My First Catered Party and A Spooktacular Halloween Cake

Last week I catered my first party for 40 people. My friend Holly asked if I would make a cake and heavy hors d'oeuvres for her 40th birthday extravaganza. I immediately said "yes!" then began brainstorming recipes and  ideas. Holly said she wanted a Halloween themed chocolate cake and sliders. I pretty much had carte blanche with the menu and decorating and I had so much fun. Here's what I made. 

I made 1). Ham wrapped Asparagus Spears with Boursin Cheese 2). Cream Cheese with Red Pepper Jelly and Spicy Saltine Crackers 3). Sausage, Garlic and Mushroom Pizza Puffs with Herb Red Sauce 4). Pork Tenderloin Medallions on Hawaiian Rolls served with Pesto Mayo.

I also made 7 Layer Dip with a Sour Cream Spiderweb served with corn chips and Sweet and Spicy Smoky Meatballs (that I forgot to take a picture of). And birthday cake!

My friend Holly doesn't actually turn 40 until December but she wanted to celebrate early with a "Happy Hollyween" party. I wanted to play up the "over the hill" theme so I did a graveyard scene and dug an early grave for her. I used Pepperidge Farm Milano cookies and a black edible marker for the tombstones. I used Peeps Marshmallow ghosts, Brach's pumpkins and edible chocolate rocks for decorating. I used melted dark chocolate and Wilton leaf sprinkles to make the tree. I used this Chocolate Cake Recipe, this Vanilla Buttercream Recipe and Chocolate Ganache to make the 2 layer 12-inch cake. It was a success! 

Spicy Saltine Crackers
(recipe given to me by my aunt Melinda)

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• 1 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 Tablespoon caraway seeds
• 1 Tablespoon cayenne pepper
• 1 Tablespoon dill weed
• 3 Tablespoons dry ranch dressing mix
• 1 box (4 sleeves) Unsalted tops Saltine crackers

In a measuring cup, combine the oil and seasonings. Mix well.

Place the crackers into a 2 gallon Ziploc bag. Pour the seasoned oil over the crackers and shake vigorously until well coated. Let crackers soak up the seasonings for at least one hour or overnight. Leave them in the sealed bag until ready to serve.

Hope you all have a Happy Halloween!

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes & The Pillsbury Giveaway Winner

Yesterday, October 15th, was Infant and Pregnancy Loss Awareness Day. It's a day to remember all the babies that left this world too soon. I lit a candle for my boys and set out a few things that remind me of them. In my cookbook, I shared my story about how I got into blogging, and my struggle with becoming a mom to a live baby. I questioned whether or not to add this to the book because I know many people are uncomfortable with death and some will think that it's irrelevant to baking. However, for me, this is my reality and I never would have started this blog or have written a cookbook if it weren't for the loss of my sons. Losing them made me see things differently, made me love deeper, and opened my life up to so many more opportunities. 

To stabilize the cones, line a cupcake pan with foil, cut a small hole in the center of each indention and place the cone snugly in the center. Don't make the hole too big or the cones will wobble. 

I made these ice cream cone cupcakes for my first born Sam's 6th angel birthday. I've always wanted to make cupcakes in ice cream cones for him and this was finally the year. I had some leftover vanilla buttercream that was tinted a lovely shade of sky blue from a previous project, so I used that to top them. The chocolate malted cupcakes come from Martha's Cupcakes. They were good but the malt flavor was very mild. A malted frosting would be nice on these, maybe even a few malted milk balls, if you're a fan of those. I opted for colorful sprinkles because I imagine any 6 year old boy of mine would love that. 

I love you Sam. Thinking of you and Jack, today and always.

Chocolate Malted Cupcakes 

from Martha's Cupcakes

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• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk, at room temperature
• 1 1/4 cups malted milk powder
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup sour cream, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line cupcake pans with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa powder, both sugars, the baking soda and salt together.  Whisk the milk and malt powder in a measuring cup.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the oil, flour mixture and milk mixture until smooth.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, and stopping to scrape the sides of the bowl once or twice.  Beat in the sour cream and vanilla, mixing just until combined.

Divide the batter among the prepared pans, filling each well about half full.  Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the tops of the cupcakes spring back when lightly pressed and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Transfer the pans to wire racks and let the cupcakes cool for about 5 minutes before removing them from the pans.  Cool completely before frosting.

Makes 28 cupcakes.

NOTE: I made 1/3 batch of this cupcake recipe and yielded 10 ice cream cone cupcakes. To make the ice cream cone cupcakes, fill cones 2/3 full and bake til a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 15-18 minutes. 

The winner of the Pillsbury Celebrate More Fall Celebration Kit and $100 gift card is....

Commenter #4 Lisa Ghenne from The Cutting Edge of Ordinary. This is what she said she loves about Fall...

"EVERYTHING! I can't wait for autumn to arrive. Sweaters, cozy socks, pumpkins, apples, chilly nights by the fire pit, soups, stews, casseroles! I love it all! Thanks for the chance at this sweet prize! Pun intended!"

Congratulations Lisa! Please email me with your address to claim your prize!

Chocolate and Roses

 There are so many ways to frost a cake. You can spoon it on, schmear it on with a butter knife, you can create swirls and dips with the back of a spoon, you can create an ultra smooth exterior and you can pipe it on. I'm a big fan of super smooth frosting- it's the perfectionist in me that gets all giddy by flawless buttercream :-) I generally only pipe frosting when I'm doing a border on a cake or when decorating cupcakes. But I've wanted to try the piped "rose" look on a cake for awhile and I finally had the opportunity to. It's so easy!

I used a Wilton 2D tip to pipe this. I use this one the most because it makes great flowers and ruffles depending how much pressure you apply. This was my first time trying this so it's not perfect but this technique is good for hiding flaws too. You can go to Bella Cupcakes for a step-by-step on how to do this. 

I made a Devilishly Moist Chocolate Cake recommended by my friend Paloma and covered it in Berry Buttercream. The recipe for the cake is below, but you'll have to get my cookbook if you want the mixed berry buttercream recipe :-) You can use any buttercream recipe you want though to create the swirled roses on this cake or any other cake or cupcakes. Though I have to say, this cake was really good (and stayed moist for several days)!

Devilishly Moist Chocolate Cake 

slightly adapted from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle via Food.com

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• 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup natural cocoa powder (not Dutch processed)
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 2/3 cups sugar
• 1/3 cup oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1/3 cup whole milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water

Position oven rack in the center of the oven; preheat oven to 325°. Grease bottom and sides of a 9x3 inch round cake pan; dust the pan with flour and set aside.

Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt the bowl of an electric mixer. Add the sugar, and using the paddle attachment, mix at low speed until blended.

Add the oil and mix a few seconds, until the dry ingredients are crumbly.

In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs until blended.

Whisk in the milk and vanilla extract until blended.

With the mixer at low speed, add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and mix until blended, scraping down the sides of bowl as needed.

Gradually add the boiling water and mix just until blended and smooth; scraping down sides as needed.

Pour batter into cake pan.

Bake for 45-55 minutes, until a pick comes out clean.

Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes.

Invert cake onto the wire rack and cool completely. Frost as desired.

Makes 1 9-inch round cake

If you missed it, I announced the winner of the Smucker's giveaway HERE!