I’m Back! Yes you better believe it!  I had somewhat of a long day yesterday flying from Miami to home.  This all started with me going to the self service check out line in Miami and the computer was unable to print out boarding pass.  I thought to myself… oh dear here we go again.  So I ended up going up to the American Airlines Counter to tell the lady my story.  She punches my name into the system and a puzzled look appears on her face.

After a moment, she sputters “Sir, your flight has been canceled – that is why it did not print your boarding pass.”

“oh lovely, what do we do now?” I asked.

A few minutes elapsed and she ended up re routing me through New York and adding an extra connection but all in all it wasn’t that bad.  I am home so that is the main thing!

Now to finish off baked goods week – I thought I would save possibly the best for last.  Chocolate cake with homemade boiled icing topped with skor bar bites.  As you can recall I posted the boiled icing recipe a while back and I also posted a skor bar trifle back in February.  This chocolate cake is a combination of both without the chocolate pudding.

A simple great classic that you can make any day of the week for any occasion.

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 Cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 Cup cocoa
• 1/8 Tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 Lb. stick butter, cut into 8 equal parts
• 1 Cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 Cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 1/2 Tsp. vanilla
• 3 Lg. eggs
• 1/2 Cup sour cream

Method

1. Preheat oven to 325 F.
2. Stir together flour, cocoa, and baking soda.
3. Cream butter, sugars and vanilla. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until blended.
4. Add flour mixture and sour cream; beat gently just until smooth.
5. Bake in a greased and floured bundt pan for 45-55 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in center comes out clean.
6. Cool on wire rack for 5 minutes.
7. Loosen edges and around tube; turn out on rack.
8. Cool completely.
9. Add boiled icing and top with skor bits.



10. ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: Make sure the rack is in the center of the oven. Shiny pans reflect the heat, and are the best choice for cake baking. I also like to reduce the oven temperature by 25° when using glass pans.

I hope you have a great weekend! I will see you on Monday.  I am planning a fun zesty giveaway next week.

Take care

zesty

Download my Free Recipe Book: Simply Zesty

Happy Friday the 13th! To end treat week what better way to end it than with a simple easy homemade chocolate cake. Not just any chocolate cake however, this one is crusted with fudge cookies, topped with fudge icing and drizzled with warm caramel. How does that sound? Yeah I know – I love chocolate!!

I guess the good thing about this cake is that it’s super easy. I adopted this recipe from Anna Olson on The Food Network. This recipe actually has enough batter to create two cakes.  You can choose to stack them with icing in the middle or make two cakes and ice them separately as I chose to do.

As I was taking multiple pictures of the cake to trying to get a good shot, some of the caramel started to drip, so I could not resist sharing this picture.

Craving chocolate for Valentine’s Day? Try this recipe!  Be careful though, it may knock the socks off your loved one.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup water
• 4 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
• 1 3/4 cups pastry flour
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup sour cream (low fat)
• 1 cup fudge cookie crumbles

Frosting

• 2 cups unsalted butter, room temperature
• 12 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped, melted and cooled to room temperature
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 cups icing sugar, sifted
• Caramel for drizzling

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter and flour 2 9-inch cake pans.
2. Cream butter and sugars together until fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
3. In a small pan stir water and chocolate over low heat until melted. Allow to cool slightly before beating into butter mixture.
4. Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir into batter alternately with sour cream.
5. Divide evenly between the 2 pans and bake for 25-35 minutes, until a tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
6. Allow to cool 15 minutes in the pans, then turn cakes out onto a plate to cool completely.

Frosting

1. Beat butter on high speed, scraping sides frequently, until light and fluffy.
2. Add melted chocolate and mix in.
3. Add vanilla, salt and icing sugar and beat until smooth.
4. Spread icing on cake in whatever pattern you like and then coat the outside in the fudge crumbs by pressing them into the icing… it is messy but don’t worry  – it will taste great.

Zesty Tip: Chocolate should only be melted over low heat. The microwave is a good appliance to use because the cooking time is so controlled. If you stand there at the stove and stir constantly, you can melt chocolate in a pan set over very low heat. A double boiler (watch out for condensation) is a good method; make sure the water in the bottom is barely simmering.

Well there you have it!  I want to wish everyone a Happy Valentine’s day and I welcome your favorite chocolate cake in the comments. Have a great weekend and I will see you on Monday.

Take care

zesty

Download my Free Recipe Book: Simply Zesty