S'mores Cake

Saturday night was my Uncle Dave's retirement party and I was in charge of providing the cake. His two favorite desserts are chocolate cake (the chocolatier the better) and s'mores (he's big into camping). I decided to try and combine these two favorites into a super S'mores Cake. The results: delicious.

First I made a graham cracker and pecan crust. I just used graham cracker crumbs, pecans that I pulverized in a food processor, sugar, and some melted butter. Btw, did you know that they sell graham crackers already crumbed? How have I never known this before? It's so freakin handy!

So I pressed the crust into the bottom of the cake pans, about a quarter inch deep. Then poured in chocolate cake batter. I used a Betty Crocker recipe, slightly modified, and I tripled it for two cakes. I also had a little bit left over so I made a mini cake for my boyfriend :)

1.5 cups cake flour
1 cup brown sugar
5 tablespoons unsweetened baking cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
6 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

I just threw everything into the kitchen aid except the chocolate chips, mixed it up, then poured it in the pans over the crust. I added the chips at the end and sort of pressed them down into the batter so that they would get melty and yummy inside the cake. I baked at 350 for about 35-40 minutes or so, checking with a toothpick to make sure it was done.

After the cakes cooled, I topped them with my homemade marshmallows. My plan was to use my new creme brulee torch to brown the mallows, but I realized at the last minute that it did not come with butane! Gah! So I turned on the broiler and moved the rack up, thinking that I'd quickly brown the marshmallows in the oven. This was not a good idea... At least, I shouldn't have put the rack so high. I opened the oven door after about 30 seconds and flames shot out at me! After a half second of panic, I turned the broiler off and whacked at my oven with my big oven mitt until the flames subsided. Heartbroken, I carefully pulled the cakes out and found this horror.

Soooooo sad :( And what a waste of all my homemade marshmallows! Double sad! Luckily (extremely luckily because I had to leave in about 10 minutes for my uncle's party), I was able to scrape off the burned mallow mess and the cake was just fine underneath it. I stopped and grabbed some mini marshmallows from the market on the way to the party and tried the boiler thing there with better success the second time. I put them on a slightly lower rack and then did not take my eyes off the cakes until they were done.

The fixed cakes were both pretty and awesomely tasty! Success!! My uncle really loved it and that was what mattered most. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the finished cakes, but I did get a picture of the finished baby cake that I had made extra for my boyfriend. AND I got butane for my torch and was able to use that to brown the marshmallows. THAT TORCH IS SO FUN! I might be a bit of a pyromaniac...

Here's the picture of his cake.

So pretty! Aside from the massive marshmallow meltdown, I'm extremely happy with how this whole thing turned out. I will definitely make it again, probably just mini versions because it's a pretty rich cake. And because mini desserts are adorable. 

I really need to learn to take more pictures. I'm a failure at process pictures.

Ice Cream!

I've ordered my very first ice cream maker and since then have become a little obsessed with looking up ice cream recipes. I've never made homemade ice cream before and I'm super excited because I'm a bit of an ice cream addict. It's bad, guys. My absolute favorite flavor of ice cream is banana, so I think once I have my maker (it arrives today! squeeee!), that will be the first flavor I try. I found a recipe for roasted banana flavor and that sounds like just about the best thing I've ever heard of.

Roasted Banana Ice Cream

Recipe from Brown Eyed Baker

I also want to try some kind of peanut butter banana because yum. I'm sure I will be posting recipes that I concoct with my new ice cream maker. 

People get so creative with ice cream flavors now, it's really fun. I found some great stuff when wandering the internets for inspiration. Here are a couple I found extra interesting..

Popcorn Flavored Ice Cream

Recipe from Butter Sweet Melody

Corn and Three Berry Ice Cream

Recipe from Back to Her Roots

Do you have any favorite funky ice cream flavors?

Gathering and Trying Recipes

One of my favorite things to do is look for new recipes online. An awesome resource for excellent and inventive recipes is TasteSpotting. They post so many cool ideas! I've been pinning ideas on Pinterest for weeks and am trying to decide which ones to try first.

I recently bought some mini tart pans and think I will embark on a tart making journey this weekend. My boyfriend and I are having another couple over to make sushi and watch the Oscars on Sunday, so what would be better for dessert than indulging in some tartlets??

Here are some of the recipes I'm considering...

Strawberry Tartlets with Honey Mascarpone Filling

Recipe from For the Love of Sucrose

Dark Chocolate Raspberry Pistachio Tartlets

Recipe from Life is Great

Banana Cream Tartlets

Recipe from Cook and Be Merry

Caramelized Apple and Honey Tart

Recipe from Citrus and Candy

They all look so good! I think I should stick to just two, but I can't decide which two! I think one will definitely have to be the chocolate raspberry. Because chocolate. Duh. But the second one is totally up in the air. Help me decide!!