Honey Cakes.

Recipe 24.

Honey Cakes (adapted from smitten kitchen).

As one of my graduation gifts, my mom bought me the cutest beehive cupcake tin from the Deseret Book store. I was so excited to use it, and what better to make than honey flavored cakes! Now I'll warn you, I tried out a glaze and failed, so I used some powdered sugar to cover up the mess. It worked! You can always disguise a little mistake.

Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups flour
1 tbs baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt
4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup honey
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 large eggs at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla




Preheat oven to 350. Grease pans. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice. Make a hole in the center of this mix and add the vegetable oil, honey, sugar, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Stir together well to make  thick batter. Make sure nothing is stuck on the bottom of the bowl! Spoon the batter into the pans.


It took these pans about 35 minutes to cook all the way through. If you are using angel or tube cake pans, it will take about an hour. Regular loaf pans will take about 45-55 minutes.

Don't you just want to go around and call everyone "honey cakes" now?

I'm going to start.

Later, honey cakes.

Swiss Chocolate Mousse Cake.

Recipe 23.

Swiss Chocolate Mousse Cake.

One of my favorite people at my school is a sweet German lady who pulls my students and does interventions with them. She got a glimpse of my baking blog while she was in my classroom, and offered me a family recipe. She told me she doesn't give it to everyone, but she knew I would use it well. I asked her permission to share it with all of you and she said, "Of course!" She gave the recipe to me in gram measurements, so I took some time converting it into customary units and perfecting the amounts to make it easier for us Americans. My friends raved over this cake, and you will too!

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cup butter

1 1/3 cup sugar

9 eggs, separated

11.5 oz chocolate chips, melted

1 1/3 cup flour

The steps are simple. Beat the separated egg whites in a bowl. In a large bowl, combine butter, sugar, chocolate, and flour until well mixed. Then fold in the egg whites. Bake for 30-45 minutes at 300 degrees. The middle of the cake should be almost solid, but not fully cooked. It is mousse cake, so you want it to be soft and gooey in the middle. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Eat your heart out.

This is a recipe that I plan on using time and time again. It is beautiful, classy, and still a crowd pleaser. It's going in my all-life-time favorites. Which is saying a lot!

Pesto Breadsticks.

Recipe 22.

Pesto Breadsticks (from Heat Oven to 350).

Ok, ok. So mine didn't turn out at beautifully as they could have (and the pictures were at night, so I apologize for the lighting). I would have doubled the recipe or made half the amount if I had only known. Really thin dough = kind of crispy breadsticks. But they were still a hit (especially with ranch dressing, you know, to counter the crispiness. Oops.).

Ingredients:

2 cups of flour (and a little extra)

1 1/2 tsp instant yeast

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbs olive oil

3/4 cup and 2 tbs warm water

1/4 cup pesto

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Whisk 2 cups of flour, yeast, and salt together. Add oil and water and stir until dough comes together. Turn the dough out onto a floured counter and knead (YES!) for about ten minutes, forming a smooth ball. Place somewhere warm and let it rise for at least an hour. Don't rush this one.

Turn the dough back onto the counter and roll it into about a 15" x 10" square. Mine was 20" x 10", but as I mentioned earlier, I wouldn't recommend making 20 breadsticks out of this little amount of dough. Spread pesto generously over the dough. It's simpler if you plop it on in different areas and then spread it out. Sprinkle with the parmesan.

Fold the dough in half and press the edges together. Cut into 1" slices. As you lay the dough onto the pan, twist them evenly. Brush with more olive oil.

Let rise for about 30 more minutes. Preheat oven to 375, and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Eat with pork and salad and everything good!

Cheesecake Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars.

Recipe 21.

Cheesecake Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars (adapted from Heat Oven to 350).

Seriously, go back and read the name of this. Cheesecake. Chocolate chip. Cookie. Bar. I have no words except for these: Heavenly deliciousness in your mouth.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup butter flavor shortening

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp vanilla

3/4 tsp salt

1 large egg

1 tsp baking soda

2 cups flour

2 cups chocolate chips

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

Cream together butter, shortening, sugars, vanilla and salt in a large bowl. Beat in the egg, then the baking soda and flour. Mix in the chocolate chips, divide the dough in half, and set aside.

In a separate bowl, cream the cream cheese with 1/2 cup sugar. Beat in 1 egg and 1/2 tsp vanilla.

Spread 1/2 the cookie dough on the bottom of a 9x13 pan. 

Spread the cream cheese mixture over the cookie dough.

Flatten chunks of the remaining cookie dough and place them near each other on top of the cream cheese layer. Just try to cover the surface as well as possible.

Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes or until the top is browning. Cool completely, store in the refrigerator. Try not to eat them all in one sitting.

Ice Cream Cake.

Recipe 20.

Ice Cream Cake (from my little brain).

One of my good friends turned 24 in April, and I was determined to celebrate with cake (hello, this is me we are talking about). Usually I ask the birthday person what they want, but he said "make whatever you want." He mentioned ice cream cake and confetti cake but never gave me a solid answer, so I just decided to combine them! Now I know it's not the most beautiful thing you've ever seen, but it was my first shot at molding ice cream and I was secretly really proud of it.

Oh baking brings such joy.

This is THE Kendra. Her beauty makes this picture worth posting.

Alright, so here's how I did it:

White cake:
1 1/2 cups softened butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
6 large egg whites
3/4 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla
SPRINKLES

Beat butter and sugar for about five minutes. Separately, stir together flour, baking powder, and salt. Combine egg whites, milk, and vanilla. Gradually, back and forth, add parts of the flour mixture and milk mixture to the butter mixture while mixing well. Pour in some SPRINKLES! When cake is entirely mixed, pour into two greased 8' round pans and bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.

After cakes cool for about 5 minutes, turn them out onto a cooling rack. Remove a tub of ice cream from the freezer. I only needed a 1/2 gallon, and I used french vanilla. By the time the cake is completely cooled, the ice cream should be soft enough to work with. You don't want it melted, but just soft enough to spread like a frosting.

Now, if you are afraid of getting messy, stop making this recipe now and go take a nap. The ice cream is hard to work with but totally worth it in the end. Just like frosting, spread a layer of ice cream on the top of one cake, and place the other cake on top.  Use a spatula to "frost" the whole cake with the ice cream. I wouldn't try cleaning up the platter now, because the ice cream will only continue to melt. If you are going to decorate the cake with sprinkles, however, do that now or they will just roll off the frozen cake in the end.

Place ice cream cake in freezer for a few hours, until hardened. If you have a tiny freezer like me, be sure to place the cake closer to the back where the cold is actually coming from, or it won't refreeze until after its all melted off the cake.

When the cake is hard enough, clean off the melted ice cream around the sides with a warm, wet paper towel. Soaking your knife in hot water will make cutting the cake much easier. Bon appetit!

Graduation Cookies.

Recipe 19.

Graduation Cookies (from my roommate's friend, thanks Audrey!).

Alright, so I renamed them graduation cookies. The actual content of the cookies has nothing to do with graduation, BUT I had just received my cap and gown before I started baking. I was a little bit excited. I wore my graduation cap the whole time I made these cookies. Don't judge me; you would have done it too.

They are basically oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, but they are GOOD. They are best warm out of the oven, so be prepared with either an empty stomach or a lot of friends.

The cookies were absolutely divine! Here's how you make'em:

Ingredients:

1 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

2 cups oats

1 cup chocolate chips

Cream together shortening, sugar, brown sugar, eggs. Sift together the soda, powder, salt, and flour. Combine both mixtures. Stir in vanilla, oats, and chocolate chips.

Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes.