Time for this week’s Thursday Things:
1. Today is National Chocolate Cupcake Day. It’s ironic that with all the chocolate-based recipes, desserts, and sweets on my blog that I’ve never posted a recipe for a basic chocolate cupcake.
I do have a killer cake recipe that’s a one-bowl and very fast and easy. The cake has the springy and spongey nature of a cake-mix cake, but it’s from scratch and the batter takes five minutes to whisk together.
Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache
If you need chocolate cupcakes, Sally has you covered
2. I was nominated as one of the Top 25 Recipe Blogs by Skinnyscoop. You have to scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the big spacebar with ‘See all suggestions’ on it to see all 25. There’s a voting period that goes until October 31 if you want to Like or vote for your favorite blog. I was just happy to make the cut because I’m in the company of some people whom I really admire.
3. How adorable is this little Recipe book from Anthro, $28. I was just talking about what a hodge-podge my recipes are and that they’re strewn all over the place from saved emails to myself to dog-eared pages in cookbooks to Pinterest boards to Recipe Box.
Maybe this would help me.
4.Last week the Huffington Post featured my Spiced Apple and Banana Bundt Cake with Vanilla Caramel Glaze in their Caramel Dessert Recipes roundup. The glaze on that cake is my hands down favorite glaze of all time. The cake is good but the glaze is bliss on a spoon. I love caramel anything and they have some gems in their roundup.
I’m Slide 6 of 16
5. These Apple Cinnamon Mini Monkey Breads look like a fair amount of work but boy, they sure look good. But stayed tuned because I have a monkey bread-ish recipe on Monday that’s not a lot of work.
6. Owl The Better doormat, $34 from Modcloth
7. Bon Appetit has 26 Cakes in their October print issue that I have been wanting to make. Yes, I want to make all 26 but first I need to find a football team who’s accepting donations after I have my one or two slices and am already thinking about what’s next.
This Banana Chocolate Chip Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting caught my eye. They use Jif peanut butter for the frosting, as do I for all my peanut butter baking needs when I’m baking with peanut butter, but I was glad to see that Bon Appetit isn’t too highbrow for some good ole Jif.
8. Mascot Cardigan, Free People $248. I love Free People and I love this cardigan with all it’s kitschy funkiness but it was 94F in San Diego on Wednesday. A freakish hot snap and it’s hotter now that it was all summer, but I’m sure not complaining because I love it hot. However, it’s definitely not sweater weather right now.
9. Here’s a Chocolate Brownie Cake from Williams-Sonoma and although it’s not quite a cupcake in honor of today’s holiday, it combines brownies and cake in one, which is akin to a holiday for me.
However, we’ve barely just finished the Chocoalte Chip Peanut Butter Oatmeal Skillet Cookie and I wasn’t going to make anything ‘big’ for at least a week, but I couldn’t help it and made a cake on Tuesday that is one of my best ever. However, it’s a post-Halloween/pre-Thanksgiving and pre-Holiday baking season kind of cake given the flavors I used. I try to think at least six weeks ahead so in my kitchen, Christmas cookie baking season is going to commence any day now right as it cools off to 89F.
10. And now for a little tear-jerker story, especially for those of us who are wives and mothers that you may be able to relate to:
A little boy asked his mother, “Why are you crying?” “Because I’m a woman,” she told him. “I don’t understand,” he said. His Mom just hugged him and said, “And you never will.”
“All women cry for no reason,” was all his dad could say. The little boy grew up and became a man, still wondering why women cry. Finally he put in a call to God. When God got on the phone, he asked, “God, why do women cry so easily?”
What are your Thursday Things?
If you’ve made anything, done, seen, or bought anything fabulous recently, feel free to link it up in the comments.
Do you have a favorite chocolate cake or cupcake recipe?
Please link it up if you have one that’s a tried-and-true hit.
I realized a few months ago that I was lacking in some of the more traditional and classic recipes on my blog and have been trying to change that, and apparently chocolate cupcakes need to be added to the to-make list. I do make them from time to time, but not often. I prefer making whole cakes, pans of bars, or brownies rather than individual cupcakes or muffins. It’s less work to make one big pan of something than 24 individual items, which usually need to be piped with icing, individually too, rather than just smearing on one layer over an entire pan.
I know it’s really early, but have you thought about your Thanksgiving menu or holiday baking?
I’m inspired to make new things and goodies this December that I’ve never made before. I just don’t know what those things are…yet. I have the problem of choice overload and rather than narrowing my list down, it’s growing. Oh boy.
As we talked about, I’m not a cake/muffin kind of girl for the most part, but your chocolate cake looks awesome! As does that apple bundt cake. And I’ve been seeing all the Bon Appetit cake recipes on their blog and I pinned that banana pb cake. That is my kind of cake!
The owl doormat…. LOVE.
Not sure which I’d rather have: a piece of the chocolate chip skillet cookie or the gorgeous blue plate the piece is on, so beautiful. You’re taste is always so classic. Enjoy your weekend!
And I can’t remember if I wrote back to you yesterday or not but I am so glad you got the wood boards from W.E. and that you love them. I live like….5 mins from the store and on purpose haven’t gone in there. Too tempting!
You did write back, thanks so much :)
I made a chocolate cake on my blog today! It’s not technically a cupcake, but I’m still going to count it :) And that owl doormat is adorable, I love Modcloth.
I always love your Thursday things! Now, I need to get my hands on some chocolate ASAP!
I love the owl doormat so much! I must have it!
Wow that is a post of all sorts of good treats…thats why they call it food porn!
congrats on your feature in the Huffington post! and i can’t wait to see your monkey bread-ish recipe. Sounds llike it’s going to be delish!
I just finished the post. It will go out Monday. It was soooo good I wanna make more :)
That cake with ganache? Oh my. Give me now!
That little recipe book – OMG.
Your posts always make me want to bake! Congrats on the feature
Monkey bread is a lot of work, yes. But worth it? I’m not sure… I’ve never had it! I can’t wait to see your quick version. And congrats on the nomination :)
Girl it’s so quick the way I made it. It’s more what I’d call pull-apart bread than monkey bread, sounds like a picky-ish differentiation, but you’ll see when the post goes up on Monday :) It’s really pull-aparty. lol
It’s so easy to get caught up in improving on the basics that sometimes we just forget about the delicious basic recipes!
Isn’t that the truth! I have recipes for some crazy things (some that I have no idea why I even made them!) yet have no choc cupcakes…crazy and yes, something huge to be said for the basics!
Happy Chocolate Cupcake Day! One of my favorite days of the year. :)
And that recipe book is going on my Christmas list pronto! Too cute.
Congrats again on the Huffington Post feature!!
Thanks, Elaine, and I love that little book. I want to put it on my list, too :)
Ok that cake looks insane! Wow. That long cardigan sweater is so you by the way! And thank you for that special story. I’ve read it before, but it’s ben a long long time.
Scott sent that one to me and I almost never post things like that but figured, what the heck, I’ll mix it up today :)
thank you for the shout out Averie! Wow, that’s so cool to be in Thursday Things. :) I wonder how your chocolate cake would do as cupcakes? Have you thought about making it into cupcakes before? That little recipe book is adorable – I have recipes ALL over the place. On my phone, in my emails, in random notebooks, kitchen drawers, etc. I need some organization! That Bon Apetit cake looks and sounds to die for. Good ole Jif… steals my heart. It’s what I eat and bake with (mostly). Had a jar + spoon before bed last night. Not the whole jar! I love love love monkey bread! I’ve never made it myself but I’m certainly excited to see a version that YOU made next week! AND for your killer cake that you made on Tuesday. I’m anxiously waiting! :)
Well when I saw your post I knew I had to shout it out. You have so many! Thanks for the info on working on your own base for cupcakes. I know the Amanda version is good but it’s a box. I am reading a cake book and she says that you can make any of her cakes as cupcakes ive read that in the past, too, that cake batter can always be made into cupcake batter…but I have already read some people who say although it can, it’s not really ideal. Like my choc cake that I linked here, just thinking about the batter, and the texture of the cake, I am not really sure I’d bake it into cupcakes. It would be ‘fine’ but it’s a very thin batter and part of me worries about mess-making and dribbling it all over the cupcake pan (more on the edges of the pan and divider than into the cupcake wells).
The cake I just made this week, another one that no way would I pour that into cupcakes. And holy moly was it good! Mid-November though.
Its not a cake it’s brownies but these are amazing
https://www.preventionrd.com/2012/07/whole-wheat-frosted-zucchini-brownies/
Glad you have a fave brownie recipe – that’s worth it’s weight in gold!
Congratulations on the Huffington Post and Skinny Scoop! Thanks for sharing those fab cake recipes. I am always thinking about my next baking projects, including Thanksgiving and Christmas.