Chocolate Cake Pops

I am a terrible mess in the kitchen.

And so you can imagine the chocolate on the walls, sprinkles on the floor, cake bits all over my coutertops while i was making these cake balls.

but despite being a huge setback on your new year's resolution to keep things tidy AT ALL TIMES, these cake pops are worth it.

Nest i am going to try a carrot cake pop. I have to.

The Ganache recipe is over here and One-Bowl chocolate cake recipe is over here.
Hop to it!

Chocolate Ganache

Add a splash of rum if you are feeling indulgent.

One-Bowl Chocolate Cake

This, essentially, is a diet chocolate cake.

What am I doing baking a diet cake when i am in no need of a diet?

Well, i think i have mentioned before that i am not a chocolate-cake lover. Or, in that case, a brownie lover. I love my chocolate but i love it plain. Straight out of the packet, a chunk of a bar. I will name my future cat Cadbury.

So what do i do when i FEEL like eating a chocolate cake but i know that about 99% of the recipe on the Internet will give me a dense, oogey gooey rich chocolate cake?

I google "Light Chocolate Cake Recipe'.

It took a fair amount of searching and skipping recipes because of horrible review, but i eventually found this one. I was skeptical at first. A cake made out of Olive oil? no BUTTER? But the review were phenomenal. SO i had to try it out.

It did not taste like a diet cake.
At all.

It sort of tasted like one of those box-cake mixes i love so much. Sans the preservatives and artificial flavouring. My sister, who isn't terribly fond of chocolate confectioneries as well, whacked about 1/3 of the cake by dinnertime.

You don't have to be on a diet to eat this. but if you ARE on a diet. Say hello to your new best friend!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

What kind of baker would i be if i didn't have a chocolate chip cookie staple recipe?

And these cookies are 'da bomb.
crisp and brown on the edges and gooey and chewy and divine in the middle.

Man, I am still hungry.

If you want to shake it up a little, add white chocolate chips. Or butterscotch chips. Or peanut butter chips.
Well, whatever floats your boat.

I love walnuts and semisweet hersheys bake-able chocolate morsels.

Mmm.
Now ponder this: Should i ask for a giant tower of chocolate chips cookies for my sixteenth birthday 'cake'?
Fancy Schmancy sweet sixteen cakes are so overrated.

I'll have a leaning tower of choc. chip goodness.

Pros:
1. i don't need to CUT the cake into slices
2. You don't need to feel bad asking the hostess to cut you another slice. just nip one right off the tower.
3. i like cookies more than cake
4. i ESPECIALLY love these cookies

cons:
1. i might finish the whole cake myself

well, then.
it looks like i am having a birthday cookie tower.

Cream Puffs

I love this recipe.

Make them into little balls and you have cream puffs.
Roll them a little long into logs and top with chocolate ganache once they are done, and you have elcaires.

Brush the little balls with egg wash and cross hatch like and peanut butter cookie and sprinkle some pearl sugar and you have those deliciously delicate french pastries, choquettes.

this is the ever-versatile choux pastry recipe. Mine is a Japanese take on the choux recipe.

It tastes incredibly similar to those custard-filled giant cream puffs that exploded in my face (quite literally) on my trip to Hokkaido.

Next i need to master the cream puff swans.

Something just fills me with glee when i think of eating cream-filled swan puffs.

Fill these babies with buttercream or custard.
If you are daring, vanilla ice cream.

In fact, i stuff my puffs (heh. heh.) with a variety of ingredients. the whackier the better. I like fig jam and kaya (coconut custard) and peanut butter and mousse.

Try it out. go crazy.

Rainy-Day S'mores

Okay, who can't make a S'more?
Even a three year-old could.
(But SHOULDN'T given the fact that the marshmallows need to be TOASTED)

But when it's raining out and you're really hungry and are craving the ooey-gooey-ness of marshmallows with the sweet tang of chocolate, the crisp bite of crackers and the saltiness of some quality nut butter, Here's a fail-proof pick-me-up.

You could try to mix things up a but and try almond butter.
Or Nutella-double chocolately goodness.

Blondies

I have a confession:
I am not a brownie lover.

Which is shocking, right?
what 16-year old girl who has a sweet tooth the size of alaska hates a dense, fudgey, oogey gooey chocolate brownie?

(This one)

Then Rachel came to school one day with a box full of betty crocker box-mix brownies.
Best. Brownies. Ever.

And i realised why i loved them.
They were light and crisp on the outside. they weren't dense or overly-rich or glue-your-jaw-shut chewy.

So i was a girl on a misson:
To make a spongy light brownie WITHOUT THE BOX MIX.
(somethign about the box mixes just isn't quite right)

So i went home and opened up my big book of THE NEW BEST RECIPE.
Which is, for the record, the best recipe book you'll ever find because all the recipes have been tested and tried out again and again so they are pratically idiot-proof for baking dummies such as myself.

And i found it!
My brownie recipe! Alas!

Then, i discovered obstacle No. 1: Sarah had used the last of our baking chocolate for chocolate lava cakes.

I wanted to cry out in despair.
A brownie without chocolate?
What was that?

Apparently--a blondie.

I was about to slam the book shut in frustration whne i spotted the recipe right beside the brownies.
Blondies.
Brownies-chocolate+white chocolate chips.

Perfect!

Now i am going to lie and say that i DID NOT, under any circumstances, finish 7 pieces before it was even teatime.

So since i DID NOT eat that many (ahem ahem)
It would be perfectly alright if i just had... one more?