Neapolitan Chocolate Birthday Cake

Posted on February 18, 2016 by Better Baking Bible

This weekend I have a very special birthday coming up, and they are definitely a chocolate lover! The inspiration for this cake cake was inspired by my love of neapolitan ice cream – I remember spending summers at my grandpas eating Chapman’s Neapolitan ice cream just about every day (who didn’t back in the 90’s!).

Chocolate and vanilla layers stacked and sandwiched between generous layers of chocolate and pink buttercream frosting makes this cake the perfect birthday cake. The outside is smothered all over with chocolate frosting and makes this cake almost like a surprise when you slice it – the pink frosting inside really pops!

I haven’t revealed the inside of the cake just yet since it’s sitting in the freezer waiting for this weekend’s birthday party. When it’s sliced I will be sure to put up a picture, so stay tuned for the inside reveal!

*If you would like to share my recipe and photos please provide proper credit and a link back to this original post. Thanks!

Neapolitan Chocolate Birthday Cake

Chocolate and vanilla layer cake sandwiched between chocolate and pink buttercream frosting.

Ingredients:

For Chocolate Cake Layers

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 ¾ cups unsweetened cocoa ¬powder
2 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp rum
pinch of salt
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup strong black coffee
½ cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract

To Decorate

Strawberries
Homemade chocolate glaze (baking chocolate and oil mixture)
Shaved white chocolate

For Vanilla Cake Layer

½ cup unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
½ cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup whole milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

For Buttercream Frosting

4 cups unsalted butter, softened
8 tbsp milk
6 tsp vanilla extract
8 cups confectioners sugar
food coloring
cocoa powder

Directions:

To Make Chocolate Cake Layers

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour two 8” round baking pans.
2. In a mixing bowl using an electric mixer, combine sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt until combined.
3. Add eggs, buttermilk, rum, coffee, oil, and vanilla. Beat on medium for 2 mins and then pour evenly into prepared pans.
4. Bake for 30-35 mins or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool for 10 mins, remove to wire rack and transfer to the freezer to cool completely.

To Make Vanilla Cake Layers

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour one 8” round baking pan.
2. In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat together butter and sugar with a mixer on medium until combined. Mix in eggs, and then slowly add in flour mixture and beat on low. Add milk and vanilla and keep beating until combined.
3. Pour cake batter into pan and bake for 30-35 minutes until golden or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Turn out onto rack and allow it to cool completely, or transfer to the freezer to chill.

To Make Buttercream Frosting

1. Using an electric mixer, cream all of the ingredients together until a buttercream frosting forms. Make sure the mixture is spreadable, and no clumps of butter are visible.
2. Separate ¼ of the frosting and place it in a separate bowl. Add a few drops of red food coloring and mix with an electric mixer to form a pink frosting.
3. In the rest of the white frosting add a few tablespoons of cocoa powder and mix with an electric mixer. If the frosting isn’t dark enough, add more cocoa and mix again.

To Assemble Cake

1. Add a tablespoon of frosting in the center of a plate to hold the first layer in place. Place the first chocolate layer on top.
2. Spread a generous amount of chocolate frosting over the first layer. Next, place the thick vanilla layer on top. Spread all of the pink frosting over this layer.
3. Add the last chocolate layer on top of the pink frosting and then frost the whole cake with the remaining chocolate frosting. Arrange strawberries on top of the cake.
4. In a double boiler, melt chunks of cooking chocolate and a little bit of oil to make a spreadable chocolate glaze. Pour over the top of the cake and strawberries. Sprinkle shaved white chocolate near the bottom of the cake and then place in the freezer to chill and set.

Chocolate Chip Orange Cookies Recipe

Posted on January 18, 2016 by Better Baking Bible

Chocolate and orange all in one cookie sounds like a happily married combination! These chocolate chip orange cookies are infused with fresh orange juice and orange zest mixed with delicious dark chocolate and vanilla aroma… can you really ask for more in a cookie?

Last weekend, I tried to come up with something different other than my weekend staple chocolate oatmeal cookies. I wanted something fruity, but also infused with chocolate since everyone LOVES chocolate! After coming back from my local Lidl with a whole bucket of fresh oranges, I started to feel a little guilty while throwing away the juicy peels. That really got me onto something – orange zest! Why waste orange peels and why not add orange zest into chocolate chip cookies?

These cookies are loaded with orange zest and freshly squeezed orange juice. They taste like a chocolate chip cookie but even BETTER. Making orange one of the main ingredients is an ingenious way to add a little kick to your recipes. I’ll definitely consider this for future cookies and even cakes or creams I will be making… stay tuned. 🙂

*If you would like to share my recipe and photos please provide proper credit and a link back to this original post. Thanks!

Chocolate Chip Orange Cookies

Yields 24

Soft chocolate chip cookies infused with fresh orange zest and vanilla.

Ingredients:

1 cup butter
¾ cup brown sugar
zest of one orange
2 tbsp brewed coffee
1 tbsp ground flaxseed
1 tbsp corn starch
2 tsp vanilla extract
freshly squeeze juice of half an orange
1 cup + 4 tbsp whole wheat flour
1 cup + 4 tbsp white all purpose flour
1 ½ tsp baking soda
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 cup chopped dark chocolate (or chocolate chips)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large mixing bowl, mix together butter and brown sugar. Add in orange zest, coffee, flax, cornstarch, juice from half an orange, vanilla extract, and vinegar. Mix until all the ingredients are well combined. I find that mixing with my hands works best to combine all the ingredients!
In a separate bowl, combine flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Stir together until incorporated.
Mix together the wet mixture (from step 1) with the dry mixture (from step 3). Add in chocolate chips and combine all the ingredients together.
Drop rounded spoonful’s onto cookie sheet and bake cookies for about 15 minutes or until slightly golden.
Remove from oven and transfer to a cooling rack to cool off completely.

How to Make Your Own Homemade Oatmeal Flour in Just One Step!

Posted on January 11, 2016 by Better Baking Bible

Making your own oatmeal flour at home is the easiest thing you can do to increase the nutrition of your baked goods in a snap! Oatmeal is naturally gluten free which makes it the perfect alternative to using white all-purpose flour in baking recipes. It also makes baked goods slightly chewy, moist, and a lot more filling.

To make your own oat flour at home, all you need is a blender or a food processor. Pulse the oat for a few minutes, stop, stir, and pulse again until you reach a flour-like consistency. Depending on what kind of food processor you have, this can take about 60 seconds or less! One cup of rolled oats will yield 1 cup of oat flour.

When it comes to using oatmeal flour as a replacement in your recipes, you may want to be careful. You can’t ALWAYS just substitute white all-purpose flour with oat flour. Oats contain zero gluten which means baked goods such as breads will not rise at all.

You can though make gluten free oatmeal cookies that need no rising at all. You can also add a little nutrition to your cake or pastry recipes, substitute only 1/4 of the all-purpose flour with oat flour.

*If you would like to share my recipe and photos please provide proper credit and a link back to this original post. Thanks!

Banana Bread Lamingtons – Easy Holiday Dessert

Posted on December 24, 2015 by Better Baking Bible

These banana bread lamingtons are a delicious spin-off of the traditional vanilla squares rolled in chocolate and coconut. Real lamingtons are delicious, but being a big fan of banana bread, I would say this banana/choco/coconut combo tastes even better!

For the banana bread recipe, I used the original Starbucks recipe they use to make their banana bread that retails for $5 a slice! I made a few slight alterations, baked it in a rectangular cake sheet, cut into squares, dipped in chocolate, and finally rolled the banana bread suqares in coconut. Voila! An easy dessert to make that looks impressive, and tastes absolutely delicious!

Lamingtons are a traditional Australian dessert named after Lord Lamington, who served as Governor of Queensland from 1896 to 1901. Historians say that Lord Lamington actually did not like lamingtons and reffered to them as “those bloody poofy wooly biscuits”. Maybe he would have liked our version better!

*If you would like to share my recipe and photos please provide proper credit and a link back to this original post. Thanks!

Banana Bread Lamingtons – Easy Holiday Dessert

Banana bread lamingtons rolled in chocolate and coconut!

Ingredients:

For Banana Bread

2 cups white flour
1/2 cup of granulated sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 pinch of salt
½ cup vegetable oil
2 tbsp buttermilk
½ tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
3 ripe medium sized bananas

For Chocolate Frosting

150 g dark chocolate
150 g unsalted butter
100 g sugar
2/3 cup milk
200 g shredded, unsweetened coconut

Directions:

To Make Banana Bread

1. Preheat oven to 325F. Grease a rectangular sheet cake pan and dust with flour.
2. Combine dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, combine vegetable oil, buttermilk, vanilla extract, 1 egg and bananas. Make sure to mash the bananas well and not leave any chunks.
3. Pour batter into cake pan and bake for about 45 minutes depending on the size of your pan and the thickness of the batter. Keep checking with a toothpick until it comes out clean.
4. Remove from oven and allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and cool for another 20 minutes. Again, transfer cake onto a cutting board and cut into approx. 2 inch x 2 inch sized squares. Place on a baking sheet and into the freezer overnight.

To Make Chocolate Frosting

Using a double boiler, melt chocolate and butter. Add sugar, mix until smooth and then add milk, stirring constantly.

To Assemble

Dip each banana bread cake square into chocolate; making sure each side is well coated. Then cover in coconut, allow to chill/rest in fridge for about an hour before serving.

Madarica Kolac – Croatian No-Bake Layer Cake Recipe

Posted on November 21, 2015 by Better Baking Bible

Loaded with chocolate, made in bite-sized pieces, and even better – no baking! If you love all of the above, you’re going to be drooling over “Madarica”, a traditional Croatian dessert that is simple to make, yet tastes VERY delicious. Plus, it looks super impressive which makes it the perfect dessert to prepare for a holiday coffee get-together or an after dinner dessert.

Madarica has thin layers of chocolate and store-bought crust which make this delicious cake a year-round favorite dessert! This cake is easy to make if you are in luck and can buy the store bought crust by Podravka like the one seen here. This cake is called no-bake because you can purchase the already made layers. If you can’t buy the crust anywhere, no worries – we have included the recipe below!

*If you would like to share my recipe and photos please provide proper credit and a link back to this original post. Thanks!

Madarica Cake Recipe

A traditional Croatian chocolate cake with thin layers of chocolate and crust.

Ingredients:

For Cake Crust

* If you can’t buy Podravka Madarica Cake Crust, then use this recipe

5 ½ cups all purpose flour
2 egg whites
180g sour cream
1 tsp baking powder
1 ¼ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup unsalted butter, softened

For Cake Filling

4 cups milk
5 tbsp all-purpose flour
5 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla sugar
1.5 cups sugar
50g dark chocolate
¾ cup unsalted butter, softened
1 tbsp rum

For Cake Glaze

100g dark chocolate
3 tbsp vegetable oil
4 tbsp unsalted butter

Instructions:

To Make Cake Layers

In a mixing bowl using an electric mixer, beat together the butter, sugar, egg whites, and sour cream until light and fluffy. Gradually add in flour and baking powder and knead to form a dough.
Preheat oven to 356 F. Separate dough into 6 equal parts and roll out as thin as possible into rectangles on a piece of parchment paper. Transfer to a baking sheet and place another piece of parchment paper on top (to avoid burning the top) of each layer and bake each layer for 8 minutes. The layers must not turn golden, they must stay pale!

To Make Cake Filling

On medium heat, bring milk, sugar, and vanilla to a boil. Separate one part of the milk and whisk in cocoa and flour. Add the mixture into the boiling milk and add in the dark chocolate, always stirring until thickened. Remove from heat and stir in butter and rum. Cover with tin foil until cooled.

To Make Cake Glaze

In a pot over medium heat, melt chocolate with butter and oil and whisk together until combined.

To Assemble

Place the first cake layer onto a baking tray and evenly spread one part of filling. Cover with second layer and repeat until finished, making sure the last layer is a dough layer. Pour the hot glaze over the whole cake and transfer cake to fridge to chill overnight. The next day, cut cake into small rectangles and serve!

*If you would like to share my recipe and photos please provide proper credit and a link back to this original post. Thanks!

The Best Homemade Blueberry Cake Muffins

Posted on November 18, 2015 by Better Baking Bible

Soft, moist, delicious, and freshly homemade blueberry muffins make the perfect breakfast option, snack, or dessert! I like to call these cake muffins since they don’t really taste so much like a muffin, but have the light and soft consistency of a cake.

If you grow your own blueberries like I do, these muffins taste even better with freshly picked berries. Or you can make them with store-bought frozen blueberries, which work just as good. These muffins freeze quite well, so even if you can’t eat a whole batch, just throw them into the freezer in a sealed zip lock bag or airtight container and take them out the night before for a quick home-baked breakfast!

The Best Homemade Blueberry Cake Muffins

Yields 18

Soft and light blueberry muffins with a cake-like consistency… so addictive!

Ingredients:

½ cup unsalted butter, softened
½ cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp sea salt
2 cups all-purpose white flour
½ cup milk
2 ½ cups fresh or frozen blueberries

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375F place muffin cups in muffin pan.
In a large mixing bowl using an electric mixer on medium, mix butter until creamy. Gradually add in sugar until light and fluffy.
Slowly add in eggs, beating after each addition until well combined. Then, beat in vanilla, baking powder, and salt.
Mix in half of flour, half of milk, and repeat. Fold in fresh or frozen blueberries.
Scoop muffin batter into muffin cups using a spoon. Bake for 20 minutes until golden.

Spooky Chocolate Orange Spider Cake With Cream Cheese Filling

Posted on October 15, 2015 by Better Baking Bible

Chocolate lovers, you are in luck! Today we are featuring a delicious chocolate layered, cream cheese filled master piece that comes just in time for one of my favorite festivities of the year – Halloween! This spooky spider web cake is loaded with mouthwatering chocolate and orange layers with orange flavored cream cheese. It is an absolute wonder, and to make things even better, the whole cake is smothered in chocolate ganache.

To switch things up a bit, we are not going to feature the recipe here, but send you off to one of my favorite bloggers – Robin from Bird on A Cake. She made this amazing cake for Halloween and we couldn’t help but share it here!

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Tag Archives: better baking bible

Neapolitan Chocolate Birthday Cake

Neapolitan Chocolate Birthday Cake

Chocolate Chip Orange Cookies Recipe

Chocolate and orange all in one cookie sounds like a happily married combination! These chocolate chip orange cookies are infused with fresh orange juice and orange zest mixed with delicious dark chocolate and vanilla aroma… can you really ask for more in a cookie?

Chocolate Chip Orange Cookies

How to Make Your Own Homemade Oatmeal Flour in Just One Step!

Banana Bread Lamingtons – Easy Holiday Dessert

Banana Bread Lamingtons – Easy Holiday Dessert

Madarica Kolac – Croatian No-Bake Layer Cake Recipe

Madarica Cake Recipe

The Best Homemade Blueberry Cake Muffins

The Best Homemade Blueberry Cake Muffins

Spooky Chocolate Orange Spider Cake With Cream Cheese Filling