An Unconventional June

June 06, 2011

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes

My mom's birthday was Saturday and to celebrate, I baked her Grandma Bessie's strawberry cake... with a slight, dark chocolate, twist. USUALLY {okay, most of the time}, my experiments turn out very, very badly. Lets just say I've had to clean burnt cake out of my oven many times.... However, this experiment turned out deeeelicious! And, in my opinion, the chocolate was EXACTLY what this recipe was missing.

Great-Grandma Bessie's Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes

Note: I made cupcakes because the ganache scared me... I didn't want to ruin yet another cake!

Step One: Make the cupcakes

Great-Grandma Bessie's Strawberry Cake Recipe {The Original}

1 Box White Cake Mix - I use Duncan Hines

1 Package of Strawberry Jello

1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil

1/2 Cup Water

4 Eggs

1/2 Box/Bag Frozen Strawberries

Combine cake mix and jello. Add cooking oil and water. Beat together. Add eggs. Beat. Fold in strawberries. Makes two 8 rounds or 24 cupcakes. Bake as directed on the cake mix box.

Step Two: Add ganache (i.e. chocolate!)

Ganache

For the chocolate, I wanted to use a dark chocolate ganache. I researched lots of recipes and they were pretty much all the same, however, here is the one I used. Worked perfectly! Fool proof. Seriously.

Once my ganache had been mixed and slightly cooled, I dipped my cooled cupcake in the mixture. It looked something like this:

Dipping

Dripping

Step Three: Let ganache cool to set and then add frosting

Strawberry Frosting

My great-grandma Bessie had a recipe for frosting too, however, since I am a novice baker {at the best}, I could NOT decipher what she meant by "2/3 stick butter". Does she mean 2/3 cup? Well, I tried that... and it didn't work.

Moving on to plan B...the Hubs rushed off to the store to purchase a can of strawberry frosting for me to "doctor".....I did so blending 1/2 cup of frozen pureed strawberries and 1/2 cup of powdered sugar to the canned frosting. Add more powdered sugar if frosting is too runny.

Step Four: Top with a chocolate covered strawberry, chill prior to serving!

June 03, 2011

Placemat Folder

The slogan for this posting is simple - I am not a seamstress. Not even remotely close. I point this out to you for one reason and one reason only -- my lack of sewing skills should prove just how darn easy this project was to complete.

Placemat Folder Tutorial

Tools/Supplies

Placemat, Ruler, Sewing Machine (thread, etc) and iron

Step One:

Find a placemat. Any fabric, rectangle placemat will work. I got mine for $1.75 at Kohl's. I think it is rather pretty, don't you?

Step Two:

Create the bottom fold (i.e. pocket) of the folder. From the bottom of the placemat, measure up 3 inches and mark.

Step Three:

Fold the bottom of the placemat up (using markings previous made) and iron to create a nice crease.

Step Four:

Time for the sewing machine {ew}! To create the bottom pocket of the folder, sew each end shut.

Step Five:

Create the "cover" of the folder. Start with the "front" (i.e. left side) of the placemat and measure in 6 inches and fold. Remember to iron!

Step Six:

Create the "back cover" of the folder. Using the "back" (i.e. right side), measure 6 inches and fold. Again, iron, iron, IRON!

Step Seven:

Technically, step seven should show you a picture of the sewing machine again. But, since I am not a seamstress, I got so flustered with sewing that I forgot to take a picture {oops}.

The goal here is to divide the folder into three pockets. Using the folds you created in step 5 and 6 as a guide, sew the section of the placemat I am showing between my fingers. Repeat for the left side of the folder.

Finally, the end result!!!! Cute, huh? I left mine plain, but you could fancy yours up with a button, ribbon or embroidery.

I think I'm going to use my folder to hold my grocery list {cause I'm the type of girl who likes to cross things off her list} and my coupons. As I buy an item, the coupon will move from the left side of the notebook, to the right. This will prevent me from crumpling the coupons as I use them and shoving them into my pocket. Which then, I either forget about by time I check-out {t-r-a-g-i-c} or I spend a good 5 minutes smoothing them out for the cashier, who never seems too thrilled with me since crumpling them makes them harder to scan. Sigh...