Eggless Chocolate Cake With Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Last night, my husband was musing that he was craving some chocolate cake. I love him dearly, and our anniversary was this week, so I happily made my man a cake. :)

The only problem was, that our son had eaten the last two eggs for breakfast that morning, and grocery stores are actually closed here on Sunday afternoon. So, I looked up some "eggless" chocolate cake recipes, and came across one I liked, didn't QUITE wait until it fully cooled, put on some delicious chocolate buttercream frosting - and it was divine! It was very spur of the moment, so my pictures aren't great - but trust me! This is going to become a go-to in our house!

You'll need:

- standing mixer

- 8x8 inch pan

- baking paper

- non-stick spray

Ingredients:

Cake:

- 1 1/2 cups flour

- 1 cup sugar

- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I actually used some semi-sweet hot chocolate mix, and it was awesome)

- 1/2 tsp salt

- 1 tsp baking soda

- 1 tsp vanilla extract

- 1 tsp white vinegar

- 1/3 cup vegetable oil

- 1 cup water

Frosting:

- 3/4 cup room temperature butter

- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

- pinch of salt

- 2 1/4 cup powdered sugar

- 3 tbs sweet and condensed milk

- about 4 tbs semi-sweet hot chocolate mix

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F / 175 C. Line 8x8 cake pan with baking paper, and spray with non-stick spray.

2. Combine dry ingredients (flour, sugar, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda) in the bowl of your standing mixer.

3. In a separate bowl, combine vanilla, vinegar, oil and water.

4. Turn mixer on medium speed, and pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Mix until all the lumps are completely done.

5. Pour batter into pan, and bake for 30-35 minutes (24 minutes for convection oven.)

6. Bake until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean. Allow to fully cool.

7. For frosting, cream together butter, salt and vanilla extract, then gradually add powdered sugar. Add sweet and condensed milk and chocolate powder. Whip until fluffy.

8. Allow cake to fully cool (or don't, haha!) and frost the cake.

This cake stayed super moist, and delicious! It's definitely going to be a go-to! 

Yummm!

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

Mmmm... I think we have a new addition to the Christmas cookie repertoire! Dan special requested these, and since they're one of my favorites too - I was happy to oblige!

Ingredients:

- 1 cup unsalted butter (softened)

- 1 cup brown sugar 

- 2/3 cup granulated sugar

- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

- 2 eggs

- 1/2 tsp salt

- 1 tbs corn starch

- 1 tsp baking soda

- 1/2 tsp baking powder

- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

- 1 1/2 cup white chocolate chips (or, in my case, a chopped up bar of white chocolate into "morsels")

- 1 1/2 cup macadamia nuts - some chopped, some left whole

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 F/165 C.

2. Cream together (manually, or in a standing mixer) butter and sugars very well.

3. Add vanilla, eggs and salt, and mix well.

4. Add corn starch, baking soda, baking powder and flour. Mix until well combined.

5. Stir in nuts and chocolate.

6. Line a baking sheet with baking paper.

7. Drop 2 tbs of dough (I used an ice cream scoop to get them all the same size) at a time, approx. 2 inches apart on the baking sheet.

8. Bake for 10-11 minutes.

9. Allow to cool in pan for a few minutes, then transfer to cooling rack. Store in an airtight container, or you can even freeze them!

Makes about 44-48.

These are delicious! I've shared them with neighbors and friends, and I can tell you - they're a hit! 

Please let me know if you decide to try these, I'd love to know how they turn out.

Here are some mouth watering pictures of these sweet things:

While I was taking pictures, I accidentally left some cookies within baby's reach - and when I turned around, she gave me the most satisfied look! Of course... I didn't let her eat it, but she loved sucking on it for a couple seconds, lol!