Sunday, June 27, 2010

cakes

I know it's been a really long time, life's just been a bit stressful lately. It's also just been way to hot to do any baking in my little apartment. So i figured i'd post a couple pictures of some cakes i've done at work.








This is a buzzlightyear decoration i made for a cake (all fondant)



Hello Kitty cake (fondant)



Noah's Ark cake, for a christening




I'll try to post some more pictures, and hopefully there might be a day cool enough for me to do some baking. 

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Easy Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake

Here is a recipe and some photos of a chocolate swirl cheesecake i made the other day. Its a bit simpler than your standard cheesecake recipe. It also doesn't require the use of a springform pan which is typically necessary for cheesecake making. So if your looking for a fairly simple dessert and you love chocolate, i would definitely give this recipe a shot.


Easy Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake 
Ingredients:
1 8oz package cream cheese
1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
2 tbsp lemon juice 
1 tbsp vanilla extract 
1 egg
1/3 cup chocolate chips, melted 
1 chocolate pie crust 


Directions:
1. Beat cream cheese until fluffy. Then gradually beat in the sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice and vanilla. Add egg and beat just to combine. 
2. Pour about half the cheesecake mix into the crust.
3. Then melt your chocolate chips, and add about 1/2 cup of the cheesecake mixture to the chocolate and fold together. 
4. Pour the mixture over the cheesecake 
5. Then pour the remaining plain cheese cake mixture on top, then with a butter knife swirl the cheesecake. 
6. Bake at 300F for 50-55 minutes. Then remove from oven and let cool on wire rack for 1 hour.
7. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours. However is best served after it has been chilled overnight. 





And heres a final photo, and before i knew it the whole thing was gone! 


Sorry i haven't been updating too often lately, but i would like to point out the amazon application i added to my blog. Amazon is personally one of my favorite sites, and its great for baking supplies. So this will show you the latest deals on baking stuff. Hope you enjoy!

Saturday, June 5, 2010

mini cupcakes



Here are some mini cupcakes i made the other day. I made chocolate with chocolate frosting, and vanilla with chocolate frosting. I'll post the recipe for the vanilla cupcakes later. These recipes are again from my favorite book
Vegan Cupcakes take over the world. I'd like to add again you do not have to make these vegan if you don't wish to. However i can assure you they are delicious and some of the best cupcakes ever!


All of these recipes make about 12 standard cupcakes or 24 minis
So here is the first recipe which is for the chocolate cupcake:

Vegan Chocolate Cupcake
Ingredients:
1 cup soy milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup canola
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond, chocolate, or more vanilla extract
1 cup ap flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder (dutch-processed or regular)
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt


Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F, then line your muffin tin with paper liners.
2. Whisk together soy milk and vinegar, and set aside to curdle. Add the sugar, oil, vanilla and other extract is using it together. Add the milk mixture and beat until foamy. In a separate bowl sift together the dry ingredients. Add the dry in 2 separate batches to the wet mixture mix until no large lumps remain.
3. Fill liners 3/4 of the way, Bake 18-20 min or until skewer inserted comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool completely before frosting them.
Here is the recipe for the Vanilla Cupcakes

Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes
Ingredients:
1 cup soy milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 1/4 cup ap flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup non-hydrogenated margarine, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond, or more vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F and line muffin tin with paper liners.
2. Whisk together the soy milk and vinegar and set aside to curdle.
3. Sift all of your dry ingredients together and set aside.
4. Cream together the margarine and sugar until light, fluffy and smooth. Don't beat more than 2 minutes. Beat in vanilla and other extract (if using). Then alternate mixing in the dry and the milk mixture. Stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl a few times.
5. Fill liners two-thirds of the way full, and bake 20-22 minutes.
6. Cool completely before icing.
And Finally here is the Chocolate Frosting

Vegan Chocolate buttercream Frosting
Ingredients:
1/4 cup margarine, softened
1/4 cup shortening
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
3 tbsp soy milk
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Cream together the margarine and the shortening until smooth and well combined. Add the cocoa powder mix until well combined. Add the sugar in batches mixing well between each addition, and adding a bit of the soy milk between each addition of sugar. When all ingredients have been well incorporated, add vanilla and beat until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes).




Enjoy!

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Orange Delight

Sorry for the delay on the blog, just been really busy, and haven't had much time for writing, or baking anything for that matter. So todays is short, its just a recipe for a tasty little treat my grandmother always made. It was memorial day when i had a craving for this, it's a really great picnicky/bbq dessert. Its also a great dessert for people on a diet, or just cutting back on the sweets. So anyway enough rambling heres the recipe for orange delight.

Ingredients:
24 oz light & Lively cottage cheese
3 oz Orange Jello
8 oz Cool Whip; thawed (can also use light cool whip)
One 11oz can mandarin oranges; drained

Directions:
1. Mix together the cottage cheese and dry jello (do NOT add water)
2. Fold in the thawed cool whip, until incorporated
3. Fold in drained oranges
4. Chill until firm, then enjoy!



Heres some photos of it, it doesn't look that good, but don't let that stop you from making this. Its so easy, yet it's one of my favorite desserts i think.


Well thats all for today, hopefully i'll be able to do some more baking soon.
 
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