Egg less Chocolate Cake

My husband has a co-worker who is vegetarian and he asked if I had ever made an egg less cake. I have not, but thought I would take the bait. I came across this recipe for Wacky Cake that I decided to make. The cake was moist and had a nice chocolate flavor. For me- the icing was the best part! This definitely wouldn't be my first choice for a chocolate cake, but it is nice to know there is a good egg less recipe if I need one. After making it, I have found that there are a lot of versions of Wacky Cake on the Internet. I might just have to try another one or two.

The only issue I had with this is that the cocoa in the icing clumped a little and you can see small dark specs in the finished icing. The recipe does say to not let the icing boil and mine did slightly boil. I'm not sure if that has anything to do with it or not. I will now be on a quest to figure this one out! Stay tuned...

Ingredients

3 cups flour

6 tbsp cocoa

2 cups sugar

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

3/4 cup oil

2 tbsp vinegar

2 tsp vanilla

2 cups water

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Mix all ingredients until smooth and spread into a 9x13 inch prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool cake completely before icing.

ICING

Ingredients

1/4 cup butter

1 1/2 tbsp cocoa

3 tbsp milk

2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions

Melt the butter, cocoa and milk in a saucepan. Do not boil. Remove from heat and add the powdered sugar. Stir in the vanilla. Spread icing over cake.

ENJOY!

Texas Sheet Cake

Can you believe that I have lived my entire life in Texas and have never made a "Texas Sheet Cake"? I'm not even sure that I have tasted very many. I looked at quite a few recipes and read many reviews and decided on this recipe.

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour

2 cups sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup sour cream

2 eggs

1 cup butter

1 cup water

5 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

6 tbsp milk

5 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup butter

4 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.

Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. Beat in the sour cream and eggs. Set aside. Melt the butter on low heat in a saucepan, add the water and 5 tbsp cocoa. Bring mixture to a boil and remove from heat. Allow to cool slightly, then stir cocoa mixture into the dry ingredients, mixing until blended.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

For the icing: In a large saucepan, combine the milk, 5 tbsp cocoa and 1/2 cup butter. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat. Stir in the powdered sugar and vanilla, then fold in nuts, mixing until blended. Spread frosting over warm cake.

** My cake ended up needing to bake about 15 minutes longer than suggested. Also, make sure to start the icing about 10 minutes before the cake should be done to keep the right consistency.

The icing was to die for and I may or may not have licked the spoon clean (after I was done icing the cake, of course)! This was very rich and the texture was something between a brownie and fudge. In all honesty, I wasn't really sure what Texas Sheet Cake is "supposed" to be like, so I can't say if this is "the best" recipe or not. I think I will have to just suffer through a few more recipes to make a more informed decision! Stay tuned!

I apologize for falling behind in my postings! All I can say is that sometimes life gets in the way! I have lots of recipes and posts to get caught up on soon!

Happy cooking!

Brownie Mosaic Cheesecake

Surprisingly, I haven't made a lot of cheesecake in my baking days. But, I am on a mission to change that! When I saw this Brownie Mosaic Cheesecake on Amber's Delectable Delights (originally from Smitten Kitchen), I knew I HAD to make it! Don't let all of the steps scare you away! It does take a little time to make and requires you to make it ahead of time, but it is well worth the effort!! This is one I would definitely recommend making the day before you plan to serve. I did make a few slight changes below. I made this for Valentine's dessert for my wonderful husband!

Brownies

Ingredients

4 oz unsweetened chocolate

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter

1 3/4 cups sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup flour

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Line a 13 x 9 inch pan with foil and grease foil.

Place chocolate and butter in a pan on the stove and cook over low heat until melted, stirring frequently. Stir in sugar. Blend in eggs and vanilla. Add flour and salt and mix well. Spread mixture into prepare pan.

Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with fudgy crumbs- be careful not to over bake! I use a convection oven and baked for 28 minutes. Cool in pan on wire rack. Remove brownies from pan using foil to lift.

Once brownies are cooled, cut them into 3/4 inch squares. This recipe yields far more than the 2 cups that you need for the cheesecake. So, I start cutting the cubes until I have the 2 cups. Then I am free to cut the remainder a little larger and have brownies for a snack!

Crumb crust

(Amber recommends making a double batch if you like a lot of crust. I have tried it both ways and although I love the crust, I still prefer the single batch. But it's totally a personal choice as yo might like it thicker!)

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups or 5 oz finely ground Oreos

5 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

1/3 cup sugar

1/8 tsp salt

Directions

Stir together ingredients and press into the bottom and 1 inch up the side of a buttered 10" springform pan. You can fill this right away or chill up to 2 hours.

Cheesecake

Ingredients

3 (8 oz each) packages of cream cheese, softened

1 cup sugar

4 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla

Directions

Make crumb crust as directed above.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat together cream cheese and sugar with mixer until fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, then vanilla. Beat on low speed until each is incorporated and scrap sides between additions.

Fold brownie cubes gently into mixture and pour mixture into prepared pan. Place springform pan in a shallow baking pan (to catch drips- trust me and do this part!). Bake in the middle of the oven for 45 minutes, or until cake is set 3 inches from edge but center is still slightly wobbly when you shake the pan.

When completely cool, top with the following glaze.

Ganache Glaze

Ingredients

3 oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped (I used semi sweet chocolate)

4 tbsp unsalted butter

1/4 cup heavy cream

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 tbsp powdered sugar

Directions

Place the chopped chocolate in a medium mixing bowl. Scald the butter and cream together in a saucepan. Pour the cream mixture over the chocolate and stir until the chocolate is completely melted. Whisk in vanilla and powdered sugar until smooth. Spread over cheesecake while ganache is warm. Chill cheesecake until ready to serve.

Enjoy a piece of yummy cheesecake!

Cinnamon Streusel Cake

I'm going to start with my son's favorite dessert right now since I have made this at least once a week this past month! He loves what he calls "cinnamon cake"! The past few months I have tried many coffee cake recipes that have ended in disappointment- none were just quite right. So, I decided to experiment with combining elements from different recipes. The result is a very moist cake with a hint of yummy gooey cinnamon in the middle and a yummy streusel topping. My family has declared this one a definite winner! Enjoy!

Cake
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup sour cream

Filling
1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Streusel topping
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tbsp flour
3/4 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp cold butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9 inch square baking pan. Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
In another bowl, cream together sugar, eggs, butter and vanilla. Slowly beat in the flour mixture and sour cream, alternating. Spoon half of the batter into the pan. Mix the brown sugar and cinnamon for the filling and sprinkle over the batter. Spoon the remaining batter over the filling (this won't be smooth- just dollop it on until you run out).
Combine the sugar, flour and cinnamon for the streusel topping. Cut in the cold butter with a pastry blender (or I use my hands) until it is about pea sized. Sprinkle topping evenly over batter.
Bake for 35-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.