The Secret Recipe Club: Flourless Chocolate Cake

I know this is late and I have a somewhat a good excuse but not the best. I was in California this past weekend for a funeral. A family member of mine passed away living with dementia for 5 years and now she is peacefully at rest. Definitely a sad moment but we all know she is in a better place.

There was just NO TIME for me last week to do anything it seemed and I kept meaning to get my post up and ready for The Secret Recipe Club.. Crunch time came and I decided to email Suzanne, tell her my situation and I ended up sending my pictures and writing a small post that she gladly posted on her website. Thank you again Suzanne and thank you Living Lou for such a wonderful recipe!
Click here to see my recipe for Flourless Chocolate Cake.

Here are additional photos that I had taken to go with my post.









I love you chocolate.. I do I do I do ooooo!







Fallon

Coffee Ice Cream Dream Cake

IT’S A GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! haha I know what you are thinking right now. Fallon is pregnant? NO WAY! My best friend is expecting her second baby due sometime end of October and she recently found out she is having a girl!

Mason!! He is my pumpkin and I’m his cupcake. ;)

She already has a handsome son, now it only makes sense that she has a princess. One of each is the way to go, that way you get best of both!

My best friend is craving a lot of sweets. Something with her first pregnancy she didn’t, but with this little princess inside of her, she just wants sugar, sugar, sugar! I came across this recipe for Kahlua-Coffee Ice Cream Dream Cake from Bakeeat350 and I thought of my best friend. Back in the day we would go to Baskin and Robbins and she’d always order the Jamocha® Almond Fudge. I must say that flavor is pretty rocking. It brought back those memories and I knew this cake would be something she’d love. I had to keep it a secret from her though because I knew it was going to be a good one.

I did make some adjustments like nixing the Kahlua. Pregnant mommies should not be having any alcohol, hence the name Kahlua-Coffee Ice Cream Dream Cake. Then instead of using heath bits, I bought heath bars and wacked them into chunks instead. The best part was getting chunks of the heath bar in every bite of the cake. This cake was amazing and out of this world, except it lacked ice cream.

A corner piece. Where’s the ice cream?? Must of it was hiding right in the middle!

The 1 gallon of coffee ice cream I purchased wasn’t enough. There was too much graham cracker and not enough ice cream. This can easily be fixed, just purchase 2 gallons of ice cream instead. That way you have plenty of ice cream and will have more thickness between layers. With summer here and people getting together for grill, this is the perfect dessert to bring. Feeds a crowd and you can’t go wrong with coffee ice cream, toffee chunks and tons of chocolate!

   

I have a feeling I’m going to have to make this cake again soon, bummer!!! ;)
Get the recipe for Kahlua-Coffee Ice Cream Dream Cake here!

Yum yum,
Fallon

 

A Delicious Flop

I can’t believe it has been 2 weeks since I’ve last updated Fallon’s Cucina. My bad! It literally does not feel like it has been that long. I set some time to get this post together because 1) today is February 29th, 2012 and 2) it was time to get a more updated post. I couldn’t miss out on today because we won’t have another leap year for 4 more years. Happy Birthday to whoever is actually born on a leap year. I always wondered how that works? How old can you really be if your birthday only comes every 4 years? Hmmm ;)

Today I have a recipe for you which is easy to put together but ended up turning out to be something completely different. Remember those rolo cake mix bars I made? They were so good, I wanted to change them up and do something different. Like using a chocolate cake mix and adding marshmallows, caramel sauce and pecans. Sounds delicious right? Well the bars ended up turning into this gooey, lava like cake. These definitely required a spoon for consumption, unless you like sticky fingers! As much as I wanted to call this mess a flop, it actually turned out to be a delicious lava like cake.

I baked them for over 30 minutes because I thought the cake was still not cooked through but it just continued to stay gooey. I realized I might of gone a bit overboard when it came to the caramel sauce and it is what kept the cake so moist and lava like. Which isn’t a bad thing!

It was enjoyed throughout the night at my best friend’s house. I couldn’t stop picking at them either. The toasted marshmallows are the best part. I’d recommend this cake to someone with an urgent sweet tooth because this cake will solve all those problems.

Gooey Chocolate Cake mix with Marshmallows, Caramel and Pecans
By Fallon

Ingredients
1 box (18.25oz) chocolate cake mix
1 (5oz) can evaporated milk (I used reduced fat)
1/4  cup unsalted butter, melted
2 cups mini marshmallows
1/4 cup caramel sauce, warmed
1/4 cup pecans, chopped

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13in pan with cookie spray. With a mixer, beat cake mix, evaporated milk and butter until combined. Mixture will be thick and sticky.

Divide batter in half and press 1 half onto the bottom of the pan. Bake until just set, approximately 8-9 minutes.

Remove base from oven and place marshmallows, caramel sauce and pecans on top. Drop remaining batter on top of marshmallow mixture in teaspoon sized amounts. Bake for 30 minutes longer until marshmallows are toasted and cake mix is cooked through but still fudgy.

Cool and serve by scooping into a bowl and if your feeling extra frisky, serve with vanilla ice cream!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hope everyone has a great day today! I’m glad it is already the middle of the week. I’m so ready for my days off. ;)

Enjoy,
Fallon

Mike’s Birthday Cake

This year Mike requested that I make one of his favorite cakes, Cannoli Cake. I usually only make it around Christmas time to share with family but he insisted I make it for his birthday. Well your wish is my command! Happy Birthday babe!!!

I wonder if I’ll have to make it again for Christmas? hehe

Cannoli Cream
By Fallon

The cannoli cream filling is actually really easy to make! I’ve definitely perfected how to make it just right with using 3 cups whole milk ricotta (strained overnight for extra liquid), 1 cup sifted confectioner’s powdered sugar, 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon and 3 ounces of mini chocolate chips or bittersweet chocolate that has been chopped up.

Combine the ricotta cheese and powdered sugar with a hand mixer and combine. Add in the cinnamon. Mix in the chocolate and place in the fridge for an hour to let it thicken up. I chopped my bittersweet chocolate in the food processor, so easy.

You can add pistachios and orange zest as well. Mike ONLY likes the chocolate but I can guarantee it will taste even better with those extra add-ins. You can use this as a cake filling, pancake/waffle topper, toast, homemade cannoli shells and whatever else you can think of. I prefer spoonfuls. ;) I did double the recipe for the cake because we like a lot of extra cannoli cream. I do have a cannoli filling recipe that I’ve made that is slightly different with the addition of vanilla extract and pistachios. And how about a Mexican Cannoli?

 
He couldn’t wait any longer, his mouth was watering to try his cake!        

Buon Appetito,
Fallon

Extra Cannoli Cream…

What me again?!?! That’s right! I’m posting twice on this beautiful Monday! I woke up at 4:45am thanks to Mike not shutting off his alarm. I tried to doze off but I just couldn’t handle it anymore. I had a small breakfast and headed out to the apartment gym. I did 20 minutes of cardio with the treadmill and then Jillian Michaels Shred It DVD. I was a sweaty mess but it felt oh so good!

I came back, made Mike some oatmeal and I made myself another breakfast… a protein shake! Then I decided to make the cannoli cream filling for his cake. So far this cake is coming out amazing but now I have a whole jar of cannoli cream… I’m thinking I should sell it before I decide to eat it. Oh and of course ALL the extra cannoli cream didn’t fit in that jar, so I had to spoon feed myself the extras, with the extra cake I cut off to layer it. Yeah cake at 10am, I must be crazy BUT at least I did get my workout in.

How much would you pay for this? Whole milk ricotta, powdered sugar, cinnamon and Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate shavings.

   
Almost done, it just needs the cream cheese/ whipped cream frosting and a little decoration.
I also placed it strategically near the lettuce, so I can remember to eat a salad today.. then cake. ;)

Well technically it is the last day to celebrate “summer.” Cannoli Cake is more a holiday cake but since Mike is a labor day baby we get to enjoy this cake early! Tomorrow is a new day but today is all about celebration!

Always,
Fallon

Three Years To Remember

Boy has this been a busy week. We were very lucky on Tuesday when we had a surprise phone call that our household goods could be delivered a week early. SCORE!!! Now the fun part is unpacking everything and trying to get back to normal. We had our cable installed the other day and I’m still getting use to watching TV again. LOL. I really don’t miss it after not having it for so long. Weird huh?

I’m also back at work and getting use to “working” again. I’m glad it is the weekend, I need rest. Looks like I’ll be pretty busy there, so I’ll have to figure out a way to keep up with my blog. I love this baby and I don’t want to neglect it!

Anyways….

On the 26th (few days late) my dear Aunt Sandy passed away. I posted a little tribute about her 2 years ago, you can check out this link here and check out the video I made! Whenever her anniversary comes around I like to do certain things to honor her in my memory. My aunt was FULL of life. She was like a ball of fire and she always encouraged me to do the same. She wanted me to get out of my comfort zone and just enjoy life. I always think about that and tend to be pretty spontaneous.

Like today. I woke up in the 3 am hour this morning, worked for several hours and was off of work before noon. Who can sleep now?? I have this cool app on my droid phone that will locate places that have been featured on TV shows like Man Vs. Food, Diners Drive-ins and Dives, Throw Down with Bobby Flay and so on. Luckily being in Augusta, GA I have access to good southern food and desserts! Does anyone remember the carrot cake Throwdown featuring Very Vera? You can watch the actual Throwdown here if you can’t remember. Well that was the ONLY place that popped up that was in Augusta, GA. Bummer… Yeah right!!! After work I went to Very Vera to try some carrot cake. It was a short ride, 8 minutes. They just opened about 30 minutes ago, so it looked like they had a lot going on. I was greeted but not very friendly, IMO. There was a selection of pre-sliced cakes to buy and then towards the back were refrigerators with her cafe food you can take home and some cakes. I was too early to dine in the cafe since it wasn’t open yet but I really just wanted some cake. Although the onion dip sounds tasty! Next time.

I picked out the famous carrot cake and a slice of double chocolate layer cake. I was going to get a chocolate chip cookie but my self control kicked in. With my purchase I was given a free bag of cake scrapes! I asked her what people do with it and she mentioned ice cream. This could be dangerous since I decided to try her red velvet. I think my aunt would of been proud of my selection since she is a huge chocolate lover and no one can deny carrot cake. She might just be disappointed in the cake slices but after tasting how rich they are, the small size is appreciated!

Overall I really enjoyed the carrot cake. It was not overly sweet, great texture from the carrots, coconut and raisins. The cream cheese frosting was just perfect. Oh and the cake was VERY moist. Delicious. I’m a huge fan of all the texture this slice of cake had to offer. As for the chocolate cake it looked a lot better then it tasted. I mean it tasted like chocolate but it was a bit dry and the icing was too sugary for my liking. I’m more of a butter cream or cream cheese frosting kind of girl.

       

My boyfriend ended up liking the chocolate cake. Who knew he was a fan of chocolate cake? I was more then happy to enjoy the carrot cake, my favorite by far. My boyfriend who doesn’t like coconut, said it was good carrot cake.

And those red velvet scrapes… well I couldn’t help but have some while driving home this morning. My morning snack, with an iced coffee!!

After all said and done I know Sandy would approved. Boy do I miss her so much!!

With love,

Fallon

Strawberry Daiquiri Shortcakes

I recently won a giveaway and received a new cookbook called Booze Cakes by Krystina Castella and Terry Lee Stone. This is a grown up cookbook where every recipe uses alcohol in it. There is a booze meter ranging from lightweight to totally tipsy. These desserts make for a great ending to a fabulous dinner party. The authors took traditional recipes using alcohol by adding a twist, to making a dessert inspired by a drink.

During dinner one evening my boyfriend was looking through the book and was pointing at pictures of desserts he liked. He likes dessert that is light and with some kind of fruit. I viewed his selections and went with the Strawberry Daiquiri Shortcakes. We are moving in two weeks and this recipe listed everything we kept in the kitchen. The only item I needed was mascarpone cheese. This was mixed into the heavy cream of rum and strawberry jam resulting in a fluffy topping. I went to several stores in El Paso because I swore I’ve seen mascarpone cheese somewhere. I had no luck and decided leaving it out wouldn’t be such a big deal.

The shortcakes had a booze meter of lightweight. They were made in muffin pans with simple ingredients like butter, sugar, flour, and eggs. I added 1/4 cup rum to the mixture with some strawberry yogurt and fresh strawberries. They baked up in a little over 20 minutes. Once cooled I set them on a rack. The cakes were dense and crumbly. The fresh strawberries kept the cakes very moist.

The cream whipped up in no time by adding powdered sugar, a little rum and strawberry jam. I crumbled the cakes in cute, single serving bowls, topped with a mound of cream and fresh strawberries on top. It was the perfect ending to a perfect day. It was a nice welcome Spring dessert to have this past weekend.

The cakes tasted great and the rum flavor was a nice surprise. I’m sure the mascarpone cheese would of made the dessert stand out more with its thick and sweet flavor.  Although the dessert didn’t remind me of a strawberry daiquiri that might be a good thing. ;)

I’m glad I won this cookbook because I don’t think I would of ever ventured out of my comfort zone. I can’t wait to try out other recipes like Mocha Rum Brownie Bites, Black Jack Praline Cake, Chocolate Lava Cakes, Spiked Ice-Cream Cake, Pink Champagne Cake and Tipsy Tiramisu.

 

Check out Booze Cakes here! Do you own this cookbook? If so, what have you made from it? If you don’t have the cookbook what are some recipes you enjoy baking with that involves booze?

Always,

Fallon