Candy Cane Peppermint Chocolate Cake

Happy Holidays everyone! Hope every is having a good winter break, or at least a good couple weeks of winter holidays. It’s a little colder here in the bay than in LA, which is surprisingly a welcome break from the monotony of the warm SoCal weather. Don’t get me wrong, I love being able to wear shorts year round, but it is a little nice to break out those cozy winter sweaters that have been crammed into my bottom drawer all year. Although I’m sure in a week I’ll be ready to go back to sunny SoCal, but I’ll enjoy the chilliness while I’m here.

Anyway, I was in charge of making Christmas dinner this year, which was quite fun. I made sweet potato gnocchi, cheddar cheese bread, and a dish with brussels sprouts, butternut squash, and caramelized onions with goat cheese that one of my roommates made for Thanksgiving. It was delicious, so I tried to replicate it for this dinner, and it turned out pretty well. However, what’s a Christmas dinner without dessert? Not much of one, obviously. My family loves chocolate, and winter holidays scream mint chocolate to me, so I decided to make this candy cane cake from Eat Live Run, with a few small modifications.

The result was a dense, fudgey cake, which a luscious chocolate ganache coating with crisp peppermint shards for garnish, and a lovely mint flavor throughout the cake and the ganache. I even made this in the toaster oven, to minimize energy usage, so that was a nice bonus, since it’s made in a loaf pan. I will say this was not the most moist cake I’ve ever made, but it was pretty delicious, and I love anything with chocolate mint, so I was pretty jazzed about it. It’s also possible I baked it a few minutes too long, which is why it was a little more dried out than I would like. Anyway, you can try it for yourself, here’s the recipe!

Candy Cane Peppermint Chocolate Cake

adapted from Eat Live Run

Cake

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

2 tsp peppermint extract

1 cup reduced-fat buttermilk

Ganache

1 cup bittersweet chocolate (or chocolate chips, but non-chip form will give you a smoother ganache)

1/3 cup heavy whipping cream

1 tsp peppermint extract

2 candy canes, crushed

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325˚F and grease and flour a 9×5 loaf pan.

Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

In a larger bowl, cream together the butter and sugars until smooth. Beat in the egg and peppermint extract until light and fluffy. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet alternately with the buttermilk and mix with a spatula until just combined. Do not overmix!

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 50-55 minutes, turning halfway through. Once a toothpick inserted comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs, remove from oven and allow to cool in pan for 15-20 minutes. Loosen with a spatula then invert the cake out of the pan and place it on a plate or rack to cool completely, an hour or so.

Once the cake is cooled, prepare the ganache by bringing the cream to a simmer over low heat. Remove from heat and immediately add the chocolate, then stir until smooth. Add the peppermint extract and stir until well combined. Pour the ganache over the cake and spread into a smooth layer over the top and sides.

Crush the candy canes in a plastic bag with a meat mallet or with a rolling pin, then sprinkle over the cake. Allow to cool, so the ganache hardens into a thicker consistency. Slice and enjoy!

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I love peppermint chocolate!

Chocolate Avocado Banana Bread

What do you do when you have an overripe avocado and browning bananas? Well, normal people would probably just eat them, but my first thought is to use them for a bread! This recipe popped up on my Facebook news feed the other day and I just knew I had to make it. One plus about this bread, it doesn’t require eggs or butter! Since those aren’t generally things I buy at the grocery store unless I’m planning on going on a baking spree, this recipe is perfect for those days when you just need chocolate. And happen to have some overripe fruits on the counter.

I made a couple adaptations, using Dutch-processed cocoa instead of natural, and had to bake it a little longer than expected, but this bread turned out quite well! Especially since I made it on a whim. The banana adds sweetness, and the avocado gives the bread a dense, but tender, crumb. The banana and avocado also add moistness to this bread, which is often lacking in chocolate bread, so this recipe was a pleasant surprise. Here’s the recipe!

Chocolate Avocado Banana Bread

adapted from Food Pleasure Health

Makes one 9×5 loaf

Ingredients

1 tbsp flax meal + 2 tbsp warm water (1 flax egg)

2 ripe medium bananas

1 large or 2 medium ripe avocados

1 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp lemon juice

2 cups whole wheat flour

1/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350˚F and grease a 9×5 loaf pan.

In a small dish, mix together the flax and water and allow to sit until it reaches a gel-like consistency.

In a medium bowl, mash together the banana and avocado until smooth. Beat in the sugar and smooth. Add the flax egg, oil, and lemon juice and beat until well combined.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and fold together until just combined. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool for ten minutes or so, then flip the loaf out of the pan and allow to cool completely. Cut into slices and serve. Enjoy!

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Check out that dense, moist, chocolatey bread!

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

Happy tenth week! School is coming to an end here at UCLA, which means finals are coming up soon! So obviously, I should spend less time studying and more time blogging!

The end of the year is actually pretty bittersweet this year. It’ll soon be summer, which means freedom from school, but it also means that lots of my best friends are graduating and moving on to the next stage of their lives. My roommate is graduating next week, and several of my best friends on the team are graduating as well. Another close friend is leaving Westwood for the summer, and will be off to grad school at Stanford in the fall, so we had a surprise going away cookie party for her. For the occasion, I developed this cookie recipe, adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod. I recently bought a huge container of Dutch-processed cocoa, so I wanted to use it in something, and these cookies looked great! I adapted them a little, adding a little extra flour and using less milk so I didn’t have to chill them, and just making them chocolate rather than chocolate mint, since I didn’t have mint chips. These cookies were deliciously chocolate-y and fudgey, and while not quite as chewy or brownie-like as some of my other chocolate cookies, they’re still worth a blog post!

A note on the use of Dutch-processed cocoa: It isn’t interchangeable with natural cocoa powder. Dutch-processed cocoa is processed with alkali, so the acidity is removed. Typically, recipes using Dutch-processed cocoa powder use baking powder as the leavener, and have a smoother taste. Recipes with natural cocoa use baking soda as a leavener, and have a sharper taste. I’ve made recipes with both kinds of cocoa, so there’s a place for both. Dutch-processed cocoa is a little harder to come by, but can be found at stores like Whole Foods or can be ordered from Amazon or various other websites. It’s more expensive, but some recipes require it, so it’s worth acquiring some!

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod

Makes 4 dozen small cookies

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2/3 cup Dutch processed cocoa powder

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

1/4 cup milk (I used fat-free)

2 cups chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350˚F.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder.

In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugars. Beat in the eggs and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, then stir in the milk until well combined. Add the chocolate chips and stir until evenly distributed.

Drop small balls (about 2 tsp) of dough on baking sheets, then bake for 8-9 minutes, until just set. Remove from oven and allow to cool for a couple minutes, then remove from baking sheets and place on racks to cool completely. Enjoy!

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Mmmmm, chocolate!

Look at those melty chocolate chips!

Peppermint Chocolate Cake (Eggless) with Peppermint Icing

Who needs to study when you can eat instead? That pretty much sums up my weekend so far. Clearly I’m feeling very productive right now.

In other news, my last roommate turned 21 on Tuesday! To celebrate, I made this cake! I modified this recipe from Instructables, which happened to be vegan. Since I don’t keep eggs on hand, this seemed like the perfect recipe to whip up on short notice. I also had about half a gallon of milk that was going to expire later in the week, so I swapped out the water for milk. If you want to keep this cake vegan, then just use the water called for in the original recipe. I’m not sure how much of a difference it makes, I drink fat-free milk, so it may have made the cake slightly richer, but probably didn’t make a huge difference.

The original cake is just plain chocolate, but I love chocolate mint, and I wanted to add a little extra something to it, so I added some peppermint extract into the batter and made a refreshing peppermint icing to top the cake with. It turned out wonderfully, with a hint of mint in every bite! I’m not a huge cake person, since cakes tend to be dry and not dense enough for my taste, but recently, I’ve had pretty good luck with finding great cake recipes that I actually enjoy! This cake is dense, moist, and quite chocolate-y, and it was enjoyed by my roommates and I and several of our teammates who dropped by to celebrate (and eat cake). This is a cake that I will definitely make again in the future, with perhaps some other flavor variations. It was so easy to make, and the whole process of making it, baking it, letting it cool, and icing it, probably took just a little over an hour, so as far as cakes go, this one is super quick and easy! Here’s the recipe!

Peppermint Chocolate Cake with Peppermint Icing

adapted from Instructables

Makes 1 8×8 cake

Ingredients

Cake

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp peppermint extract

1 cup warm milk (I used fat-free, warmed in the microwave for about 50 seconds)

1 tsp distilled white vinegar

1/3 cup vegetable oil

Icing

2-2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

3-4 tbsp milk, as needed for consistency

1 tsp peppermint extract

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350˚F and line an 8×8 pan with foil. Grease the foil.

Sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, heat the milk for 40-50 seconds in the microwave, then stir in the oil, vinegar, vanilla, and peppermint extract. Beat the wet ingredients into the dry until well combined. Pour into the prepared pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Don’t overbake! The cake will be set but the top may look slightly underdone. As long as the toothpick comes out clean, it’s ready. Allow to cool for 20-30 minutes.

To prepare the icing. Stir together 2 cups powdered sugar, 3 tablespoons of milk, and the peppermint extract. If it is too thick, add more milk. If it is too thin, add more powdered sugar. Spread on top of the cake. Serve the cake room temperature or chilled. Enjoy!

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Not gonna lie, I was extremely proud (and a little surprised) at how well I flipped this cake out of the pan

Spread on that peppermint icing!

Sorry for the not-great pictures, but you can kind of see how wonderfully dense the interior is here!

Fudge Mountain Cake

Chocolate!!!!! I love chocolate. So does my family. So does Shelby’s family. Shelby also loves cake, and I generally do not, so she was quite excited when I agreed to make this cake recipe. This is actually a layered flourless chocolate cake, so it’s extremely dense and rich, not your typical fluffy layer cake. As such, it is extremely delicious. One small slice of this will definitely give you your chocolate dose of the day. For the recipe, head on over to Yammie’s Noshery!

We did make a couple adjustments to the recipe. We used 3 9-inch cake pans, and baked them for 20 minutes. For the ganache, we used about a cup of heavy cream, and Shelby had the brilliant idea to add some chocolate chips around the edge for garnish. Take a look at how pretty it is!

 

 

Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

It’s finals week. Ugh. Which means it’s prime time for eating chocolate! Before I go on complete lockdown for finals studying, I’m going to leave you with this recipe. Last weekend was my birthday (guess who’s 21 now!), as well as the LA Marathon, which my amazing roommate ran! Obviously, we had to celebrate, so I made a cake! It was so deliciously chocolate-y and moist, I’m wishing I had a piece right now to get me through finals studying.

I’m generally not a fan of cake, since it’s usually too dry for my taste. I prefer denser, fudgier desserts, like bars or brownies. However, this cake got a lot of good reviews, so I decided to give it a try. While I think I still would prefer a brownie, this was was delicious! It was quite moist, with a sweet chocolate flavor. Although there is coffee in the recipe, it only serves to deepen the chocolate flavor, the cake doesn’t actually taste like coffee. I think I’ll try other cake recipes in the future, just to find one that’s a little more dense and moist, but this was still delicious enough to post! I adapted it a little from this recipe over at Add a Pinch, and made some adjustments to the recommended buttercream recipe that went with it. Hope you enjoy this cake! Good luck studying for finals to everyone on the quarter system!

Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

adapted from Add a Pinch

Makes one 2-tier, 9 inch cake

Ingredients

Cake

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups granulated sugar

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 cup skim milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup hot brewed coffee (I used one packet instant coffee dissolved in 1 cup boiling water)

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

4-4 1/2 cups powdered sugar, to desired sweetness

2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4-1/3 cup milk, to desired consistency

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350˚F and grease 2 9-inch cake pans.

Sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until well combined. Carefully pour the hot coffee into the batter and beat vigorously for a minute or so, to incorporate air into the batter. Divide the batter evenly between the two pans and bake for 35-40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes our clean. Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes, then flip out of the pans to cool completely. Meanwhile, make the frosting.

To make the frosting, cream together the butter, powdered sugar, and cocoa powder. Gradually add in the milk until the desired consistency is reached. You may add more powdered sugar if you want it sweeter.

To assemble the cake, spread about 1/3 of the frosting on top of one cake layer, then place the other on top of it. Spread the rest of the frosting evenly across the top and around the sides of the cake. Step back and appreciate your handiwork. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Enjoy!

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The finished product

Secret Ingredient Chocolate Pudding

 

 

Everyone needs some chocolate once in a while. This delicious pudding only requires three ingredients, and it’s a great remedy for chocolate cravings! With my wonderful Cuisinart food processor, this pudding came together in less than five minutes, and you would never know it contains a secret ingredient: avocado!

My friend brought back a bucket giant avocados from home, and they all ripened at the same time earlier this week, so we were looking for things to do with avocados. This fit the bill! The avocado provides the pudding its smooth, creamy texture, and the use of powdered sugar instead of granulated prevents it from being grainy. You can adjust the amount of powdered sugar you use based on how intense you want your chocolate flavor. If you don’t tell people there’s avocado in this, they’ll never know the difference! My roommates all said they could only tell because they knew about the avocado. I made it and I couldn’t tell, so I’m quite pleased with this recipe. Here’s a slightly healthier way to get your chocolate fix for the day!

Chocolate Avocado Pudding

adapted from Babble

Ingredients

2 large avocados

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2-1 cup powdered sugar, depending on how sweet you like your pudding

Directions

Place all ingredients, starting with just 1/2 cup of powdered sugar, in a food processor. Process until smooth. Add more powdered sugar to taste. Chill for at least half an hour. Enjoy!

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Smooth, creamy chocolate goodness!

Grab a spoon and dig in!

Mississippi Mud Pie

Happy New Year! To kick off the new year, I’m sharing a challenge recipe with you that Shelby and I made last week. This recipe has three different layers of chocolate. Great start. Be warned though, this is not easy. It takes a long time to make, and is quite complicated. But it tastes so good, it’s worth the effort! Especially for chocolate lovers.

Shelby and I made four things the night we made this pie, and as a result we ran a little short on ingredients… whoops. So we ended up halving the flourless chocolate cake layer, and after making the entire cake, we had half the pudding leftover. So, the recipe I am sharing with you today is the recipe we made with my suggestions. If you would like to make the original, head on over to Cooking Classy. We decreased the Oreo crust, since the amount of Oreos required seemed excessive. We also had no whipping cream, and neither of us like whipped cream, so we cut out that layer entirely, making this cake three layers of pure, unadulterated chocolate heaven.

Mississippi Mud Pie

adapted from Cooking Classy

Ingredients

Crust

24 Oreo cookies

3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Flourless Chocolate Cake

3 oz  (1/2 cup) bittersweet chocolate chips or chopped chocolate

2 tbsp unsalted butter

2 tbsp water

1.5 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

Chocolate Pudding

6 tbsp granulated sugar

3 large eggs, room temperature, separated

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

4 tbsp cornstarch

1/4 tsp salt

2 egg yolks

1 1/4 cups milk (I used fat-free)

2 tbsp unsalted butter

1/4 cup bittersweet chocolate chips or chopped chocolate

1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

For the crust, preheat the oven to 300˚F and grease a 9-inch springform pan. For the crust, crush the Oreo cookies into fine crumbs and combine with melted butter. Press the mixture into the bottom and sides of the springform pan and press into an even layer along the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Chill in the freezer for 10 minutes, then bake for 10 minutes. Remove and allow to cool.

For the flourless chocolate cake, increase the oven temperature to 350˚F. Melt the chocolate chips and butter in the microwave at 50% power in 30 second intervals until melted and smooth. In a separate bowl, whisk together water, cocoa powder, salt, and and vanilla. In an electric mixer with a whisk attachment (I used my new KitchenAid!!!), whip the yolks with the brown sugar until pale and fluffy. At water mixture and blend until combined. In a clean mixer bowl (it has to be clean or the egg whites won’t whip!) whip the egg whites until foamy, then increase the speed while slowly adding in the granulated sugar until soft peaks form. Fold the egg white mixture into the yolk/chocolate mixture until just combined. Pour mixture into the cooled crust and bake for 25-30 minutes, until the cake is just set. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

For the pudding, in a medium saucepan, whisk together granulated sugar, cocoa powder, cornstarch, and salt. Stir in egg yolks and mix until combined. Whisk in the milk, and bring the whole mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Allow to boil for 30 seconds, then remove from heat and pour into bowl. Add the butter, chocolate chips, and vanilla and stir until combined. Allow to cool at room temperature for a bit, then cover with plastic wrap pressing on the top to prevent a skin from forming, and refrigerate for a couple hours or overnight.

To assemble the pie, spread the pudding evenly over the top of the cake. Chill the finished product in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, the longer the better, until the pudding is set. Cut into slices and enjoy!

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Note: We were impatient and cut the cake before it was finished chilling, which is why the pudding went all over the place, so sorry about the pictures, but it tasted amazing!

Here’s the cake layer!

Complete with pudding layer!

Ahhh delicious chocolate 🙂

Brownie Cookies

Yay chocolate! I recently discovered that Trader Joe’s sells chocolate for about $5 a pound. How could I resist? With half that chocolate bar, I made those lovely Chocolate Peppermint Crackle Cookies, and with the other half, I made these Better than Brownies Cookies from Oh Sweet Basil. I only had half the pound left, so I made a half batch. I also used semi-sweet chocolate chips instead of milk chocolate, since milk chocolate is too creamy for these. While I wouldn’t say these are better than brownies, these cookies are certainly comparable. I love the crackly top on these, and the moist, fudgy insides. Here’s the recipe, halved from the recipe on Oh Sweet Basil.

Brownie Cookies

from Oh Sweet Basil

Makes about 3 dozen cookies

Ingredients

8 oz dark chocolate, chopped

2 tbsp unsalted butter

2 eggs

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350˚F.

Melt the chocolate and butter in a saucepan over low heat until the mixture is smooth and glossy. Set aside to cool.

While the chocolate is cooling, sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Beat together the eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Add the chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and beat to combine. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir until just combined. Once the dry and wet ingredients are mixed together, gently stir in the chocolate chips until evenly distributed. Drop 2 teaspoon-sized balls of dough on ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the cookies are crackly and just set. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes before removing to cool completely. Enjoy!

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Brownie Pie

At last, a non-pumpkin recipe! Don’t worry, I have a couple more left, but I thought a break from orange-hued desserts would be welcome. Bring on the chocolate!

This brownie pie is decadent and extremely chocolate-y. It has a brownie taste with a texture more like a flourless chocolate cake. Add in an Oreo crust and your chocolate overload is complete. Except that there is no such thing as a chocolate overload, because you can never have enough chocolate! That’s my professional opinion, at least. Shelby and I had some leftover Oreos from our Half-Baked Crumbly Bars, so we replaced the graham cracker crust in this pie with an Oreo crust. Graham cracker crust would be delicious as well, I’m sure, but the Oreo crust just gives that extra kick of chocolate. The interior of this brownie pie is gooey and fudgy, and completely delicious. This is a rich dessert, so you only need a small slice to get your dose of chocolate for the day.

Brownie Pie

adapted from The Devil’s Food Advocate

Ingredients

Filling

3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

6 tbsp unsalted butter

2 eggs

3/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

3 tbsp cocoa powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup heavy cream

Crust

About 16 Oreos, a few less or more is fine

4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350˚F and grease a 9 inch pie pan.

To make the crust, run the Oreos through a food processor until they they are finely crushed into a coarse powder. Mix in the melted butter and press firmly into the pie pan.

To make the filling, melt together the chocolate and butter together and stir until glossy and smooth. Beat the eggs and sugar in an electric mixer on high for a few minutes, until fluffy and pale yellow. Pour the chocolate mixture into the eggs and beat on low for a bit, then increase speed to medium and beat until it is completely combined. Add the flour, cocoa powder, and salt and mix on low for about a minute, until no clumps of dry ingredients remain. Slowly stream in the heavy cream on low speed until all the cream is incorporated. Pour the filling into the prepared crust. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the center is just set and the sides a puffy and have formed a crust. Remove from oven and cool for at least half an hour before cutting. Enjoy!

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Shared on Thursday’s Treasures at Food Done Light

I love Oreo crusts!

Brownie pie, minus one lovely, gooey slice!

Ahh, look at the chocolate just oozing out of that piece!