Fruit Filled Waffle Cups

This past weekend was super busy. I like being busy, but sometimes it makes time go way too fast. I suppose if it was a horrible time then that would be okay, but we all know that is usually not the case. 

The weekend was filled with lots of great things and some bad. I'm not going to go into details, but I got to share a special day with a good friend, enjoy good company and bake. Nonetheless, we also found out that our uncle had a heart attack and that someone else also put a bid on my dream house. 

Our uncle is okay, thankfully.

But the dream house is now probably in someone else's hands. 

But as my philosophy has always been, what will be will be. Que sera sera. 

Anyway (do I say 'anyway' a lot? I feel like I do.), I've seen pictures of fruit salad in waffle cones floating around for awhile on pinterest. And I've always thought, what an ingenious idea! Some people are just so clever! 

I envy you clever people!

I am in a wedding and for the bridal shower I decided to make these fruit filled waffle cones. I changed them up a little. And this is what I came up with.

You should know that this recipe was to make 50 waffle cones. However, it would be totally easy to slim it down to make whatever you need. You should also know that there was not one left over. All totally gone. So, yes, they are as good as they look. 

Plus, they look pretty fancy without all the fancy work. And we all know how much I love that. 

The actual fruit salad recipe is from Taste of Home. I changed it up a little to fit what I had and to use less sugar.

Fruit Filled Waffle Cups

4 cups blueberries

4 cups grapes, sliced in half

4 cups pineapple, chunks

4 cups watermelon, chunks

4 cups strawberries, quartered

4 cups blackberries

10 oz pina colada alcoholic mix

1/4 c sugar

1/4 tsp almond extract

1/8 tsp coconut extract

50 waffle cups

2-12 oz bags of milk chocolate

Mix the pina colada mix, sugar, almond and coconut extracts. Make the fruit salad by combining the first 6 ingredients in a large container and pouring the pina colada mixture over top. Mix everything well and let sit over night. If the salad seems dry the next day make more of the pina colada mixture and add to the fruit. My fruit was excessively juicy, so I had a lot of liquid the next morning. I actually drained some of it. 

First, I decided to use mostly waffle cups instead of cones. I just thought they would be easier to eat at the bridal shower and looked more delicate. I did use some waffle cones though, because I bought up all the cups they had at the store and still needed more. Second, I was very worried about the waffle cups/cones getting soggy, since I had to do this in advance. So, to solve that problem I melted one bag of chocolate and painted the bottom of the cups and cones with it. You can literally just drop a tblsp in the bottom and then use a brush to spread it. I let the chocolate set for 15 mins.

I then filled the cups to the brim with the fruit salad made the night before. I used a slotted spoon to drain excess liquid from the fruit salad. Then, I melted the second bag of chocolate, put it in a squeeze bottle and drizzled it over the fruit and cups. And since we have mint by the billions growing outside, I picked some leaves, rinsed them and placed them on the side to add a little pop of color.

Just a little side note. The waffle cones still ended up getting soggy since they laid on their side and I did not paint the chocolate up the entire side of the cone. If I was to do this again, I would paint the entire inside of the waffle cones with chocolate. This was not the case with the waffle cups. They stayed pretty firm.

Kahlua Sweetheart Cake

As I stated in my previous post, on your birthday you get a dinner and dessert of your choice. This is the dessert that went with my sister-in-laws choice. It's packed full of chocolate.

So, I'm going to let you in on a little secret, but you have to promise not to tell anyone because I get a lot of hack for it. Ok, here it goes. I do NOT like chocolate. Gah! I know, how can I be a woman and not like chocolate? Quite frankly, I'm not quite sure. I blame my parents. I'm pretty sure they passed on a dislike chocolate gene. I only like it if it is surrounded in peanut butter, and enough peanut butter that the taste of chocolate disappears.

I did, however, eat this cake. You have to eat birthday cake. I think it's an unwritten rule somewhere. Must eat birthday cake, regardless of taste. I mean, I wouldn't want to spoil the birthday girls/guys special day ;).

You know how you make chocolate bearable, besides adding loads of peanut butter? You mix it with a whole bunch of alcohol. Yep, that's right. Alcohol. So, when your sister-in-law asks for chocolate cake and you don't like chocolate, you add Kahlua, and lots of it.

This is what ya need:

cake: unsweetened cocoa, instant coffee, boiling water, Kahlua, butter, shortening, sugar, eggs, vanilla, flour, basking soda, salt, baking  powder

frosting: semisweet chocolate chips, Kahlua, half and half, butter, powdered sugar

Mix cocoa, coffe, boiling water and Kahlua in a heat proof bowl. Let cool. Looks tasty, right? It's not. It's utterly and absolutely disgusting at this point.

While that mixture cools, in a large bowl beat butter, shortening, sugar, eggs and vanilla until light and fluffy. In a another small bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder. Add the flour mixture and cocoa to the butter mixture, alternating between the flour mixture and cocoa. Beat well after every addition and scrape sides.

Add the flour mixture and cocoa to the butter mixture, alternating between the flour mixture and cocoa. Beat well after every addition and scrape sides.

Line bottoms of two 9-inch round pans with parchment paper, and lightly grease the sides. Divide the batter evenly between the two pans and bake in oven for 25-30 mins (or until a toothpick poked in the center comes out clean) in a 350 degree oven. This cake will have a tendency to dry out, so be sure not to over bake.

While the cakes bake and cool, prepare the frosting. In a medium saucepan, combine semisweet chocolate chips, Kahlua, half-and-half and butter and heat until chocolate melts. Be sure to keep an eye on the chocolate so it does not burn.

Remove from heat, let cool slighly, and then blend in powdered sugar. Depending on the weather you may have to let this blend for quite some time. I had to let it blend for 30-45 mins before it actually came together. I also added more powdered sugar over the course of blending to come to my desired consistency. The color will go from this dark chocolate look to the lighter color, show below. I didn't have time, but I would let your frosting refrigerate before icing the cake.

After the cakes cool, remove and frost. I layered the cakes, putting tons of frosting between the two layers, since I had so much of it.

Top with some fresh raspberries and serve! 

Kahlua Sweetheart Cake

3/4 c unsweetened cocoa

1 tsp instant coffee

1 c boiling water

1/2 c Kahlua

1/2 c butter, softened

1/4 c shortening

1 1/3 c sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 c flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

Kahlua Fudge Frosting

6 oz semisweet chocolate chips

1/4 c Kahlua

1/4 c half-and-half

1 c butter