Chocolate Orange Spider Web Cake

Have you ever combined two things that you love,
to discover that together they make something even more awesome?

That's what is going on here today.
Because, chocolate + orange = WOW!!

Chocolate Orange Cake

I was inspired by those yummy chocolate oranges you smack on the table to break into slices.

And orange sticks. And Jaffa cakes (it's a British thing).

I added orange extract to my favorite chocolate cake,
covered it with orange cream cheese frosting,
and topped it all with chocolate ganache.

And this flavor combination just happens to make Halloween colors.

So I put a spider web on the top to make it fun.

Chocolate Orange Cake

by Bird On A Cake

6034094

Ingredients

Chocolate Cake

• 1 cup boiling water
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk (OR 1 c. milk mixed with 1 T. vinegar)
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon orange extract

Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 5 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons orange extract
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• orange gel food coloring

Chocolate Ganache

• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

Chocolate Cake

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line the bottoms of three 8 inch round cake pans with wax paper and grease the sides. Bring a small pan of water to a boil and keep it simmering while you mix the other ingredients.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add the eggs, buttermilk, oil, vanilla and orange extract. Beat with mixer until combined.

Add 1 cup of the boiling water and carefully stir until it is mixed in. Beat for 1 1/2 minutes with mixer. Batter will be thin. Pour the batter into prepared pans and bake for 18-22 minutes (until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean).

Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

Allow cream cheese and butter to stand at room temperature and soften. In a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, butter, orange extract and vanilla. Gradually mix in the confectioners' sugar. Mix in food coloring.

Chocolate Ganache

Place the chocolate chips in a metal bowl. Heat the cream over medium heat. Watch it closely and immediately remove from heat when it starts to boil. Pour over chocolate chips. Let sit for 2 minutes. Slowly stir the mixture until all the chips have completely melted and it is thoroughly combined. Stir in the vanilla. Let the ganache cool if you prefer a thicker consistency.

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To Make the Spider Web:

Reserve some of your orange frosting, and put it in a decorator bag or ziploc with the corner snipped off. Immediately after spreading the ganache on the cake,  use the frosting to pipe a spiral that covers the top. Using a knife, start in the middle of the cake and pull lines through the frosting to the edge (like spokes on a wheel).

Helpful Hint: Don't use orange candy melts like me. They harden too quickly.

 Enjoy!

 Would you like another yummy orange cake recipe?
Try my Orange Creamsicle Cupcakes!

 I share my recipes & tutorials at these fun link parties.
  
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News @ Recipes to Nourish

Enjoying a chilly day at the beach with my Little Love. 

Things have been quieter around here lately, for a few special reasons…

Little Love on her first day of Kindergarten

My Little Love started Kindergarten at a local Waldorf school this September.  We’ve been making some changes to our rhythm at home and adjusting to this new wonderful transition.  Little Love really loves school and has already made some dear friends.  I am so excited for her adventure there. 

Little Love hanging out in the tree at school.

And the big news – Little Love is going to be a big sister!  I am absolutely thrilled and so excited about our baby.  I love being pregnant and feel truly blessed.  Like I experienced with Little Love, the first trimester was a bit challenging with nausea and feeling tired all the time, so I had to put blogging on the back burner for a while.  I needed to focus on Little Love and take care of myself. 

Little Love and a picture of her baby sister.

We recently found out that we’re having a girl!  We are all so excited and can’t wait to meet her (mid Winter 2013).  Little Love really wanted a little sister.  Months before we knew, she drew a picture of her little sister playing with her at the park, she just knew.  Little Love is beyond excited for her baby sister.  She talks about how she can’t wait to hold and care for her little sister.  She’s already requested to be the one that gets to pick out the baby's outfits, she even asked if she could make a birthday hat for her baby sister to wear to her birthday party (she’s already planning her birthday party in the spring and knows her baby sister will be here then).  She’s asked if she can get to hold her each day when the baby is napping so she can sing her lullabies.  She keeps coming up with new ideas, things she wants to do with her, things she wants to share with her and things she wants to teach her.  It’s so sweet.

I am really looking forward to my second homebirth.  I have the most amazing midwives, I am truly grateful for them.  I have wonderful support around me too, my sweet Little Love, my loving fiancé, my family and my dear friends.    

So ... I am trying to find balance with blogging.  It can be challenging at times.  I will still be posting recipes, but not as often as I used to. 

The best way to make sure you don’t miss a post is to Subscribe/Follow by Email - you will find the box to subscribe in the top right-hand corner of my blog.  Simply add in your email address, and every time there is a new post, you will be emailed directly.  You can also "Like" me on Facebook, which is normally the best way to contact me and also keep up with posts.    

Love and light,

Emily

Blue's Clues Cupcake Toppers

I make a lot of cake.

And sometimes I actually have a really good reason for it...

like my little guy's birthday.

He just happens to be the cutest boy on the planet,

and he is currently obsessed with Blue's Clues.

So, I made these Blue's Clues Cupcake Toppers for his birthday cupcakes.

  
Would you like to make some?
Print the template below. Tape your template to a cookie sheet and tape wax paper over it.

Source: Nick Jr.

  
 Melt some blue candy wafers on 50% power, stirring every 30 seconds until smooth.

Spoon the melted candy into a decorator bag fitted with a small round tip (Wilton #5),

or a ziploc bag with the corner snipped off.

Pipe the outline of each head, then fill it in.

 

Melt some pink candy melts and make the tongues.

(I forgot to do this until the end. Don't be like me!)

 

Place your cookie sheet in the refrigerator until the candy has hardened.

 Slowly and carefully peel the heads off the wax paper and turn them over.

Melt some more blue candy melts and add food coloring to make them a darker blue.

Pipe on Blue's nose and spots.

 

 

Melt a few white candy melts and pipe on Blue's eyes,

adding pupils with the darker blue color. 

 

Place each topper on a cupcake, and you are ready for a Blue's Clues party!

 

Helpful Hint: DO NOT serve these cupcakes outside during the summer.

I took mine outside in the Florida heat to take photos, and they got too warm...

then the ears fell off! Keep them cool, and you have nothing to worry about.

 

 See, I told you he was the cutest. :0)

Enjoy!

 I share my recipes & tutorials at these fun link parties.

Butternut Squash & Apple Soup

This pureed soup is so simple and satisfying, perfect for fall and winter. 

Butternut Squash & Apple Soup

Equipment: Large Stockpot, Cutting Board, Sharp Knife, Blender or Food Processor, Soup Ladle, Large Mixing Bowl

·      2 tablespoons pasture butter or coconut oil

·      1 yellow onion, peeled and diced

·      2-3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

·      5 pounds butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into large chunks*

·      6 organic apples, peeled, cored and quartered

·      2 cups homemade broth, stock or bone broth

·      1-2 cups organic apple juice (fresh juice is best)

·      1 strip kombu (See Resources)

·      ½ teaspoon kelp granules (See Resources)

·      ½ teaspoon dried thyme

·      1 teaspoon Celtic sea salt (See Resources)

1.    Prep onion, garlic, butternut squash and apples – wash and peel.  Remove outer skin of onion, cut in half and dice.  Mince garlic.  Remove seeds from butternut squash (save to roast or freeze for stocks).  Core apples. 

Gala Apples and Butternut Squash

Please excuse the yellow hue, the natural lighting was not good in my kitchen.

Little Love - my favorite helper

2.   In a large stockpot, melt fat of choice over medium heat.  Add onion and sauté for about 5-8 minutes, stirring on occasion, until slightly golden brown.  Add garlic and continue to cook for another 2 minutes, stirring on occasion.

3.   Add butternut squash and apple chunks into the stockpot.  Add broth and apple juice, just enough liquid to barely cover the soup contents (I usually leave about ¼ inch of the squash and apples sticking out without liquid covering them).

4.   Add kombu, kelp, thyme and sea salt to the stockpot. 

5.    Bring soup to a boil.  Reduce heat to a simmer and simmer for about 25-30 minutes or until squash is fork-tender.    

6.    Remove soup from heat.  Prep blender to puree the soup.  Bring large mixing bowl and soup ladle to the station where you will puree the soup.  In small portions, add soup contents to the blender (please use caution as the soup is extremely hot).  Note: Do not fill the blender more than half full, when contents are pureed they will expand, you don’t want hot soup all over your kitchen ceiling.  Puree soup until smooth, add pureed portions to the large mixing bowl.  Repeat until all soup is pureed.  Add soup back to stockpot.  

7.   Keep soup on low heat until ready to serve or store in the refrigerator for later. 

8.   Serve hot as is or top with sour cream or crème fraiche.     

Optional Toppings: Top with a dollop of cultured sour cream or crème fraiche.  It’s delicious with a blend of the two as well.   

*Note:Butternut Squash should make about 6 cups cubed, I usually buy 2 medium-size butternut squash.  If you end up having a little less or a little more, that’s fine, just alter the juice/liquid so the juice just barely covers the soup contents.  You don’t want too much liquid when you start to puree the soup, you want the soup to be somewhat thick, too much liquid will make the puree very thin, more like a broth based soup. 

Yield: Makes about 3 quarts.

Apple Cider Spice Cake with Apple Butter Frosting

This yummy cake is full of spiced apple goodness...

And it's super easy too!

You start with a spice cake mix, and add apple cider and applesauce.

No oil or butter involved!

Then you top it with delicious apple butter frosting.

A perfect fall dessert!

Apple Cider Spice Cake with Apple Butter Frosting 

by Bird On A Cake

6032609

Ingredients

Apple Cider Spice Cake

• 1 package spice cake mix
• 1 1/4 cups apple cider
• 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 3 eggs

Apple Butter Frosting

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 6 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/3 cup apple butter

Instructions

Apple Cider Spice Cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line the bottoms of 3 eight inch round cake pans with wax paper, and spray the sides with cooking oil.

In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients. Using an electric mixer, beat on medium speed until thoroughly combined. Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for 18-22 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Apple Butter Frosting

In a large bowl, cream butter until light and fluffy. Add the sugar a few cups at a time and mix well. Add vanilla, cinnamon and apple butter; beat until fluffy.

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To make it even better, drizzle caramel topping over each slice before serving.

Enjoy!

I share my recipes & tutorials at these fun link parties.

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