Its been so long!

Oh my goodness, I can't believe that it has been over 2 months since I last blogged! I have been so incredibly busy with school and cooking that I haven't even thought about it! I'm going to try and keep up with it this semester since I have some time and my schedule is a little bit more routine. My roommate is going to be the reason I keep doing this! She is my reminder! The first recipe I decided to include on my first blog back from the hiatus is this fantastic chocolate truffle cake. I made it for one of my roommate's birthday and it was awesome but so rich that a sliver is just enough. The recipe looks a tad daunting but if you follow it step by step it will turn out just fine.

Chocolate Truffle Cake

2 8oz. packages unsweetened-chocolate squares (16 1-ounce squares)

1 cup plus 6 tablespoons margarine or butter (2 3/4 sticks), at room temperature

3 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

3/4 cup heavy cream

10 1-ounce squares semi-sweet chocolate

1. Grease three 9-inch round cake pans with butter. Preheat oven to 325 degrees

2. In heavy 4-quart saucepan over low heat, heat 12 squares unsweetened chocolate, 1 cup (2 sticks) margarine or butter, and 2 1/2 cups water, stirring frequently, until melted and smooth. Remove from heat; cool slightly

3. In large bowl, with wire whisk or fork, beat eggs and vanilla extract. Gradually beat in chocolate. (it's best to temper the egg mixture first by adding small amounts of the chocolate mixture to bring the eggs up to temperature so they don't scramble)

4. To chocolate mixture, add flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt; continue beating with wire whisk or fork until batter is smooth and well blended.

5. Pour batter into cake pans. Bake 25 to 30 minutes until toothpick inserted into the center of cake comes out clean. Cool cakes in pans on wire racks 10 minutes. Remove from pans; cool cakes completely on wire racks.

6. Meanwhile, prepare truffle mixture: In heavy 2-quart saucepan over low heat, heat remaining 4 squares unsweetened chocolate, stirring frequently, until melted; cool slightly. With spoon, stir in confectioners' sugar, remaining 6 tablespoons margarine or butter (3/4 stick), and 1/4 cup heavy cream until mixture is smooth and blended.

7. Prepare glaze: In heavy 2-quart saucepan over low heat, heat 8 squares semisweet chocolate and remaining 1/2 cup heavy cream, stirring frequently, until melted, smooth, and slightly thickened; keep warm.

8. Assemble the cake: with metal spatula spread 1 cake layer with 1/2 cup truffle mixture. Top with second cake layer, pressing down gently but firmly. Spread with another 1/2 cup truffle mixture; top with third cake layer.

9. Glaze the cake: Over assembled cake, pour prepared glaze. With metal spatula, spread glaze to completely cover top and side of cake.

10. Remove cake off of cooling rack and place on cake plate. Pipe with remaining truffle mixture if you want.

*I took 1 of the semisweet squares, chopped it up and sprinkled it over the top.

So yummy!!!

Well I hope you enjoy this one! I'm off to get some sleep before going to Georgia tomorrow for a clinical site!

Cake Balls!!

Oh my goodness what a weekend! My family and I pulled off a surprise birthday party for my mom's 50th birthday and it was crazy! I now know that my life as a party planner would never work out. My type A personality can't take it. But it was so much fun and I think she loved it! I made so much I dont know which one to post first....this one is my very favorite so I figured it would be a good one! These are the easiest things to make and everyone will think you are the best baker ever!

Cake Balls
1 box of yellow cake mix (Duncan Hines is my favorite)
1 tub of vanilla icing
1 pkg of chocolate candy coating

Make cake mix according to directions. Line a muffin tin with paper cups and pour mixture into prepared cups. This normally makes around 18 cupcakes. Let the cupcakes cool completely. Unwrap and place the cupcakes in a large bowl. With a fork, crumble the cupcakes until it is very crumbly. Add about 3/4 of the icing to the cupcakes. Stir until it is completely mixed. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Take out of refrigerator and uncover mixture. Make balls and place on cookie sheet. Place candy coating in a bowl and mircowave in 30 second intervals until the chocolate is just melted. Spray another cookie sheet with non-stick spray and set aside. Dip cake balls into the chocolate and place on prepared pan. Refrigerate until the chocolate is set and enjoy!

Marshmallow Delights

Another dessert. I promise I make more than sweets but here lately that's all I've been wanting! Stevie and I (Stevie is my sous chef HAHA and my right hand gal when it comes to anything cooking/advice/life) made these and they were the perfect pair to the drama on the Bachelorette! Yay for Frank! I loved his date with Ali. I think he is definitely going to be on there for a long time unless he screws up royally. And can we say thank goodness Craig M. is gone?! I was going to jump through the tv and punch him in the face myself! I often ask myself why I put myself through watching this stuff but it's just so addicting! Ok so enough about tv drama bring on this recipe!

Marshmallow Delights
1 can crescent rolls
1 bag large marshmallows
1/2 stick butter, melted
1 cup sugar
2 tblsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare muffin pan with non-stick spray and set aside. Take a marshmallow, dip in butter and roll in cinnamon and sugar, and place on each crescent roll. Pull crescent roll dough up and around the marshmallow bringing the edges together like a pouch. Dip the top in butter and cinnamon and sugar and place it sugar side up in the muffin pan. Bake for 12 minutes. Enjoy while they are warm!

*Note: They will puff up so don't open the oven until you take them out because it will cause them to deflate. Also, the marshmallow will melt into sugar so there will be no marshmallow in the middle just a sugary inside! We didn't think about this before and when we bit into it there was no marshmallow and we were a tad shocked!

This recipe only makes 8 but you are definitely going to want to make atleast 2 batches because they go fast!

Ooey Gooey Chocolate Ice Cream Cake

Happy Memorial Day! Today has been such a great day with great food! My dad had found this recipe which was in Southern Living and I had to try it because lets face it who wouldn't like ice cream, brownie, and snickers bars together? It turned out really well and everyone liked it but I do have a few adjustments that I would make when I make it next time. In the recipe it calls for 6 whole snickers but I used half a bag of mini snickers and cut them in half. Next time I'm going to cut them into fourths because they were too big to eat. It was a little hard to get out of the spring form pan so you might want to run a knife around the inside before you lift it out. In case you couldn't tell by the name, this cake is ooey, gooey, and very messy to deal with. As soon as you take it out of the pan it was messy. Definitely need to take it off the pan and put it on a serving plate before cutting into it. But after all that it is still a dessert that needs to be made! It's sooo good!

Ooey Gooey Chocolate Ice Cream Cake

1 cup butter
8 (1 ounce) squares semi-sweet chocolate (I used Baker's)
I cup Sugar
5 large eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 gallon vanilla ice cream, softened
6 Snickers bars or 1 bag of mini Snickers
3/4 cup of chocolate sauce
Garnish: chocolate sauce and caramel sauce
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine butter and chocolate. Microwave at high in 30 second intervals, stirring after each, until chocolate is melted and smooth.Whisk in sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, whisking well after each addition. Whisk in flour until smooth. Pour batter into an ungreased 10-inch springform pan. Place pan on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake for 25-35 minutes. It will look gooey in the center but it turns out fine! Let cool completely.
In a large bowl, combine ice cream and half of the chopped Snickers bars. Spread chocolate sauce evenly over cake layer. Spread ice cream mixture over chocolate sauce. Cover and freeze for 4 hours, or until firm. Drizzle cake with chocolate sauce and caramel sauce, if desired. Sprinkle with the remaining chopped Snickers bars.

Monkey Bread Muffins

First recipe of the blog! These are delicious...I could eat the whole batch by myself. You have to try these!

Monkey Bread Muffins

1 12 oz can of biscuits (1o biscuits)

3 Tblsp. Maple Syrup

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted

2/3 cup sugar

1 Tblsp. cinnamon

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place cupcake liners in a 12-cup pan and spray with non-stick spray. Cut each biscuit into 4 pieces and set aside. In a small bowl mix maple syrup and melted butter. In a another seperate bowl mix sugar and cinnamon. Dip each piece of biscuit in the maple butter mixture and then roll in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Place 4 pieces in each muffin cup. Place chopped pecans on top and cover with the rest of the maple butter mixture. Bake muffins for 15-20 minutes until they are golden brown on top. Serve warm.

Makes 10-12

First Post!

This could be interesting. I've never blogged before! I've always thought that blogs were for people to hash out their feelings and try to solve the worlds problems. Oh how I was wrong! As you saw in my About Me, I'm a little obssessed with food. In fact, I'm probably obssessed with it a little too much. I pretty much talk about it all the time. My friends will definitely attest to that! I love to experiment with all kinds of food and see what works and what doesn't. I like to think that I'm brave when it comes to things in the kitchen. I've definitely had my share of food disasters but it's taught me a lot about myself. Sounds weird but it's true. I'm in nursing school which can be really stressful and cooking is my way of detox after being at the hospital all day or bombing a test. It's the best kind of relaxation on this planet! I hope to get to the point where I can make up my own recipes without using a base recipe. It's gonna happen! Enjoy the blog!