Dr. Pepper and Peanut Butter

Tomorrow is another bake sale at work.  As per usual, I made at least 3 things.  I made puppy chow, peanut butter fudgy bars and Dr. Pepper cake.  I really need to learn to limit myself... but I don't think that's ever going to happen.  I've already written about the puppy chow and the peanut butter fudgy bars so I will not be rehashing those.  The Dr Pepper cake is a recipe my sister found on the internet and is really yummy.  The recipe calls for Dr. Pepper (duh), vegetable oil, butter, cocoa powder, sugar, flour, baking soda, eggs and buttermilk.

Side note: I hardly ever buy buttermilk.  I usually make my own by adding a splash of vinegar to milk.  (Thank you growing up on a farm and running out of ingredients for that little bit of creativity!)  That was the plan for tonight.  But, I couldn't find any regular vinegar in our apartment.  Both of us swore we had some but had no idea where it went.  We both looked in the cupboards and pantry multiple times... no regular vinegar.  I did have apple cider vinegar.  I figured it's close and it's cake; it'll work.  I've also subbed vodka for vinegar to make buttermilk for Texas Sheet Cake in the past.  That same time, I also swapped the vanilla for cinnamon (again, ran out of ingredients).  It ended up tasting like an Oreo and my then boss (who likes to drink) almost fell off her chair when I told her.  (The cake was for work.)  OK, back to my current cake!  (Sorry for the detour!)  The Dr. Pepper, vegetable oil, butter and cocoa powder are melted on the stove.  Mix together the flour, sugar and baking soda in a separate bowl.  The recipe says to whisk the eggs and buttermilk together.  I like to use the Pyrex 2-cup measuring cup for things like that.  The 1/2 half apple cider buttermilk and 2 eggs fit perfectly in it.  I've decided to start mixing more by hand.  It gives me a real feeling of accomplishment rather than watching the mixer work.  And I'm hoping to build some arm muscles.  (I'm a bit of wimp... not cool for a farm girl.)  It was really satisfying watching the bits of flour melt away when I added the chocolate mixture to it.  I almost forgot to add the apple cider buttermilk and eggs which would have been a disaster.  I enjoyed watching the dark brown chocolate color change to a lighter but still rich brown when I added the egg mixture.  (Former art major here... I enjoy colors!)  The recipe says to bake for 23-28 minutes... mine was still jiggly in the center after 25 minutes.  I checked it after another 3 minutes... still jiggly.  Steve checked it after another 2 minutes... still a little jiggly.  I checked it after another 2 minutes... finally done!  So about 32 minutes and the cake will be done.  Recipes irritate me when the baking time is that far off.  I haven't made the frosting yet.  Last time I made this cake was for Steve and Nathan's birthday.  The frosting seemed a little runny so tonight I'll focus on the thickness of it.  I can't take a cake to work if the frosting is runny and thin.

The unfrosted cake

I've also realized that this cake doesn't have brown sugar in it.  I'm thinking this has something to do with the flavor of the Dr. Pepper.  I thought about how the pop probably caramelizes on the stove as it mixes with the cocoa, butter and oil.  Interesting.

Chow for the Puppies

I'm at it again. We're having another bake sale at work. This bake sale is a benefit bake sale for one of our doctors. This doctor was diagnosed with cancer last fall and had a below the knee amputation on one leg. While most people would give up hope or take their anger about their illness out on others, he hasn't. He has presented a can-do positive attitude through out this whole ordeal. I'm not saying he doesn't have his moments of sadness or maybe even anger but he doesn't show them to his co-workers or patients. The man is truly an inspiration to be around. And because he's been such an inspiration and because I like to bake, I'll be going overboard for this bake sale. Last night I made puppy chow. I'm really hoping that the puppy chow will sell like it did at the bake sales when I was in grade school. (We'd practically fight over it.) I had decided to make it before I had a recipe so I did a quick search on allrecipes.com. (one of my favorite sites, of course) The recipes featured the same ingredients with a few variations: peanut butter, butter, chocolate, Chex cereal and powdered sugar.

I measured out the peanut butter, butter and chocolate chips and started them melting. I dumped the cereal into 2 big bowls and poured some powdered sugar in a paper sack. Stirred the chocolate mixture a few times and it was ready to pour over the cereal. I had made puppy chow in the past and made the mistake of pouring all of the chocolate mixture onto the cereal at once. Remembering my previous mistake, I poured a little chocolate on the cereal and stirred it to coat. I repeated that process until all of the cereal was coated with chocolate and then dumped all of the cereal into the paper sack. The most fun of making the puppy chow is the last part: the shaking of the paper sack to coat the cereal with powdered sugar. Word to the wise: a mist of powdered sugar will hit you in the face when you open the bag... be prepared, it's not as pleasant as it sounds. I put the puppy chow in little baggies and it's good to go!

I'm also going to make peanut butter fudgy bars and M&M cookies for the bake sale. I've enlisted Steve's help for tomorrow's baking.