Salted Caramel Chocolate pig cake

I saw a cake on pinterest and I wanted to make it for my husband for fathers day .... it tasted really good.What do you think ?

Salted Caramel Chocolate pig cake
Ingredients

For the Cake

• 2 cups sugar

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

• 3/4 cups cocoa powder

• 2 teaspoons baking soda

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 cup buttermilk

• 1 cup hot coffee, or 1 cup boiling water and 2 tablespoons instant espresso powder

• 1/2 cup canola oil

• 2 large eggs

• 2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the Salted Caramel Ganache

• 9 oz. semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped (I used a 72% venezuela orgine)

• 1 cup sugar

• 3 tablespoons water

• 1 1/4 cups heavy cream

• 2 big pinches sea salt, preferably fleur de sel

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Vanilla Bean Filling

• 1 1/4 teaspoons unflavoured gelatin

• 1 1/2 cups chilled heavy cream

• 3/4 cup powdered sugar

• 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

• Sea salt for finishing

Instructions

For the Cake

1. Adjust oven rack to the middle position. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and line 2, 9-inch baking pans with parchment paper. Set aside.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add in the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix until well combined.

3. Add in the buttermilk, hot coffee, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Mix on medium speed until well combined. About 1 to 2 minutes.

4. Divide batter among cake pans and bake until a toothpick inserted comes out almost clean, about 35 to 40 minutes. Let cake cool in pans about 10 minutes then remove from pans and cool on a cooling rack until completely cooled.

For the Salted Caramel Ganache

1.Place the chocolate in a medium bowl.

2.In a medium heavy bottomed pot, combine the sugar and water, and stir to combine. Heat the mixture over medium high heat, without stirring, but swirling occasionally if the sugar is colouring unevenly. Heat until the sugar turns amber in colour. Remove from heat immediately and slowly add the heavy cream while whisking. If there are any clumps of sugar, return the pot to low heat and stir until dissolved. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla and fleur-de-sel (or other coarse salt). Pour the caramel over the chocolate. Allow the mixture to sit for about 5 minutes, then gently stir until the ganache is well combined. Set aside to thicken, about 1 to 2 hours. *If the ganache becomes to thick, warm it over a double boiler until more workable to in the microwave for 10 second intervals.

 For the Vanilla Bean Filling

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla bean seeds, and beat on high speed until soft peaks have formed. Add in the gelatin and whisk for a few another minute to incorporate.

Assembly

Take the first cake layer and place it on a cake board or cardboard round slightly smaller than the cake layers. Spread a layer of ganache (a spreadable consistency) over the cake, about 1 cup. Top with the vanilla bean whipped cream. Top with the second cake layer. Refrigerate the cake for about 2 hours until the filling has set.
Refrigerate cake.

It was delicious.

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

This is so easy to make and it really tastes like cinnamon rolls ! 

I just used a store bought pancake mix and followed the directions but you can use your own recipe and make it from scratch.

Here's what you need to make the cinnamon filling swirl

Ingredients :

1/2 cup brown sugar

2tsp cinnamon 

2 Tbsp butter, melted

Mix all the ingredients together and put in a squeeze bottle. (I bought some at the dollar store ) 

Pour your pancake mix on your griddle or frying pan and immediately squeeze some of your cinnamon  mixture on top. Easy !!

You can also put some icing on it. Here's 2 different recipes for icing !

vanilla icing (regular):

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 tsp butter, melted

1/4 tsp vanilla

1tsp to 1tbsp milk 

(add as much milk as you need to give it the nice icing texture. 

But do it a little bit at a time not to make it too liquid )

cream cheese icing:

1/4 cup butter softened

1/2 cup cream cheese

1 1/2 tsp milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

All you have to do is mix all the ingredients together and pour it over the hot pancakes !

Enjoy !!

Peanut Butter Bars

I was looking for a quick recipe for a desert and came upon this one.
Let me tell you it was so quick to make and it's delicious !! 

Ingredients :

1 1/2 cup flour

 1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1 1/4 tsp Salt

3/4 cup Butter

3/4 cup Granulated Sugar

3/4 cup Brown Sugar

1 1/2 tsp Vanilla

1 1/2 cup Smooth Peanut Butter (divided)

2 Eggs

1 1/2 cup Quick cooking Oats 

Frosting :

1/2 cup Butter

2 tbs Cocoa

1/4 cup Milk

1 tsp Vanilla

3 1/2 cup Powdered Sugar

Directions :

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a small mixing bowl, mix together flour, baking soda and salt.
Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, 3/4 cup peanut butter, eggs and vanilla until light and fluffy.
Gradually add flour mixture until just incorporated. 

Then stir in the oats. 

Spread onto a greased 11 x 15 jelly roll pan (or a cookie sheet)

Bake for 12 -17 minutes or until golden brown. 

Cool for 10 minutes.

For the frosting, whip the remaining 3/4 cup peanut butter until light and fluffy.
Carefully spread it on the pan cookie.

In a small sauce pan, melt butter.
Add the milk and cocoa.
 Cook over medium low heat stirring constantly just until it starts to boil.
Remove from heat and add vanilla.
Gradually add powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time and stir until it thickens.
Pour over the peanut butter and gently spread it.
 Cool completely and slice into bars.

Enjoy !!

building

Alright so I haven't posted in a few weeks, I've just been busy playing ! 

One day I woke up and said :" I have to build something ! " and that was the beginning of my projects.

Start small .... something for the kids! If it's not perfect, they might not notice. Damien has lots of tools in the garage I can use, so off to Home Depot to buy some wood.

My first building project ... 4 chairs and a table for the kids !!

Pretty sweet !! I'm very proud of myself :)  Alright, alright, I got the plans online and just followed the instructions, but still :P

Next I built a little bench for the kids playhouse ... with no plans... just put together a few pieces of leftover wood. Cost me nothing :)

Needless to say after all this building my back was very sore from working on the ground ... so I built a workbench :)

Still that didn't solve the problem of the miter saw being on the floor and having to go down each time I wanted to cut a piece of wood. So I built a miter saw table.

Did you know that if you go to your local hardware store and ask if they have any wood scraps left, they will let you have them for free?!
The top of my workbench, the shelf on the workbench and the entire miter saw table (besides the wheels) cost me nothing :)
I'm really enjoying this new found hobby... I want to spend all my time in the garage now.
Don't get me wrong, I love to bake but you know the saying... "a moment on lips, a lifetime on the hips" and well I don't have a lifetime to worry about it !!!

This little table I built without using plans. I needed a table to put on the deck so I can rest my coffee on  while I sit back and enjoy watching the kids play. It's in the house right now cause I still need to paint it or stain it, haven't decided yet.

Next I thought I would get a little more adventures. I watched some You Tube videos on how to build a drawer. Then I watched some more videos and decided I wanted to give it a try.
Off to Totem I went to buy some drawer sliders. Made some measurements and built a drawer for my wall unit in the living room.

The only thing left to do is put a front face on it and a handle. There you have it, I can get rid of the covered diaper boxes I was using for the toys.
This is only the beginning of my projects ... more to come :) 

Eclair Cake

This is a very easy dessert to make, the only problem is that you have to wait overnight (or at least 8 hours) before you serve it. Then it just stares at you and calls your name every time you open the fridge. So be sure when you store it in the fridge to put it as far back as possible :P

Ingredients:

1 package of graham crackers

1 package of instant vanilla pudding mix 

1 1/2 cups of milk 

2 cups of thawed Cool Whip

1/2 tub of chocolate frosting ( I used the whole thing )

Directions:

In a 8x8 dish, arrange in a single layer of graham cracker to cover the bottom of the dish. 

In a medium size bowl, mix together the vanilla pudding mix with the milk. Add the Cool Whip and mix until well combined. Pour half the pudding mixture over the graham cracker. Add another layer of Graham cracker over the pudding and pour the other half of the pudding mixture over top. Finally top with your last layer of graham cracker. Cover and refrigerate 45 minutes for the pudding to set. 

When the pudding is set, microwave the chocolate frosting for about 30 seconds to make it more spreadable. Uncover your dessert and spread the chocolate frosting on top. 

Cover it and put it back in the refrigerator over night. This dessert gets better over time because the graham cracker needs to soften. 

The next day cut into squares and serve cold !!

Crock Pot Beef Stew

On days that the kids wake up slightly before 6am, I know it's going to be a long day especially if the weather is not great !! By 7:30am dinner was ready. This is very simple recipe but very tasty. My family LOVED it ! Even my 18month old son who rarely eats meat, inhaled this so fast that both my husband and I were telling him to slow down :)

Here's what you'll need to make it 

Ingredients:

1 pound beef

4 carrots, sliced 

5 potatoes cut in cubes

1 bay leaf

2 cans of cream of mushroom soup

1 can tomato soup

1 can of onion soup or 1 package od dry onion soup mix

I had a roast on hand so I cut into cubes. Be sure to take the string off ... I didn't see it so I cut it up too :P

Place the beef in the crock pot. Add the sliced carrots followed by the potato. Place the bay leaf on top.

In a medium size bowl, mix together the rest of the ingredients , cream of mushroom soups, tomato soup and onion soup. Pour it into the crock pot. Cover and cook on low 6-8 hours. Serve with a nice warm bread or bun ! Mmm so good ! 

Quilling ... Princess card

Here is a card I made for my daughters friend princess birthday party !! 

Quilling is so much fun ! Add a few gems or glitter and there you have it !!