Strawberry Cheesecake Cake

This one’s been in the blog bank for a while - since Mother’s Day to be exact. I wanted to bring a cake to a family potluck for mother’s day. The Huz’s family has 5 aunts (and one uncle) so they like to celebrate Mother’s Day together. Instead of bringing a cheesecake, why not make a cake that plays on a cheesecake? I’m really into desserts that are like other desserts (e.g., a cake that’s a take on a pie, an ice cream that tastes like birthday cake, a doughnut that tastes like root beer, etc). It’s confusing and awesome.

This cake has many components, so I premade the cake layers and froze them and kept the graham crunch in an airtight container until assembly day.

Check out the verdict at the end of the post!

Graham Crunch

adapted from Milk Bar Cookbook

Ingredients

¾ cup graham crumbs

2 Tablespoons milk powder

1 Tablespoon sugar

pinch of salt

2 Tablespoons butter, melted

2 Tablespoons heavy cream

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Toss graham crumbs, milk powder, sugar, and salt in a bowl to combine.
3. Pour in butter and cream and toss to combine.
4. Spread on a baking sheet and break apart large chunks. Bake for 25 minutes tossing halfway through.
5. Cool completely. Break apart and big pieces. Store in an airtight container until ready to use.

Vanilla Cake

From Anna Olson.

Baked in 3, 6-inch cake pans. 25-30 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

If the cakes dome, cut off to make them flat (and you can eat the best part of the cake!)

Strawberry Cream Cheese Filling

Ingredients

¼ cup butter, softened

½ cup cream cheese, softened

½ teaspoon lemon juice

½ cup icing sugar

3 Tablespoons strawberry jam

pinch of salt

Directions

1. Beat butter and cream cheese in a stand mixer to combine.
2. Add lemon juice, icing sugar, jam, and salt and beat until fluffy.

Cream Cheese Marshmallow Frosting

Ingredients

½ cup cream cheese, room temperature

1 ¼ cup butter, room temperature

1 cup icing sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 jar marshmallow cream

pinch of salt

pink food colouring

Directions

1. Beat cream cheese and butter together with a stand mixer (paddle attachment) to combine. Add icing sugar and vanilla and beat to combine.
2. Add marshmallow cream and salt and beat to combine.
3. For an ombre decorating effect, colour ⅓ of the frosting with a dark pink and the remaining ⅔ light pink (less food colouring).

*note that this frosting won’t be completely smooth - it’ll look a little bit curdled. I know, not ideal for a frosting, but it does taste great.

Assembly

Components

1. 1 cup thinly sliced strawberries
2. Vanilla cake layers
3. Strawberry jam
4. Strawberry Cream Cheese Filling
5. Cream Cheese Marshmallow Frosting

1. Smear a small dollop of strawberry cream cheese filling on you cake plate or cake board. Ideally, use a turntable for easier decorating. Place the first layer of cake on top.
2. Spread strawberry jam. Top with strawberry slices.
3. Spread the strawberry cream cheese filling and sprinkle the graham crumbs on top.
4. Place next cake layer and repeat. Finish with the final layer.
5. Frost the entire cake with the light pink cream cheese marshmallow frosting. Place in the fridge for 10 minutes to firm up.
6. Spread the dark pink frosting on the bottom ⅓ of the cake. Smooth out with a large spatula, blending the line between the two colours as you twirl the cake around.
7. Add graham crumbs along the bottom. Decorate to your liking. Keep in the fridge until an hour before serving.

Verdict: I really liked the flavours of this cake - really reminiscent of a strawberry cheesecake. The crunch of the graham crumbs on the outside gave the cake an interesting texture. Too bad that the graham inside the cake turned soft. It was definitely a crowd pleaser!

Red Velvet Cake – OMG best ever!! I almost fell down – that’s how good it is

In December, I challenged my colleagues to donate to a few charities, and if we raised a certain amount of money and brought in a certain amount of non-perishable food items, I would bake them whatever they wanted (by vote).  Well, my office was super generous and went well beyond the challenge!  So now it’s time for me to pay up.  They voted on a red velvet cake.

To be honest, at first I wasn’t very excited about the idea of making a red velvet cake.  It’s actually my most least favorite cake.  I know that it’s super popular, but it just doesn’t do it for me.  I don’t like that it has cocoa in it but that you can only taste a hint of it.  I like my chocolate cakes CHOCOLATEY!  Plus all that red dye can’t be good for you.

So I was browsing various food blogs to see if I could find a receipt that I could get excited about.  Otherwise, I was going to bake the trusty one from Alton Brown that I did before.  But then, I found one that looked amazing by Rosie of Sweetapolita.  It looked super fluffy and I especially liked the marshmallow cream cheese frosting that went with it.  A spin on the traditional!

Check out the verdict at the end of the post, although I’ve given it away in the title :)

Red Velvet Cake from Sweetapolita

The adaptations I made were:

• I didn’t use the Red Velvet emulsion, instead I cut down the red gel colour to 1 teaspoon and added 1 Tablespoon of vanilla.  I don’t like adding a lot of food colouring, hence the reduction, but if you like a vibrant red cake, add the original amount.  
• Doubled the cocoa to 2 Tablespoons 
•  Used apple cider vinegar 
•  Grated ¼ teaspoon of lemon rind 
•  Baked in 3, 6 inch rounds and a 4 inch round for leftovers.  Baked for 29 and 25 minutes respectively.

Before baking.

After baking.

Marshmallow Cream Cheese Frosting from Sweetapolita

 

Marshmallow cream used in the frosting.

Flower Petal Decorations

1.  Melt red candy melts.  I used a water bath to keep them warm as I worked.  To make pink, add some white candy melts or white chocolate.

2.  Using a spoon or spatula, smear the melts onto parchment.  Place on tinfoil shaped like a crescent to make curves.  Peel off when hard.

Verdict: I couldn’t believe how good this cake was!  It was AMAZING!  It was super moist with a good fluffy good sized crumb.  The flavor was amazing! A great balance of the cocoa and vanilla.  I think this might even be the best cake I’ve ever had! The frosting was a nice complement with the subtle cream cheese flavor as it melts on your tongue.  Well done Rosie!

I hope my colleagues like it!

Update: I baked 2 batches of this cake, one that I froze and I didn't due to timing issues.  The cake that I didn't freeze totally dried out.  If I could go back in time, I would have applied a simple syrup on the one that I didn't freeze to keep it moist.  

Jar Cakes

I’ve always wanted to try making jar cakes – cake in jars.  They’re so easy to transport!  Since it was my friend Rica’s birthday, I decided to make them for her.  I coupled a peach cake with a strawberry cream cheese frosting.  Instead of cutting out circles to place in the jars, I used muffin tins!

Check out the verdict at the end of the post!

Peach Cake

Adapted from a post comment.

Makes 12 jar cake layers to fill 3 small jars.

Ingredients

1/4 cup peach puree*

3/4 cup flour

0.5 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup sugar

0.5 tsp vanilla

1 egg

1/8 cup milk

*peel a peach and puree in a blender.  In a saucepan, simmer over low heat to reduce.

Directions

1.       Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2.       Grease and flour muffin tray.

3.       Sift flour, salt, and baking powder together.

4.       Beat butter and sugar.

5.       Add vanilla, egg, and peach puree.

6.       Mix in milk.

7.       Mix in flour.

8.       Fill muffin tins ¼-1/3 full.

9.       Add any remaining puree on each cake layer.

10.   Bake for 13 minutes.

Peach puree.

Before baking.

After baking.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Filling

Adapted from here.

Makes 1 cup

Ingredients

1/2 packages of cream cheese (4 ounces), room temperature

1 Tbs + 1 tsp butter, room temperature

Heaping 1/3 cup icing sugar

1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/3 cup strawberries

Directions

1.       In a large bowl, mix cream cheese, butter, and sugar until creamy.

2.       Mix in vanilla.

3.       Pure strawberries in a blender or food processor.  Mix into cream cheese mixture.

4.       Add more sugar if it is too runny.  Store in refrigerator until ready to use.

Assembly

1.       Place a cake layer in a jar. 

2.       Pipe frosting on top.

3.       Place next cake layer on top of frosting, and repeat until full.

4.       Sprinkle top layer with sprinkles.

Step 1: place cake in jar

Step 2: add frosting

Step 3: repeat

Replace lids with nice fabric or paper

Add ribbon and spoons

Verdict:   These turned out pretty!  I wished that the peach flavor was more pronounced – adding peach flavoring would have helped with this.  Adding cut up fruit as a layer would also have been delicious too!  I decorated with ribbon and added a spoon that made them ready to transport and ready to eat!





Monkey cake - chocolate, banana, and peanut butter

My best friend (the one who is getting married)’s nephew was turning 1 year old.  In fact, her bridal shower was combined with his birthday party!  She had asked me to make a chocolate peanut butter cake decorated as a monkey for him.  Well, if I was going to make a monkey cake, it needed bananas!  Ergo, the chocolate banana cake with peanut butter frosting!  I made a very small cake as I also made her a shower cake (posting next week) and she had requested another cake from a bakery.   Lots of cakes for a big party!

Check out the verdict at the end of the post.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t taste the monkey cake as I am allergic to peanuts.  I suppose I could have made it with almond or cashew butter, but the birthday boy loves peanut butter!

Chocolate banana cake

Adapted from here.

Makes a 5 X 2 inch cake and 3 cupcakes

Ingredients

½ cup sugar

¾ cup + 2 Tablespoons flour

¼ cup + 2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

¾ teaspoon baking powder

¾ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

1 large egg

½ cup mashed bananas (about 1 banana)

½ cup warm water

¼ cup buttermilk

¼ cup canola oil

¾ teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1.     Preheat oven to 350^○ F. Line baking pan with parchment and cupcake pan with liners.  I used a 5x2 inch cake pan, but if you want to make a larger cake, you’ll need to increase the recipe.

2.     In a large bowl, sift together sugar, flour, cocoa power, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

3.     In a bowl, mix egg, mashed bananas, water, milk, oil, and vanilla extract. 

4.     Pour wet mixture into dry, and stir until combined.

5.     Pour into baking pans and bake:  28 minutes for cake, 13 minutes for cupcakes

6.     Cool on wire rack before frosting.

Before baking

Peanut butter frosting

Adapted from here.

Makes 2.5 cups

Ingredients

5 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

¼ cup butter, room temperature

2.5 cups icing sugar, sifted

1/3 cup smooth peanut butter

Directions

1.       Beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy.  I used a hand held mixer.

2.       Add icing sugar ½ cup at a time.  Beat until light and fluffy.

3.       Beat in peanut butter.

Monkey Cake Assembly

1. Cut cake and fill with frosting.

2. Trim cupcake to appropriate size and attached (without liners) to each side of the cake with frosting to make ears. 

3. Make a monkey face stencil and trace around it with a knife to score it.

4. Fill in the face and inner ears with frosting using a small spatula.

5. Color the rest of the frosting a darker brown colour with gel food colouring and cocoa.  Colour a small amount of the frosting black (for the eyes and mouth).

6. Using tip #233, pipe the rest of the monkey a darker brown.

7. Pipe the eyes and mouth with tip #3.

8. Keep in refrigerator until serving.

Slicing the cake



Peanut butter frosting filling





Scoring the cake with a stencil and knife

 



Face and ears filled in



Verdict:  I couldn’t try this cake because of my allergy to peanuts, but it was well received at the party!  I was able to try the cake (without frosting) and it had a subtle banana flavor – so if you like a stronger banana flavor, try putting sliced bananas in the middle layer.  This cake ended up looking a lot like the Subway monkey!

Cutting the cake at the party

Subway monkey