Chocolate Wasted Cake

 

drooooooooool

  

i can literally only eat half of a half of a slice--so i guess a quarter of a slice haha. it's so rich!

Chocolate Wasted Cake
Makes 8-12 servings

cake:
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 cups milk
1 cup butter, melted
4 tsp. honey
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

(Since I didn't have time to make the cake from scratch, I actually just used a box of yellow cake mix. But if you want to do it the real way, here's the recipe!)

frosting:
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup butter, softened to room temperature
1/3-1/2 cup whole milk (start out with 1/3 cup of milk and add more milk to your desired consistency)
1 tsp. vanilla extract

melted chocolate for drizzling, :
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
2-3 Tbs.  vegetable oil
semi-sweet chocolate chips for the sides of the cake

assorted chocolate candies for the top of the cake

I used a caramel lovers party mix--milky way, twix, and snickers

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Grease and dust two to three 8-inch or 9-inch cake pans with cocoa powder or flour. Set aside.

Sift together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. In a separate mixing bowl, combine milk, butter, honey and vanilla extract. Slowly add the dry ingredients into the milk/butter mixture. Mix until combined.  Fold in the semi-sweet chocolate chips. Pour in the batter into prepared cake pans. Bake for 30 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Remove from oven and wait for about 10 minutes to remove from cake pans and place on a cooling rack.  Allow to cool completely before decorating.

To make the frosting:
In a large mixing bowl, sift together powdered sugar and cocoa powder. Add the butter, milk and vanilla extract. Mix together. When all the ingredients are combined, increase the speed and beat till fluffy.

And then just put it together :) 

ps. I found this recipe on pinterest, all credit goes to "Art of Dessert" 
chocolate wasted cake found on: http://artofdessert.blogspot.com/2011/10/chocolate-wasted-cake.html
 

Happy Birthday sweet sweet

 September 1st may be my favorite day out of the whole year.

My sweet heart was born 25 years ago on this special day :)

I have wanted to do a "breakfast in bed" for David for SO LONG, but it seemed like every time I got up, he got up too. This time, when I got up to make some breakfast, he didn't immediately wake up, so I tried to be sneaky and make him some ono kine french toast! While I was still cooking, he got up and went to the bathroom, and TRIED to get into the kitchen, but I said "GO BACK TO BED!" haha I was kind of mean to him. --but I didn't want him to see the surprise yet! 

Anyway, here it is!

After breakfast, David went out and played his favorite sport: SOCCER! And then we went to eat some shave ice down the street. It was a hot day, so it was perfect! 

Next stop, the beach! we only went for an hour, but David caught me drooling while sleeping. 

Later that night we went to Gyu-Kaku, which is a Japanese/Korean BBQ. 

Oh.My.Goodness. It was so good! I used to eat this with my family in Japan at least once a month (and if we didn't, I'd be wining that I wanted to go haha)

We brought Zach and Sara with us, and they also loved it! 

One of my favorites, cow tongue!

S'mores at gyu-kaku? that must be an American thing! they definitely don't have that on the menu in Japan!

We came home around 10:30pm because we watched a movie called "Premium Rush" with the guy from Inception and Batman. I thought it was kinda weird at first, but I absolutely loved it in the end!

I found this crazy chocolate cake recipe on pinterest, and thought that I HAD to do this for David. I knew he would love it.

 And I was right, he loved it! :) 

The cake is called, "Chocolate wasted cake". You're supposed drizzle chocolate liquor in the cake itself, but I omitted that step. Also it was supposed to be chocolate cake on the inside, but I didn't want it to be more chocolate-y than it already is, so I used yellow cake.

I will post the recipe and some more pictures in the next post :)

He's thinking: "I'm not sharing this with you~!" haha

I love you so much David! I am so happy you were born! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

life is wonderful.

David and I had an extremely marvelous week. 

 During the week of March 25th~April 1st we...
-had the Roberts' over for dinner
-ate PINEAPPLE fried rice (twice)
-watched General Conference
-went to Costco on saturday (sad for the wallet, happy for the fridge)
-had a bake-off at the Carlston's home
-oh yeah, I guess we did some school stuff too...

So...I usually fall asleep during a couple of the talks given in General Conference, but this time, I only dozed off to ONE talk. Yes, I'm proud of that. BUT I guess I should try my best to be 100% attentive all the time. :)
 I really enjoyed listening to this year's GC because I felt a really strong connection to many of the topics. I especially enjoyed Uchtdorf's "stop it", "don't judge me because I sin differently than you!" he talked lots about not envying others and STOP gossiping (that could be pretty hard for us ladies hehe).
R. Nelson's, "could an explosion in a book factory create a dictionary?"--when talking about the absurdity of the big bang theory, Perry's "Are you a Mormon? If not, you should be!"
If you want to watch or listen to General Conference, go to: 

<http://www.lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2012/4?lang=eng>

You get to hear the words of a modern day Prophet! And it's forreal! :)

We also walked around the temple last week...it's just so beautiful

I still can't get over how perfect his mustache is...

 David, making our GC sticky buns! :) yum!

 drool...

this is kinda random, but below was my lunch today!

doesn't it look delish??

English muffin, portuguese sausage, egg, and cheese. drool. again.

Yesterday we had a "bake-off" at the Carlston's house which pretty much led to all of us gaining like...five pounds.

ugh.

But it was so great because we got to meet some new people, and eat our stomachs away :)

I baked some cinnamon rolls or "cinnabon clones".

(will post recipe at the bottom of post)

 These were probably the best cinnamon rolls I have ever had in my life.

There were two awards, "yummiest", and "best presentation"

I won the yummiest teeheehehee.

The reward is "dinner with the Carlstons" 

Can't wait!

I took tons of pictures cus it looked so good!! 

 "come to mama"

"say aaaaaahhhh"

So satisfied!

Cinnabon Clones

Serves twelve
 

Ingredients:
1 cup of warm milk (45 degrees C)
2 eggs
1/3 cup of butter or marg (soft or melted)

 4 1/2 cups of all purpose flour (I use 405)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup of white sugar
1 package fast acting yeast

1 cup of brown sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons of ground cinnamon
1/3 soft butter

Cream Cheese frosting:
  7oz (or roughly one package or Philadelphia cream cheese) cream cheese
1/2 cup butter/marg
 2 cups Confectioners Sugar

 1 tsp vanilla flavoring / essence

Directions:

1.Mix the sugar, butter, and salt. Add in eggs one at a time 

2.Dissolve the yeast in the warm milk in a bowl

3.Pour yeast mix into the sugar mix

4.Add flour (a cup at a time)

5.Mix it until there are no more lumps, and then use your dough hook to knead it for about 2-3minutes

~your dough is almost ready~

Now, let is rise for 1.5 hours until it has doubled in size.

**Make sure you lay the dough out on a floured surface**

Roll the dough into a rectangle,

spread a ton of butter all over, but leave a strip at the top so you can seal it up nice and tight later

After the butter, take your cinnamon and brown sugar mixture and spread it all over.

*the more, the better*

Roll the doll tightly, seal it, and cut it into however many pieces you'd like :)

Before you place the rolls in your pan, sprinkle some of that cinnamon/sugar mix in there, I learned from my experimenting that the rolls taste so rich if you do this.

Place the rolls into the pan

Wait for another 30 minutes to let the rolls rise.

Bake them for 15-20 minutes.

It all depends on your oven though--for me it was exactly 15 minutes

While the rolls are in the oven, start your cream cheese icing!

1.Stick the butter into your kitchen aid until it's light and fluffy. 

2.Add the cream cheese

3.Add the sugar little by little

4.Lastly, add the vanilla

Leave it in the fridge till you need to use it!

When you take the rolls out of the oven, make sure they cool down a little first before pouring your cream cheese icing on them. The icing will melt if your directly pour it on when the rolls are a billion degrees hot. 

Alright ya'll, bon appetit!

Mosquito March

I'm speaking for everybody in Laie when I say: LEAVE US ALONE PESKY MOSQUITOES!

I woke up the other day with five bites on my face. FIVE.
I need some muhi cream (itch relief) pronto!

Anyway, despite all of the angry mosquitoes sucking the blood out of my face, this month has been quite extraordinary. I've been documenting many of the meals we've eaten this month, our friends, and the lovely sites here on this beautiful island.

So bare with me as I post a billion photos on this post... :)

Mosquitos look pretty cool up close...but I still despise them 

David's face when he gets bitten by a mosquito 

 

 This was supposed to be a hamburger dinner, but it turned out to be more like a sandwich dinner. It was still dang good though. David can attest to its deliciousness!

I also made some homemade mac n' cheese. I didn't use the mac part...so I guess I should call it pen n' cheese? 

It doesn't matter what you call it as long as it's goooooood :)

 

David and I traveled with our friends to another part of the island...I actually don't know where, but it was awesome! While our friends went rock climbing, David and I chilled on the beach.

 Thank you Mama n' Papa Stephan for makin this super hot hub for me. 

People like to ask me one specific question when David and I are walking together around school:

"do YOU like his mustache??"

I simply reply, "LOVE it."

  

Lindsey Neff and Lacee Roberts made AWESOME St. Patty's Day lemonbars! 

The mixture of sweet and tart was perfect! :)

Chicken Squared

Chicken katsu is (I'm guessing) David's favorite food. 

Guessing, because he says he doesn't have a favorite/everything is his favorite. Haha.

Every time I mention chicken katsu for dinner, his eyes brighten, and a big smile is plastered on his face. 

This chicken katsu is a little different though--

I added onions and eggs on top.

hence. chicken squared.

In Japan it's called, "oyako-don", because "oyako" literally means parents and child. 

get it now?

 :)

Ingredients for Chicken Katsu:

-Chicken

-Egg

-Flour

-Panko

-Salt and Peppa

Unfortunately, I did not measure anything, so this is an incomplete recipe, but you can look up some other recipe for chicken katsu.

 It's super easy!

I'm drooling at this cooking stage.

HURRY AND COOK STUPID CHICKEN!

When the chicken is nearly done cooking, chop up your onions and throw them in the pan with mentsuyu sauce (can be found at your local asian market)

 

After the onions turn clear, add your cut-up chicken katsu into the pan.

Pour the egg mix around and on top of the katsu.

(the little white specks you see in there, uhhh it's minced garlic, which you normally don't put in chicken katsu...but twas scrumptious)

the OYAKO-DON is ready to be consumed

 I wish I had prettier bowls to display my food in...

but for now, till I graduate college, this is good!

friday fiestas.

The other day we went to Foodland and bought avocados! 

We never buy avocados because they're usually a killer rip-off over in the land of food, but we decided it was alright since we felt festive that day.

We made steak fajitas with homemade tortillas, salsa, guac, and mexican rice. 

ALL homemade (good job us)!

Oh my gosh. 

It was DELICIOUS. 

And we have leftovers and have been enjoying them for two days now :)

 I want some more of this right now!!!

 I'm going to have to ask my sister-in-law, Kari, how to make some real kine mexi rice, because I heard she's the master chef of Mexican food :)

While we wait.

ok, I admit it...I love blogging.
It's so addicting! Don't worry though mom, I finished my homework first (ehehe)! :)

Today, I decided to make some banana chocolate chip muffins. I didn't think it would be that great because last time I tried, my chocolate muffins/cupcakes turned into brownies...

This time they came out super fluffy and delish!

heart-shaped muffins <3
I will post ingredients and instructions at the end of this post!!

 I made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. Best meatballs I have EVER made.

I can probably eat this every night. 

David making our hot choclate--he's an expert.

And yes, we drink hot chocolate in Hawaii too. 

The pair-cup David and I got for Christmas from my brother.

Thank you Ken, these are my favorite cups!

We had a super lazy weekend because of the crazy wind and rain. 

It was literally raining tunas and turtles out there! We didn't want to leave our apartment. 

So instead, we did homework, watched movies, made good food. All is well :)

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Ingredients

 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2/3 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 large)

1 large egg

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

1/4 cup milk

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line twelve 1/3-cup muffin cups with foil muffin liners. Mix mashed bananas, egg, melted butter and milk in medium bowl. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in large bowl. 

Stir banana mixture into dry ingredients just until blended (if using a kitchen aid, just add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients--it doesn't really make a difference). Stir in chocolate chips.

Divide and fill each about 3/4 full. Bake muffins until tops are pale golden and tester inserted into center comes out with some melted chocolate attached but no crumbs, about 20 minutes. Transfer muffins to rack; cool.

Cookie Jar

I have a new found hobbie: baking.

Before marrying David I did not know how to bake. at all.
I had tried baking cookies, brownies, and cakes, but it never seemed to cook right the first time.

Well guess who's the baking champ now? :)

I wanted to surprise David with some chocolate chip cookies the other day, so while he was working on our truck, I was working hard in the kitchen.

First, cream the butter, white sugar, brown sugar together.

Next, beat one egg at a time into the mixture (Use two eggs)

At this point, I got a little bit messy and forgot to mix the cocoa powder and the flour together first...but it turned out fine so I don't think it matters a whole lot. 

Add flour, cocoa powder, salt and vanilla in to the mixture.

Dissolve the baking soda into hot water and pour it on in!

My secret ingredient! I didn't have enough chocolate chips, so I decided to add some Japanese caramels! Hollah to my mama for sending them to us!

If you haven't tried these caramels, you should give it a shot :)

Chop up the caramel and throw them in!

Is your mouth watering now?

Because it should be. 

This made 36 cookies. I made them five days ago, and we still have about half left. 

I guess next time I should half the recipe... :) 

Bon appetit!

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup white sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons hot water

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup chopped walnuts/caramels

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with salt. Stir in flour, chocolate chips, cocoa powder and caramel/nuts. Drop by large spoonfuls onto ungreased pans.
3. Bake for about 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are nicely browned. 

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