Cookie Dough Cupcakes

I am not a professional baker but I can make cake from scratch and I watch Cake Boss and Cupcake Wars so I think I can say with some authority:

Faith is a genius.

For her birthday she wanted a chocolate cake with a twist - instead of frosting between the layers, she wanted cookie dough.  That sounded good, but I was concerned that the cookie dough wouldn't spread well and that it might be a little too heavy so we talked about it and came up with . . . (drum roll please) . . . Cookie Dough Cupcakes.

I used the recipe on the back of the Ghiradelli Unsweetened Cocoa powder for the chocolate cake and frosting.  I like the Hershey's cocoa powder recipe too, but Faith wanted more of a dark chocolate flavor which Ghiradelli delivers.

We baked the cupcakes in paper liners and while they baked, I made the faux cookie dough from the Cookie Dough Brownie recipe topping.  Essentially, it has most of the ingredients of real cookie dough except for the eggs so you can eat it raw without risking salmonella poisoning.

Salmonella poisoning is a bummer.

Important tip:  Use the mini chocolate chips for the cookie dough.  The regular sized ones are just too chunky for a cup cake.

After the cupcakes had cooled, I wasn't sure what to do next.  I thought we'd have to cut out pieces of the center, but it worked better to just press holes into them with the handle of a wooden spoon (a finger would work too).

When they all had holes in them, we filled them with the cookie dough.

Faith wanted orange frosting so we made one batch of vanilla buttercream frosting that we could color, and one batch of the chocolate Ghiradelli frosting.  Of course, it's easy enough to just spread the icing on with a knife, but Faith watches all those cake shows too, and she wanted to pipe it on.

Since they were her cupcakes, I let her at it.

She did a good job, didn't she?

But of course, appearance is secondary to taste.  Really though?  How can you go wrong with chocolate cake, cookie dough and frosting?

You can't.

They were amazing.



Blueberry Lemon Cupcakes

The key to strong lemon flavor in baked goods is lemon extract.  The juice is wonderful of course, but it's high acid content can alter the product if you add too much.  If you prefer a more subtle lemon flavor, leave the extract out.

This recipe makes about a dozen, but as long as you're going to the trouble to make them you should definitely double it!

1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

10 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 large egg at room temp

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon lemon extract

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup buttermilk at room temp

1/2 cup 2% milk at room temp

1 teaspoon grated lemon rind

1 cup blueberries tossed with 1 tablespoon flour

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners or spray with baking spray.
2. Cream butter and sugar together.  Let mixer continue to run while you sift together dry ingredients.
3. Set dry ingredients aside.  Add egg to running mixer.  Combine well.
4. Add vanilla and lemon extracts.
5. Add dry ingredients alternately with milk and buttermilk, mixing after each addition until well combined.
6. Turn off mixer and stir in lemon rind and blueberries by hand.
7. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned and the centers spring back when touched.
8. Cool in pan 5 minutes before turning out onto cooling rack to cool completely.

Frosting:

2 ounces cream cheese or 1/3 less fat cream cheese, softened

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1 teaspoon grated lemon rind

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon lemon extract

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice

To prepare frosting, place cream cheese, 2 tablespoons butter, 1 teaspoon rind, vanilla, and 1/8 teaspoon salt in a bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed just until blended. Gradually add powdered sugar (do not overbeat). Stir in juice. Spread frosting evenly over cupcakes; garnish with blueberries, if desired. Store, covered, in refrigerator.

Just Your Basic, Delicious Cheesecake

For the very best cheesecake results, you have to plan ahead.  Making it the day before serving is ideal.  The ingredients need to be at room temp before baking and you have to allow it to sit for hours after baking to prevent cracks.  Your patience will be rewarded though with a creamy, luscious dessert.

For the crust:

2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 Tbsp sugar

Cheesecake:

4 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese

1 1/2 cups white sugar

3/4 cup milk

4 eggs

1 cup sour cream

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

Directions:

Important:  For best blending and to prevent cracks, take ingredients out of fridge a couple of hours ahead of time and allow them to come to room temperature before mixing.

1)  Prepare 9 inch spring from pan by wrapping bottom and sides in foil and greasing the inside well.  Preheat oven to 350.

2)  In a small bowl toss together graham crumbs, butter ans sugar.  Reserve 2 Tablespoons for garnish.  Press remaining crumb mixture onto bottom and 2 1/4 inches up sides of 9 inch springform pan.  Chill in freezer while preparing filling.

3)  In a large bowl, mix cream cheese with sugar until smooth. Blend in milk, and then mix in the eggs one at a time, mixing just enough to incorporate. Mix in sour cream, vanilla and flour until smooth. It's important not to overmix.  You don't want to create air bubbles - just a dense, creamy texture.  Pour filling into prepared crust.

4)  Place pan in a larger baking pan.  Pour hot water into outer pan until it's about 1-2 inches up the sides of the springform pan.

5)  Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Turn the oven off, and let cake cool in oven with the door closed for 5 to 6 hours; this prevents cracking. Chill in refrigerator until serving.

Coconut Cream Cake

The coconut flavor in this cake is wonderful!  And yes indeedy, this recipe from allrecipes.com does use a box mix which pretty much goes against everything I believe in but it is heavily doctored so I can rationalize.  I suppose if you're a purist, you can use a recipe for white cake in place of the mix.  The coconut flavor in this cake is wonderful!

Just don't tell me about it.  I have enough guilt in life.

1 (18.25 ounce) package white cake mix

3 eggs

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 cup water

1/2 teaspoon coconut extract

1 (14 ounce) can coconut cream (found with the drink mixers at the grocery store. It's an ingredient for Pina Coladas!)

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed

milk

1 cup heavy whipping cream*

1 tablespoon white sugar*

1 cup flaked coconut*

1)  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan or two 8 or 9 inch rounds.

2)  In a large bowl, mix together cake mix, eggs, oil, water and coconut flavoring. Beat for 2 minutes and pour into 9x13 inch pan. Bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

3)  While cake is baking, in a medium bowl, combine coconut cream with sweetened condensed milk and stir until smooth. When cake comes out of the oven, immediately poke a LOT of holes into it using a large fork, bamboo skewer or chopsticks. Pour milk mixture over, a little at a time, allowing it to soak into the cake.

Let cake set on the counter until it reaches room temp.  Then refrigerate, covered, for several hours or overnight.

4)  In a large bowl, whisk cream until soft peaks form. Add sugar and continue whipping until stiff. For a 9x13 pan, just spread over cooled cake.  Sprinkle top with flaked coconut.  For the rounds, top each one, sprinkle on the coconut and then stack as pictured. 

* If you're not in the mood to whip your own cream or the cake has to set out for a length of time and you're worried about the whipped cream melting, you can use Cool Whip.

Sour Cream Pound Cake

I found this recipe at allrecipes.com and adore it.  It is a symphony of butter, sugar, and flour.  The only change I made from the original is leaving out the mace because I don't know what the heck that is.

2 cups unsalted butter, softened

(Do not even THINK about using margarine here.  I cannot be responsible for the results if you do!)

3 cups white sugar

6 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup sour cream

1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar for

dusting

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt pan or 9 inch tube pan.

-In a large bowl, cream together the butter and white sugar until smooth.  I really take a long time at this stage.  Just let the mixer go for a while.  You'll be glad you did.

-Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each then stir in the vanilla. 

-Combine the flour baking soda,  and salt.  Mix into the batter just until smooth.  Stir in sour cream.

-Spoon batter into the prepared pan, and spread evenly.

-Bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes or until the cake starts to pull away from the sides and toothpick comes out clean.  Cool in pan for at least 10 minutes before inverting onto cooling rack.

-When cool, transfer to serving plate and dust with confectioner's sugar.