Nutella Cake in a Cup

We've all been there; its late, and you've got a craving...for chocolate. Problem is, you don't have any brownies, no candy bars, no ice cream, simply nothing. You don't want to leave the house to get anything. Well, here's a delicious (and simple!) solution.

My main problem is, anything sweet I make, I'm usually the only one to eat it. Something one serving size is what I needed, so I looked for cakes in a cup. If Betty Crocker can do it, then I can too! I ended up finding another blog that reviewed a nutella cake in a cup recipe. I have a love affiar with nutella, so this recipe was right up my alley:
4T self rising flour
4T white granulated sugar
1 egg
3T cocoa powder
3T nutella
3T milk
3T olive or vegetable oil

They also provided a recipe for self rising flour (in case you have something different-I had all purpose). This is very easy to do and the flour works great:
1c all purpose flour
1 1/2tea baking powder
1/2 tea salt
What I do for the flour: put it all in a ziplock bag and shake well.

For the "cake": Combine all ingredients (its best to mix up all wet ingredients in the cup, then add the dry) and microwave for 1.5-3 minutes. This will, of course, depend on your microwave.

My thoughts on this recipe: overall, very good. For something so simple (and cooked in a microwave), you would expect it to be dry. First off, I didn't have self rising flour, so I'm glad a recipe was provided for it. The sugar could be cut down by a tablespoon, but thats to  your taste. A whole egg is a little much, but theres nothing that can be done about that, and it makes the recipe work so I won't be messing with it. I don't buy cocoa powder. It MAY get purchased around Christmas, but thats about it. I used a squeeze of chocolate syrup and didn't have any issues with the cake turning out. MMMMM....nutella is next. I didn't measure this part :) nutella is very gloppy, and, frankly, putting it into a measuring spoon then trying to get it out didn't seem appealing, so I used a regular spoon and just scooped a bit in. If you don't like the flavor later, you can adjust for next time. As for the milk and oil, DON'T SKIMP. This is a lot of your moisture for the cake. I chose to use vegetable oil (whatever you typically make cakes and brownies with is fine); olive oils can sometimes impart flavor and I didn't want that.

This recipe will make 2 regular sized mugs or one really big mug. I use the biggest mug that I have, and the cake is right at the top when it's done "cooking". I put everything into the mug to mix; there's no need to waste more dishes. This batter looks exactly like a cake batter when mixed up. I was thinking it would come out differently since its cooking in a microwave and not a regular over. My microwave takes 3 minutes to cook this. Keep in mind, this isn't getting cooked in a regular oven. The top isnt going to look that cooked (looks fudgy), but I promise it is. Don't overcook by trying to make the top come out like a regular cake because it won't happen. If it isn't overdone, this is a surprisingly moist cake. I was genuinely shocked at how good it is. The mug will keep the cake VERY hot when it comes out of the microwave, so let it sit for 5-10 minutes before digging in OR you can flip it onto a plate. It comes out of the mug easily.

You can top this with whatever you want: ice cream, whipped cream, fruit, sauces, etc. Though, it is perfectly moist and delicous all by itself. Some substitutions: nutella and peanut butter, using peanut butter in place of nutella, don't use the nutella at all and make a yellow cake, throw some fruit in, the list goes on. The possibilities are endless!

The taste is amazing. Fudgy, gooey, and delicious. The chocolate syrup makes the chocolate come out and the nutella brings yummy hazlenut. Yum!

Panna Cotta

Ever since we ate at Bernini, I’ve wanted to try making panna cotta at home. I finally got all the ingredients and gave it a shot. Most are things that you will have at home, so you won’t have to purchase many ingredients.

The recipe I used was off allrecipes.com. There were so many websites and recipes to choose from, but I eventually decided to use this one. Here it is:

• 1/3 cup skim milk
• 1 (.25 ounce) envelope unflavored gelatin
• 2 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

1.     Pour milk into a small bowl, and stir in the gelatin powder. Set aside.

2.     In a saucepan, stir together the heavy cream and sugar, and set over medium heat. Bring to a full boil, watching carefully, as the cream will quickly rise to the top of the pan. Pour the gelatin and milk into the cream, stirring until completely dissolved. Cook for one minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, stir in the vanilla and pour into six individual ramekin dishes.

3.     Cool the ramekins uncovered at room temperature. When cool, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, but preferably overnight before serving

All of the other recipes that I had read, had the gelatin going into a hot liquid, this one did not, at least right at first. Oh well, here we go. I mixed up the gelatin and milk in a small bowl and set it to the side.

After this step, I mixed up the heavy cream and sugar until it was just bubbling. I was a little scared it would bubble over, so I only put it on medium heat, instead of medium high as the recipe says. Once it started to bubble, I mixed in the milk/gelatin mixture (which at this point was fairly thick because the gelatin had soaked up a lot of the milk). After stirring it in, I continued stirring for the next minute, though the mixture did rise up quite a bit still.

After this, remove from the stove (I put mine on a pot holder on the counter) and stir in vanilla. Personally, I love the flavor and smell of vanilla, so I used a little more than called for in the recipe. When the vanilla is added, it is a rush of smell into the air. The heat just brings out how aromatic the vanilla really is and it permeates the whole kitchen! Amazing! I do not have small serving bowls, so I used a muffin tin (as well as one small bowl since it wouldn’t fit into 6 muffin tins). I put mine directly in the fridge instead of cooling on the counter until room temperature.

Three to four hours later, I tried taking the first one out of the muffin tin. It took a minute, but it eventually came out. I used a knife to go around the outside of it first, then tried popping it out. I had to go around it several times though.

The taste was delicious. Very vanilla and a creamy texture. I was a little disappointed though. The panna cotta we had at Bernini was more of a pudding texture, whereas this was more the texture of flan. I think the recipe used too much gelatin, and maybe I cooked it too long on the stove. Not sure, but I will be trying a different recipe next time to try and get a “softer set” panna cotta. Other than that, I really liked the texture.

You can pair it with whatever fruit or topping you want. I used blueberries macerated with a little sugar, though strawberries, cherries, or another fruit would work just as well. Or, for something a little sweeter, chocolate or caramel (though the dessert is sweet all by itself).

Link to the recipe: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/panna-cotta/

Pizza Mania, Wesley Chapel

This started out as a dinner fiasco; it turned out to be an impromptu blog post when we ended up here. We went out yesterday (Tuesday) to grab 2 slices of pizza and run a few errands. There’s a pizza place in Ybor that we really like, and found out a couple weeks ago that they had another location about 3 miles down the road from us (YAY!). Once we got there yesterday, turns out its not open yet. Needless to say, we were both disappointed. I suggested 2 other places I knew of in the area, or simply going home. We chose a place called Pizza Mania.  

Pizza Mania is located in a shopping plaza with several large stores, as well as quite a few restaurants. They have a large menu with selections from pizza, calzones, pasta dishes, desserts and appetizers. For the most part, the prices seem reasonable and you get your money’s worth of food. On the inside, it is decorated how you would expect a little Italian place to be.

After seating ourselves (which, frankly, I’m not too keen on, but it seems to be common with every little Italian pizza place I’ve ever been to in Tampa), the waitress came over and gave us menus and took our drink orders (water and soda). The drinks come in to-go cups, which is nice that you don’t have to ask for one later and wait around for the waitress to bring it to you.

For an appetizer, Chris decided to get mozzarella sticks. They come with a side of marinara sauce to dip them in. Decent sized appetizer, and fairly inexpensive as well. All in all, not too bad, but the marinara was a little sweet for me.

For our entrees, I ordered a personal sized cheese pizza (10”) and Chris got a large calzone with pepperoni. They have 2 options for calzones: regular and large. Supposedly, the regular is for one person and the large is for 2-3 people. He got the large so he could take some home too. Before ordering, he asked the waitress the difference and she held her hands about 6” apart for the regular and about 12” apart for the large. We didn’t know just how large the “large” calzone would be (Chris is holding his arm next to it in the third picture to show the size of it). My pizza came out first, and then she had to go back for his calzone. This was quite possibly the biggest calzone I’ve ever seen in my life! It came out on the same thing a large pizza would have. And it came with a boat of marinara sauce. He enjoyed the calzone and said it was good, but could have used more pepperoni with its huge size. The cheese in the calzones is both mozzarella and ricotta, which makes it richer and more filling. My pizza was also good, but I didn’t really like the crust; it was too hard for me.

Before we got the check, we got a cannoli and a piece of tiramisu to go. Later on at home, we ate the desserts. I think cannoli are one of my favorite Italian desserts. This one had a crunchy shell and a sweet filling with mini chocolate chips in it. The cannoli was tasty and I would eat another; but the tiramisu was gloppy. The lady fingers were over soaked with espresso and it just made everything too wet.

Final price for dinner was about $43.00, with tip. Not terrible I guess. Would I go back? Maybe. I would probably try something else if I did, maybe a pasta dish or a salad. It was good, but nothing that I haven’t had before. Its not that the food was bad, because for the most part it was delicious, but it didn't knock my socks off.

Website: http://www.mypizzamania.com/index.html 

Muffins

I was up at 5am because I didn’t sleep at all last night. I really wanted breakfast food but sadly, pancakes and waffles were out because we’re out of syrup, I drank the rest of the milk earlier so cereal was out, and I wasn’t in the mood for a bagel. Hmm…what to do, what to do? I’ve got flour, sugar, eggs, etc therefore I’m able to make something, so I looked up muffin recipes. Some used milk, so I had to scratch those, but I came across one that really caught my eye. It is from The Pioneer Woman aka Ree Drummond. She is known for her show on Food Network that showcases her recipes. I’ve watched the show before and she has some very intriguing ideas, but this is the first that I have found that I’ve tried. Blueberry muffins have got to be my favorite next to lemon poppyseed, so there was no question that I would like them. They have one really special ingredient though: yogurt. Seemed odd to me, but hey, if sour cream works in cakes, then what’s wrong with yogurt in muffins?

Unfortunately I did not document this process well, and I only have a picture of after they are baked. This was by far the THICKEST batter I have ever seen (as far as muffin batters go). Honestly, I was scared I had messed something up. After triple checking between the recipe and what I had put in the bowl, as well as checking against the pictures provided in the website, I decided that I’d give it a go and put them in the oven.

Here is the recipe via www.thepioneerwoman.com

 The Awesome-est Blueberry Muffins

3 cups minus 2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
Heavy pinch of salt
Dash of Nutmeg
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 generous cup plain, unflavored yogurt (throw in extra if you want)
2 cups fresh blueberries
Vanilla Extract
Softened Butter, for muffin tins
Turbinado sugar (optional)

Preheat oven to 385 degrees.

In a large bowl sift flour, baking soda, nutmeg, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.In another large bowl whisk together sugar, oil, cap-ful of vanilla, egg, and yogurt. Add the dry ingredients and stir to a count of 10. Add blueberries, reserving 1/2 cup, to mixture and stir 3 times. Add mixture to well-buttered muffin pans. Sprinkle remaining berries on top and press down lightly. Sprinkle turbinado sugar over top. (Brown sugar can be used instead.)
Bake 20 to 25 minutes and allow to cool completely.


Well, I changed a few things (as I do a lot of times). Here are the changes I made: I used 3 full cups of flour, no nutmeg, no vanilla extract (I was out), and instead of plain yogurt I used vanilla. I figured vanilla yogurt would also help make up for the lack of vanilla extract. Everything got dumped into the bowl at one and mixed together with a fork. As stated above, it was a thick batter, and probably would be too thick for a mixer; also, I don’t like to do more dishes than necessary, so I only use the one bowl instead of splitting the dry and wet. I’ve never found that it makes a huge difference when it does get separated.

They took closer to 25 minutes to bake, but I always overfill my muffin tins and they always take longer to bake. I'm not a fan of tiny muffins. These were some of the best muffins I’ve ever had! Super crunchy on the outside (which I LOVE) and nice and soft on the inside. The blueberries were these amazing little pockets of juice. If you don’t want to use the extra sugar on top, there really is no need. I didn’t use the extra and they were perfectly crunchy. On the website, a blueberry sauce recipe is provided to spoon over the top of the muffins, but a smear of butter is fine too.

I will definitely be making these muffins again!

Bernini, Ybor City

For the longest time I’ve been intrigued by the front of this restaurant, but never went in and always forgot to look it up when I got home. Today, we finally went in for dinner.

 Bernini is in a renovated bank building located at the corner of 7^th Avenue and 17^th Street in Ybor City. The restaurant is named for Giovanni Bernini who was a painter/sculptor during the Italian renaissance. They serve Italian fare to include salads, pizzas, pasta dishes, desserts and many more appetizers and entrees.

The one thing that always seems to be a problem in Ybor is its parking. We were lucky enough to be able to grab a 2-hour parallel parking spot. Other than parallel parking, there are parking lots off 7^th Ave, but expect to pay at least $3.00.

Walking in, you’re welcomed with an absolutely amazing smell. It could’ve been any of the mouth-watering entrees, pastas, or even the wood fired pizzas. Whatever it is, I could’ve breathed it in all day long and been perfectly content. The restaurant is a little cramped in my opinion; the tables are extremely close together and if there were people sitting at all of them, it would’ve been hard to maneuver through. However, I love the atmosphere of the restaurant and the details within the building that you start to notice after you’ve been sitting for a few minutes. For instance, there’s an upstairs area with more seating and walls covered in paintings and wine bottles.

After we were seated, the waitress brought us bread with herbed butter as well as a package of Italian “crackers”. The crackers were good and brought an authentic feel, the bread was soft and the butter had just the right herb note to it.

To start, we had the beef carpaccio. At this point, it may be beneficial for me to add that I don’t really eat red meat. I won’t order a steak, but I will order carpaccio whenever available. If raw meat scares you, please don’t let it keep you from trying this. In all honesty, carpaccio is a great way to try the “raw” stuff if you’re hesitant. The carpaccio at Bernini is thin sliced tenderloin topped with a small salad, capers, red onion (which we opted against getting), parmesan cheese and a drizzle of white truffle infused balsamic vinegar. It was served with thin sliced, toasted bread. It looked delicious as soon as it got to the table and I couldn’t wait to dig in. The salad on top was not dressed, so I didn’t eat much of it. I don’t much care for balsamic, but I must say, this balsamic made the dish. It gave much needed tang at the end, and paired with the capers, it was wonderful. The meat had the slightest spice to it from the seared outside being covered with pepper. Overall, it was extremely tasty and I would definitely order it again. Forgot to take a picture before, but remembered halfway through eating...

On to drinks and entrees….Bernini has $2 martinis (made with Finlandia vodka). I got a cosmo (since I couldn’t think of anything else to order) and Chris asked for “whatever the bartender think will pair well with the entrée” for his. They sent a raspberry martini. He chose the crispy duck with goat cheese mashed potatoes and a cherry vanilla Chianti sauce. I tried both the mashed potatoes and the sauce. The mashed potatoes were a little lumpy for me and the goat cheese made them extremely rich. The sauce on the other hand, was luscious and full of deep flavor. I would make bread pudding and pour this sauce all over it, it was so good. Sweet, but not too sweet. As for me, my drink was okay, but I’ve had better cosmos. For my entrée, I ordered the cinzano de pesce: clams, shrimp, scallops and tilapia in a red vermouth marinara over linguine. My only problem with this dish was I got a little grit in one of the clams, so I ended up picking the rest of them out to be safe. Other than that, it was a great dish. The marinara had just the right amount of spice in it so it was not overwhelming, but gave a nice heat throughout. I ended up bringing home about half of it since it was such a large entrée. Also, until 7pm during the week, entrees and pastas are half off. What’s better than half off delicious food?!

And last, dessert. I had tiramisu and Chris ordered the panna cotta. The tiramisu was decent, but in my entire piece, I only had 2 lady fingers. Since tiramisu typically has layers of lady fingers, this came off as a bit odd. The mascarpone part tasted fine, but it needed the texture of the lady fingers. There is the possibility the I got an end piece or a piece that just didn’t get many lady fingers, but I’m not sure if I would order it again or not. Neither of us have ever had panna cotta before and our first experience was a good one. It came with orange sherbet, which turned it into a creamsickle-like flavor. All in all, it was very scrumptious. We split an espresso martini to go with dessert, but it paired better with mine than his.

Overall, I would visit Bernini again. The half price entrees and pastas, along with the $2 martini’s alone make it a deal (and since I’m in college, deals are good J ). I think it would be a little pricey if that was not the case. In total, we spent $70.00, including tip. Very good in my opinion, well worth it for what we got, great service, and I’ve even got enough food for dinner tomorrow.

Website: http://berniniofybor.com/

My introduction....

I guess I finally need to do an introduction for this. Here it goes….I’m 22 and currently in college in, you guessed it, TAMPA! The intent of this blog is to stimulate others’ interest in both food and cooking because I love, and am passionate, about both. As far as cooking, I’ll be posting some of my own recipes that I make, as well as recipes that I find and try; hopefully someone will find them intriguing and try to make them too! I love creating new recipes for my family and friends to try. Other than that, I have a love affair with food…I enjoy fine dining and going to new places to try new dishes. So, I will also be posting restaurant reviews from time to time when I visit a new place that I think others will appreciate too. I want to focus on the local places, or places that people may not stop into because they have never eaten there or they don’t know anything about it; the places that make Tampa, well, Tampa. I hope you all enjoy my posts, recipes and reviews, and happy eating!