Mini Bundt Easter S’mores

There’s a bandwagon going around full of delicious things like chocolate, graham crackers and marshmallow crème.  I was so taken in by it all, I just had to jump on too.

Who could blame me? Things like this are hard to resist. And who’d want to anyway? You can never have enough deliciousness like this in your life.

I’m a total pushover when it comes to these delightful mini chocolate bundt cakes, topped with  graham crumbs, oozing marshmallow crème and sprinkled with shaved chocolate. And eggs. The eggs represent Easter. New life. Hope.

The little chocolate cakes are mini bundt’s.  I have a new pan that I’ve been wanting to try out so I made this using a chocolate cake recipe that is deliciously light because I decided to use yogurt when I discovered I didn’t have sour cream. Although it’s light, the cake tastes amazingly fudgy when you bite into it which really lends itself to the whole s’mores thing. I  sprinkled them with graham crumbs mixed with melted butter before baking so that they would stick to the chocolate batter when baked. When the mini bundt’s were cool, slightly warm, I topped them with homemade marshmallow crème.  As you can see, because the little bundt’s weren’t completely cool yet, the creme melted slightly and drizzled down the sides which I thought actually ended up looking kind of cute. I sprinkled the marshmallow creme with some shaved chocolate and topped them with speckled Easter eggs.

 

 These s’mores would make  a great treat for family and friends this Easter and they’re not at all difficult to make. For the very first time, I made my own marshmallow crème and could not believe how easy it was.  It had never occurred to me before that you could make marshmallow creme at home using really simple ingredients until Brenda, from a Farm Girl’s Dabbles mentioned it. Brenda makes gorgeous homemade marshmallows.  You can see more of her amazing creations by visiting her blog here.

 These s’mores consist of 5 easy components:

the mini bundt cakes, the graham crumb mixture, the marshmallow crème, the shaved chocolate and the mini chocolate eggs.

Graham Crumbs

Ingredients:

24 graham crackers

6 tablespoons melted butter

Crush the crackers by placing them in a sealed plastic bag and rolling over them with a rolling pin or placing them in a food processor until finely crushed.

Add the melted butter and mix until combined.

Set aside while you make the chocolate mini bundt/cupcake batter.

Mini Chocolate Bundt Cakes/Cupcakes

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon (110 g) butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups plain yogurt

3/4 cup milk

Method:

Preheat oven to 350° and grease mini bundt pan or as another option you can line your favorite muffin pan with cupcake liners.

Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until light.  Add eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition until light and fluffy.

Pour 1/3 cup of the flour mixture into the large bowl and mix until combined.  Add 1/2 of the yogurt and mix until combined. Add another third of the flour mixture and mix until combined. Add the remaining yogurt and flour mixtures, mixing after each addition, until combined.

Add milk and mix until combined.

Scoop into prepared pan until 2/3 full and cover with prepared graham crumbs (see above) using 1 tablespoon per mini bunt or cupcake.

Bake for 15-17 minutes, or until toothpick or skewer comes out without crumbs attached. Try not to over bake these so they come out tender. They are far better slightly under baked, than over baked. Cool on wire racks in pan for 5 minutes, then gently turn onto rack and cool completely.

Homemade Marshmallow Crème

Ingredients:

3 egg whites

2 cups light corn syrup

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups icing sugar (confectioner’s sugar)

1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract

Method:

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine egg whites, corn syrup and salt.

Mix on high-speed for 10 minutes or until thick.

Add in icing sugar.  Before turning on your mixer, you may want to incorporate the icing sugar with a spatula so that it doesn’t all come flying out of the bowl or attach the plastic shield to your mixer, if you have one.

Beat on low-speed until well blended.

Add vanilla and mix until blended.

Note:

}}This marshmallow crème whips up to a glossy white, is satiny smooth and fluffy.

}} It can be used immediately or stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

}}You can flavour the crème by substituting a flavoured extract for the vanilla.

}}You can colour the crème by adding a drop or two of food colour.

S’mores Preparation:

Start with a mini bundt or cupcake, top with a dollop of marshmallow crème, followed by a sprinkle of shaved chocolate and top it off with some of your favourite eggs or chocolate.

Enjoy!

For other wonderful s’mores recipes visit:

 Brandon Matzek at Kitchen Konfidence for Maple Bacon S’mores

 Rosie Alyea at Sweetapolita for Homemade Puffy Cloud S’mores

 Jamie at My Baking Addiction for S’mores Truffles or Giant S’mores Cookies

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Rice Krispie Pops

Happy Spring!

It’s official, it’s here, it’s wonderful and I’m blissfully excited. I hope those who live somewhere close to where I do enjoyed the sweet pleasures of Spring last week as much as I did. It was spectacular! The weather’s been incredibly warm and each day felt a little more like Summer, than Spring.

Mother nature’s busy working her magic, transforming everything into a lush green, including the field of spring wheat behind our house, which my husband is awfully excited about. My tulips and daffodils are on notice that it’s time to rise and shine, the buds are on my lilac bushes and the apple blossoms are coming to life.  Each day I get a little more excited about all of the wonderful transformations that are taking place.  Each one offers up a gift for those who pause to take notice. So I encourage you to take a moment and slip outside.  Oh I know, if you’re a blogger like me, you’ve got pictures to take, posting and editing to do.  There’s always food waiting to be cooked and laundry piling up, people to email and research to do.  It will wait, but mother nature won’t.  She takes direction from no one and she waits for no one.  She beats to the sound of her own drum and as good as your intentions are, if you don’t take a moment right now, to look, and to listen, and breath deeply, and feel it on your skin and in your lungs, you will miss it.  The promises of spring before it truly delivers.  The promise of what’s to come but isn’t quite here yet.  The mystery of tiny seeds sprouting into their destiny … Hhh hem, okay, I’m coming down off my soapbox now. Truly, I am.

  

Over the course of the past year, I’ve devoted some serious time and some serious ingredients into trying to achieve some sort of mastery competency making cake pops.  While learning to bake and decorate cakes, I always found that I had large bowls of cake and buttercream left over at the end of the day.  Not one to waste good cake, I delved into the quintessential world of Bakerella to get some advice on her adorable cake pops.  Bakerella has some serious off-the-charts talent and there are no limits to the imaginative ways she can dream up to use cake and icing or any dessert ingredient for that matter. This week , however, when I decided that I was going to bring all of my excitement about spring into an awesome baking post, I wasn’t really thinking about Bakerella or cake pops.

I rose at dawn and the first thing I did was whip up a half batch of Rice Krispie Marshmallow Treats. Are you thinking what I’m thinking? That’s right.  There’s absolutely no baking involved in making marshmallow treats. You don’t even have to preheat the oven. What can I say, I’m a simple girl. The truth is, the first thing I saw in my pantry was a stockpile of marshmallows that needed to be used and I did what I always do with marshmallows. Once I was done, I stared at those marshmallow treats and searched racked my brain for ideas about how to transfer my love of spring to you.  I pressed them into cookie cutters, I sprinkled them with stars, rolled them into eggs, I ate some between two wafers of white chocolate.  And that’s when I knew what to do.

Oh Krispie Pops.

Where have you been all my life? And why have I never thought of you before?

Harbor no hard feeling. We now have a serious attraction and I promise I will never stray again. You satisfy every sweet tooth I have.

I have to be fair and let you know that these Rice Krispie Pops come with a  serious warning.  They are quick, easy and highly addictive.  Your kids will want them, your friends will want them, your husband, your neighbours, the cat, the dog and everyone in between.  They are especially great for kids and parties and I imagine Halloween treats for spooks you know, gift-giving or just plain brightening up someone’s day.

So there you have it my friends, I hope that these wonderful treats will bring a little bit of Spring and pop some sweetness into your life, the way it has mine this week. This Easter, why not pop them in a bag, tie it with a bow and spread a little sweetness in your part of the world.

Rice Krispie Marshmallow Treats

1/4 cup (15 ml)  butter

1/2 teaspoon (2 ml) real vanilla

6 cups Rice Krispies cereal

8 cups (1 Qt.) marshmallows, feel free to use either large or small

1. In a large pot melt butter over low heat. Once the butter has melted, add the marshmallows and stir until melted. Immediately remove from heat.

2. Add vanilla and stir.

3. Add 3 cups of the Rice Krispie’s cereal and fold with a buttered spatula or large spoon. Add the last 3 cups of cereal and fold again, making sure all of the cereal is coated in the gooey marshmallow coating.

Once the Rice Krispie Marshmallow Treats are mixed, do not press them into a pan, leave them in the pot, away from the heat or pile them loosely in a bowl.

If you would like a full picture tutorial for making the Rice Krispie Marshmallow  Treats on the stove top, you can find it here. Note that for this project I halved the recipe and it’s listed above.

Microwave Directions:

In a microwave safe bowl heat butter and marshmallows on HIGH for 2 minutes, stirring after 1 minute.  Stir until smooth.  Follow steps 2 and 3 above.  Please note that not all microwaves are equal and the cooking time may vary.

Notes for making Rice Krispie Marshmallow Treats:

}} For best results, use fresh marshmallows.

}} Marshmallow crème can be substitued for the marshmallows.

}} Diet, reduced calorie or tub margarine is not recommended.

This is what you will need to make the Rice Krispie Pops:

1 Recipe of Rice Krispie Marshmallow Treats (see above)

1 lb. of white chocolate ( I’ve used both Mercken’s White Chocolate Moulding Wafers, available at the Bulk Barn in Canada, or Callebaut Pure White Chocolate, available at Golda’s kitchen, also in Canada, with success. Both melt easily and have good flavour.  I prefer Callebaut because it’s made from 100 % pure cocoa butter.  Another alternative is to use candy melts by Wilton.

Coloured chocolate coating melts (if you would like to add colour to the chocolate coating).

White lollipop sticks (I used Wilton 6″ lollipop sticks)

Coloured sugar, quinns, stars, or sprinkles

How to make Rice Krispie Pops:

1. Prepare a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper or parchment.

2. Smear both your hands with a small amount of butter and rub together. Using your hands, tear off small pieces of the Rice Krispie Marshmallow mixture and roll it into a ball between both hands until it is round and smooth.

3. Melt a small amount of the chocolate in the microwave (10 second intervals, stopping to stir in-between). Dip one end of the lollipop stick in the  chocolate and insert it into the Krispie ball.  Repeat until you have a stick in every ball.  Allow to set at room temperature for 20 minutes or refrigerate for 10 minutes.

4. In a small microwave-safe bowl, or these candy melt bowls by Wilton, melt your chocolate in the microwave (30 second intervals, stopping to stir in-between).  You can colour your chocolate by adding coloured pieces of chocolate along with the white.

5. Dip each ball into the chocolate and indirectly tap off the excess by repeatedly placing two fingers on the wrist of the hand holding the lollipop stick. Place the lollipop sticks into a brick of styrofoam or florist foam to dry.  An alternative (and the one I used) is to place them down on a clean piece of waxed paper or parchment to dry.

6. When to add the glitter and/or sprinkles and/or quinns will depend on the temperature of your chocolate.  You want to add them before the chocolate sets but not while it is still drippy so that they don’t slide to the bottom, if you wanted them at the top.  This may take some practice to get it just right.

Notes for making Krispie Pops:

}} You can weigh the marshmallow treat mixture on a scale but I found that you need to be very precise or your balls will still be different sizes depending on how tight or loose you roll them. With practise it will get easier to make them all the same size.

}} Never let water come in direct contact with your chocolate or candy coating.

}} Be careful not to over-microwave your chocolate or candy coating because it will seize or burn.

}} If you do not have a microwave, you can use a double-boiler as an alternative for melting.

}} These make great Easter treats~!

}} The possibilities for decorating Rice Krispie Pops are endless. Use your imagination and you will be amazed at all of the ways you can put your own personal signature on them.

}} Most of all, have fun sharing these treats with your family and friends.

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For the love of the Irish

It’s a little late in the day to be wishing you … “top of the morning”, so I’ll have to settle for, “here’s to ya’ then! Three cheers and a green cake in honour of Saint Patty, the patron saint of Ireland”.

I’m not much of a drinker as these things go.  I’m more into cake … and cupcakes … and icing  … and chocolate. So what better way to pay tribute to the patron saint of Ireland than with cake.  And green no less.

Today is (and almost was, as I look at the clock) officially St. Patrick’s Day, and it historically marks a day of celebration of the arrival of Christianity in Ireland during the 5th century BCE.

St. Patrick’s Day is probably the most widely celebrated saint’s day in the world.  Although only an official public holiday in Ireland, Northern Ireland, Montserrat, Newfoundland and Labrador, celebrations are held wherever there are large populations of Irish people, including Canada, the United States, Australia, Russia and Japan.

Historically St. Patrick’s Day was a day for spiritual renewal and thanksgiving, in honor of the death of Saint Patrick.

Because St. Patrick’s Day occurs during the Christian Lent period, religious families would have been prohibited from consuming meat and alcohol. However, these prohibitions were waived on St. Patty’s Day, allowing even the most pious to celebrate the day with a traditional feast of Irish bacon, cabbage and spirits.

But enough about history. Let’s talk cake.

 

This is a magical cake.

It’s been touched by leprechaun’s. Kissed by butterflies. Sprinkled with fairy dust.  Trimmed with dragees. Blessed with sprinkles. Stenciled with love. Spun with sugar. And baked with joy.

Brimming with the luck o’ the Irish and covered in homemade white chocolate cakelets, it’s the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

St. Patrick’s Day is marked by the “wearing of the green” and what better way to wear it, than on a cake.

I’d love to hear if you wore green today?

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