Peanut Butter Cake with Chocolate Butter Cream Frosting < Sunday's With Joy>

Our grandson was born last night. Our sixth grandchild, Baby Ray.  The sun is bursting from behind the clouds and I am thinking of you Baby Ray! Since we are miles away from our family and were not able to be at his birth, I baked him a BIRTH CAKE. Happy Birthday Baby Ray. We are so excited to meet you and hold you and kiss you, sweet baby boy.

This week, our group Sunday's With Joy, is baking up a Peanut Butter Cake. I have never baked a Peanut Butter Cake and I have been missing out! Peanut Butter is such a wonderful ingredient to bake with, it is dense and flavorful. I decided to make a Chocolate Butter Cream Frosting to go with the Peanut Butter Cake, kind of like a peanut butter cup, but even better!

What a great choice, the peanut butter and the chocolate combination are just delicious. Not an overwhelming flavor, very subtle. A perfect birthday cake to celebrate the birth of Baby Ray!

If you would like the recipe, click HERE

SWEET POTATO CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE < Sunday's With Joy >

 I have been baking sweet potato pies. We had a lovely Pie Festival here in our little town in Maine. I won the MOST BEAUTIFUL PIE CONTEST with my Raspberry Peach Pie Crumble last year and I was asked to donate a pie for the auction this year. My pie was sold at auction for $35.00, can you believe it?? I was shocked! I hope the buyer really enjoys their sweet potato pie a LOT!! Since I keep using up the sweet potatoes for baking and cooking, I am a bit behind in posting JOY THE BAKER'S Sweet Potato Chocolate Chip Cookie post. This is a delicious cookie, I think it is more like a muffin cookie, a flatter muffin. I really like the combination of chocolate and sweet potato for a cookie, it's really quite brilliant. If you would like the RECIPE, CLICK HERE.

Best Chocolate Sheet Cake

It's Judy's Surprise Birthday and I have been wanting to make this incredible cake ever since I saw it on The Pioneer Woman Cook's Blog. She says it's The Best Sheet Cake Ever, and I trust her. Everything that I have made from her blog has been delicious and my kids have asked me to make it all the time! Well she was right! Friends were going back for second and third pieces! I wanted to make a delicious cake for Judy and her friends, since I didn't know how many people were going to be there to surprise the HECK out of her, I thought that a sheet cake would be perfect! I read every single one of the comments on TPWC Blog, which is saying a lot ( she usually gets around 800 comments or MORE per post) and so many people commented that this cake was really difficult to mess up. I thought of this the whole time that I was talking to my best friend while trying to make the cake and frosting. Do you ever do that? Leave out an ingredient while you are having a serious conversation on the phone? I have, sugar , while making pies, not good at all!I didn't leave out any ingredients for this cake, but my mind was really concentrating on two things at one time. I recommend this if you are feeling lazy and need to be challenged! Talking and Baking!

This sheet cake is wonderful warm after just being freshly frosted or perfect the day after for breakfast, or as a late snack, or before lunch, or after a hike! My kids are asking me to make another sheet cake since this one was whisked away for the party, okay kids, for your birthday! Make sure to decorate the cake if you like, I am in no way a skilled baker-ess, I drew out JUDY and a Heart, but it was still hard to tell what that exactly was...

As we were all hiding waiting for Judy and Tom to come back from their date night, Judy's Mother called Judy from the back room asking her if she could show her something on the computer, the lights were off, we were quiet as mice, we all jumped out and yelled SURPRISE!! Thank goodness, Judy is young and has a very strong heart, I would have collapsed, don't yell at me and come jumping out at me from a dark room, years will come off my life! You are an amazing sport Young Judy!!

Judy still trying to recover, you did a great job Tom keeping it a secret!

Ingredients

FOR THE CAKE:
2 cups Flour
2 cups Sugar
1/4 teaspoon Salt
4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa Powder2 sticks Butter
1 cup Boiling Water
1/2 cup Buttermilk
2 whole Beaten Eggs
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Vanilla

FOR FROSTING:
1/2 cup Finely Chopped Pecans
1-3/4 stick Butter
4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa
6 Tablespoons Milk
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 pound (minus 1/2 Cup) Powdered Sugar

Preparation Instructions

Note: I use an 18x13 sheet cake pan.
In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt.
In a saucepan, melt butter. Add cocoa. Stir together.
Add boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Pour over flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool.
In a measuring cup, pour the buttermilk and add beaten eggs, baking soda, and vanilla. Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. Pour into sheet cake pan and bake at 350-degrees for 20 minutes.
While cake is baking, make the icing. Chop pecans finely. Melt butter in a saucepan. Add cocoa, stir to combine, then turn off heat. Add the milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Stir together. Add the pecans, stir together, and pour over warm cake. Enjoy! Take this sheet cake to your next party, you will make lots of friends! Nettie This post has been linked up to these fabulous blogs!

Pumpkin Chocolate Cake

I really love pumpkin and since it has been rainy and colder, I have been feeling like baking something with pumpkin, what could be better than a pumpkin chocolate cake? This cake is moist and filled with chocolate, not overbearingly sweet. This cake received rave reviews from four different friends, all saying it was one of the most delicious cakes and that they didn't want to share! Perfect review I think! I baked this cake in a Rose Bundt pan to show off the pumpkin, chocolate and pecans in a beautiful design. I think it is a show stopper.

This cake is very moist and rich, I used Ghiradelli Double Chocolate Bittersweet Chocolate Chips for this recipe.

Here is what you need: butter, brown sugar, white sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder, baking soda, baking chocolate ( I used both Ghiradelli chips and Ghiradelli baking chocolate), vanilla, pumpkin, pecans, cinnamon ( not shown).

Beat butter, add sugars. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each.

Mix dry ingredients. Add to mixed butter, sugar and eggs, then add pumpkin.

Add pumpkin to batter.

 

Grease Bundt pan well.

After dividing the batter in half, add melted chocolate. Mix well.

Sprinkle chopped pecans to the bottom of the greased bundt pan.

To the other half of the batter add chocolate chips, mix well.

Pour pumpkin batter with chips on the bottom layer, sprinkle a layer of pecans, top with chocolate batter, sprinkle pecans to the top. Bake 60-70 minutes, test with a knife that it comes out clean. This cake took about 10 minutes longer to bake, the knife did have melted chocolates on the knife, so it doesn't come out perfectly clean. Let cool for 15-20 minutes, my cake stuck in one spot, I eased it out and put it together where it had come apart, it still looked beautiful.

Pumpkin Chocolate Cake

 Ingredients

• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1-1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 can (15 ounces) solid-pack pumpkin
• 1 cup (6 ounces) Bitterwseet chocolate chips
• 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
• 3/4 cup finely chopped pecans, divided

Directions

• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon; add to the creamed mixture alternately with pumpkin, beating well after each addition. 
• Divide batter in half. Stir melted chocolate into one portion. In a well-greased 10-in. fluted tube pan, sprinkle 1/2 cup pecans. Spoon chocolate batter over pecans; top with pumpkin batter. Sprinkle with remaining pecans.
• Bake at 325° for 65-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 15 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack. This recipe was inspired from Taste Of Home.This post has been linked up to these fabulous blogs!
  
  
  
  

{ Off to College} Chocolate Oats Cookies

Going off to college is so exciting and wonderful! But going off to college can be scary and entering the unknown. Our good friend is going off to college so I baked her a batch of these delicious Chocolate Oats cookies to help her with the transition, I know it would help me! I used my Kitchen Aid to make these cookies, love my Kitchen Aid, it makes baking so easy.

{ Off to College } Chocolate Oats Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups quick-cooking oats
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 cup Ghiradelli's Double Chocolate Bittersweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until just blended. Mix in the quick oats, walnuts, and chocolate chips. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets.( I use Silpat's on top of my baking sheets)
3. Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
4. Makes 3 dozen cookies. This post has been linked up to these fabulous blogs!

Groovy Caramel Bars

It's Anna's baby shower and these are her sister's favorite bars. The gold medal goes to these Groovy Caramel Squares. Since Anna is a Gold Medalist these are perfect for her baby shower! This recipe comes from Jemma's recipe box, it's an Irish favorite. I think it will be yours as well. 3 steps for a flaky shortbread crust, a gooey caramel filling and a perfect chocolate glaze.

Combine flour and sugar in a bowl.

Cut in butter until crumbly.

 

Grease baking dish.

Press mixture into bottom of pan and bake.

Melt butter in a saucepan.

Add sweetened condensed milk .

Add packed light brown sugar.

Crust is golden brown.

Add honey to filling mixture.

Boil and stir for 5 minutes.

Pour caramel filling over warm crust.

 

Melt chocolate chips in microwave.

Groovy Caramel Bars

 

 Ingredients

Shortbread Crust

1 1/4 cup All Purpose Flour
1/4 cup sugar
10 tablespoons cold butter


Filling

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
2 tablespoons honey


Glaze

2 cups bittersweet chocolate
1 tablespoon shortening


Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Shortbread Crust

In a bowl, combine flour and sugar. Cut in butter until crumbly. Press into a 9" square baking dish. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown.

Caramel Filling

Combine the filling ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil and stir for 5 minutes. Pour over warm crust.

Glaze

In the microwave, melt chocolate chips and shortening for 1-1 1/2 minutes, or until melted, stir after 30 seconds. Spread over filling. Cool on a wire rack. Cut into squares. This recipe is adapted from Jemma's recipe book. This post has been linked up to these fabulous blogs! Nettie

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