Chocolate Cake Easter Bunnies!

Baked: March 27th, 2010

For this weeks dessert, I decided to make something a bit more on the creative side...Easter Bunny Cakes! Even though Easter is in a couple days, I made the cake a week before since Easter was during passover and I wouldnt be allowed to make the cake then. Chanee at PATH told me how much she loved the chocolate cake I used to make the superbowl cake so I decided to use that cake mix to make the bunny, and I followed a betty crocker website to help me design the bunnies. They were probably the most fun food that I have made yet and I'm so happy I tried them out! Making the cake was pretty simple, it was just a bit more complicated when I actually had to assemle the bunnies. The way it worked was that I would bake 2 round layers of chocolate cake, then I would cut each one in half and turn them vertically. I put forsting in between the two so they would stick to each other and once they were done being decorated they looked so cute! Here's the website for the bunny cakes incase you want to try them out for this weekend:

http://content.bettycrocker.com/recipes/easy-bunny-cake/df8c3818-9037-4a59-a897-ef288fec2371

Here are some pictures so you can see how I made the cake :)

As you can see the cakes turned out pretty cute! Putting them in a box to take to PATH was a bit of a challenge but I had my parents help me out so it was no big deal. I make the cake from scratch but I bought premade frosting and just added some food coloring to make them look pretty, so overall the cake wasn't that difficult to make. I strongly suggest trying these any time you can because they really are a lot of fun! Thanks so much for reading and happy Easter/Passover! Chag Sameach!

Sincerely,

The Blissful Baker

St. Patrick's Day Mint Brownies

Hello again! In honor of St. Patricks day's March 17, last week I decided to make mint brownies! I checked a couple websites (betty crocker, some sites from google...) for some St. Patty's day themed desserts, and they suggested mint brownies because they were a "holiday favorite". One of my teachers, Ms. Goldstein, had read about my blog in the school newspaper and she gave me the recipe for brownies that she said were to die for so I decided to try them out! I doubled the recipe she gave me so I had about 48 brownies total. To make them "mint" brownies, I made a special frosting I found on the betty crocker website. You can find the frosting recipe by going to:

http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/easy-grasshopper-bars/4a95b06b-b11a-4598-834c-9884275aada7

The brownie recipe that I got from my teacher is as follows:

1 1/2 c. flour

1/2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

2/3 c. butter

1 1/2 c. sugar

4 T. water

24 oz. chocolate chips

2 t. vanilla

4 eggs

Preheat oven - 325. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside. In a sauce pan, combine the butter, sugar, and water. Melt and bring just to a boil; remove from heat. Add mint chocolate chips and vanilla. Stir until chocolate is melted and smooth.

Transfer to a large bowl. Add 1 egg at a time, beating well after each one. Add flour mixture a little at a time and stir until smooth. Stir in regular chocolate chips. Spread into 33x23x5 cm. pan (approximate measurements -- if your pan is a slightly different size, don't worry). Bake about 40 - 45 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

Yields 4-5 dozen (depending on how large you cut them).

Here are some pictures:

The recipe was very easy to follow so I suggest you try them out whenever you have time! The brownies ended up tasting amazing and the frosting was very tasty as well. It was a little more liquidy then I thought it might be but everything turned out fine. I hope all of you had a wonderful St. Patrick's Day and until next time, stay blissful!

Sincerely,

The Blissful Baker

Rice Krispie Treats

For this week's food, I thought it might be fun to make a classic childhood treat... Rice Krispie Treats! The recipe didn't call for that many ingredients, but it was only of the most interesting things I have made to date. In addition to making the "original" Rice Krispie Treats, I made chocolate ones by adding chocolate chips into the marshmallow-cereal mixture, which I strongly suggest to you if you're planning on making some of these any time soon!

Here are some pictures of the entire process from start to finish:

I got the recipe for the rice krispies from: http://www.ricekrispies.com/search/kids.aspx?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=treats&utm_campaign=Desserts#/recipes/the-original-treats

I tripled the recipe so I could make enough for the people at PATH and a couple for my family, so it was a bit harder to manage all of the marshmallow fluff and all the cereal in the pot, but I managed to make them tasty so it's all good :). Since the heated marshmallow fluff would harden quickly once mixed with the cereal, I had to rush to mix the two together and put them in their containers -- so I didn't have much of a chance to take pictures for that part, but it was so interesting to be under that time-crunch and have to make the rice krispie treats perfectly because they tested my abilities as a baker. This week I learned that when dealing with sticky foods that harden fast, you need to be clean and fast. This week I really tested those abilities in myself and I feel as if I will be more prepared for the next time I make these because I'm more familiar with it and I know how to be more efficient now.

The treats tasted really great in the end, and I especially liked the chocolate ones because they were more flavorful and rich. I made about 45 treats and I gave the people at PATH about 36, enough for all the residents and staff, so there was 9 left over for my friends and family who had been requesting some more of my foods :D.

Even though it can get a but messy, the Rice Krispie Treats were a blast to make. They only take about 1.5 hours to make and the final result is so great you'll want to make them all the time!

All in all, this weeks dessert = A+

Try making the treats at home sometime soon, I promise you won't regret it! Thanks so much for reading and remember, stay blissful!

Sincerely,

The Blissful Baker

Chocolate Peanut-Butter Cupcakes

For this week's dessert I decided to make something unusual, difficult, but definitely tasty! I decided to make... chocolate peanut-butter cupcakes! The combination of chocolate and peanut-butter sounded amazing when I first thought of it so I wanted to give it a try. Chanee at PATH told me several times before that she loved the chocolate cake I used for the superbowl cake, so I thought it would be a good idea to use that recipe for the cupcakes, then find a recipe for the peanut-butter frosting. Here are the recipes incase you'd like to use them:

Cupcake: http://www.hersheys.com/recipes/recipes/detail.asp?id=184

Frosting: http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/33/Peanut_Butter_Frosting52823.shtml

But this week for the first time, I had a little bit of trouble :( I wanted to make super large muffins so I put a little extra batter in each of the cupcake pans, but it ended up being a little bit too much! The muffins ended up tripling in size and some of the batter even spilled off of the cupcake tray onto the floor of the oven. I managed to save most of the cupcakes from sticking to the tray and being completely destroyed but I made less than I expected. The cupcake itself was delicious and the frosting, thankfully, was amazing! It had perfect amount of peanut-butter -- not too strong, but very tasty and apparent. I tried to fill some of the cupcakes with frosting by punching in a straw to make some space to fill the frosting in. Here are some pictures that I took while making the cupcakes:

All in all, despite the disaster, the cupcakes turned out delicious! Even though I planned to make about 50 cupcakes, I only made around 30 and I gave 24 of them to the people at PATH to enjoy. I decided to keep just a couple this week because 1. I loved the cupcakes! and 2. I gave some to my family to try. They all loved the cupcakes too so I can definitely see myself making this again sometime in the near future.

I also made a new friend this week! Since I dropped off the cupcakes a bit later Saturday afternoon, another person was at the receptionist desk at PATH. He introduced himself as Joe and took great interest in my cupcakes so I'm hoping they all liked them! It was so great to make a new friend at PATH this week and hopefully I'll see more of him and the other people there soon. Thanks so much for reading and until next week, stay blissful!

Sincerely,

The Blissful Baker

Hamntaschen and Mishloach Manot!

Hello! This last Saturday marked my 11th week of "Blissful Baking", so I decided to do something a little festive. In honor of the Jewish holiday "Purim", which was on Sunday, I decided to make the people at PATH hamentaschen!! Hamentaschen are triangular shaped cookies with either a chocolate, strawberry, apricot, or poppyseed filling inside them. I thought it might be fun to make them cookies that Jews usually eat around this time so I can give them a taste of the Jewish holidays. Although, after thinking about it for a while, I thought it would be even better if I went a step further to make them mishloach manot! Mishloach manot are gift bags full of goodies that children exchange during Purim. I was so excited about this idea of making them hamentaschen and putting them in mishloach manot that I went to Ralph's an hour after I thought of the idea and got all the supplies! I bought a bunch of mini snickers, milky ways, mint candies, hershey kisses, licorice, as well as some plastic bags so I can put all of it together. In addition to giving them the cookies and candies, I thought it might be interesting if I put a note in each of their bags that explained to them what Purim is and why I'm giving them gift bags. When I went to PATH and gave Chanee their gift bags she looked really happy about what I brought for them so it was really worth it!

I was up at 9 am Saturday morning to make the hamentaschen and although I was really excited, I was also pretty nervous. I had made hamentaschen one time last year and they weren't that..um, tasty to say the least :/ But I really wanted to make them great hamentaschen and I knew that with the right recipe and precision I would be able to, so I searched for some recipes and I found one that I knew I could trust. It was from food network and it was put up by the chef Gale Gand who has a show called "Sweet Dreams". I saw the comments and everyone reviewed them as wonderful and delicious, so I decided to give it a shot. Here's the recipe just incase you'd like to try it:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/gale-gand/hamentaschen-recipe/index.html

So I made the hamentaschen and they turned out wonderful! I made about 65 total (with the help of my mom) and I gave the people at PATH 40 hamentaschen in gift bags so that all the residents and staff could enjoy some. I decided to make the extra 25 so I could give some to my family and friends.

Here are some pictures I took while baking:

I finished making the hamentaschen and mishloach manot by around 2 pm, so in total it took me about 5 hours but it was totally worth it. I'm so glad I was able to give the people at PATH something unique this week and I really enjoyed the whole process. I hope all of you had a great Purim and until next time, stay blissful!

Sincerely,
The Blissful Baker

Haitian Cornbread

On January 12th, 2010, the devastating news of the earthquake in Haiti spread like fire all over the world. For the next couple of weeks, whenever you turned on the TV or you walked into school there were people talking about Haiti and how they can help. When I heard about the disaster I was shocked and sympathized the Haitians because they are going through something that no one could ever fully imagine. My school had and is still planning events for Haiti so that we can help them in their time of need by donating money for their aid. All of these event have been successful, but I realized that I hadn't personally made a difference. But last week my friend sent me the video for "We Are the World 25 for Haiti" which includes 40+ famous artists from Miley Cyrus to Celine Dion to Lil Wayne, all singing to help raise money and awareness for the suffering people in Haiti. In the start, Jamie Foxx asks viewers to "please do more than just watch", which really made me think and realize that I cannot stand idly by and let other people suffer. Like it says in the song, "we are the children, we are the ones who make a brighter day to lets start giving". We are the future leaders of the world and we need to help fix it in any way possible. I was planning on having a fundraiser for my project with the people at PATH this week so that I can raise enough money to make them more food, but I then thought that I can also donate half of my proceeds to Haiti because they need it now more than ever. I'm having the fundraiser this Thursday at my school where I will be selling ice cream sandwiches, and I am so excited to be able to raise money and donate it to Haiti, even if I can only donate just $100. Every small act makes a difference and I take great pride in knowing that I am having a positive impact on their lives. So if your reading this and you go to Milken Community High School, come stop by the amp

hitheater during lunch for delicious ice cream sandwiches to help people in and out of your community!

The video for the new "We Are the World" really will change the way you see the situation in Haiti. Listen to their powerful voices as they speak about how we are all one and we must help each other. Here is the video just incase you would like to see it:

So after watching the video, I thought it might be interesting if I made the residents at PATH a Haitian delicacy: cornbread! It's called "Pen Mayi" and you can find it's recipe along with recipes for a bunch of other Haitian delicacies from this link:

http://books.google.com/books?id=giQaoQz8N0AC&pg=PA171&lpg=PA171&dq=Kok+Graje&source=bl&ots=WTYwZyQ0r4&sig=acci1xgRQNEoGGiCWOb8znNMLSA&hl=en&ei=vbR-S6zpLoX6sQPksdH8Cw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CAkQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=Kok%20Graje&f=false

The cornbread was pretty easy to make, so anyone can really make them! Try it out if you get the chance and have a taste of a Haitian delicacy!

Here are some pictures I took while making the cornbread:

I made about 3 rounds and I cut a peice for myself just to try it out. The bread turned out pretty good, although I have to admit it wasn't as tasty as the chocolate cake or the red velvet :) There were total about 23 slivers, which I hope they liked.

All in all do anything you can to help the people in Haiti because they really appreciate anything. Hope you enjoyed the pictures and remember, stay blissful!

Sincerely,

"Ou byennere boulanje" -- The Blissful Baker

Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies

Hello all! In honor of this week's festivities, I decided to make the residents at PATH Valentine's Day sugar cookies! I was pretty worried about making them in the start because I have made sugar cookies from scratch before but they turned out burnt, so I wanted to make sure that these turned out perfect! The ingredients were really simple, nothing too complicated, but it took some more time than I expected. I only had to buy about 2 extra ingredients I didn't have with me at home (I usually buy around 5 or 6), but it took some more time to set everything up, take pictures, let it freeze, make sure the dough was perfect temperature to work with, roll and shape into balls, then cook to perfection, dye the frosting, and shape them into hearts. The directions clearly stated that I should pay very close attention towards the end when the cookies were almost done just to make sure they didn't burn which was extremely helpful. After waiting at the oven for about the last 4 minutes, checking every minute or so if they were done or not, I finally brought the cookies, smelled the sweet aroma of vanilla from freshly baked cookies, and became very happy to see that the cookies were golden, soft, and chewy :). Something I learned: I never truly realized how important that last couple minutes were because there is a very fine line between perfect and burnt, so I know I know to pay more careful attention towards the end. Also, you can tell a lot about a cookie, or any other baked good by the taste of its dough or batter. After I brought it out of the fridge, I scooped less than a teaspoon of the dough just to check it flavor and it tasted really good. Then when I tried one of the cookies, I noticed that it was basically the same taste. So if the dough of the batter tastes a little funky then I can almost always assume that the final result won't taste that great either.

In total, I made about 40 cookies but I decided to keep just a couple of them to give out to some of my family and friends . They told me they really liked the cookies, so I know that extra time was worth it! Here are some pictures:

Again, this week after walking into PATH, I talked to Chanee a bit and she told me about this cake class that she used to go to a little while ago, so hopefully I'm going to get a chance to check there out as soon as I can. She said it was called "Wilton's" and it is inside the arts and crafts store "Michael's" in Santa Monica. I haven't had that much time to go yet, but I'm planning on going there as soon as I can because I have been dying to go to a baking class! Most of them during the school year are only for adults and I would have to be 18 or older, so hopefully I will be able to go to this one!

Here is the recipe for this weeks easy, simple, but most of all, delicious sugar cookies:

http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,196,143165-230202,00.html

Hope all of you had a wonderful Valentine's Day surrounded by loved ones! Thanks so much for reading!

Sincerely,

The Blissful Baker

Chocolate Super-bowl Cake!

Hello again! I'm posting a bit later this week just because the past couple days have been pretty hectic, but for this week's dessert I decided to make a double layer chocolate cake! And, in honor of the 2010 Super-bowl this week, I decided to design it as a football! Like last week it was a challenge to bake a multi-layer cake that didn't have any bumps or crumbs, but using the tips I picked up it became a lot easier. To make it in the shape of a football I used glass, oval cookware, so it was in the shape of a football, and then I made vanilla buttercream and chocolate frosting so I could design it as one as well. Again, I made the cakes the night before which was really important because I give them time to cool off before I frosted and layered them. It was really fun to try another multi-layered cake this week because I feel like I'm getting better at it and the whole process, so I know I'm becoming more experienced and familiar with this new challenging cake style. Incase the pictures show the cake to be bigger than what the recipe might suggest, just know that I doubled the recipe I picked out. I did this so 1:I could make plenty of cake for the residents at the shelter, and 2:so I can make two, full layers. Thankfully I ended up having some extra batter aside from the batter for the cake, so I made some cupcakes! If I may say so myself, they were pretty good and I've got to hand it to Hershey's for the great recipe they provided.

Here is the recipe for Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake and the "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Frosting:

http://www.hersheys.com/recipes/recipes/detail.asp?id=184

And here's the recipe for the Vanilla Buttercream Frosting:

http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1855,141163-236204,00.html

Here are some pictures I took of the whole process:

All in all, this week's cake was a lot of fun to make, not only because it was something new and different, but because it related to the Super-bowl game which made it more fun to make, and hopefully eat ;) In the weeks to come I'm hoping on making special a Valentine's Day treat, and maybe the week after that I can make them "hamentashen" for Purim, hopefully bringing a little Judaism into their life so they can know a bit more about me and where I come from. E-mail me if you have any suggestions or ideas of foods I can make for them! Thanks for reading and until next week, stay blissful :)

Sincerely,

The Blissful Baker