Chocolate Cheescake Cookies

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Let me start this post off by saying these cookies were unbelievable. Seriously, the best cookies I have eaten in a long time. My roommate found this recipe online, and we decided to try it out ourselves. They are best eaten shortly after you take them out of the oven, so that they are warm and the filling is still gooey. The only negative of making these was that you have to wait at least 2 hours for the batter and the filling to harden. But trust me, they are worth the wait. I would even recommend sprinkling some powdered sugar on the finished product to really top them off.

Batter Ingredients:

  • 2 tablespoons of flour
  • 1 box of chocolate (or any flavor you want) cake mix
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup of canola oil
  • 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Filling ingredients:

  • 4 ounces of cream cheese
  • 2 cups of powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Batter instructions: In a large bowl combine cake mix and flour. Whisk until clumps disappear. In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix together cake mix, flour, eggs, oil and vanilla extract. Mix until smooth. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap. The dough will be oily. Refrigerate for at least two hours.

Filling Instructions: Using a mixer, combine cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. Mix until smooth. Place in refrigerator for around 15 minutes so filling slightly hardens. Then, scoop out the filling into 10 small globs on a plate. Place plate in the freezer and freeze for at least two hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. To assemble the cookies, take about 1/4 cup of red velvet cookie dough and flatten in your hands. Place a teaspoon of cheesecake filling in the center and wrap the cookie dough around the filling. Gently roll into a ball and place on prepared baking sheet. Place on baking sheet. Only bake 3 cookies at a time. The cookies are large and will spread. Bake for 11-13 minutes or until the cookies begin to crackle.

Although a little different from our cookies, here is the original website where this yummy recipe can be found: http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/red-velvet-cheesecake-cookies/

CHOPPED (JMU Edition) featuring Cortney

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My roommates are always watching the Food Network show “Chopped” so one day I came up with the brilliant idea of hosting our own version of “Chopped.” I informed my roommates of the challenge, explaining that I would judge their meals and decide which of them had the talent and which meal would be punished to the CHOPPING BLOCK. The grand prize was a post on my prestigious blog devoted entirely to their scrumptious meal.  Unfortunately, only one of my roommates, Cortney, was excited about it so we only had one meal and she by default won…

Cortney’s made “Sin Dip” which was was a large loaf of French bread filled with a creamy, cheesy dip. This dish was so large and filling that we were able to make many meals out of it. It would be the perfect item for a Superbowl party with tons of people, or in our case, just for three girls to eat.

Ingredients

  • 6oz sour cream
  • 8oz cream cheese, softened
  • 2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
  • 1/2 cup chopped ham
  • 1 green onion, chopped
  • 1/4 tsp hot sauce
  • 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
  • salt
  • pepper
  • French bread loaf

Directions:
In a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients, except French bread; stirring until well blended. Cut a thin slice from top of bread loaf; set slice aside. Using a gentle sawing motion, cut vertically to, but not through, bottom of the loaf, 1/2 inch from the edge, to cut out center of bread. Lift out center of loaf. Fill hollowed bread loaf with the dip. Wrap loaf with foil. Bake dip at 350° degrees for 1 hour. Serve with reserved bread cubes, crackers, or potato chips.

Rose Cake

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My mom told me about this awesome baking blog, and I loved this rose cake the moment I saw it. The blog gives you step by step directions on how you can recreate this elegant looking design. I can’t wait to try this out myself, because it doesn’t seem like it would be to difficult, and yet I think it makes this cake look incredible. If there was another layer or two to this cake, it would even make an beautiful wedding cake. I recommend you check out this page, and all the other recipes at http://iambaker.net/rose-cake-tutorial.

My First Grooms Cake

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This picture was taken at the summer wedding of my mom’s best friend’s daughter.This also happens to be one of my all time favorite pictures because it is featuring a grooms cake made by me! The bride asked me if I could make a simple white icing carrot cake for her wedding as carrot cake is her husband’s favorite.This picture was posted on the Washingtonian website, along with an article and other pictures of the couple’s wedding. Although this cake is very simple, it was one of my favorite to make just because it was my first cake request for an actual event.

Cake Batter Cake Pops

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Although I don’t make cake pops that often, a friend told me that this recipe was really easy and delicious so I thought I would try it out. I was actually pretty excited for these because even though I’m not a huge fan of eating cake, I do love cake batter. The recipe was simple in that it involves absolutely no actual baking in the oven. I was extremely happy with the end product, and definitely think these are the best cake pops that I have so far. I also love how they look with the white chocolate and sprinkles.

Here is the recipe I used, which is from another great baking blog I love (http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2011/03/cake-batter-truffles.html). There are tons of great recipes on her blog, and I would definitely recommend checking it out!

  • 1 ½ cups flour
  • 1 cup yellow cake mix
  • ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
  • ½ cup white sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 3-4 Tablespoons milk (I had to use a little more, around 5 Tablespoons)
  • 2 Tablespoons sprinkles
  • Truffle Coating:
  • 16 ounces (8 squares) almond bark (or white candy melts)
  • 4 Tablespoons yellow cake mix
  • sprinkles

Beat together butter and sugar using an electric mixer until combined. Add cake mix, flour, salt, and vanilla and mix thoroughly. Add 3 Tablespoons of milk or more if needed to make a dough consistency. Mix in sprinkles by hand. Roll dough into one inch balls and place on a parchment or wax paper lined cookie sheet. Chill balls in the refrigerator for 15 minutes to firm up.

While dough balls are chilling, melt almond bark in the microwave in 30 second intervals until melted. Stir between intervals. Once melted, quickly stir in cake mix until incorporated completely. Using a fork, dip truffles into almond bark and shake of excess bark by tapping the bottom of the fork on the side of your bowl. Place truffle back on the cookie sheet and top with sprinkles. Repeat with remaining balls until finished.
Chill cake batter truffles in the refrigerator until serving. Makes around 24-30 truffles.

Ace of Cakes Cake Piping

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In an earlier post I mentioned Mary Smith, of Charm City Cakes, who is amazing at cake piping. Here is a picture of one of Mary’s cakes, clearly displaying a great degree of difficulty and detail.  I love the fact that she can turn a plain fondant covered cake into such a professional looking dessert just through piping with white icing.

My Favorite Chocolate Cake Recipe

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I have used multiple cake recipes from lots of different sources, but one of my favorite places to find recipes is on KingArthurFlour.com. Not only do I prefer King Arthur flour to other flours when I bake, but their website has tons of really great recipes. One of my favorite parts about the website is the clear directions that often come with pictures of how everything should look each step of the way.

So here is favorite chocolate cake recipe from King Arthur Flour. Every single time I make this cake it turns out to have a fluffy consistency and great flavor.

Ingredients:

  • 2 1/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
  • 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter (Make sure it’s VERY soft)
  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup coffee or water (I always use coffee because I think it adds to the chocolate flavor)
  • 4 large eggs

Directions:

  • Using a strainer, measure in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cocoa, and sugar into your mixing bowl.
  • Add the softened butter and mix at low speed for 1 minutes. With the mixer running, add the oil and continue mixing until the mixture looks like sand.
  • Combine the vanilla with the milk and coffee, and add all at once. Mix for 1 minute at low speed, stop and scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, then mix for 30 seconds more.
  • Add the eggs one at a time, beating well at medium-high speed between additions.
  • Scrape the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl, and mix for 1 minute more. The batter will be VERY thin.
  • Transfer the batter to the greased pan of your choice.
  • Bake for 34 minutes (at 350 degrees) for a 9″ x 13″ pan; 28 to 30 minutes for 9″ layers; 24 to 26 minutes for 8″ layers, or 21 to 23 minutes for cupcakes.

You can find this recipe with pictures and extra baking tips here: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/chocolate-cake-recipe

 

Oil Rig Cake

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My mom’s friend asked me to make this cake for her son-in-law because he works on an oil rig. When she first asked me, I had absolutely no idea how to even approach designing such a cake. But after looking up different pictures of oil rigs, I came up with the layout you see in the pictures. I knew that I wanted the cake to have multiple levels, and appear to actually be coming out of the ocean. And because of that, I had to carefully plan out every aspect before attempting to actually make the cake. Once I decided on the different sized pans I was going to use, I went to Home Depot and purchased wood boards and pipes. My dad then cut the boards and pipes down to the measurements I needed.The big issues with this cake was making sure that it was stable and that the layers were secure. I had to secure the pipes on to the wooden board under the top layer of the cake so that it wouldn’t move around. Because of this the cake was super stable, although between the boards and the multiple layers of cake it was extremely heavy.

Cake Piping

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I recently read a book all about the Baltimore cake store Charm City Cakes. My favorite chapter in the book talked about one of the cake artists, Mary Smith, who is the store’s main piping expert. The pictures of her cakes displayed her talent, and her clear attention to every detail of the pattern. And like I mentioned before, I am obsessed with piping, so I decided I wanted to try to make a cake with a similar piping style as the ones in the book. One of the main lessons I learned with this cake is to make sure the icing is the right consistency. If it’s too stiff it can be very difficult to pipe such a small design and can really strain your hand if you have to constantly squeeze it out.  On the other hand, if it’s too runny than your design is not going to stay on the cake the way you wanted. Although this is not nearly as detailed as those done by Charm City, it was great practice and I can’t wait to try it again.

Under the Water Cake

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One of my best friends loves everything about the ocean and scuba diving. So even before her birthday came close, I knew I was going to make her an “Under the Water” cake. I didn’t want to make the fondant background of the cake a standard blue, but wanted it to look more like the actual ocean. So I took my ball of white fondant and I poked it in many different place with a toothpick coated in blue coloring. I then began to knead the fondant but only so much that the coloring was not mixed consistently, but instead had this tie-dye look.

I loved making the different sea creatures, and since I knew they would take a while to perfect I started them the day before I made my cake. As long as you store your fondant pieces in an airtight container or bag, they can last for a while (although I try to make them only a day or two before I need them). I absolutelty LOVE piping and was so excited when this cake offered me the chance to practice my technique. As you can see in the second picture, I piped some orange scales onto the pink fish and was really proud of the way it turned out.

The sand on and around the cake is just light brown sugar. I put a little bit of icing where I wanted the sand to be and the sprinkled on the sugar. The two scuba feet coming out of the top of the cake were a last minute addition. I was looking at the cake and loved how it turned out, but I really wanted to somehow incorporate my friend scuba diving. That’s when I came up with the idea of having her fins sticking out of the ocean. I just wrapped two toothpicks in fondant and stuck them in. This was one of the most challenging cakes I’ve created, and was very time consuming because of all the little pieces, but I was incredibly happy with the end product!