Grasshopper Fudge Cake

Pin It

This guest post comes to you from my friend Maggie. Maggie and I were roommates at Elizabethtown College. I had the privilege of being a bridesmaid in her beautiful wedding last year. We share a mutual love of baking and she has quite possibly the biggest sweet tooth of anyone I know. When I started the blog, I immediately went to Maggie and asked her if she would be interesting in writing some guest posts. Maggie and her husband Preston live in Lambertville, NJ.

When Amber asked me to make something for her blog, with St. Patrick's Day right around the corner, my mind naturally wandered to wanting to make something green and seasonal. Preston and I have been doing a lot of cooking with beer lately and in particular, Guinness. I started off by making him a Guinness Chocolate Cheesecake for Valentine's Day, we then made Chicken and Risotto with Guinness and finally a beef stew with Guinness. At this point I'm a little Guinness'ed out, but I still wanted something celebrate St. Patrick's Day.

White Chocolate Peppermint Bark Cheesecake

Also known as the cheesecake that had in me in tears and cursing at 9:30 a.m. Oh, and also convinced me to give up baking forever... or well, for at least a day or two.

Remember a few months ago when I said I had never attempted to make a real cheesecake? Anything that required a cake to be "bathed" in water completely intimidated me. That is until I saw this gorgeous cheesecake from Baked By Rachel. With a week off from work, and a holiday gathering to attend, I decided it was time for me to tackle a cheesecake.

So what went wrong with this seemingly gorgeous cheesecake that caused me to have an early morning kitchen meltdown? What didn't happen is more like it.

White Chocolate Cake Martinis

Yesterday was my office holiday party. Instead of our traditional gift exchange, we opted this year for a white elephant exchange. I originally bought a singing sock monkey to gift in the exchange but then I thought he was just too cute to part with. Instead I took a trip to the liquor store, because if there's one thing that goes over well with my coworkers - it's booze.

Because I have this little habit of buying things for others that I want to use myself (just ask my Mother how many times I've done this to her), I picked out a bottle of UV Cake Vodka, slapped a recipe on it for cake batter martinis and threw it in a gift bag.

Ooey Gooey Caramel Pumpkin Blondies

A few weeks ago, the Tasty Kitchen Blog featured these Ooey Gooey Caramel Pumpkin Blondies from Lauren's Latest. I've always loved blondies, my favorite being the Maple Butter Blondie from Applebee's. Blondies are almost like a cookie, but with the texture of a brownie, minus the chocolate. So when I was trying to decide what to bake this weekend I immediately thought of these blondies. And better yet? I had all of the ingredients on hand!

My only complaint with this recipe is that the name is a little misleading. I wouldn't classify these as true blondies, but more of a cake. In fact the pumpkin layer has the same density of a pumpkin bread, soft, light and moist. A blondie is a little more dry and cookie like. The cake almost reminds me of the Pumpkin Nutella Bread I made earlier this fall, with the caramel in place of the nutella. Nonetheless, the cake is perfect for your next fall gathering, whether served alone or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of warm caramel.

For step by step photo instructions head on over to Tasty Kitchen for the recipe: Ooey Gooey Caramel Pumpkin Blondies

Butter Pecan Cake

On Sunday afternoon, my family celebrated my Grandma's birthday over a home-cooked meal of stuffed chicken and all the trimmings. Not only was it my Grandma's birthday, but it also was my grandparent's 52nd wedding anniversary. Naturally, my grandparents celebrated their anniversary by buying a 60 inch 3D TV. I say naturally because my grandparents have always been up on the latest technology whether it be TVs or computers. My Granddad even bought me one of the first ever MP3 players way back when. It had enough memory to hold seven whole songs!

What I'm Loving this Week

Food and otherwise...

1. New Girl - I have long been a fan of Zooey Deschanel. She's gorgeous, she's quirky, she funny - the girl can do no wrong. When I heard she was going to have a new comedy on FOX this fall, I was pumped. I've seen the first two episodes now and I have to say - I love it. The plot's pretty relavant to my life - recent-ish breakup, boyfriend cheated, moved in with a new roommate(s). Although I didn't find my roommate on Craigslist and I don't randomly break into song or have the perfect hair. I find myself laughing out loud to this show and that doesn't happen often. I'm not an LOLer when it comes to TV. So check it out, it's on Tuesday nights.

Dark Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes with Chambord Ganache

Summertime means sun, heat and ... zucchini. Anyone who has a garden knows that it seems like you pick all the zucchini in the garden one evening and the next evening there's twenty more. My parent's refrigerator is full of zucchini, some the size of a baseball bat.

I didn't want to make your typical spiced zucchini bread, though I do love it. I wanted to disguise my zucchini a little bit more because after all, zucchini is a vegetable and as far as I'm concerned, veggies have no place in my desserts (this goes for fruit as well, though I do make some exceptions).

Pineapple Rum Upside-Down Cake

Last weekend was my dad's 50th birthday. For years he's requested a pineapple upside down cake to celebrate. We usually break out a box of yellow cake mix, a jar of maraschino cherries and a can of sliced pineapple and whip up a generic, yet delicious upside-down cake. The kind of cake that I imagine 1950s housewives made to serve alongside a meal of tuna noodle casserole or beside a jello mold at holiday parties.

Since this blog has given me reason to challenge my baking skills, I knew I couldn't just whip up the cake from a box. So, I did a little research and found this recipe. It's a little classier, a little boozier. The canned pineapple is replaced with a fresh ripe pineapple. Yet, it tastes very similar to the original (minus the blinding red cherries).