em + the kitchen - chocolate cake + salted caramel frosting.

This secret-ingredient chocolate cake is my go-to recipe for impressing guests and is absolutely to die for. Add a salted caramel frosting to what was my first-ever layer cake (and a naked one at that!) and you've got a recipe for perfection. Also, gorgeous, right??

I teamed up with Jennifer at Busy Being Jennifer to really showcase this fabulous cake.

Click through to see exactly what the secret ingredient is and for the full recipe!

em + the kitchen - funfetti blondies.

The beginning of June marks the beginning of my birthmonth which is absolutely a real thing and definitely something that I celebrate. This particular June happens to be my golden birthmonth. Ya'll. I'm turning 26 on the 26th and I keep saying that this year is the last year I'll make a big deal of my birthday, but we all know that's not true.

So, to mark the start of my birthmonth, I have a super tasty funfetti recipe to share.
Funfetti recipes are all over the place, but most of them use boxes of cake mix and I just really like for my treats to be made completely from scratch. I think it's a pride issue. Hah.

Anyway, this recipe is sort of a mixture of a bunch of different recipes, all tweaked to be exactly what I wanted. They turned out great and I think my roommate would agree. It was delightfully butter-flavored and now my mouth is watering. Mmm.
Also, I would definitely recommend using the traditional rainbow jimmies, but if I'm being totally honest here, I started making these thinking I had some available, but then realized I'd used them all up in my last funfetti venture.
No worries, they still tasted awesome. They stay gooey and soft on the inside, but have just the right amount of crunch on the outside. And I may or may not have had them for breakfast more than once this week...

Funfetti Blondies
(makes 16 squares)

Ingredients:
3/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
pinch of baking soda
1/2 cup white chocolate chips (this is an estimate, I put 2 handfuls in - very scientific measurement)
1/4 cup rainbow sprinkles
6 tbsp butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 & 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp imitation butter extract

Preheat oven to 350*.
Liberally grease 8x8 pan or line with parchment paper to prevent sticking.

Mix dry ingredients - flour, baking powder and soda, and salt - in a medium bowl. Set aside.
Cream together butter and sugar. Once light and fluffy, add egg and extract. Beat well.
Add dry ingredients until just mixed. Stir in white chocolate chips and sprinkles.

Pour batter - which should look like wet cookie dough - into pan and spread to fit.
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Let cool completely before slicing.
Enjoy!

Do ya'll celebrate your birthmonth? Tell me I'm not the only one.
-e.

em + the kitchen - texas sheet cake cookies.

Have ya'll ever had Texas sheet cake? It typically shows up at many a church potluck, so moist and dense and delightful. The icing on top is basically fudge. It's delicious, quite possibly because it's made with 3 sticks of butter and an actual pound of powdered sugar. Ugh, my mouth is watering.

When I saw this recipe, I knew I MUST make it. Combining sheet cake and cookies? I can't even.

The dense cookie middle with drippy icing on top is hopefully enough to make you quit reading now and get to baking. But if not, let me just show you what I'm talking about.

Yummmmm.
Now get to baking.


Texas Sheet Cake Cookies
(recipe from cookies & cups)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, room temp
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 & 1/3 cup flour
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted

Icing:
1/2 cup butter
2 tbsp cocoa powder
3 tbsp milk
2 & 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350*. Prepare 2 cookie sheets with silpats or parchment paper.
Whisk dry ingredients together in a bowl. Set aside.
In mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar together until creamy, scraping down sides.
Add egg and vanilla extract and mix until combined.
Add all dry ingredients, slowly, until just combined. Batter will be very thick.
Pour melted chocolate chips (microwave in 30 second increments, stirring between each, until melted) into batter and mix until evenly combined.
Drop by small spoonfuls onto cookie sheets and bake for 7-8 minutes. Don't overbake. These guys will probably look underdone in the middle, but that's okay. That's how we get them to stay dense.
Transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

Icing:
Combine butter, cocoa powder, and milk in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk until melted together.
Remove from heat and whisk in powdered sugar.
Quickly pour over cooled cookies. Let icing harden completely before serving.

Which of your favorite desserts would you like to see turned into a cookie?
-e.

em + the city - poppyseed pound cake.

I am sort of ashamed of this recipe for a few reasons:
1) It is most definitely a dessert bread (read: cake) that I've been having for breakfast for the past several days.
2) I made some for my neighbors 3 days ago and their mini loaves are STILL sitting on my kitchen counter.
3) It was technically supposed to have a citrus glaze, but I was too impatient with that and just dug in to the cake, glaze-free. Not my best moment.

I will say, the density and crumb on this cake are perfect. It's got great almond-y, sweet flavor. And while I can't vouch for the citrus glaze, I'm sure it rounds out the bread quite nicely.

From this, I made one large and three mini loaves. You can make up to 6 mini loaves or 2 large loaves. On to the recipe!

Poppyseed Pound Cake
(adapted from here)
 
Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1&1/2 tsp baking powder
3 eggs
1&1/8 cup cooking oil
2&1/4 cup sugar
1&1/2cup milk
1&1/2 tbsp poppyseeds
1&1/2 tsp almond extract
1&1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1&1/2 tsp melted butter

Preheat oven to 350* and prepare loaf pans.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.
In your mixer, beat eggs, oil, and sugar until smooth. Add milk, extracts, butter, and poppyseeds.
Slowly add dry ingredients, mixing until just combined.
Pour into loaf pans and bake for 50-60 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

If I recall correctly, my mini loaves took 25-35 minutes; the large loaf took twice as long.

My goal today is to get the mini loaves delivered to my new(ish) neighbors before I gobble those up, too!
-e.

em + the kitchen - cinnamon pound cake.

This blog post today comes courtesy of Paula Deen, Jesus, and all things Southern.

I've been eying this Paula recipe for a while -- even had it bookmarked -- though, if I'm telling the truth about that, it's simply because there was no accompanying photo so how was I supposed to pin it to Pinterest? I resigned myself to the fact that I'd just have to make it. ;)

I've also been studying the book of James with my community group and he really drives the "love your neighbor as yourself"point home, so I contemplated how to live that out. Then it came to me in one delightfully Southern thought.

The recipe made two 8x3 pans and was perfectly buttery-sweet.
I wouldn't have had a chance to taste it at all except that when I tented the pans with foil halfway through the baking process, the foil fell and peeled off the top of my cakes. I used that as an opportunity to get a small taste.

Cinnamon Pound Cake
(recipe by Paula Deen)

Ingredients:
2 sticks butter, softened
1 1/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 325.
Spray a 9-inch loaf pan (or two 8x3 disposable pans) with nonstick baking spray. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper, and then spray again.
In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugars at medium speed with a mixer until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Gradually add to the butter mixture alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, beating just until combined. Spoon into the prepared pan(s).
Bake for 45 minutes (or just 30 if you're doing smaller ones). Then loosely tent with aluminum foil. Bake until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, 26 to 30 minutes longer. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, and then remove from the pan and cool completely on a wire rack.

My poor, topless cake. Ha!
On the same note, is there any way that I can love you, my friends, better?
-e.

em + the kitchen - peach upside-down cake.

As I type this, delightful summery smells are wafting through my house. My doors are open, allowing a breeze to come in, because THIS WEATHER ya'll.
I bought peaches at the farmer's market this past Saturday with the intent to make this particular recipe and nothing else. I'd been itching to try it because, not only did it sound delicious, it looked delicious. Some recipes are just meant to be photographed. This is one of them.

So, while I haven't even tried the now-cooling cake yet, I still feel like I can vouch for it. It smells wonderful and if it tastes anything like it looks, it's going to be a winner.

 

Peach Almond Upside-Down Cake
recipe originally from kitchentrials.com

Ingredients:
Topping -
1 tbsp butter
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 lb peaches, peeled and sliced

Cake-
1 cup flour
1/4 cup ground almonds
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 cups white sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
6 tbsp butter, melted
1/2 cup light sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract

 
Preheat oven to 350*.

Topping:
Put the butter in the bottom of a 9" round pan and place in warm oven for 3 min or until butter is melted and beginning to brown.
Sprinkle the brown sugar into the pan and press into an even layer with a spatula.
Arrange peach slices on top of sugar.

Cake:
In a small bowl, mix together flour, ground almonds, salt, and baking powder.
In a larger bowl, whisk together sugars and eggs until creamy (I used the whisk attachment on my kitchenaid). Add melted butter and whisk. Add sour cream and both extracts and whisk. Finally, mix flour mixture in and whisk until combined. Batter should be thick.
Pour on top of peaches and flatten top of batter.
Lightly drop the pan on the counter a few times to ensure batter has fallen in between the peach slices.
Bake for 40-45 minutes until golden brown.
Let rest in pan for 5-10 minutes, but no more. Flip right-side up onto a plate to let finish cooling. Some peaches will probably stick to the bottom of the pan, but it's easy enough to figure out where they fell from.

Enjoy!
What's your favorite summertime dessert?
-e.

em + the kitchen - PB cake.

There are some combinations in the world that just make sense together.
Peanut butter and chocolate is one of my favorite of those.
I just plain don't understand people who don't like peanut butter. And people who don't like chocolate? Well. I don't know any of them because I've distanced myself from anyone who has ever spoken such blasphemy.

This cake is moist and delicious and not sickly sweet. It was gone before 11am at work if that's any indication as to just how good it is.
What scavengers! ;)

My coworkers (who also have the task of being my guinea pigs) raved about this cake and made me blush, so I knew I had to post the recipe.

Originally from Bake or Break. Go check her out.
Ingredients:

2 & 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups light brown sugar

1 cup creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 eggs

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°.

Coat a 9″x 13″ baking pan with cooking spray. Set aside.

Using an electric mixer, combine flour, brown sugar, peanut butter, and butter. Remove 1 cup of mixture and set aside.

Mix in baking powder and baking soda. Mix in milk and vanilla. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing well after each addition.

Transfer batter to prepared pan. Sprinkle top with reserved flour mixture and chocolate chips. Bake 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Go. Now.
Make this cake.
-e.

em + the kitchen - apple yogurt cake

This is hands-down the most photogenic thing I've ever baked. I had to sift through an embarrassing amount of crispy, sugary cake topping photos to get what I'm about to show you.

But ya'll, look at it.
If the pictures make your mouth water, I understand. They should.

This recipe is for an Apple Yogurt Cake. I got the recipe from Pinterest, of course, but the original source is here.
This is a dense, fruit-filled, delicious cake that I need you go make, like, rightnow.

Apple Yogurt Cake
Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp cinnamon1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar
7/8 cup unsalted butter, melted, plus a little extra for buttering pan
2 large eggs
1/2 cups yogurt (I used Greek)
2 apples, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
zest of 1 lemon
1/3 cup granulated sugar, to top cake

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter an 8-inch cake round.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, and salt.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the 1/2 cup of sugar and the melted butter until it has lightened.
4. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating between each addition and scraping down the bowl as needed.
5. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour mixture alternately with the yogurt, beginning and ending with the flour.
6. Fold in the sliced apples and the lemon zest with a spatula and pour the batter in the prepared pan.
7. Sprinkle the 1/3 cup sugar evenly over the top of the cake.
8. Bake for 40 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in middle of cake comes out clean.
9. Let cool completely before serving.

So crispy and cracky and YUM. You guys.

-e.