Sharing Recipes, Reviews, and Real Good Food!

Thursday, May 31, 2012

Rainbow Cake with Chocolate Heaven Frosting

Well one thing's for sure - your dad only turns 40 once! So, I had to go all out on the cake this year! Don't worry - it looks really difficult, but it really wasn't! Noah and I had a blast making this cake!


First, I make TWO boxes of Pillsbury's White Cake - yes, two boxes - it's a HUGE cake! Made with my dad's farm-fresh eggs, of course! I really love their cake because it has a cup of pudding in the mix for extra moist cake! :)




Next, I separated the batter into six bowls (yep, a lot of dishes!).



Then, I dyed the batter six different colors with gel food coloring (the liquid might work, but I've heard it isn't as bright!). I went classic rainbow (purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, red), but you could also do neon, or just pick your favorite colors!

A cool tip for colors that are made of more than one primary color: get the proportions by drawing lines, like I did here for purple!


I only had three round cake pans, so I had to cook two batches. After spraying the pans with Pam made for baking, I put them in the oven for about 11-12 minutes each (until a toothpick put in the center of the cake came out clean!).


I then let them cool for about 15 minutes, then cleaned the pans and did the next batch!


While the second batch was cooling, I started on the amazing frosting recipe! Really - you're going to LOVE this frosting...it's not too sweet or overpowering, but it's mostly chocolate so it's super decadent! Plus, as dad pointed out, it's the perfect slightly "gluey" consistency to keep the six layers together!

For the frosting, you will need:

  • 1.75 cups whipping cream (heavy cream)
  • 3/4 cup unsalted butter
  • 6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 4.5 tablespoons light corn syrup
  • 16 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate (we used bittersweet) (2 2/3 cup of chocolate chips)
  • 1.5 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 tbsp powdered sugar, more to taste (we did about 6)


First, whisk first four ingredients in medium saucepan over medium heat until butter melts and mixtures comes to a simmer


Then, remove saucepan from heat and add chocolate and vanilla extract, whisking until chocolate is melted and smooth. Add confectioner's sugar until satisfied with the sweetness of the frosting.

Lastly, refrigerate frosting until slightly thickened but still spreadable, stirring occasionally. About 1-1.5 hours...


After the cakes are cooled, you simply stack them in the order you'd like your rainbow to go (I went red to purple from the top down), and put a layer of frosting in between while stacking! I even put a little surprise in between the layers...crushed M&M's! Originally I wanted to use them for decoration, but I thought it'd be a nice touch inside the layers. In reality, you couldn't reeeally taste them, but it was a cool idea anyway! I'd suggest putting more M&M's if you'd like to get the full effect :)














Now for the decoration:

Betty Crocker Frosting. Your best friend here if you want to look super professional. I made flowers with leaves from the tips that come with the package when you buy them! The instructions are on the back of the can, and it's SO much easier than it looks, and comes out awesome! It's a nice touch to the cake to disguise it as just a normal cake - no one is expecting a rainbow to come out of there!



Next comes the worst part: waiting for the birthday boy or girl to EAT the cake! I was looking forward to seeing my dad's reaction all day! (Plus, I wanted to get my inside-the-cake shot for the blog!) It was so worth the wait - I got a great reaction, and the cake was absolutely delicious (if I do say so myself!).




I hadn't seen a rainbow cake with chocolate frosting online at all, but boy am I glad I tried it...mmmmmmm good!

Happy baking!

-C (and N, it was his chocolate frosting recipe after all!)

Special thanks to Lori (Noah's Mom!) again, for letting me borrow the camera for these great shots!! :)

Chocolate Mousse (Made with Tofu!)

So, an impromptu cooking adventure with one of my best friends from home, Zoe, happened last night. She had found a recipe for chocolate mousse made with tofu on a blog called Chocolate Covered Katie (damnit, could've stolen that name, haha!) So we decided to make it, and it turned out to be SUPER chocolatey...almost too much for me, but Zoe and her sister loved it! 




You will need:
-12 oz package of silken-firm tofu
-1 tsp cocoa powder
-1.5 cups chocolate chips
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-2 tbsp milk (your choice what kind)
-1/8 tsp of salt
-1 or 2 tbsp of agave (to taste!)


First, melt the chocolate (either on the stove or in the microwave). We used dark chocolate chips, which made the mousse VERY rich...I might use semi-sweet next time, but I guess you can never have too much chocolate, right?!



Next, add everything from the above list to the blender! 


Then, the chocolate, of course!


Then mix it up, sweeten to your liking, and chill in the fridge for about an hour! 


MMMMMMMMMMMM...chocolate... :)


Happy eating!

Once again, this is VERY rich mousse...if you don't want it to be super rich, maybe hold off on the cocoa powder until you taste it? I think that's what I will try next time! 


-C (and Z!)

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Lemon Chicken with Broccoli

For dinner tonight, Noah and I decided to try out a Weight Watchers recipe, and decided on what he called "a healthy version of Chicken Piccata" - Lemon Chicken with Broccoli! Although he was less than thrilled about the amount of broccoli going into the dish, it actually came out great! It was a pretty quick and easy recipe, too. We decided to serve the chicken with balsamic glazed green beans and rice pilaf.

 Lemon Chicken with Broccoli (Source)

You'll Need:


To start, we got the rice pilaf in the microwave (we are SUPER talented, we know!).


While we waited for that, we got started cutting up the chicken. We bought about a pound of boneless, skinless chicken and cut it up into small, a-little-larger-than-bite-sized pieces.

Next, we put a few tablespoons of flour, and about 1/4 tsp of salt and pepper on a plate to roll the chicken in before it went in the pan!


 Then we added a bit of olive oil to a pan, and cooked the chicken until it was lightly browned (about 5 minutes) and beautiful (see below!). Then remove it from the pan and place it on a plate.


 
Next we added 1 cup of chicken broth (we used light and fat-free) and 2 tsp of minced garlic to the pan the chicken came out of, and allowed it to come to a boil after scraping the brown bits from the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon.


After it was boiling, we added the broccoli and let it sit for one minute.

Then we added 1/2 cup of broth, 1/2 tablespoon of flour and 1/4 teaspoon of salt that we had stirred together in a cup.

We then covered the pan and cooked until the broccoli was "crisp-tender" and sauce was slightly thickened, (about 1 1/2 minutes).

Next it was time to stir in the chicken and ~2 tsp lemon zest and heat it through.

Lastly we removed the skillet from heat, stirred in ~2 tbsp parsley and 1 tbsp lemon juice and mixed thoroughly! Then was time to dig in, and look how beautiful it was! And it tasted even better! Great easy meal to cook when you don't have a ton of time (or if it's too hot to be in the kitchen for long!).

Green Beans with Balsamic Glaze:

Noah sauteed pre-cut and washed green beans in the pan, but suggests that they be steamed before they are sauteed, as he had a hard time cooking them and had to add water, ruining his idea of a glaze. They were still delicious, but we didn't get the full balsamic effect. However, if you're looking to do a glaze:

1. Steam the green beans (for about 4 minutes for a pound of beans)
2. Saute a little bit of garlic and shallots (chopped) in butter in a small saucepan on medium heat
3. Add equal parts balsamic vinegar and red wine
4. Cover and reduce until thick, or until it's about a quarter of it's initial volume (usually about 20 minutes)


Overall, we had a beautiful and tasty meal! Hope you enjoy!




-C and N