Chocolate Covered Blueberry Cake

This weekend we went to a friend's place for a small dinner party of sorts. I volunteered to make dessert because, that's what I do.

And then, on Thursday night I panicked because I had no idea what to bake. I didn't want to make cookies (I made enough of those in December) and *gasp* I didn't feel like making cupcakes. What in the heck was I going to do?

My husband suggested I make a cake. Being the chocolate lover that I am, I responded with "a chocolate one, obviously." Then I proceeded to mull over filling options out loud.

"What about blueberry," asked my husband. Hmm, chocolate and blueberries? I wasn't sure about that combination. But, then I remembered that when we visited Ghirardelli in CA we ate some delicious chocolate covered blueberries.

So, on Saturday I put together a chocolate layer cake using my go-to chocolate recipe (Martha's 1-bowl chocolate cake). Because I'm not a huge fan of fruit jam layers in my cake (personal preference), I decided to make a fresh blueberry whipped cream for the filling.

I don't really use a recipe anymore when I make whipped cream, I kind of wing it. For this particular whipped cream, I put two containers of fresh blueberries (approx 2 cups-ish) into my food processor and pureed them. Then I put the puree into my kitchenaid with a pint of heavy cream, a tablespoon of sugar, and about a teaspoon of vanilla and using the whisk attachment beat the mixture on high until peaks formed.

To top it all off, I used a dark chocolate frosting recipe, which I think is too rich/sweet to not be a ganache (though, technically, it isn't as it does not use cream at all). This is another recipe from Martha. I halved the recipe though, because it makes 5 cups which is just about always way too much.

I would recommend refrigerating cake until serving, and storing any left overs in the fridge as well.

Enjoy!

Homemade Funfetti

I'll spare you my usual diatribe about Funfetti. Suffice to say, while I can understand its appeal I don't feel it is a unique flavor.

A few weeks ago, I wanted to whip up some cupcakes for my husband's friends who were getting together to brew some beer. It probably didn't hurt that I was going to be hanging out with the wives, and wanted something to snack on.

Vanilla cupcakes are something that should be in your back pocket- a recipe you can customize by adding other flavors or ingredients (ie chocolate chips). I don't like making vanilla cupcakes. I feel like they never come out the way I want- they're always too dense for me.

At any rate, I used my current favorite vanilla cupcake recipe (Billy's Vanilla) and to jazz it up I mixed in rainbow sprinkles (jimmies- whatever you want to call them). I think I probably used about 1/2 cup of sprinkles (the recipe makes around 2 doz. cupcakes).

I topped the cupcakes with my favorite Vanilla frosting recipe (from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World). If you haven't used this recipe yet, I could not recommend it more highly. I always make more than I need, so I can eat some directly from the mixing bowl later. In fact, I have some in my fridge right now (from a batch made last night), mmm. Where was I? Right, ok so then I topped the frosting with some rainbow nonpareils because I'd almost exhausted my sprinkle supply on the batter.

Viola! Homemade funfetti.

One housekeeping note: I know I've been very lax in my posting. To be honest, I haven't been doing that much baking or crafting recently. Work is typically very busy for me over the summer, then I went on a nice long vacation, and when I came home I learned I was pregnant. While I can't wait to meet this new little person, I haven't had the energy or the time to devote to baking and crafting that I did previously.

I am working on a number of crafted items for the Holidays, which I will photograph and blog after the recipients have opened their gifts. And, I hope to tackle some new cookies this weekend or next.

In short: even though I'm not posting as much, I'm still here and eating desserts!

Not Your Momma's Rice Krispie Treats

Rice Krispie treats are almost never found in our house. It certainly isn't because we don't like them, we do. It's because my husband is a vegetarian and chooses not to eat marshmallows.

I've been watching Top Chef: Just Desserts (only for the cooking, the contestants make me want to throw something at the tv) and my husband happened to catch a piece of one of the episodes. In that episode, one of the contestants made a more grown up version of Rice Krispie Treats that featured peanut butter and Nutella.

Ever since that episode, my husband has been asking me to make some Nutella Rice Krispie treats.

I can hear you wondering, what did I use in place of marshmallows? I've tried using vegan marshmallows before, but I didn't like how that came out (they don't melt the same way regular marshmallows do and I don't think I had enough of them). So, this time around I used marshmallow fluff. Yeah, fluff that weird sticky substance that I used to love on peanut butter sandwiches as a kid.

So, with the Rice Krispie treats made and cooled, I added a layer of Nutella (using a full 13oz jar) and then a layer of melted chocolate (10oz) on top of that.

The result? It's impossible to eat just one square at a time.

Girls with Glasses

I cruise around a lot of other blogs on the good ole interwebs. Mainly I like to look at cooking or sewing or crafty blogs. I find inspiration there and motivation sometimes. Plus, it's just really fun to see what other people are making.

This morning, I was catching up on This Mama Makes Stuff and a post from September 19 caught my eye. Carrie sometimes posts about her family and what they are doing and this week she's shared with all her readers (and her readership is much more vast than mine) that her daughter needs glasses. Her daughter is going into Kindergarten and she's feeling nervous about having to wear these new glasses to school.

I got my glasses in the third grade, and when I tell people that it's as if they couldn't imagine having to endure that torture so young. I don't remember it being particularly awful for me. I do, however, remember popping out the cheap sunglass frames from a pair of awful blue plastic frames I had, so that I could "practice" wearing glasses. I wanted to make sure I knew what to do with them. I'd have to ask my mom, but I remember wearing th

ose suckers for like a week in preparation for the real thing.

So, Carrie's post hit home with me. She asked her readers to share photos of themselves as "Girls with Glasses" to help her daughter see that there are tons of amazing women out there (and girls!) who rock the frames.

Without further ado, I offer up two photos of myself:

This one is a silly one. My sister is currently in Optometry school studying to become, what else, an Optometrist. When I visited her last November, she let me play around with her traveling kit that helps diagnose prescriptions.

This is my more serious photo. I love my glasses so much. I didn't mind them in third grade, but around middle school I started to hate them. My parents let me get contacts in High School and I wore those throughout High School and College. After I graduated from College I just couldn't stand wearing my contacts every day while looking at computer screens at work. I begrudgingly went back to glasses.

Now? I love my glasses. I own two pairs of contacts for "beach days" but I much prefer to wear my glasses. I finally found a pair of frames that I love, and I'm proud to be a Girl with Glasses.

Princess, I hope you rock out those frames at Kindergarten! Glasses are awesome. I promise.

If any of my readers out there are fellow bloggers or tweet and are also Girls with Glasses- please visit This Mama Makes Stuff and share a photo of yourself.

*I haven't posted in a long time, and for that I am sorry. I've done a few things here and

there, but life has been hectic. I promise to start posting more, and to explain my extended absence in another week or so (sorry, out of town this weekend for a wedding and another wedding the following weekend!).