Chocolate | Picture Perfect Cooking

Posts Tagged ‘Chocolate’

Exquisite Chocolate Cherry Cake

Posted in Cooking, tagged Baking, cherry, Chocolate, Chocolate Cherry Cake, The Lady Behind The Curtain Dessert Challenge, The Southern Lady Cooks on February 13, 2013| 19 Comments »

Lady Behind the Curtain Dessert Challenge

I usually post a new recipe every Saturday, but this week’s recipe is part of new special link party hosted by The Lady Behind The Curtain. It is the first edition of her “Behind the Curtain Dessert Challenge”! She will give all of us participating bloggers two ingredients to use and we will either find or create a recipe using those. This month’s ingredients are chocolate and cherry and this is my contribution…The Southern Lady Cooks’ Exquisite Chocolate Cherry Cake.

I had never used chocolate and cherries together so I went on an online hunt for a recipe to try . The Southern Lady Cooks is one of my favorite food blogs and when I saw she had this cake on her site, I knew it would be good. I wasn’t wrong…this cake is so moist and flavorful. Most of the other chocolate cherry cake recipes I found were made with a cake mix and there isn’t anything wrong with that, but I had a feeling that Southern Lady’s would be better since it was from scratch. This would be a great special occasion cake especially for Valentine’s Day.

For the cake:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup baking cocoa

1 1/4 cups white sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 cup buttermilk (I used 4 tbsp. dried buttermilk & 1 cup water.)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 (21 ounce) can cherry pie filling

For the frosting:

3/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk

3 tablespoons butter

3 tbsp. milk

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large mixing bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cocoa, sugar, and dried buttermilk. Mix well with whisk. Add eggs, melted butter, water (for dried buttermilk), vanilla extract and cherry pie filling mixing well each time with a spoon.

Prepare a Bundt pan by spraying with non-stick spray and sprinkle in cocoa to coat. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven 55 to 60 minutes until center is cooked. Let cake cool for 20 minutes before removing from Bundt pan.

Combine sugar, sweetened condensed milk and butter in pan on top of stove. Bring to boil and cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat and add regular milk, vanilla and chocolate chips. Stir with spoon or whisk until chips are melted. Pour over the cooled cake.


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Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake

Posted in Cooking, tagged Baking, Bundt cake, Cake, Chocolate, Chocolate Chips, Cooking, Peanut Butter, Pinterest, The Big Green Bowl, Yellow cake mix on January 19, 2013| 22 Comments »

I am a sucker for semi-homemade Bundt cakes using a cake mix as a base. I have posted about three such cakes in the past: chocolate chip Bundt cake, moist caramel apple cake, and chocolate Bundt cake. I found this new version on Pinterest from the blog The Big Green Bowl and knew I had to try it.

This is really tasty and, like most Bundt cakes, is better the day after it is baked. The Big Green Bowl used a peanut butter glaze on hers, but also included a recipe for a chocolate glaze so I went all out and used BOTH glazes.

For the cake:

1 pkg. yellow cake mix

1 cup milk

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1 tsp. vanilla

3 eggs

1 cup chocolate chips

For the peanut butter glaze:

1/4 cup cream peanut butter

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup milk, more or less

For the chocolate glaze:

2 tbsp. butter

2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 cup heavy cream

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a Bundt pan by spraying with Baker’s Joy (best stuff ever) or grease and flour.

Beat all cake ingredients except the chocolate chips for two minutes at medium speed. Stir in chips. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool in the pan for 10 minutes then remove and let cool completely.

For the chocolate glaze:

Melt the butter in a small pan over low heat. Add the cocoa and cream. Cook and stir for about two minutes or until the mixture thickens. Do not boil. Remove from the heat and whisk in the vanilla and powdered sugar until smooth. Pour over the cake and let cool.

For the peanut butter glaze:

Whisk all the ingredients together. You may add a little more sugar or milk to get the desired consistency. Pour over the cake and allow to set up. Slice and enjoy!

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Baked S’mores

Posted in Cooking, tagged Baked Perfection, Baked S'mores, Baking, Chocolate, Marshmallow, Pinterest on November 24, 2012| 13 Comments »

I really like s’mores, but we are not really into campfires too much so I was delighted to find this baked version. The recipe originates from Baked Perfection, but I, of course, found it on Pinterest and saved it for later. Later finally came and these bars are so ooey, gooey good! Hurry to the store and pick up the ingredients because these are awesome.

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (approximately 7 full graham crackers)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 super-sized (5 oz.) dark chocolate bars (e.g. Hershey’s)(I didn’t check my bar size so I ended up with HUGE chocolate bars, but don’t worry because the extra didn’t go to waste.)
1 1/2 cups marshmallow crème/fluff (not melted marshmallows

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and prepare a 8×8 inch baking pan.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg and vanilla.

Whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt. Add the flour mixture to butter mixture and mix at a low speed until combined. Divide dough in half and press half of dough into an even layer on the bottom of the prepared pan.

Then layer the chocolate over the cookie dough…

THEN layer the marshmallow crème over the chocolate and top that off with the remaining cookie dough. You will probably have to carefully work the dough over the crème to have complete coverage.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until lightly browned. Let cool completely and then try to keep from eating the whole pan by yourself. It will be hard to do, I promise. As you can tell by the photo below, I didn’t let mine cool quite enough before cutting into it. Oh, well…

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Turtle Cake

Posted in Cooking, tagged Baking, Cake, Caramel, Chocolate, Cooking, Midwest Living Magazine, Turtle Cake on June 16, 2012| 18 Comments »

Anyone who reads this blog with any regularity knows that I LOVE chocolate and I think caramel is pretty tasty, too. My MIL subscribes to a magazine called “Midwest Living”, which is a lot like Southern Living just about the Midwest. This awesome looking cake was featured in one of these books and I knew I had to make it as soon as possible.

I think I have found my new favorite cake recipe because this is one of the best things that I have ever put in my mouth. I am not a coffee fan. Love the smell, hate the taste, so I have never been brave enough to try a chocolate cake recipe with brewed coffee as an ingredient. Coffee is included in this cake and now I know why so many recipes to include it. There wasn’t a strong coffee flavor, and the cake was so moist from it. This would make an awesome birthday cake or even a groom’s cake. It is that good!

1 egg, slightly beaten

1 cup buttermilk or sour milk (see note)

2/3 cup cooking oil

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 3/4 cups sugar

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder + a little extra for dusting the pans

1 tablespoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

Chocolate Frosting (see recipe)

1 1/2 cups pecan halves, toasted

3/4 cup purchased caramel ice cream topping

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Prepare three 9” cake pans by spraying with non-stick spray and dusting with extra cocoa powder. Then line them with wax paper circle. In a small bowl, combine the egg, buttermilk and cooking oil.

In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Gradually add buttermilk mixture to flour mixture, beating with an electric mixer until combined. Gradually beat in hot coffee. Pour batter into prepared pans; spread evenly. Layers will appear thin.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool for about 10 minutes in the pans then turn the cake layers out of the pans to cool completely.

Chocolate Frosting

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup milk

6 tablespoons butter

12 ounce package (2 cups) semisweet chocolate pieces

1 – 2 teaspoons freshly brewed hot coffee

In a small saucepan, combine sugar and milk. Add butter. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add semisweet chocolate pieces. Using a wire whisk, mix until smooth. If frosting is too thick or grainy, stir in coffee.

Now here comes the fun part…

Place 1 cake layer, top-side down, onto a serving plate. Using an icing spatula or wide knife, frost the top of this layer with one-third of the frosting, pushing it out slightly from edges to make ripple or petal effect. Arrange one-third of the pecans on top and drizzle with 1/4 cup of the ice cream topping. Top with the second layer, top-side down. Repeat with frosting, pecans and caramel topping. Top with the third layer, right side up. Repeat with remaining frosting, pecans and caramel topping. Chill for 1 to 2 hours before serving.

Just look at all that decadence. Mmmmm…wish I had a piece right now.

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Peanut Butter Blossoms

Posted in Cooking, tagged Baking, Chocolate, Cookies, Peanut Butter, Peanut Butter Blossoms on March 17, 2012| 2 Comments »

Last Christmas, I was looking for a few new sweets to try and I kept seeing this recipe again and again. It looked so good and pretty simple, too, so I decided to add it to my holiday cookie/candy tray. You can’t go wrong with peanut butter and chocolate and this little cookie is no exception. I really liked it and will definitely be making it again!

40 HERSHEY’S KISSES Brand Milk Chocolates

1/2 cup shortening

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

1 egg

2 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and prepare a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Beat shortening and peanut butter in large bowl until well blended. Add 1/3 cup granulated sugar and brown sugar; beat until fluffy. Add egg, milk and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into peanut butter mixture.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in granulated sugar; place on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Unwrap the chocolate Kisses while the cookies are baking. Immediately press a chocolate into center of each cookie; cookie will crack around edges. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. I had to play around with my camera while I was waiting for the cookies to bake.

Please join me and other wonderful cooks over at Miz Helen’s Country Cottage for Full Plate Thursday.

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Coca Cola Cake

Posted in Cooking, tagged Baking, Cake, Chocolate, Cooking on December 3, 2011| 14 Comments »

Way back in July, my in-laws treated me to dinner at Cracker Barrel for my birthday. The food was so yummy and the highlight was dessert-Double Chocolate Fudge Coca-Cola Cake. Oh-my-goodness! It was just a rich and decadent as it sounds. One day at work, I was talking about this cake and one of my co-workers said that she had made it before. Silly me had not thought about searching for a copy recipe but I did and found one on MayFlaum.com. This is so good and so decadent and so rich! I could go on and on, but I won’t. I will just show you the recipe so you can go quickly and make one for yourself and your family.

Here are two little notes before that though: 1. I left out the pecans and powdered sugar in the ingredients photo. I didn’t read far enough into the recipe before I took the picture. Oops! 2. I made this in two 8” baking pans instead of one 9×13” pan because I was sharing with C’s parents.

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups granulated sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

3 sticks unsalted butter, divided

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, divided

1 1/2 cup Coca-cola, divided

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

4 cups powdered sugar

1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare a 13×9” baking dish. Sift together the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and cinnamon. Set aside. In a saucepan over medium heat, melt 2 sticks of butter with 1/4 cup cocoa powder, 1 cup Coca-cola and 1/2 cup buttermilk. Cook until it boils.

Add the boiled mixture to the flour mixture and combine. Then add eggs and vanilla extract. Pour the batter into the baking pan and cook for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of cake comes out clean.

During the last 10 minutes of baking, prepare the glaze. In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the remaining 1 stick of butter with 1/4 cup cocoa powder and 1/2 cup Coca-cola. Let this come to a boil and then remove from heat. Beat in the 4 cups of powdered sugar and stir in the chopped pecans. Pour the warm glaze over the hot cake. Let the cake cool for a little while and then DIG IN!!!

Join me at Miz Helen’s Country Cottage for Full Plate Thursday!

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Peanut Butter Cup Brownies

Posted in Cooking, tagged Brownies, Chocolate, Peanut Butter, Pinterest on October 22, 2011| 6 Comments »

How could you possibly go wrong with a recipe that includes brownies, peanut butter, chocolate chips and peanut butter chips? You can’t!!! These bite size delights are scrumptious and hard to resist or at least they were for me. I will definitely have to share the love with these so I don’t eat them all.

This little goodie was found on Pinterest, but it originates from Baked Perfection which is an very appropriate name. If you are a chocolate and peanut butter fan, give these a whirl.

1 box brownie mix

1/2 cup peanut butter chips

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place paper liners in a mini-muffin pan and set aside. I got 2 batches of minis out of this recipe. Prepare the boxed brownie mix according to package directions. Spoon batter evenly into muffin cups (about 1 heaping teaspoon). I used a small scoop and that worked great. Bake for 13-15 minutes or until top is set and the center is still slightly wet.

After brownies are out of the oven, wait for centers to fall. This will happen upon cooling. If not then tap the centers with the back of a spoon to make a hole for the peanut butter.

Place the peanut butter in a small microwave safe bowl. Microwave on high for 45 seconds then stir. While the brownies are still warm, spoon about half a teaspoon of peanut butter into the center of each brownie. Top with chocolate and peanut butter chips. Cool completely and enjoy!

Please join me at Miz Helen’s Country Cottage for Full Plate Thursday!

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Caramel Pecan Brownies

Posted in Cooking, tagged Baking, Brownie, Caramel, Chocolate, Pecan on August 6, 2011| 23 Comments »

I love chocolate as many of you who read this blog should be able to tell, but I also love caramel and pecans, too. Well, guess what? This brownie recipe combines all of those into one ooey-gooey piece of heaven. I found this in the Fall 2010 edition of Kraft Food and Family magazine, but it got pushed back in my recipe drawer and I had not made it.

Let me tell you, it was worth the wait! If you have a chocolate lover in your household, please make these for them. You will be their new favorite person!

I did make a couple of little changes to the original, one because I had to and one because I wanted to. I was almost out of white sugar (oops), so I had to substitute light brown sugar for most of the white. I don’t think it made any difference at all. I also chopped my pecans instead of using the whole pecan halves. I think you get more crunch and flavor that way. I am listing the original recipe below.

4 squares unsweetened baking chocolate

3/4 cup butter

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 cup all purpose flour

1 pkg. (14 oz.) caramels

1/3 cup whipping cream

2 cups pecans, divided

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 13×9” baking pan with aluminum foil and allow the ends of the foil to hang over the pan. Spray the foil with non-stick spray. Microwave the chocolate and butter on high for 2 minutes or until butter is melted. Stir until chocolate is completely melted.

Add sugar and eggs. Mix well. Stir in flour until well blended. Spread half of the batter in the pan and bake for 25 minutes.

About 20 minutes into the baking process, microwave the caramels and whipping cream on high for 2 minutes or until caramels begin to melt. Stir until completely melted. (I had to put mine back in the microwave for about another minute to get the caramels melted.) Stir in 1 cup of nuts.

Spread the caramel mixture over the brownie layer and cover with the remaining brownie batter. Some caramel will show through. Sprinkle with remaining nuts and bake for 30 more minutes. Let cool completely and cut into small pieces. A little bit of this brownie goes a long way!

Please join me over at Miz Helen’s Country Cottage for this recipe and many yummy others! She even spotlighted little old me for my BBQ ribs last week. Thanks, Miz Helen!

Come join the fun at the My Baking Addiction and GoodLife Eats Holiday Recipe Swap sponsored by Scharffen Berger.

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Fudgy Brownies

Posted in Cooking, tagged Chocolate, Dessert on June 25, 2011| 10 Comments »

I found this recipe on the Taste of Home website last year, but had not had a chance to try it. When I was searching through my files for something new last week, I found this and thought it would be perfect. Boy, was I right! This is so rich and decadent that a little goes a long way, but it is so good!

Try this with a big tall glass of cold milk to wash it down. Yummo!

1 package fudge brownie mix (13-inch x 9-inch pan size)

1-1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 to 3 tablespoons peanut butter

2 tablespoons cold 2% milk

4-1/2 teaspoons instant vanilla pudding mix

1 can (16 ounces) chocolate fudge frosting

Bake the brownies according to package directions. I used 2 smaller baking dishes instead of the 9×13 because I was taking this to two difference places.

When the brownies have cooled, combine the confectioner’s sugar, butter, peanut butter, milk, and vanilla pudding mix in the bowl. Mix until creamy then spread over the cooled brownies.

Now spread the chocolate frosting over the peanut butter layer and chill for 30 minutes. Enjoy!!!

I linked this recipe at Miz Helen’s Country Cottage Full Plate Thursday! Check it out here.

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