Baking in a small place...for a big cause. Part 1

Who just adores and loves their best friend? ...Silly question, I know. My best friend Stephanie holds a very special place in my life and heart. The past 7 years of my life have been brightened beyond anything I could imagine because of her existence in my life. 

I'm such a sap sometimes. ;-) 

Me and my dearest Stephanie getting ready to make dinner. :)

Stephanie and I love nothing better than to spend an evening, day, or whenever we can manage to get together in the kitchen and COOK! We would both love to own a restaurant and create/cook to our hearts content. Maybe someday our dream will come true...not maybe, it will if we want it to! 

....

The Cause: A benefit auction.

The benefit auction was for Stephanie and her husband, Matt. Matt was recently diagnosed with Crohn's Disease. After some doctors visits, tests, and a few surgeries, the medical bills began to pile. While they both work they are not offered health insurance. The auction went well and Stephanie and Matt were incredibly thankful for all that they did receive. :-)

When Stephanie asked me to do a dessert for the benefit auction she was having for her husband, there was no way I could say no. At first we had discussed a cake to just serve along with the meal available for purchase. In the end with decided to go with cupcakes, easier clean up and we could sell them separate! I wanted to make sure we had a variety so I managed to make 4 different cupcakes. 

The Baking: Vanilla, Chocolate, Strawberry, and Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes!

I have to admit that for these cupcakes I did cheat a little and use box mixes from the store with added ingredients to make them a little better. While they may not taste to bad, I'd much prefer to make cakes from scratch. It's worth the extra effort when they turn out and taste delicious. I say when they turn out because I seem to have a difficulty getting the cake/cupcakes to turn out every time. This is what happened this time around...

fell in the center. look below for an even worse example. 

Here's the deal, I have no AC downstairs in my apartment and I have a small kitchen...it was HOT! I think I allowed the butter to get to warm so therefore it resulted in those cupcakes. Butter needs to be at room temperature (65-68 degrees) to get the correct amount of air into the batter. Lesson learned.

Now, on to a better picture of what I did manage to create...

While all the cupcakes did turn out, I'm just going to share one recipe (it was the best one). The Peanut Butter Cup Cupcake! The chocolate cake recipe was one I found here and it's been quite popular. I came across this recipe because making chocolate cake/cupcakes from scratch has yet to be a true success for me. I really do like this recipe, with one adjustment. I decided to not add the chocolate chips...It's still really great! The frosting recipe comes from a traditional whoopie pie filling, I just had the idea of adding peanut butter. Let me just say, I could eat that frosting all day. It paired perfect with the cupcake. To make this a Peanut Butter Cup Cupcake I simply filled the cupcake liners about half full and then placed a Reese's Mini (the new tiny ones) in the center and finished filling the cupcake liner. It was my plan to also add a peanut butter cup on top of the cupcake, but someone (don't look at me) ate too many Reese's ;-) Here are the recipes...be sure to check out the website here for any questions on the recipe...they give step by step photos!

Happy Baking!

The Best Chocolate Cake Ever

Recipe from http://www.kevinandamanda.com

1 box devil’s food cake mix
1 small pkg Jello instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a very large bowl, mix together everything except chocolate chips. Batter will be thick. Stir in the chocolate chips. Pour batter into cake pan of choice (I normally use two 9-inch pie pans). For cooking time, I use the cooking times on the back of the devil’s food cake box as a guide and usually add 10 mins to whatever it says. Then I do the toothpick check, and if it’s not done, I check on it every 5 mins after that. It usually takes around 45 mins for two, 9-inch pie pans.

Peanut Butter Frosting

1 cup vegetable shortening

2 cups powdered sugar

1 small jar marshmallow creme

1/4 cup peanut butter

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat shortening, marshmallow creme, and peanut butter. Mix until combined. Slowly add in powdered sugar followed by the vanilla. Mix until smooth.