Quadruple (Moist) Chocolate Cake Recipe

It all started with a cupcake.

Early last week, I made Chocolate cupcakes with Strawberry frosting for my good friend's graduation gift to her college friends (congratulations, KC!). I tried out a moist cupcake recipe, thinking that I never made any moist cake or cupcake despite the fact that it says so in the title of the recipe. I don't know - maybe there's something wrong with my execution or ingredients. But then, this turned to be dense and moist! The chocolate was so rich, that I think I could convert it into a cake and finally make a perfectly moist chocolate cake!

 
For the whole week, I was thinking about how I would make and design my cake. I was dreaming about it in class despite the fact that I was finishing a report and trying to listen attentively to a very perplexing discussion of a novel that week. I was thinking of making 3 layers, using chocolate ganache (which I rarely make) over chocolate buttercream, and topping it with curled chocolate. Oh, how time consuming that is! Yet, I'm looking forward to it.

I was thinking of doubling the recipe to make the cake high. But realizing that my supplies are not yet replenished, I ended up making one and a half batch of the recipe (same measurements written below). I might have made the wrong decision of using a 9" pan, because it yielded only 2 (tall) layers. But I wasn't disappointed with it because it still came out pretty tall.

I told you earlier that I was supposed to use chocolate curls. Turns out I'm too lazy to make those at that time! I scavenged through my refrigerator to look for an alternative, when I stumbled upon a container of two-tone peppermint chocolate bark which I made before. It was perfect! Someone had suggested to use chocolate bark and stick it on my cake like shattered glass. Hey, that idea made my cake look so much fancier! ;)

This cake made my week. My taste testers will usually comment on how grainy and sweet my frosting is and/or how my cake is not that moist, but this one gathered nothing but praises! The summary of their comments was "perfect" and "beautiful cake", and how much I have improved over a year of practice. This keeps me motivated <3

Ingredients
3 3/8 cups flour
3 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups cocoa
3 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tbsp vanilla
1 cup oil
3 tsp vinegar
1 1/2 cup coffee
1 1/2 cup hot water

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 175C degrees.
2. In a large bowl, sift together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Whisk together, then set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, mix together the vanilla, oil, vinegar, coffee, and hot water. 
4. Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients.
5. Pour batter to cake pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes.
6. Place in a wire rack to cool for around 10 minutes before leveling cake.   

Makes 2 (tall) layers of 9" cake, or 3 layers of 8" cake
Recipe adapted from iambaker.


Notes and Tips for success:
* This cake won't taste like coffee. It simply accentuates the (chocolate) flavor.
* Use 8" pan for taller layers.

A simple chocolate ganache complements this moist cake! No need to go the extra mile like I did if you have little time :)

I hope you'll get the same praises when you make this cake, too! ;)

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies Recipe

Weeks ago, my aunt gave me a bag of oats and forced asked me to bake something out of it. I immediately thought of making cookies, but I didn't settle easily on what recipe to try. It's like I was waiting for the perfect recipe to show up on my pin board. Then a few days ago, I recalled that I have a jar of peanut butter lying around the cupboard waiting to be used. I searched for a recipe where I can utilize both ingredients... and I'm glad I did!

They liked it SO MUCH because it's similar to the expensive cookies at coffee shops! Who would believe that there's only 7 ingredients in it? And if you'll scroll through my posts, you'll notice that I have a sweet tooth (I'm talking to you, KitKat Cake). This recipe is an exception. I honestly got surprised at first because it's just slightly less sweet than a normal cookie, yet there's only 6 tbsp of sugar in it! You would totally get fooled that there's a cup of sugar in it.

Look at that photo. At first, you wouldn't think there's oatmeal in it. Now look closer. Closer. Yes, zoom it in more. Would you believe that there's no flour in it? YES, it's a gluten-free cookie! Now I don't know about eating healthy (yet), but knowing that it's gluten-free yet tastes like a regular cookie makes the next bite guilt free.

Even the raw batter looks delicious! It looks like toffee candy, right? Don't be tempted to eat it raw, though. Keep in mind that it contains raw egg.

You know what seals the deal? It's a one bowl recipe!

Ingredients

1 pc. large egg

1 cup peanut butter* (room temperature) 

6 tbsp light brown sugar (packed)

2/3 cup oats (I used quick cooking oats)

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Instructions

1. In a medium bowl, beat the egg.
2. Fold in the peanut butter and brown sugar.
3. Add the oats, cinnamon, and baking soda. Still using a rubber spatula, mix slowly until everything is combined.
4. Fold in the chocolate chips.
5. Chill the cookie dough for 30 minutes.
6. Preheat oven to 175C degrees. Line a baking sheet with silicone mats or parchment paper (both yields the same results).
7. Scoop 1/2 - 3/4 tablespoon of dough, and drop into the baking sheet. You may opt to roll it a little bit before placing on the sheet, but keep in mind that the dough might be crumbly. If so, slightly squeeze it to avoid pieces from falling off.
8. Gently press down the balls using the back of a spoon to flatten it a little bit. 
9. Bake for 10 minutes. 
10. Allow the cookies to cool for 5 - 10 minutes on baking sheet before transferring to a cooling rack.

Makes approx. 30 cookies (depends on Step 7)

Recipe adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction.

Tips for success:
* I used chunky peanut butter. The peanuts actually lessens the (already slight) sweetness of the cookie and adds more flavor to it. If you don't like peanuts, use creamy peanut butter.
* Use room temperature peanut butter. You might find it hard to mix in the dry ingredients if it was refrigerated.
* Be gentle when flattening the cookie dough. It might just stick on the spoon if there's too much pressure.
* If the cookie dough is too oily (because of the type of PB you used), blot the flattened cookie dough with a paper towel before placing in the oven.
* Do not skip step 10! The cookies are still baking after removing it from the oven. Removing it immediately makes the cookie crumble.

Easter Cake | Yellow Cake Recipe

Living in a Catholic country, Holy Week is keenly observed. Palm Sunday, Visita Iglesia, Station of the Cross, lighting candles for parades (statues of saints parading in our town), and many more are practiced. The most joyful part, however, is the resurrection of Christ, which is celebrated through Easter.

The way I see it through the internet and foreign TV shows (such reliable sources, eh?), Easter Sunday is celebrated in other countries through Easter egg hunting and is represented by the Easter bunny. While there are some private subdivisions and malls who hold that activity, it's not that famous in my country. I didn't even know what the Easter bunny was until I was around 12! What my family does is to go to mass, then hold our annual family reunion.

Now that I know how to bake, our reunion is sweeter. Our celebration is just fine the way it is, but I get a lil' bit envy with all the pastel colors and treats in other countries on the same occasion. So here, I decided to make a simple yellow cake with lots of pastel colors in it.

Okay, the decorations on the top was supposed to be pastel colored, too. I had these star-shaped sprinkles (or jimmies, as others say it), but I spared it because I plan to use it on other things (needless to say that I felt like I made the wrong decision of sparing those because I could have just bought a new bag on my next cake/cupcake idea). Either way, I feel like it still turned out pretty because of all the lively colors! The yellow cake was a perfect neutralizer for all those colors. And admit it - we all need a basic cake recipe for those time when we want to concentrate on the cake's design. ;) The pastel polka dots is inspired by iambaker's obsession with polka dots. ;)

Ingredients
1/2 cup oil
4 egg yolks
3/4 cup water
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
4 egg whites
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 175C.
2. Mix together oil, egg yolks, water, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Set aside.
3. Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add slowly into wet ingredients, and beat until smooth batter forms.
4. In a small mixing bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar using an electric mixer. Beat until egg whites are stiff. (You can still achieve this even without a mixer; just be patient with beating the egg whites). Fold the stiff egg whites into the batter.  
5. Pour the cake batter into a cake pan. Bake for 30 minutes. Cool the cake layers before frosting. 

Makes 2 layers of 8" cake.

Recipe adapted from WikiHow.

To achieve the pastel polka-dots, I took two spoonfuls of plain buttercream, placed it on a separate bowl, and added 1 small drop of food coloring. Remember to add one drop at a time and to stir it before adding another drop because we are making pastel colored frosting here. If you made the mistake of adding too much color, add more plain buttercream to lighten it. The colors I chose were pink (but I used a red food coloring), blue, and green. Put it in separate piping bags (or make sure to clean it before adding a new colored frosting), and cut a very small hole on the tip to achieve small dots. To make the dots a little bit bigger, add a little bit more pressure on the bag.

Now that you have a recipe for a simple and easy yellow cake, start getting creative on your cake designs! ;)

Red Velvet Cake Recipe

I am not yet over with Valentines Red Velvet. And for some reason, my family and friends aren't over it, too!

Next to Chocolate or Devil's Food Cake, the most loved cake in the house is Red Velvet Cake. After lots of attempt in achieving a perfect red tint and moist red velvet cupcakes, I was hesitant at first to try a cake version. But I started to crave for Red Velvet cake whenever I look at it on bake shop displays! I know I could make one for myself, so I made an attempt.

And it was absolutely worth it.

To make red velvet cake, you don't simply put red food coloring on a white cake. No. There must be that slight chocolate aftertaste to it, there must be a slight sourness contradicting blending with the sweet ingredients, and the texture of the crumbs must reflect that of velvet. Hence, the name Red "Velvet". 

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 cup butter (softened)
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 pcs. eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup buttermilk
2 tbsp (one 20mL bottle) red food coloring
1 tsp vinegar
1 tsp baking soda

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 175C.
2. Sift together flour, salt, and cocoa
3. In a separate bowl, beat butter until creamy. Add the sugar and make sure to mix it until it is light and fluffy. Then, add eggs one at a time. Add vanilla.
4. In a small bowl, whisk buttermilk with red food coloring.
5. Alternately add flour and buttermilk mixture to butter mixture.
6. In a small cup, combine vinegar and baking soda. Allow to fizz before folding into batter.
7. Bake for 25-30 minutes. 

Makes 2 layers of 9" cake.

Recipe from Joy of Baking.

Although you can frost this cake with any type of frosting, I still recommend Cream Cheese frosting. It's not a complete red velvet cake without the cream cheese!

Devil's Food Cake | Boiled Icing Recipe

Back in early High School, my dad would regularly bring home a slice of Devil's Food Cake. We'll open that styro lunch pack and eat the slice together while sharing some random stories.  Sometimes when we go grocery shopping on Sundays, we'll pass through a kiosk selling cakes, and we'll buy a slice of - you guessed it - Devil's Food Cake. For some reason, he's in love with this cake. It came to the point where I asked "dad, why devil's food cake? Why not angel's food cake? The icing is white anyway"*.

With all these good memories with Devil's Food Cake, I decided it's the perfect cake for my dad's birthday. But not just any Devil's Food Cake - I want to recreate the one he used to buy (in terms of taste; not the entire design). As I searched for a recipe, I realized that not all Devil's Food Cake is composed of chocolate cake + white icing. Some use chocolate buttercream and make it a triple chocolate cake, while some transform it into a sophisticated cake by using chocolate ganache.

But for my dad's favorite version, it is paired with white boiled icing. It's actually a light bulb moment when I realized what that icing is! You see, back then, I had no idea with baking; so, I don't know the difference between buttercream, boiled, ganache, etc. All I knew was that it's icing!

The frosting in the cake he used to buy was very light and tasted like marshmallows - not creamy like a buttercream, or rich like a ganache. At first, I thought it might be marshmallow fluff or maybe even melted marshmallows, but it wasn't that sticky. I know I pledged in this blog that I want to share recipes that can be done without electric mixers, but I purposely borrowed one just to make this cake authentic. I don't have strong arms to constantly mix for 7 minutes!

Boiled Icing or 7-Minute Frosting
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/8 tsp salt
1/3 cup water
2 egg whites
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions:

1. Add together sugar, cream of tartar, salt, water, and egg whites in a metal bowl, or the top of a double boiler. Beat with a handheld electric mixer for 1 minute. 
2. Place bowl or pan over boiling water. Make sure that the boiling water does not touch the bottom of the top bowl or pan.
3. Beat constantly on high speed with electric mixer for 7 minutes. 
4. Beat in vanilla.

Frosts one 2-layers 9" cake, plus more for decorating.

Recipe adapted from Food Network.

The only problem I encountered with this frosting (or maybe the recipe) is that it hardens after a while, to the point that the frosting cracks when you pierce a candle on the cake or slice through it. Nevertheless, my dad was happy to taste this cake again after a long time!

*Oh, and just in case you're also wondering why it's called Devil's Food Cake, refer to the photo above. Notice how the chocolate cake has a red tint to it? ;)

KitKat Cake | How To

The perfect pair? It's salt and pepper. Chocolate and strawberry. Pancakes and syrup. Cookies and cream. Kitkat and M&Ms. You and me. Wait, whaaaaat? (Don't try that pick-up line, folks).

But seriously, though. This is an amazingly pretty cake. C'mon, just the sight of KitKat is a show-stopper; but add M&Ms to it? Stunning. The best part here is that it's easy to assemble! To make things easier, you can just use cake mix and store bought frosting because the point of this cake is how you design it. With imagination, you can add your personal touch to make the design yours - like replacing M&Ms with your favorite candy. Tootsie Rolls, perhaps? (Hello, Nikki!)

This cake is famous on the 'net, and I just want to share with you my (3rd) attempt! Unconventional to the ones circulating around the net (chocolate cake and chocolate buttercream), the inside is Red Velvet Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese frosting. It's for a 4th Birthday Party. The celebrant loved it so much, that I had to ask someone to literally restrain her from pulling KitKat and/or picking the candy in order to take a decent pic! With all those pretty colors going on, it's irresistible. And who can say no to KitKat, right?

It's as easy as 1-2-3! Here's how you can make yours, too :)

Instructions:
1. Prepare the cake. You could either make a cake from scratch, or use a boxed cake mixture. The flavor depends on your taste, but Chocolate cake is most commonly used. Be sure to prepare a frosting as well - again, either make it from scratch or buy a canned frosting. Just make sure it's creamy enough to make the KitKat stick on the cake. I've tried making a version with chocolate cake and chocolate buttercream, and another with red velvet cake and chocolate cream cheese. I prefer a chocolate frosting so it's the same color as KitKat.
2. Stick the KitKat on the cake. Start by breaking the KitKat into individual fingers. Sticking them on the cake in 2's or 4's will make you use more as it covers less surface area. If your frosting is not that creamy enough, pipe a little frosting on the back of the KitKat finger before sticking it on the cake. You may wrap a ribbon around the cake to make it stick better - or just for design!
3. Top with M&Ms or any other chocolate/candy. Some tops it with other types of chocolates like Kirkland or Ferrero. I like to decorate mine by just randomly pouring the candy on the cake; others like to be super organized and sort it by color in a circular design.

Keep in mind that you'll use a lot of KitKat and M&Ms. A lot. Seriously. That was my mistake for my first two attempts. If in case you ran out of KitKat but had no more time to run to the store, give space between the fingers so it can still cover the cake (even if it's sparse). If you're short on M&Ms and have no other candy substitute, pour the candy on the outer line and work your way in until where your candy can.

But hey, all those chocolate is worth it! I hope you'll give this a try!

Creamy Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

Recently, I've been into the Red Velvet hype as explained in one of my previous post. What draws me to that recent addiction is the frosting - the cream cheese frosting.

And since February is the month of love, I'd like to dedicate this post to Valentines. Now when you say Valentines, I immediately think of Red Velvet - basically anything that is red velvet flavored. Yes, that's the first thing that comes to my mind; not cupid, fancy dinner, heart decorations or any of those mainstream stuff. Don't judge me.

This is not complete without the Cream Cheese frosting. So to start off my dedication to Red Velvet desserts, I'm sharing with you this frosting that compliments every red velvet dessert! It's creamy, not too sweet, and fancy - seriously. I feel like adding cream cheese means I've put more effort on it, making it fancier. And it goes well not just with red velvet, but also with other flavors! I like to pair it with chocolate as well. My sister-in-law pairs it with carrot cakes.

Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients:
1/2 cup Butter
1 cup (8oz) Cream Cheese
4 cups Powdered Sugar (sifted)
1 tsp Vanilla extract

Instructions:

1. Cream together butter and cream cheese. Add vanilla extract. Add in powdered sugar, one cup at a time. Add more if you want it to be more stiff, but be sure to taste it first since it might get too sweet. Lessen the sugar if you want it to be creamier. 

Recipe adapted from wikihow.

Now this frosting is creamy, which means it doesn't hold a shape as good as a fluffy Buttercream. I've piped the roses in the picture above using Cream Cheese frosting, but it won't last looking like that. This frosting could still be used to pipe frosting into cupcakes, but I prefer using a simple round tip as seen in my Red Velvet Cupcake recipe post. Other tips that puts design on the piped frosting just makes me disappointed with the frosting because it doesn't hold the detail as good as buttercream does. Although, it's perfect for coating a cake.

Here are some uses for the cream cheese frosting:

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Red Velvet Cake

Red Velvet Crinkle Sandwich

Rose Cookie Sandwich