summer

My new favorite 3-step cheesecake covered in chocolate, stuffed with salted caramel, and sprinkled with toffee.

Salted Caramel and Chocolate Covered Cheesecake Recipe

My new favorite 3-step cheesecake covered in chocolate, stuffed with salted caramel, and sprinkled with toffee.

My new favorite 3-step cheesecake covered in chocolate, stuffed with salted caramel, and sprinkled with toffee.

Calling all cheesecake lovers!

And chocolate lovers.

And caramel lovers.

And toffee lovers.

This is the recipe for YOU. And most definitely for me too. I have a serious love of chocolate dipped cheesecake. Fortunately (for my waistline), I rarely get a chance to eat it simply because it’s not a super accessible food. Basically, they serve it at the fair and maybe at the odd food truck or two. But otherwise, it’s never really in my direct path.

My new favorite 3-step cheesecake covered in chocolate, stuffed with salted caramel, and sprinkled with toffee.

Until now.

Because now I know how incredibly easy this is to make in my own kitchen.

In my home.

Where I live. Every day. ????

My new favorite 3-step cheesecake covered in chocolate, stuffed with salted caramel, and sprinkled with toffee.

And, you guys, it turns out that chocolate dipped cheesecake is dangerously easy to make.

It all began when I bought the wrong kind of cream cheese from Sam’s. I accidentally bought a 3 pound BRICK of cream cheese instead of the 3 pounds of cream cheese in six 8-ounce boxes that I was trying to buy. And I thought, what on earth am I going to do with this??

Because, clearly, I wasn’t going to cut it up into six 8-ounce portions myself. ????

So I looked up the simplest cheesecake recipe I could find, tripled it, and stuck three cheesecakes in my freezer to use for cheesecake layer cakes throughout the holiday seasons.

My new favorite 3-step cheesecake covered in chocolate, stuffed with salted caramel, and sprinkled with toffee.

But as one’s frozen cheesecake tends to do, it called to me from the freezer.

And eventually I gave in and dipped it in caramel and chocolate and topped it with toffee and a chocolate drizzle and fancy flaked sea salt.

No, you have no self control!

My new favorite 3-step cheesecake covered in chocolate, stuffed with salted caramel, and sprinkled with toffee.

I think you’re going to be very happy with this recipe. Maybe not your pants. But you will be. ????

PS- don’t let the length of the instructions scare you! I just wanted to be detailed about the process to make it easier on you. I swear, I did all of the dipping in less than 30 minutes before I ran out the door for carpool! It’s totally NBD ????.

Rich and moist chocolate zucchini cake with chocolate chips and a decadent chocolate ganache on top!

Death By Chocolate Zucchini Cake Recipe

Rich and moist chocolate zucchini cake with chocolate chips and a decadent chocolate ganache on top!
Rich and moist chocolate zucchini cake with chocolate chips and a decadent chocolate ganache on top!
Today, we’re revisiting one of my oldest recipes. And one of my very favorites. Because (aside from my favorite chocolate cake) I’ve yet to meet another chocolate cake that rivals this chocolate zucchini cake in terms of flavor, texture, and moistness. Plus, we’re talking about FOUR layers of chocolate goodness here:

???? chocolate cake.

???? chocolate chips inside the cake.

???? chocolate ganache.

???? more chocolate chips on top of the ganache.

This is a MAJOR chocolate experience you guys.

Rich and moist chocolate zucchini cake with chocolate chips and a decadent chocolate ganache on top!

And the best part is: you’re totally getting in your veggies! Not that you’ll even notice.

You won’t believe there are TWO WHOLE zucchinis in there! And you know what they say– you need 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. So, basically, that means you need 2 and a half cakes per day. Which seems reasonable. Amiright? ????

Rich and moist chocolate zucchini cake with chocolate chips and a decadent chocolate ganache on top!

Rich and moist chocolate zucchini cake with chocolate chips and a decadent chocolate ganache on top!

That ganache is practically a superfood on it’s own.

I mean, just look at that! Does anyone else get all ???? ???? ???? watching ganache drip down the side of a cake? Be still my heart!

Ganache is so simple to make. I actually wrote a whole post about it here (which I plan to update soon, in fact. But it’ll do for now). It just takes two simple ingredients: chocolate and heavy cream. I usually nuke it in the microwave in 30 second increments until everything is warm and melty and stirs smooth. But it’s probably a little safer to make it over medium heat on the stove top if you don’t work with chocolate much, just to avoid burning or seizing it.

Rich and moist chocolate zucchini cake with chocolate chips and a decadent chocolate ganache on top!

Rich and moist chocolate zucchini cake with chocolate chips and a decadent chocolate ganache on top!

This cake is seriously a dream come true. You are going to be obsessed with it!!

This is THE PERFECT no churn ice cream recipe. It's just two ingredients (like the other famous no churn recipe), but this one has a way better texture, and it's not overly sweet! It seriously tastes and feels JUST LIKE real ice cream.

A Better No Churn Ice Cream (and Frozen Yogurt) Recipe

This is THE PERFECT no churn ice cream recipe thanks to a secret ingredient. It’s just two ingredients (like the other famous no churn recipe), but this one has a way better texture, and it’s not overly sweet! It seriously tastes and feels JUST LIKE real ice cream.

This is THE PERFECT no churn ice cream recipe. It's just two ingredients (like the other famous no churn recipe), but this one has a way better texture, and it's not overly sweet! It seriously tastes and feels JUST LIKE real ice cream.

YOU GUYS!!

I am so so so so sososososoooooooooooooooooo crazy excited to share this recipe with you today.

Did I mention I’m pretty pumped?? I’m SO pumped.

Why? Because I FINALLY have a two-ingredient, no-churn (read no machine required!) homemade ice cream that really, truly, 1000% tastes like ice cream. Really!

This is THE PERFECT no churn ice cream recipe. It's just two ingredients (like the other famous no churn recipe), but this one has a way better texture, and it's not overly sweet! It seriously tastes and feels JUST LIKE real ice cream.

Have you ever made 2-ingredient, no churn ice cream like this? It’s fine. I mean, I liked it well enough when I thought that was all there was. That you couldn’t make anything better with just two ingredients and no ice cream machine. Back when I thought you had to settle for an overly-sweet-sort-of-weird-texture kind of ice cream. Back when that was all there was, it was good enough. It was maybe even kind of great.

But ohhhhhhhhhh, how wrong I was, my friends.

It turns out there is so much more to no-churn ice cream life than we thought there was!!

This is THE PERFECT no churn ice cream recipe. It's just two ingredients (like the other famous no churn recipe), but this one has a way better texture, and it's not overly sweet! It seriously tastes and feels JUST LIKE real ice cream.

Okay, so what were the problems with the old recipe? Primarily two things: 1) it was WAY too sweet. Especially if you used the Cool Whip shortcut (guilty). And 2) it had sort of a weird texture as it melted. Because it never really melted down to a liquid… it was more of a semi-solid. Which was weird.

How do we fix that?

Well, for starters, we need an ingredient that balances out the sweet from the sweetened condensed milk. And secondly, we probably don’t need to add another thick ingredient like whipped cream!

Enter the magical secret ingredient: SOUR CREAM.

The answer was there the whole time! So unassuming and subtle, just sitting there in the refrigerator waiting for us to notice. Waiting for us to realize that when sour cream mixes with sweetened condense milk and freezes…. BAM. Ice cream! And not just any ice cream– good ice cream.

Way good ice cream, you guys.

This is THE PERFECT no churn ice cream recipe. It's just two ingredients (like the other famous no churn recipe), but this one has a way better texture, and it's not overly sweet! It seriously tastes and feels JUST LIKE real ice cream.

Want to know what else is cool about this recipe?? You can actually substitute nonfat Greek yogurt in place of the sour cream. YES!!!! Isn’t that amazing?

Be forewarned, it does get ever-so-slightly (and I do mean only slightly) icier than the version with sour cream. But still– I think that’s totally worth it for an easy homemade frozen yogurt that does actually have some nutritionally redeeming qualities, amiright?!

So, what do you think? Is anyone else as excited about this revolutionary recipe as I am?? Because I’m literally still flipping out over this. I want to go make eleventy bajillion flavors of no churn right now. Imagine the possibilities now that easy homemade ice cream doesn’t suck! WOOT!

Easy Ice Cream Cookie Cake Recipe

Here’s how to make a super simple and delicious cookie dough ice cream birthday cake!

Here's how to make a super simple and delicious cookie dough ice cream cake!

Summer is in full force around here! Swim lessons, air conditioning, hot leather seats sticking to your legs in the van, and daily ice cream runs.

Plus, in our house, summer = all.the.birthdays!!!

So I figure this easy ice cream cake is super appropriate.

Here's how to make a super simple and delicious cookie dough ice cream cake!

Let me break down these layers for you:

????Sara Lee pound cake (it’s in the frozen section)

???? Vanilla ice cream

????Homemade eggless cookie dough recipe for one 🙂

???? Rainbow Chips (Wilton)

???? Hot fudge or chocolate syrup or chocolate ganache or whatever else you want on top!

That’s it!! How easy is that??

And really, you could use any flavor of ice cream you wanted to. I’m a vanilla girl, but I can think of plenty of other flavors that would be delicious in this cake. Cookies & Cream, chocolate peanut butter, or chocolate chip just to name a few!

Here's how to make a super simple and delicious cookie dough ice cream cake!

Can you see those huge chunks of cookie dough in the ice cream? That’s my favorite part. I’m such a cookie dough snob when it comes to ice cream. I like knowing that I made the cookie dough in this dessert. And I like that I can make the dough a little softer if I want (I don’t like really hard chunks of dough in my ice cream) by simply adding a little more milk to the recipe.

Here's how to make a super simple and delicious cookie dough ice cream cake!

This cake is so easy and SO good. I love that it doesn’t take a ton of effort. Outside of making the cookie dough (which is easily done with just a small bowl and a fork– no mixer required!), there’s hardly any hands on effort required here.

So what are you waiting for? You’re just a few minutes away from the yummiest ice cream cake you’ve ever made! Happy Summer!

Strawberry Shortcake Donuts | www.somethingswanky.com @driscollsstrawberries #strawshortcake

Strawberry Shortcake Donuts Recipe

 Dricoll’s has been the strawberry in everyone’s shortcake for more than 100 years, which makes them the perfect inspiration for this recipe! I worked in collaboration with Driscoll’s Strawberries to develop a unique strawberry shortcake recipe and have received compensation accordingly. Opinions expressed are always my own.

Strawberry Shortcake Donuts | somethingswanky.com @driscollsstrawberries #strawshortcake

Summertime is practically here! Can’t you just feel it?? This time of year is just so intoxicating, so full of sunlight and flower buds. It’s like walking into a big hug after a long and dreary winter, followed by a very wet spring.

In between packing what must be thousands of boxes (okay… it’s closer to, like, 12) and move prep, we’ve been trying to soak up every moment of this new found sunshine! We’re taking nature walks, catching butterflies, running in the sprinklers, and eating lots and lots of strawberries.

Like…. gazillions of strawberries.

Strawberry Shortcake Donuts | somethingswanky.com @driscollsstrawberries #strawshortcake

I think strawberries may be the real reason I fight to get through the winter at all. And when strawberry season comes, I’m eating them with every meal and every snack in between.

Like every other strawberry lover on the planet, I’m pretty crazy about strawberry shortcake. Besides being utterly delicious and a versatile flavor combo, strawberry shortcake is also classic and timeless. It’s an iconic American dessert, and I find the sheer patriotism of it as appealing as anything else. Did you know that Americans have been feverishly eating strawberry shortcake for over 100 years? And Driscoll’s has been growing beautifully plump, ruby red strawberries for just as long!

Strawberry shortcake has taken on many forms throughout the decades. Sometimes the variations are as simple as switching up the cake part and using a spongecake (like the ones you see in the grocery stores by the strawberries) or pound cake instead of a traditional sweet biscuit. Others are more creative and incorporate the flavors into desserts like ice cream or crepes!

Strawberry Shortcake Donuts | somethingswanky.com @driscollsstrawberries #strawshortcake

I wanted to get a little creative with this recipe but also incorporate some tradition at the same time. Classic, old-school, southern-style strawberry shortcake is made with a biscuit (sort of like this blueberry shortcake I posted). Using biscuits happen to be my favorite way to eat this dessert, so I knew I didn’t want to deviate from that route.

As I started thinking about the different ways you can use biscuits in dessert-making, strawberry shortcake donuts became this blaring, neon sign in my mind as the perfect way to combine both tradition and creativity! By simply frying the biscuit dough, instead of baking, a classic strawberry shortcake goes rogue and becomes a donut. You can fry made-from-scratch biscuit dough or use refrigerated biscuit dough like I did for a delicious shortcut!

One more thing before you head to the kitchen… it’s a little obvious, but it’s worth saying anyway: be sure to buy the very best strawberries for the very best tasting donuts. Driscoll’s has been the strawberry in everyone’s shortcake for over 100 years, and there’s a reason– they’re the best!

Baskin Robbins Mint Chocolate Chip Copycat Recipe | www.somethingswanky.com

Baskin Robbins Mint Chocolate Chip Copycat Recipe

It’s Ice Cream Week on Something Swanky and Crazy for Crust!*

Click the links above to see all of our fun ice cream recipes from this week.

***Originally posted in July 2014

Baskin Robbins Mint Chocolate Chip Copycat Recipe | somethingswanky.com

I’ve mentioned before that my husband isn’t a big fan of mix-in type ice cream places (like Coldstone). He’ll eat there if I make him go (I mean, it is ice cream, after all). But then, as we’re driving past the Baskin Robbins on our way home, he’ll heave a not-so-subtle sigh and gaze longingly at the rear-view mirror.

I determined that our difference in opinion over ice cream shops is really the difference between liking hard or soft ice cream. He prefers hard scooped, I’d rather have something more along the lines of ice cream soup. I dunno… he’s probably in the majority there. But I can’t help it– I love soft, mushy ice cream full of big candy chunks and hot fudge.

Baskin Robbins Mint Chocolate Chip Copycat Recipe | somethingswanky.com

However, he has totally turned me on to Baskin Robbins’ Chocolate Chip and Mint Chocolate Chip ice creams.

Because….. ohemgee.

I am so in love with the way their “chocolate chips” aren’t really chocolate chips at all. Instead, it’s full of a thin pieces of brittle chocolate that ribbon throughout the ice cream. And it takes chocolate chip ice cream to an amazing new level.

Just like the Stracciatella I mentioned last week, Baskin Robbins-style chocolate chip ice cream is achieved in the same way– by pouring chocolate (or in this case, Homemade Magic Shell) into the ice cream during the last 5 minutes of churning.

Baskin Robbins Mint Chocolate Chip Copycat Recipe | somethingswanky.com

This Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream is SO easy and so yummy. Mint is one of my husband’s favorite ice cream flavors, but you could easily make this regular old chocolate chip ice cream by simply omitting the peppermint extract!

I use a Cuisinart ICE-21 Ice Cream Maker to make churned ice cream, and far I’ve loved it. It’s pretty inexpensive (only $49!), easy to use, and makes delicious ice cream in about 20-30 minutes. I would highly recommend it if you’re looking for a simple, day-to-day use ice cream machine.

Enjoy!