and I are both very excited to have this little guy around but...you may want to check back in with us half way during May.  Could be a different story?  Joking!  We'll have our hands full for sure but Leo is such a cute boy, I know he'll fit riiight in with us.

But let's get to these Carrot Cupcakes that I promised you on Tuesday!  Okay, so the overall cupcake turned out great: moist, flavorful, and I must say, so incredibly cute!  And aside from the frosting, this is a one-bowl cupcake recipe!  Can't get much easier than that ☺ But not going to lie, there was a teeny road bump along the way.  I wanted to double the batch since the original recipe only makes a dozen cupcakes (these were for Treat Day at the office and there's definitely more than 12 people in my department!).  However, somewhere along the way something went wrong and I ended up with cupcakes caving into themselves.  In a panic, I started a second batch [without doubling the recipe] and the cupcakes turned out fairly well.  They still didn't look like I remembered but the flavor was there so that's all that matters.  The rest of the way was smooth sailing: a sweet cream cheese frosting, toasted coconut, and a few Cadbury Chocolate Eggs to top off this Easter goodie.  My goal was to end up with a 'birds nest' on top of the cupcake (in the spirit of Easter) and I think I ended up with a pretty good representation.  You can be the judge though.

I truly wish everyone a very Happy Easter and hope that these Carrot Cupcakes make their way onto your dessert table! .

Carrot Cupcakes

Adapted from Martha Stewart

Ingredients:

Cupcakes:

1 c. sugar

1/3 c. vegetable oil

2 tbsp. orange juice

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. ground allspice

1/2 tsp. salt

3/4 c. plus 2 tbsp. all purpose flour

1-1/2 c. finely shredded carrots

1/2 c. chopped walnuts

1/4 c. shredded coconut

Frosting:

8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature

3/4 c. powdered sugar

Garnish:

1 c. shredded coconut

1 (10 oz.) package mini chocolate eggs

Directions:

1.  Heat oven to 350°F.  Oil or line with muffin cups a standard muffin tin.  In bowl, combine sugar, vegetable oil, orange juice, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, and eggs.

2.  Stir in baking powder, baking soda, allspice, and salt.  Add flour; mix.  Stir in carrots, walnuts and coconut.

3.  Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.  Bake 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cupcake comes out clean.  Let cool completely.

4.  Spread coconut for garnish evenly on baking sheet.  Bake 3 minutes and then toss coconut to mix.  Bake additional 3 to 5 minute or until toasted and golden.  Set aside.

5.  For frosting, in medium-sized bowl, combine cream cheese, powdered sugar and remaining 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract.  Whisk until smooth.

6.  Frost cupcakes.  Garnish with toasted coconut and place two to three chocolate eggs on top.  

Yield: 1 dozen cupcakes

*My Notes:

• To make the cupcake batter, I only had to use one bowl and mixed everything with a spatula.  So very easy and less clean up!
• I usually shred my own carrots, but for some reason this time around I bought already shredded carrots.  The pieces were a tad bit large, still good, but I would recommend buying finely shredded carrots or just doing it yourself.
• When filling the cupcake liners, I only filled them about 1/2 full.  I personally like the look much better and having a more flat top for the garnishes worked out very well. 

Robbie's "Redless" Velvet Cake ... for Me!

. My birthday was, oh, forever ago, but I've been anxiously awaiting when I would have enough time to document the surprise that came from my one and only.  For my birthday, my boyfriend graciously offered to bake ME a birthday cake.  Me?!  What?!  Okay!

For this beyond epic event, I had to do something to make sure that I would be able to share with everyone what he was about to do for me (I know his family would thoroughly enjoy being a part of this!).  So I whipped out our FlipVideo and taped EVERY moment of the process I could [without being a nuisance, of course].

As you can probably tell, this post will be quite different from any others I have personally created.  No pictures.  No captions.  Only the recipe itself and a number of videos of my boyfriend baking his very first cake.  Hopefully you enjoy every second of this as much as we [more like 'I', I think my boyfriend stressed a little] did!

P.S. - I just want to let you know that my boyfriend did everything for this cake, including picking out the recipe!  He originally chose a Red Velvet Cake, but we opted to leave out the food coloring because for his first time, it could have gotten a little messy.  I really thought he chose a more difficult cake, but I was proven extremely wrong.  Here's how it all went! .

Redless Velvet Cake    

Adapted from Food Network's Grandmother Paula's Red Velvet Cake

Ingredients:
Cake:
2 c. sugar
1 c. butter, room temperature
2 eggs
2 tbsp. cocoa powder
2-1/2 c. cake flour
1 tsp. salt
1 c. buttermilk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tbsp. vinegar

Frosting:
1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese
1/2 c. butter, softened
1 c. marshmallows, melted
1 (1 lb.) box powdered sugar
1 c. shredded coconut

Directions:

1.  Heat oven 350°F.  Grease and flour 3 8-inch round pans; set aside.

2.  In mixing bowl, cream sugar and butter and beat until light and fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time, and mix well after each addition.  Add cocoa and mix well.  

3.  Sift together flour and salt.  Add flour mixture to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk.  Blend in vanilla extract.  In small bowl, combine baking soda and vinegar and add to mixture.  

4.  Pour batter into pans.  Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted of center of cake comes out clean.  Remove from oven and cool completely.

5.  For frosting, blend cream cheese and butter together in bowl.  Add marshmallows and powdered sugar and blend.  Fold in coconut.

6.  Set one cake on serving platter.  Spread frosting on top of cake and top with second cake.  Repeat with remaining cake layer.  Frost top and sides of cake.

Yield: 16 servings

*Robbie's (My) Notes:

• This cake turned out fantastic!  I have to say, I was thoroughly impressed with his baking ability.  I had personally never used cake flour before, but it made this cake so incredibly light and fluffy and was complemented with a rich cream cheese frosting.  I will definitely be using cake flour in the future, I LOVE it!
• The original recipe called for pecans, but neither of us were really feeling that so we decided to leave them out.  But of course, feel free to add in the 1 cup of chopped pecans called for, it would give the dessert a nice little crunch.

Mini Samoa Cupcakes

. Another year gone by brings another birthday in our happy little "family".  But this time around, the special day belongs to my little baby, Tilly.  No, we don't just have two dogs, we actually have three!  But we'll get to him when his birthday rolls around.  That cute little button face below is my Tilly girl and on Saturday, Feb. 20, 2011, she turned 1 year old!  She is, of course, one of the other loves of my life and I basically can't get enough of her tiny stature and precious face.  We celebrated with a relaxing night and treated the three pups (yes, we refer to them all as the 'pups', so you'll see this reference quite a bit) to Peanut Butter Puppy Pops.  They must have enjoyed them because before I could even throw the wrappers away the 'pop' had disappeared!

Tilly, the birthday girl!

But in order for my boyfriend and I to properly celebrate, well you know what that means...baked goodies!  I came across a recipe for Samoa Cupcakes while I was browsing the wonderful blogging world, particularly Bakers Royale.  First of all, who doesn't LOVE the Samoa Cookies sold by those darling Girl Scouts?  Those things are outright addicting and someone wants to slap that combination into a cupcake?  Yes, please!  These cupcakes are simply fabulous: a moist, chocolate cake topped with a salted caramel buttercream frosting (that sweet and salty combo I can never get enough of!), toasted coconut, and that signature Somoa chocolate drizzle.  MmMmmM yum!  They represent my Tilly in such a perfect way, too: tiny, adorable, and a big burst of flavor in one bite (well probably not that last one).  So of course I felt an obligation to make these for Tilly's birthday since she pretty much begged for them.  Kind of.

So to all of the Girl Scouts out there selling these cookies from year to year (even though there was a slight miscommunication between my boyfriend and I and we didn't end up getting any ordered!), I give thanks with this adapted recipe of Somoa Cupcakes.  Oh, and the other bonus of this recipe?  You can eat around 3 to 4 of these little guys and not feel guilty, because that's basically one regular cupcake!  ...Right....? .

Mini Samoa Cupcakes

Ingredients:

Cake:

1 c. sour cream

1 tsp. baking soda

2 c. flour

1/2 c. Dutch-process cocoa powder

1 c. unsalted butter, softened

1 c. sugar

1/2 c. light brown sugar

1 tsp. salt

2 eggs

2 egg yolks

1 tbsp. vanilla extract

Salted Caramel Buttercream:

1/2 c. sugar

2 tbsp. water

2 tbsp. butter

6 tbsp. heavy whipping cream

1/2 tsp. salt

1 c. unsalted butter, softened

1 tbsp. vanilla extract

1-1/2 c. powdered sugar

Toppings:

1/2 c. sweetened flaked coconut

1/4 c. milk chocolate

Directions:

1.  Heat oven to 350°F.  Line mini muffin cups with liners.  In a small bowl, mix sour cream and baking soda; set aside.  In medium bowl, sift together flour and cocoa powder; set aside.  In mixer, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  Add in salt and beat until combined.  Add in eggs, beat until combined.  Add in egg yolks and vanilla extract and beat until combined.

2.  Using a wooden spoon, stir in sour cream and flour mixtures, beginning with sour cream mixture and ending with the flour mixture.  Fill muffin cups 2/3 full.  Bake 12 to 14 minutes.  Remove from pan and let cool on wire rack completely.

3.  For buttercream, add sugar and water in medium saucepan over medium-low heat.  Stir until sugar has dissolved.  Once dissolved, increase heat to high.  Now and then, using the handle, swirl the pot to keep the mixture moving (do not stir directly). As the mixture darkens to a medium amber color, add butter and heavy whipping cream to saucepan (*warning: this transition happened very quickly and I actually had to do this twice because I burned the first batch.  Watch the mixture carefully and if needed, remove the pan from the heat while you add in the butter and cream and return the saucepan to the heat when you're done).  Whisk to combine.  Add salt and whisk to combine.  Remove from heat.

4.  Place butter and vanilla extract in bowl and beat on high until pale and fluffy (about 3 to 4 minutes).  Turn mixer to low and add powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time.  Beat until combined.  Add in caramel sauce and beat until combined.

5.  To toast the coconut, spread evenly on baking sheet and bake at 350°F for 5 to 7 minutes or until coconut turns light brown.  Remove from oven and let cool.

6.  Spread the salted caramel buttercream on top of each cupcake, bringing the buttercream just to the edge of the wrapper.  Then gently roll the cupcake tops in the toasted coconut.

Please note my NEW Ateco Icing Spatula from Sur La Table, I've always wanted one of these and voila, here it is in action!

    

7.  Heat milk chocolate in microwave, at 30-second intervals, until melted or at drizzling consistency.  Drizzle lines along tops of cupcakes.

Yield: 48 mini cupcakes

* My Notes:

• Again, I have to reiterate how quickly the sugar turns from white to the amber color that you're looking for when making the caramel.  I really did burn my first batch and we quickly had to open all of the windows!  Luckily the fire alarms never went off.  Oops...
• As I also mentioned above, I recommend bringing the frosting to the edge of the cupcake to where it's touching the wrapper.  This helps to keep the moisture in the cupcake longer.
• I altered this recipe to make mini cupcakes.  I ended up with 48 mini cupcakes but had plenty of batter left that could have probably made another batch or so.  I really don't know what we would have done with 70+ cupcakes (besides eating them all and I have to stop myself somewhere!).  So if you don't want all of the leftover, I would recommend cutting the recipe in half and you'll still get a fair amount of these little gems.
• Don't melt the milk chocolate until you have iced and coated the cupcakes with the coconut.  Otherwise the chocolate hardens while it sits and you'll end up having to reheat it several times (yes, you get to benefit from my mistakes ☺).
• I personally prefer these cupcakes chilled in the refrigerator for a while.  This hardens the frosting a bit and I think that the flavors are brought out much more this way.  But this is completely up to you, either way they're be-yond yummy!
• As you can probably tell, these cupcakes are a tad bit time consuming.  But believe me, they are worth the effort and you get a lotta bang for your buck (as in you get a large quantity of these tasty bites for your snacking pleasure!).