chocolate reese's cake.

i found this recipe on this blog. 

she explains how to make the cake here, and here. 

the chocolate cake

1 box devil's food cake mix

1 small package jello instant chocolate pudding mix

1 cup sour cream

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups chopped up reese's 

(i bought a family size bag of miniature reese's and split them in half. half for the cake, half for the frosting. or you could buy two regular bags and use one for cake, one for outside. i didn't use as many reese's on the outside as she did)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a small bowl, beat the four eggs, then, in a very large bowl, mix everything together except the reese's. Expect the batter to be thick. Stir in the chopped reese's. Pour batter into cake pan of choice. I bought three 9" cake pans so that i could pour the batter evenly between the three. For cooking time, use the cooking times on the back of the devil's food cake box as a guide and add 10 minutes to whatever it says. when you start to smell the cake baking, check every five minutes or so until the toothpick check shows that they are done. 

she said that it usually takes around 45 minutes for two, 9" cake pans. 

buttercream frosting

1 cup shortening (crisco)

4 cups powdered sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup heavy whipping cream 

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

in a mixing bowl, cream shortening until fluffy. add sugar and continue creaming until well blended. add salt, vanilla and whipping cream. blend on low speed until moistened. then add the peanut butter and beat at high speed until frosting is fluffy. it will be pretty thick as well. layer the completely cooled cakes one on top of another with frosting in between. frost the rest of the cake, stick the reese's chunks all over the frosting and enjoy!

Candy Inspired Goodies.

Today I am having a guest blogger!
It is my dear friend Emma. 
We have known each other quite sometime now.
We went to high school together and have stayed friends.
Many of you know her and know that her blog is one of the cutest!
She blogs about baking, fashion, cooking and life with her cute husband.
(who was the disc jockey at our wedding)
I asked her to share some fun treats on my blog, and she said that she would!
Here is the post from Emma the Joy.


With Halloween just around the corner I have loved getting in the mood by baking yummy treats filled with my favorite candy.  It totally beats trick-or-treating...which I seriously miss...

Twix Cheesecake Pie

Ingredients:

2 8-ounce bars of cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

2 large eggs

8-inch chocolate cookie pie crust

1 bag fun size twix candy bars

Preparation:

With an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese with the sugar and eggs.  Mix in 16 chopped twix bars {about 2 cups}; pour into the chocolate cookie pie crust.  

Bake at 325 degrees until set, 40 to 45 minutes; cool.  Sprinkle with 6 chopped twix bars; chill until firm.

 Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Ingredients:

 1 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup {1 stick} unsalted butter, room temperature

2/3 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 12-ounce package small peanut butter cups, coarsely chopped

Preparation:

Heat oven to 375 degrees.  Line 2 baking sheets with parchment or wax paper.  In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt.  

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugars until creamy.  Add the egg and vanilla and beat to combine.  Gradually add the flour mixture, mixing until just incorporated.  Fold in the peanut butter cups.

Drop tablespoon-sized mounds of dough 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.  Bake until light brown around the edges, 8 to 10 minutes.  Transfer to a baking rack to cool.

These are both super delicious and are sure to please all you candy lovers out there.  Enjoy!

Recipes adapted from Real Simple.

wk 11.

jon and i talked and laughed from the time he got home from work until we got in bed. we hardly used our computers or phones.

we danced and hugged in the kitchen after making dinner. 

then we made cake balls.

life was good today.

wk 8.

my new job-working from home.

why get ready?

BTW, i made this tonight and it was AMAZING.

it is a great recipe.

i did one thing different than the directions.

it said to flip the cake over onto a cooling rack. i put it back into a cold 9x13 pan upside down so that the top of the cake was at the bottom of the pan, then i cut slits in the cake. it was less messy and the cake pan caught all the excess carmel and sweetened milk. mmm mmm mmm.

another treat.

guess i better get baking while my dad lets me use his money to do it!!

that won't be the case for long.

so, i made these Brownie Candy Cups last night.

i bought carmel to put on top of them.

i don't like carmel so i haven't put any on yet,

but i took some to work and they were a hit!!

so yum and easy.

i even ate one for breakfast.

i am disgusting.

i DON'T cook.

everyone's. doing it.

tonight was fun!

i've been watching what i've been eating lately.

fortunately, today was the last day of that!

so I binged all day, then made these.

they turned out SO yum.

i got the recipe from amanda and emma and here.

the only thing was, that recipe made a LOT of frosting. way too much.

but seriosuly, so yummy.

i can't wait for my dad to wake up tomorrow so that he can try it and praise me!

the end:)