{ Fresh New Look! }

Hello & welcome to a fresh new Sugar Bean Bakers! I hope that you'll enjoy all the changes I have made to the site.

My old colors were a bit dull and drab, so I wanted to brighten it up in here a bit. 

I think the links and info along the sidebar should be easier to navigate as well now.

Please stay tuned for more recipes, party plans, and other posts soon!

Thanks, as always, for stopping by!

{ Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Layer Cake }

As I've mentioned before, we always celebrate Bean's birthday with the family on Easter. Everyone is already here, so, why not? With the way Easter runs, it could be anywhere from a couple weeks early to a couple weeks late. This year, it's a couple weeks early.

Soon though, my boy will be 19. Nineteen? Isn't that like a real grown up? At least at 19 we thought we were real grown ups, right? At 19 I got married. It's crazy to think that he is now the age I was when I got married! This Is. Not. Real. Life. right???

Last year I made him a Reese's Cake, since Reese's are his favorite things ever.

Reese's Cake

This year I decided to another one of his favorite things, cookie dough. Layers of chocolate cake filled with a yummy cookie dough and topped with a cookie dough buttercream. Yas.

I love the look of cakes with exposed sides, or Naked Cakes as I prefer to call them.This is the perfect recipe for a naked cake. Slather it on if you like, but I think buttercream all over would be too much.

Naked Cakes are simple, pretty, rustic.

When you make this recipe, depending on how thick you go with your cookie dough, you may have some left over. I did, so I threw in some extra flour, rolled it up and dipped it in chocolate to make the Cookie Dough Truffles I have topping and sitting around the cake. They were a huge hit as well. I have a recipe on here just for those as well: Cookie Dough Bites.

While this looks like a big cake, I should note, this is three 6" layers. That equals out to two 8" layers or one basic recipe/box mix. I just like the look of the little 6" cakes, they are sweet and the extra layer makes them look impressive. This will work just as well with two 8" layers though!

Have a cookie dough happy day,

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Layer Cake

by Tina @ Sugar Bean Bakers

1 recipe chocolate cake-baked and cooled  
Level layers but cutting any dome off the top 

*This is my go to chocolate cake, but a box will work.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Filling

1  Cup Flour

1 stick butter, softened

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated white sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup milk

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup mini chocolate chips

Prepare filling:

Beat butter until creamy. Add in sugars and milk. Beat again. Add all other ingredients except chips. Mix until well blended. Fold in chocolate chips.

Add desired amount between layers. You can also add some to the top, under the buttercream, or use any excess to make cookie dough truffles (see post above).

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Buttercream
1 stick butter, softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
pinch of salt
1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 Tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup mini chocolate chips

Prepare buttercream:

Beat butter until creamy. Add in brown sugar and salt. Beat until fluffy. Mix in flour, then add powdered sugar. Add in milk and vanilla. If needed, add more milk, 1 teaspoon at a time until reaching desired creaminess. Fold in chocolate chips. Pipe on top of cake.

Store cake in the fridge, until about 1 hour prior to serving.

{ Cadbury Creme Egg Flurry & Reese's Egg Flurry }

The internet recently exploded over McDonald's having Cadbury Creme Egg McFlurries this Spring. While I do not enjoy them myself, Bean's girl adores the Creme Eggs! I did a little poking around and discovered that this is, in facts, true. McDonald's IS bringing a Cadbury Creme Egg McFlurry to the market this year....in Australia!

That is one heck of a long trip for ice cream.

You know what though? Nothing could be easier to make. Nope. SO EASY.

You just need ice cream, milk, and the candy. Done and dusted.

Bean does not enjoy Cadbury, so instead, I made HIS favorite egg into a flurry too!

So, my fellow Americans, don't be sad about the lack of Cadbury McFlurries in the USA, make your own. It will take you under 5 minutes!

Enjoy!

Tina


Cadbury Egg Flurry
by Tina @ Sugar Bean Bakers

2 cups of vanilla ice cream
2 Cadbury Creme Eggs, chopped
1/4 cup whole milk*

In chilled mixing bowl, add ice cream. Beat for about a minute to soften. Slowly add milk, beat again. After fully mixed, add chopped candy. Mix until candy is evenly distributed. Serve immediately.

*Add more or less milk to desired consistency.



Reese's Egg Flurry
by Tina @ Sugar Bean Bakers

2 cups of vanilla ice cream
1 Reese's Peanut Butter egg, chopped
1/4 cup whole milk*

In chilled mixing bowl, add ice cream. Beat for about a minute to soften. Slowly add milk, beat again. After fully mixed, add chopped candy. Mix until candy is evenly distributed. Serve immediately.

**Add more or less milk to desired consistency.

{ Profiteroles with Butterbeer Sauce }

Do you know what yesterday was? Well, it was Ron Weasley's 36th Birthday! In honor of him, I decided to whip up a treat. What could be more fitting of Ron than for me to post it a day late?

Ron is one of my favorite characters. I mean, I have a LOT of favorites, but Ron ranks right up there in the top, top. He's probably my 2nd favorite right after Luna. The thing I love about Ron is how fabulously flawed he is. Jo can really write her some fantastic true to life people. Ron is a good friend, but he's also very jealous, he's a slacker, but he can do amazing things when he puts his mind to it, Ron needs attention, Ron pouts, Ron is caring, Ron is a good son, Ron can be a brat. I love him.

Rupert Grint is perfection as Ron.

My favorite movie is quite controversial: Half Blood Prince. HBP is famously panned as being the least accurate movie. I can't help that I love it. It has great humor, it's a lot of fun but with very serious moments, and I enjoy it tremendously. My favorite scene in all the Potter movies is this one- starring, you guessed it- Ron.

He eats a box full of candy with a very strong love potion in them. I love the way Rupert Grint plays this scene. I've seen it 100 times, but I still laugh every time.

In HBP Hermione, Harry, Neville, and Ginny are all invited to go to the Slug Club dinner party with Professor Slughorn. Ron is not invited. Not only is Ron not invited, Slughorn can never even get his name right. At the party, Slughorn serves a lovely dessert: Profiteroles.

Since my buddy Ron didn't get to have any- and let's be honest, he'd of loved to, I made him some for his birthday. Mine have a Butterbeer sauce. I win, Slughorn. I win.

Profiterole is just a fancy name for your basic cream puff. They are made from a Pâte à Choux pastry. I know that sound intimidating, but Pâte à Choux is easy. SO easy. Fancy names are scary, but this stuff is easy peasy.

You can fill your profiteroles with a variety of things like your basic whipped cream, a pastry cream, custard, ice cream etc. You can even fill them with jam. For these, I filled them with vanilla pudding. Yes, from a box mix.  You can make your own if you'd like though!

The Butterbeer sauce is also very easy to make. You basically just cook and stir. Anyone can do that, right?

When you are finished you will have a most impressive looking dessert that really wasn't hard at all! Your friends and family don't need to know that (cue the 80's Rice Krispy Treat commercial).

Happy Birthday, Ron! Have a profiterole tower or two!

Tina

See all my Harry Potter posts here, including crafts, recipes, travel tips for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and two massive parties.

Profiteroles with Butterbeer Sauce

by Tina @ Sugar Bean Bakers

1 recipe Pâte à Choux- prepared and baked as instructed here

2 boxes Instant Vanilla Pudding prepared as stated on boxes, cooled and thickened

1 recipe Butterbeer Sauce (below)

After your cream puff pastry has fully cooled, use a spare icing tip (or a knife) and carefully poke a hole in the bottom of each puff.

Using a pastry bag fitting with an injector tip and filled with your pudding, inject each puff with pudding until full.

Drizzle with slightly warm Butterbeer Sauce and serve. Great with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Fill only puffs you intend to eat at that time. Save the rest of the shells in an airtight container. They will keep for a few days. You can re-crisp these if they become soft by baking for about 5 minutes on 350 F. 

Butterbeer Sauce

by Tina @ Sugar Bean Bakers

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 tablespoons light corn syrup

In a small sauce pan, melt butter over medium heat. Add in milk, brown sugar and corn syrup. Cook until thickened, but do not allow to boil. Remove from heat, add vanilla. Allow to cool until warm. Serve warm. Store in refrigerator for  up to one week.