White Chocolate Brownie Cake

This post was meant to go up in July, but alas, it's here now.


I needed a simple birthday cake idea for my 2nd daughter's first birthday party.  It needed to be simple.  We were going to the U2 Concert in Moncton, NB, Canada the next day and then were having the birthday party on July 31, 2011, the very next day.  It takes 2 1/2 hours of just driving time to get home from Moncton and it took a long time for 80 000 people to get down from Magnetic Hill and on the road.  We were exhausted the next day, that's for sure.  

I went on my Sweet Treats board on Pinterest (which any of you should join, because it's FREE and amazing - you can follow me, just click on the "Follow Me on Pinterest" button on the top of this blog) and found the White Chocolate Brownies Recipe that I've wanted to try for some time now.  This was the perfect excuse!  The recipe was found here and I just doubled it to make more of it, so I could put it in a round form to make the cake.  The recipe below is adjusted for my cake, but you still have to double it!

Prep Time: 15min

Cook Time: 33min

Ingredients
125g butter, chopped
250g white chocolate chips
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
2 eggs, lightly beaten,
1 1/4 cups plain flour, sifted

Use a 9 inch cake pan.  Generously spray with non-stick baking spray or line with paper cases.  The oven should be preheated to 160 C (325 F).

1. In a microwave safe bowl heat the chopped butter on high for 30 seconds. Stir, then repeat for another 30 seconds - the butter should be melted. Add the white chocolate and heat for another 30 seconds. Remove and stir until blended. You may need a further 20 seconds. Stir until smooth. Cool slightly so that you do not cook the eggs when you add them.
2. Add the brown sugar and the beaten eggs.  Stir through.
3. Add the sifted flour and stir through until smooth.
4. Bake in a preheated oven set to 160 C (325 F) for 33 minutes.
5. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to a cake rack to cool completely.  Lift out carefully.
6. Store in an airtight container for one week. The white chocolate brownie cake can be frozen for up to two months.

I thought the cake turned out quite nicely but it was very dense.  If you make Brownies, they might be less dense, but I'm not sure.  I guess I'll just have to try it sometime! :)

For the decoration of my little girl's first birthday cake, I used Dr. Oetker Ready Rolled Marzipan, that I picked up at our Specialty Food Store in Bedford, NS called Pete's Froutique.  They only carry it around Christmas time.  If you're lucky enough to live in the UK, you can buy it online here or they might carry it in Tesco etc.  You can google how to make Marzipan, too - it's quite simple.  Here are the instructions from the Ready Rolled Marzipan on how to put it on the cake:

1. Turn cake upside down for a smoother surface and place onto cake board.

2. Use a knife to thinly cover the cake with cool boiled jam (I used Raspberry jam).

3. Roll out marzipan (this was not part of the instructions, as it was already rolled).

4. Carefully fold disc in half around inner tube (or on your rolling pin).

5. Holding the ends, lift disc, placing it over the centre of your cake.

6. Smooth marzipan over top of the cake and carefully pull out folds while smoothing down sides.

7. For a perfectly smooth finish, cut out any folds with a knife and mooth the joins tongether until they blend.

8. Trim off excess around the bottom of the cake with a sharp knife to give a smooth finish.

9. Smooth surface with palm of your hand.

I had purchased a Carebear Edible Image from Ebay months ago and was ready to use it.  Unfortunatley it wouldn't come off the baking paper it was on (even though it was supposed to easily come off), so I really wouldn't recommend it.  I just stuck it on the cake, decorated over the torn spots that happened when we tried to pull the image off, took some pictures and then took the image off again and enjoyed the cake. :)  

If you try to make your own marzipan and roll it, please drop me a line and let me know how it turned out.  Let me know if you ever try the White Chocolate Brownies, and be sure to refer to the original Brownie recipe in the link above, as I've left a couple of ingredients and steps out for the cake!

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ING Direct Promotion

First of all, to learn more about ING Direct, please check out this older post of mine.  ING Direct has a promotion on right now until December 31, 2011.  If you sign up with them, you get $50, instead of the regular $25.  If someone refers you to them, for example me, and you give ING my Orange Code, I will get $50 as well.  So the Math is easy.  If you sign up, you get $50.  If you then get your spouse to sign up and she provides them with your orange key, you get another $50 and she gets $50 and so on.  You can refer as many people as you want, up to getting $2000 in bonuses.

The great thing with this is, that if you decide in a couple of weeks that you don't like ING, cancel the account, but keep the cash. :)

Just in case someone would like to sign up, but does not have anyone to be referred by, I would be happy to give you my orange code and earn $50 (just leave me a message below).  Go to their website to check them out:

http://www.ingdirect.ca/en/

ING also has Kids Savings Accounts.  As far as I know they give the most interest for Kids Savings Account out of any bank right now and there are, as always, no fees.  Your child also gets $25 (maybe it's also $50 currently, but I couldn't find the information on line) for signing up.

FREE Kleenex Brand Share Pack

The SOFTNESS WORTH SHARING by KLEENEX is back again.  This is very exciting!  Send a cute FREE Travel Pack of Kleenex to someone you know - or yourself. :)  If it's the same as last year, you get to do it once a day!  These small packs are perfect to keep in the glove box of your car, purse, backpack or diaper bag.  Enjoy!

Here is the website:
https://www.kleenex.com/softnessworthsharing?wt.mc_id=email_knx_SWS-Newsletter110911

Thumb print Birthday Card

Since I did not have a birthday card for my gorgeous god daughter, I figured, Olivia and Lexie could make her one using their thumb prints.  I think home-made cards are a lot more special anyway, especially when they come from little ones. :)  We ended up making two cards, one for my god daughter's little brother as well, as their birthdays are only a month apart.

I actually bought the card stock paper - pastel at the Dollarama for $1.50.  It comes in a package of 100 with the following colours: yellow, green, blue, pink and purple.  I also bought the ink pads at the Dollarama - I got blue, yellow and purple.  I love using those, as it's SO easy to clean your baby or toddlers fingers, hands or feet.  You just use a wipe after using it and it's a no mess clean-up.

Making birthday cards does not get any simpler than this.  We used Olivia's thumb prints for the big balloons and Lexie's thumb prints for the little balloons.  Then I drew a string on each of the balloons and drew some easy birds for a little bit of life to finish up the birthday cards.

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Spaetzli with Pork and Sauce

Prep and cook time (meat and sauce): about 40 minutes
Prep and cook time (everything): about 1hr, 15 minutes

First off , before I really get into this, the prep and cook time for everything might be high.  I am not the best multi-tasker.  The time I indicated is me doing the spaetzli first, they moving onto the other stuff.  See the alternatives at the bottom that can speed things up some.

(c) Helpful Daddy 2011

Oh wow!  I has been ages since I have posted a recipe.  The laziness is just completely uncalled for.  I have had the pictures for this recipe for months now, and yet, it is just now that I am deciding I can post it.  My title for the recipe is fairly self explanatory; Spaetzli with Pork and Sauce.  The recipe for the Spaetzli can be found here.  It is dead easy to make.  I believe for this current recipe, I had some frozen in the freezer.  Anyway, the pork recipe I have to give some credit to my mother in law, who's similar recipe was the inspiration for this one.  Here is what you will need:

2 Pork Tenderloins
1 large onion, diced
2-3 carrot, sliced thin
2 cups chopped broccoli
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 cups chicken stock
1 cup heavy cream
3 tsp of flour (or corn starch)
2 Bay leaves
2 generous pinches of sage
3-4 cloves
Salt and Pepper to taste
2-3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Preheat skillet or pot to about medium heat.  Remove the silver skin from the tenderloins while the pot is heating up.  Season the meat with salt and pepper.  Put the EVOO into the pan, and then cook the meat - about 7 minutes a side or until done.  While the meat is cooking prepare the veggies.  When the meat is done, remove it to a plate for the time being.  In the same pot, add a little more olive oil and toss in the onion, garlic and carrots.  Saute for a few minute to help remove the stuff stuck to the bottom from the meat.  

Add the chicken stock, broccoli, and herbs and reduce the heat to a simmer.  Simmer for about 15-20 minutes, or until the carrots are to the desired tenderness.  While the sauce is simmering, slice the meat into 10cm (~1/2") slices.  Make sure that you keep any of the juices that come out of the meat while cutting it - we will add it to the sauce for more flavour.  When the stock is done cooking, whisk the flour into the the heavy cream and add to stock and keep stirring until it is incorporated.  Add the meat back to the sauce to warm back up again.  Serve over the spaetzli with some shredded cheese.

-Note, it goes without saying, but don't eat the bay leaves of cloves.

Alternatives:

-As always you can reduce the calorie and fat content by replacing the heavy cream with evaporated milk

- If you aren't down with the home made spaetzli, you can buy pre-packaged stuff that cooks like pasta

- You can also use pasta, rice, or mashed potatoes.

-Add any other veggies you like to jazz it up.

That's all for now

-d
o_0

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