The Student Village Bar and Events staff at my school in England are always trying to get students together by throwing contests or showing football or rugby games on projectors in the student bar. In the beginning of March, me and three of my mates were conned into taking part in the student village bake-off. Groups of four people had to bake/create two desserts each round to be judged, with the winning team receiving the grand prize of a professionally cooked dinner and a bottle of Prosecco.

There were only two rounds to the competition. The first against teams from your village area and then the finals against the teams from the other two student village areas.

My team won the first round and received second prize in the final.. BUT that’s not what this post is really about.. What we CREATED is what is important.

For our first round of competition we decided Oreo Truffles… They’re always a crowd favorite.

Oreo Truffle Balls

1 pkg oreos

1 pkg cream cheese

1 1/2 pkgs baking chocolate

Sprinkles or any other type of toppings for decorations

Makes approx. 30 – 50 truffles depending on size

Directions:

– Crush whole package of Oreos; place crumbs in mixing bowl

– Melt chocolate; Place a glass mixing bowl on top of a pot of boiling water. Add squares of baking chocolate to bowl to melt as you go as to not melt more chocolate than you need. 

–  Combine and mix with softened package of plain cream cheese

– Form mixture into balls and place on waxed paper. 

– Dip Oreo balls into melted chocolate and place back on waxed paper. 

– Chocolate will take about an hour to harden or but the balls in the refrigerator to harden faster. 

For our second round we made Oreo balls again but adjusted the recipe with white chocolate.

As for the second dessert we made for the final round of competition, my team created Mug Cakes. We expected most teams to make whole cakes, cupcakes or cookies, but with creativity being one of the three criteria for judging, we decided to mix it up and make something super easy.

What is a mug cake, you might be asking?

It is literally just cake in a mug. That’s it.

Mug Cakes

1 package of cake or brownie mix

any candies, sprinkles, or frosting you would decorate cake with (we used melted chocolate and butterscotch bits)

Directions:

– Prepare cake batter as directed on box. 

– Fill any coffee mug about halfway with batter (whole package of batter can fill about 5 – 7 coffee mugs) 

– One at a time, place mugs in microwave and cook on high for 2 and a half minutes. 

– It might not seem like it, but the cakes will be cooked throughout the mug and will be hot.. DON”T BURN YOURSELF!!!

Enjoy. Cheers.