White Chocolate and Cranberry Bars

Threw these together the other night on a whim -- idea was good but cake mix not the best -- bubbled up over edges, and was crust stayed too dry in places. Edges also baked way before the insides did, so probably better for Baker's Edge pan. Next time I'll just make a good butter-cookie-like crust and then following the remaining steps...

Ingredients

1/2 cup + 2Tbsp butter
1 box white cake mix

1 cup dried sweetened cranberries
12oz (1 bag) white chocolate chunks
1 cup coconut
14oz (1 can) sweetened condensed milk

Directions
1. In a 13x9 pan (or a Baker's Edge pan) melt 1 stick+2Tbsp butter, then sprinkle cake mix over top.
2. Layer cranberries, chocolate chunks, and coconut evenly over top.
3. Drizzle condensed milk evenly over pan.
4. Bake at 350 for 30-40min, until bubbly and golden brown on edges.
5. Let cool *completely* before cutting; drizzle white chocolate frosting/drizzle over top for decoration.

Bacon-infused Red Velvet Cake

This recipe was inspired by all the press that bacon in baking is getting these days. I was looking to try something new (my last attempt at low-altitude experimentation before we move to Boulder, CO next week!), and was intrigued by the write-up provided here.
I won't lie: there were many doubters and naysayers and people who were all-around grossed-out by this. But in the end, anyone who tasted it at least said that it was good. Some said amazing, some seemed slow to admit it, but I had no bad reviews (at least to my face).
The cake and icing recipes you can tweak, but I do think that red velvet cake and cream cheese frosting might be the perfect backdrop for the savory-sweet-salty bacon. (Although...I'm already contemplating my next move with bacon, and it might be into this.)

Ingredients
Favorite red velvet cake recipe (example)
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate mini-morsels
Favorite cream cheese frosting (example1 example2)
~1 cup candied bacon pieces, divided + several larger chunks for garnish on top

1. Prepare red velvet cake batter as directed, stir in mini-morsels.
2. Stir in ~half of candied bacon pieces (recipe/technique below)
3. Bake as directed.
4. Let cool; cut cake halves in half horizontally (so you have 4 layers)
5. Divide frosting -- into 3/4 of it mix additional 1/3 - 1/2 cup candied bacon pieces
6. Use un-baconated frosting on top of cake; garnish with candied bacon slices if desired.

Candied bacon
There are a lot of ways people have suggested doing this.
I actually used pre-cooked bacon from Whole Foods (about 8-10 large-ish slices), coated in brown sugar and a little (1/4 cup?) melted butter, and cooked in the oven on a parchment covered cookie sheet at ~400deg. Do this until you start to suspect burning (i.e., keep an eye on it; it won't take more than 10 min probably).
Let cool, and try not to eat the candied mass of of bacon...it is (surprisingly?) good. Keep the burnt edges out of the cake, reserve a few prettier chunks/pieces for garnish, and crumple up the rest of the candied bacon into sub-centimeter sized chunks. Actually, maybe sub-half-centimeter is better. You want the flavor in the cake and frosting, but not really the chunks of bacon.

Ginger Butter Bars

I had a box of gingerbread mix laying around after the holidays and I wanted to do something different with it. The result was unexpectedly very good...

• 1 box Krusteaz Gingerbread Mix (unfortunately only sold near the holidays I think)
• 1 stick of butter, melted
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups butterscotch chips
• Butterscotch ice cream topping

Directions

Heat oven to 350.

Grease an 8x8 pan.

Mix gingerbread mix, butter, and eggs.

Add in butterscotch chips and spread in pan.

Drizzle butterscotch topping over top, about 2-3 Tbsp or so.

Bake for ~25min or until a knife comes out nearly clean

Bailey's Triple Chocolate Cake

I threw this together for a small dinner party and wasn't sure how it would turn out but I ended up being quite happy with it. It is really easy and quick to make, starting with a boxed cake mix and even ready-made icing.

Bailey's Triple Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
Cake
1 box chocolate cake mix
1 4-serving box instant devils food chocolate pudding
4 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup Bailey's liquor
1/4 cup Kahlua
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate mini morsels, extra for garnish

Frosting
2 jars whipped chocolate frosting
2 Tbsp Bailey's liquor

Preheat oven to 350.Grease and flour two 8-inch cake pans.
Blend cake ingredients (except chocolate morsels) with electric mixer for about two minutes. Fold in 1 cup morsels.
Pour into pan, bake ~28min, or until toothpick comes out almost clean.
Let cool completely.

Prepare frosting by whipping Bailey's and frosting in a large bowl for 2 minutes.
Spread half of frosing on first layer; top with second layer, frost with rest of icing. Sprinkle extra mini-morsels on top for decoration.

Black and White Chocolate Streusel Cake

This was a recipe I sort of made up on a whim, but was really happy with how it turned out (it even elicited a love letter (to the cake!) from a friend who tried some. I was trying to get rid of a box of cake mix, but plan to try this again soon truly from scratch to see if I can get it even better.

1 package (18.25 ounces) yellow cake mix (butter recipe if possible)
1 package (3.4 ounces) vanilla instant pudding mix
1 1/4 cups milk
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs

3/4 cups white chocolate chips
3/4 cups dark chocolate chunks/chips, both chopped into *very* small pieces (think almost flakes) in food processor

Streusel:
1/2 cup white sugar
6 tbsp all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
4 tbsp butter, melted

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease bundt pan.
2. Combine cake mix, pudding mix, milk, oil, and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds. After scraping sides of the bowl, increase mixer speed to medium and blend 1 1/2 to 2 min­utes more-- the batter will look thick but well combined. Gently stir in 1/2 cup of the white and dark chocolate flakes until uniformly mixed.
3. Make streusel topping, stirring in remaining cup of white/dark chocolate flakes.
4. Pour 1/3 of the batter into pan. Sprinkle ~1/3-1/2 of streusal mix on top, cover with 1/3 more batter, then more streusel. Spread remaining batter on top and sprinkle with remaining streusel.
5. Bake until cake is golden and fork comes out almost clean, about ~45-50min.
6. Place pan on a cooling rack for at least 15min.
7. To frost, you could make chocolate drizzle from chocolate chips, or feel free to use store-bought icing, put it in a ziploc bag, warm in microwave, cut of teeny-tiny opening at corner of bag and drizzle over cake in lots of thin lines. Enjoy!