Dark Chocolate Orange cake is no lie

After the heavenly lightness of the last cake (pineapple cherry chip), I decided to do something completely opposite: dark, rich and decadent. The obvious answer involved chocolate. Lots and lots of chocolate. I did have one glaring problem, though... no chocolate cake mix. Yes, I know, I could do the 'hard' thing and make it from scratch but I'm lazy and I *did* have white cake mix. So how do you make white cake mix into chocolate (even, dare I say dark chocolate)? Duh, cocoa powder. And I DID have a metric crap-ton of cocoa powder, so my problem, it turned out, was not so much a problem as an opportunity to adjust the amount of delicious chocolate I could put into my cake. I was the master of my own cake-y destiny! 

So! It's time to gather your ingredients and implements, kids. Remember, this is a chocolate orange cake, so you may have to do some shopping.

Ingredients:
1 box white cake mix
3 eggy-wegs
2 sticks of butter (instead of the oil called for in the recipe on the box)
2/3 c of cocoa powder
2-3 oranges (I prefer Valencia oranges, as they tend to be juicier. You can do blood oranges, navel oranges, whatever floats your boat. You're going to want AT LEAST 1 cup of juice)

Implements:
A baking pan (or pans)
An oven
Measuring cups
Mixing bowl
Non-stick spray
Whisk/spoon

1. Take butter out of refrigerator to get it to room temp
2. Pre-heat oven to 350F
3. Grease pan(s)

PREPARE TO GET JUICY!

4. Juice your oranges into a bowl/cup/whatever you're going to use to contain it. *make sure you keep the seeds out. Some pulp is no biggie, so long as you don't mind biting into it later once it's in the cake. If you're not into that at all, you can use paper towel/strainer/cheesecloth to strain out the pulpy bits. Set the juice aside for later

5.  Pour cake mix into large mixing bowl
6.  Add in cocoa powder and mix until combined well
7.  Slice up butter sticks so they are easier to work with and add to the mix
8. Add eggs into mix
9. Stir CAREFULLY - it will be lumpy, that's ok. We're gonna help it out in a second.
10. Add in 1 C of orange juice (this is in place of 1 C of water from the cake box recipe) and mix. If it feels a little bit thick, you can add more juice to loosen it up a bit. It will still be a thick batter - maybe the texture of brownies
11. Bake @ 350 for 20-25 minutes - until not-gunky in the center

Just like with the last cake, we can make icing quick and easy. This time, instead of letting it just be icing, we're going to put in some orange juice so that we get another lovely kick of citrus. For the icing,  you'll need:

At Least 3 Tbls. Milk
3 Cups Powered Sugar
1/2 cup (like Butter
3-8 Tbs of the orange juice

And all you really need to do to all this lovely stuff is mix it together. Add more/less orange juice to taste. If you feel like it's too sweet, put juice in. If it's too juicy or orange-y, put more sugar in. Tada!

Also, I know I didn't mention this last time but.. it's a good idea to let your cake cool off before you frost it. At least 20 minutes. I know it's PAINFUL to wait sometimes, but it's a better idea to ice it when it's cool because the icing won't run into any cracks and/or run straight off the cake.

Mac n Cheese Biscuits!

Sorry for the delay my loyal readers. Things have been, a bit, hectic, with work.
I've been a bad blogger and not cooking as much, or at least nothing as unique and fun as I like to post. Then again, I also haven't been taking pictures or updating. I deserve to be beat with a wet noodle. One of the big flat ones. I like rice noodles..

Ahem!!!

On track, though, not all meals have to be complicated, right? I mean, people liked the PB&J Wontons, so lets give another great example!

Mac n Cheese Biscuits!

These are super easy, and lovely things. There are so many things you can do with them (that I will give examples at the end with!)

Ingredients:

• A can if Biscuits: I use the Grands Original, not flaky ones.
• A box of Mac N Cheese: Kraft.. I don't care what people say. 

That's it! Right? Freaking simple!

Lets get Cookin'

Open your biscuits.

Cut them open!

Cook some Mac n Cheese

Stuff your biscuits

Close them nice

Lay them out nice

Bake them for 15 minutes or so (Depending on your oven, biscuits, etc)

Seriously that's all! These are super easy and tasty things. There are so many variants and things you can do to these. You can insert cut up hot dogs while cooking them (yum!) or place a few on top and let them cook in as well. You can make  a basic "ketchup glaze," by watering down the ketchup some and lightly brushing it over the biscuits. 

Are these healthy? Probably not. But dammit they are yummy..