Since I made my Vanilla Bean Ice Cream a few weeks ago, I had one lonely vanilla bean lying around in my kitchen, just waiting for a worthy recipe to come along – when I saw this cupcake recipe on Annie’s Eats that sounded fantastic and decided to give it a whirl!  Happily, I had a big end-of-year picnic coming up for work which was about the perfect occasion to make a bunch of cupcakes without my husband and I having to eat them all.  There are not words for how fantastic this recipe came out – the batter was thick and creamy and the cake is light and moist.  I frosted them with a plain vanilla buttercream frosting – usually I shy away from buttercreams, as I find them a bit too rich for most of my recipes – but it accented the vanilla cake really well.  This was also my first adventure with gel food coloring in my frosting – a bit of advice, a little goes a LONG way!  I used about 1/4 tsp to color this entire batch of frosting!  (I used Teal, btw.)  Also, a plug for my favorite decorating device – The Pampered Chef makes an amazing decorating gun – looks a little like you should be using it to caulk a window frame or something, but it is incredibly easy to use and makes my baked goods like professional in no time flat.

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes – from Annie’s Eats

3 cups cake flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 vanilla bean, sliced lengthwise
16 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
5 large eggs, at room temperature
1¼ cups buttermilk, at room temperature
1 tbsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350° F.  Prepare cupcake pans with paper liners.  Set aside.  In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.  Take your vanilla bean halves and scrape the pods to remove the beans – save the pod to make vanilla sugar later – but that’s for a different post.)  Add the butter and the vanilla beans to the bowl of your trusty stand mixer (fitted with the paddle attachment – or, if you have one a bowl-scraping paddle attachment which is the best kitchen investment I’ve made this year), and beat on meadium speed until the mixture starts to appear light and fluffy; about 2-3 minutes.  If you don’t have a paddle attachment that scrapes for you, scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat for about another minute to ensure adequate mixing.  Add the sugar gradually, 1/4 cup at a time, beating for about a minute after each addition.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition until the egg is incorporated.  (Scrape down the bowl between additions here too!)  In a large measuring cup, mix the buttermilk and vanilla together.  As your mixer continues to run on low speed, gradually add the dry ingredients and the liquid ingredients to the butter mixture - alternating between each, and beginning and ending on the dry.  Scrape down the sides again to make sure everything is well incorporated and mix for about 15 seconds longer – be careful not to overmix!  Place the batter into the prepared cupcake pans, filling each liner about 2/3 of the way – this batter is quite thick, so try to get all the bubbles out of the bottom of the cups when you fill them!  Bake for 18-20 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.  Cool completely and frost as desired – enjoy!!

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting – also, from Annie’s Eats

20 tbsp. (2 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1/8 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tbsp. milk

Add the softened butter to your stand mixer bowl and beat on medium high for about 30 seconds or until smooth.  Add the sugar and salt and mix to incorporate – start slow or else your entire kitchen will be covered in powdered sugar!  When the sugar has been completely incorporated (you will probably have to scrape down the sides to get this accomplished), add the vanilla and milk – mix on low for 10-15 seconds.  If you’re planning to use food coloring, this is when to add it!  Increase the speed to high and beat for 4-5 minutes, or until light and fluffy appearing.  Frost away!

Gold cake with chocolate frosting is mother’s favorite cake combination. I’ve had my eye on Hershey’s “Perfectly Chocolate” Chocolate Frosting for awhile now, and Mother’s Day seemed like the perfect opportunity to try it out.

I had really hoped that it would be delicious, because I really wanted her to enjoy her Mother’s Day dessert. This recipe did not disappoint! The frosting is rich and chocolate-y with a fudge-like flavor. It’s a snap to make and spreads quite easily on the cake.

The recipe makes enoug frosting to frost and decorate a 9-inch round layer cake with some to spare. The extra frosting is fantastic by the spoonful.

Hershey’s “Perfectly Chocolate” Chocolate Frosting

Yields about 2 cups of frosting

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
2/3 cup HERSHEY’S Cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Melt butter.
2. Beat in cocoa.
3. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed.
4. Beat in vanilla.

As much as I love to make things from scratch, I?m usually a brownies-from-a-box kind of girl. Grab a box of Betty Crocker mix, throw some sort of chocolate chips on top, and you have a warm, chocolate-y dessert with minimal effort in less than 45 minutes.

I was swayed to attempt making brownies from scratch after my friend Meg brought these amazing chocolate mint brownies for dessert. These brownies require more effort then their boxed counterparts, but resulting dessert is certainly worth it. Since we?ll be visiting with friends for dinner tonight, I opted to make a special dessert treat.

The dense fudge-like brownie is covered with a sweet peppermint frosting and topped with a layer of hardened chocolate. The resulting dessert is more like a piece of candy than a typical brownie. While the final dessert product doesn?t need to be refrigerated, I prefer to store the brownies in the refrigerator and serve them cold. Served straight out of the fridge, these brownies have the taste and consistency of a decadent slice of fudge.

When I received a copy of this chocolate mint brownie recipe from my friend, she had made a few alterations to the original. I have found that her modified measurements (more milk in the frosting, and more chips and butter in the topping) result in smooth, spreadable frosting and enough chocolate topping to easily cover the entire 9×9 surface. Without the changes, I would imagine that the frosting would be too stiff to spread easily and there wouldn?t be enough chocolate topping to cover the brownies. Besides, is it ever possible to have too much chocolate?

Mint Chocolate Fudge Brownies

Adapted from familyfun.go.com

Yields about 2 dozen brownies

Brownies
1/2 cup butter
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

Mint Frosting
1/4 cup softened butter
2 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
4 to 5 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

Chocolate Topping
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
4 tablespoons butter

Brownies
1. Heat the oven to 350? and grease a 9-inch square baking pan. (lining with foil and coating the foil in cooking spray works well too)
2. For the brownies, place the butter and chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high for 1 minute, stir, and microwave for 1 minute more. Stir until smooth.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the sugar and eggs.
4. Stir in the chocolate and the vanilla extract.
5. Stir in the flour and salt until thoroughly combined. Pour into the prepared pan, then bake for 25 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool for at least 1 hour.

Mint Frosting
1. Cream the butter and confectioners’ sugar.
2. Add the milk 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until it is smooth and spreadable.
3. Beat in the peppermint extract.
4. Frost the cooled brownies, cover, and chill in refrigerator for at least1 hour.

Chocolate Topping
1. Pour the chips into a microwave-safe bowl, add the butter, and microwave on high for 1 1/2 minutes or until the chocolate melts.
2. Stir until smooth.
3. Pour the chocolate over the brownies and smooth it with a knife. Refrigerate for 45 minutes or until the coating hardens.

Once the coating has hardened, cut the brownies into 24 pieces. When packaging brownies, place wax paper between layers of brownies to prevent sticking.