Holiday - The Cake Merchant

Easy Dark Chocolate Peppermint Crunch Fudge

12.18.13

Raise your hand if you haven’t even thought about Christmas presents yet. Yup, me too. Procrastinators unite! If you’re in the same boat as I am, fear not. I’ll be posting several last minute, really easy recipes this week that are perfect for giving as gifts. Today’s fudge recipe only has 5 ingredients, takes 5 minutes, and no candy thermometer is required. I’ve tried a lot of “foolproof” fudge recipes, and this one is by far my favorite. It’s smooth and creamy, and it’s a great base recipe that can topped with just about anything.

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Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies

12.11.13

This year, I had the opportunity to participate the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap. Not only is it a great way to get to know other bloggers, but it helps Cookies for Kids’ Cancer. Since I’ve had chocolate on the brain, I decided to make a chocolate cookie with chocolate chips. Oh, and I threw in a little Nutella, too, because who doesn’t like Nutella?

I sent my cookies to Kelly and Austin, Babcakes Bakery, and Eat Drink Cleveland. I received cookies from Julie’s Eats and Treats, The Gaited Baker, and someone named Christina (I don’t know the name of her blog, but her cookies were really good). Be sure to check out all of their websites for their wonderful creations!

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Mini Pumpkin Layer Cakes for Two

11.23.13

I can’t believe I’ve been away from blogging for almost 2 weeks! This is my favorite time of year to bake, but commuting back and forth from Dallas to Amarillo for work has kept me away from my oven. Not that I’m complaining at all. As a musician, any work is always welcome, and I’ve had so much fun playing with the Amarillo Symphony this week. I just wish this hotel room had an oven, because I’m dying to make a cake right now.

I did, however, manage to sneak in some baking before I left for my trip. And yes, it’s another pumpkin recipe. Another pumpkin cake recipe to boot. That’s what happens when you’re a procrastinator like me and you save all of your fall recipes until the last minute.

While I have been lucky enough to spend the last few Thanksgivings with my fiancé and his family, this recipe was inspired by the many Thanksgivings I have celebrated on a much smaller scale. Some of my favorite Thanksgivings have been those that were spent with a roommate or a close friend or two, and these mini pumpkin cakes fit just that kind of an occasion.

This recipe makes a small batch- just 2 tiny cakes! I suppose I could have just made cupcakes, but layer cakes just have a better cake to frosting ratio. Plus, they’re cuter.

You may remember this recipe that I posted over at Best Friends for Frosting last year. These mini cakes are also baked in cans. I found some cans of organic pumpkin in BPA free liners, so I used those, but if you don’t want to bake these in cans, you can use a 4-inch cake pan. You may need to adjust the baking time if you do that.

To be honest, frosting these tiny cakes proved to be a bit cumbersome, so I left one without frosting on the outside just to show that they can look cute either way. I used 3 1/2 inch cake boards underneath, but if you don’t frost the outside, they really aren’t necessary. The frosting recipe makes enough to crumb coat and frost each cake with some left over for piping, but if you don’t plan to frost the outside, you can cut frosting the recipe in half.

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