Glazed Chocolate Cake

I love chocolate, and especially dark chocolate, so milk chocolate lovers would not love this cake. This cake is dense, dark and not really that sweet, it has that bitter bite that dark chocolate lovers love.

Glazed Chocolate Cake

Serves 10 to 12

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, plus more for pan
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar, plus 2 tablespoons for whipped cream (optional)
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup sour cream

1 cup heavy cream (optional)
Chocolate shavings, for garnish (optional)

Directions

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8-inch-round cake pan; line bottom with a round of waxed or parchment paper. Butter paper; dust bottom and sides of pan with cocoa, tapping out excess.

2.Sift together cocoa, flour, baking powder, and salt. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each and scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the sour cream and beginning and ending with the flour.

3.Spread batter in prepared pan. Tap pan firmly on countertop once to eliminate large air bubbles. Bake until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool 10 minutes in pan, then invert onto a wire rack to cool completely (bottom-side up). Set rack with cake over a rimmed baking sheet. Pour glaze over cake, letting it run over sides; spread gently with an offset spatula or table knife to coat. Let set, about 30 minutes.

4.If desired, whip cream and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Serve cake with whipped cream and chocolate shavings.


Chocolate Ganache Glaze

Makes 3/4 cup

4 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream

Directions

1.Place chocolate in a medium bowl. In a saucepan, bring cream to a boil. Pour over chocolate; whisk until smooth. Let cool until thick yet pourable, 2 to 3 minutes.

Pictures by Me
Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart

You put the lime in the coconut, and make banana bread

I just love buying bananas and purposely not eating them so they will get very, very ripe so I can make something from them or throw them in the freezer for a later use. I love banana bread and I have an old stand by recipe that I always use, but I found this new one and had to give it a try. You can't deny that a coconut, lime, banana bread does not sound soooo good and boy was it! The coconut got all toasty on top, inside was a moist bread, then with the kick of the lime glaze, Enjoy!

Coconut Banana Bread with Lime Glaze

2 C flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 C sugar
1/4 C (4 Tbs) real butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 1/2 C mashed ripe bananas (about 4 large bananas)
1/4 C sour cream or plain yogurt
3 Tbs apple juice or milk*
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 C coconut

Topping: 2 Tbs additional coconut
Glaze: 1/2 C powdered sugar whisked with 1 1/2 Tbs fresh lime juice

*as in: don't go buy apple juice just for this recipe. If you don't already have some, just use milk!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt together and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar until blended. Add eggs and beat to combine. Add banana, sour cream or yogurt, apple juice (or milk), and vanilla. Beat until blended.
Add flour mixture and beat at a low speed until just combined. Stir in 1/2 C coconut.

Pour batter into a 9x5" loaf pan that has been sprayed with non-stick spray. Sprinkle additional 2 Tbs coconut on top.

Bake in the oven for about 1 hour or until a knife or skewer inserted in center comes out clean. Note: Check bread after about 40 minutes. If the top has browned and the coconut pieces are looking toasty, cover top of bread lightly with a piece of foil. Continue baking until done.

When done, remove pan from oven. Let cool on a cooling rack for about 10 minutes and then carefully remove from pan. Whisk powdered sugar and lime juice together for the glaze and then drizzle over top. Cool for another 15 minutes before slicing.

Pictures by Me

Recipe adapted from Our Best Bites

Sweet & Sour Chicken

When I think of Sweet & Sour Chicken I think of big chunks of over battered chicken in a hot pink sauce. I have actually never have tried the Sweet & Sour I just described that you can get at any Chinese restaurant and I know a lot of people who enjoy the pink dish, including my mom. I found this recipe for a little more healthy, and less pink version and I have made it a few times and the family has gobbled it up.

Sweet & Sour Chicken

6-8 chicken breasts (I used 2 pounds of boneless skinless chicken tenders)

2 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

SAUCE INGREDIENTS

3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup vinegar
1 cup chicken Broth
7 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoon soy sauce

Layer raw chicken breasts in glass dish (9x13). Sprinkle chicken with garlic salt & pepper. Let stand for 5-10 minutes. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Mix all sauce ingredients in bowl, with wire whisk. Pour directly over chicken breasts.

Bake uncovered at 325 for about 1 1/2 hours, or until sauce is thick and dark in color.

So Easy, and so good! This dish is great for company. Leftovers are wonderful.

This is also great warmed up the next night, and served on Soft Flour Taco shells, or on a bed of rice.

Picture by Me

Recipe adapted from Get Off Your Butt and Bake

Turtle Cookies

As I was looking through my food pictures and deciding what to share today I noticed I like to make cookies. And this recipe I am going to share with you is one of my family's all time favorites! Amy, my neighbor, brought these cookies over to us one day and we seriously ate all of them in one day. I think she shared them with us again another time and I had to ask for the recipe because they are just soooo good! They are called turtle cookies because you cook them in a Waffle Iron and when you take them out they do look like little turtles, so cute! Enjoy!

Turtle Cookies

Melt:

1 cup butter

8 Tbsp cocoa

Beat In:

4 eggs

1 1/2 cup sugar

Fold in:

2 cups flour

1 tsp vanilla

Drop in Hot Waffle Iron. Frost while hot

Frosting:

2 cups powdered sugar

2 Tbsp. cocoa

4 Tbsp. butter, softened

1 tsp. vanilla

dab of milk

Last Day

Today was Aria's last day of Kindergarten. I can't believe how fast time has gone and how much Aria has grown in the last 9 months. Also Aria has learned so much in so little of time. At the beginning of the school year she could barely write her name, now she can write her first and last name and she knows her phone number and address. It is amazing also that she can count to 100, can write and recognize numbers 1-30, and the best part she can read and much more!

Growing like a Flower

Like Aria's pretty flower? I made it yesterday from nylon chiffon scraps(it also works with tulle) that I had leftover from making the can-can skirts. This is another great idea from Ruffles and Stuff. Click here for the tutorial.

Bubble Skirt

STOP! Before you throw those winter tights away or you just bought your little girl some new tights and the first time she wears them she gets a hole in the knee....make a bubble skirt out of them. I found this fun tutorial on Ruffles And Stuff, she also has some other wonderful ideas on her blog so check it out. I seriously made both of these adorable skirts in less than an hour!

Click here for the tutorial.