mountain dew cupcakes

 

 

We have a slight obsession with Mountain Dew/Diet Dew at around 3 pm in the lull of the afternoon. I have had this recipe a few years, and always wanted to make it, so yesterday I decided it would be perfect for a Super Bowl party.

 

Ingredients:
1 box yellow cake mix
1 small (4 oz.) box instant lemon pudding
10 oz. Mountain Dew
4 eggs
2/3 cup oil
1-2 teaspoons lemon and lime zest

For frosting:
1 stick butter, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
2 Tablespoons Mountain Dew
juice of half a lemon
juice of half a lime
1 drop yellow food coloring
2 drops green food coloring for a light tint

 

Directions:
Mix together yellow cake mix, pudding, 10 oz. Mountain Dew, eggs, oil, and lemon & lime zest. Pour into lined cupcake tins, filling about 2/3 of the wrapper. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 15-20 minutes (until they begin to turn light golden brown or when a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean).

 

Cream the butter, and add the powdered sugar gradually. Then add the rest of the frosting ingredients. Add more powdered sugar if needed for frosting consistency.

 

Instead of cupcakes, you can bake the mix in a 9x13 inch pan at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

 

My original recipe calls for 2 sticks of butter mixed with 4-5 cups of powdered sugar for the frosting. I found I had plenty for the cupcakes in 1 stick butter/3 cups sugar, but make more if you want a thicker layer of frosting.

 

Found these free printable Super Bowl party flags at Anders Ruff.
Perfect for the big game!

scarf giveaway!

Win one of these gorgeous scarves!

To enter the giveaway,
1. Please follow floral&fudge with Google Friend Connect (for those unfamiliar, it’s by clicking the blue “Join this site” button on the right hand side of the screen.)
AND
2. Leave a comment telling me which scarf you would choose.

Giveaway closes Sunday night at 10pm eastern.

Winner will be chosen at random on Monday, January 28th!  Good luck! :)

two-layer chocolate cheesecake

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
5 eggs
1 Tablespoon vanilla
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
4 ounces of chocolate (see second picture below for what I bought)

Directions:
First, make sure you pull the cream cheese out of the fridge an hour or more ahead of time.

Next, melt the 4 ounces of chocolate. I used a glass bowl on top of boiling water,  but you could use a microwave if you’re cautious not to overcook it.

I bought a Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet baking bar, but you could use dark chocolate, or even milk chocolate if you prefer. Let the melted chocolate cool.

Add the cup of sugar to the cream cheese, blending well.



Beat in the five eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla.

Put 2 cups of the cream cheese mixture into a separate bowl, and fold in the chocolate.
Add lemon juice to the remaining cream cheese mixture, and pour into a well-buttered 9-inch springform pan.

Top  with the chocolate mixture. (Note: this recipe doesn’t include a crust, but the regular cheesecake around the edges forms into something close to a crust.)

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes. Cool, then chill in the refrigerator. Top with whipped cream, if desired.

Makes 8-10 servings.

This cheesecake is so creamy and rich, you will not be disappointed :)

christmas & new year’s

Christmas morning came, and Nolan’s favorite present was a Veggie Tales book from his grandparents. It sings “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” in Veggie character voices when you press the button, and he is in love.

On Christmas Day, we took a two-hour drive to Steve’s aunt & uncle’s house. Nolan was impressed with the full Little People nativity set.

Wednesday brought us trouble… this was the Ohio Turnpike—unplowed and gaining snow by the minute. So we spent the night in a hotel outside Cleveland. Upside—getting to eat at Applebee’s and shop at Target.

Nolan didn’t mind the snowstorm. He’s a good little boy in the car (most of the time).

We made it to our family party, which started off at Shoe’s Pizza—Valparaiso, Indiana!

Us with my mama and her husband Don.

Favorite picture of the trip—FOUR generations! My grandpa Dan is one of the sweetest, most generous people I will ever be blessed to meet.

my cousin Lindsay, me, cousin Dayna, and cousin-in-law Jaime

3 generations. It was exciting to meet Dayna’s 6-month-old baby boy for the first time!

Next, we headed to Indianapolis. We had a great New Year’s Eve with my sister-in-law Dana’s family. The next morning, Nolan was very sick, so we spent the day on the couch together.

Nolan got to spend so much time with these two cute cousins! And we really enjoyed time with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law.

Nolan’s sickness transferred to his mommy & daddy today, so we are happy to be home after 2 weeks of traveling. We are very lucky that Steve has SIX weeks of Christmas break, so he won’t have to go back to class until the end of January.

I’ll spend tonight unpacking and writing down some of my goals for 2013, since I haven’t had a moment to dwell on the new year yet.

More pictures from the past two weeks to come tomorrow!