I was a little bored the other night so I decided to make a chocolate cake...just because.  This chocolate cake recipe is very straight forward and tastes way better than those boxed cake mixes.  This cake would make a great birthday cake, dessert cake or a cake just because.  This cake was super moist and not overly chocolatey! Do not be afraid to make a cake from scratch its super simple! Give this one a try! 

Chocolate Cake:
2/3 Cup Butter (Softened)
1 2/3 Cups Sugar 
3 Eggs
2 Cups Flour
2/3 Cup Baking Coco
1 1/4 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 1/3 Cup Milk 

1. Firstly, whip together butter and sugar. When butter and sugar become fluffy add in egg and mix together.


2. Secondly, with electric mixer gradually add in flour, coco, baking soda and salt. Ensure that batter is smooth with no chunks.


3. Lastly, slowly add in milk and mix with electric mixer for three minutes. 


4. Poor batter into a pan shape of your choice. Do not forget to grease pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and cook for 30-40 minutes. 


                              You may choose to ice the cake or eat as is. 
               If you would like to ice the cake here is the icing recipe I used!  


Seven Minute Icing:
1 1/2 Cup Sugar
1 Tablespoon Corn Syrup 
1/8 Teaspoon Salt
1/3 Cup Water
2 Egg Whites
1 1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract 


1. In a double broiler mix together: sugar, corn syrup, salt, water, and egg white. Mix with an electric mixer for exactly one minute.

2. Place the top half of the double broiler on top of the boiling water. With electric mixer beat on medium for seven minutes.  In the seven minutes you should notice the icing getting thicker and extremely sticky. 


3. After the seven minutes remove from the broiler and add in the vanilla extract.  Mix well with the electric mixer. You may find you want to mix the icing for a few more minutes off the boiling water to thicken it up a bit more.  However, as the icing dries it will become rather thick and sticky.


4. Feel free to add in food coloring after the vanilla to give it a pop of color! 

Pistachio's are one of the many nuts that I love!! I had never baked with pistachios before so I thought I would try it out. However, there were not as many recipes as I had hoped for. On my search for recipes I stumbled across a Dark Chocolate, Pistachio & Smoked Sea Salt cookie.  I instantly was excited as I am always willing to try something new so I decided to bake a batch! Surprisingly, the cookies turned out delicious! The sea salt paired with the chocolate really gave that sweet and salty flavour.  I however, did make some changed to the recipe because I did not have all the ingredients needed. For example, instead of dark chocolate I substituted milk chocolate as well as, smoked salt I used regular corse sea salt.  These alterations did not change the flavour of the cookie drastically.  Try these cookies out they are amazing if you are wanting to give something new a try! 

Dark Chocolate, Pistachio & Smoked Sea Salt Cookies:

1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter (Room Temp)
1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar 
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar (Packed)
1 Large Egg 
1 Teaspoon Vanilla 
1 1/4 Cups Flour 
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda 
1/4 Teaspoon Salt 
1 1/2 Cups Chocolate Chip (Dark)
1 Cup Shelled Pistachios (Coarsely Chopped) 
Smoked Sea Salt (For Topping) 


1. Start by mixing together: butter, sugar, brown sugar until fluffy. Let sit for round five minutes. Slowly add in egg, and vanilla and mix for roughly a minute. This ensures that each ingredient is mixed in well.  


2. Next, incorporate flour, baking soda, and salt together. Add to previous mixture all at once. 


3. Now it is time to add in the chocolate chips and mix well then toss in the shelled pistachios. And make sure that everything in evenly mixed threw-out 


4. Roll into little balls and place on a greased cookie sheet. Topping the cookies with a few crystals of the smoked sea salt. 


5. Place in oven preheated to 300 degrees and bake for around 15-18 minutes. Let cook on cookie sheet then transfer over to cooking rack.   

Today I thought I would post something thats a bit different than my usual posts.  Normally, I post recipes that are more on the sweeter side. However, today I am going to post the recipe for delicious yorkshire pudding.  I had made a roast beef dinner complete with potato, corn and salad. There was something missing so I made the decision to whip up some yorkshire pudding.  Yorkshire pudding is not difficult to make but it compliments a roast beef dinner beautifully.  All you need are a few basic everyday ingredients! Heres the recipe! 

Yorkshire Pudding:
1 1/3 Cup Flour 
1 Cup Homogenized or 2% Milk 
4 Eggs 
1 Cup of Water 
1/3 Cup Roast Beef Drippings or Butter 


1. In a large bowl mix together: flour, milk, and eggs.  


2. Gradually add in water to the flour, milk and egg mixture. Mix until bubbly and combined completely. 


3. Spray muffin tins with a non stick spray. Place greased tins into oven (empty) at 400 degrees.  


4. Add beef drippings into the batter mixture.  Whisk batter again insuring all ingredients are combined.  


5. Fill warm muffin trays half full and cook for 15-20 minutes.  Until golden brown.  


                Enjoy these yummy treats next time you have a roast beef dinner.      

 This cookie is the best of both worlds. Who doesn't like jam and cookies! The sweet taste of the jam mixed with the sugar cookie makes for a delicious treat.  I was making these cookies for my grandmas birthday and they were sure a hit.  You can make them in any shape! You will need two of the same cookie cutter shapes, one large and one small.  First, roll the dough out and cut out cookies in desired shape. Then, take the smaller cookie cutter and place in the middle of the large cookie and cut the middle out. Bake cookies let cool on cookie tray then transfer to cooling rack. When cookies are completely cooled you can place the icing and jam in the middle of the cookies and stick together. Place cookies in the fridge to bind them together. Try them out. 

Jam Rings 
1 Cup Butter Softened 
3/4 Cups Sugar 
1 Egg Yolk Lightly Beaten 
2 Tsp Vanilla 
2 Cups Flour 
A Pinch of Salt 
1 Egg White Lightly Beaten (to brush over cookies)


Filling:
4 Tbsp Butter Softened 
1 Cup Confectioners Sugar 
5 Tbsp Strawberry or Raspberry Jam Warmed 


1. Place butter and sugar into a large bowl and mix together until light and fluffy.  


2. In a separate bowl combine: egg yolk, and vanilla. Once mixed together add to sugar and butter mixture.  


3. Next, slowly add flour with electric mixer. Once mixed toss in a pinch of salt.  
   
4. Roll dough into two separate balls and place into fridge for at least an hour. 


5.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees. On a floured surface roll out dough. Cut out shapes and place to the side. After cutting the dough evenly divided the cookies.  Take half the cookies and place the smaller cookie cutter in the middle and cut the shape out.  Bake cookies for 7 minutes. At the end of the seven minutes take out cookies and spread egg yolk over cookies with a brush and sprinkle with sugar. Place back in oven for an additional 5-8 minutes.  


6. While cookies are cooling you can mix together the filling.  Simply add soft butter and confectioners sugar together to make a icing texture.  


7. Lastly, you can now put the cookies together. Smooth a thin layer of the icing all over the whole cookie adding heated jam on top. Next, place the cookie with the centre missing and place it on top the jam filling. Put cookie in the fridge for filling to try. 


  E N J O Y 
    

Better late then never they say... so here are my version of Valentine cookies.  I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentines Day! I made my boyfriend some tasty heart cookies, and you should definitely try these out for any occasion.  They are a simple yet scrumptious treat. I cut them into heart shapes but you could cut them into any shape you want. The dough is a simple sugar cookie, and you can decorate them as you wish.  A great way to get children involved is to get them to help you out with the decorating! 

"I Love You' Vanilla Cookies:
1 2/3 Cup Flour 
2/3 Cup Butter 
2/3 Sugar 
1 Tsp Vanilla 


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease two cookie sheets 


2. Add ingredients in order as listed 


3. Roll dough into two balls and refrigerate for an hour minimum


4. On a floured surface roll out the dough. Using cookie cutters cut out the dough into desired shapes. Place on cookie sheets and bake for 15-20 minutes.


5. Let cool on cooling racks. Wait till cookies are completely cooled before decorated. Add icing, sprinkles and candy.
 
                                       Here is the recipe for the icing I used:


 2/3 Cups Soften Butter 
4 Cups Icing Sugar
2 Tbs Milk 
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract 
4 Drops of food coloring 


1. Mix butter and icing sugar together until combined well


2. Add milk and vanilla mix until a thick paste and add in food coloring 

                                 H a v e F u n D e c o r a t i n g!
   

With spring just around the corner it is time to start baking with a spring flavour! I love cupcakes however, they are one of those things that I do not bake a lot of.  There are such a wide range of cupcake styles and flavours. Elegant to the classic chocolate cupcake, cupcakes are a great treat no matter how old you are.  These orange cupcakes are a refreshing spring citrus taste with a sweet frosting topping.  The grated orange peel in both, the cake and icing leaves such a cooling spring breeze of taste in your mouth.  Start Spring off with a bang and try these delicious fresh orange cupcakes! 

Orange Cupcakes:
CAKE
1 Cup Sugar 
1 Whole Egg
2 Egg Yolks 
1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil
2 Cups Flour 
2 Teaspoon Baking Powder 
1 Teaspoon Salt
3/4 Cup Orange Juice 
2 Teaspoon Grated Orange Rind 


FROSTING 
1 1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar 
4 Tablespoons Butter 
1 Teaspoon Grated Orange Rind
1/2 Teaspoon Orange Juice 
1 Tablespoon Coconut Milk 

Carrot Cake!
Today I had a day off and decided it would be a perfect day to have a baking day.  I was sent a carrot cake recipe and decided to make it.  I am trying to bake things I have not baked before and carrot cake would be one of them.  Firstly, I made sure I had all the ingredients. I had all but one...oil, but do not fear you can substitute oil with butter. I began to make the batter which is a very simple basic batter.  As usual, I prefer to combine all my dry and wet ingredients separately. Sugar, flour, baking powder, and cinnamon in one bowl. Wet ingredients in another bowl carrot, raisins, and or walnuts. The recipes instructs to add raisins or walnuts, in the cake I made decided to add the cup of raisins as well as a handful of walnuts.  However, I must say the icing on the cake made it.  The light taste of cream cheese compliments the carrot, raisins and walnut flavour.  You can also make this cake into muffins just by putting the batter in muffin pans. This cake was fantastic! I would highly recommend you try this cake you will love it! 

Carrot Cake:
CAKE:
2 Cups Sugar 
2 Cups Flour 
2 Teaspoons Baking Soda 
1/2 Teaspoon Salt 
1 Cup Raisins or Chopped Walnuts 
3 Teaspoons Cinnamon 
4 Eggs 
1 1/4 Cup Oil 
3 Cups Grated Carrots          


ICING:
2 Tablespoon Butter
2 Teaspoon Vanilla 
1/3 Cup Cream Cheese 
1 3/4 Cup Icing Sugar 


1. Start with mixing all dry ingredients: sugar, flour, baking soda, salt and, cinnamon. 


2. In a separate bowl combine: rains, eggs, oil and carrots.


3. Slowly add wet ingredients to dry and mix with a mixer till combined.  


4. Place in oven preheated to 350 and bake for 45 minutes 


5. While cake is cooking, it is now time to prepare the icing. Simply mix soft butter in with, vanilla, soft cream cheese as well as icing sugar to make a thick consistently. 


                                            E N J O Y