Birthday Cheesecake

Had another office birthday for a co-worker who had requested a cheesecake with strawberries as his birthday cake of choice. I think he wanted strawberries IN the cheesecake, but I decided that making a plain cheesecake with a fresh strawberry sauce on the side, might be a better choice for pleasing not only him, but the entire office. I also needed to use a recipe that called for a 10 inch springform pan, to make sure there would be enough for everyone. This is also a cheesecake which calls for a layer of sour cream topping, which is great for flavor and texture, plus allows you to smooth the top of the cake and have it look really beautiful. The cake turned out great and was met with lots of positive reviews, so if you are looking for a simple cheesecake, this should do the trick.

CHEESECAKE WITH STRAWBERRY SAUCE

For the Crust:

2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar

For the Filling:

4 8-ounce packages of cream cheese, softened
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons unbleached all purpose flour
5 large eggs

For the Topping:

1 3/4 cups sour cream
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Strawberry Sauce:

3 small baskets fresh strawberries
2/3 cup granulated sugar
3 teaspoons fresh lemon juice, divided

To Make the Crust:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the graham cracker crumbs, granulated sugar and brown sugar. Add melted butter and mix until evenly distributed. Press crumb mixture into and up the sides of a round 10-inch springform pan. Bake crust for 10 minutes, remove from oven and set aside to cool. Maintain oven temperature.

To Make the Filling:

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice, vanilla extract and salt with an electric mixer until smooth. Once smooth, beat in flour. Add eggs to mixture and slowly beat just until blended, occasionally stopping to scrape down sides of the bowl. Pour filling into the baked crust and bake cheesecake on the middle rack for approximately 50 to 55 minutes, until edge of cake is puffed and slightly cracked and the center is just set. Place cake on cooling rack and allow to cool for 10 minutes, maintaining oven temperature.

To Make the Topping:

In a bowl, whisk together the sour cream, sugar and vanilla until blended and smooth. Pour mixture over the top of the cheesecake and smooth out to the edge of the pan. Place cake back in the oven and bake for 5 or 6 minutes to set topping. Remove cake from the oven to a cooling rack and run a thin knife around the inside edge of the pan. Once cake is cooled, place in refrigerator and chill overnight.

To Make the Strawberry Sauce:

Hull and roughly chop all 3 baskets of strawberries, reserving about 10 whole strawberries. Set whole berries aside. Place chopped strawberries, sugar and 2 teaspoons of lemon juice in a medium saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently. Hull the reserved strawberries and place in blender with remaining 1 teaspoon of lemon juice and puree. Add pureed strawberries to the chopped strawberry mixture and bring sauce to a boil. Lower heat and simmer sauce for 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat and pour sauce into a bowl and let cool. Once cooled, cover and chill at least 2 hours or overnight. Serve sauce on the side of cheesecake or spoon sauce over slices of cut cheesecake, if desired.

*Hint: When cutting cheesecake, or any cake for that matter, make sure that you either run your knife under hot water or have a large, tall cup of hot water to dip your knife in and wipe dry before each cut. This not only makes cutting easier, but also preserves the presentation of your cake, and if you know me, I'm BIG on presentation. I have been known to leave detailed instructions on how to cut the cakes I bring into the office, if I am not around to cut it myself. :)

(I also made some freshly whipped cream and piped rosettes along the edge of the chilled cake for decoration, and continued to chill until ready to serve.)

Enjoy!

Nancy's Waldorf Red Cake

This is a feelgood posting for me, because I was able to bring back a happy childhood memory for my roommate, Chris. All growing up, his favorite cake that his mom, Nancy made was her Waldorf Red Cake. It was his birthday cake every year and as he got older, something his mom made for him everytime they would see each other. About 5 years ago or so, I asked Chris to see if his mom would share the recipe, which she very graciously did. The cake was different from any I had made at the time, with the last step being to add baking soda and vinegar, which acts as the leavening agent. Well, long story short, I forgot the vinegar, which left me with 2 completely flat, horribly dense and basically unusable cake layers. Also, the frosting was new to me as well, as you cook the flour and milk until very thick, then chill until cold and then whip it into the butter, vanilla and granulated sugar, which in itself was new to me too....all the frostings I had made up until that point had used confectioners sugar. Anyway, the first try was a disaster, and even though Nancy and I had a good laugh when we figured out what I had done wrong, I think it made me nervous to try it again.

Unfortunately, Nancy passed away recently and so I decided, with some gentle suggestions from Chris, to try out the cake again. I made sure to have all the ingredients out and accounted for, so as not to make the same mistakes again, however, my only real hesitation and nervousness came from wanting to bring justice to such a meaningful cake for Chris. I only hoped that it would be good enough to make Nancy proud and to allow Chris to enjoy something he savored his entire life.

Well, according to Chris, it was great and I think it meant a lot. To him and to me. It's always a pleasure to bake things for people, but this was probably the most meaningful thing I've ever baked. It's also very special to me that I have these beautiful recipe index cards, with Nancy's sweeping cursive and helpful hints to treasure always. Most of you know it as a Red Velvet Cake, but to me, it will always be Nancy's Waldorf Red Cake.

NANCY'S WALDORF RED CAKE

For the Cake:

1/2 cup shortening, room temperature

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

2 eggs

2 ounces red food coloring

2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon salt

2 1/4 cups cake flour, sifted

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vinegar

1 teaspoon baking soda

For the Frosting:

6 tablespoons flour

2 cups whole milk

2 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups granulated sugar

2 cups unsalted butter, room temperature

*NOTE: I felt that there wasn't enough frosting to sufficiently frost this four layer cake, so I doubled the frosting recipe. If you are used to your Red Velvet Cake with cream cheese frosting, the frosting recipe for the carrot cake a few posts ago would be a great substitution.

To make the Cake:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour 2 9-inch cake pans and then line bottoms with parchment paper and set aside.

With an electric mixer, cream together the shortening and sugar, then add eggs and mix together until smooth. In a small bowl, mix the food coloring and the cocoa and then combine with shortening, sugar and egg mixture. Mix salt with buttermilk and alternately add the buttermilk and the flour to the mixture. Add vinegar and baking soda last and stir until just combined. DO NOT OVERMIX. Divide the batter between the 2 pans and bake for 30 minutes. Cool cakes for about 30 minutes in pans on wire racks and then turn out to wire racks to cool completely. Once cooled, and once the frosting is made, cut each cake layer horizontally for assembly.

To make the Frosting:

Cook flour and milk in a small saucepan over medium low heat until very thick, constantly stirring with a flat whisk to prevent any lumps from forming. Once mixture is very thick, pour mixture in a bowl, cover and refrigerate until cold. Once mixture is cold, cream together the sugar, butter and vanilla until very light and fluffy. Beat cold flour mixture into sugar and butter mixture and beat until smooth. Fill and frost the layers to assemble a 4 layer cake and refrigerate until about 30 minutes prior to serving. Enjoy!

NANCY'S HELPFUL HINTS:

1. You can use one 1-ounce bottle of red food coloring and add one bottle of water. It's less expensive and you can't tell the difference.

2. If you don't have buttermilk, mix 1 cup of milk with 1 tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice and let stand 5 minutes before using.

3. Once both cake layers are cooled, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze. It makes cutting the layers much easier.

4. When making the frosting, once you transfer the flour/milk mixture to a bowl, apply wax paper directly to the surface of the mixture to prevent a tough top from forming while chilling.

Blackberry Frustration

There are some recipes that I make in my kitchen where the size of my workspace never seems to affect the process. However, there are some others that make me accutely aware of how tiny my kitchen really is.

So, one of my best friends, Morgan, offered up some inspiration for this blog in suggesting I make a blackberry pie. I had never made one, so I was instantly interested in tackling the idea. After searching for blackberry pie recipes, I was a little frustrated because all the recipes I could find were for a mixed fruit pie, like Peach Blackberry Pie, which sounds amazing, don't get me wrong, but wasn't what I was looking for. Then I stumbled upon a recipe for Blackberry Handpies. Pretty much a blackberry turnover, but with pie crust instead of puff pastry. I decided to try it out.

First, I made the pie crust. Pie crust is something that intimidates a lot of people, including myself up until a few years ago. I vividly remember a Thanksgiving when I was younger, watching my mom try to make pie crust about 4 times in a row, only to throw out each attempt and get more and more frustrated with each try, finally giving up and going and buying a premade store bought pie crust. I've made pie crust by hand, and I have to say that nothing made it easier than when I finally got my KitchenAid food processor. It almost makes it too easy! So, anyway, back to the blackberry handpies.....pie crust was made in a snap and I put the disks of dough in the fridge to chill. Next, I made the fruit filling. Extremely easy too! I was, at this point, feeling very confident and excited to make this new dessert. So, after the dough was sufficiently chilled, I began to work on assembling the handpies. And that's where it got interesting. So, you are supposed to roll out one disk of dough at a time, make a large rectangle of dough and then cut the dough into 5x5 inch squares. Well, I had just turned on the oven to preheat and at first, everything was working out. The first problem was that the board I have to roll out the dough is pretty much exactly the size of the rectangle I was needing. So, I decided to roll out the squares in sections. First two, not too difficult, but challenging. By the time the first two were put together, they almost didn't want to come off the board because it had gotten so warm in my kitchen. So, I floured the heck out of my surface and my rolling pin and began to work on the next couple of pies. All I could do was one at a time, because the dough was sticking to the board and to my pin, no matter how much I floured them. After my 4th pie was on the sheet, I threw in the towel. I wrapped up the remaining dough, put the fruit mixture in some tupperware, and conceded in trying to finish the rest another night. So, I baked the first 4 and they actually turned out delicious. The fruit filling is wonderful and the pie crust is great too.

Next time, I think I will assemble all the pies PRIOR to turning on the oven!!!! I think this recipe wouldn't be as difficult if you have a large working area to roll out the dough and an air-conditioned house, so try it out, because they are very delicious!

Recipe for these Blackberry little devils can be found here. :)

Happy Birthday Susan!

This is a perfect example of why I love baking. This Saturday is my co-worker and dear friend Susan's birthday, so we are celebrating at the office today! And the first thing she wanted to know yesterday was what dessert she was getting. Of course, I had to ask her what her favorite cake/cupcake/dessert was, so that I could make it for her! What she chose is something that I normally don't go for, mainly because it's usually baked with nuts. (Just to let you know, I hate nuts. Like, really really really hate them, and pretty much refuse to eat them or bake with them. If you request me to make you something with nuts, I can't be held responsible for the finished product, because I will not taste it to make sure it's good......just so you know). Anyway, back to the birthday choice. Susan wanted Carrot Cake. Now, don't get me wrong, I love a good carrot cake, it's just extremely hard to find one out there that doesn't have walnuts. But most importantly, I'm excited to bake something that I know someone LOVES. Now, I know that I just posted a cream cheese frosting recipe, but this is a more structurally sound frosting that holds layers of cake well, so it's good to have in your repertoire. And remember, if you love your carrot cake with nuts, just stir in about a cup of walnuts after you've mixed in the carrot. Enjoy!

CARROT CAKE

For the Cake:

2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons dried ground ginger

2 cups sugar

1 1/4 cups canola oil

4 large eggs

3 cups grated peeled carrots

For the Frosting:

2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

3 cups powdered sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

To make the cake:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Butter two 9-inch-diameter cake pans. Line bottom of pans with parchment circles or silicon cake pan liners. Butter and flour sides and tap out excess flour.

Whisk flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and ginger in medium bowl to blend.

Whisk sugar and oil in large bowl until well blended. Whisk in eggs 1 at a time. Add flour mixture and stir until blended. Stir in carrots. Divide batter between prepared pans.
Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 40 to 45 minutes. Cool cakes in pans 15 minutes. Turn out onto racks. Peel off waxed paper; cool cakes completely.

To make the frosting:

Using a hand held electric mixer, beat cream cheese and butter in large bowl to blend. Beat in sugar and vanilla.

Place 1 cake layer on plate. Spread 1 1/2 cups frosting over. Top with second cake layer. Spread remaining frosting over top and sides of cake. Cake may be refrigerated, however you may want to let it come to room temperature prior to serving.

*Hint: For an easier job frosting the cake, once you have assembled the two layers on top of each other, apply what is called the 'Crumb Layer' of frosting first. The crumb layer of frosting is a very thin layer of frosting that covers the entire cake, which, once finished, will allow you to frost the cake with the remaining frosting, with no crumbs showing or pulling through the icing. It's best to apply the crumb layer, then refrigerate the cake for about 10 minutes to help the layer set, and then finish frosting the cake as usual.

Match made in Heaven

There are lots of foods out there that combine well with others and make a truly delicious pairing. Steak and potatoes. Tomatoes and Mozzarella. Bacon and....well....pretty much everything, but let's not get distracted. One pairing that I never tire of is Lemon and Blueberry. So many fruits pair together with good results, but there is something so perfect about matching the bright, sour flavor of lemon with the sweet and lush blueberry. And since I had a tray of blueberries waiting to be used in my fridge, I decided to try an experiment. I took a basic vanilla cupcake recipe, added lemon oil and fresh blueberries and topped them with my favorite lemon cream cheese frosting. The result was delicious and something that I think would be great for a party! The cream cheese frosting recipe is stellar, and could easily become a plain cream cheese frosting by omitting the lemon oil. Just note that this is a perfect frosting recipe for cupcakes or a single layer cake. I learned the hard way years ago that it is far too slippery to hold two or more layers of a cake. Also, with the heat of summer, you will want to store these indoors. Enjoy!

LEMON BLUEBERRY CUPCAKES WITH LEMON CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

For the Cupcakes

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon pure lemon oil

1/2 cup whole milk

6 ounces (one small tray) fresh blueberries

For the Frosting

2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

4 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon lemon oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

To make the cupcakes:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line 12 cup muffin tin with paper baking liners. (I usually get a few more than 12 cupcakes, so you can bake the remaining few after).
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
With an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition; add vanilla and lemon oil, and mix until combined. On low speed, beat in half the flour mixture, followed by milk; end with remaining flour mixture. Mix just until incorporated (do not overmix). Gently fold in blueberries.
Divide batter among prepared muffin cups, filling each a little more than 3/4 full. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a cupcake comes out clean, 20 to 22 minutes. Cool cupcakes in pan, 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting:

Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and butter in large bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in powdered sugar. Beat in lemon oil and vanilla. Cover and refrigerate until just firm enough to spread, about 30 minutes. Because this is a soft frosting, be sure that the cupcakes are completely cooled before frosting. I used a pastry bag with a plain round tip to frost these cupcakes.