Thought for Food

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup of brewed coffee or espresso
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Frosting
1/2 cup butter
2 tbs. cocoa
1/4 cup milk
1-1/2 cups icing sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400 F and lightly grease a baking pan. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour and sugar. In a heavy saucepan over medium heat, combine butter, coffee and cocoa. Stir constantly until heated to a boil. Pour boiling mixture over flour and sugar. Add buttermilk, eggs, baking soda and vanilla. Mix well, using a wooden spoon or high-speed mixer. Pour batter into baking pan. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until done in centre.

Meanwhile, prepare the frosting combining butter, cocoa and milk in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir frequently until heated to a boil. Mix in powdered sugar and vanilla and stir until smooth. Pour warm frosting over brownies as soon as they come out of the oven. Cool and cut into squares.

Del.icio.us Tags: Baking, Recipes, Chocolate, Brownies

Posted by Ian McKenzie at 05:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

2 cups grated carrots
juice of one orange
2 tsps vanilla extract
1/4 cups canola oil (or 1/2 cup apple sauce)
1 cup honey
1/2 cup crushed pineapple, drained
1 cup unbleached flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Mix the first six ingrediants together in a bowl. Mix the dry ingrediants together in a seperate bowl. Stir chopped walnuts into dry ingrediants.

Add the dry ingredients to the carrot mixture and stir until just mixed.

Pour into a greased and floured 8" square pan and bake at 350 degrees, for 45-50 minutes or until a knife blade inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove from oven, cool slightly and turn out onto a plate.

Del.icio.us Tags: Baking, Recipes, Carrot Cake

Posted by Ian McKenzie at 05:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

9 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped
9 oz. milk chocolate, chopped
3 cups sour cream
2 tsp. vanilla

Melt the two kinds of chocolate in a double boiler over low heat. When the chocolate is almost melted, remove from heat and stir until smooth. Using a wire whisk or electric beater, beat in the sour cream and vanilla until the mixture is smooth and well blended. This will generously fill and frost a 9" two layer cake.

Technorati Tags: Baking, Recipes, Frosting, Cakes

Posted by Ian McKenzie at 09:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

When done well, cat litter cake looks as gross as it sounds. One would hope that the need for never-used (at least for their intended purposes) cat-litter equipment would be self evident. Nonetheless, I do bring that to your attention.

1 box spice cake mix
1 box of white cake mix
1 package white sandwich cookies
1 large package vanilla instant pudding mix A few drops green food colouring
12 small Tootsie Rolls or equivalent

Serving Dishes and utensils
1 NEW cat-litter box
1 NEW cat-litter box liner
1 NEW litter scooper

Prepare and bake cake mixes, according to directions, in any size pan.
Prepare pudding and chill.
Crumble cookies in small batches in blender or food processor.
Add a few drops of green food colouring to 1 cup of cookie crumbs.
Mix with a fork or shake in a jar. Set aside.
When cakes are at room temperature, crumble them into a large bowl.
Toss with 1/2 of the remaining cookie crumbs and enough pudding to make the mixture moist but not soggy.
Place liner in litter box and pour in mixture.

Unwrap 3 Tootsie Rolls and heat in a microwave until soft and pliable.
Shape the blunt ends into slightly curved points.
Repeat with three more rolls.
Bury the rolls decoratively in the cake mixture.
Sprinkle remaining white cookie crumbs over the mixture, then scatter green crumbs lightly over top.

Heat 5 more Tootsie Rolls until almost melted.
Scrape them on top of the cake and sprinkle with crumbs from the litter box.
Heat the remaining Tootsie Roll until pliable and hang it over the edge of the box.
Place box on a sheet of newspaper and serve with scooper.

Technorati Tags: Baking, Cakes, Kitty Litter Cake, Fun, Parties, Recipes

Posted by Ian McKenzie at 07:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Mix together:
4 cups chopped apples
2 cups sugar
and let sit about 15-20 minutes.

Beat the following:
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoon vanilla
and stir into apple mixture.

Sift into the wet ingrediants:
2 cups flour
2t baking soda
2t cinnamon
1t salt

Stir in:
1 cup walnuts

Bake at 325 for 45 minutes or until crumbs don’t stick to a toothpick.

Top with Cream Cheese Frosting:
3 oz cream cheese
3 T margarine
1/2t vanilla
Beat and add 2 cups of powered sugar. If it’s too thin, add a little bit of milk [The Red Kitchen]

Technorati Tags: Recipes, Baking, Cake, Apple, Walnut

Posted by Ian McKenzie at 07:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)