Zombie Loves Kit Kat

Busy today making some freaking cute cupcakes for my son's birthday.  I started on a Kit Kat theme 2 years ago.  Kit Kat's are my son's favorite candy.  First year I made a Kit Kat cake.  It was a big hit.  The next year I wanted to top the cake and I made a giant Kit Kat.  Again he was very impressed.  Wondering what I'd do this year I saw the cutest book at the craft store.  It is called "Zombie Cupcakes" by Zilly Rosen.  It's quite an adorable book for people who like Halloween and/or Zombies.  While thumbing through it I saw the zombie hand cupcake and knew what I'd do this year.  I'd combine my son's love of Zombies and Kit Kats.  These were very easy to make.  The supplies were easy to find at Michael's.  Then I just followed the directions in the book.  It has cupcake recipes and then decoration directions.  This cupcake was a chocolate oreo cupcake recipe with a chocolate ganache frosting.  It's going to be delicious in addition to adorable.

 

I really liked the lighting of the first picture, but it also made me see I needed to make the hand look more like it came out of the ground.

 

 With cookie crumbs around the bottom of the zombie hand I got the look I wanted.

A whole tray of zombie hand cupcakes.  They are going to be so much fun.

Ed's Designer Chocolate Birthday Cake

My husband's birthday is right around Thanksgiving.  I couldn't get him to stick a candle in a piece of pumpkin pie and call it a birthday pie.  Can't blame him.  So, many years ago I asked what he'd like his birthday treat to be and he said a chocolate cake.  I've been making the cake for years, but as soon as the kids got old enough I got them involved.  Up till now it's been mostly helping.  This year though my daughter took the project on.  She asked if she could make a designer gourmet cake.  After just a couple suggestions by me for instance it had to be made with things her father liked and steering her back to the fact that this had to be a chocolate cake she did well.

She got out pen and paper and drew out a sketch like she was building a skyscraper and it was her blueprint.  The cake would be chocolate with peanut butter chips baked in.  Then there would be 3 layers of peanut butter fudge.  The whole thing would be coated with a chocolate ganache frosting and pressed into that would be toffee bits.  My husband isn't a big dessert eater.  His main complaint when he has dessert is "it's too sweet."  I didn't know what he was going to think of this cake, but knowing his daughter made it I knew he would be a good sport.

Chocolate Ganache frosting with toffee bits pressed on.

He decided he wanted his cake a day early as to not have to eat a whole chocolate cake practically by himself.  This way he could share it with all who came for Thanksgiving.  This turned out to not be such a good idea for him or me.  Everyone wanted a piece of his beautiful cake.  No one wanted a piece of the pumpkin pie I had baked.
Everyone dove in so heartily into this cake that I barely got a picture before it was all gone!

As you can see there was only 1/4 of the cake left before I realized I wanted to get a picture.

Here you can see the peanut butter fudge layers and the peanut butter chips.

Here's the peanut butter fudge recipe.  My daughter did not chill the peanut butter fudge.  My daughter laid out a piece of plastic wrap and using a rolling pin rolled out some of the fudge.  Using the cake pan as a pattern we then carefully cut away the excess fudge making it the size of the cake round.  Being careful not to cut the plastic wrap.  Picking up the plastic wrap she flipped the fudge layer down on to cake layer.  Then peeled off the plastic wrap and repeated 2 more times.

For the frosting I've been using Mrs. Milman's recipe the last few years.  I hesitate to share it even though delicious, but I've had problems with it every year.  There is even a video where Mrs. Milman talks about how easy it is to make.  My problem is getting it firm enough to frost a cake.  After stirring it for hours in the fridge I ended up leaving the frosting in the fridge overnight.  I figured if it got too hard to spread we'd deal with it in the morning.  Turns out it was perfect spreading consistency.  So, before I call it quits on this recipe I'm going to try making it the day before instead of anxiously waiting for it to firm up the day of.

Kit Kat... I think I love you!

My son declared his love for Kit Kats many years ago.  So, I thought it would be a perfect theme for a young man's birthday treat.  Last year was the very popular Kit Kat cake.  Earlier this year I hadn't even begun to think of what was next until my son and I saw this blog entry.  My son marveled at it, but I thought in my head, "THAT'S IT! That is what I'm making my son for his next birthday."  This was back in March.  I bookmarked the entry and sent the link to my email.  September rolled around and when I went back to double check how it was made the links didn't work.  Minor panic set in, but it was still very clear in my mind what I needed and how I needed to do it.  With some more web searching I did find the entry and photos moved to another person's blog.

So, to begin with I knew exactly where I'd buy my supplies.  I went to Cost Plus World Market.  I knew they'd have the wafer cookies I needed.  They also have many chocolate choices.  I decided upon Ghirardelli chips.  They came in milk chocolate in a 2 pound bag.  I bought 4 - 2 pound bags of chocolate and 4 bags of the Quadratini Chocolate Wafer Cookies.

I also owned the perfect pan.  It had belonged to my mother-in-law.  I've kept it for over 25 years thinking I'd bake bread in it maybe an angel food cake.  Never thinking what it would finally end up using it for.

Once my son was off to school I had 6 hours to work my magic.  I had thrown the pan in the dish washer the night before.  I had also worked on the lettering the night before.  I printed out the Kit Kat logo twice in the size I wanted it.  One I used as a pattern to cut out craft foam I had in the craft room.  I wasn't really sure if this sort of thing should be used with food, but since I wasn't going to be stewing it and its an item kids craft with odds were in my favor there wouldn't be any potential poisoning.  You'll have to decide that for yourself.

I began melting the chocolate on very low heat.  The water in a double boiler is not supposed to boil.

As the chocolate chips melted I stacked the cookies in the pan to get an idea of whether or not I had bought enough.

I then decided to stick my foam letters down with a little chocolate.  I wasn't really sure how to stick them down.  I was afraid they might float.  I also didn't want chocolate to ooze beneath them if I used some sort of bulky tape adhesive.  Notice how the letters are in the pan.  One can not read them.  This is so you CAN read them on the finished product.  To keep me from messing this one up I pictured it as a mirror image of the original print.  Having the extra printed out copy of the logo was a big help in keeping me on track with this very important detail.

I poured about a 1 inch layer of melted chocolate in the bottom of pan.  I was just winging it.  I wanted it to be sturdy, but leave room for the cookie center.

After chocolate had set (in the refrigerator) I began placing the cookies.

Here's where I made my only mini mistake.  I didn't know it until the end when the Kit Kat was sliced.  The chocolate encased the cookies on the outside holding them in place, but the cookies on the inside were glued to nothing and fell out of the slice.  Don't get me wrong NO ONE said, "I don't want a slice of the Kit Kat, because the middle cookies are falling out."  It was more of an aesthetic thing for me the perfectionist.  If there is a next time glue cookies together with a dot of chocolate.  I'd melt chocolate in a baggie in the microwave.  Cut small corner of baggie.  Use the hole to squeeze dot of chocolate on cookies as placed in pan.  This would go the fastest.  I say dot of chocolate, because this is so rich and chocolately a lot more chocolate in the middle isn't necessary.  Plus you don't want a lot of chocolate getting in the way of the cookies.

Next step was to melt more and more chocolate until the cookies are covered.  It took 7 pounds of chocolate to cover mine.

My biggest fear was that I wouldn't be able to get the Kit Kat out of the pan.  My next fear would be the letters floated up and mixed in with the chocolate.  I waited until my son went to school the next day and figured I'd have about 5 hours to figure out how to get it out of the pan if it didn't pop right out.  I also figured I'd have time to carve a Kit Kat on the top if my lettering didn't work out.  Thank my luck stars it popped right out.  I was so excited to see it out of the pan.  The lettering right where I wanted it.

I used an x-acto knife to lightly carve the edges of the craft foam to make sure they didn't lift away any of the chocolate as I peeled them out.  Except for a few bubbles they came out perfectly and easily.  I was so pleased it came out so well.

I wondered if my son would have remembered our looking at the Kit Kat online and would be expecting this.  He had forgotten all about it.  He was speechless!

Saturday when my son had his friends over I asked him to come get me when he unveiled the Kit Kat.  Of course I had gone to run a quick errand when they decided they needed a treat.  I came home to Kit Kat mayhem.

So, I just went and asked them, "So, what did you guys think about the Kit Kat?"  Like my son their eyes all got as wide as saucers as they excitedly told me how cool it was.  The one young lady at the party exclaim, "You're my hero!  Kit Kats are my favorite."

Chocolate Fudge Cherry Cake for the 17th time!

OK it's really the 11th time, but my daughter turned 17 and again she wanted her favorite cake.  My plan this year was to do something a little different like make it into an ice cream cake.  She decided though that she wanted to spend time on the lake with her friends for her birthday.  Sounded like fun to me, but ice cream would not do well at the lake.  I didn't know if any of them were going to come back to the house, so it was time for plan B.

Left on a kayak.

Came back on a paddle board.

I got to thinking that cupcakes would be a great plan.  I'd never made cupcakes out of this recipe and was a little afraid that it might be too soft of a recipe for cupcake wrappers.  I hate it when you peel the wrapper off a cupcake and half of the cupcake sticks to the wrapper.  You then feel the need to scrap the cake off the wrapper with your teeth eating some of the wrapper in the process.  I wasn't sure if this wasn't going to turn into one of those times, BUT one doesn't know if they don't try.

The recipe made 21 cupcakes.  Now what to do with the frosting.  I made the frosting as the recipe said.  The cupcakes did cool off by the time I got the frosting done.  This turned out to be a good thing.  I decided to dip the top of the cupcakes into the hot frosting.  Sort of a dip, pick up and twirl keeping the frosting on the cake and not on the wrapper.  It worked out great.  I let the cupcakes sit and the frosting cooled to a really nice semi hard shell.  Perfect for placing plastic wrap over on a tray and taking to the lake.  Turned out they peeled out of their wrapper perfectly.  The frosting layer was the perfect amount of frosting according to my daughter.  We may have found a great new way to serve her favorite birthday treat.

All the wrappers ended up in front of Diana and they started saying "Diana save some cupcakes for the rest of us."

I took 18 cupcakes to the lake for 7 teens. I sent an easy picnic lunch with them for their trip, but knew they'd be hungry when they returned. Thirsty and starving is what they said when they returned. I had an ice chest with cold drinks and 18 cupcakes that they promptly devoured.

Chocolate Fudge Cherry Cake
1 box Devil's Food Cake Mix
1 can cherry pie filling
2 eggs
1 teaspoon almond flavoring (optional) (It's not really optional you must use it.)

Frosting:
1 cup granulated sugar
5 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup milk
6 oz package of semisweet chocolate chips

Mix cake mix, cherry pie filling, eggs, and flavoring by hand. Pour batter into greased and floured 13x9x2-inch pan and bake at 350° about 30 minutes, or until a wooden pick or cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. (Bundt shaped pan works great just takes a little longer to bake.)
For frosting, place sugar, butter, and milk in a saucepan. Bring to a boil stirring constantly. Boil for one minute. Remove from the heat and stir in chocolate chips until smooth. Pour over warm cake.

Lynne's Note:  Cupcakes take 1/2 the time to bake.  While they are cooling prepare frosting.  Holding bottom of cupcake dip just the cake part of cupcake in frosting.  Pull up, twist and do a 1/2 twirl so string of frosting breaks and frosting stays only on top of cupcake.  Let all cupcakes sit not touching one another.  Frosting will harden to a beautiful chocolate shell that does not stick to plastic wrap.

PS.  BTW they all came back to the house.  Cell phone out daughter calling her dad, "Could you pretty please order 3 pizzas."

The Famous Kit Kat Cake

Believe it or not there is a cake under all that candy. Erik's favorite candy is Kit Kats. I asked what he wanted for his birthday treat and he said surprise me. He's been teasing me all summer to make him a Kit Kat salad. So, I did a search and found this Kit Kat Cake. It was so adorable I knew I had to make one for Erik.

I baked a Devil's Food cake in 2 eight inch cake pans. Then I made the chocolate frosting in the below recipe. Once cake was cooled I sliced the hump off one layer and placed it on my plate. I put a layer of frosting on it. Then I placed the 2nd layer hump up on top of first layer. I thought the hump would help with the shaping of the M&M top. I then frosted the whole cake. Next I began unwrapping and breaking the Kit Kats into 2 piece sections. Someone on the internet suggested putting the Kit Kats in the freezer for cleaner breaks and less finger prints on the candy. I think this would be a good thing to do. Well, for me next time. I bought 2_6 packs of regular sized Kit Kats. Had to open 11 of the packs due to some breakage in the package. I didn't break any they came that way. Normally not a problem as they'd be very tasty. They just weren't pretty.

After placing all Kit Kats on the cake I dipped into my scrapbook stash for a piece of ribbon. I tied a ribbon on which snugged up the Kit Kats, but they didn't seem like they'd have fallen off. Maybe the M&M might force them off. So, I wouldn't skip the ribbon. After ribbon was on I took my 19 oz bag of M&Ms and starting pouring them on. They were sliding to the Kit Kat edge, so I started to press them on all over. Then poured more M&Ms on to hide the frosting. It took about 2/3s of the bag.

I started baking the cake at 7am. Took a shower while it baked. Pulled it out to cool while I went to store for cake decorating supplies and dinner fixings. Made frosting, decorated cake and was done by 10am.

Fast and gorgeous cake. When Erik saw the cake his face just lit up with a giant smile. He started laughing and then said, "You sure did surprise me. That cake is GREAT!"

Erik was VERY pleased with the cake I surprised him with.

Chocolate Fudge Frosting

4 ounces (120 grams) unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
2/3 cup (150 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/3 cups (160 grams) confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Chocolate Frosting: Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until smooth and creamy (about 1 minute). Add the sugar and beat until it is light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the chocolate and beat on low speed until incorporated. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until frosting is smooth and glossy (about 2 -3 minutes). Frosts about 16 cupcakes

Lynne's Note: I melted chocolate in microwave. This frosting was very soft great for a cupcake. I wanted to frost a cake and added more powdered sugar to make frosting a bit stiffer. DELICIOUS

Chocolate Cherry Birthday Cake Turns 16.... errrr 10?

We're going on our 10th anniversary of the Chocolate Cherry birthday cake.  Ten years ago my little girl was turning 6.  A few weeks prior to their birthdays I ask both my kids what kind of cake they want for their birthdays.  This "what kind" usually refers to the shape.  It also helps with the theme of the party.  I love decorating cakes and have had a great time making some pretty creative cakes over the years.  One year for my daughter's 6th birthday she gave me a flavor.  She said, "I want a chocolate cake with cherries and I want to decorate it myself."

I was a bit in shock and thought to myself, "WHAT?! I don't get to decorate the cake."  Up til then I had decorated about 14 kid birthday cakes between the 2 kids.  A few of the cakes I had made were a Pokeman ball, gigantic hamburger, a panda bear , large strawberries, and a gumball machine.  Now she was grabbing the reins of my cake decorating juggernaut and I wasn't very happy about it.  After all, these gorgeous and delicious cakes were ALL ABOUT ME...ME...ME!  OK I needed to step back and remember the birthday cakes were made for the person who's birthday it was.  A cooler head prevailed and if they wanted to put MORE than their 2 cents in on it's flavor and design I need to get off my high horse.  I needed to remember the day is about them.  *hanging my head in minor shame*

So, I shook it off and went on a hunt for a Chocolate Cherry cake recipe.  I found the below recipe and boy it was sure wonderful.  We've used it every year.  The moist chocolaty cherry cake is topped with a rich fudgy frosting.  There is never any leftover birthday cake when this cake is made.

Chocolate Fudge Cherry Cake
1 box Devil's Food Cake Mix (your favorite)
1 can cherry pie filling
2 eggs
1 teaspoon almond flavoring (optional) (It's not really optional you must use it.)

Frosting:
1 cup granulated sugar
5 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup milk
6 oz package of semisweet chocolate chips

Mix cake mix, cherry pie filling, eggs, and flavoring by hand. Pour batter into greased and floured 13x9x2-inch pan and bake at 350° about 30 minutes, or until a wooden pick or cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. (Bundt shaped pan works great just takes a little longer to bake.)

For frosting, place sugar, butter, and milk in a saucepan. Bring to a boil stirring constantly. Boil for one minute. Remove from the heat and stir in chocolate chips until smooth. Pour over warm cake.

Lynne's Note:  If using a bundt shaped cake I place it on a wire rack over a plate to catch excess frosting.  Pour frosting over cake.  Excess frosting cake be saved and used later for whatever you want.  This way you don't end up with a huge puddle of frosting on your cake plate.  Then I use 2 spatulas to move cake to a clean platter.  This is a very delicate cake.  Ask for help moving it if need be.  If it breaks don't worry you have excess frosting to cover the break.  I've never had any exclaim, "I'M NOT EATING THAT CAKE IT'S BROKEN!"

That first year my daughter decorated her cake with Skittles and Lego figures.  I tried to talk her out of Skittles back then and tried to again this year.  Suggesting M&M's might be more suiting.  She confidently stated then and now, "No, I like Skittles and I think the taste great."  After that first year the family knows they are Skittles and most flick them to the side.  The first year was hilarious watching people bite into a fruity candy thinking it was an M&M.  Then watching some politely spit them into a napkin.

What A Boy Wants

A teenage boy that is, who just turned 18 wants for his birthday treat. I asked Erik want kind of cake he wanted for his birthday. I enjoy decorating a cake for my kids' birthdays. Since he was turning 18 I thought he might want something elaborate. He said when asked the question, "Does it have to be a cake?" I thought, "Oh no what am I going to get myself into." I said, "No, it doesn't." He says, "Can I have a giant cookie?!" I wiped my brow as I knew it was going to be a piece of cake! I have a large round Pampered Chef stone (I see they have a handle now a great improvement) perfect for cooking a giant cookie. I doubled our favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. I wouldn't want my giant cookie to turn into an "almost giant cookie" just because I didn't have enough dough.

How did this become our favorite recipe.... about 22 years ago a friend and I were Ombudsmen for our husbands squadron. We arranged a get together for the wives. She and I each made a batch of chocolate chip cookies for the occasion. As we sat in the empty Naval Hall waiting for the wives to get there I noticed that my cookies were completely different from her cookies. I really liked the look of her cookies. They looked plump and chewy whereas mine were thin and crisp. I asked what recipe she used. She said with her beautiful slow southern drawl, "Oh I always use the recipe on the back of the Nestle's chocolate chips." I quickly said, "No you didn't." She looked at me startled. I had used the recipe on the back of the Nestle chocolate chips and mine were thin and crisp. She laughed and said, "Yes I DID." Again, I said, "No you didn't." I knew she couldn't possibly have used the recipe and have cookies that were so different from mine. We were friends and I knew she wasn't lying, but something was amiss. I went into detective mode.

We had some time before anyone would be showing up. I decided that if she had indeed used the same recipe as me she had to have used a different ingredient. I asked did she follow the recipe precisely. She said, "Yes, I did." I wanted to loudly blurt out "NO YOU DIDN'T" but I could tell it was getting old and I didn't want to hurt her feelings. I was on a mission to discover her secret to such beautiful plump tasty chocolate chip cookies. Something had to be different. So, I went ingredient by ingredient. I said, "I use the Nestle chocolate chips in the yellow bag." She said, "So do I." I said, "I always use unbleached flour." She said, "So do I." I said, "I used unsalted butter." She hesitated and said, "I use shortening." AHA! There is a difference. I asked her what possessed her to use shortening when the recipe calls for butter? In her beautiful slow Arkansas drawl she said, "I guess I use shortening cause my mama always used shortening." She asked me why I used butter? I said, "Cause the recipes asks for it." We both laughed. Ever since then I've always used shortening in my chocolate chip cookies, (said with a slow southern drawl) because my friend Karen from Arkansas' mother always uses shortening." They make the tastiest plump chocolate chip cookies. Right about that time I found this recipe on the insert to Crisco butter flavored sticks and have used it ever since.Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes 3 dozen cookies

3/4 cup Crisco® Butter Shortening OR 3/4 stick Crisco® Butter Shortening Sticks

1 1 /4 cups firmly packed light brown sugar

2 tablespoons milk

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 large egg

1 3/4 cups Pillsbury BEST® All Purpose Flour

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 (6 oz.) package semi-sweet chocolate chips (1 cup)

1 cup coarsely chopped pecans (optional)

HEAT oven to 375ºF.

COMBINE shortening, brown sugar, milk and vanilla in large bowl. Beat at medium speed of electric mixer until well blended. Beat in egg. Combine flour, salt and baking soda. Mix into shortening mixture until just blended. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.

DROP by rounded measuring tablespoonfuls 3 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheet.

BAKE 8 to 10 minutes for chewy cookies, or 11 to 13 minutes for crisp cookies. Cool 2 minutes on baking sheet on a cooling rack. Remove cookies to rack to cool completely.

I vaguely remember a Pampered Chef consultant telling me years ago to use parchment paper to help keep the cookie dough from spreading and running off the stone. So, I cut a circle the size of the stone. Then a spread 3/4 of the cookie dough I made to within about an inch of the edge of the stone. (The rest of the cookie dough I froze in cookie sized balls ready to bake if there is a cookie craving emergency.) I spread the dough probably about and inch thick. I then put it in the oven. Heated as directed in recipe. I baked it the amount of time bar cookies take which is 19-21 minutes. More on the 21 side than 19. As I watched it bake there were a few nail biting moments when I realized 1 1/2 inches from the edge might have been better. All was well though and it did not spread beyond the parchment paper. Magic secret? I don't know. I personally think that's just how far the dough would have gone.

Another satisfied customer. My son was very happy with his cookie. He had a few friends over and I was in the kitchen when one of his friends saw the cookie. The palms of his hands flew to the top of his head. He just stood there for a minute arms dangling from his head and finally said he'd never seen a cookie that big! Mission accomplished. My job was done.

Lynne's Note:  Use 1 1/2 times cookie dough recipe for just the right about of dough.  What looks great is to buy a regular sized bag of dark chocolate kisses.  Unwrap the Kisses and stir them into recipe instead of regular chocolate chips.  This makes the cookie really look giant when the "chocolate chips" are in scale to the size of the cookie.