Lovin' From the Oven

Chocolate Cupcakes & a Giveaway!

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When I’m in the mood for chocolate, I’m in the mood of chocolate.. lots and lots of it. A little piece from a candy bar won’t satisfy my craving. I need a mound of it, something that’s over the top chocolate-y. I was thinking of some of the most decadent chocolate treats to make for myself (chocolate mousse, pudding, flour-less chocolate cake, fudge, brownies, etc), when I just happened to turn my box of Hershey’s cocoa over. What did I find? Hershey’s “perfectly chocolate” chocolate cake with “perfectly chocolate” chocolate frosting. With a name like that, I knew I was sold. I mean, what other dessert has chocolate 4 times in the title?

I have nothing but great memories of Hershey’s. I was lucky enough to go to Hershey’s Chocolate World in Pennsylvania when I was younger with my family and see how chocolate was made. I still have a souvenir from there– a picture of my entire family on the ride that teaches you the entire chocolate making process. I remember being so appalled and in complete awe of the amount of chocolate in the factory, while wanting to take a bite out of everything. I’d definitely recommend a trip there, if you haven’t already, for all the chocolate fiends like me! :]

I followed the recipe exactly as stated, adding a bit more cocoa into both batters. The result? A perfectly chocolate chocolate cake. Moist, sweet, and chocolate-y, without a sense of empowerment from any of the flavors. Everything blended perfectly together. I dusted half the cupcakes with powdered sugar and left the other half as is. The cupcakes were so beautiful that I couldn’t help but post a million pictures of them. Enjoy!
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 3/4 cups AP flour
  • 3/4 cup HERSHEY’s cocoa
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 cup boiling water
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease & flour 2 9-inch round baking pans or line muffin cups with bake cups.
2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on med speed for 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter onto prepared pans.
3. Bake 30-35 minutes if doing 9-inch round pans, 22-25 minutes for cupcakes until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans/cups to wire racks and cool completely.
  • 1/2 cup or 1 stick butter
  • 2/3 cup HERSHEY’s cocoa
  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/3 cup milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
Melt butter, stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. Makes about 2 cups of frosting.
Hooray for my 100th post on Lovin’ From the Oven! Thank you so much everyone for following along. You guys are the very reason why I’m still blogging today! To show my appreciation, I’ll be doing my very first giveaway! I’ll be giving away A Year of Cookie Cutters from Crate & Barrel!
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If you recall, I own this set myself and LOVE it! I used the cutters in my previous post to make no fail sugar cookies. I love it so much that one lucky winner will be able to get your own, BRAND NEW set! It comes with 12 different cookie cutters, one for each month. The cookie cutters are adorably packaged in its own cookie container. It doesn’t get any better than that!
All you have to do to enter in my giveaway is leave a comment, saying anything you’d like… a random comment, a question, a thought… on this post with a way for me to contact you by Saturday, March 14th, 11:59PM Pacific time. I’ll choose the winner by using random.org. Good luck!
You can find more details about this gift (or if you just want to buy it for yourself) on Crate & Barrel’s site HERE

It’s just been one of those days..

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…You know, one of those days where you don’t want to do anything, one where you just want to lay in bed all day and watch movies, one where you just never want to change out of your PJ’s. Well, today was that kind of day. I had just finished planning a spring break trip for 10 people to Lake Tahoe in three weeks, studying for a quiz, and listing/shipping out all my Ebay items. What better way to reward myself than with chocolate cake? Oh, I know! Let’s add ice cream, maraschino cherries, chocolate syrup, and caramel sauce and call it a day. 😉
I must admit that the chocolate cake was made from a box– hey, I told you it was one of those lazy days! Even though it was baked from a box, it still satisfied my chocolate craving. Sometimes that’s all you need– a good ol’ box mixed cake topped with spoonfuls of cake batter cookie dough ice cream, cherries, and syrup. I cuddled up in bed with my chocolate cake sundae and started reading Black Heels to Tractor Wheels, Pioneer Woman’s tale of how she met her husband. Once I started reading, I was hooked. I probably spent a good hour, if not more, going through chapter by chapter reading this amazing love story. My boyfriend thought that I was being a sappy/typical girl for “aww-ing” at the end of each chapter and spending so much time reading romance stories. WARNING: Once you start reading, you won’t be able to stop (Not to mention that her food blog is also very inspiring and well worth your time)! So if you have time, I’d recommend reading her story from beginning to end. It truly shows how amazing love is and it’s capacity.
So, sorry there isn’t a recipe for today.. But stay tuned for my next post, for I assure you there will be a recipe. I’ll be blogging about cupcakes and doing my very first giveaway in celebration of my 100th post! Hooray!

Soft & Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

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I honestly don’t think that someone can ever try enough chocolate chip cookie recipes. This is my 3rd of 4th on my blog so far, but trust me, I’ve baked far more variations of this cookie than that. Now this particular cookie & recipe will always relate to a 42″ plasma for me. Why? Let me tell you the story…

My boyfriend had a 32″ LCD TV in his room and had been researching for weeks in search of a reliable 42″ plasma to replace it. He read review after review about pretty much every TV out there. He wanted something bigger and better than his old one. Oh, boys… They’re all the same when it comes to technology gadgets and gizmos- what they have is never good enough and they always have to have the best, the top of the line. He was going to buy this particular TV online for a steal, but his mom convinced him not to at that moment and I told him save his money. The very next day, the TV was sold out/discontinued from the store online. Boy, was he angry.. there was no other deal like that online or in stores and he missed out on his chance on getting the TV at that price. The very next day, I went with him to Costco to check out the TVs there because they had the one that he wanted to buy online. Three hours later, he walked out of Costco with a brand new 42″ plasma for nearly $100 less than the online price. Good thing he didn’t buy it online when he had the chance to!

The next day, my boyfriend went to The Getty Villa Museum in Malibu with my family and was telling my dad about his amazing purchase. The instant my dad heard the price tag for the 42″ plasma, his eyes lit up like a kid in a candy store. My dad turned his head to my mom and said, “That’s so cheap! Let’s get it,” with a big smile on his face. Mind you, we have this disease that runs in our family called the “Nguyen disease” (yes, we made it up and that is my family’s last name).

What is the Nguyen disease? The Nguyen disease is basically the act of impulse buying on bargain items. We cannot let great deals go by us and when there is a good deal.. we usually don’t just buy one, we buy multiple numbers of the same item and usually give them away to other family members. Example? My dad bought five digital scales because they were only fifteen dollars, marked down from like fifty. What in the world could you do with five scales in one household? He kept one and gave the other four away to my cousins/uncles/aunts/friends. Ridiculous, I know.

After the Getty, we went out to lunch and I would catch glimpses of my dad whispering to my mom, ending with “…please? Can we get it?” Finally, my mom agreed. The moment we finished lunch, my dad drove to Costco and bought the TV. Why? We don’t even need a TV in our house. We already have 3 flat screen TV’s that are 45″ and up… but because the price tag was so cheap, my dad couldn’t pass up on it. We didn’t even really have a spot for the TV, so where did my dad put it? In my tiny room. Now he hangs out in my room all the time, playing the guitar and turning my room into his own little sanctuary.

While on this trip to Costco with my family and boyfriend after lunch, I picked up Martha Stewart’s Cookies, which has been on my list of baking books to get for quite some time. The book has lots of tips and recommended tools, accompanied by colorful pictures. This is only my first recipe from the book, but I guarantee you it won’t be my last. These cookies are delightfully chewy and flavorful, making it to my list of top 3 chocolate chip cookie recipes. Give them a shot! you can find the recipe online here.

  • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup packed light-brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 cups (about 12 ounces) semisweet and/or milk chocolate chips
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter with both sugars; beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low; add the salt, vanilla, and eggs. Beat until well mixed, about 1 minute. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
  2. Drop heaping tablespoon-size balls of dough about 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
  3. Bake until cookies are golden around the edges, but still soft in the center, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven, and let cool on baking sheet 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool completely. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week.

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