Single Serving Chocolate Cake, Gluten & Refined Sugar Free ~ adapted from leelalicious

2 T coconut oil
2 T coconut flour
2 T cocoa powder
1 t honey
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t vanilla
1 egg
Splash of milk

Place all ingredients in a ramekin and stir with a fork until completely smoothe and looks like cake batter. Microwave on high power 2 minutes. Remove from microwave and let stand 2 minutes prior to serving. Top with unsweetened whipped cream and chocolate shavings, if desired.

Total carbs: 9g

Low Carb Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting ~ adapted from Cut the Carbs

Carrot Cake
3 eggs
1 1/2 stick butter,  melted
2 T honey
2 t vanilla
3 c carrots, grated
1/2 c walnuts, chopped
1/2 c unsweetened flake coconut
1 1/2 c blanched almond flour
2 t baking powder
1 t allspice
1/2 t cinnamon, more to taste
1/2 t ginger powder

Cream Cheese Frosting
8 oz cream cheese, softened
4 T butter, softened
1 T honey, more to taste

Preheat oven to 350. Grease heavily one 8 inch cake pan, line bottom with wax paper and grease with butter. Set aside.

In large bowl, beat eggs, melted butter, honey, and vanilla with a wooden spoon until combined. Add carrots, walnuts, and coconut. Mix thoroughly. Add almond flour, spices, and baking powder and fold until combined.

Pour into prepared cake pan and bake 45 to 50 minutes or unitl a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes then transfer to rack to cool completely before adding cream cheese frosting.

In medium bowl, beat softened cream cheese, butter, and honey until very smooth. Frost top of cake generously with cream cheese frosting. Store cake tightly covered in refrigerator up to 5 days.

Approximate nutrition facts:
Serving size: 1/10
Calories: 320
Carbohydrates: 5.5g
Protein: 5.4g

Maple Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting and Bacon Crumbles

Maple Cupcakes

2 1/2 c flour
2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1/2 c (1 stick) butter, softened
1/2 c brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/4 c maple syrup
2 t vanilla
1/2 c buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350. Line muffin tins with 20 cupcake liners.

Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together. Set aside. Beat butter and sugar on medium speed in a large bowl until fluffy. Add in eggs, syrup and vanilla and mix until well blended. Add flour mixture, alternating with buttermilk, in one-third additions. Fill lined muffin tins two-thirds full, and bake in center of oven 20 minutes, rotating pans halfway through cooking time.

Cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 one stick butter, softened
2 oz. cream cheese
3 c powdered sugar, sifted
2 T milk

Beat all ingredients in a medium-sized bowl on low speed to incorporate. Increase mixer speed to high and beat until fluffy, approximately 3 minutes.

Bacon Crumbles

Preheat oven to 400. Line rimmed baking sheet with foil, place baking rack inside baking sheet. Lay bacon strips on baking rack, making sure pieces do not overlap. Bake until crisp, 15 to 18 minutes. Drain bacon on paper towel until cool. Chop into bits when cooled.

Assemble Cupcakes

After cupcakes are cooled, top each with a generous spoonful of frosting. Sprinkle with bacon crumbles and enjoy!

Store leftovers tightly covered for up to 4 days.

Flourless Chocolate Cake ~ adapted from Epicurious

4 oz fine-quality dark chocolate, recommended Lindt 85% very dark
1 stick (1/2 c) butter
3/4 c sugar
3 eggs
1/2 c unsweetened cocoa powder
Chocolate syrup
Fresh fruit for garnish, optional

Preheat oven to 375°F and butter an 8-inch round baking pan, or spray with nonstick cooking spray. Line bottom of pan with a round of wax paper and butter paper.

Chop chocolate into small pieces. In double boiler set over a saucepan of barely simmering water melt chocolate with butter, stirring until smooth.

Remove top of double boiler from heat and whisk sugar into chocolate mixture. In a small bowl, lightly beat eggs. Temper eggs by adding 1/2 c melted chocolate to eggs, then add mixture to melted chocolate and sugar. Whisk well. Sift cocoa powder over chocolate mixture and whisk until just combined.

Pour batter into pan and bake in middle of oven 25 minutes, or until top has formed a thin crust. Cool cake in pan on a rack 5 minutes and invert onto a serving plate.

May be eaten warm or cooled. Pictured, double recipe made into layer cake to serve 16.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Irish Teacake

1 1/2 c dried currants *
1 c strong tea, cooled
1 c brown sugar
2 c self-rising flour
1 egg
Butter for serving, softened

Place currants, tea, and sugar in medium bowl. Stir to combine and let soak overnight.

Preheat oven to 350. Line one 9 x 3 loaf pan with parchment paper, including a cover, and set aside. Stir flour and egg into currant mixture and bake 1 hour. Remove paper cover and bake 1/2 hour more or until pick incerted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes, remove to rack to cool completely. Serve with lots of butter.

Chef's Note: *Zane grapes are used to make dried currants, which are much smaller and sweeter than California raisins. Currants are usually available at Christmas time for making English puddings and such, but unfortunately I had not bought any soon enough to have them for Saint Patrick's day this year. So I substituted dried blueberries for currants in this recipe. Blueberries aren't Irish but came in closer to the correct taste than a raisin would have.

Zebra Cheesecake ~ adapted from Not Quite Nigella

2 oz butter
9 oz cream cheese
3 oz whole milk
2 oz unbleached flour
1 oz cornstarch
1/4 t salt
1 T lemon juice
5 oz sugar
6 eggs, separated
1/4 t cream of tartar
2 T unsweetened cocoa powder

Lightly grease and line the bottom and sides of a round 12 inch springform pan with parchment paper. Wrap two layers of foil around pan to prevent water seeping in. Use a baking dish that will accommodate the springform pan and fill empty baking dish 1/4 full with water and place the baking dish with water (do not add springform) on center rack of oven. Set oven to 325.

Melt cream cheese, butter and milk over a double boiler over medium heat. Whisk constantly until melted and no lumps remain. Cool mixture over an ice bath. Fold in flour, cornstarch, 6 egg yolks, and lemon juice, mix well and set aside.

Whisk 6 egg whites with cream of tartar until foamy. Add in sugar and whisk on high speed until soft peaks form. Add one third of the egg white mixture to the cheese mixture to loosen. Fold in remaining egg white mixture in two batches and mix well. Divide batter evenly in two and sift cocoa into one bowl.

Take prepared springform pan and place 3 tablespoons of vanilla batter in a circle in the center of the tin. Then take 3 tablespoons of the chocolate batter and place in the center. Continue adding 3 tablespoon circles of batter until both of the batters are used. Circles will spread automatically.



Carefully transfer cheesecake into the water bath in oven making sure not to tilt cheesecake. Bake cheesecake in the water bath 55 to 65 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool on cooling rack and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled. Serves 12.

Cookie Dough Cake

basic butter cake
1 c butter (2 sticks), softened
2 c sugar
3 c self-rising flour, sifted
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 and 1/4 c milk, room temperature
1 t vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°.

Grease and flour 2 (9-inch) cake pans. Using a mixer fitted with whisk attachment, cream butter until fluffy, approximately 3 minutes. Add sugar and continue to cream well for 6 to 8 minutes, scraping down bowl a couple of times. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down bowl. Add flour and milk alternately to creamed mixture, beginning and ending with flour. Add vanilla and beat until just mixed.

Divide batter equally between prepared pans. Level batter in each pan by holding pan 3 or 4 inches above counter and drop it flat onto counter. Do this several times to release air bubbles and assure a more level cake. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until done. Cool in pans 5 to 10 minutes, then invert cakes onto cooling racks lined with plastic wrap. Wrap tightly when cooled and freeze for at least 1 hour prior to decorating.

cookie dough filling
4 T butter, softened
6 T light brown sugar, packed
1 c plus 2 T flour
7 oz sweetened condensed milk
1/2 t vanilla
1/2 c mini semisweet chocolate chips

To make cookie dough filling, cream butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low and add in flour, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla, mix until combined. Increase speed to medium and beat until incorporated and smooth. Stir in chocolate chips by hand. Remove dough from bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, one hour minimum.

When set, scoop into small balls using a melon baller or similar instrument. Set cookie balls on cookie sheet lined with wax paper and place in refrigerator until ready to assemble cake.

brown sugar frosting
1 and 1/2 c butter (3 sticks), softened
4 c powdered sugar
2 c light brown sugar
3 T vanilla
3 T flour
Cream all ingredients on medium high speed until very smooth, approximately 5 minutes.

cake assembly
Place one cake layer on decorative plate. Remove one third frosting to another bowl and add approximately 15 cookie dough balls. Stir gently to cover cookie dough with frosting. Spread frosting with cookie dough balls evenly on cake layer so cookie dough is in a single layer. Add second cake layer to top and frost evenly with remaining frosting, spreading over sides. Decorate with mini chocolate chips and chocolate chip cookies, if desired. Store tightly covered in refrigerator. Serves 20.

Punxsutawney Phil Cupcakes

Ok, so I didn't make any of this from scratch. I intended to bake the cupcakes myself and top them with homemade chocolate buttercream frosting, but who am I kidding? I picked up a dozen cupcakes at the bakery and instead of spending an hour in the kitchen, I spent it with my family. A good choice of time management, if I do say so myself.

These were so cute when they were done that the children didn't want to eat the groundhogs. How adorable is that? They did eventually devour it, Phil and all. This kind of special occasion baking is my favorite; easy prep with high impact.

Materials
Chocolate cupcakes ~ homemade or store bought, it won't affect the look of the final product
Chocolate buttercream frosting ~ again, no difference if you let someone do the baking for you
12 Oreo cookies
Nilla Wafers ~ one per cupcake
Sliced almonds ~ two per Nilla Wafer
1/4 c semisweet chocolate chips

Method
Place chocolate chips in zip-top bag and seal, removing as much air as possible. Microwave on full power at 30 second intervals until soft and melted. Cut a small hole in one corner of bag and squeeze chocolate onto Nilla Wafers making eyes and nose for groundhog. Add a small amount of melted chocolate to two sliced almonds and adhere to back of Nilla Wafer groundhog. Set groundhog cookies aside to set.

Separate chocolate Oreo cookies from creme filling and crush into crumbs. Frost cupcakes with buttercream and roll in cookie crumbs. Push groundhog cookie into frosting.

Basic Pound Cake

1 pound butter, softened
3 c sugar
6 eggs, room temperature
4 c unbleached flour
3/4 c milk, room temperature
1 t vanilla extract
1/2 t almond extract

Preheat oven to 300°.

In standing mixer with whisk attachment, beat butter at medium for 5 minutes until pale yellow. Gradually add sugar, beat 3 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating on medium low just until yellow yolk disappears.

Add flour to creamed mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour. Beat on low just until blended after each addition. Mix in vanilla and almond extracts.

Pour into a greased and floured Bundt pan and bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from pan, and cool completely on a wire rack. Serve with fruit and whipped cream or drizzle with light glaze.

Chef's Note: This cake is good and easy. I plan make several during the spring and freeze them for use in the summer. I can hardly wait to serve it with fresh strawberries and whipped cream!

Maple Upside-down Cake

1 c grade A maple syrup
3 T sugar
1 T butter
1 egg
1/2 c milk, room temperature
1 c sifted all-purpose flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt


Preheat oven to 400°. In a small saucepan, bring maple syrup to a boil over medium-high heat. Pour the syrup into a greased 8-x-8-inch baking pan and set aside.

In the bowl of a standing mixer, cream together the sugar, butter, and egg until well blended. Add warm milk and stir well.

With mixer off, add flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat into the creamed mixture until thoroughly combined. Spoon batter into the syrup filled pan and, using a spatula, spread the batter to the pan edges. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until golden.

Immediately invert cake onto serving plate taking care to loosen cake from pan if needed. Serve warm with whipped cream.

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Fall is here, hooray hooray! Of course, fall in Phoenix means it only heats up to 99° during the day. But the nights are wonderfully cool and I love thinking it's fall. Humor me, it's the best I can do living where I live.

Fall baking to me means all things pumpkin. I try to cram as much pumpkin into my baking between late September to the end of November as I possibly can without making myself sick. Well, I guess I am trying to make myself sick of pumpkin until next year.




Pumpkin Cupcakes
1 Duncan Hines Yellow cake mix
1 c solid pack pumpkin
4 eggs
1/3 c oil
1/2 c milk
1 t cinnamon
1/4 t ground ginger
1/8 t ground nutmeg
1/8 t ground cloves

Preheat oven to 350°. Line 2 muffin pans with 24 cupcake liners. Combine all ingredients in standing mixer fitted with whisk attachment and mix on medium high for 3 minutes. Divide evenly between cupcake pans.

Bake approximately 20 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Rotate pans half way through cooking time, if necessary. Remove cupcakes from pans to wire racks and cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting
8 oz cream cheese, softened
4 oz butter, softened
2 lb powdered sugar
1 T vanilla extract

Whip all ingredients until very smooth.

Cookies and Creme Cupcakes

I made these this past weekend for DL White's birthday (hi DL!) These are so chocolatey and moist, they are a must have in every chocoholics recipe file.




Recipe ever so slightly adapted from Bakerella.

for the Cupcakes:
1 1/2 c flour
1/2 c unsweetened cocoa
1 1/4 c sugar
3/4 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
2 eggs
1/2 c vegetable oil
1 t vanilla
3/4 c milk
3/4 c hot water
1 package Oreo cookies (not double-stuffed)

Preheat oven to 350°. Line 2 muffin pans with 24 cupcake liners and place one whole Oreo in each.

In a stand mixer fitted with the beater attachment, mix the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt on low. Add the eggs, oil, vanilla and milk and mix well until thoroughly combined. Add the hot water and mix on medium high speed for several minutes. Batter will be very liquid.

Transfer batter to a large measuring cup and then pour batter into each cupcake liner cup so that it is no more than three quarters full. Cookies will most likely float to the top but it's okay if they don't.

Bake in center of oven for 16-18 minutes. Rotate baking racks half-way through if needed. Let cool completely before frosting.

Yeild approximately 18-24 cupcakes.

for the Frosting:
2 c shortening
2 lb powdered sugar
2 t vanilla
1/4 c milk
20 Oreo cookies, filling removed and crushed

In stand mixer with whisk attached, beat the shortening until smooth. Add vanilla and mix until combined. Add powdered sugar and milk in three additions, scraping down the sides after each.

Place crushed cookies in a shallow bowl. Mound frosting on each cupcake and roll top in crushed cookies until all frosting is covered.






Chef's Note: Bakerella suggested placing broken cookie bits in the bottom of the cupcakes but I really like the "wow" factor of biting into a cupcake and finding a whole Oreo.

Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes with Bailey's Buttercream Frosting

for the Cake
1 c Guinness Stout
1/2 c (1 stick) plus 2 T butter
3/4 c unsweetened cocoa powder
2 c sugar
2 eggs
1 T vanilla extract
3/4 c sour cream
2 c flour
2 1/2 t baking soda
pinch salt
1 recipe cream cheese frosting, to follow

Preheat oven to 350°. Place 24 cupcake liners in muffin pans. Lightly mist liners with non-stick cooking spray.

Place stout and butter in medium saucepan and bring to simmer over medium heat until butter is completely melted. Whisk in cocoa and sugar until smooth and set aside.

Thoroughly combine flour, baking soda, and salt in large bowl. In the bowl of a standing mixer, beat together eggs, vanilla, and sour cream until well blended. Temper egg mixture by adding a small amount of stout and chocolate mixture; beat well. Add remaining chocolate mixture to egg and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture on low speed and beat just until combined.

Pour batter into prepared muffin pans filling 2/3 full. Bake in preheated oven 15 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool pans on cooling rack 5 minutes then remove cupcakes from pans and cool completely before frosting. Store loosely covered at room temperature up to 4 days.

for the Frosting
2 c powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 c butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 c Bailey's Irish Cream, add to taste

In bowl of standing mixer, combine all ingredients and mix on low. Increase speed to medium high and beat 3 minutes or until smooth. Spread on each cupcake just prior to serving. Refrigerate leftover frosting up to two weeks in an airtight container. Yield approximately 3 cups frosting.

Sugar and Spice Pound Cake

1 box Spice Cake mix, recommended: Duncan Hines
1 ~6 oz vanilla instant pudding mix, recommended: Jell-o
1 c milk
3 eggs
1/2 c oil
3/4 c sour cream
1 recipe cream cheese frosting, recipe to follow
sugar sprinkles, for decorating

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour Bundt pan and set aside.

Place cake mix, pudding mix, milk, eggs, oil and sour cream in bowl of standing mixer fitted with whisk attachment. Whisk on low 30 seconds to combine, then mix on medium high 3 to 4 minutes until thick and creamy. Pour into prepared Bundt pan and bake in center of preheated oven 45 to 55 minutes or until pick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool 10 minutes in pan then remove to wire rack to cool completely. Wrap cooled cake in foil or plastic wrap and refrigertate 1 to 12 hours. Place cold cake on platter and pour icing over. Decorate with sugar sprinkles. Serves 18.

Cream Cheese Frosting
8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
1 stick butter, softened
2 c powdered sugar
1/4 c milk

Place all ingredients in bowl of standing mixer fitted with whisk attachment. Whisk on low 30 seconds to combine, then mix on medium high 5 minutes until smooth and no lumps remain. Yield 3 cups frosting.

Chef's Note: If desired, the frosting can be omitted and a light dusting of powdered sugar can be used to achieve the "sugar" portion of the recipe.

Chocolate Lava Cakes

4 squares semi-sweet baking chocolate, recommended: Baker's
1/2 c butter (1 stick)
1 c powdered sugar, sifted
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
6 T flour

Preheat oven to 425°. Butter 4 ramekins or individual souffle dishes and place on a baking sheet.

In large bowl, microwave butter and chocolate one minute, or until butter is melted. Whisk until chocolate is completely melted and no lumps remain. Stir in sugar, whisk in eggs and egg yolks. Add flour and mix well. Divide batter between prepared dishes.

Bake 11-14 minutes or until sides are set but center is still soft (but not shiny). Remove from oven and let stand one minute. Carefully run knife around cake edge to loosen. Place dessert plate on top of ramekin and quickly invert cakes onto plates. Dust with additional powdered sugar and whipped cream if desired. Serve immediately. Serves 4.

Chef's Note: These were incredibly easy to make and amazingly good. The batter contains so much chocolate and so little flour that the centers are like hot fudge, not at all like uncooked cake batter. Wow.

Blueberry Crumb Cake ~ Adapted from The Pioneer Woman Cooks

Cake
1/4 c plus 1 T butter, softened
3/4 c sugar
1 egg
1/2 t vanilla
2 c flour
2& 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/4 c half & half
1/2 c milk
2 to 3 c fresh blueberries

Topping
6 T butter
1/2 c sugar
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 c flour
1/4 t salt

2 T sugar to add after baking, optional

Preheat oven to 350°.

In medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla; mix until combined. Add flour mixture and milk (with half&half) alternately in three additions until incorporated. Gently fold in blueberries until evenly distributed.

Spray a 9 x 13 inch baking pan with non-stick cooking spray. Pour in cake batter and spread until even.

In third bowl (or using the empty bowl from the flour mixture), combine topping ingredients and cut together using a pastry cutter. Sprinkle over top of cake.

Bake cake 40 to 45 minutes, or until golden brown. Sprinkle last 2 T sugar over cake immediately after removing from oven, if desired. Store loosely covered at room temperature.

Serve warm as dessert with ice cream or as breakfast with softened butter or unsweetened whipped cream. Serves 12.

Chef's Note: Who am I kidding? I didn't need any ice cream or whipped cream, I just ate it warm right from the pan!

Tres Leches Cake ~ From The Pioneer Woman Cooks

For Sponge Cake
1 c flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
5 eggs, separated
1 c sugar, divided
1 t vanilla
1/3 c milk

Tres Leches
1 can evaporated milk
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup heavy cream

For Frosting
1 pint heavy cream, for whipping
3 T powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350°. Generously spray 9x13 inch pan with non-stick cooking spray. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. In separate bowl, beat egg yolks with 3/4 c sugar on high speed until yolks are pale yellow. Gently stir in milk and vanilla. Pour egg yolk mixture over flour mixture and stir just until combined.

Beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. With mixer on, pour in remaining 1/4 c sugar and beat until egg whites are stiff but not dry. Add approximately 1 c egg whites into yolk mixture to lighten, stir well. Fold remaining egg white mixture in very gently until just combined.

Pour into prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Turn cake out onto a rimmed platter and cool completely. When cake is cool, cut off outer dry edges and pierce top surface with fork several times.

Combine condensed milk, evaporated milk, and 1/4 c heavy cream in a small pitcher. Slowly drizzle all but 1 c of milk mixture, pouring all the way to edges of cake. Allow cake to absorb milk for 30 minutes.

Whip 1 pint heavy cream with 3 T powdered sugar until soft peaks form. Spread evenly over top and sides of cake. Decorate cake with whole or chopped maraschino cherries, if desired. Cut into squares and serve. Refrigerate leftovers loosely covered. Serves 12.

Chef's Note: I preferred the flavor and texture the next day as it was thoroughly cold but still spongy and moist. However, I took the whipped cream off my slice as I thought it was too rich with all the condensed/evaporated milk. I suppose I could have eaten it with the whipped cream if I had a smaller piece... but who am I kidding?!

Pineapple Upside-down Cheesecake

Cream Cheese frosting, prepared
Double recipe Pineapple Upside-down Cake, prepared
Single recipe Pineapple Cheesecake, recipe to follow
1 c pecans, finely chopped

Pineapple Cheesecake
16 oz cream cheese, softened
2 c sugar
1 t vanilla
2 eggs
14 oz crushed pineapple, drained and dried

Preheat oven to 325°. Cream together cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add eggs and blend just until mixed. Pour into 9" cake pan and bake 30-40 minutes until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely.

To assemble cake, place one prepared pineapple upside-down cake on plate. Invert cooled cheesecake onto bottom layer of cake. Top with second pineapple upside-down cake. Frost side of cake with cream cheese frosting and press chopped pecans into frosting. Store covered in refrigerator. Heat individual pieces in microwave no more than 15 seconds to serve. Serves 16.

Leprechaun Cupcakes

one white cake-mix, prepared to box instructions
food color; red, blue, green, yellow
16 paper cupcake liners
whipped cream

Prepare cake mix and equally divide batter into 6 bowls. Use following chart to add food color to each bowl to make rainbow colors:

Purple: 9 red and 6 blue drops
Blue: 12 drops
Green: 12 drops
Yellow: 12 drops
Orange: 12 yellow and 4 red drops
Red: 20 drops

Line 16 muffin pan wells with cupcake liners. Evenly distribute purple batter among cups, gently spreading batter to edge of cup with spoon. Follow with blue, then green, etc. taking care to cover the underlying color. Fill cupcakes no more than 2/3. Bake per box instructions.

Remove paper cupcake liners prior to serving. Top with whipped cream clouds. Yield 16 cupcakes.

Extreme Chocolate Cake ~ adapted from Allrecipes.com

2 c sugar
1 3/4 c unbleached white flour
1/2 c unsweetened cocoa powder
1 square unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 t baking soda
1 1/2 t baking powder
1 t salt
2 eggs
1 c milk
1/2 c plus 1 T vegetable oil
2 t vanilla
1 c boiling water
double recipe chocolate buttercream frosting~ recipe to follow

Preheat oven to 350°; grease and flour three 9 inch cake pans. Melt unsweetened chocolate in microwave, per package instructions. Set aside.

In bowl of stand mixer, stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla and mix on medium high 3 minutes. Stir in melted chocolate and boiling water by hand and mix well. (note: batter will be extremely runny, this is okay.) Divide evenly between prepared pans.

Bake 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes before removing from pans. Cool completely before frosting.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
1/2 c butter, softened
1/4 c milk
1 t vanilla
16 oz powdered sugar, sifted
1/4 c unsweetened cocoa powder

Beat with electric mixer on medium high 3 minutes, scraping bowl often. Frosts one 8" layer cake.