Friday, February 18, 2011

Black Forest Lava Cake


So this picture doesn't do it justice, but if you love cherries and chocolate, this is an awesome recipe!

4 tablespoons Butter
1/3 cup white sugar
3 eggs (beaten in their own bowl)
1 tablespoon vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup flour
1 1/3 cups bittersweet chocolate chips (I like Ghiradelli)

Preheat oven to 400.
Spray or butter and sugar (sprinkle to coat) muffin pan (6 or 7 muffin cups).
In my Kitchen Aid, I cream butter and sugar. Add beaten eggs. Add the vanilla, then salt. Add flour. Melt choco chips in bowl in 30 second intervals until completely melted. Add into batter and mix until blended. (Just a few seconds in the Kitchen Aid). Pour into the prepared muffin pans. Bake 8-10 min. 8 minutes seems to work great for me.

The pictures I took, I did not have my cakes turned over to look more like a mountain, but however you want to serve it, (even serving them baked in ramkins is great), dust with powdered sugar. Add cherries (cherry pie filling), and can use whipped cream, piped in for added decor/flavor. (Black Forest Cakes definition are cherries, whipped cream, and chocolate cake). I liked just having the powdered sugar. I wish I took a picture of the nice oozy center. These turned out fantastic!! I. ate. two. Ha!

Another thought was to put some cherry pie filling into the muffin pans and THEN the chocolate cake and then bake, turn it over and have the yummy cherries on top, baked into the cake. So I will try that next time. Anyway, this recipe is super fast and easy. The longest part is the melting of the chocolate chips, but totally worth it, as you get to lick the spatula after... yum!

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Food

So I decided to go the food direction and post foods I've made or created on here, because I realized I am pretty passionate about it, I just really enjoy putting flavors together, so why not! And I have REALLY been enjoying the other food blogs I've been reading. It's been so inspiring.

The bad thing is, either I need to take a photography class or a different camera. I tried taking a picture of the creamy artichoke dip I made, and with the flash, it made the food all washed out. So bummed! Anyone have any tips??

So this week I made white wheat bread, salsa verde, artichoke dip, bruschetta, and now I'm going to make molten lava cakes. I have an idea for the lava cakes but first I want to try the regular recipe and then see if my idea works in the next batch. Fun to create! I'll let you know how it turns out. So yeah, bummer about not being able to post the pictures of what I've made so far...

Here is another website that I just discovered that is super cute! If you know anyone that loves food, this site is great for gift giving and having little boutique type items... http://foodzie.com/.

I will keep you posted on my lava cakes.