Raspberry Pancakes

Happy Pancake Day!


I hope you are enjoying some delicious pancakes for supper :) I think we are going to have some raspberry chocolate pancakes!


I made these Raspberry Pancakes last week, using the Chocolate Chip Pancake recipe that I had posted earlier. I used frozen raspberries in place of the chocolate chips, but any type of frozen or fresh berry would work wonderfully.

Pancakes are simply awesome, they make a great breakfast and a fun dinner! These pancakes are nice and fluffy, and easy to make too.


Enjoy!

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

Last week I made a total of 3 birthday cakes. That's a lot of cake for one week!


The second cake that I had made (the first was this delicious Black Forest Cake) was a Carrot Cake.  I didn't think my Carrot Cake Cupcakes recipe would be sturdy enough for layers, so instead I turned to allrecipes.com for a new recipe.

I ended up finding this recipe; with over 3000 positive reviews I was pretty confident that it would be an amazing cake!  

I made a couple minor changes to the recipe and it came out perfectly! It was moist and delicious, everything that a carrot cake should be.  This cake took 3 whole cups of shredded carrots, so delicious.

I used cream cheese frosting for both the inside layer and to frost the outside of the cake.

The writing, shell border, and mini carrots on the top of the cake were all made out of cream cheese frosting as well. I ended up doubling the frosting recipe (compared to what was suggested on the site) in order to frost and decorate the whole cake. I have included the amount that I made in the recipe below.

I cannot wait for an opportunity to make this cake again.


Carrot Cake

• 4 eggs
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 3 cups grated carrots (I shredded 8 regular carrots to get 3 cups worth)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F and grease and flour two 8" round baking pans (or spray with baking spray)
2. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the eggs, oil, applesauce, sugar, and vanilla
3. In a second bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg
4. Add the dry ingredients and the shredded carrot to the wet ingredients, and mix until the batter just starts to come together
5. Pour into the two prepared pans, and bake for 30 - 35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into a cake
6. Let cool on a wire rack before frosting
7. When cool, level cake (if needed) before layering and adding the icing

Cream Cheese Icing

• 1 cup butter, room temperature
• 500 g (two packages) cream cheese, room temperature
• 8 cups icing sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla
• heavy cream, optional
• food colouring for icing, optional

1. Beat together the butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy
2. Add the icing sugar about 2 cups at a time, mixing thoroughly
3. Add the vanilla, and beat well
4. If necessary you can add heavy cream a couple teaspoons at a time (if the icing is too thick) until the desired consistency is reached. I usually don't need to add any, but it is an option.
5. Frost your cake (or cupcakes!) as desired
6. Enjoy!

I baked it up in two 8" round cake pans, but you could also make a sheet cake by using a 9" x 13" pan.

This was my second cake in a row to bake up flat! Almost no levelling was required!

Mocha Frosting

I was craving a dessert with a coffee/chocolate combo for a couple weeks. I have no idea why since I don't even drink coffee, but who can explain cravings? 


So then when I came across the Cafe Mocha Cupcakes recipe on mybakingaddiction.com, they looked incredibly delicious!

The frosting was so good on these cupcakes, I am definitely adding it to my list of favourites.  This would be awesome on a variety of cupcake or cake flavours, but I think it was perfect on top of chocolate cupcakes.


This recipe is enough to frost a dozen cupcakes.


Mocha Frosting

• 1 1/2 sticks butter, room temperature (3/4 cup)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 4 cups icing sugar
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1/2 tbsp (heaping) of instant coffee granules dissolved in 1/2 tbsp hot water
• 2 - 4 tbsp heavy cream

1. In a medium bowl whisk together the icing sugar and cocoa powder
2. In a separate bowl, cream the butter until light and fluffy.  
3. Add the icing sugar/cocoa powder about a cup at a time to the creamed butter
4. After all of the icing sugar and cocoa powder has been added, pour in the vanilla and coffee/water and mix well on high
5. Add the heavy cream 1/2 tbsp at a time until the desired consistency is reached
6. Decorate your favourite cupcakes
7. Enjoy!

John's Chili

While I love to cook and bake on a regular basis, there is nothing as good as when someone else makes supper!  We were craving some warm comfort food one day and so John decided he was going to make a pot of chili in our crock pot.

He looked around on allrecipes.com, and found Boilermaker Tailgate Chili.  The recipe had over 2000 positive reviews, but it was huge!  So he decided to halve it and got to work using the recipe as a guideline. I really do love when he makes supper.

He cooked the chili for about 5 hours on low in the crock pot, and it was amazing! Sometimes I seem to forget how well he can cook because I am always in the kitchen :) I think I need to let him take over more often.

This recipe has some good spice, so if you don't want it to have so much heat you can half the chili and chipotle chili powders.


I was so sad to eat the last bowl of leftovers on Thursday. This is easily our new favourite chili recipe.

John's Chili

• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1/2 lb ground Italian sausage
• 1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can beans in chipotle sauce
• 1 large can (about 28 oz) diced tomatoes with juice
• 1 small can (5.5 fl oz) can tomato paste
• 1/2 large onion, diced
• 2 stalks celery, sliced
• 1/2 green bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 serrano pepper, seeded and diced
• 1/4 pack of bacon, cooked and chopped
• 3 tsp beef bouillon powder
• 1/4 cup beer
• 1 tbsp chili powder (you can halve this if you don't enjoy spicy food)
• 1 tbsp chipotle chili powder (you can halve this if you don't enjoy spicy food)
• 1 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp hot sauce
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• sour cream and shredded cheese for toppings (optional)

1. Cook the ground beef and ground Italian sausage in a frying pan until cooked through.
2. Drain off grease and place the cooked meat in the crock pot
3. Add the rinsed kidney beans, chili beans with chipotle sauce, diced tomatoes (with juice), and tomato past and stir well
4. Add the diced onion, celery, bell peppers, serrano pepper, bacon, beef bouillon powder, and beer, stir well
5. Add the seasonings (chili powder, chipotle chili powder, Worcestershire sauce, minced garlic, oregano, cumin, hot sauce, basil, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, paprika, and sugar. Once again stir well
6. At this point the chili will appear quite thick, but as it cooks more liquid will be added from the vegetables.
7. Turn the crock pot on low, and cook for at least 3 hours.  
8. After 3 hours, stir well and adjust seasonings if necessary. Allow to simmer on low until ready to serve.
9. Serve with sour cream, shredded cheese, and some buns to clean the bowl
10. Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Pancakes

These pancakes are so good, I made them 3 times in about a week and a half. 3 times!  


The first time I made them, I was home alone for breakfast so I used dark chocolate chips and they were divine.  My husband hates dark chocolate, so I took advantage of the fact that I would be enjoying these all alone, and the dark chocolate went perfectly. I didn't even douse them in syrup, they were rich enough all on their own.

The second and third time I made these John was home so I threw in milk chocolate chips instead. They were still amazing, but definitely sweeter than the first time I made them. Again they were awesome on their own, but I was having a major sugar craving so the third pancake-meal I covered them in nutella and whipped cream. Pure bliss in pancake form right there.

This recipe is from joythebaker.com, and I halved it because I was only cooking for 1 or 2 people each time. Once or twice I didn't have any buttermilk on hand so I used a substitute (1 tbsp of vinegar in a 1 cup measuring cup, then fill it up with milk and let it sit for a few minutes) that worked perfectly.  

You can also add berries instead of chocolate chips, or mix it up by adding 1/4 cup berries and 1/2 cup chocolate chips!


Chocolate Chip Pancakes

• 1 egg
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 tbsp melted butter
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup (heaping) chocolate chips (milk chocolate, semi-sweet, dark, they all work!)
• cooking spray

1. In a bowl beat the egg with a fork
2. In a second bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt
3. Add the buttermilk, melted butter, and vanilla to the egg and mix well
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and mix until most of the large lumps are gone
5. Carefully mix in the chocolate chips
6. Let the batter sit for about 5 minutes while the pan is heating up
7. Spray a non-stick frying pan with cooking spray, and heat up over medium heat
8. Drop about 2 tbsp of time onto the pan when hot
9. When bubbles start to form in the middle of the pancake, it is ready to flip.  Make sure the underside is a nice golden brown (you may need to increase or decrease your heat at this point, I find my first pancake always comes out a little funny looking)
10. Cook the other side until it is golden brown
11. Repeat with the remaining batter
12. Serve with syrup, whipped cream, berries, whatever you like!
13. Enjoy!