Cocoa-Streusel Mini Cakes

Today was a big day for me. It was my first time going to the dump. Well, "Transfer Station" as Dan corrected me. I'm not sure what I was expecting. Maybe a landfill type setting, but no. The transfer station is pretty underwhelming. But, at least I can say I've been there and I now know what Dan does when he does his Saturday trips to the dump.

Transfer Station, sorry.

We also successfully have overhead lighting in our bedroom now! Wednesday night Dan asked me what I thought of getting a fan with lights for our bedroom. After almost a year of nothing but dim lamp light in the bedroom, I was overjoyed that he wanted to tackle that task. I can now see everything in our room clearly.

This may sound like a boring Saturday to you, but it was exciting for me. I followed all this up with a nap and some grocery shopping. Then, I baked, which I assume you already know since I'm making this post. I actually did a lot of baking this week. I needed my cupcakes and icing for cake class. Then, I made cupcakes for my friend Pam's birthday. A couple of years ago I made her chocolate cupcakes filled with chocolate ganache and topped with pink Champagne buttercream. She requested them this year and I was happy to make them. For my cake class, the icing recipe, which is the Wilton recipe, just isn't the same as a flavorful buttercream. It's shortening based, which is great for cake decorating, but it lacks in flavor and has a dryer texture. Not to mention, you can make a batch, and it can sit in a sealed container at room temperature for a month. A MONTH. That's the power (and gross out factor) of shortening. Yikes!

Anyways, the birthday cupcakes were far better and enjoyed by all. There are some bonus pictures at the end.

Tonight's baking was something I've been meaning to make for a couple of weeks. I got the chance to bake tonight as Lana was napping. She started off wanting to help, and almost knocking an open jar of cinnamon onto the floor. Luckily, 2 minutes later, I found her curled up on the couch watching Property Brothers. I found this recipe in Weight Watchers Magazine. While this isn't the healthiest dessert, it's healthier than some, which is always a bonus. But when you take the somewhat healthy cake and drizzle it with a glaze made of powdered sugar, cocoa, corn syrup and milk, you're taking away the healthiest. Then again, you're adding to the awesomeness. It's a decent trade-off in my opinion. As I was making these, I started to worry. The batter was not enough to make 3 layers of batter in the cake wells, I only got a layer of batter, a layer of chocolate chips and streusel and then another layer of batter. There's supposed to be 3 layers of batter and 2 of the chocolate streusel. They still came out just fine. As they were baking I also thought they were going to rise over the edges and spill out, but they puffed up just enough to cause some mini panic, but stayed right there and baked perfectly. They could have cooked for may 2 minutes less. The outside of the cakes had a small crisp to them (which doesn't take away from the taste). In the future, I will still do 2 layers of batter, but add more streusel in the middle. I skimped a little and could have had way more. Also, for the glaze, the original recipe called for 1.5 tablespoons milk in the glaze. I used 2.5 tablespoons. The smaller amount made the glaze far too thick.

Cocoa-Streusel Mini Cakes
from Nov/Dec 2013 Weight Watchers Magazine

Streusel:
3 tbsp. packed brown sugar
1.5 tbsp. flour
1 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 tbsp. cold light stick butter, cut into bits

Cake:
1 and 1/4 cup flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 c packed brown sugar
1/3 c egg substitute
6 tbsp. light butter, softened (I used unsalted)
3/4 c fat-free vanilla yogurt
2 tbsp.. mini chocolate chips

Glaze:
2/3 c powdered sugar
3 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa
2.5 tbsp. milk
1 tsp. light corn syrup

1. Preheat oven to 350 and spray a mini fluted cake pan.
2. Streusel: Mix brown sugar, flour, cocoa and cinnamon in a small bowl. Add the butter and cut in with a fork.
3. Cake: Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and powder in a medium bowl. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the brown sugar and egg substitute until combined. Add the butter and beat for about 3 minutes until creamy. Reduce speed to low and alternate adding the flour mix and yogurt, beginning and ending with the flour just until blended. Spoon half the batter into the wells of the cake pan and even out with your finger. Sprinkle the chocolate chips and streusel over the batter. Top with remaining half of batter.
4. Bake for 18-20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove to a wire rack to cool.
5. Glaze: In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, cocoa, milk and corn syrup. Drizzle over cakes and let stand for an hour until glaze hardens.

Pink Champagne Cupcakes!

Wilton icing

Flower decorations