September 12, 2014 · 11:25 am

KitKat Cake

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How about a fun Friday post :)!

This cake was ridiculously easy to make but super impressive.  Three of my girlfriends all turned another year older within a few weeks of each other, so we had a birthday celebration for them and I offered to make the cake…only because I had been dying for a reason to make this.

Let me tell you – this cake brings you back to being about 5, when your amazing Mom makes you the best birthday cake for your party (I fondly remember upside down ice-cream cone cakes one year).  Now this one has it all – chocolate cake, smothered with chocolate icing, covered with KitKat bars and then all topped with Skittles (or whatever your favourite candy is!).  Umm, hello – even the non-sweet lover me enjoyed it (well, I enjoyed sneaking a few Skittles off the top, let’s be honest!)

It’s really easy to put together too – just a few minutes of patience and a basic chocolate cake recipe (like here – Mom’s cake!)

Many of the people who enjoyed this cake claimed that they would make it for their next party (and hey, so did the rest of Pinterest too!).

Enjoy!

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Chocolate KitKat Cake

Prep Time:  10 minutes
Cook Time:  depends on what cake recipe
Servings:  6-10 people, plus cupcakes if you use Mom’s recipe below

Ingredients:

  • one really good chocolate cake recipe (here!)
  • a batch of your favourite chocolate icing (or cheat, like me, and use good ‘old Betty)
  • about 46-50 MINI kitkat bars (original recipe says to use the regular size KitKat, which you can if you make a larger cake, but mine was smaller so I used smaller!)
  • 2-3 packages of your favourite candy (skittles seen here)
  • ribbon

Directions:

This recipe says make an 8″ cake – but I didn’t have that size pan.  So, I went smaller (mine was about 5-6″) and I used the rest of the cake mixture to make mini-cupcakes, which accompanied the cake!

Bake the cake according to directions and then allow it to cool COMPLETELY (key step!)

When cooled, use your favourite chocolate icing and ice the entire cake evenly (be generous with the icing).

Break the Kitkats into singles and gently place them around the cake, as shown, until covered.

Place your favourite candy on-top, tie with ribbon and you are done!

One thing to note – it is best to place this on the serving dish/cake carrier or whatever you plan to use BEFORE you ice the cake – just so you don’t have any mishaps later!

Now go enjoy being 5 while eating this cake – or I hope the true 5 year old enjoys this cake.

Recipe from Made in Melissa’s Kitchen, originally seen on The Tipsy Hostess

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August 4, 2014 · 12:17 pm

Broccoli Salad

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You know those recipes that just instantly remind you of your childhood, family gatherings and summer BBQ’s?  Well, this is one of those for me.  I hadn’t eaten this in years and actually had never made it in my own kitchen, until a while ago, one of my girlfriends hosted a summer BBQ and served this salad.  I went nuts for it and ate WAY more than my fair share.  Since then, I have been making batches of this salad to keep in the fridge for weekday lunches as it is so satisfying and nice to have on hand for a quick and easy lunch.

The only thing I wasn’t crazy about was the caloric value in the recipe, because lets face it…mayo, bacon, cheese…three delicious items, but when put together, not exactly the healthiest when consumed together in a “salad”. So, I wanted to revamp it a little.  First things first, there was no way I was going to eliminate the bacon…well, because bacon is delicious.  BUT, I could attack the mayo and omit the cheese.  So, I tweaked the mayo by using 2/3 greek yogurt and keeping 1/3 the mayo.  This still gave us the mayo “taste”, but allowed me to add a good source of protein in the form of greek yogurt, not to mention reducing the calories and fat.  Omitting the cheese is a case-by-case decision – if you are serving this for company, I suggest including it, but if it is a weekday lunch salad, I don’t think the salad absolutely needs it to be delicious!

I can’t wait to whip-up another batch of this salad soon…and I know it won’t last long!

Enjoy.

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Broccoli Salad

Yield:  6 servings, 1 cup each
Prep Time:  15-20 minutes
Cook Time:  5 minutes for the bacon

Ingredients:

  • 3/4 cup low-fat greek yogurt (or fat-free)
  • 1/4 cup  mayo/Miracle Whip Spread
  • 2 TBSP sugar (you can also substitute Splenda for the sugar – just use a touch less)
  • 2 TBSP white vinegar
  • 6-8 cups fresh broccoli florets
  • 6 slices bacon (whatever your family favourite is!)
  • 1 small red onion, chopped
  • 1.5 cups of raisins or craisins, whichever you prefer
  • 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese (optional)

Directions:

Prepare bacon according to package directions or using your favourite method (I love baking my bacon in the oven, on a baking sheet.  So easy to do and clean-up is a breeze!)  Once bacon is cooked and cooled, crumble bacon into bite-sized pieces and set-aside.

In a bowl, mix together the greek yogurt, mayo, sugar and vinegar and stir well.

Wash and dry the broccoli florets.  Cut into smaller bite-sized pieces.

In a large bowl/container (with a lid is a great option, to make storage/clean-up easier!) mix together the broccoli florets, the dressing, bacon, onion, raisins and cheddar cheese (if you are using it).  Mix well.

Place the salad in the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour, or longer, to allow the flavours to develop.

Serve and keep cold.

Enjoy.

Recipe adapted from Kraft Kitchen (and from my friend NP!)

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July 29, 2014 · 9:15 am

Coffee Cake Muffins

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It took CH approximately 28+ years to figure out that: (1) a Coffee Crisp chocolate bars do, in fact, have coffee in them (at the time, he disliked coffee and this was shocking to him), (2) coffee cake does NOT, in fact, have coffee in it (previously, a deal breaker on the suspicion of coffee alone), (3) coffee isn’t so bad after all, and (4) coffee cake is delicious.  CH is now quite happy with himself :)!

Growing-up I remember my Mom making coffee cake – she got the recipe from a friend at work and it was amazing.  A while back (while stocking the freezer for my pregnant girlfriend), I came upon this recipe from Melissa at I Was Born To Cook and it immediately brought back memories of my early days enjoying this treat – except this was a modern approach in muffin form, and a few less ingredients involved, so I gave them a shot.  As soon as I made these with my friend, I knew I had to make them again for CH because a) he loves all things cinnamon and b) he loves muffins, so I had a feeling this would be a win-win in his books.  And they were.

These muffins aren’t overly sweet – they have perfect balance and the layered approach definitely helps that.  I’d bake-up a few batches of these to have on hand in the freezer for an unexpected weekend guest or just to please a hungry-breakfast-seeking family member.

Enjoy!

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Coffee Cake Muffins

Yield:  12 muffins
Prep Time:  20 minutes
Cook Time:  20-30 minutes

Ingredients for the Muffins:

  • 5 TBSP butter, melted, divided into 2 TBSP and 3 TBSP
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 3 tsp baking powder
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup milk, plus more if needed

Ingredients for the topping:

  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts, pecans or cashews
  • 2 TBSP butter (from divided amounts above)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line muffin tins with paper liners.

In a small bowl, mix topping ingredients together, along with 2 tablespoons of the melted butter. Set aside.

In another bowl, mix together flour, sugar and baking powder.

In a third bowl, mix milk, egg and remaining 3 tablespoons of melted butter together.  Whisk until well incorporated.

Make a well in dry ingredients, add wet to it, and blend. Fold until dry ingredients are wet, then add in half of the brown sugar/nut mixture. Batter should be lumpy, not smooth, and thick but very moist. Add more milk if needed to achieve this consistency.

Spoon batter into tins, filling them about 2/3 of the way. Sprinkle remaining brown sugar/nut mixture on top. Bake 20-30 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Let rest at least 5 minutes before serving.

Recipe from I Was Born To Cook

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