The month of February, Valentine's Day, and everything pink, white, and red has sped right on by and landed us at the beginning of March. Unfortunately here in Illinois, also known as the land of temperamental weather, Winter has not sped by as fast as February did.
We're still getting freak snow and ice storms in between 50 to 70 degree weather. Go home Illinois, you're drunk!
Before we know it the next major holiday will be here: St. Patrick's Day.
Ever since I was younger I've always felt a certain draw towards Ireland. At one point when I was healthy, I actually wanted to go to college in Ireland; part of me still would love to fulfill that strange dream if at all possible. Actually, I just want to live there, if only for a little while. Maybe I'll be able to figure out why, oh, why I feel such a strong draw to that particular place one day.
In honor of St. Pattie's Day, I wanted to share an old Irish proverb I found that fits perfectly the theme of this post:
"There's nothing so bad that it couldn't be worse."
This is exactly how I felt when I went to bake some cupcakes for a separate post and this is what happened not more than 5 minutes after I popped them into the oven:
The clue that something wasn't quite right was the sudden smell of something burning. Let me tell you, there was a lot of scrambling, a burn or two, and some possible foul language for a minute there...
I nearly cried. I felt guilty. I was a hot mess, figuratively
and literally.
Then I realized things happen and it could have been worse. If I had to throw it all away I would but not before I at least tried to salvage the situation. So with my best try, I brainstormed and remembered I had a container of Glutino gluten free chocolate cream cookies and a light bulb went off.
Thanks to a Pyrex baking pan and Glutino, I turned an overflowing cupcake disaster into a downright delicious cake!
Gluten Free Mint & Cookie Vanilla Cake
(serves 10 to 12*)
Ingredients:
Cake:
-Gluten free vanilla cake mix*
-1 package of Glutino gluten free chocolate vanilla cream cookies
-1 cup butter
-4 eggs
-2 tsp vanilla
-1/4 cup applesauce
-1 2/3 cups milk
-2 to 3 drops of peppermint essential oil
Topping:
-1 container of Pamela's Vanilla Frosting Mix*
-8 tbsp butter (room temperature)
-6 to 8 gluten free chocolate vanilla cream cookies
-1 package of Guittard green mint baking chips
*Depending on what baking mix you choose your needed ingredients will vary. Make sure to keep that in mind! The different mixes also have different serving sizes.
*I had Pamela's vanilla frosting mix on hand but ingredients will also vary depending on what you choose.
Instructions:
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grab your preferred baking pan (I used a 8x11 glass Pyrex rectangular pan) and grease it up with whatever you prefer (cooking spray, butter, etc).
2. Add dry cake mix to a large mixing bowl. Add butter, eggs, vanilla, milk, and applesauce and carefully mix until batter is all smooth. Add your peppermint essential oil and stir. Since essential oil is strong, there is only need to add 2 to 3 drops to the batter. Pour into your respective baking pan(s).
3. Once in the pan(s), break out your package of Glutino's gluten free chocolate vanilla cream cookies and take out 6 to 8 full cookies, place them in a clear zip lock bag, and use a rolling pin to crush them into small to bite sized pieces. Dump the crumbled cookies into your batter and stir until evenly distributed.
4. Place in oven and bake for 45 minutes (or however long your baking mix instructions specify). Once done, take out and let cool for 5 to 7 minutes.
5. 10 minutes before the cake is done or while the cake is cooling, it's time to make the frosting. I used Pamela's gluten free vanilla frosting but you can easily use something else or make frosting from scratch if you wish. Once done, add 1 to 2 more drops of peppermint essential oil and mix thoroughly. Spread frosting across entire surface of cooled cake.
6. Take out 4 to 5 more vanilla cream cookies and crush them like you did when we added them to the cake batter. Once crushed, carefully spread them evenly across the surface of the cake making sure they stick to the frosting.
7. When done with the layer of crushed cookies, break out your package of Guittard green mint baking chips and pour 1/4 cup into a microwave safe bowl. Pop bowl into the microwave and microwave in increments of 15 seconds, stirring in between increments, until melted.
8. Dip a spoon into your melted mint baking chips and drizzle across entire cake's surface until desired amount is achieved.
9. Slice and enjoy!
Thankfully this big blogger oops was saved by some quick thinking and a container of Glutino's gluten free chocolate vanilla cream cookies. I wasn't quite sure the overflowing cupcakes would be salvageable but I was more than pleasantly surprised at the outcome!
My family was pretty happy with the result as well; I made this cake on a Monday and by Friday it was pretty much gone. I guess that's the best compliment a cook and/or baker can get, right?
Connect:
What was your biggest cooking or baking oops? Were you able to salvage it?
