Tres Leches Cake Liquer Brownies

Like cookies & milk...it happened by mistake....

but I now realize that is how good brownies, tres leches y un poco (a little)  de tres leches liquer go together ...just like cookies and milk. .

And with cinco de mayo...literally right around the corner...my brain child couldn't have had any better timing!

If you are lucky enough to have your local liquor store sell this tres leches liquer in little shooters...Perfecto!..

If not these brownies are well worth the extra dinero required to go all in and buy the big bottle...

Because seriously...how can anyone be disappointed  by anything, especially liquor. that is inspired by the oh so delicioso

Latin American cake!

 Vamos a la cocina!

Ingredients

1/2 cup Tres Leches Liquer for brownie batter 1/4 cup to pour over brownies

12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

2 sticks unsalted butter

3/4 cup of all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/4 tsp kosher salt, divided

 

 

Directions

 

 1 Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9x13 inch metal baking pan with foil, leaving a 2" overhang.

 

2. Stir 12 oz. chocolate and 1 cup butter in a medium metal or glass bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water until melted and smooth.

 

3. Whisk sugar, eggs, and vanilla in a large bowl to blend. Gradually whisk in chocolate mixture, then 1/2 cup of the tres leches liquer . Fold in flour and 1 1/4 tsp. kosher salt.

Pour batter into prepared pan.

 

4. Bake brownies until surface begins to crack and a toothpick inserted into center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, 35–40 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack and let cool for at least 20 minutes.

 

5. Loosen and lift brownies from pan using the foil overhang; cut into squares. Using a toothpick poke 4-5 tiny holes on top of brownies. Take your tres leches liquer (you can warm liquer in a saucepan for a minute or two if desired) over brownies.

The Ultimate Cake Nachos

So one of my absolute FAVORITE holidays is literally right around the corner!

 I adore it because it's the day that many of the Gringos (like me)

love everything about Mexican Food, Mexican music & Mexican culture. 

Every store have an overstock of piñatas, super grande margarita glasses & hard taco shells.

It's the one day that it's perfectly normal to ride in your car wearing a colorful sombrero fist pumping to Mariachi music ( this is jersey after all)

and I love it!

El Ultimo ( The Ultimate) Cake Nachos are absolutamente perfecto for a Cinco de Mayo party or a super cute addition as a dessert for a summer party or BBQ.

                                                   Ingredients

1 box of Dark Chocolate cake mix ( I used Duncan Hines)
your favorite buttercream or frosting like this one ( I never use can frosting, but it can be substituted)
1 bag of yellow Wilton chocolate melts
1 bag of white Wilton chocolate melts
1 bag of Swedish Fish or any red gummy candy
1 package of green sour licorice string
orange food coloring
piping bags
colorful bowl

                                                Vamos a la cocina! ( Directions)

A day or two before you bake your cake, you may want to prepare your chocolate tortilla
 chips.

For the tortilla chips

1. Line a baking sheet with wax paper. Take 1 Oreo cookies and crunch them until they are completely crushed in a plastic ziplock bag and set aside. Combine 1/2 bag of white chocolate with 1/2 bag of yellow chocolate in medium bowl.

2. Place bowl in microwave on 70% power heating for 35 second intervals, stiring well after each interval until completely melted.

3. Once chocolate is melted it's time to add in your crushed Oreos, you will only need about a couple of sprinkles of the cookie. ( the crushed cookies just serve as the black flecks seen in real tortilla chips)

4. Once you mix in your cookies, immediately place the chocolate in the piping bag and begin piping medium sized tortilla chips right onto your waxed paper.

5. Once all tortilla chips are piped, you can place them in the freezer and prepare cake, if your not baking cake that day the tortilla chips can easily be stored in the refrigerator or a cool place in your kitchen.

6. This is also a good time to chop your Swedish Fish and green licorice. I gave them a rough chop to resemble tomatoes and jalapeños and lettuce. Set them aside

For the Cake

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, follow directions on box or cake recipe, you can either pour the batter in an 8 inch round cake pan or a jelly roll pan. I used the jelly roll pan because it was a shorter cook time and I seemed to get more cake out of it. ( I wanted my nachos to look like that had a lot of meat)

2. Once the cake is cooled, take a colorful bowl and crumble all of your cake it crumbs to resemble taco meat.

3. Take your buttercream and add a few drops of orange and yellow food coloring. ( I used about 3 orange drops and 5 yellow drops to achieve more of nacho cheese color). 

4. Place buttercream in the microwave for approx. 20 seconds until pourable. Once buttercream is colored you can either mix it directly into the cake crumbs or pour it all around. ( It all depends if you want to have a moister cake or not, the buttercream definitely soaks into the crumbs) If you are making the nachos with cheese, you need to add your chocolate tortilla chips first and pour the cheese on top of them and add a few jalapeño sprinkles.

5.If  you are going more for " El Ultimo" nachos, than it's time to add on heaping scoop of  plain white vanilla buttercream (sour cream) and sprinkle on your Swedish Fish & green licorice. You also use black licorice for olives, I am not a fan of black licorice or the smell so I didn't use it. Add your chocolate tortilla chips around the sides and in the middle to resemble "real nachos".

6. That's it!......All done a dessert that's not even hard, super cute and all dressed up for a
Fiesta!

Mexican Coke Chocolate Cake

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Orange was always my go to flavor when I was a little pequenita (girl), my world was filled with orange flavored Everything!

Orange tic tacs were dispensed every hour on the hour to deal with stressful play dates, orange starburst papers lined my bedroom floor.

I'm pretty sure that orange Kool-Aid pumped through my veins for most of my preteen years ( I drank the stuff faithfully almost everyday!) 

As the years have gone on, my constant need for drinkable sugar has become a little more refined.  I'm so much more of a pure agua girl now, it's my go to drink of choice for almost every meal......except pizza. 

When I'm having a hot slice of ooey, gooey cheesy pizza I find myself yearning for a great big cold glass of ice filled Coca-Cola.

For what seems like forever I was completely satisfied with the American standard basic Coca-Cola , until I found out about Mexican Coke.

Oh yes, indeed there is such a thing, and it's so Rico y Delicoso!  That's Spanish for Super Awesome! 

It's packaged and Hecho en Mexico ( made in Mexico) with pure cane sugar, none of that corn syrupy sickening sweet stuff that they pump into American soft drinks. 

All I know is that if you can find it, try it.  You'll never want to go back to artificial sugar in your soda ever again.

After drinking and obsessing over Mexican Coke for a long time. I figured that anything that good on it's own, had to be nothing less than increible ( incredible) swirled & infused into a rich chocolate cake. 

And oh yes, the results was an ooey, gooey super moist chocolate cake, that made it pretty clear, that Mexican Coke has super awesome affects on almost everything it touches!

                                                 
                                                                   Ingredients
 
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup butter
3 tablespoons baking cocoa
1 cup Mexican Coke
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
 
Mexican Coke Icing
 
1/2 cup butter

2 to 3 tablespoons baking cocoa

6 tablespoons Mexican Coke
3-1/4 cups powdered sugar
 
                               Vamos a La Cocina!  Directions
In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar and baking soda; set aside.

 

In a saucepan, bring butter, cocoa and cola to a boil; stir into dry ingredients. Stir in buttermilk, eggs, vanilla ; mix well. 

 

For the Mexican Coke Icing
 
Combine butter, cocoa and Mexican Coke in a saucepan; bring to a

boil.

 

Remove from heat; stir in powdered sugar and mix well.

Spread over hot cake. 

When the cake cools you can also place on some plump cherries and whip cream. For some more love on top!

       
 
                                            
 

My Borrachito Rico- Rum Tres Leches Cake Milkshake

So even though it's been a little while since I had a chance to blog, it doesn't mean that blogging wasn't on my mind.......It kind of was like always on my mind, especially since my relentless desire to bake and create never seems to disappear.

Now that I blog there is just one more step added to my routine which is sharing the process. When I was unable to do it, I kind of missed it...a poquito bit!  Especially since I was experening a little slice of milkshake heaven, in a Dia de Los Muertos glass! 

Since I had a few slices of that super rico  El Boracho Rum Tres Leches Cake I decided to dunk  some in a blender filled with milk and very vanilla ice cream give it a whirl and see what pops up!

One sip was a sweet swirl of a creamy rich vanilla ice cream stuffed with chunks of Tres Leches Cakey goodness with a rico Rum finish!

Ingredients

 

 

1 to 2 slices of Tres Leches Cake

 

2 to 3 grande scoops of vanilla ice cream

 

1 to 2 cups of milk ( the amount is based on how thick or thin you prefer your shake)

1/2 tsp of Rum or Rum extract

 

 

Directions

 Put either one or two slices of cake (depending on your preference) into a blender and add a few scoops of ice cream. Add about a cup to two cups of milk (less or more depending on preference) 1/2 tsp of Rum and blend.  Swirl with whipped cream, sprinkles and a plump red cherry!



Makes 1-2 servings.

 





I Ain't Afraid of No Ghosts- Halloween Cake

Now that the long awaited, often feared 2012 "first day of school" has seamlessly come and gone, it's inevitable that the holidays are not far behind. For many of the big name stores the holidays have already arrived. I couldn't help but think twice about picking up  a great big package of neon green and black swirled gummy worms. 

I am always impressed with the new candy ideas that are introduced every year. So far I've seen candy corn in cool Halloween colors like green, black, purple and white, jack o' lantern shaped Snickers and even Cadbury eggs filled with slimy, green goo.  I have to be honest though, I do love the colors, decorations and of course the candy that comes with Halloween, but with my enthusiasm comes a few drops of apprehension.

I think it goes back to my younger days, when children were warned of being kidnapped by creepy men in unmarked white vans, lurking in the shadows waiting to snatch up unsuspecting little boys and girls on freezing cold and dark Halloween nights.


If you were lucky enough to make it home without being abducted, your mother would be peeking through the blinds awaiting your footsteps through the front door.  Before you could even utter a "hello" she would be snatching your trick or treat bag from your cold hands, telling you that "she had to go through every single piece" presumably with a fine tooth comb.



Because according to recent news reports, there were evil  child hating people who were putting razor blades into sweet chocolaty candy bars meant to harm sweet faced little boys and girls like me and my friends. Ahh the children of the 80's what stories we have to tell!





Okay so fast forward to modern day 2012, I've obviously made it through at least 20 Halloween's or maybe....just a few more (ahem) without being kidnapped or having had my throat cut to shreds by a Milky Way. But now I am the mom, and although I don't riddle my chicas with scary stories that make them feel like they are part of a blood curdling episode of  RL. Stines" The Haunting Hour" ( which is a great series by the way),

I do feel that walking in the chilly fall air, in lightweight costumes dodging speeding cars and receiving the occasional sandwich bag filled with homemade chocolate chip cookies from the  creepy single guy in the barely lit house on the corner ( seriously, obviously it's often times meant to be a sweet gesture,  but who would ever eat something unwrapped and unmarked made by a complete stranger?! It's so much easier to pick up a bag of smarties or whatever!) doesn't really seem like my brand of fun.




Honestly, most of the time about 30 minutes into walking the neighborhood my chicas are ready to call it quits, and 3 weeks later I am pulling their candy bags from underneath their beds still 3/4 of the way full!  Obviously they don't take after me, because when I was little by week 3 I would be down to the Mary Janes and I usually was still feening candy and I was desperate enough that even they would get a few nibbles! My candy obsession really borders along the lines of addiction ( at least for chocolate).

So instead of traveling the cold mean streets on Halloween nights, I've decided to keep the day of "candy love" a little more centralized and cozy with a fiesta for them and their friends at home.  This ghost cake is the perfect mix between spooky and sweet, exactly what kids want on Halloween night!

Ingredients

Vanilla Cake & Cupcakes
1 box of Wilton fondant
Butter Cream
1 package of gummy worms
1 bag of candy corn
Oreo cookies or chocolate cake crumbs
assorted chocolates and Halloween candies

Recipe


♥To make this cake you will need a Wilton doll pan, which may be available at  your local Micheal's or I also found one here.   You will also need a sturdy base for the cake, I like to use the Wilton silver circle cake board which is pretty sturdy and also leaves space for the cupcakes to go around the edges. 


♥For the cake you can use your favorite yellow or chocolate cake recipe, Here is one. that sounds pretty yummy!  For a quicker option you can use a box mix, either one I suggest you make 2 batches. Because you will need enough batter for the cake and the cupcakes. ( You may want to bake an extra 8' round cake to go below the top portion, depending on how many guests you will have)

♥Once you've chosen and prepared your batter, fill the doll mold only 3/4 full with batter, the batter will rise during baking if you fill it too high you will have overflow. After the cake is baked, move on to making thecupcakes ( however many you need, at least enough to go around the ghost).

♥Before icing the cake make sure it's completely cooled, I like to stick my cake in the freezer for about an hour so that it is nice and stiff before I ice it and put on fondant.

♥When  the cake is cooled, ice the cake in your favorite butter cream or frosting recipe.  I like a whipped butter cream, like this one because I don't like a sickening sweet, heavy butter cream. Make sure the cake is completely covered in butter cream, so that the fondant attaches completely.

♥Break 4 kabob sticks in half and you can either place large campfire marshmallows or balls of fondant on the ends. I like to put 2 kabob sticks together on either side of the ghost, to give more security and stability to the ghosts arms.

♥After the cake is iced it's time to roll out enough fondant to cover the entire cake and hang down the sides like a ghosts sheet. The fondant doesn't have to be perfectly smooth at the bottom, it can be gathered or gently folded along the bottom to resemble a ghosts sheet.

♥Next, dye a ball of fondant black enough so that you can make the ghosts' eyes, mouth and eyebrows, pull off pieces of fondant and hand mold them into the eyes, mouth and eyebrows. Put just a dab of water on the back and apply to the ghosts face wherever you like.

♥You can either swirl or simply ice the frosting onto the surrounding cupcakes, then sprinkle them with either crushed Oreo's or chocolate cake crumbs. Place gummy worms on each cupcake, place them around your ghost than sprinkle the base with candy corn, Snicker bars, Skittles, Three Musketeers etc, etc

Finally, make or print up mini signs and glue them onto toothpicks with whatever ghoulish message that your heart desires ♥