brownie fruit pizza + homemade cream cheese frosting

It's Memorial Day - the unofficial kick off to summer! We're laking and pooling and gathering on porches and patios from coast to coast! And this Brownie Fruit Pizza is a dreamy bite of sweet for your get together! The brownie is sweet and cakey, the homemade frosting will knock your socks off, and the fruit serves as the perfect tart bite! And y'all, it's just so pretty. Sure to become a favorite! Here's to grassy little bodies playing in the sprinkler, grilled hot dogs on paper plates, pink shoulders, and freckled noses! Happy summer to you and your people!

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BROWNIE FRUIT PIZZA

with cream cheese frosting

1 family-sized brownie mix

1/4 cup oil

1/2 cup water

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs + 1 egg white

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature

4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

1 pound powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

Several drops of red food coloring or gel

3-4 tablespoons milk 

Fresh raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries

Mint for garnish

Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a 15" aluminum pizza pan with baking spray. Set aside.

In a bowl, mix together the brownie mix, oil, water, vanilla, and eggs. Pour batter onto prepared pan and spread evenly around the pan, leaving a 1-inch border. Bake for 20 minutes; remove and allow to cool entirely.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and cream cheese for a minute until smooth. Add in half of the powdered sugar, the vanilla, and the almond. Mix on low until combined. Add in the remaining powdered sugar and a tablespoon of milk at a time until the frosting is smooth and spreadable. Stir in the food coloring to get a pretty pink shade!

Spread the cooled brownie with the frosting, leaving a 1-inch border. Cover the top with berries and mint leaves. Refrigerate before serving. Slice into narrow wedges or cut the circle into smaller squares and serve. 

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peppermint cream cheese brownies

Click here to watch this recipe on Cooking Today! 

 

The holidays are here!!! And there are more reasons to bake than my heart can hold! Classroom parties, neighbor treats, teacher gifts, cookie exchanges, office gatherings...you name it!

Of course, if you live at my house, any given Tuesday at 4:37pm is a good reason to bake. 

And because there are so many occasions for treats, I get lots of texts and emails asking what are my favorites! And this. is. one of them.

Peppermint cream cheese brownies. 

Let's take a minute to thank Jesus for Christmas and for brownies.

Amen.

Before we go any further, it's important for you to know that my household has been divided between cake-like brownies and fudgy brownies. We have warred over this deeply significant issue for years. And this recipe has brought peace to the nations.

Lathered in cream cheese frosting and covered in peppermint white chocolate baking bits, these peppermint cream cheese brownies will undoubtedly be the belle of the ball at your holiday treat-giving events!

PEPPERMINT CREAM CHEESE BROWNIE

{makes a 9x13 pan}

-for the brownies-

1 cup unsalted butter

2 cups sugar

4 large eggs

2 teaspoons good vanilla extract

2/3 cup cocoa powder

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tsp espresso powder

1/4 tsp cinnamon 

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large heavy-bottomed saucepan, melt the butter and remove from heat. Let cool about 5 minutes or so. While the butter is cooling, crack the eggs in a small bowl and whisk together with a fork to combine. Then to the melted butter, stir in the sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Then stir in the remaining dry ingredients until combined. Don't overmix the batter; just stir til it's combined. Spread in a greased 9x13 pan and bake for 30 minutes or so or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean-ish but a maybe a little tiny bit fudgy. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

-for the peppermint cream cheese frosting-

1/2 block of cream cheese, softened

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

1 tsp good vanilla

Several tablespoons of milk

3-4 cups powdered sugar

1-2 tsp peppermint extract

In the bowl of a stand mixer (or using a hand mixer), beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add one cup of the powdered sugar and beat. Add another cup and beat. Then add in vanilla, a couple tablespoons of milk, and peppermint extract. Beat well. Add the remaining cup or two of powdered sugar and another few tablespoons of milk until the consistency is good - not too thick and not too thin. Perfectly spreadable!

Spread on cooled brownies and cover the top with Andes peppermint crunch baking bits available at most groceries in the seasonal baking aisle.

Hooray! And Merry Christmas!!

strawberry buttercream frosting

Today is kind of Part Two of yesterday's blog where I shared Gran's strawberry cake with strawberry glaze. I told y'all how I have made Gran's original recipe for years and years, and how the cake is tender and moist from a heavy dose of saucey, sweet strawberries. And then the bundt cake, while still a little warm, is drizzled with buttery strawberry glaze that runs down the sides and pools around the bottom. Mmmmm. It's delicious delicious!!

But since getting my hands on Gran's recipe more than ten years ago, I have developed a love affair with buttercream frosting. Who can blame a girl, right?! So I have taken Gran's cake, baked it in a 9x13 cake pan, and smathered it with almost an inch of strawberry buttercream frosting. This THIS is a cake you won't believe. The frosting is unbelievable. Like eyes-roll-back-in-your-head good. Cool it completely, and then chill it in the refrigerator before you serve it. Trust me on this. I actually made this cake over the weekend for my son's first junior high semi-formal dance, and we've just finished off the leftovers. And every bite is as good as the first. 

You may choose to bake the batter in a paper-lined tin and frost the tops for fun Valentine's Day cupcakes! Adjust the baking time accordingly. Either way you choose to make this strawberry cake - bundt, cake pan, cupcakes, glazed or frosted - it's a perfectly pink, perfectly delicious treat! 

 

-click here for printable recipe-

STRAWBERRY BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature

4 oz cream cheese, room temperature

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon good vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon almond extract

1/4 cup frozen crushed strawberries with juice

2-3 drops red food coloring, optional

1 Tablespoon milk

4 cups powdered sugar

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter, cream cheese, and salt until well blended. You will likely need to scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl a time or two.  Add the vanilla, almond, strawberries/juice food coloring, and milk; beat until combined.  With the mixer on low, add one cup of powdered sugar at a time, mixing until smooth. Add more milk a teaspoon at a time or more powdered sugar a little at a time to get the consistency you prefer for piping or spreading on cakes.

GRAN'S STRAWBERRY CAKE

 Follow the recipe {here} except bake in a greased 9x13 cake pan, and do not invert like you would a bundt.

classic vanilla buttercream frosting

Don't you just wanna stick your finger in that frosting when no one's looking? There is no-o-o-thing better than classic vanilla buttercream frosting. If you've never tried making your own frosting, listen to me, you can do it. And once you make your own, you'll cringe at the thought that you ever used (or ate) processed, convenience frosting. 

This recipe for vanilla buttercream is a cornerstone for buttercream frostings of all kinds; thus, it deserves it's very own post. Vanilla buttercream is the building block that can be modified to make coconut buttercream, strawberry buttercream, lemon buttercream, chocolate buttercream, and more. So mastering this frosting recipe sets you up for some big, happy, flavorful success for all kinds of goodies! 

Homemade buttercream frosting is also an easy secret weapon that sends boxed cake mixes over the moon. I made I-don't-know-how-many cakes for our high school coaches and a few tailgates this last fall when my son played varsity football. And I often fancied-up a good boxed cake mix by smothering it in a big, tall layer of homemade buttercream. Of course, when there's time, a homemade cake with homemade buttercream is too good to be true.  But when you're in a quick-pinch, homemade buttercream frosting covers a multitude of sins.

In this particular cake {above}, I made a coconut buttercream frosting on a strawberry coconut layered cake. Y'all. So good. I'll share it with you another time. But get ready, because Friday I'm sharing my husband's absolute very favorite chocolate espresso cake with vanilla bean buttercream. Mmm. Mmm. Mmm.

 

CLASSIC VANILLA BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

1 cup of unsalted butter, room temperature

4 cups of confectioners' sugar

 1/8 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons good vanilla extract

1 tablespoon milk

1/8 teaspoons almond extract, optional but I do love it

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter, sugar and salt until well blended. You will likely need to scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl a time or two.  Add the vanilla, milk, and optional almond extract; beat until smooth, adding more milk a teaspoon at a time or more confectioners' sugar a little at a time to get the consistency you prefer for piping or spreading on cakes.