Dark Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Dark Chocolate Zucchini Cake

2 1/4 C flour (I use whole wheat)
3/4 C unsweetened cocoa powder
2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
1/2 t ground cinnamon
2 C lightly packed brown sugar
1/2 C butter, room temperature
2 large eggs
3 ounces baking chocolate, melted and cooled
1 t vanilla extract
3 C grated zucchini or summer squash
Confectioner’s sugar, for dusting

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease a fluted cake pan.

Sift dry ingredients together in a large bowl.

Beat brown sugar and butter. Add eggs, one at a time. Beat in melted chocolate and vanilla.

Add flour mixture. Fold in squash.

Bake for 50 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes and then invert. Allow to cool completely and dust with sugar if desired.

Patriotic Cake

Cake:
Use any cake mix in a 9x13 pan and follow directions. Let it cool.

Frosting: (This was our experiment that turned out so good and naughty at the same time!)
6 oz cream cheese
1/2 cube butter
Vanilla
Cool Whip (just a couple of big spoonfuls)
Powdered Sugar
Milk

I apologize that there are no measurements. I just dump things in and experiment with frosting. My kids think I'm a genius, but how can you go wrong when you add all those things together? That's right, you can't.

We used the pampered chef tool to make the design in the frosting.

Finish by designing the flag with blueberries and strawberries.

Dream Cake

• Prepare one white cake mix according to directions on box.



• Combine 1 cup powdered sugar, 8 oz softened cream cheese, and 8 oz thawed cool whip.



• Spread cream cheese mixture over cooled cake.



• Combine one container strawberry glaze and sliced strawberries, fresh or thawed. Spread over white layer. (I spread the glaze first then covered it with the sliced strawberries.)



• Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving.

Black Forest Chocolate Cupcakes

I'm all about cupcakes lately. These are from the book "101 Gourmet Cupcakes in less then 10 Minutes" by Wendy Paul. I definitely recommend getting this book- so many yummy recipes.

Ingredients

1 chocolate cake mix

3 eggs

1 tsp almond extract

1/2 cup sour cream

1 large can cherry pie filling with 1 cup of it set aside

1 12oz package semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup heavy whipping cream

Mix in bowl cake mix, eggs, almond extract, sour cream and all of cherry pie filling except one cup reserve. Do not over mix. Place in cupcake liners or tins that are greased well- 3/4 the way full. Bake 17-19 minutes at 350. Take out and place on rack to cool completely.

To make ganache topping: place whipping cream in pan and bring to boil. Immediately take off heat and pour over chocolate chips. Stir until all melted together. Wait for it to cool a little and thicken. Frost the cupcakes making a little well in the middle to hold cherry filling. I forgot to do this in the picture above.

Place the reserve cherry filling on top of each cupcake.

Cranberry Pear Cake

This picture doesn't have the sauce on it yet. And I used the same recipe but filled three 8x8 disposable pans instead of one 9x13.

Cranberry Pear Cake

2 c flour

2 c sugar

2 eggs

2 t baking soda

1 large can pears, with juice, mashed

1 bag cranberries

Combine all ingredients. I like to add everything except the cranberries and then use my hand mixer, which effectively mashes the pears, then stir in the cranberries with a wooden spoon. Pour the batter into a greased 9x13. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. (My mom swears hers bakes in 40 minutes, but mine always takes infinitely longer.) Do a toothpick test to be certain it is done.

Sauce:

3/4 c cream

1 c sugar

3/4 c butter

1 t pure vanilla extract

Combine in a sauce pan and bring to a boil.

Drizzle (liberally) over individual pieces of cake and top with a hefty dollop of freshly-whipped cream.