Mississippi Mud Cake

I'm a word game freak.  Love.  Them.  When I was younger, I'd buy the Word Search magazines to occupy my time on road trips.  As an adult, I became a Scrabble addict and on vacations I hound my mother to play.  So imagine my excitement when I discovered the iPhone/iPad app, Words With Friends.  It's a take on Scrabble and you can play against your friends on your phone or iPad.  I'm totally addicted.  And I'm GOOD!!  So I obviously make all my friends download the app and play me.  And I kill them.  Really!

A few weeks ago, I was hanging at the pool with my bff who had received an iPad for Christmas and was telling her for the eleventy billionth time that she had to download the app and play me.  We may or may not have been consuming adult beverages and I only tell you this because it may or may not come into play later in this story.  So......she says, "I did download it."  I say, "What's your screen name?"  She tells me and I proceed to log into the game and invite her to play.  She had her iPad with her, but it had overheated in the sun (that's really a problem you need to fix Apple.....if you're reading this.....Steve.....) so she couldn't play at that minute but later on, after she had gone home, I received a message that she had played a word and it's my turn.

Anyhoo, we proceed to play a few games over the next several days and of course I'm killing her.  There's a messaging system in the game where you can talk back and forth with your opponent and she messages me "You're killing me."  I messaged back, "Sorry, boo!" (it's not weird....she calls everyone "boo" so we all call her "boo").  We continue playing and talking back and forth about the game.  Fast forward to last night.  She and her husband were here for some of this fabulous Mississippi Mud Cake and I say something to her about how horrible she is in Words With Friends.  And she says, "I've never played WWF."  I'm all like, "Boo.  It's okay that I'm kicking your ass every time.  I kick everyone's ass!"  She says, "No.  Really.  I've never played."  (Now might be where those consumed adult beverages come into play.)  I say, "But you gave me your screen name and everything at the pool that day and I invited you to play and you started playing me.  We played all last weekend while you were in Boston.  We were chatting on the game and everything."

She says, "I never took my iPad out of the suitcase the entire weekend in Boston.  Never even turned it on."  Me, "Well who the hell have I been playing then????"  So I messaged the unknown person asking what state she lived in.  "Missouri."  So I apologized for calling her "boo" and said I thought she was someone else the entire time.  She says, "Hopefully she can give you a better game than I can."  I messaged back, "It's doubtful!"

Turns out my bff had never actually downloaded WWF on her iPad and now I have one less person to beat!  If you'd like to take me on, my screen name is jillbuker.  Bring your "A" game, however!  :)

If you'd just like some of this insanely delicious cake, here's the recipe.  It's out of Melissa Foster's new book Southern Kitchen which is a fabulous book.  I've marked practically every recipe to try!

Mississippi Mud Cake

Melissa Foster's Southern Kitchen

Cake Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Pinch of kosher salt

1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into chunks

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa

4 large eggs, beaten

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup chopped pecans

Frosting Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa

1/3 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted

1/2 cup milk

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

3 cups mini marshmallows

1 cup chopped pecans, lightly toasted

Cake:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Lightly grease and flour an 11x7-inch pan.

Combine the sugar, flour and salt in a large bowl and stir to mix.  Melt the butter in a small saucepan and stir in the cocoa until well blended.  Remove from the heat, let cool slightly, and stir in the eggs and vanilla.  Pour the butter mixture into the flour mixture and stir until well combined.  Add the pecans and stir to mix.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly.  Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.  Remove the cake from the oven, but do not turn the oven off.

Frosting:

While the cake is baking, combine the cocoa and confectioners' sugar in a large bowl and stir to mix.  Add the melted butter, milk, and vanilla and stir until combined.  (Mine separated when I added the cold milk, so I stuck it in the microwave for 15 seconds and it came back together.)

Assembly:

Scatter the marshmallows and pecans over the hot cake and return to the oven for about 4 minutes, just until the marshmallows are softened and puffy.  Remove from the oven and pour the frosting over the marshmallows and pecans to cover, while the cake is warm.  Cool completely, cut into squares, and serve.

Lemon Balm Pound Cake with Strawberries

I've raved about the iPad here before, but the more I use it the more it reveals itself to be a life changing device.  It's changed the way I do so many things in my life from internet surfing, reading, communicating, entertaining myself, etc., etc., etc.  It's also proving to be extremely valuable at eliminating things from my life also.  I no longer need to buy space sucking books (of which I've purchased thousands over the years and am now giving away as I read them).  Since I've discovered the app, Blogpress, I can now blog from my iPad which eliminates the need to haul my heavy laptop all over the world with me.  I couldn't be more excited about that!

And slowly but surely, publishing companies are offering iPad versions of the magazines that I receive every month.  And Lord knows, I receive a lot!  At times, they start to take over my house because I keep the cooking related ones forever.  My niece is afraid I'm going to end up on one of those hoarder shows someday.  But because of my trusty iPad, that's now not going to happen!  So there, Charlotte!

The good news is that because I'm one of those crazy hoarder ladies, I found this recipe in an old Gourmet magazine.  It originally called for lemon verbena which I don't grow (and frankly never see in stores around here).  But I had just planted my herb garden last week and had some of this.....

.....lemon balm.  I love this stuff and used it like crazy in the summer.  I put it in my tea, in vinaigrettes, ice cream.....you name it.   So I thought it would be a great substitution for this recipe.

This was sooooo good.  Fresh, light, and citrusy.....a little slice of Springtime.  Hubs declared it his favorite non-chocolate dessert!

I'll be making this a lot this summer when the strawberries are at their peak.  They're a perfect accompaniment.

Lemon Balm Pound Cake with Strawberries

adapted from Gourmet, April 1996

For cake:
1 cup cake flour (not self-rising)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons finely chopped lemon balm (lemon verbena works as well)
1 tablespoon lemon zest (if you cannot find either herb, add an additional tablespoon of zest)
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

For glaze:
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Accompaniment:  Fresh strawberries (since it's a little early for strawberries here, mine weren't that sweet, so I added sugar to taste)

Make cake:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and butter and flour a 1 quart bundt pan or kugelhopf pan, knocking out excess flour.

In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, lemon balm.  In bowl of stand mixer, mix together sugar and zest with your fingers, rubbing them together until the sugar is fragrant.  Add butter and beat until light and fluffy.  Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, and beat in vanilla.  Beat in half of flour mixture.  Beat in milk and lemon juice and beat in remaining flour mixture until just combined.

Spoon batter into pan, smoothing top and bake in middle of oven 45 to 55 minutes or until golden brown on top and a tester comes out clean.  Cool cake in pan on a rack 15 minutes and then invert onto rack to cool completely.

Make glaze while cake is cooling:
In a small bowl whisk confectioners' sugar, a little at a time, into lemon juice until smooth and thick.

When cake is completely cooled, drizzle glaze over cake and let it drip down sides.  Cake may be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered.

Serve cake at room temperature with strawberries.


I posted this here also. Make sure you check out all of the great sweet treats here every week!

Cream Cheese Carrot Cake Muffins

This is the perfect way to be able to eat dessert for breakfast! One of my favorite sweet treats is carrot cake with cream cheese icing. Actually, just about anything with cream cheese icing would fall into my "favorites" category!




This is that classic dessert reinvented into a moist muffin with a creamy surprise in the center. And everyone knows muffins are for breakfast, right?




These are so simple to put together....no hauling out any heavy equipment.....just a few bowls required.




After you make your filling and your batter, simply scoop a small amount of batter into the muffin cup, drop a tablespoon of filling into the center, a cover with another scoop of batter.




These were a hit with everyone. Even hubs, who's not a cream cheese lover, enjoyed them.




Here's the recipe:

Cream Cheese Carrot Cake Muffins
King Arthur Flour

Makes 12 muffins

Filling:
one 8 ounce package cream cheese or Neufchatel cheese
1/4 cup granulated sugar
a few drops or Fiori Di Sicilia flavor, optional but very tasty (I happened to have this in the pantry but if you don't, feel free to leave it out. It's a combination of citrus flavors and vanilla, so you could also substitute accordingly)

Muffins:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoons ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup grated carrots, lightly packed; about 2 medium-large carrots

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 F. Lightly grease a standard 12-well muffin pan. Or line the pan with paper muffin cups and grease the cups.

To make the filling: Place the cream cheese in a microwave safe bowl, and heat on low power for 40 seconds. Stir in the sugar and flavor. Set aside.

To make the muffin batter: In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, water and oil. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Fold in the carrots, stirring to combine.

Drop about 2 tablespoons of the batter into each muffin cup, spreading it to cover the bottom. Dollop on a heaping tablespoon of filling, trying to keep in in the center of the muffin.

Cover with enough batter to fill the muffin cups quite full. The batter will come to within about 1/4" to 3/8" of the top of each muffin cup. But don't try to use all the batter; unless you have particularly deep cups, you'll have about 1/3 cup batter left over. Bake it in a separate custard cup, if desired.

Bake the muffins until a toothpick inserted into the cake part of one (not into the cream cheese filling) comes out clean, about 20 minutes. The tops of the muffins will feel firm to the touch.

Remove the muffins from the oven and as soon as you're able to handle them, transfer them to a rack. If you serve the muffins warm, the filling will be molten. If you wait for them to cool, it will firm up.

Pineapple Truffles

This little gem was the Epicurious.com recipe of the day one day last week.  I had a container of pineapple left over from a jar of Stoli-Doli's so I figured I'd give them a go.

Hubs immediately dubbed them "Pina Colada Balls" because, well, that's exactly what they taste like.....sans the alcohol.  Believe me, I know rum is the best part of a Pina Colada but then they wouldn't freeze.  It's not a perfect world, people.  These are refreshing little balls of concentrated pineapple and coconut coated in a coconut sugar.  Perfect for summer!

The recipe was originally published in the book Passover by Design:  Picture-Perfect Kosher by Design Recipes for the Holiday by Susie Fishbein.  One of the commenters on epicurious.com noted that since the recipe called for confectioner's sugar, it was not kosher.  I don't know anything about that but I do know that you can grind regular sugar in the food processor to make powdered sugar.  I've had to do that before and it works pretty well.

Here's the recipe:

Pineapple Truffles

Epicurious, March 2011

Makes 50-60 truffles

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups firmly packed sweetened flaked coconut, divided

3/4 cup sugar, divided

1 medium pineapple, ripe

3/4 cup confectioner's sugar

4 large egg yolks

Directions:

In a blender or food processor fitted with a metal blade, process 1/4 cup coconut with 1.4 cup sugar.  Remove to a bowl or ziplock bag.  Set aside.

Cut the pineapple out of the shell.  Discard core and cut the flesh into chunks.  (I went the lazy route and used already cut pineapple!)  Puree pineapple in blender or food processor. Transfer the pureed pineapple to a medium pot.  Mix in 1 cup coconut, 1/2 cup sugar, and the confectioner's sugar.  Bring to a boil over medium heat.  Cook until all the liquid evaporates, about 30-35 minutes, stirring often to make sure the mixture is not browning on the bottom.  If the mixture starts to brown, lower heat slightly and stir more often.  The mixture will turn a dark golden color.  Turn off the heat.

Remove 1/2 cup pineapple mixture and mix it into the egg yolks to temper them.  Add the tempered yolks into the pot.  At medium-high heat, continue to cook until dry and pulling away from the sides of the pot, about 5 minutes.

Place the pot in the freezer and chill completely.

Remove the pineapple mixture from the freezer.  Using a tiny melon baller or 1/4 teaspoon measure, make balls.  Roll in the coconut/sugar that was blended in the first step.  If the truffles get too sticky to roll, place the mixture back into the freezer for a few minutes.

Place on parchment-lined baking sheets and place into freezer.  Once frozen, remove and store in an airtight container in single layers separated by parchment paper.  Return truffles to freezer.

Serve right from the freezer or place in little paper candy cups or on a platter 10 minutes before serving.

TWD - Strawberry-Rhubarb Double Crisp

Rhubarb can really invoke a violent reaction in some people.  It's never, "I don't really care for rhubarb."  I either get, "I LOVE rhubarb" or "I HATE rhubarb"!!  I fall into the LOVE category and grew up on rhubarb everything during the spring.  My mom made a killer rhubarb pie.

So last year about this time, I was invited to a friends house for dinner and I brought along dessert.....rhubarb crisp.  Huge hit with everyone but Mr. friend.  HATED it and told me so.  I actually think he spit it out.  I wasn't that offended because this dude never ventures far from the hamburger and french fry aisle.  He's one of those!!

Fast forward to last weekend.  It was beautiful here and I knew we'd be spending the weekend out at the pool so we invited some friends....rhubarb spitter included (yes we're still friends)....up for some dinner at the pool house.  Obviously I made this week's TWD. When I told french-fry-boy what was for dessert, he immediately wrinkled his nose.  Made me smile because I like to irritate him.  Then I gave him his favorite cheesecake and told him to shut it.

The more sophisticated individuals in the group LOVED this.  Even though it's a little more labor intensive than other crisp recipes it's totally worth it.  I loved the idea of making half of the topping a bottom crust.  Genius except for the fact that I didn't grease the dish first and had some minor sticking issues.  No biggie.

Thanks to Sarah of Teapots and Cake Stands for hosting this week.  This was a fabulous pick.  Head over to her site for the recipe.

I'm off to find a rhubarb cheesecake recipe to see if I can drive my neanderthal friend crazy.

TWD - Coffee Ice Cream Tart

Who doesn't love ice cream pie?  I remember when my step-son was little, he always picked a ice cream cake/pie from Baskin and Robbins for his birthday treat.  (Is B&R even still around?)  It's also a favorite of the other men in my life....hubs, my dad, and my nephew.   I'm really surprised no one has picked this recipe up until now, so a big thanks to Jessica of Domestic Deep Thought.  

This was a hit here.  I'll even admit to trying a small piece and I have to say that the crust was my favorite part.  I've read where a lot of the other bakers had problems with the crust becoming impenetrable after it was frozen, but I didn't have that problem for some reason.    And I loved the almond/coffee combination (even though I was a tad heavy handed with the almond extract which ended up overpowering the coffee....totally my fault).  I read where Jessica said it reminded her of dipping an almond biscotti into a hot cup of coffee.  Exactly!!  I topped mine with crushed chocolate covered espresso beans.  Really yummy.

I can see using this crust for a ton of different flavors of homemade ice cream this summer.  Check out Jessica's blog for the recipe.

Double Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Filling

The weather was beautiful around here this past weekend so we spent most of the time outside soaking up the sun.

When we're hanging at the pool with friends on the weekend, I don't usually put a lot of extra effort into dinner.  Throwing something on the grill or pulling something out of the freezer is as fancy as I get.  So if I'm dropping the ball when it comes to dinner, I try to make up for it with something yummy for dessert.

When I first looked at the recipe for these cupcakes, it seemed a little involved, but sounded so delicious I just bit the bullet.  It's three separate components, but each one was pretty simple.

I had never filled cupcakes before so I was a little nervous about that, but it was a piece of cake.....errr cupcake?  I used a conventional pastry bag with a metal tip and just poked it into the top of the cake and squeezed.  If you don't have a pastry bag, poke a hole into the top of the cupcake, put the filling into a zip lock baggie, cut the tip off of the corner of the bag and squeeze the in the filling.

These were a huge hit.  How can you go wrong with a tender chocolatey cupcake filled with creamy peanut butter and double dipped in a rich chocolate ganache?

These were best the day they were made but still good the next day.  It makes a full two dozen, so unless you're feeding a crowd, halve the recipe.

Double Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Filling

Food and Wine Magazine, April 2004

Ingredients
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
1/2 cup boiling water
1 cup buttermilk
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 sticks plus 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup creamy peanut butter
2/3 cup confectioners' sugar
1 cup heavy cream
8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and position 2 racks in the lower and middle third of the oven.  Line 24 muffin cups with paper or foil liners.

Put the cocoa powder in a medium heatproof bowl.  Add the boiling water and whisk until a smooth paste forms.  Whisk in the buttermilk until combined.  In a medium bowl, sift the flour with the baking soda, baking powder and salt.  In a large bowl, using a electric mixer, beat 1 1/2 sticks of the butter with the granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Beat in the eggs and vanilla then beat in the dry ingredients in 2 batches, alternating with the cocoa mixture.  Carefully spoon the cupcake batter into the lined muffin cups, filling them  about two thirds full.  Bake for 20-22 minutes or until the cupcakes are springy.  Let the cupcakes cool in the pans for 5 minutes, then transfer them to wire racks to cool completely.

In a medium bowl, beat the peanut butter with the remaining 3 tablespoons butter until creamy.  Sift the confectioners sugar into the bowl and beat until light a fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Spoon all but 3 tablespoons of the peanut butter filling into a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4 inch star tip.  Holding a cupcake in your hand, plunge the tip into the top of the cake, pushing it about 1/4 inch deep.  Gently squeeze the pastry bag to fill the cupcake, withdrawing it slowly as you squeeze.  You will feel the cupcake expand slightly as you fill it.  Scrape any filling from the top of the cupcake and repeat until all of the cupcakes are filled.

In a small saucepan, bring the heave cream to a simmer.  Off the heat, add the semisweet chocolate to the cream and let stand for 5 minutes, then whisk the melted chocolate into the cream until smooth.  Let the chocolate icing stand until slightly cooled and thickened, about 15 minutes.  Dip the tops of the cupcakes into the icing, letting the excess drip back into the pan.  Transfer the cupcakes to racks and let stand for 5 minutes.  Dip the tops of the cupcakes again and transfer them to racks.  Spoon the remaining 3 tablespoons of peanut butter filling into the pastry bag and pipe tiny rosettes on the top of the cupcakes.

Grilled Sea Bass with Blood Orange Salsa

If you're unfamiliar with blood oranges, here's what Wikipedia has to say about them:

The blood orange is a variety of orange (Citrus sinensis) with crimson, blood-colored flesh. The fruit is smaller than an average orange; its skin is usually pitted, but can be smooth. The distinctive dark flesh color is due to the presence of anthocyanins, a family of pigments common to many flowers and fruit, but uncommon in citrus fruits.^[1] The flesh develops its characteristic maroon color when the fruit develops with low temperatures during the night.^[2] Sometimes there is dark coloring on the exterior of the rind as well, depending on the variety of blood orange.^[3] The skin can also be tougher, and harder to peel than other oranges.

While all oranges are likely of hybrid origin between the pomelo and the tangerine,^[4] blood oranges originated as a mutation of the sweet orange.^[5]

The only time I see them around here is during the Spring so as soon as they show up in the stores I grab them.  If you can't find them in your area, regular oranges will work in this salsa as well.  But if you're lucky enough to have them, try them out.  They're similar in taste to a regular orange but with a hint of raspberry and slightly more tart.  My favorite part, however, is that beautiful color.

These also make for some killer cocktails.  I've made these mojitos, which I love, but my favorite might be these margaritas.

I've also tried this salsa on snapper and it's fabulous.  I think any white fish or even chicken breasts would work.

So if you can find blood oranges in your area, definitely give them a go, but if not, as I said, all of these recipes can be made with regular oranges.  

Grilled Sea Bass with Blood Orange Salsa

adapted from Food Network

Ingredients:
2 Sea Bass Fillets
Kosher Salt
Black Pepper

Salsa:
2 Blood Oranges, peeled (white pith also removed) and sectioned
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1 jalapeno pepper, stem and seeds removed and finely diced
1 small shallot, finely diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:
Combine salsa ingredients, mix well and set aside:

If you are not familiar with how to peel and section an orange, here's a short video from Cooking.com