Category Archives: cake

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Chocolate and Ancho Chili

Who doesn’t love cheesecake? And who doesn’t love pumpkin pie? And WHO doesn’t love chocolate with a little kick to it? If you asked the same questions I asked then this just might be the dessert for you.

The recipe below has JUST enough chili powder to make you aware of it. If you want something truly spicy I would recommend getting a fresh jalapeño, finely dicing about a quarter teaspoon and adding that to the chocolate when you are cooking it.

This is for an 8″cheesecake (springform pan).

Thanks to Shawn for the photos. Ive been lazy lately…

Recipe:

1 Recipe Shortbread Pie Crust (with 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg added in).

Set aside 2 tbsp of crust for topping. Press remaining pie crust into 8inch spring form pan and bake at 350F for 7-10 minutes. Remove and let cool while you are preparing the filling.

Pumpkin Cheesecake:
1 can pureed pumpkin (15 oz)
1 package cream cheese (8 oz)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp pureed ginger
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp flour
2 eggs
1 tbsp milk

Soften the cream cheese until its room temperature. Combine all ingredients in a bowl (except eggs and milk) and mix for 45sec/ 1 min with an electric mixer on low. Add in each egg, mixing for 30 seconds after each. Mix in milk. Beat mixture on high for at least 20 seconds.

Pour mixture into crust (make sure you leave at least a 1/2 inch of room from the top of the crust) and bake at 350F for 30 minutes.

Once Cheesecake is cooked remove from oven and allow to fully cool. Refrigerate for 30 minutes before adding chocolate topping.

Chocolate:
1 package milk chocolate chips
1/4 cup condensed milk
dash ground chili pepper
1 tsp ancho chili powder
1/8 tsp salt

In saucepan on stovetop over low heat melt the milk chocolate chips. Add condensed milk, both chili powders and salt and mix until combined. Spoon to onto chilled cheesecake, spreading until entire surface of cake is covered. Place in refrigerator for 1 hour.

topping:

2 tbsp of the shortbread crust (uncooked)
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon
dash of chili pepper
1/2 tsp ancho chili powder

combine all ingredients into a small bowl. Using your hands combine all ingredients until you have a crumbly yet fine mixture. Should resemble course wet sawdust. Sprinkle the mixture on a piece of tin foil and bake at 350F for about 5 minutes. Let cool completely and sprinkle on top of chocolate mixture.

decorate with roasted pumpkin seeds and jalapeño/ancho chills and serve!

Useless cake turns into trifle!

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So, occasionally a cake i’m baking doesn’t quite leave the pan in one piece… Whenever this happens I usually turn the entire cake into a trifle. For some reason I ALWAYS seem to have a pint of heavy whipping cream in my fridge (its been really inexpensive lately, and when I run out of regular milk its a necessity for my morning coffee) so I just whip the pint into a batch of light whipped cream, rip up the cake into dice sized chunks, and with the addition of some berries (or preserves if you’re really up the creek) you can put together a very respectable desert from your disheveled/deformed cake. I like making a quick praline to give the soft cake and light cream a little contrast.

Recipe:
1-2 cakes (I seem to end up using Genoise quite a bit) torn or cubed into dice sized pieces.

1 pint heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla sugar (or half teaspoon vanilla extract)
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon corn starch

1 quart fresh berries
OR
1 Jar raspberry/blackberry/strawberry preserves

Praline (optional)
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup slivered almonds (or other favorite nut)
3 tablespoons butter (softened)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

The Whipped Cream:
place the bowl and beaters you will use to whip the cream in your freezer for 10-15 minutes before use. Pour whipping cream into bowl and beat until soft peaks first begin to form. Add in vanilla extract, sugar and corn starch and continue beating until stiff peaks form. Place in refrigerator until needed.

Praline Cooking Instructions:

In a small bowl combine brown sugar, almonds, cinnamon, ginger, and butter until it is a crumbly paste. Wrap a small cookie sheet in tin foil. spread out the praline mixture evenly across the small cookie sheet and bake for approximately 10 minutes at 400F (or until sugar appears to be melted). Remove from oven and let cool. Put in freezer for 10 minutes. Take out of freezer and gently pull away tin foil from stiff praline.

Assembly:
Divide your cake cubes into three equal piles. In a large mixing bowl (appropriate for serving) layer one pile of cubes. On top of first layer spread a small amount of whipping cream (no more than 4 tablespoons). On top of whipped cream distribute berries (or 3 tablespoons of preserves). Repeat steps until all cake and berries have been used (reserving at least 1 1/2 cups of whipped cream for the final layer). Spread final portion of whipped cream to completely cover the surface of the layers below. Set in refrigerator for 30 minutes. Once chilled crumble praline lightly on surface of the Triffle. Serve!

Lesson learned: Raspberry Cheesecake Should Taste Like Cheesecake with Raspberries

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I found these really beautiful raspberries at Costco for 2.99 a batch (I think they were technically cheaper than apples… amazing). I went ahead and bought two batches. The same night I had some out of town guests coming over for dinner so I decided I would make a very raspberry cheesecake… meaning that the cheesecake itself would be flavored with raspberry as well as the topping. After adding half a jar of seedless raspberry preserves, some extra flour and egg to stabilize the additional liquid, and a healthy dose of pomegranate molasses (to mimic the tartness of raspberries) I baked the cake (turned out texturally perfect) and added a sweet raspberry glaze and a layer of fresh berries. The cake looked awesome. The rustic crust turned out beautifully (no broken edges). And the fresh raspberries tiled nicely.

Upon serving my guests the desert (after a hearty meal of baked chicken, homemade stuffing, gravy, and salad) I was a little surprised that no one seemed to eat much of the cake. I cut myself a piece and quickly started a conversation about the Middle East.
While we dove into solving the worlds problems, I noticed something disturbing. The Cheesecake wasn’t a cheesecake anymore. In fact, it didn’t taste like anything. Somehow the raspberry, and pomegranate molasses, has merely countered the naturally sour flavor of the cream cheese…. and the result was NOTHING. it didn’t taste like raspberry, it didn’t taste like cheesecake, it tasted like soft, perfectly formed, mildly sweet, desert matter. Thank god for the raspberry glaze and fresh berries… otherwise I would have had to dish out the stand-by ice cream and fresh berries (always have a backup desert when you have guests over).

Lesson learned. Leave cheesecake to taste like cheesecake. Focus on the toppings as flavor definition (this must be why I never enjoyed chocolate cheesecake).

The Sketch Cake

Birthday Cake for Pres. Obama

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Happy Birthday pres. Obama

Some of my friends know that im not the biggest fan of the policy initiatives that have come from President Obama’s administration. However, I have nothing but interest in the man himself. So I figured I would balance out my disagreements over policy with a humble birthday cake. I brought the cake to work where many of my coworkers are, to put it mildly, Obama admirers. We were all happy.

This was a fun cake to make as it taught me how little I know about lettering a cake. I really need to practice this… and I plan to in the near term. I have a birthday cake for a friend coming this weekend. Its gonna be covered in lettering. Like, layered in it.

I used a very basic Buttermilk cake recipe for this. In lieu of elliptical cake pans (I ordered them, but they didnt quite arrive at the correct address) I decided to take two 9×13 pans and then carve out an oval shape (oval office shaped :-). THe oval itself was a little ‘off’ but I think the general idea came through (although at least one coworker questioned whether Obama was really a football fan or not).

I tried to keep the icing simple… primarily to fit within my still budding skill as an icer. All in all I think everything worked out fairly well. And the cake itself was very enjoyable.

NOTE: Pictures of me assembling cake were taken by Tony M.

Layer 1 of the cake with fresh blueberries

Layer 2 with raspberry Jam

Layer 3 with Raspberry Jam

First layer of Buttercream Frosting

Detail of Red Dot Rim

Only Fourty-Nine!

And there we go. A very humble birthday cake for an American President!

Godmund

What should I make today?