White Chocolate and Vanilla Bean Cake with Bailey's Chocolate Frosting

I just made this up for a neighborhood progressive dinner party. Nice moist consistency, with a nice blend of subtle flavors -- no one ingredient really over-powers.

1 package (18.25 ounces) white cake mix
1 package (3.4 ounces) vanilla instant pudding mix
1 1/4 cups milk
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1Tbsp vanilla paste
1 cups white chocolate chips, chopped into *very* small pieces (think almost flakes) in food processor

Frosting
2 12oz containers whipped chocolate frosting
4-5 Tbsp Bailey's liquor

Preheat oven to 350.Grease and flour two 8-inch cake pans.
Blend cake ingredients (except white chocolate flakes) with electric mixer for about two minutes. Fold in flakes.
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.
Slice each layer into two halves; spread 1/4 of frosting on first layer; top with second layer, frost again, etc, skipping sides.

Sugar Donut Muffins

This is a classic recipe that I was just reminded of thanks to Baking Bites. I've tweaked it some to be more like what my mom made at home. Can't go wrong with the basic recipe though!

Sugar Donut Muffins
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking power
1/2 tsp salt
1/4-1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup milk (low fat is fine)
2 tsp vanilla extract/vanilla paste

1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar, for rolling (or cinnamon sugar)

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a muffin tin with cooking spray or vegetable oil. (I used a mini muffin tin)
In a large bowl, beat together sugar and egg until light in color.
In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Pour into egg mixture and stir to combine. Pour in vegetable oil, milk and vanilla extract.
Divide batter evenly into 10 muffin cups, filling each about 3/4 full.
Bake for 15-18 minutes (7-9 min for minis), until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

While muffins are baking, melt butter and pour remaining sugar into a small bowl.
When muffins are done, dunk tops of each into melted butter and roll in sugar. Cool on a wire rack.

Makes 10 muffins or about 30 mini-muffins.

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.

Homemade Samoas

...to be typed in later...

Peanut butter chocolate layer bars

This recipe was adapted from a 7-layer brownie recipe. I was worried about it being too overly sweet or peanut-buttery, but when the bars disappeared within 24 hours, I realized maybe it was just right. They are intense, but very tasty!

Ingredients

1 box Ghiradelli double chocolate brownie mix

1 stick butter

Streusel (recipe below)

1 cup mini peanut butter chocolate cups/1 cup chopped Reese's cups

1 cup semi-sweet mini chocolate chips

1 cup peanut butter cups

1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk

Peanut butter icing/drizzle

Streusel:

1/2 cup white sugar

6 tbsp all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

4 tbsp butter + 2 tbsp peanut butter, melted

Directions

1. In a 13x9 pan (or a Baker's Edge pan) melt 1 stick of butter, then sprinkle brownie mixture over top.

2. Layer chips, cups, and streusel 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 peanut butter frosting/drizzle over top for decoration.

Double Chocolate Ginger Cake

I got the inspiration for this recipe from Coconut and Lime but I was short on time and simplified it with a (gasp) cake mix. If you like ginger this is a great cake!

1 box Swiss Chocolate cake mix
eggs, oil, and milk (sub milk for water) according to cake directions
3/4 cup chopped crystalized candied ginger
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chip mini-morsels

vanilla/chocolate frosting/glaze of choice
coarse sugar crystals for decoration

Mix cake ingredients in large bowl, fold in ginger and mini chips.
Bake as directed according to pan type/size.
When cool, frost by drizzling frosting or glaze on top, sprinkling with coarse sugar to finish.

PB and chocolate swirled, flaked, and streusel'd cake

A few tweaks to the black/white chocolate cake from a few weeks ago:

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

1 cup peanut butter chips
3/4 cups 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 + 2 tbsp peanut 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 peanut butter chip flakes until uniformly mixed.
3. Make streusel topping, stirring in remaining peanut butter/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 peanut butter and/or 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!

As an added bonus, I filled the hole in the bundt cake with mini chocolate PB cups from Trader Joes and drizzled frosting on that too...decadent...but so tasty :-)