Mini Cheesecakes

These rather simple to make and there's so many variations you can make these to suit any sweet tooth. You can add chocolates, fruits, caramel, matcha or even plain.  I have made Bailey's Irish Cream cheesecakes by adding 3 Tb Irish cream, and 2 Tb sour cream. After they cool, I brush the tops with a little more Irish Cream, and no one can get enough! 

Let's get started with the graham cracker crust. You'll need:

1 and 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 10 full sheet graham crackers)

6 Tablespoons  unsalted butter, melted

1/3 cup granulated sugar

Let's get to the preparation:

1.  If you're starting out with full-sheet graham crackers, you can use a food processor or blender to grind them up. Or crush them in a zipped top bag with a rolling pin.

2.  Mix the graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, and granulated sugar together with a rubber spatula in a medium bowl until combined. The mixture will be thick, coarse, and sandy. Press the mixture into the bottom of the dish or pan and slightly up the sides. This crust will fit into a 9 - 10 inch pan. Make sure it is tight and compact. Use the bottom of a flat measuring cup like I do in these photos. It helps! The crust will be thick.

3.  For a baked dessert, pre-bake this crust per your recipe's directions. I usually pre-bake for 10 minutes at 300°F or 7-8 minutes at 350°F. For a no-bake dessert, chill the crust for 2 hours before using in your recipe.

4.  Make ahead tip: It's freezer friendly! Freeze the prepared crust in your pan for up to 3 months. Thaw before using in your recipe. For shorter storage, keep the prepared crust in the refrigerator for a few days before using in your recipe.

Now on to the filling:

2 pkg. (8 oz. each) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened 

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

Filling preparation:

1.  Heat oven to 350°F.

2.  Beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla with mixer until blended. Add eggs; mix just until blended.

3.  Place 1 cookie in each of 12 paper-lined muffin cups; top with cream cheese mixture.

4.  20 min. or until centers are almost set. Cool. Refrigerate 3 hours.

Red, Black and White Wedding Cake

This cake wasn't to hard to decorate, being that I used stencil for all of the embellishments.

Top tier:

Almond genoise brushed with raspberry syrup and filled with seedless raspberry preserved and whipped white chocolate ganache

2nd tier:

White cake flavored with creme brulee CoffeeMate, brushed with vanilla flavored simple syrup, filled with fresh caramel sauce and bavarian cream

3rd tier:

Chocolate cake filled with kahlua mousse and espresso meringue

Bottom tier:

Lemon coconut cake filled with lemon curd and coconut dacquoise

Bridal Shower Cake

A cute Tiffany blue themed bridal shower cake.

Top tier:

Strawberry Chiffon - light lemon buttermilk cake filled with fresh strawberry mousse-line covered with white chocolate buttercream.

Middle tier:

Almond Mocha latte - moist sour cream pound cake filled with a velvety coffee mocha cream frosted with almond amaretto buttercream

Bottom tier:

Caramel Fudge - devils food chocolate cake filled with a blend of rich caramel and chocolate creams frosted with sweet vanilla buttercream

21st Birthday Cake

I love making elegant, feminine designs and this 21st birthday was a absolute pleasure to create.

Middle cake alternating tiers of:

*  Goodnight Kiss - Anise flavored champagne cake with white chocolate truffle filling.

*  Raspberry Truffle - Dark chocolate-raspberry cake filled with chocolate fudge & raspberry puree.

Small side cakes:

*  Chocolate Kir Royale - devils food chocolate cake filled with a raspberry swirled chocolate filling frosted with Chambord-champagne buttercream.

Wedding Cake Display

My first big wedding cake display under the theme romance. I tried to keep it simple without too many flowers and of course red and white are so associated with romance. Seeing that it's okay for display purposes there's no actual cake underneath the designs and fondant.

Baby Shower Cake and Cupcakes

Simple Baby Shower cake and cupcakes. Chocolate cake and cupcakes with a mousse filling  also vanilla cake with a vanilla pudding filling.

Topsy Turvy Birthday Cake

These pan were a gift from my daughter for mother's day and they worked so well on this birthday cake.

Top tier:

Strawberry Chiffon - light lemon buttermilk cake filled with fresh strawberry mousse-line covered with white chocolate buttercream.

2nd tier:

Almond Mocha latte - moist sour cream pound cake filled with a velvety coffee mocha cream frosted with almond amaretto buttercream.

3rd tier:

Black and White - Dark chocolate cake filled with white chocolate mousse, accented with sliced strawberries and frosted with white chocolate buttercream.

Bottom tier:

Lemon Satin Cake - Zesty lemon cake filled with silky tart lemon mousse and frosted with Cointreau buttercream.

Strawberry Lemonade Birthday Cake

Last minute birthday cake for a birthday dinner tonight. Strawberry Lemonade - Strawberry & lemon cakes swirled together and filled with strawberry cheesecake & lemon curd.

Graduation Cakes 2016

Graduation season is in full swing and it keeps me so busy. I just wanted to share some of the things I've created this year and to congratulate all of the graduates and their parents for such a awesome achievement.

Pandora Themed Piña Colada Birthday Cake

This cake is really rather simple to make if you have the time.  It's a great cake for any occasion for a female, especially if she loves any Pandora jewelry as so many do.

What you have here underneath all of the decorations is a coconut pineapple cake with coconut crème filling and pineapple fruit filling.

Bey-Hive Cake

A little something for the Hive, the Bey-Hive that is.

Teir:

Chocolate cake filled with coconut flake filling and almond dacquoise (like an Almond Joy)

Middle Teir:

Yellow cake filled with rum-spiked vanilla pudding and fresh strawberries

Bottom Teir:

Chocolate cake filled with coconut flake filling and almond dacquoise (like an Almond Joy)

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms, soon-to-be-moms, stand-in moms, mom's who have lost a child and those moms that mother the world!

A Week In My Cake Life

A week of cakes top right a birthday cake, below that anniversary cake and the other 3 wedding cakes of varying flavor combinations.

Simple and clean Vanilla Cake and Cupcakes

This is a very simple  yet elegant choice for any small function. It's a vanilla cake and cupcakes with my Italian buttercream frosting. Not every design has to be massive and intricate to be eye catching and appreciated.

Click Links For Recipes

Moist Vanilla Cake

Italian Buttercream

Artisan Buns

These artisan buns are easy to make, uses the same recipe as my No Knead Artisan Bread and are great for sliders.

Because I like for my buns to be the same size I use a extra large biscuit cutter to cut the dough and then I roll the dough into balls.

INGREDIENTS:

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups warm water

1/4 tsp instant or rapid-rise yeast

2 tsp kosher salt (or 1 1/2 tsp table salt)

**optional

I added a couple tablespoons of fresh rosemary and thyme, along with some granulated garlic to the warm water. you can add fresh garlic if you choose. do whatever you want!

DIRECTIONS:

1. Mix dry ingredients until combined.

2. Add warm water and mix until flour mixture is absorbed by water. Dough will be wet and sticky.

3. Cover with plastic wrap and store at room-temp or a turned off oven for 12-18 hours, and up to 24.

4. Two hours before you're ready to bake, gently pull dough out of bowl onto a heavily floured surface, being careful not to puncture too many air bubbles. Gently form into a ball.

5. Place dough on top of cornmeal covered parchment paper and cover with a clean, floured kitchen towel for 2 hours.

6. During the last 30 minutes of those 2 hours, pre-heat your oven and empty Dutch oven to 450 degrees. Let it sit in there the entire 30 minutes.

7. When it's super hot, transfer the parchment/dough into the Dutch oven, cover and bake for 30 minutes with the lid on.

8. Remove lid after 30 minutes and bake an additional 5-15 minutes, or until bread registers 200 degrees on an instant read thermometer.

9. Immediately remove bread from the hot Dutch oven and let cool on a wire-rack for at least 30 minutes before slicing.

Sweet 16 Birthday Cake

What we have here is a 3 tiered topsy turvy Sweet 16 birthday cake.  All layers are made from my chocolate cake but each tier has a different flavor of cheesecake filling it. One is a banana cheesecake, strawberry cheesecake and chocolate cheesecake. It was a tasty hit.