Chocolate Peanut Butter Microwave Cake

I decided to have the kids help me make this week's cake,  a very simple microwave cake that we made after a weeknight dinner.  We chose a chocolate cake with a peanut butter drizzle. The cake started out by plopping a tablespoon of creamy peanut butter in the cup, I prefer Skippy Creamy.  The batter is made using Reddiwhip, Egg Beaters and Brownie Mix! 

I know that you are thinking this is a pretty sad cake this week... but I have kids -- and maybe you have kids. If you do have kids they will love it.  This cake can be made entirely by a five year old and that's pretty awesome in our house.

The recipe called for a tablespoon of peanut butter to start.  I'd switch to 1 1/2 tsp. peanut butter added to the bottom of the mug.

Then whisk together:
1/2 cup Reddi Whip
1/4 cup EggBeaters
1/2 cup dry brownie mix

Pour batter of the peanut butter and microwave for 1.5 minutes.

The mug though, is what will make the difference in a good lookin' cake and this:

 

Next go-around I will use a short mug and it will look much better, I promise.  What mattered though was that my two kiddos thought it was super fun!

Chocolate almond cake

Pinterest was again the inspiration for this cake.  I found the recipe for this Chocolate Almond Cake and knew it would be a good pair with the blueberry ice cream I wanted to make.  I had a pint of blueberries in the freezer waiting for me and I had been wanting to bring out the ice cream maker all summer so now was the time!

I asked for an ice cream maker from my dad for Christmas a couple years ago and used it frequently the first summer and since then it's been hanging out in my kitchen collecting dust... well that was no good! We love ice cream around here and there is NOTHING better than homemade ice cream.

This chocolate cake used almond butter which I am not familiar with and while the almond butter alone set me back almost $8, this recipe was worth every penny.  The cake was delicious, not too sweet but perfect accompanied with blueberry ice cream. The recipe calls for toasted almonds on top, but I never have luck toasting nuts... I burn them almost every time so I skipped that step and dusted with cocoa powder instead.

Ladybug Cake

This cake was all about the decorating and since I was putting on a party complete with little ladybug appetizers made with cherry tomatoes, olives and chives and other little time-intensive snacks, baking a cake from scratch was not in the cards. So this is from a yellow cake box mix but every spot of frosting was decorated with these tired, very sore hands!

To my three year old ladybug girl! Happy Birthday!

Baking in the summer is hard!

My husband usually works on Saturdays which means that it's baking day for me. I make the kids a big breakfast and set to work on making a cake and other goodies for the week. But in the summer my husband has been off on Saturdays and so we've been setting off on summer adventures! Trips to the zoo, going out for runs, camping outings, days at the beach or days spent on our boat. These have been more important than baking, rightfully so!

But that means that I've been disappointing you and failing to meet my goal of a cake a week! I'm so sorry... but I will make up for it with some extra-special cakes this fall! Maybe I'll even sneak in a few extra cakes to make up for those that I missed this summer!

Look for a cake coming soon!

Banana Cake with Chocolate Frosting

I've come to a decision; I don't like frosting that contains more than a little confectioner's sugar. Confectioner's sugar is not a good taste. It takes a bit like fake sugar and doesn't seem to disovle and make the creamy frostings that I like. I will no longer make a cake with a confectioner's sugar frosting. There done. I've had enough bad frostings to finally come to the decision.

Now the cake part... yum! It's like banana bread with a cake like texture! I did add the chopped walnuts that the recipe said was optional. The recipe you ask. I can't share it because it isn't mine but it is published. You can find the banana cake and the chocolate frosting (if you like confectioner's sugar frosting) in Melissa Gray's All Cakes Considered.

Bonus Cake: Orange Guinness Cake

A lonely bottle of Guinness has been staring at my from my fridge for the last couple of weeks. I do have a Guinness recipe that I'm excited to try from my new favorite restaurant in Uptown, Muddy Waters. The chef there is an old high school chum and he shared their recipe for Guinness Ginger Cake so this cake will be coming soon!

But for this week's cake I wanted to use my orange extract so I decided to combine orange and beer. I know, right?

Cake:
1 stick butter (softened)
1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar
2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 tsp orange extract
4 eggs
1/2 cup Guinness

Frosting:
3/4 cup butter (softened)
2 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
1/2 cup orange juice

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350. Prepare two 8 inch round cake pans ( I line the bottom with parchment for a perfect top).

2. Cream together butter, orange extract and brown sugar.

3. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa. Set aside.

4. Beat in eggs one at a time, alternating with 1/2 cup flour mixture. Beat well after each addition.

5. Gently mix in Guinness slowly, alternating with a bit of the flour mixture. 

6. Divide mixture evenly between pans. Bake for 40 minutes. This is it for the use of the Guinness, you should now drink the rest of the bottle while you wait for the cake to bake!

7. Allow cake to cool out of pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes before frosting.

8. To make frosting: Combine butter and sugar until fluffy, blend in orange juice to make the right consistency for frosting. Frost the top of one cake and add the other cake to top. Top the cake with the other half of the frosting.

This cake was tasty, though a little more of a spice cake that I had expected. I could have throw in a few shredded carrots, raisins and nuts and this would have made a great carrot cake base... hmm. I actually will try that next go around! I will also consider upping the butter content in the frosting, I had a little too much of the confectioner's sugar taste.

Mini Chocolate Bundt with Peanut Butter Drizzle

So, I owe you all an extra cake this week, and I will make good. The new job took a bit out of me but I'm back on a roll.

This week I decided to listen to the hubby and combine chocolate and peanut butter, his favorite.  I looked to Christie Matheson's Cake Simple for help.  I've had this book sitting on my kitchen counter and I'm absolutely taken with the cover photo. 

This recipe of hers for mini chocolate bundts was going to be the perfect end to our rainy day.  The kids loved licking the spoon from melting the chocolate and being my taste-testers for the peanut butter glaze.

The cake was easy enough to make and I was more than happy to be able to use my Wilton mini-bundt pan that I found a few months back at a thrift shop for a only a few dollars!

Next week I will try my best and being creative so that I can share a recipe with you folks.!