For the Love of Chocolate

I loved this month's challenge. How can you not love an easy cake that takes no time at all to throw together? The cake turned out rich and moist, but it's a heavy cake. I thought it tasted great with the home made ice cream of course my hubby liked them seperate and not on the same plate. I'm making the ice cream again for sure! It was the right amount for what we like to eat and I think it's easy to add any flavor you want to it. I always like the make the base recipe by itself instead of adding to it first off and if it doesn't taste good then I'll never know if the original recipe was good or not.

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef.We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

Vanilla Philadelphia Style Recipe

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

2 cups (473 ml) of half and half (1 cup of heavy cream and 1 cup of whole, full fat milk)

1 cup (237 ml) heavy cream

2/3 (128 grams) cup sugar

Dash of salt

1 (12 grams) tablespoon of vanilla

Mix all ingredients together (we do this in a plastic pitcher and mix with an emulsifier hand blender-whisking works too).

Refrigerate for 30 minutes or longerMix in your ice cream maker as directed.

Chocolate Valentino
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
16 ounces (1 pound) (454 grams) of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
½ cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons (146 grams total) of unsalted butter
5 large eggs separated

1. Put chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and melt, stirring often.

2. While your chocolate butter mixture is cooling. Butter your pan and line with a parchment circle then butter the parchment. (I made a heart and I did a small round cake for a birthday treat.)

3. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two medium/large bowls.

4. Whip the egg whites in a medium/large grease free bowl until stiff peaks are formed (do not over-whip or the cake will be dry).

5. With the same beater beat the egg yolks together.

6. Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.

7. Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and follow with remaining 2/3rds. Fold until no white remains without deflating the batter.

8. Pour batter into prepared pan, the batter should fill the pan 3/4 of the way full, and bake at 375F/190C

9. Bake for 25 minutes or until an instant read thermometer reads 140F/60C.
Note – If you do not have an instant read thermometer, the top of the cake will look similar to a brownie and a cake tester will appear wet.

10. Cool cake on a rack for 10 minutes then unmold. (I rushed the unmolding of the heart and so it ended up breaking.)

Chocolate Graham Cracker Cupcakes with Toasted Marshmallow

Today is one of my best buds birthday so first off Happy Birthday Laura!! She's a crafty person like me and recently started a blog to track things going on in her life and to post items she's made. She has a giveaway going right now, but hurry because the deadline is tonight!

I like to do something special for my friends when they have a birthday or special events come around and these cupcakes defiantly take the cake! I'm always inspired by cupcakes, they're so simple yet there's 101 things you can do with them. These bad boys took me a total of 4 hours to complete! I know that's a long time, but they're from scratch and with all the cooling time it adds up in a hurry. I first saw this recipe done on Martha Stewart's show back in April of 2008 and haven been waiting for a special occasion to make them for. The look soo good and after tasting them they really are as good as they look. So if you don't mind a little extra work they are really worth the time it took to cook.

Chocolate Graham Cracker Cupcakes with Toasted Marshmallow

(Adapted from Jennifer Shea, owner of Trophy Cupcakes)

Makes 2 dozen.

Cupcakes:

2 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon cocoa powder (not Dutch-processed)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (from about 20 squares)
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
9 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

Marshmallow Frosting (below)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 standard muffin tins with cupcake liners; set aside.

Sift 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together into the bowl of an electric mixer. Using the paddle attachment, mix ingredients together on low speed.

In a large bowl, mix together eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla.

Add to flour mixture and beat on medium speed for 30 seconds. Scrape down sides of bowl and continue mixing on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add boiling water and stir to combine; set cake batter aside.

Place graham cracker crumbs, remaining 1/4 cup sugar, and melted butter in a large bowl; stir until well combined.

Place 1 tablespoon graham cracker mixture into the bottom of each prepared muffin cup. Use the bottom of a small glass to pack crumbs into the bottom of each cupcake liner. Reserve remaining graham cracker mixture for topping.

Place 2 teaspoons chocolate in each muffin cup.

Transfer muffin tins to oven and bake until the edges of the graham cracker mixture is golden, about 5 minutes.

Remove from oven and fill each muffin cup three-quarters full with cake batter. Sprinkle each with remaining chocolate and graham cracker mixture.

Return to oven and bake, rotating pans halfway through baking, until tops are firm and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes.

Transfer muffin tins to a wire rack and let cupcakes cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan and let cool completely.

Transfer frosting to a large pastry bag fitted with a large plain round or French tip (such as Ateco #867 or Ateco #809). Pipe frosting in a spiral motion on each cupcake. Transfer cupcakes to a baking sheet. Using a kitchen torch, lightly brown the frosting, taking care not to burn the cupcake liners. Serve immediately or store in an airtight container, up to 2 days.

Marshmallow Frosting
Makes enough for 2 dozen cupcakes

8 large egg whites
2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Place egg whites, sugar, and cream of tartar in the heatproof bowl of an electric mixer. Set over a saucepan with simmering water. Whisk constantly until sugar is dissolved and whites are warm to the touch, 3 to 4 minutes.

Transfer bowl to electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, and beat, starting on low speed, gradually increasing to high, until stiff, glossy peaks form, 5 to 7 minutes. Add vanilla, and mix until combined. Use immediately.

I then used my blow torch to toast the tops of the cupcakes.

Blueberry Pecan Cream Cheese Spread

This past weekend I completed my concealed handgun class and worked on my craft room trying to get a little more organized and got a little crafting done. For less then $10 I installed 3 rods below the window to hold all my ribbon. I hate not knowing what I have and it was getting over whelming throwing them all in a box and having to dump them all out when I needed one. I like to decorate and I really like to stock up on ribbon after the holidays or when Hobby Lobby has them 1/2 off. I had hopes to use a tension rod instead of drilling in the wall, but the longest I could find was 48" and I needed 54". I have to make another trip to Home Depot to get another brace for the center so it won't sag, but otherwise I love it!

I like flavored cream cheeses, but considering they're always marked up I thought I would make my own plus I didn't have to make a trip up to the store. Any flavor fruit can be added and you'll just need to adjust the amount of sugar being put in.

Blueberry Pecan Cream Cheese Spread


8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup blueberries, thawed, drained
4 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon milk
½ cup pecans, chopped

Blend together all ingredients except pecans in a small food processor until creamy. Stir in pecans. Spread on a lightly toasted blueberry bagel

Rich and Creamy Creamed Spinach

Happy Friday everyone! It's been a long week trying to get back up to speed after being sick. I'm a huge fan of creamed spinach and the time I wanted it most was when it had been taken off the menu and from the stores due to the outbreak. Go figure when you can't have something all the more you want it. I am fairly picky when it comes to certain items and creamed spinach is on that has proven hard for me to find a mouthwatering one. I thought I would try making it myself and I almost ate the whole dish of it! For never making it before I was very impressed with myself. Now if only I could do this with all of my recipe contest ideas!!

Rich and Creamy Creamed Spinach

8 ounces cream cheese
1 cup mozzarella cheese
16 ounces spinach
splash of milk

Combine cream cheese and mozzarella in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir until cheeses are combined and melted then add in spinach. Cooking times may vary depending if you use fresh or froze. (I used frozen and just stirred until it was defrosted and well incorporated.) If it needs to loosen up a little add a splash of milk. Pour into a greased dish and bake at 350 degrees F for 15-20 minutes.

I warn you that if you eat this as leftovers it turns super rich so add some extra milk in when you're reheating it.

Disney American Idol trip recap

It's great to be back home, but over all we had a blast on the trip! It was top notch all the way and we were very well taken care of. We stayed at the Wilderness Lodge at Disney and were given a 3 day park hopper pass. The day of the American Idol event we were walking around and ran into Sanjia and Melinda Doolittle. Truth be told when I saw Sanjia I had no idea who he was but saw people walking toward him and he had a person in a suite walking around with him so I figured he was someone. After we walked away it dawned on me who he was.

We meet up with our group and they moved us to a VIP area with Access Hollywood. It was so neat to have the cars stop 3 feet away from you while they did their interview. We then relocated to the American Idol event where they did a show and afterwards David Cook and Carrie Underwood sang. (You can see it on you tube if you look it up just search for "Disney American Idol".) All of the past winners came on stage and they had a presentation. Then we got escorted to a private dinner where Josh Gracin and Bucky Covington walked in. You'll see some goofy pictures of us, but we had to do something to stand out and see if they would actually do it and they passed. Yes they really are putting lip gloss on us! Poor guys probably thought we were nuts, but when Josh got all excited and said "I have 4 sisters I got this down" I knew he was serious. Bucky posed while Josh lathered it on. They were both so nice and down to earth. As for dinner they had a really nice spread of mahi mahi, chicken, pot roast, veggies, salad you name it.

We had perfect weather while we were there and covered a lot of ground riding all the rides we could. Friday we spent riding the last few rides we wanted to and while walking around found Ryan Seacrest filming for E. If you see it on tv then you'll see us in the back ground. We didn't get an autograph from him but we were a foot away from him when he walked out to the crowd.

Friday night the husbands flew in and we ate at Emerils restaurant at Universal then checked out their 2 parks Saturday and Sunday.

Here's the pictures from our trip - http://allisonloesch.photoreflect.com/ click on American Idol Experience

Other then trying to recover from a cold I have I should be back in the swing of things this week. Many thanks again for everyone who was involved in hosting us as well as the folks over at 104.1 KRBE for hosting the contest!!! The trip was truly magical!