Tag Archives: Types of chocolate

Molten Lava Cakes

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The day I made these was a pretty darn big day. Not only was it my sister’s big old 22nd birthday, but it was also the day I got over my fear of making molten lava cakes.

Chocolate Molten Lava Cakes | Beautiful Disasters

They have been quite a common treat for my family to order at restaurants, and my mom has been nagging (okay, that may be a little bit of a mean exaggeration) to give baking molten lava cakes a try.

Chocolate Molten Lava Cakes | Beautiful Disasters

I’m not gonna lie…just looking back at the pictures almost brings a tear to my eyes. Believe me guys, if I can make these, YOU can! Seriously, nothing to be afraid of.

Chocolate Molten Lava Cakes | Beautiful Disasters

One of the best parts of this recipe is that you actually make the batter and everything all ahead of baking them. So then when you want to serve them, you just make sure you have 15 minutes to bake them up, take them out of the fridge, pop them in the oven, watch a little March Madness, and listen for the oven timer. Easy as that!

Molten Lava Cakes

(Makes about 7 small ramekin servings)

4 oz. dark chocolate

2/3 cup unsalted butter

4 eggs

2/3 cup white sugar

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

  1. Spray 7 small ramekins and line the bottom of each with a cut-out parchment paper circle
  2. In the top of a double boiler, melt the dark chocolate and butter together, stirring occasionally. Once completely melted, take mixture off heat and let cool for 15 minutes.
  3. Using a hand mixer, beat the eggs and white sugar until thick, ribbony, and pale yellow in color. Beat in flour. Slowly beat in cooled chocolate mixture until thoroughly combined.
  4. Pour batter evenly into prepared ramekins. Place ramekins in fridge and chill until ready to bake.
  5. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 400˚ F. Place ramekins in preheated oven and bake for 15 minutes, until tops are set. Remove cakes from oven, let cool for about 5 minutes, then invert cakes onto plates and enjoy!

Chocolate Molten Lava Cakes | Beautiful Disasters

Random Fact of the Day: The Atlantic Ocean is saltier than the Pacific Ocean.

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Chocolate Peppermint Stuffed Cupcakes

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Chocolate?

Check.

Peppermint Chocolate Cupcakes (Beautiful Disasters)

Mint?

Check.

Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes (Beautiful Disasters)

Whipped Cream?

Check.

Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes (Beautiful Disasters)

We are set for a winning recipe. You really can’t go wrong with any of these ingredients, and what is more adorable that a cute, little cupcake?? NOTHING

Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes (Beautiful Disasters)

As I speak (type?), my dad is inhaling his third with no words, so I’m just going to take that as a thumbs up from him.

Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes (Beautiful Disasters)

Maybe instead of cookies this year, Santa will have cupcakes waiting for him. Maybe.

Peppermint Chocolate Cupcakes (Beautiful Disasters)

Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes

(adapted from my favorite chocolate cake recipe)

1 cup boiling water

1/2 cup cocoa powder (I used dark cocoa powder)

1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons white sugar

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 teaspoons peppermint extract

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease or line regular cupcake tins.
  2. In a small bowl, pour boiling water over cocoa powder, and whisk until smooth. Let mixture cool. Into a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
  3. Cream butter and sugar together with a mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs. Stir in vanilla and peppermint extract. Add the flour mixture. Add the cocoa mixture. Pour batter into prepared cupcake tins.
  4. Bake in preheated oven 15-18 minutes. Allow to cool in tins, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. When thoroughly cooled, fill with whipped cream and frost with frosting below.

Whipped Cream

1 cup heavy whipping cream

2-3 Tablespoons powdered sugar (to taste)

  1. Using a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, whip the heavy whipping cream and powdered sugar together on high until it form stiff peaks and looks like whipped cream. Taste it as you go along to see if you need more powdered sugar. Be sure to start with a low amount so you don’t over sweeten the whipped cream.

Chocolate Mousse Frosting

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

optional: 1/2 teaspoon mint extract

  1. Melt chocolate in double boiler or microwave until smooth and thoroughly melted. Let cool slightly.
  2. whip heavy cream until stiff peak form and it takes on the whipped cream look (you know what it looks like!). Fold in melted chocolate until thoroughly combined. Stir in mint extract, if using. Place mousse in piping bags and frost cupcakes as desired. Keep finished cupcakes in fridge.

Peppermint Chocolate Cupcakes (Beautiful Disasters)

You still there??? GOOD!!! I could not let today go by without giving a big shout out to my big brother, Jack. His birthday is today! Happy HAPPY HAPPY Birthday Jack! Love you lots

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Random Fact of the Day: Natural gas has no smell. The odor is artificially added so that people will be able to identify leaks and take measures to stop them.

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Christmas Cake Batter Bark

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Guys, I have a huge sigh of relief to let out. Excuse me for a second…

 

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*SIGH*

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whew! Felt good to get that out!! (Ah! that sentence sounds like I just passed gas :0 ) So what is the deal with the big sigh? Here is the deal:

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1. I finally finished Christmas shopping! Done. You all are getting no more. DONE! One heck of a feeling right there.

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2. I do not have another AP Statistics test until after winter break!!! For those of you who have not experienced a statistics class, let me tell you-This is a BIG deal!

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3. I heard back from all the colleges I applied to. My number one school that I applied to for was U of I and I heard back from them last Friday. Their response was that I got wait-listed. But don’t worry everyone. I have a back-up plan. I’m thinking of just heading straight to the NBA if things don’t work out with U of I. At 5’7″ I think I could be a real addition to the Chicago Bulls.

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U of I: IN CASE YOU ARE READING THIS, I AM KIDDING! Everyone else… I hope you all try this cake batter bark because it sure will rock your socks. Ever since I first saw it on How Sweet It Is, I knew I had to give it a whirl. It’s like you can have cake, without all the cake baking steps. Ingenious! Plus, you can make yours all cute and festive with holiday sprinkles. An easy and quick treat to add to your Holiday dessert table.

Cake Batter Bark

(Makes a small batch, about 9×5 inch piece of bark)

4-5 oz. white chocolate

1/3 cup chocolate chips (about 2 oz.) (milk chocolate, dark chocolate, semi-sweet are all good)

heaping 1 teaspoon of cake mix

sprinkle or toppings of your choice!

  1. Line a baking sheet with a silpat or parchment paper. Melt chocolate chips, pour onto lined baking sheet and spread melted chocolate into an even layer. Let set in freezer for about 20 minutes.
  2. Melt white chocolate and mix in cake mix. Spread melted white chocolate onto solid milk (dark or semi-sweet) chocolate. Sprinkle with sprinkles or additional desired toppings. Let set in freezer for an additional 20 minutes.
  3. Once bark is set, break into individual pieces, and enjoy! Store leftovers in a tupperware container in the fridge.

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Random Fact of the Day: Spider monkeys like banana daiquiris.

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Christmas Chocolate Dipped Brownie Pops

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What could possible be better than a chewy, fudgey, chocolatey brownie you ask?

Xmaschocoaltecoveredbrownies

One covered in chocolate.

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Garnished with sprinkles.

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And placed on a stick for easy eating, that’s what.

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These are just about as easy as those chocolate covered oreos, I posted on Friday. These are perfect if you want to make something pretty simple yet delicious and festive! You could easily wrap these up with a little cellophane and tie a ribbon and call it a day and give them to teachers, neighbors, friends, or yourself!

Christmas Chocolate Dipped Brownie Pops

one batch of baked brownies, I used my favorite brownie recipe but if you don’t feel like making them from scratch feel free to use a box mix or already-made store bought brownies

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate (white chocolate, dark chocolate, or milk chocolate would be great too)

1 Tablespoon butter or margarine

sprinkles and additional desired toppings  (like crumbled up cookies, a drizzle of a different type of chocolate, M&M’s, etc.)

popsicle sticks

  1. Bake and prepare brownies as recipe directs. Let cool and cut into individual bars, whatever size you want.
  2. When brownies are completely cut and cooled, melt the chocolate and butter (or margarine) together in a double boiler or microwave, until smooth. I prefer to use a double boiler when I’m dipping things because once the chocolate is completely melted, I can keep it over the lowest heat and it stays smooth and melted, perfect for dipping.
  3. First dip popsicle stick in melted chocolate, then stick popsicle stick in the bottom of brownie, about halfway in. Place brownie on stick on wire rack, with parchment paper or silpat-lined rimmed baking sheet underneath. Repeat with all brownie pieces. Place in fridge for at least 30 minutes, or until chocolate is hardened
  4. Once chocolate is hardened on sticks, take brownies out of fridge and dip whole brownie in melted chocolate. Right after each brownie is dipped in chocolate, apply toppings (sprinkles, cookie crumbs, etc.) Once all brownies have been completely dipped and decorated, place in fridge until chocolate is set, about 30 minutes.
  5. Once chocolate is set, remove brownie pops from wire racks and place in tupperware container. I store mine in the fridge, but they would be fine sitting at room temperature as long as your house and environment aren’t too warm. Enjoy!

Christmas Chocolate Dipped Brownies

Random Fact of the Day: In the U.S., more than 10% of lottery prizes go unclaimed

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Chocolate Covered Oreos

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Can we just all put our Christmas decorations up and never take them down?

I hate how dark and dreary the neighborhoods get when the lights go down, and the lights just put me in such a cheery mood. I mean how can you look at all the cute decorations and stay upset? You can’t, that’s how.

Everything about Christmas is fabulous. Lights, trees, holiday baking, decorations, hot cocoa, fires crackling in the fireplace, snuggled up INSIDE and looking (keywords: inside and looking) at the fluffy white snow, and of course giving and receiving fun gifts.

I used Chocolate Joe-Joe’s with chocolate creme, but these would obviously be great with any Oreo or Joe-Joe. Peppermint Joe-Joe’s would be totally up my alley but then again, regular Oreos are always a classic. It’s all in your own ball field.

Then of course different types of chocolate are a fun way to mix it up. I used basic semi-sweet chocolate chips. Almond bark is great for melting and coating. White chocolate could be good if that is your thing (not exactly a big thing in our house), dark chocolate would be fabulous, and of course milk chocolate is always a safe route.

And the last piece that you can have fun with on these super easy (yet super tasty) treats to make them unique and your own, is the toppings. I wanted to make mine pretty Christmasy so I used some Christmas-colored non perils, but some other ideas of toppings are things like crushed Oreos (or Joe-Joe’s), more chocolate drizzled on top, or crushed candy canes.

There’s not really much of a recipe for these. Basically, just take your Oreos or Joe-Joe’s, cover them in melted chocolate and let the chocolate harden on parchment paper-lined baking sheet or you can use a silpat instead of parchment paper. Then decorate with whatever your heart desires! I keep mine in the fridge to keep the chocolate hardened and that is just the way I happen to like them, but I think they would be fine stored at room temperature once the chocolate has hardened.

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