Bake It in a Cake

Here’s a perfect little treat for Valentine’s Day—a chocolate covered dried strawberry baked into the center of a mini brownie and topped with white chocolate buttercream! This definitely says “I love you!” Or at the very least “I want to eat delicious foods with you.” Get the recipe here.

Ho Ho Cheesecake! Need I say more? 

Click here to get the recipe and see how-to photos.

Is there a better phrase in the world than “peanut butter buttercream”? Well, yes, there is. How about “peanut butter buttercream on top of Take 5-stuffed brownie”? YUM! The recipe has been down for awhile, but due to popular demand, I’m bringing it back! Get the recipe here.

It’s baaaaaack! A lot of people have e-mailed asking for the instructions on how to make the double rainbow coconut cupcakes. Well the recipe is back! Click here for step-by-step photos and directions. Double rainbow cupcakes! What do they mean!? They mean DELICIOUS!

Happy National Peanut Butter Day! Celebrate with some PB&J cupcakes topped with marshmallow cream buttercream! Here’s the recipe.

Snowball cupcakes! Stuffed with tasty Raffaelo candy! Get the recipe here.

Happy almost Halloween! Have a huge bowl of candy in your house? Try baking some of it into a cake or brownie! Here are a few recipes to inspire: 

Almond Joy Cupcakes
Whatchmacallit Brownie Cupcakes
Goo Goo Cluster Cupcakes
Twix Brownies

These recipes will work with some of your other favorite candy bars, too—Snickers, Mounds, peanut butter cups, M&Ms, and more. If you bake any of your favorite Halloween candy into a cake, send pictures to bakeitinacake@gmail.com—I’d love to share your treats on the blog!

Choco-pie Wall Street! A chocolate cupcake with a chocolate pudding pie baked in the center of it, topped off with cream cheese buttercream and, of course, a gold coin.

Learn more about the Occupy Wall Street movement at occupywallst.org—donate, spread the word, and find out what you can do in your own city. 

Click here to get the recipe.

Today is the last day of the cookbook photoshoot—above is a little “behind the scenes” shot of just one of the 20 cupcakes we’ve shot over the past four days. I can’t wait for everyone to see the amazing images—photographer Clare Barboza, sylist Helene Dujardin, and art director Kate Basart have been making the Bake It in a Cake treats look better than they’ve ever looked before. It’s so exciting! And also exhausting. Who knew looking at cupcakes for hours and hours could make me so tired? I would like a nap, please.

I had the perfect plan. To celebrate the release of CakeSpy’s new book, CakeSpy: Sweet Treats for a Sugar-Filled Life, I was going to bake Nanaimo Bars into a cupcake! They’re one of CakeSpy’s favorite treats, after all, and I wouldn’t know about their magical existence without her introducing me to them.

But last night, when I made Nanaimo bars for the first time (can you believe I’ve never had one until yesterday??), I realized the bars, as dense as they are, are about 80% butter (no wonder CakeSpy loves them so much). I can’t bake these into a cupcake! The fluffy, custardy, buttery center would just melt away into nothing. What kind of Nanaimo bar has no fluffy middle layer? So instead of baking these treats into a cupcake, I simply made them and enjoyed them the way CakeSpy meant for them to be enjoyed. They’re every bit as delectable as she says they are—a co-worker even declared that they were “The best treat ever brought into the office.”

CakeSpy’s adorable new book also has some suggestions for variations—eggnog Nanaimo bars, peppermint Nanaimo bars, even boozy Nanaimo bars! Click here to buy the new CakeSpy book—you Bake It in a Cake fans will be happy to know, contains a recipe for cupcakes baked into cupcakes! 

Here’s a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon: Bake an Almond Joy candy bar into a vanilla cupcake!

Here’s the recipe.

I baked a Whatchamacallit candy bar into a brownie cupcake and now you can too! Click here to get the recipe.