Chocolate Truffle Cheesecake

Cheesecake is wonderful.  Chocolate is wonderful.  Put both together and....there are *no words* to describe such a delectable combination!  Add some fresh whipped cream and you have the makings of a fantastic dessert:

This cheesecake contains three layers: a chocolate graham cracker crust bottom, a creamy chocolate cheesecake for the middle, and a rich chocolate ganache (the 'truffle' part) on top.  To cut the richness of the triple chocolate layers, I piped whipped cream around the outside border of the cake along with a few rows on top.  And (because I'm convinced there can never be too much chocolate) I dotted each whipped cream peak with a mini-chocolate chip.

An excellent dessert to share with friends and family!

More Red Velvets

A festive flavor and color for the Christmas season - red velvet!

Although this latest dessert order was not related to Christmas, the vibrant red colors from cupcake to liner to toppings reminded me of the upcoming holiday.  A great way to begin the final month of 2013!

From baking to boxing...

My oven has been working overtime these past few weeks, but the scrumptious smells are most welcome during this jump-start to the holiday season.  Most recently, an order for a couple of pumpkin spice cakes:

After being topped with a yummy cinnamon cream cheese frosting, they were packed up into their boxes and ready for transit:

I am very thankful for family and friends that continue to encourage and support my baking and musical endeavors.  Not too many people get to do what they love for a living and I have the pleasure of doing two of my most favorite things for a full-time job and a side job.  Happy Thanksgiving!!

UNICEF Benefit Concert

I recently had the privilege of performing in a UNICEF benefit concert:

It was a very musically satisfying evening with a couple thousand dollars raised to donate to the organization!  All of the proceeds will go to assist women and children affected by the ongoing conflicts in Syria.  After the concert, there was a reception in which I provided red velvet cake bites as part of the dessert offerings:

I coated and decorated the red velvet bites in chocolate that matched the light blue and white color scheme of UNICEF:

A tasty end to a wonderful evening of music! 

Pumpkin Spice Mini-cakes

You know it's fall when Starbucks adds their pumpkin spice lattes to their menu (I see now Dunkin' Donuts is getting in on the game, too).  Here is my dessert version of that yummy flavor: pumpkin spice cake topped with a cinnamon cream cheese frosting.  Cinnamon is one of my top two favorite spices to bake with (cardamom is the other, look for that blogpost coming soon) so you don't have to ask me twice when it comes to making a cinnamon-flavored dessert.  I was asked what gave these pumpkin spice mini-cakes their rich and creamy texture.  Part of the secret is the use of heavy cream.  The other part??  Well...that I can't reveal ;)

Transitions: Red Velvet

September is typically a month of many transitions.  School children gear up to start a new grade level, the weather here in the northeast changes from hot and humid to crisp and cool, and trees start showing hints of yellow and orange in their green leaves.  So along with these changes, it was interesting to have the opportunity to bake for two different events celebrating transitions: a farewell party and a housewarming party.  It was all about red velvet for these two gatherings.  For the farewell party, I made red velvet cupcakes spelling out a special "We Will Miss You" message:

I hand piped the letters using melted red chocolate:

For the housewarming party, I baked a double layer red velvet cake:

For both the cupcakes and the layer cake, I've experimented with a new giant sized piping tip that I ordered online.

Normally, the largest tip I use is a Wilton 1M tip that may people also use for piping roses or swirls, but a few specialty online baking supply stores carry even larger tips and I was always curious to try them.  Here's a side by side comparison, with the 1M on the left and the new giant 'closed star' tip (9CS) on the right:

As you can see, the larger tip opening creates a lot more volume and height, and for people like me who *love* frosting, this tip gives you an extra serving of the sugary stuff!

Apple Cinnamon Cupcakes

My absolute favorite cereal is Apple Cinnamon Cheerios.  I eat it nearly every day for breakfast (and sometimes as a snack at night!).  But for as much as I love that, nothing beats the combination of actual apples and cinnamon for a sweet treat.  Hence, these cupcakes.  Small delectable cubes of Granny Smith apples added to the batter of a vanilla-cinnamon cake topped with a vanilla-cinnamon buttercream.  I debated in my mind whether to garnish with raw or slightly cooked apples and decided to go for the more crunchy texture of raw apples.  I was satisfied and it was a lovely treat to enjoy with lovely company and conversation on a Saturday afternoon!  Food and friendship...both are such wonderful things!

Floral Inspirations

This birthday cake was made for a wonderful woman who is a phenomenal artist.  Her artistic talents also shine through in her love of flowers and gardening.  I sought to meld those loves into this cake.  Inside is a double layer vanilla chocolate chip cake and the outside 'ombre' design consists of piped buttercream roses.  I was glad to hear that she greatly enjoyed the colors, design, and the taste!

In keeping with the flower theme, last week I was excited to use some floral cupcake wrappers I purchased several months ago.  When I first saw them, I instantly thought they would be great to use for a British-themed tea party!  Although I have yet to either attend or host said party, I decided I'd use a few anyway and make some lemon blueberry cupcakes with a lemon cream cheese icing:

The weather has continued to be unseasonably cool, so it has been a great summer for baking!  Both myself and my buttercream have enjoyed not melting in the kitchen.  Summer is also a great time to incorporate more fruit ingredients as they are in season and taste great!  Look for another fruit addition to the blog in the next few days....

Bridal Shower Favors

I must admit that I have somewhat of a love-hate relationship with chocolate.  On one hand, who can resist its rich, delicious flavor!  On the other hand, it can be quite temperamental and difficult to work with.  This is especially true when it comes to working with chocolate in a hot or humid environment.  Thankfully, the heatwave we recently experienced had come to an end, eliminating at least one difficult factor, and allowed me to work on this most recent project: cake pop favors and chocolate covered pretzels for a bridal shower!

The color scheme for the upcoming wedding is blue and yellow, so I wanted to incorporate various tints of those two colors with the chocolate I used.  Even though the weather cooperated, I still found that I had to adjust how I heated and cooled the chocolate so it would melt and set properly on the pretzels.  Regarding the cake pops, I had a little difficulty finding a good, melted consistency for the chocolate dipping process.  The same goes for piping the white chocolate swirly design due to the small piping tip opening (compared to frosting cupcakes with much wider piping tip openings).  If the chocolate's too hot, it will drip and run all over; if the chocolate's too cool, it will clog the small tip opening and won't come out at all.  But after some trial and error, a perfect middle ground was found.  I added a white fondant flower (made ahead of time) with a silver dragée on top of each cake pop and once the design was fully set, it was ready to be wrapped!  

I placed each cake pop into individual treat bags, added some ribbon and the favor tags, and it was set to go!  The blue cake pops have chocolate chip cake inside and the yellow were a plain vanilla cake.  Here's how both the pops and pretzels looked on the dessert table:

Happy Independence Day!

Some patriotic cake bites for a 4th of July gathering.  Inside is a chocolate chip vanilla cake, but to keep with the color scheme, I used red chocolate chips that I had on hand:  

It was a hot day, but luckily nearly all were eaten before the chocolate coating melted :)

A Celebration

Fun confetti vanilla cupcakes for a Celebration Sunday service at my church.  The cake itself has multicolored sprinkles throughout, but the frosting has matching purple or yellow sprinkles for a nice sparkle effect.

Parisian Baby Shower

My dessert table for a Paris-themed baby shower.  The shower's pink, black and white colors, along with the damask pattern, were also the theme of the new baby girl's room.  Desserts ranged from vanilla and chocolate cupcakes with a vanilla buttercream frosting, chocolate covered Oreo 'rattle' pops, red velvet cake pops with a piped swirl pattern, and chocolate Eiffel Tower pops of raspberry and milk chocolate.  In the center of the collage is a close-up picture of the gum paste baby girl inside her crib that was put on top of the cake.

Salted Caramel

These cake bites were created for a birthday gift.  A vanilla caramel cake coated in semi-sweet chocolate with a homemade salted caramel drizzle.  Salty and sweet is such a good flavor combination!

Surprise Cherry Blossom Cupcakes

These double chocolate cupcakes were made for a surprise birthday party.  Since spring will be on its way, I used that as my inspiration along with the red color scheme, and selected red and pink cherry blossom cupcake liners.  The red and pink cherry blossom idea was also incorporated into the fondant flowers that top the cupcakes, with an additional white flower layer on the regular sized cupcakes to differentiate from the mini cupcakes.

Two Passions Combined

For my "day job" I am a pianist and music teacher, so I love when my passion for music can cross paths with my love of baking!  These music-themed cupcakes were made for my piano students' Winter Recital and they were a hit!  What child can pass up a classic vanilla cupcake with chocolate buttercream frosting?  And the music cupcake liners were definitely the 'icing on the cake'!