Easy Cupcakes & Chocolate Frosting

I was looking for a cupcake recipe that you could use a mix with (so it tasted a little more homemade). I found one on Tidy Mom - I used a yellow cake mix. And we used this recipe from Lauren's Latest for the frosting. Super easy and yummy. Here you go:

Perfect Cupcakes (using a mix)
http://tidymom.net/2007/the-perfect-cupcake-using-a-mix/

Chocolate Frosting
http://www.laurenslatest.com/the-best-and-easiest-chocolate-frosting-birthday-cake/

Brownies with White Frosting

Brownies courtesy of Saltbox House
(http://www.saltboxhousecreations.com/2008/12/have-brownie.html)
Frosting courtesy of The Pioneer Woman
(http://tastykitchen.com/recipes/desserts/thate28099s-the-best-frosting-ie28099ve-ever-had/)

I made these brownies awhile ago for a baby shower. I don't really like chocolate, so I decided to try a different frosting with them. They turned out AMAZING. My favorite combination by far. Here you go:

Lunch Lady Brownies

Ingredients:
1 cup of Butter (I use unsalted)

1/2 cup of Cocoa (I used unsweetened)
2 cups of All Purpose Flour
2 cups of Sugar
4 Eggs

4 teaspoons of Vanilla

1 cup of Chopped Nuts (optional)

Directions:

Melt the Butter in the microwave and put into my mixing bowl, then I add cocoa and mix together until smooth.

Add flour, and sugar. Beat together and then add eggs, vanilla, and nuts (I didn't use nuts). Mix until combined. Do not over stir.

Pour into greased, floured  9x13 baking pan*. 

* An additional part of this recipe said that if you want to double the recipe, use a large baking sheet.

Additional Note * This batter will not be runny like a cake mix. You might have to spread it out over your pan with a rubber spatula.

Bake 20-25 minutes @350 F or until done. I would check at it at 20 minutes. Wait only about 10 minutes to frost brownies. Frost them while they are warm (not hot).

Frosting

Ingredients

• 5 Tablespoons Flour
• 1 cup Milk
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 1 cup Butter
• 1 cup Granulated Sugar (not Powdered Sugar!)

Preparation Instructions

Bake your favorite chocolate cake and let it cool.

In a small saucepan, whisk flour into milk and heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens. You want it to be very thick, thicker than cake mix, more like a brownie mix is. Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature. (If I’m in a hurry, I place the saucepan over ice in the sink for about 10 minutes or so until the mixture cools.) It must be completely cool before you use it in the next step. Stir in vanilla.

While the mixture is cooling, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. You don’t want any sugar graininess left. Then add the completely cooled milk/flour/vanilla mixture and beat the living daylights out of it. If it looks separated, you haven’t beaten it enough! Beat it until it all combines and resembles whipped cream.

Grab a spoon and taste this wonderful goodness. If there is any left after your taste test, spread it on a cooled chocolate cake.

Cut yourself a piece and put it on a pretty plate. Grab a fork and prepare to experience the most divine pairing you can imagine. This frosting on chocolate cake is to die for. Sure, the recipe sounds strange — it has flour in it — but it’s sublime. Try it, you’ll see. You’ll love it so much you won’t go back.

Zucchini Bread

Courtesy of Pam Miller

This is my favorite recipe for Zucchini Bread. I am making it today for a friend of ours, so I thought it was a good time to post the recipe.

Zucchini Bread
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup oil
2 cups Zucchini, peeled and grated
3 tsp. vanilla
3 cups white flour
3 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 cup nuts, optional

Mix together eggs, sugar, oil, zucchini, and vanilla.

Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Put in 2 big or 3 small greased and floured bread pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes.

Spinach Fruit Smoothie

adapted from 100daysofrealfood.com
http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2010/05/17/recipe-tasty-smoothies/

I have tried many smoothies, this seems to be my favorite. It is pretty close to the smoothie on 100daysofrealfood.com, but we narrowed down to the strawberries and add a little more milk. Hope you enjoy.

1 1/2 cup plain yogurt (I use organic)
1-2 bananas (if using frozen, let thaw - hard to blend when frozen)
1 cup strawberries (I used 3/4 cup frozen and 1/4 cup fresh)
1/4 cup (or less) milk
Handful of spinach (1/2-1 cup)

Mix all in blender. Add ice to thicken.

Whole Wheat Banana Bread

Courtesy of 100daysofrealfood.com
http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2011/05/02/recipe-whole-wheat-banana-bread/

Since we've had to make a lot of changes around our house because of health problems, I have began following this blog - and I LOVE IT! This is definitely a favorite around our house. I usually try to make it once a week. You will love it - I promise!

Whole Wheat Banana Bread - Lisa Leake

INGREDIENTS

• 2 ¼ cup whole-wheat flour
• ¾ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 3 ripe bananas, mashed
• ¼ cup plain yogurt
• ¼ cup honey
• 2 eggs
• ⅓ cup oil (I used coconut oil)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease pan.
2. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a separate bowl mix mashed bananas with yogurt, honey, eggs, oil, and vanilla.
4. Fold the banana mixture into the flour mixture until blended. Do not overmix.
5. Pour batter into prepared pan.
6. Bake large loaf for 40 – 50 minutes or until it comes clean with a toothpick.

Chocolate Sauce Topping

Courtesy of The Girl Who Ate Everything
http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2010/06/chocolate-sauce-topping.html

This is the homemade chocolate sauce that we made to go with the eclair cake. It's delicious. You won't ever want store bought sauce again!

Chocolate Sauce Topping

Ingredients:

1/4 cup cocoa

1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup evaporated milk
1/4 cup butter
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla

Instructions:
Stir cocoa and sugar together well. In a saucepan combine milk, butter, salt, and vanilla. Stir in dry mix. Heat, stirring until it reaches a boil and is thick. You want it to coat the back of a spoon. If you want it to be thicker, for a crepe filling for example, boil it a little longer. I boiled mine for two minutes whisking constantly. It will still be thin once you are done with this step. Don’t worry once you let it cool down a bit it will thicken. It will thicken a lot when chilled.

Makes around 1 cup of sauce.

Chocolate Eclair Cake

Courtesy of The Girl Who Ate Everything
http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2009/06/chocolate-eclair-cake.html

Difficulty Level: Easy

I made this cake for Bree's birthday yesterday. And, it was a huge hit! Everyone loved it - and it wasn't hard to make. Tastes just like an eclair. Hope you like it.

Chocolate Eclair Pie
by Debbie Mortensen

Ingredients:
1 cup water
1/2 cup butter
1 cup flour
4 large eggs
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 large box (5.1 ounces) vanilla instant pudding
3 cups milk
1 8 oz. container cool whip (just enough for a thin layer. I don’t use the whole container) or one batch of homemade whipped cream
chocolate syrup or homemade chocolate syrup

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400. Lightly grease a 9″X13″ glass baking pan.

Eclair Crust: In a medium saucepan, melt butter in water and bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Stir in flour. Mix in one egg at a time, mixing completely before adding another egg. Spread mixture into pan, covering the bottom and sides evenly. *If the sides of your pan are too greased you won’t be able to get the mixture to stay up the sides so make sure to just lightly grease.

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown (Mine only took 25 minutes.) You may want to check itoccasionally-you don’t want to overcook the crust, it will ruin the cake! Remove from oven and let cool (don’t touch or push bubbles down).

Filling: Whip cream cheese in a medium bowl. In separate bowl make vanilla pudding. Make sure pudding is thick before mixing in with cream cheese. Slowly add pudding to cream cheese, mixing until there are no lumps. Let cool in fridge.When the crust is completely cooled, pour filling in. Top with layer of cool whip however thick you want it and serve with chocolate syrup. *If you want to make this even better use homemade whipped cream.