Decadent Chocolate Mousse Cake

This 3 layers (could have been 4 layers but I messed up one layer) chocolate mousse cake is perfect for Valentine's Day or any other time during the winter. I am making this cake for a Wine & Appetizers get together at a friend's and we are bringing dessert. So what better to bring then this cake?!

Chocolate Cake2/3 cup milk
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
4 eggs
1/3 cup oil
1 cup sour cream
1 box Bettey Crocker Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix

1. Beat eggs in mixer. Add in sugar, then oil.
2. Mix in flour, sour cream, milk and cake mix.
3. Lined parchment paper on bottom of 2 round 8 inch cake pans.
4. Divide batter between two round cake pans.
5. Bake at 350° for 30-35 minutes.

CHOCOLATE MOUSSE FILLING
1/2 cup sugar
1 packet (2 tsp) unflavored gelatin
1 cup milk
12 oz (2 cup) Hershey's Dark Chocolate Chips
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cup (1 pt.) cold whipping cream

1. Stir together sugar and gelatin in small saucepan; stir in milk. Let stand 2 minutes to soften gelatin. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture just begins to boil.
2. Remove from heat. Immediately add chocolate chips; stir until melted. Stir in vanilla; cool to room temperature.
3. Beat whipping cream in small bowl until stiff. Gradually add chocolate mixture, folding gently just until blended. Cover; refrigerate until ready to use. About 6 cups filling.

Chocolate Mousse Cake
Allow the cakes to cool before cutting them in half.
Spread ¼ of the mousse on each of the 3 layers ( one layer was messed up so this was not 4 layers)
Sprinkle shaved chocolate over the top layer of mousse.

Applesauce Cake

I wanted to use apple sauce to bake a quick cake or bread and found this recipe from Chef-in-training's Applesauce Snack Cake. Since I have most of the main ingredients, it was easy decision to whip this up quick and throw this in the oven.

OMG, this cake is so moist and delicious. As usual I don't follow the recipe to the T, I switch chocolate chips for pumpkin spice chips as this is what I have. And I bypass the toppings as I don't have pecans at hand, I did sprinkle a few more pumpkin spice chips on top, though they all sank into the cake as it baked.

Ingredients:
2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup margarine (softened)
2 eggs
2 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/3 tsp clove
1/2 cup pumpkin chips and more for toppings (or chocolate chips)

Directions:
In a bowl, measure and mix flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove together, and set aside.
In a mixing bowl, beat margarine and sugar for 5 mins.
Add to mixture one egg, mix well and add the other egg.
Add in applesauce, followed by the flour mixture.

Lined bottom of 6 mini loaf pan with parchment paper. Drop batter evenly on the loaf pans.
Preheat oven at 350 and baked for 28 mins.
Let cake cool and slice and serve.

Pillow for Baby Girl

I have been working hard  the last few nights making this pillow for my step-daughters' baby shower. When you  spend  2 or 3 hours each night sewing, you have to love the craft, and I do. I had a deadline that I needed to meet because this baby shower that sort of snuck up on me, so I had to go into full Joanne mode, where I put everything else aside to finish this project.

 

The inspiration for my design was from a simple pillow that my mother used to make. I took her design as a template and turned it into my own. I often get inspiration from other work I am familiar with, but this comes from childhood memories, so it meant more to me to make this one for a child who I have yet to meet. I hope you enjoy this pillow little Aiyanna !

Coconut Layer Cake

   Last night and this morning I made a coconut layer cake at the request of a good friend of mine.. This is a 4 layer cake with a coconut icing that you can see here Coconut Frosting Recipe .
The cake itself is not made of coconut. It is a light white sour cream cake that I thought would be a nice compliment to the coconut frosting with shredded coconut.
 
 The request was made for a party we are attending together later today. It is a 'knock off" of a Pepperidge Farm coconut layer cake, but better of course, because it was made by me with love and care.

 I am so glad she requested this cake because, although I love coconut, I have not thought of making a coconut cake myself and I  have never tried a Pepperidge Farm coconut layer cake. We will find out later today if my bake has met my friend's expectations, but I do know it was great fun to make and a joy that my friends want me to bake for them. ( I must be doing something right for them to request my baking, especially for special events and parties that mean so much to all involved.!)

Here are a few pics of the finished cake.

Recipe below.

   Coconut Frosting:
5 cups confection sugare
1/2 cup butter ( 1 stick ) at room temperature
1/2 cup coconut milk ( from a can )

Skim off just the cream portion off from the coconut can.
Beat the butter until creamy in mixer.
Add in 2 cups of the confectioners' sugar and mix well.
Add in coconut cream and mix well.
Add slowly the rest of confectioners' sugar.
Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl, mixing until smooth, spreadable frosting.

  Sour Cream White Cake:
1 box of White Cake Mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup flour
1 cup milk
2 Tbsp oil
3 eggs separated.

In mixer, mix well egg yolks with 2/3 cup of sugar (2 mins)
Add and mix in oil.
Add in sour cream, mix well and set aside.

In a clean mixer bowl, beat egg white until mixture peaks and thicken.
Slowly sprinkle the 1/3 cup of sugar while the mixer is running in medium speed.

In the egg yolk mixture, fold in egg white until all egg white mix into the the batter.

Prepare and lined bottom of 2 8 or 9 inch cake pan with parchment paper.
Pour cake batter into the cake pan
Preheat oven at 350.
Bake cake in the mid rake for 35 mins.

Let cake cool and flip cake on a pan,
Trim top of cake to level evenly.
Slice cake into 2 to make 4 layers.
Spread coconut frosting on each layer.
Ice and cover the entire cake with rest of coconut frosting.
Sprinkle top and sides of cake with shredded coconut, (1 1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut)
Refrigerate cake until ready to server.

Enjoy!

Little Quilt for Baby Girl

I wanted to make a simple and easy quilt for a baby girl. I looked around found this lovely quilt here with tutorial and I thought I could make this fairly fast, but I was wrong, That is not my style. I  have to admit that I am very fussy when it comes my quilts,especially with the points and the corners, They have to look good to my meticulous eye. So this quilt really kept me busy, keeping me up late into the night more than once. Here are some notes on my approach !

                 I use the technique of creating all the half square triangles

                        layout the pieces, I could go bigger or smaller, but I stop right here

             pinning this together, so I will start doing the real quilting next

Stars surrounds Star Quilt

For the last few months, I have been busy sewing this stars filled quilt. It is coming together beautifully the way I like it. Yes, this quilt is much more intricate work than the other quilts I have sewn but the result is so fulfilling I must say and I am having so much fun working on it

…..bet that doesn’t surprise anyone who stops by my blog. This is a little pattern I stumbled upon and I have redesigned and make it my own with some little tweaks, twists and touch of me and guess what??? My husband likes it (sure he is bias)! and what say you?

I tried to capture in pictures some of the work I put in while working on this quilt and here are the pictures.

      gathering and prepping the pieces

         I packed my sewing materials ready and took with me to keep me busy during
         our long flight over the pacific ocean for our long trip to Asia.

                                 sewing and stitching pieces together

                                  Here is the center piece

         oh yes, slowly and surely, this is coming together but not quite there yet .. there are still more sewing going on ....

Jumbo Buckeyes Cupcakes

This is a placeholder for these jumbo cupcakes I just finished making.

We will be watching the Ohio State playing North Western Chicago at 3:30pm this afternoon and we are routing for the Buckeyes and "Go Buckeyes!!". These treats will hopefully sink our sweet teeth and warm our hearts as we cheer for our favorite team.

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cup milk ( I would reduce to 1 cup next time)
3 eggs
1 box of german chocolate cake mix

Buttercream Frosting

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature, plus 2 Tbs
4 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup milk
1 tiny smear of black color gel

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