Nothing says Valentine's like White Chocolate and Red Velvet

Thank you Bakerella! I found these delicious little chocolate covered cake balls and immediately screamed..."awwww Valentine's Day," in my typical overly screechy, nerdy voice. These were TASTY, plain and simple. These little nuggets of goodness are red velvet cake with cream cheese icing dipped in white chocolate. What's not to love?!

Confession: I tried to make these look adorable like Bakerella can by placing them on lolly pop sticks. This was a catastrophe!! I quickly had to abort the mission. And, immediately the cuteness factor of these lovely little cake balls plummeted. My dipping skills are zero to done and they ended up looking a little ploppy and werid, but tasted delectable. I brought 40 to my weekly small group, and left with 2, which I made sure I grabbed so I could take a picture.

With that said, I WILL make these again in all sorts of varieties, and I think I know what I goofed up on with the lolly pop sticks. We'll get to that in a bit.

Here's the Recipe: (Courtesy of Bakerella, word for word)

1 box red velvet cake mix (cook as directed on box for 13 X 9 cake)
1 can cream cheese frosting
1 package chocolate bark (regular or white chocolate)
wax paper

1. After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl.
2. Mix thoroughly with 1 can cream cheese frosting. (It may be easier to use fingers to mix together, but be warned it will get messy.)
3. Roll mixture into quarter size balls and lay on cookie sheet. (Should make 45-50. You can get even more if you use a mini ice cream scooper, but I like to hand roll them.)
4. Chill for several hours. (You can speed this up by putting in the freezer.)
5. Melt chocolate in microwave per directions on package.
6. Roll balls in chocolate and lay on wax paper until firm. (Use a spoon to dip and roll in chocolate and then tap off extra.)

Here's What I got:

Yummy little bits of love:


Confession 2: Being that honesty is the whole gist of my blog, I wanted to show you pictures of the massive cake balls plummeting to their death after sliding down the lolly pop sticks, the chunks of red velvet cake that ended up in the white chocolate, etc. But, I made these at the boyfriend's house and my camera was dead. Luckily I snagged these two so I could at least get one picture!

What I Learned:
- When a recipe says "chill for several hours," chill it for several hours, not 30 minutes because you waited to long to make them for an event or because you are too impatient. Not that I know this from experience ;)
- Next time I will roll the cake balls much smaller
- I will also put the lolly pop sticks in the smaller cake balls and, again, CHILL FOR SEVERAL HOURS, that way they adhere to the stick.
- I will use a dish with more depth for chocolate coating. The bowl I was using was too large, and too shallow.
- People love these, make them. (And sneak a few for yourself)

Thanks for stopping by!
Kara

I'm from the Lou and I'm proud...of gooey butter cake!

If you are from St. Louis, you know what I'm talking about. Four simple words:

ooey
gooey
butter
cake

By far, this is one of my favorite desserts in existance, so I made one. And, yes, I cheated and made it with a boxed cake mix. The reality is I had to make it for a dinner and forgot untill WAY late in my Saturday plans, otherwise we would've started from scratch. Also, sorry for the lack of pictures. I was scrambling around like a crazy face!

Note: Aunt Kathy, make this. You'll love it.

With all that being said, Ooey Gooey Butter Cake is a soft, yummy, yellow cake gooey explosion, and here's the recipe:

INGREDIENTS

Bottom:
1 (18.5 ounce) package yellow cake mix
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Top:
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups confectioners' sugar

DIRECTIONS Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Mix cake mix, melted butter or margarine, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 2 eggs with a spoon. Pat into a 9 X 13 inch pan. Mix cream cheese, 2 eggs, and 1 teaspoon vanilla with an electric mixer. Slowly beat in confectioner's sugar. Pour over cake layer. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes. Cool.

Here's What I Got:

Two parts goo, One part delicious:


Pouring the yummy cream cheese mixture on top of the cake mixture:


When you are done with that, make sure you get in on that cream cheese deliciousness:


Bake till golden brown around edges, sprinkle with powdered sugar, and ENJOY!


Here's What I Learned:
- I will cook 5-8 less minutes in my oven, that sucker overcooks quick!
- Apparently, according the the group I made this for, the cake is delicious dipped in chocolate fondue!
- I love St. Louis

Hope you enjoy! Thanks to those of you who have sent me recipes...keep 'em coming!

Thanks for stopping by!

Mini Meatloaves...I Love Muffin Tins

I seem to be on a "this would look cute small" kick, so I made some mini meatloves in muffin tins, and I thought they were wonderful! I found the recipe on allrecipes.com, one of my favorite daily hits. I added a few extras and threw them in muffin tins. Quick & Easy!

Here's the recipe (found here):

INGREDIENTS
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup quick cooking oats
1 teaspoon salt
1 pound ground beef
2/3 cup ketchup
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons prepared mustard

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a large bowl, combine the egg, milk, cheese, oats and salt. Add the ground beef, mixing well, and form this mixture into eight miniature meatloaves. Place these in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking dish. In a separate small bowl, combine the ketchup, brown sugar and mustard. Stir thoroughly and spread over each meatloaf. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 45 minutes.

What I did Different:
- I used seasoned breadcrumbs instead of the oats. My mom has always made it this way, so I figured go with what you know!
- I used colby jack instead of cheddar. I shredded it off the block, rather than use the bag stuff
- I eliminated the mustard, not my favorite flavor
- I, DUH, put it in muffin tins to bake

Here's what I got:

The mushy gushy ugly meat goodness:

I spooned the meatloaf into tins. The recipe makes 15 mini meatloaves:


For the topping, just mix together some ketchup and brown sugar:


Here they are finished. It only took about 30 mintues to cook:


Sorry I don't have a picture of them on a plate. We had to rush to the hospital that night to visit one of my boyfriend's students. We ended up bringing them the meatloaves, cream cheese mashed potatoes, and cheesy rice. They loved it!

What I Learned:
- Things look cute in muffin tins
- Adding green pepper and onion was a good idea, it gave it more flavor that the recipe called for. I used my new "mini food processor" from aldi to chop up the veggies and it worked great! I stored left overs in a freezer bag. I will use them when I make a BBQ chicken pizza.
- I'd make this again!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful February!

Thanks for stopping by!