Dr. Pepper Cupcakes

Happy birthday daddy! In trying to think what to make him for dessert, I knew he liked chocolate cake, but I wanted to do something a little more exciting. As I was craving some diet dr pepper to drink for a caffeine fix, I put the two together and...... Dr Pepper Cupcakes!

After a google recipe search (because I'm not yet brave enough to make up my own recipe from the ground up), I found one and made a few small modifications to make this:

1 German chocolate cake mix
1 small instant vanilla pudding mix
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
12 oz Dr. Pepper (not diet)
8 oz cream cheese
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
1 tsp vanilla
splash Dr. Pepper
about 2-3 cups powdered sugar
about 1/2 tsp cocoa powder

Mix together the German chocolate cake mix and vanilla pudding mix. Then, using a mixer on low-medium speed, slowly add in the eggs and vegetable oil. Yes 1 cup is a lot of oil, and these cakes were pretty darn moist, so you could probably decrease this a little if you want. Then, add 12 ounces (one can, or 1.5 cups) of Dr. Pepper - add in portions since it fizzes when you pour it into the mix. Also, pour another glass of dr pepper to sip on while you finish up :-) Once blended, pour into cupcake cups and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.

For the frosting, blend the softened cream cheese and butter on low speed. Gradually add in powdered sugar in portions, blending each time. Add a little cocoa powder, more or less depending on whether you want a more chocolate or vanilla flavored frosting. Add the vanilla and a splash of DP, mixing well. Add more powdered sugar as needed, but don't get too much because it'll get too sweet.

(I have yet to perfect this whole frosting thing - for some reason it is always pretty thin. Maybe I mix it too much and it gets warm? Any suggestions anyone on how to keep it thick without adding gobs and gobs of powdered sugar?)

And now for the fun part - frost the cupcakes (once cooled of course), then top with multicolored sprinkles. I had an inspiration of an ice cream float, so just for kicks and giggles I cut off the tips of bendy straws and stuck them in for decoration. Then a little marachino cherry on top!

Enjoy with a glass of milk. Or Dr. Pepper. Or both :-)

Fun-Fetti Cake Balls!

There are lots of dessert-worthy events in the months of April through July: my parent's anniversary, my  birthday, mother's day, Memorial day, mom's birthday, father's day, our anniversary, dad's birthday, 4th of July, Chris's birthday... And so despite me trying to lose the 6 pounds I've put on since living at home, I had to make mom some Birthday Cake Balls.

Make a box mix of confetti cake then, once cooled, crumble up into fine multi-colored crumbs. Then, stir in most of a can of funfetti frosting to make a "glue" for the cake crumbs. Once it's a nice doughy consistency, stick in the fridge overnight. The next evening, make the dough into balls, about ping-pong sized, then stick them in the freezer for awhile.

In the meantime, melt down the candy coating - this time I used 3/4 package white vanilla candy coating and 3/4 bag white chocolate chips. And (another benefit of living at my parents' house) is that I had a real double-boiler to use, which was very handy.

Take only 4-6 balls out of the freezer at a time because you don't want them to get too warm. This is something I learned since my last cake ball attempt, and it worked much better. I thought I'd try to cake pops this time and found some skewers in a random drawer. Stick a skewer in the ball, then dip it in the melted coating. Another benefit of the sticks is that I could let the excess drip off and get a more even coating than just dipping with a spoon. Set on wax paper to cool, adding sprinkles if you'd like before the coating hardens.

Bite-sized yumminess! And happy birthday mommy!!!

Honey Almond Honeycomb Cake

For my birthday, my parents got me a Honey Almond bundt cake mix and a honeycomb shaped cake pan, both from Williams-Sonoma. So about a month later on Memorial Day I decided to try it out!

 I just followed the recipe on the box, nothing special. Beat 2 sticks of butter (yes, 2 sticks.... mmm) in an electric mixture until smooth. Add the flavored sugar packet that comes in the mix and continue beating until light and fluffy. Add 4 eggs, lightly beaten, a little at a time, beating well after each addition. Finally, add the cake mix and 1 cup of milk in separate additions - add some mix, then half the milk, then more mix, then the rest of the milk, then the last of the mix. Beat until blended, but don't over mix. I always wish recipes would be more specific on what that means, I never know when is too much.

Then for some odd reason, I guess the honeycomb pan wasn't made big enough because you're supposed to take out 1 cup of the batter before adding to the greased and floured. You can pour it into a smaller pan to make a mini-cake! Then bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes. I ended up having to bake it for maybe 15 minutes longer because it wasn't setting up all the way in the middle.

When done, let cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then flip the pan over to dump out the cake onto a cookie sheet/cooling rack. In the meantime, make the honey glaze: Melt 2-3 Tbsp butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add 1/2 cup honey and 2 Tbsp water and stir until it simmers. I also added a blurb of vanilla extract and a sprinkle of brown sugar.

When the cake is out (but before fully cooled) brush the glaze onto the cake. Let cool completely before serving. I sprinkled it with powdered sugar and served it with blueberries, strawberries, and vanilla ice cream.