Italian Chocolate Cream Cake

I think chocolate is a gift from the gods. Is there anything more amazing than a wonderful chunk of chocolate melting in your mouth? Or biting into a dessert with a rich chocolatey flavor? I don't think so. So, when I saw this recipe for Italian Chocolate Cream Cake on Pinterest, I had to give it a try. I couldn't find any hazelnuts, so I ended up buying hazelnut extract. And, I was sort ambivalent about the coconut in the cake itself. It wasn't bad, but I wasn't overly thrilled with the texture of it. Other than that, this cake was melt-in-your-mouth amazing! 

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
2 cups white sugar
5 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or 3 teaspoons vanilla flavoring
1 cup chopped hazelnuts
1 1/4 cups shredded sweetened coconut, 1/4 to top

Preheat oven to 325˚F. Use shortening or butter to grease three 8-inch round cake pans. Use parchment paper, cut into circles, if desired. Flour cake pans.

In a large bowl, cream 1/2 cup of butter, shortening and sugar together. 

Separate eggs; be sure to keep both yolks and whites. Set whites aside in a separate bowl. Beat in egg yolks, one at a time, to creamed ingredients. Stir in vanilla.

In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking soda and 1/2 cup of cocoa. Slowly add mixture to creamed ingredients along with buttermilk. Stir in chopped hazelnuts and coconut.

Beat egg whites well, until stiff peaks form. 

Fold egg whites into the batter and pour into lined, cake pans. Bake at 325˚F for approximately 25 to 30 minutes. Cakes must cool before icing.

Icing

1 1/2 cups cream cheese
3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
6 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 teaspoons vanilla extract or 3 teaspoons vanilla flavoring

Prepare the icing by creaming the cream cheese and butter in a large bowl. In another bowl, sift powdered sugar and 1/2 cup cocoa together. Add to cream cheese and butter mixture, slowly. Beat until thoroughly creamed. Mix in vanilla.

Blueberry Frozen Yogurt

My daughter really does like berries - raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries... so, I frequently look for new ways to prepare them to keep her interest. Here is another fruit recipe that I found online, Blueberry Frozen Yogurt. This recipe takes more work than the Blackberry Frozen Yogurt, but it's not terribly difficult. The kiddo said that this yogurt had more flavor, so...

3 cups of fresh blueberries or 1 lb. of frozen
3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
3/4 – 1 cup sugar (I used the full cup)
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cinnamon (I used a bit more than this)
1 1/2 cup plain yogurt (I used vanilla yogurt)
1/2 cup whole milk (I used 2 percent)

Place the blueberries, lemon juice, sugar, salt, and cinnamon in a medium saucepan. Heat on medium heat, stirring, until all of the sugar has dissolved. While the mixture is heating, use a potato masher to mash up the blueberries. When all of the sugar has dissolved, remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes. Pour into a food processor and pulse a few times, then pour back into the saucepan.

Fill a large bowl (big enough to hold the pan) with ice water and sit pan inside it. This will help speed up the chilling process. Stir in the yogurt and milk until completely incorporated. Chill the mixture until completely cold.

Pour the yogurt mixture into your ice cream maker and process according to manufacturer’s instructions. Serve immediately (it will be soft) or let it firm up in the freezer.

Blackberry Frozen Yogurt

There are two things my daughter likes that you're just not going to find me eating - yogurt and most fruit. There's only a handful of fruit that I'm willing to eat - cantaloupe, grapefruit, oranges, Red Delicious apples, and a handful of others. My sweet girl, on the other hand, will eat just about any fruit - guava, papaya, star fruit, dragon fruit, peaches, mango, plum, all apples and pears, grapes, and, of course, all types of berries. In helping to feed my girl's fruit fetish, I found this recipe online for Creamy Blackberry Frozen Yogurt, and decided to give it a try for her. So far, so good. She said she liked, so yay for me! And on top of that, this recipe is super duper easy and required no "freezing" like traditional ice cream, so double yay for me!

3 cups fresh blackberries
3 cups yogurt cheese (or Greek yogurt)
1 can sweetened condensed milk ( 14 ounce can, it's fine if it's a bit more or a bit less)

In a blender, puree the blackberries with the sweetened condensed milk.

In a medium bowl mix the puree with the yogurt - I used vanilla yogurt.

Pour the mixture in to your container and freeze.