Oreo Sheet Cake

Oreo Cake
1 pkg. Betty Crocker's Devils Food cake mix
1 small box Devils Food Jello pudding mix
1/4 C. Dark Chocolate Cocoa Powder
1 1/4 C. Water
1/3 C. Oil
4 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place all ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix on low speed for about one minute. Increase the speed to med/high. Beat for and additional 2 minutes. Pour into a greased jelly roll pan (cookie sheet). Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out. Cool completely before frosting.

Frosting
1/2 C. Shortening
1/2 Butter, room temp
2 tsp. Vanilla
1/2 C. Heavy Whipping Cream
4 C. Powdered Sugar, Sifted
Oreos

Cream Shortening and butter until light and fluffy. Add whipping cream and vanilla, continue beating. Add sifted powdered sugar and beat until frosting reaches desired consistency. Break Oreos and scatter on the top of the cake for decoration.

Texas Sheet Cake with Chocolate Fudge Frosting

This is my family's favorite chocolate cake EVER!!! It is so adicting.

Texas Sheet Cake
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 cup butter
1 cup water
5 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

Chocolate Fudge Frosting
6 tablespoons milk
5 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
powder
1/2 cup butter
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 10x15 inch pan.

2. Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. Beat in the sour cream and eggs. Set aside. Melt the butter on low in a saucepan, add the water and 5 tablespoons cocoa. Bring mixture to a boil then remove from heat. Allow to cool slightly, then stir cocoa mixture into the dry ingredients, mixing until blended.

3. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

4. For the icing: In a large saucepan, combine the milk, 5 tablespoons cocoa and 1/2 cup butter. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat. Stir in the confectioners' sugar and vanilla, then fold in the nuts, mixing until blended. Spread frosting over warm cake. Work fast, the frosting sets really fast.

NOTE: We typically frost the cake using 1 1/4 times the recipe, then quickly add sliced almonds to the top of the cake and pat them down into the frosting

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles

I am thinking I MIGHT just have to make these for my Valentine who just happens to love Cookie Dough! Now you can have cookie dough bites without the raw eggs! Yum-o-licious!


Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles
From: The Girl Who Ate Everything (Her pics, not mine. I haven't made them yet!)

8 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
2 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
½ cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
1½ lb. semisweet or milk chocolate, coarsely chopped (Baker's chocolate)
Mini chocolate chips (for garnish)

Directions:
Combine the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and cream on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the flour, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla until incorporated and smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the mixture has firmed up enough to form balls.

Shape the chilled cookie dough mixture into 1-1½ inch balls. Place on a baking sheet lined with wax paper. Cover loosely, transfer the pan to the freezer and chill for 1-2 hours.

When ready to dip the truffles, melt the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water. Dip each chilled truffle, one at a time using a fork, coating in chocolate and shaking gently or tapping against the bowl to remove the excess. (If at any point during dipping, the cookie dough balls become too soft, return to the freezer to chill for 30 minutes.) Transfer to a wax-paper lined surface. If using mini chocolate chips for garnish, sprinkle on top quickly after dipping each truffle before the chocolate sets. Once all the truffles have been dipped, store them in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Valentines Day is in just a couple of days! Here is a wonderful, decadent recipe to give your Valentine's Day a little extra flair! After searching (for longer than I want to admit) through what ingredients should be in a Red Velvet cake, I decided on one particular recipe. Well, I tried it....It came out, BLAH! I even tried putting marbles in the cupcake tins to try to create heart shaped cupcakes. Let me just say, THAT was a disaster! The cupcakes oozed over the tops making the hearts not even recognizable. They were now poor, ugly, decrepit cupcakes! The flavor of the cake was not horrible, it was just not up to my standards either. When I create something, I want it to taste AMAZING. It was time to have a recipe makeover!!! I decided to try MY OWN recipe. I REALLY hoped that my recipe turned out better than the last one because I did not have them time and money to fail the recipe again.

I better tell you up front, I fall into the category of people that like a little more chocolate in their Red Velvet Cake. Just a warning for those of you that think more chocolate is not how Red Velvet is supposed to be made, and that I am certainly going to be sent to the underworld for such a abomination. BUT... I let the fam taste test the two cakes and my recipe won hands down. All is not lost for the sad batch of cupcakes though! I will put them gently in the food processor and grind them to smithereens, and then use them as sprinkles for my yummy cupcakes.

Any way if you are still here, HERE is the recipe for my Red Velvet Cupcakes.

Anjella's Red Velvet Cupcakes

1 Box Betty Crocker German Chocolate Cake Mix
1 Small Box Chocolate Pudding Mix
3 TBL. Cocoa powder
1 Cup Buttermilk
2 Sticks of Melted Butter
4 Eggs
1 Bottle of Red Food Coloring (1 oz.)
1 tsp. Vanilla

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place cupcake liners in cupcake tins.

2) Place all the ingredients in a mixing bowl. Beat on low speed for one minute or until all the ingredients are combined. Scrape down sides with a spatula. Beat at medium/high speed for an additional 2 minutes, until fluffy.

3) Divide the batter evenly between the 24 cups. (You could turn it into a whole cake here, if you so desire. You will need to increase the baking time though.)

4) Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting. Frosting recipe below.


Anjella's Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting

3 C. Whipping Cream
3/4 C. Powdered Sugar
1 (8 oz)stick of cream cheese really softened and divided (so it will mix in better)
1 small box instant Cheesecake flavored pudding mix

Beat whipping cream and powdered sugar until it holds a soft peak. Beat in cream cheese just until it is blended in. I separated my cream cheese into 5 parts before I added it to the cream mixture, so that it wouldn't be one big clump. Add pudding (and vanilla) and beat until it reaches desired consistency. Frost cake or cupcakes immediately.