Tuesdays With Dorie: Tiramisu Cake May 5, 2009

This weeks Tuesdays with Dorie was chosen by Megan of My Baking Adventures. She chose Dorie’s Tiramisu Cake which is located on pages 226-228 in Baking: From My Home to Yours.  As soon as I saw that Megan selected this recipe I was excited because I love tiramisu and I have been wanting to make Dorie’s Tiramisu Cake for awhile.  I had two reasons in the back of my head for why I wouldn’t be able to make the recipe: 1) I was leaving to go back home to Texas for one of my best friends weddings, and I wasn’t coming back until Monday, and 2) Sweets in my apartment is dangerous and I am “trying” to be good .

Another Reason I haven’t posted about Cookies, Yet :) December 15, 2008

I know

I know

I know

I told you that I would be posting about all the cookies that I have baked for the holidays.  Well I guess I forgot to tell you that I was also making goodies for my friend, Dancer.  She recently got involved with Avon and decided to have an Avon Party.  She called and asked that if I could make desserts or whatever for the party

OF COURSE

I knew right off the bat that there would be a cookie platter (Andes Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies, Amaretti, Sugar Cookies w/orange zest, Linzer Sables, Italian Fig Spirals, Butterballs, and Oatmeal Raisin with Cinnamon Chips) because DAMN there was a lot of cookies.  I had recently found key limes at the grocery store and had everything to make Mini Key Lime Pies.  I also purchased extra cream cheese and could make Mini Vanilla Cheesecakes.  I wanted there to be a non dairy option since Dancer is lactose intolerant.   Her and her mom already have tasted some of the vegan cupcakes that I made and loved them.  It happened that I was thinking about making two types of vegan cupcakes and had the ingredients: Vegan Red Velvet Cupcakes with Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting and Cookies ‘n’ Cream Cupcakes with Vegan Fluffy Buttercream Frosting.

I had no intention of making Dancer pay for any of these items since I was planning on making them and had everything on hand.  Also, since this was her first Avon Party she needed to make some of her money back

I made everything and it turned out FANTASTIC.  I saved myself one of each cupcake so that I could try them, and I don’t care what anyone says they were great.  I made name cards for everything and decided not to write “VEGAN” on it because some omnis get scared by that word.  I ended up writing at the bottom in small letters “Non Dairy”

For the recipes, I just used my Key Lime Pie recipe from a previous post and used a mini cheesecake pan   For the Mini Vanilla Cheesecakes I used the recipe on the back of the Williams Sonoma box and added 1 tsp of vanilla bean paste.  The recipe is below.  Now the recipes for the vegan cupcakes come from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.  I have posted too many recipes from those lovely ladies and would just like to tell you that if you haven’t bought the book already.  YOU REALLY NEED TO.  You won’t regret it.

OH, I forgot to mention.  I tried my hands at making Venetians aka Rainbow Layer Cookies and HOLY CRAP!!!  They turned out great.  Funny thing is at work everyone was saying that they taste better than the ones we carry, even the owners   I wish I could have stayed and enjoyed the party, but I had to leave right after I set all the food up to go into work.  That is what I get for being in the service industry.

Mini Vanilla Cheesecakes

Source: Williams Sonoma the back of the box that my mini pan came in

For the Crusts:
1 cup (114g) chocolate cookie or

vanilla wafer crumbs
2 Tbs. sugar
Pinch of salt
2 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted

For the Filling
16 oz. (500g) cream cheese
2 eggs
¼ cup (60ml) heavy cream
½ cup (125g) sugar
1 tsp. vanilla paste or Vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

Have all the ingredients at room temperature. Preheat an over to 350°F (180°C). Lightly coat the cups of the 12-cup mini cheesecake pan with nonstick cooking spray.

To make the crusts, in a small bowl, stir together the cookie crumbs, sugar, and salt. Add the melted butter and stir until combined. Divide the mixture among the cups, and using your fingertip, press it evenly into the bottom (I find that a coffee tapper works a lot better for this). Bake until the crusts are set, about 10 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool completely. Reduce the head to 300°F ( 150°C).

To make the filling, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, beat the cream cheese on low speed until smooth, 2 to 3 minutes. Increase the speed to medium-low and add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the cream and vanilla paste and beat until incorporated, about 1 minute. Add the sugar and salt and beat until incorporated, about 2 minutes, stopping the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Pour the batter into the crusts, dividing it evenly among the cups (I find that if you fill it to about 1/8-1/4 of an inch from the top it won’t deflate too much once out of the oven. This will leave you with about ½ cup of filling left over; just bake in a small ramekin). Bake until the cheesecakes are set, about 20 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool completely. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before unmolding.

To unmold, insert the dowel into the hole in the bottom of each cup. Gently push up to remove the cheesecake from the cup. Use a small spatula or butter knife to remove the cake from the metal bottom. If the cheesecakes are sticking to the pan, gently run a toothpick around each cheesecake to loosen it before pushing it out of the cup. Makes 12 mini cheesecakes.

Daring Bakers’ Challenge: Caramel Cake with Caramelized Butter Frosting November 29, 2008

This month’s Daring Bakers’ Challenge was hosted by Dolores of Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity, Alex of Brownie of the Blondie and Brownie duo, Jenny of Foray into Food, and to help them out with the alternative bakers Natalie of Gluten-a-Go-Go.  This group of talented bakers chose Shuna Fish Lydon’s of Eggbeater Caramel Cake with Caramelized Butter Frosting, as published on Bay Area Bites.  This month we also had the option of making Golden Vanilla Bean Caramels from Pure Dessert by Alice Medrich.  I had every intention of making the caramels too, but at the last moment I was unable to find Golden Syrup without ordering it online.  So the Golden Vanilla Bean Caramels will have to wait for another day. 

Birthday Desserts #2 November 10, 2008

On November 3rd, it was my mother’s birthday and I offered to make her a cake since she was going to be in the area.  I told her to think about what flavor she wanted and to get back to me.  A week passed and I still hadn’t heard from her so I called her up and asked if she had come up with anything.  She said that since I had been making a lot of cupcakes lately that those sounded good.  Now I love the vegan cupcakes that I make; there is nothing wrong with any of them.  But I gave my mother a disclaimer and asked did she really want a vegan cupcake.  I think I said it because I wanted to make something that I hadn’t made before.  She said she still wanted cupcakes I just had to figure out what to make her.  I looked through my Cupcakes cookbook and gave her an option of three different cupcakes: Boston Cream Pie Cupcake, Chocolate Covered Mint Meltaway Cupcake, and Pumpkin Ginger Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting.  She told me to make a cupcake that I had all the ingredients for.  I was looking for something that wasn’t too complicated and that was easy to transport 3 hours.

Tuesdays With Dorie: Chocolate-Chocolate Cupcakes October 28, 2008

This weeks Tuesdays with Dorie was chosen by Clara of I Heart Food4Thought she chose Dorie’s Chocolate-Chocolate Cupcakes on pages 215-217 of Baking: From My Home to Yours.  It took be awhile to getting around to making these bcause I was trying to be good about sweets lately.  But that never really works.  I finally put these off to the last minute and made the Monday night.

Vegan Adventure #17 and VeganMofo October 2, 2008

The second day of October and it is my second entry for VeganMofo and my 17th Vegan Adventure.  I warned you; more cupcakes.  Tomorrow I will mix it up a  bit but for today COCONUT HEAVEN CUPCAKES   They were perfect. 

Vegan Adventure #16 and VeganMofo October 1, 2008

October had begun and in the vegan world of the Post Punk Kitchen it is VeganMofo, which stands for Vegan Month of Food.  I figured that since I have been doing my Vegan Adventure that I could just tag VeganMofo along with it.  The way VeganMofo works is a bunch of bloggers, vegan or non-vegan, have agreed to post at least 20 posts in the month of October.  These entries can range from food all the way to clothing.  I think I will just stick to food.

Vegan Adventure #15 September 24, 2008

I had two things go through my head when I saw this recipe the first time: 1) how do you make a vegan pastry cream and 2) what is agar powder. Both questions were quickly answered by reading the recipe and looking up “agar” on Wikipedia. Simply stated agar is the vegan form of gelatin The hard part was finding it. I decided to just take a look at the local grocery stores just in case, but no dice. When all else fails find it on Amazon. I ended up buying agar powder and nutritional yeast flakes. I am ready for any sweet or savory dish.

I know, you want to know what my adventure was this time. Well of course it was another cupcake.

Vegan Adventure #12 September 17, 2008

I was completely surprised when the third issue of Desserts Magazine came out and it was all vegan.  All I could think of was that my vegan adventure was exposed.  Too bad they didn’t ask me to write for them because I would have given them one of the recipes that I had actually made so far.  The first few recipes in Desserts Magazine were from My Sweet Vegan by Hannah Kaminsky, which is actually a book that I have been wanting to get but because I am low on money I have been unable to purchase.

Funny thing is I wasn’t surprised at all that they mentioned Isa, Terry, and Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.  Too bad it took them until page 41 to mention them and the cupcake that I have been waiting to make.  Which is actually from Vegan with a Vengeance...

Vegan Adventure #10 September 12, 2008

Ummm, Cupcakes all day all the time

This time I chose the Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes. I knew that these had to be made since I LOVE Boston Cream Pie.

I really only had on problem making these and that was putting the chocolate ganache on top. At first I let the ganache get too thick so when I spread it it just didn’t look right at all. I had to zap it in the microwave for 9 seconds, and then it was ready to go. I ended up tilting the cupcake and apply the ganache with a spoon and slowly spreading it when needed to coat the top. It worked out very nicely. I will not include the pictures of the two that I first iced. Those will be the first eaten by me and then the rest, which turned out pretty, will go to friends and co-workers.