Chocolate Bliss

Hello again!  I hope everyone had an amazing holiday!  If you are looking for a yummy dessert to put out at this years New Years Eve party boy do I have a winner!  I started out trying to make my Choco-Cherry Love but due to the fact that my little brother ate so many of my cherries the end result did not have enough Cherries in it to satisfy me into calling this recipe that, however the richness and pure delight of the Chocolate made me realize it was an AMAZING Chocolate cupcake.  So without further ado Chocolate Bliss Cupcakes!

Cake mix: Makes 18 Cupcakes

2 Cups Flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup baking cocoa
1/2 TSP salt
1 TBSP baking soda
1 TBSP White vinegar
3 egg whites
1/2 cup milk
2 TBSP oil (I used olive oil)
3 TBSP Maraschino Cherry juice
1/2 TBSP Vanilla
1 6 Oz jar Maraschino cherries (chopped without the juice)

Mix all ingredients together until smooth and fluffy

Bake at 350 Degrees for 17-19 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean

While the cupcakes are in the oven I used this time to clean up my dishes and prepare my frosting.

Frosting Mix:

2 Cups powdered Sugar
8 melted Lindt Milk Chocolate truffles
1/2 cup whipping cream

Melt down the lindt truffles until completely smooth.  Then place into a metal mixing bowl, add the powdered sugar and mix together until kind of clumpy. (it looks like maybe part of the chocolate has re-solidified.) then add the whipping cream and beat until completely smooth.  This took me about 5 minutes total to make nice and fluffy.


When the cupcakes are nice and cooled I skipped piping the frosting onto these and went ahead and just smoothed it on top with a spoon.  It seemed to work best with the thickness of the frosting.  When they are finished grab a spoon and scrape the remaining melted chocolate from your kettle and drizzle it over the top of the cupcake.

This recipe is so easy and nice and quick that I think it may become one of my favorites to make, and according to my husband it is now one of his favorites to eat!

Until next time, Have a very Happy New Year and Happy Baking!

Nutella-Nana Cupcake

Here is the first of the cupcake recipes for you to enjoy, my boys have each already had two so I am putting it in the win column. Enjoy!


Cupcake batter:

2 Cups Flour
1/2 Cup Sugar
2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
2 Ripe Bananas
1 Teaspoon White Vinegar (I know this one sounds weird but wait until you see how fluffy it makes it)
2 Teaspoons Vanilla
2 Whole eggs
1 Egg White
1/2 Cup Nutella
1/2 Teaspoon Almond Extract
1 Tablespoon baking Cocoa powder
1/2 cup milk

Mix all ingredients together until smooth. Have your Oven pre-heated to 350 degrees.  Put in your Cupcake liners into your cupcake pan (Heads up it made 2 dozen for me) and scoop batter into the cupcake  liners. (I use a small ice cream scoop it fills to the perfect amount and does not overflow the liners while it is baking.  When you oven is preheated put the cupcakes in for 15-17 minutes checking with a toothpick for them to come out clean.  When the toothpick comes out clean pull from the oven and put aside to cool.


While these are cooling you need to get you banana chips in the oven so they can start baking.

Banana Chips:

1 Banana sliced very thin 
Sugar as needed

Place the sliced bananas onto a baking sheet covered in wax paper. Sprinkle the sugar over top as desired. Place in the oven still at 350 degrees and bake for 25-30 minutes.  (Be sure to keep an eye on these I found sometimes they bake a bit faster.

When you get the chips in the oven start on your chocolate dip. 

Chocolate dip:

1 Cup Chocolate Chips
1/2 Teaspoon Almond Extract
1 tablespoon Sugar
3 tablespoons milk

Melt over medium heat. When the chocolate is fully melted I poured it into a small bowl to make the dipping simpler.   At this point your cupcakes should be cooled, if not let them cool you do not want to dip a warm cupcake.  When your cupcakes are at the perfect temperature Turn upside down and gently dip into the chocolate. Put aside for it to cool and continue until all the cupcakes have been dipped.  Put aside so you can make your banana glaze topping.

I started thinking this would be a very thick frosting but as I worked on it the frosting turned more to a glaze, which according to my boys was perfect it made it very yummy but not too sweet.

Banana Glaze:

2 Ripe bananas
2 Tablespoons melted chocolate chips
4 Cups powdered sugar
1/2 Stick cream cheese

Blend it all together until smooth.  When it is all combined grab a small spoon and drizzle onto the top of the cupcakes.

At this point your banana chips should be done and cooled from the oven, remove from the wax paper and place one on top of each cupcake and Tada!  You have made some very yummy cupcakes!!  Now go and enjoy!  I really loved the smell of banana and almond it spread through the house!  Plus they taste so yummy!!!

Until next recipe Happy Baking!

Cupcake Wars inspire me!

When I was growing up I loved watching my mom in the kitchen, the house always smelled amazing, there was always something good to eat, and for a while she even baked for a living! I remember the house being filled with the smells of Chocolate and Cinnamon and vanilla as she baked through the night.  Now 10 years later I live in the family home this time with my husband and kids.  One thing that seemed to come natural to me was always making sure a good smell was coming from the kitchen.  For a while I just searched for new recipes online and tried those, occasionally putting my own spin on them and I was happy with that.  Then came this new addiction...Cupcake Wars on Food Network.  Have you ever watched that show?  If not let me explain, four bakers come together to compete for the title of Cupcake Wars champion.  Each episode is a new and wacky theme.  The bakers are presented with these off the wall challenges and at all times have to create a new recipe on the spot to present to the judges.  As I watched I found myself more and more inspired and as I continued to bake I found myself walking away from it not looking up a recipe but instead creating my own. Today I wanted to share them with people and I thought but how? I was going to simply post it onto Facebook but then thought I want to do more and the idea of this blog was born.  Although I have played with many recipes already this is the first time I have stopped to write it down.  So as my Nutella- Nana (nutella and banana) cupcakes are baking I am writing this introduction with the promise to post the final recipe for this cupcake by the end of the day.  I hope this blog not only brings people the happiness of the yummy smelling house as you play with my recipes but also does what it did for me and inspires you to try some of your own as well!  The oven is beeping so I have to run but with the promise of another post soon!  Happy Baking!!!