Dark Chocolate Mini Cupcakes…

…with bacon! Yes, there’s bacon in these cupcakes. As you may know, if you are a regular reader, we don’t shy away from bacon here, especially the high-quality grass-fed variety. A big reason why I don’t fear bacon is that there is actually good fats such as monounsaturated fats and phosphatidyl choline that has antioxidant power superior to vitamin E (for more science-geeky info on bacon, check out this article by the Naughty Nutritionist). But enough about the science, lets get back to the cupcakes!

I made these bacon dark chocolate mini cupcakes for my mother-in-law last weekend on Mother’s Day. She loves dark chocolate so I though that that she might enjoy these cupcakes. You could also leave out the bacon and you’ll get a really nice intensely chocolate-y cupcake! 

Walter Mitty’s Clementine Cake

A subplot within the movie, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, is the clementine cake. I won’t say too much about it if you haven’t seen the movie and are planning to watch it, but ever since I saw that clementine cake on the big screen a couple of months ago, it’s been on my mind. I think it was the star of the movie for me and maybe other food nerds.  I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it is a flour-less (almond meal) cake based on Nigella Lawson’s recipe. Read more about this cake and the movie from Cathy Merenda’s blog, who worked in the Walter Mitty studio.  Given that this cake is a no-grain sweet treat, my husband and I enjoyed this cake last week for Easter and Passover. A perfect dessert for celebrating both holidays and any occasion for grain-free and gluten-free eaters.

(Image credit:  waltermittymovie.tumblr.com)

Walter Mitty (Ben Stiller) brings some swagger to this cake. He makes it look cool to carry cake around. Maybe we should try and take his lead and do the same? Wouldn’t it be fun?

A weekend with the dogs and some chocoflan

How was your Cinco de Mayo weekend? We celebrated with some festive foods such as tacos and I also baked some gluten-free chocoflan. We stayed home most of the weekend because on Saturday we brought home a doggy! We are watching him for the week and if he meshes well with us and our dog Pipi (who has made some appearances in previous posts), then he can stay! He is a 7 year old Pekingese named Nutter.

St. Patrick’s Day inspired cupcakes

I couldn’t help myself. I jumped on the bandwagon and baked something with chocolate and stout! Luscious cakes. Gotta live a little, right? 😀 In recent years, there has been an explosion of chocolate and stout desserts especially for St. Patrick’s Day and last year I made chocolate stout cupcakes from Nook & Pantry. Those were really good. This year, I baked another chocolate stout cupcake, but with different ingredients based on the butternut squash, carrot, and hazelnut muffins I recently made. Using that recipe and a recipe from Cannelle et Vanille as motivation, I came up with St. Patrick’s Day inspired stout and chocolate cupcakes with Carolans cream cheese frosting. These cupcakes can be gluten-free if you use gluten-free dark beer.

Eggnog Tea Cakes

After making Swedish-style Meatballs with Eggnog last week, I still had some eggnog leftover. I should have made a double batch of them, but was also curious on what would happen if I baked with it. So, to appease my curiosity, last Friday I baked some Eggnog Tea Cakes.

Better Than Sex Cake

Christmas is almost here! It’s been a bit hectic with all the holiday preparations so I haven’t had much computer time. I love getting ready for the holidays and I always get ambitious with my holiday baking. This year, I think I made about 7 different holiday treats to package and give to friends and family. I’ll do a post on one of the treats in a day or so. I love giving homemade gifts 🙂  Last year, I think I did 10 different holiday sweets. I don’t bake or make so much sweets during the year because my husband and I don’t like to eat sweets often so I like to really go all out during the holidays to take care of my baking itch.

On Thursday last week, my husband had a holiday potluck at his work and he asked If I would like to make something for him to bring. My mom gave me the great idea to make the Better Than Sex Cake. When we were growing up, my Mom would make this for special occasions and birthdays. Her coworkers loved it when she brought it to work too. It was a hit with everyone every time. I didn’t know the name of this cake until sometime in my twenties since, as kids, we always called it “the chocolate cake with skor bar” or “chocolate caramel poke cake.”