Mississippi Mud Bundt Cake Experiment

Well, I didn't think I'd be making two posts in one day, but here I go!

Today's experiment:  Converting a Mississippi Mud Cupcake recipe into a bundt cake in less than 2 hours.

I had to have a cake to take to a dinner tonight and used up most of the morning working on the first post here, and looking for recipes to try to decide what dessert to take.  Decided on Mississippi Mud Cupcakes (from myrecipes.com in case you want to try that recipe); then decided it would be a lot faster to use a cake mix - though the cupcakes would come out less chewy and tasty with the cake mix than using the original recipe.

I decided it would also be easier and less messy to just dump the cake mix into one pan instead of 30 or so little cupcakes.  At high elevation, instead of getting 24 cupcakes from one box cake mix, we get 30... probably because, following high altitude mixing instructions, we add extra water (and more flour).

I usually also add a box of instant pudding mix (large package) to the cake when I make a bundt cake.  For some reason, at high elevation, if you add the pudding to the cake mix and make layer cakes, the centers of the cakes rise pretty high, then fall flat... actually, they sink in... so it looks like someone stepped on the cake.  Makes it tricky to decorate the cake then.  But, the pudding works OK in the bundt cake.

So, I baked the cake for an hour at 350F, took it out and let it cool enough to remove it from the pan (which I sprayed with PAM baking spray).  Tried to figure out a way to keep the marshmallows on the cake so that I could get it back in under the broiler to toast the marshmallows.  Decided to make a batch of chocolate frosting (see allrecipes.com for "Chocolate Frosting I" for the recipe that I always use), spread a little on top of the bundt cake and stick the marshmallows onto the frosting.

Stuck the cake with marshmallows under the broiler for just a couple of minutes until the marshmallows got toasty.  The frosting then got kind of bubbly and crunchy.  So, if you ever actually want that bubbly, crunchy effect from frosting, you could stick your cake under the broiler.  ;-)

Now, from the following photos you can see that in food photography, angle is everything.  You can tell a good story, or you can tell the truth.  The marshmallows stuck pretty well using the frosting trick, but there were a couple of "oops" areas.

Some marshmallows slid down the side.

And some slid down into the center.

But, should you want those effects on your final cake, then great.  No need to experiment anymore.  Just use this technique:  stick your marshmallow covered cake under the broiler.

Now you may have noticed that my marshmallow bits weren't traditional mini marshmallows.  I only had bags of the full-sized marshmallows.  Here's a great tip to know, though:  spray a knife with regular PAM spray.  If you cut up large marshmallows with a PAM sprayed knife, the marshmallow won't stick to the knife!  I got nine marshmallow bits from each regular sized marshmallow.  I cut the marshmallow into strips, dividing the marshmallow into thirds; then I cut the thirds into thirds.

Then I drizzled melted chocolate chips (about 1/2 cup chips + 2 tsp. shortening) in the microwave for about one minute.  Stirred the chips to make them smooth, and drizzled the chocolate over the top of the marshmallows.  Then sprinkled chopped pecans on top that had been oven-toasted at 350F for 8 minutes.  Less time would have been better... maybe about 6 minutes.  These pecans came out extra toasty - not burned, but borderline.  You'll have to see what works best for you with your own oven.  My lower oven tends to get hotter than the upper oven.

So, later tonight, maybe I can get a photo of what my cake looks like inside.  I was tempted to inject it with some kind of filling... but when all is said and done, I think what I ended up with will be enough sticky goo for most people.  I'll save the filling for something else for a future post.

c@

Midnight Bean Soup

So... I was up all night cleaning cupboards last night.

And what does this have to do with soup?

Well, because of Heather's "persistent suggestions" (i.e., bugging, pestering, nagging) to get a blog going, and because the soup turned out pretty good, I thought I'd blog this so you could see what the Cat dragged out of the cupboards and into the kitchen today.



This is what I've gathered up so far for the thrift shop (or "boutique" depending on where you live in the U.S.).  Three bags of stuff, and three boxes.  Now I just have to figure out where to keep it until I can get down to a thrift shop in Colorado again, or whether I can try to cram it into everything else that I need to do tomorrow.  Or... ????

And this is what our "Cove" looks like now that it's organized.  It got the name "The Cove" because it's on the north and coldest side of the house.  At Christmas time when I do a lot of baking, I can either store baked goods in "The Cove" or on a baker's rack in the garage.  Sometimes we all it the "Cookie Cove," but most often just "The Cove."


AND I also even have nearly a whole half side of the bottom cabinet in my hutch emptied!  I thought I was going to store all my platters and large serving bowls in the hutch, but decided it would be easier to access them from The Cove.  So, I had to organize The Cove to make room for them all.

I don't know why I had so much energy for staying up so late working on cleaning cabinets, but now I'm eager to tackle some other areas of the house the next time I do this "late thing".

At any rate, about 1 a.m. I started thinking, "If I start some beans tonight in the crock pot, it will be done for lunch tomorrow." 

1:00 a.m. I was up chopping an onion, cleaning beans, and popping everything into a crock pot to make bean soup.  It doesn't take long at all to prepare, as long as the country style pork ribs are already defrosted.


Then, I don't know what possessed me, but I went through my collection of cookie molds to see how many duplicates I have ended up with over the past year or so. 

These molds are for shortbread cookies - some from Pampered Chef, some from Brown Bag, and some other miscellaneous molds - most all of them I've found at thrift shops.  Some gifts, some purchased online.  But most at thrift shops. 

Maybe another day I'll show you photos of all the molds.  Maybe someday when I get around to actually making cookies again with the molds. 

Anyway, I got them all sorted and discovered that I really have duplicates of only two types - all Pampered Chef.  One is a heart mold (I have two of the same), and the other is a bear (I have three of the same -  three different shades of stoneware... seems kind of odd to me).

I was going to make a list, but sleep started to come over me once I sat down, so that will have to wait a while.

Finally getting to bed at about 2 a.m., I then woke up at 9 a.m. when I heard a text message come in on my phone.  My husband Phil texted me to see if I was up yet.  Between that and the smell of the beans cooking, I decided I'd better get up, especially because I kept lying in bed thinking, "That doesn't smell right."  So, I got out of bed to check the seasoning.

Taste.  More salt.  Thought about it... decided to add a little cumin and chili seasoning.  Cooked two more hours in the crock pot.  Taste.  Still not right.  Added a little more salt and some Bouquet Garni.  Cooked another hour or so.  Taste.  Perfect!  Though, I'm not sure I could re-create the seasoning to be the same next time, I thought I'd better blog this so I'll remember what I did. 

It actually tasted really very good, even though the beans were supposed to come out like refried beans, I think, from the recipe and description that my hair stylist gave to me; mine came out like soup.  So, if yours come out like refried beans, maybe you can just add more water in a big soup pot.  :-)

So, here's a shopping list:

3 country style pork ribs
1-1/2 lb. pinto beans, dry (bought in bulk - rinse well and remove icky pieces)
1 sweet onion, small dice
About 14 cups water (to come near to top of crock pot)
2-3 Tbsp. salt (add a little at first and then adjust to preference later)
1 Tbsp. Cumin
2 Tbsp. Chili Seasoning (Penzey's, with oregano in it - it has a medium kick)
1 Tbsp. Bouquet Garni

Directions:

Place ribs on bottom of crock pot; toss in diced onion, sprinkle with seasonings.  Add dry pinto beans over all.  Pour in water.  Set crock pot on high and go to bed.  Cook for nine hours and adjust seasonings as needed.  Continue cooking until you think you're ready to turn off crock pot to enjoy the soup.  Maybe with tortilla chips.  :-)

Mediterranean Stuffed Chicken Breasts

OK - so here is the photo of the Mediterranean Chicken that I made again last night.  Adtually, this is the remnant of the very last piece that was left.  I forgot to shoot any pictures before we ate dinner.

And it is really easy, really fast!  From start to finish (not counting shopping time) it takes a little more than 1/2 hour until you can eat dinner!

So, here's your shopping list:


2-3 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4 oz. soft goat cheese
1/2 cup pre-blended/mixed mediterranean flavor vegetable "paste" or bruschetta topping
1/4 cup (approx.) good balsamic vinegar
Salt, Pepper to taste
Penzey's Tuscan Sunset (optional, but nice)

Directions:

Mash the goat cheese in a bowl and add about 1/2 cup of a mediterranean flavored vegetable/bruschetta "paste" from a jar.  I got mine at a place in Sonoma when Myrna and I went there, but the brand is missing from the label.  The original recipe called for making a mixture out of sun-dried tomatoes - I thought I had some, but didn't; regardless, the jar of vegetable stuff (which has kalamata olives in it, it's red color) was so fast and easy.

Then take 2-3 lbs. of chicken breasts and slice a "pocket" into the side of each piece.  Put about 2 Tbsp. of the goat cheese mixture into the pocket.  Place the chicken breasts into a PAM (olive oil type is good) sprayed pan.

Season the top of the chicken breasts with salt, pepper - and I used Penzey's Sunny Paris, also, because it had shallots in it.  The original recipe called for sauteed shallots, but this seasoning was so much easier.  Then I sprayed the chicken pieces lightly with PAM.

Then shake some really good balsamic vinegar over the chicken so that there is some extra balsamic in the bottom of the baking pan - not a lot, but enough so that you can see it's covering the bottom of the pan.

Then I baked the chicken for 20-25 minutes at 450 until the internal temperature was 155-160.  Then cover the pan with foil and let it rest for about 10 minutes before serving.

Notes:

The original recipe said to then add cornstarch/water to thicken the juices, but we found that with little bits of goat cheese and kalamata olives in the juices, it was fine to just spoon that over the orzo.

My 3-lb. package of frozen chicken breasts had some really unusual sized pieces in it, but I was still able to slice open almost every piece and had enough filling for all the breasts except for three really skinny pieces.

I served it with orzo (to which I added a little bit of Penzey's Tuscan Sunset and a tiny bit of leftover Bavarian mustard sauce - for which I can send the recipe to you, too, if you want... it's excellent over pork tenderloin, or even bake the tenderloin in the sauce).