Banana chocolate muffins

I absolutely love chocolate zucchini

Muffins so I decided to use this recipe as a guideline but I used three bananas instead of the zucchini it calls for.

Meanwhile the muffins were baking I jarred up my chicken tortilla soup that I had made using a whole chicken. There was definitly enough soup and muffins to share!

This was my view from the kitchen; Aubrey was teaching her own Wee college class with her stuffed animals (her kids as she refers to them)!

What a full day; bed time popcorn sounded like a great idea,

It felt good to have soup in the fridge for a few days and to be able to share with a few special friends.

Quinoa salad

Fall is in full swing and who knew a three year olds schedule could be so busy! Meals have started to become a little rushed so I thought if I made a healthy salad to have on hand I'd make that better choice.  The thing I love about quinoa salad is you can pretty much put anything in it and serve it warm or cold. It's so versatile. My favourite way is to roast some of the ingredients and keep some raw; this adds great texture.

I put one and half cups of quinoa on the stove to cook.  I usually make my quinoa with stock but I decided to use water since I would be making a very flavourful dressing for the salad.

I roasted thinly sliced fennel with olive oil and salt and pepper as well as red pepper, mushrooms and red onion.  I added raw shredded carrots, chickpeas and green onions. I added all these ingredients to a large bowl.

I added the fennel frawns raw.

I added cilantro oil, cider vinegar, lime juice, baby kale, and spinach; I tossed this all together until everything was dressed evenly.

Once the quinoa was cooked and while it was still warm I folded it gently into the salad. The heat from the quinoa helped to slightly wilt the spinach and kale.

I tasted this and adjusted the seasoning with salt and pepper.

I divided this into portions. This amount made nine lunch servings.

We took a shopping break and Aubrey was the only kid in dollarama begging for a new spatula set!

Here's are happy little man!

I enjoyed this salad with a half an avacodo. This was so enjoyable, a bowl full of health!

Impromptu birthday party: Ina Garten's Chocolate Cake

Today's baking idea came from a carton of outdated buttermilk.    I googled a recipe for buttermilk chocolate cake and found this fun blog using Ina Gartens double chocolate cake recipe.  The blog was very easy to follow. I've attached her link below.

http://www.alexandracooks.com/2013/10/29/beattys-chocolate-cake-plus-two-fair-trade-giveaways-lake-champlain-chocolates-hot-cocoa-bag-of-fair-trade-goodies/

Butter, for greasing the pans

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
2 cups sugar
3/4 cups good cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk, shaken
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee


Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 8-inch x 2-inch round cake pans. Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans.

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.

Place 1 layer, flat side up, on a flat plate or cake pedestal. With a knife or offset spatula, spread the top with frosting. Place the second layer on top, rounded side up, and spread the frosting evenly on the top and sides of the cake.

Chocolate Frosting:
6 ounces good semisweet chocolate (recommended: Callebaut)
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 extra-large egg yolk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

I weighed the chocolate and melted it in the microwave.

Chocolate Frosting:
Chop the chocolate and place it in a heat-proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir until just melted and set aside until cooled to room temperature.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed until light yellow and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and continue beating for 3 minutes. Turn the mixer to low, gradually add the confectioners' sugar, then beat at medium speed, scraping down the bowl as necessary, until smooth and creamy. On low speed, add the chocolate to the butter mixture and mix until blended. Don't whip! Spread immediately on the cooled cake.

I separated the batter into three pans evenly. The cooking time was the same as the recipe stated.

Outfit change!  Our little monkey requires about three outfit changes a day...but he is VERY happy!

I inverted the cakes and removed the parchment circles. I used a serrated knife and trimmed a bit off of the top of each cake to make them flat. This wasn't a necessary step.

I put enough icing between each layer to just go to the edge then i pressed each cake layer firmly.  Then I put the remainder of icing on the top of the cake and used an offset spatula to smooth it evenly down the sides and around.

Tada! The icing was the perfect amount. I decided to use up the strawberries in the fridge and make it a little fancy for my impromtu birthday party.

 Its pretty funny that a carton of buttermilk turned into me throwing myself a birthday dinner!  I did a dinner party shout out and my sisters were in!

Cher took the kids to the park while I was organizing dinner and they returned with balloons in tow.  3 year olds can't have a party without balloons! 

 Jan provided the vegetable pasta ziti, I cooked some pork chops and made a salad.  Turned out to be a wonderful birthday dinner; the kids loved the meal.

 Now for the cake....it was a hit!  I forgot to reveal that there was coffee in the cake until the had almost finished their pieces...oops!  It sure was tasty.   I already have a "go to" chocolate cake recipe but I may have found a new one.  I am not one for sweet icings, I usually make cream cheese icing for everything.  This butter-cream recipe will definitely be going into my repertoire.

 There were even gifts involved!  Now that's my kind of party.

Is this not perfect for me? "Stressed is Desserts backwards" on a spatula.

No wonder Aubrey just woke up one day and decided to have a birthday party for herself! Wow she comes by it honestly.  Why not?!  Just make a cake and invite some friends over; you'll be sure to have a fun time.

Icecream cake; more of an assembly than actual "baking"

The most common childhood dessert in my memories are my moms homemade icecream cakes.  Often requested by others, this sweet treat is oh so decadent and beats DQ everytime. Requiring more to be assembled than baked at basically a third of the retail cost this is a recipe to keep.

One large cake:

10 cookies

2 tbsp melted butter

1.9L carton of icecream

1 jar of fudge topping

1 cool whip 

Decorations

After making a few cakes myself, I have gotten to know what size of icecream container perfectly fits my spring form pans.

I had been appointed to make my nephew Hurleys birthday cake since our mom is away. I pretty much appointed myself since I've watch my mom whip this up before and had taken notes. She definitly has it down to a science. 

My mom uses Oreo crumbs but I say when you have fresh delicious cookies on hand why not??

A little melted butter to bind

Blitz in the food processor

Pat down into a spring form pan

Wrap bottom in foil just to be sure and put crust in the freezer for about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile depending on the weather once you bring the icecream home from the store and put the rest of the groceries away it should be time. Unmold the icecream. 

My mom usually buys the cheapest tub of icecream. The plastic tub makes one large cake and one small cake.

Using about inch thick slices, place them on the crust layer using an offset spatula fill in the spaces and smooth the top.

Now for the filling! We use fudge and are very passionate about this. FUDGE; not be misguided by chocolate sauce however you can use whatever flavour at this point. 

Another layer of icecream

At this point my mom freezes it until firm before adding the cool whip layer and whatever decorations you prefer.  We use light cool whip but in thinking more about it; it's kind of like ordering a diet coke with a Big Mac meal!

The decorations on top usually reflect the filling on the inside. At hurleys request my sister bought smartie icecream and smarties.

Happy 3rd Birthday Hurley! 

I think uncle Jim was just as excited about the cake as the kids! And truth be told; I was too!

This size of cake can feed atleast 16 adults and it cost about $13 to make.

The other day I made my moms classic peanut buster parfait icecream cake; this one is my favourite!

I used GF homemade cookies for the crust.

Swirl icecream for the filling

The generous layer of Spanish salted peanuts on top of the fudge layer really makes this one something special!

With atleast a $20 savings to make this cake over buying it from DQ, as well as being able to completely customize the flavours; this is my go-to birthday cake!