Friday, February 1, 2013

Mud Bogging Dirt Cake

My friend Aja had a birthday party for her son Kakoa who was turning four.  Knowing that I love to bake, she asked me to make the cake for the party.  One problem....Kakoa doesn't like cake.  We came up with this idea!  Seriously, how cute is this?  Mud bog dirt cake!



Who the heck knew this stuff so was good?  I literally ate three solo cups (yes, that's right.  I said solo cup.) full of this stuff.  I couldn't put it down!

The morning after the party I met Aja at the gym.  Mid push-up she tells me that she is going home to eat dirt cake.  I.WAS.BITTER.  Jealousy set in and dirt cake is all I could think about the rest of our workout.



How cool is this for a little boy's birthday party?!?!

Lets get to the "how to"...

(I made one and half batches)
Ingredients:
2 packages of Chocolate Cookies (I bought the chocolate and vanilla cookies...yumm!)
1/2 stick butter
1 (8 oz.) package of cream cheese
1 c. powered sugar
3 1/2 c. milk
2 small French vanilla instant pudding boxes (I used one big box)
1 (12 oz.) Cool Whip

Directions:
1. Cream the butter, cream cheese and powdered sugar together.
2. Mix the pudding and the milk.  Slowly add the Cool Whip to pudding mixture.
3. Blend the pudding with the cream cheese mixture.
4. Crumble the cookies in a Ziploc bag or in a blender (I used my Ninja.  I didn't let the crumbs get too small.) 5. Fill container with one layer of cookies and then add a layer of pudding.  Continue until you have reached the desired height. 6. ENJOY!!!



We decided to top the adults dirt cake with Mod Bog trucks too.  Just to make it more fun!




Ahhh how cute is he?!?!  And he most definitely liked his dirt cake.  All the kids did, and so did the grown-ups!  Things got quiet when the dirt cake came out!

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Banana Bread Bars with Brown Butter Frosting

I am playing catch-up.  I actually made these about two weeks ago.  Don't worry, they are so good that they are worth the wait!

Our friends Kevin and Ashley had us over for a seafood dinner.  I made a crab and corn chowder, and Ashley made shrimp and crab cakes.  Probably the best crab cakes that I have ever tasted, and who knew I liked shrimp??  Turns out that I am a huge fan of her grilled bbq shrimp!  Side note: I need to get that recipe.

I wanted to whip up something for dessert but didn't have a lot of time.  I looked over this recipe and it looked pretty simple, so I went with it.  Oh my goodness these things are good!  When I saw that these had brown butter icing I knew they would be delicious!  I love the flavor of brown butter.  I made a Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brown Butter Cupcake a while back and they were one of the most popular cupcake that I have made.  Check them out here: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brown Butter Cupcakes 
When I saw that these bars were frosted with brown butter icing I knew they were a must try!

These things didn't last long in my house. Don't judge.

Adapted from lifessimplemeasures.blogspot.com

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 c. sour cream
1/2 c. softened butter
2 eggs
1 3/4 c. (3-4) mashed ripe bananas
2 tsp vanilla
2 c. all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Brown Butter Frosting:
Ingredients:
1/2 c. butter
4 c. confectioners sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
3 tbsp milk

Directions for bars:
1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Grease 13X9 in. baking dish.
3. In a large bowl, beat together sugar, sour cream, butter and eggs.  Blend in eggs and bananas.
4. Add the dry ingredients and then the walnuts (optional).
5. Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Directions for Icing:
1. In a medium sauce pan, heat butter over medium heat until boiling.  After butter turns light brown remove it from the heat.
2.  Add confectioners sugar, vanilla, and milk, and whisk until icing is smooth.
3. It is easier to spread the icing over the bars while they are still warm.  (I stuck mine back in the hot oven for just a minute to give the icing an opportunity to spread.)
4. ENJOY!




Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Chocolate Fudge Cowgirl Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream

Wow...it's been so long!  Now that I have graduated and actually have some free time I hope to get back into baking and blogging (and hitting the gym).  It feels so good to finally (3 years later) have those three little letters behind my name, MSW!  Hopefully you'll be seeing a lot more of me!




So cute, right?




Our friends Rachael and Steven are bring a sweet baby girl into the world.  Seriously...how exciting!  Rachael is into barrel racing and riding horses, so when I saw these super cute cowboy hat and cowboy boot candy molds I had to buy them!  I knew they would be perfect to decorate some cupcakes to help us celebrate baby Charley!



These are chocolate cupcakes filled with hot fudge...YUM! 
(I used store bought ice cream fudge.  When I was done filling the cupcakes I could hardly put the spoon down.  Hello treadmill!)  Pick one of my chocolate cupcake recipes or use a box mix to make it simple.



I frosted these cuties with vanilla buttercream.  This is one of my favorite buttercreams yet!  I added pink and  burgundy gel food coloring to get this color.
Adapted from Foodnetwork.com

Ingredients:
-3 cups confectioners sugar
-1 cup softened butter
-1 tsp vanilla
-2 tbsp heavy whipping cream

Directions:
-Mix together sugar and butter until well blended
-Add vanilla and whipping cream and continue to beat until smooth (you may need to add more whipping cream to get the consistency right)

Enjoy!

I almost forgot to show you the cute tutu that I made for Baby Charley!  For the record, I am a Redskins fan, Hail!