Almond Joy Cake with Coconut Ice Cream

I feel that everyone has their place in their family- and my place is firmly plopped in front of the stove.  Before I came along, homemade cakes simply didn't exist at my in-laws.  Birthdays were celebrated with a grocery store sheet cake and store bought ice cream.  I'm not sure when it began, but early in my relationship with my husband, I showed up to a birthday with a homemade cake.  Because that's what I do.  Cake is wonderful and every opportunity to make one should be capitalized on.  Not making a birthday cake would be like letting summer go by without a barbecue- or Christmas wrap up without getting sloshed on eggnog.  Sure- it's still technically Christmas- but you just threw away an opportunity that you will never get back.

Birthday means cake.  Cake is not purchased from a grocery store.  It's just not.

And when my father in laws 50th rolled around, I knew I had to do something special.  I have been on a streak of candy bar themed caked for this side of the family for awhile, so I decided to continue the trend with an Almond Joy cake.  Layers of Almond Joy filling and chocolate cake, topped with the richest fudge frosting you'll ever taste.  Serve with a side of coconut ice cream and almond slivers, and you are good to go.

The extra-specialness of this cake comes to fruition in the topper.  I got my fondant molding skills on and make a fishy cake topper.  It's not perfect- but it was definitely fun to make and a crowd pleaser.  I used Duff's fondant to make it, which I strongly recommend.  

Here we go! 

Almond Joy Cake

Chocolate Cake
Recipe adapted from:http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/too-much-chocolate-cake/Detail.aspx

Ingredients

1 (18.25 ounce) package devil's food cake mix

1 (5.9 ounce) package instant devils food (or chocolate of any kind) pudding mix

1 (8 oz) container of sour cream (full fat, I use Daisy brand)

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

1/2 cup warm water

2 tsp pure vanilla

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees 

Mix all of the ingredients together in a large bowl, or your trusty stand mixer.

Pour batter into two round cake pans.

Bake as directed on your box mix.

Coconut Filling
Recipe adapted from: http://candy.about.com/od/nutcandy/r/almond_delights.htm

Ingredients

10 ounces sweetened condensed milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt

2 cups powdered sugar

14 ounces shredded sweetened coconut

Directions 

Combine ingredients in large bowl, set aside. 

Fudge Frosting
Recipe from: http://www.bhg.com/recipe/chocolate-cakes/chocolate-sour-cream-cake-with-fudgy-frosting/

Ingredients

1 (12 ounce) package semisweet chocolate pieces (I used Ghirardelli)

1 stick butter

1 8 ounce carton sour cream (full fat, I used Daisy)

1 lb sifted powdered sugar

Directions

Pour chocolate chips into a large glass mixing bowl (your glass stand mixer bowl if you have it.)  Cut butter into small pieces and add to the chocolate chips.  Microwave in 20 sec intervals until chocolate and butter are completely melted.  Let cool for 10 minutes.

Stir in sour cream and mix until combined.  Stir in powdered sugar and mix until combined.  Frost cake immediately.

Cake Assembly

Bake your two round cakes and let them cool.  (If you are doing this in advance, package cakes in saran wrap and foil and freeze until you are ready.  If working from frozen, defrost cakes so you can cut into them.)

Prepare your coconut filling.

Split both layers evenly.  Lay down your bottom cake layer and top with 1/3 of your coconut mixture.  you may have to use your hands to flatten out sections of the filling and piece them together to cover the cake.  Repeat this until you have three layers of coconut filling alternating between your four layers of work.

Place the cake in a cool location while you prepare your frosting.  Immediately frost and keep cake covered until ready to serve.  Serve with a scoop of coconut ice cream and top with almond pieces.

Coconut Ice Cream 

Recipe adapted from: http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Jenis-Ice-Cream-Base

Ingredients

1 cup whole milk, divided

4 tsp. cornstarch

3 tbsp. cream cheese, softened (full fat, I use Philadelphia) 

1.5 tsp coconut extract 

1 cup coconut milk

1 1/4 cups heavy cream

2/3 cup sugar

2 tbsp. light corn syrup (1.5 ounces if weighing)

1/4 tsp. kosher salt

Directions

Mix 1/4 cup of milk with 4 tsp of cornstarch into a slurry in a small bowl, set aside.

Place softened cream cheese in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.   Blend with coconut extract and set aside.

In a 4 quart saucepan, add the remainder of your milk, coconut milk, cream, sugar, corn syrup and salt.  Bring to a boil over medium high heat.  Reduce heat to medium and continue to boil for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Mix cornstarch slurry into your saucepan and return mixture to boil (increasing heat to medium high until it boils, reducing again once it boils.)  Cook for 2 minutes while stirring.  

Pour 1/4 of your milk mixture over your cream cheese and whisk until smooth.  Add the rest of the milk mixture and blend until combined.  Pour your ice cream base into a gallon sized ziplock bag and place in an ice water bath until completely cool.  Freeze according to your ice cream makers directions.

Here's the final product- I got a little crazy with the fondant work!

Wedding Tasting: Various Truffles and Pops

I'm going to file this one under "it seemed like a good idea at the time."

I don't know how or why, but my friends and I always seem to sit around and talk about how freaking cool it would be to do this or that.  Then we talk about it more and more, because really there isn't a lot more to do in Iowa other then sit around and shoot the shit and google pictures of cake.  So slowly, but surely, without ever actually making a decision, whatever it was we were talking about becomes reality.  It's not just baking, either- one minute I'm talking to my running buddies about how fun it would be to train for a marathon, and the next minute I'm on mile 19 of a training run that started at 3:30 am, climbing up a hill, in the rain, certain that my legs must be bleeding because no intact leg could possible emit this much pain.  (This.  Really.  Happened.) 

Well obviously this phenomenon happens with baking quite a bit.  My friends and I dream up some sort of crazy and extravagant cake concoction, and all of a sudden I'm standing in my kitchen with second degree burns from pastry cream all up my arms, filling and ganaching cupcakes until 1:00 am.  

Cut to my dear friend and coworker getting engaged and briefly mentioning that she'd like to do a dessert buffet instead of a traditional tiered cake.  Well my eyes light up like a kid on Christmas morning and I think to myself "I COULD DO THAT" and I start dreaming with my friend about how cool it would be if we did it together.  The next thing I know we are taking the bride to lunch to discuss her likes and dislikes and the schedule a tasting.

What have I gotten myself in to???

Honestly, at this point it's still fun and exciting, but I know after assembling 200 cake pops and monogramming a whole slew of butter cream sugar cookies, I might not be signing the same tune.  But for now, I'm going to continue perusing blogs and recipes sites searching for inspiration while daydreaming about how freaking awesome this will be when done.  I'll keep googling wedding websites galore to see how others have set their buffets up- complete with cupcake wrappers, color coordinated hand made accents and decorations, and elaborate food stands that I somehow have to con my engineer husband into making for me.

So first things first- we hosted a tasting in order for the bride to decide what she wanted to have.  And here are just a few of the things that shall be taking over my kitchen in a few short months.

Oh, and I might have bought an extra fridge to support this event.  Yup, that happened.  

Paula Deens Cookie Dough Truffles turned into candy pops

...pictured with... 

White and Dark Chocolate Coated Shortbread (using this recipe.) 

White Chocolate Coated Red Velvet Cake Pops 

Monogrammed Sugar Cookies with Butter Cream Frosting 

Scotcharoos formed into truffles and dipped in melted chocolate and butterscotch chips 

Cookie Dough Topped Brownies

So last month, Husband got a fancy new job.  He's pretty much the most important person I know, now.  He's been jet-setting around the globe to exotic locations like College Station, Texas and Hotlanta, and quite frankly, I'm shocked that he hasn't completely forgotten us little people.  He has been strutting around in fancy new sport coats and skinny ties, so really it's just a matter of time.  I will, however, tolerate this because I feel that this is just one step closer to him making his millions and thus allowing me to become a trophy wife and open an adorable bakery where I eat my profits.  Literally.  But I'd hire a trainer in order to maintain my trophy wife physique.

Back.  To.  Reality.  So perhaps I'm exaggerating a tad.  And in the interest of honesty, I may have been the one to purchase all the fancy new duds for him.  So, mocking him for wearing them is a little below the belt.  But my husband has a new job and he's a little bit fancier because of it.

So today was the first official fancy new job work pot-luck that my husband neglected to tell me about until the day before.  He claimed that he didn't need to bring anything for the silly reason that "he couldn't even go" which is so not even the point.  Husband almost prevented me from taking advantage of a baking opportunity.  I just... I just don't know.  It's like he doesn't even know me at all.  And then I wonder- what if I hadn't found out on time?  What if I had sat idly by never knowing that I could be using my husbands coworkers to support my borderline unhealthy addition of trying new and completely gluttonous recipes?  ...Shutter.

But thankfully that didn't happen, and I got to try out a new recipe.  I had been inspired by these cookie dough topped brownies which I found on Pinterest, but I used my favorite recipe for cookie dough instead.  And then I maybe accidentally made a double batch- because it just seemed wrong not to.  I wonder who could possibly take care of all those left overs?  Guess I'll just have to man up and take on that responsibility myself.  A true martyr, I am.

Cookie Dough Topped Brownies
Cookie Dough recipe from: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paulas-best-dishes/cookie-dough-truffles-recipe/index.html

Ingredients
1/4 salted butter, softened
3/8 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp pure vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour
7 ounces sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Ghirardelli double chocolate brownie mix (or your favorite mix)
Eggs, vegetable oil, and water (in amounts designated by the mix)

Extra chocolate for drizzling

Directions
Prepare your brownie mix and bake as directed in an 8x8 greased pan. Be careful not to over bake.

While the brownies are cooling, prepare cookie dough.  Cream butter and brown sugar in a large bowl.  Add vanilla.  Slowly add flour until fully incorporated.  Add in sweetened condensed milk until mixture comes together.  Mix in the chocolate chips.

Working in small chunks, grab about a golf ball sized portions of the cookie dough and flatten in out in your hands.  Place these over the brownies until the entire surface is covered.  Use your hands to flatten out the dough and blend seams.

Chill before cutting.  Drizzle with melted chocolate.

Peanut Butter Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

When it comes to technology, I'm somewhat of an enigma.  At work, my job and therefore my livelihood depends on me being able to learn new programs and create business solutions.  I’m pretty much a stone cold bad ass with Microsoft Excel.

But when it comes to anything popular, hip or “current” in the wild world of technology, I’m freaking pathetic.  I don’t tweet.  Facebook borderline frightens me because I’m convinced my computer will start posting things that I’m doing without my knowledge.  Actually that happened once- all of a sudden it started posting everything I was reading on CNN.com and I had to have my husband turn it off for me.  For a few days, the entire world knew that I read 10,000 articles about why America is still fat.  Gee, whatever could the problem be?  I’m a food blogger who specifically googles “paula deen” before whatever recipe I’m is looking for, and I have legitimately scrapped recipes that call for low fat cream cheese or margarine.  I should go hang my head in shame- I’m the freaking problem.

Ok- I’m completely off track at this point.  Here’s the point: technology frightens me.  And for that reason, I avoided this “pinterest” thing that everyone had been telling me that I needed to get into.  I didn’t understand it.  It’s new and different and that frightens me.  And to add insult to injury, you have to “request” to be “invited” to this damn thing.  Really?  It’s like middle school all over again- pinterest is the cool kids party, and little miss goodie-two-shoes-who-brings-cupcakes-to-teacher isn’t invited.

Well apparently one of my equally goodie two shoed friends somehow got invited to the party, and started showing me all the amazingly delicious recipes she was pinning.  So despite my many “I WILL NOT PINTEREST” rants, I sheepishly asked for an invite and spent the last week going through my bookmarks and creating recipe boards.  This is going nowhere good. 

So pretty much from this point on, I can ditch the lengthy stories prior to my recipes and replace them with one sentence that will describe all of my future baking endeavors: “I found this on pinterest and it had to be in my belly.”

I found this on pinterest and it had to be in my belly.  Peanut butter caramel chocolate chip bar time.    

Peanut Butter Caramel Chocolate Chip Bars

Recipe from: http://thebitesizedbaker.wordpress.com/2011/09/07/chocolate-chip-cookie-and-caramel-peanut-butter-bars/

Ingredients

Original Nestle Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookies:

2 ¼  cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, softened

¾ cup granulated sugar

¾ cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 large eggs

2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels

Caramel-Peanut Butter

½ cup Evaporated Milk

60 whole caramels, Unwrapped

½ cup peanut butter, melted

1/3 cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 375° F and grease 9 x 13-inch pan.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips.

Spread half of cookie dough into prepared pan and bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Remove pan from oven and set aside.

Meanwhile, in a double boiler (or a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of boiling water) melt caramels with ½ cup evaporated milk.

When melted and combined, add ½ cup melted peanut butter and pour over cookie base. Sprinkle chocolate chips as evenly as you can over the caramel.

Turn out remaining cookie dough on work surface.  Spray your hands with cooking spray.  Use your hands to press it into a large square a little smaller than the pan. Use a spatula to remove it from the surface, then set it on top of the caramel and chocolate chips.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown and edges are set. Cool in pan on wire rack. 

Baby Heath Cupcakes and a Baby Shower

So for some reason I'm still not entirely sure of, my friends and family keep allowing me to take charge of the menu for various baby showers, wedding showers, birthdays and similar events.  Well actually- I can tell you the reason: I'm willing and I have a stand mixer.  These are really the only two important prerequisites one needs in order validate plowing over everyone else's creativity when detailing what will and will not be a part of a buffet.

And for the baby shower I helped host this past weekend, the following was my rule of thumb:

Can the food item in question be given an adorable, baby themed name in order to ensure that not one person forgets they are eating food at a BABY shower and therefore everything must have the word BABY in the name?  No?  Then off the menu it goes to be replaced with some miniature, baby boy themed item that is obviously superior.

Yup, I'm that person that comes up with themed food for a shower.  I also print out food labels with pretentious descriptions, coordinate my serving platters, and elbow anyone who gets in my way in the kitchen.  Want to share the kitchen with me?  Better grab a sponge, because lord knows you're not touching my stand mixer or my new Tahitian vanilla I got for Christmas.  

On an related note: My most sincere apologies to my hostess friend who came over to help.  My kitchen would be a disaster without her.  But hey, I did let her core and fill the cupcakes- a high honor in my book.  

It's amazing I still have friends.  People will tolerate your overbearing attitude and strange affinity for all things ruffly and cutesy if you know your way around a mixing bowl.  This is why bakers are never lonely.  

But moving on- for the baby shower the mom's last name is Heath- so I just couldn't resist capitalizing on that for my first baby shower recipe:  Baby Heath Cupcakes!

Chocolate Cupcakes 

Recipe adapted from: http://paxye.com/blog/the-best-chocolate-cake-i-have-ever-made/
(A half recipe of what is listed below was enough for the buffet!)

If you are feeling too lazy to make the cake from scratch, I recommend the following recipe: http://cheatday.blogspot.com/2011/04/trio-of-oreo-cupcakes.html

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups granulated sugar

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 large eggs
1 ½ cups buttermilk
1 cup strong brewed coffee, cooled
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp pure vanilla
4 oz unsweetened chocolate squares, melted and slightly cooled

Directions

Combine sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a large bowl with a whisk. Set aside.

In your stand mixer or another large bowl, beat eggs for about 3 minutes using paddle attachment, until they have thickened slightly and are lemon-coloured. Add buttermilk, coffee, oil, vanilla and melted chocolate. Mix  until well blended.

Add dry ingredients 1/2 cup at a time to wet ingredients and mix until batter is smooth. Put an ice cream scoop full into muffin tins fitted with liners.  Bake at 350 until a cake tester comes out clean, about 17 minutes.  Cool completely before proceeding.

Butterscotch Filling 
For a half batch of cupcakes I still made all of the following and had tons extra

Ingredients

11 ounces of Butterscotch chips

8 ounces Heavy Whipping Cream

1 Cup of Butterscotch Butter Cream (below)

4 ounces (half bag) of Heath toffee pieces

Directions

Place the chips in your mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.  Heat your cream over medium heat in a small saucepan.  Once the cream just begins to boil, pour over the chips and let set for a few seconds.  Turn your mixer on low until combined.  This is your butterscotch sauce.

Next, make your butter cream (recipe follows).

Butterscotch Butter Cream 
(This is for a double recipe which is needed)

Recipe adapted from: http://www.wilton.com/recipe/Caramel-Buttercream-Icing

Ingredients

1 1/3 cup butter

16 ounce container of ice cream butterscotch topping 

2 tsp vanilla

2 lbs plus 1 cup (or 9 cups) powdered sugar 

4 tbsp milk (I used whole)

Directions

Cream shortening and butter with electric mixer. Add ice cream topping and vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy.


In a new bowl, combine about half of the butterscotch sauce into one cup of prepared butter cream.  Add your Heath pieces.  This is your final filling.  To fill your cupcakes, core with an apple corer once cooled and put a spoonful of filling inside.  Top with the original core if you desire.  Frost with the remaining butter cream.  Finish the cupcake with a drizzle of the remaining butterscotch sauce and sprinkle with remaining Heath pieces. 

Christmas Part VI: A few more recipes and a summary

It's time to wrap up this Christmas business.  The cookies have been destroyed and what little leftovers we did have are wrapped in tin foil and placed gingerly in the dessert archive.

For those of you who don't know what the "dessert archive" is, it's what my family calls my deep freezer.  I'm not making this up.   At any given moment, I could defrost enough food to host a 50 person bridal shower with a rockin' dessert buffet.  Waste not, want not.

So here's a little recap of everything sweet that I baked for the holiday, complete with a few recipes and pictures that I haven't already posted.

Desserts
- Red Velvet Cheesecake Cake
- Bread Pudding that I forgot to take pictures of because I was a little bit tipsy
- Chocolate Coffee Pots de Creme Pie times dos

Cookies and Candy 
- Sugar Cookies and Butter Cream Frosting

- Pecan Pie Bars
- Inside Out Pumpkin Bars
- Russian Tea Cakes
- Fudge
     - Maple Walnut
     - Chocolate
     - Chocolate Walnut
     - Peanut Butter
     - Candy Cane
     - Cake Batter
- Almond Bars
- Chocolate Caramel Shortbread
- Oreo Truffles
     - Add mint extract for peppermint Oreo Truffles
     - Replace Oreo's with Nutter Butters and replace the 8 ounces of cream cheese with 10 ounces of peanut butter for Nutter Butter Truffles 

Christmas Part V: Chocolate Coffee Pots de Creme Pie

Chocolate pots de creme is one of those recipes that every woman should have in her arsenal.  It's amazing- rich and creamy and delicious and impressive and incredibly easy to make.  In general, you can take the recipe below for the pots de creme and pour it into little, adorable mini glasses for individual sized desserts.  I like to eat these with mini spoons.  I also like to eat these in succession- about four a time.

Like so.

But anyway- since I never leave well enough alone, I instead poured my pots de creme into a pre baked pie shell along with some ganache, topped it with whipped cream frosting, adorned it with chocolate curls and voila- I had a french silk pie.  Ok not really- but it looks like a french silk pie and tastes so sinful that it's mildly awkward to eat around your parents. 

Two Chocolate Coffee Pots de Creme Pies 

Half each recipe to make a single pie

Components

2 pre baked pie shells

One Recipe Dark Chocolate Ganache 

One Recipe Chocolate Coffee Pots de Creme 

One Recipe Whipped Cream Frosting

Chocolate Curls 

Instructions

Pour warm ganache into the pie shells.  Let set in the fridge while you make the pots de creme.

Mix up the pots de creme and pour into the pie shells with the ganache.  Let completely set in the fridge.

Top with whipped cream frosting and chocolate curls.