Silky Pumpkin Cheesecake

I'm BACK!!! For good!

I'm sad about the fact that as I sit down to type this entry, this whole blogging thing now seems so foreign to me. It took me a little longer this time to upload pictures because I had to spend a second trying to remember how to do so!

I'm sorry it's taken me this long to get the blog up and running again. This whole moving into a new house thing has been disastrous!! Here are all the reasons why I have been separated from my beloved blog:

(1) I packed up my entire apartment in March, prior to leaving for California for a three month work assignment, assuming that when I returned to Seattle in June, we'd be all moved into our house...
(2) wishful thinking. Not only was construction delayed, I came home to see that there was a giant gaping hole in my new kitchen's ceiling, among other things. Not only did we NOT get to move into the new house in May, now all my kitchen stuff was packed and we kept thinking, "oh it'll be another week." So I couldn't bring myself to unpack all the stuff I worked for DAYS to pack.
(3) Our fridge in our apartment broke (for the third time in two months). Along the same lines as the unpacking thing, we kept thinking that it wouldn't be much longer, so we didn't bother to fix it. We ended up eating out for four consecutive months. Three meals a day, seven days a week. I hadn't stepped foot into a kitchen at that point for six consecutive months. It was killing me. I was dying a slow painful death on the inside from not being able to bake or cook. Or use my glorious kitchenaid mixer.
(4) We finally moved in at the end of September. Hurray! Then it's taken me about a month and a half to unpack, set up my kitchen, acquire new furniture, start blogging, etc.

So needless to say, it's been quite the adventure. But now I'm back for good! I've got a GIANT kitchen now. It's glorious! Just the center island alone is 6ft by 7ft! With it's own built in sink, no less. And I've got TWO ovens. Yesss! I don't know how I ever lived with one before. It feels SO good to be back! To be in a kitchen again! To be cooking and baking again! To be back in my natural habitat.

Silky Pumpkin Cheesecake

So I was feeling super ambitious. My first kitchen adventure in almost EIGHT months had to be a good one. Last year, I was so excited about Patricia's pumpkin cheesecake, that I ran out and immediately acquired the cookbook. Ever since seeing it on her blog, it's been at the top of my to-do list. This was the perfect "welcome back to the kitchen" recipe.

Make sure you make this a day in advance because it needs to chill in the fridge overnight.

(1) The Gingersnap Crust

The crust is super easy to make. You'll need gingersnap cookies, pecans, sugar, and butter. You can find gingersnap cookies at your local grocery store. The recipe called for toasted pecans, but I bought the candied ones, which worked out awesome! Candied pecans are simply irresistible.

Break up the gingersnaps and grind in the food processor until it becomes a fine crumb. I found that it was easier if you did a small handful at a time. Add the pecans, sugar, and a pinch of salt to the food processor and pulse a few times until all of it becomes incorporated.

Then, add melted butter and pulse for a few seconds.


Pour the contents into a greased 9 inch spring form pan.


Press the crumbs into the pan and up the sides. Done! Set aside.


(3) The Pumpkin Cheesecake Filling

You'll need Turbinado sugar. I didn't know what this was prior to going to the grocery store. I just copied it down from the recipe and blindly went looking for it in the baking aisle. To my surprise, it was right next to the regular sugars. Basically, from what I can tell, the only difference is that it's more course and granular than regular sugar. Plus, it's um.. not white. lol. Very scientific, eh? =)

Anyway, heat up the sugar and pumpkin puree in a small saucepan.


It'll get super shiny!

Then comes the easy part. You basically dump everything into the food processor and let it work its magic. Barely any effort involved!

In goes the pumpkin mixture, cream, cream cheese, eggs, egg yolks...


...and it comes out super smooth!


Pour it into your awaiting crust.

Now comes the tricky part, which I completely forgot to take pictures of! Great! In my defense, it was my first time back in the kitchen, so I was off my game a bit.

Ok, so you'll need to cover the sides of the pan with aluminum foil, and then place it in a water bath. You'll need a slightly larger pan to place it in and fill it up with about 1 inch of water. I didn't have a larger roasting pan, so I used my super large dutch oven, which worked perfectly. Um, word of advice: CAREFULLY place the pan into the oven and CAREFULLY take it out. Because splashing water onto your cheesecake would be bad. Not that I would know from experience or anything. *cough, cough* Moving on...

Bake it, let it cool, put it in the fridge overnight, un-mold it.

The recipe made the unmolding process seem like it was a super big deal. And I totally tried the hot towel thing at first, then thought, "screw this. it's way too complicated." Then I took a knife and ran it along the inside of the cake pan. Perfect.

It came out just fine, didn't it? =)


Smother it with caramel sauce.


Don't forget the whipped cream!


And more caramel sauce.


Devour!

OH. EM. GEE. This cheesecake was the most amazing cheesecake in the history of cheesecakes! Hubby, who usually hates cheesecakes, told me specifically that I wasn't allowed to give any of it away because he was going to eat it all!

It was smooth and silky...and surprisingly light on the palate, which is amazingly unusual when you're talking about cheesecake. I did end up giving some of it away and every one who tried it was equally as impressed by it!

This would be the perfect addition to the thanksgiving dessert table! I'm already planning on adding it to my line up this year. It should be a thanksgiving tradition in every household - right up there with pumpkin pie and stuffing. Seriously. It's just THAT good.

CLICK HERE for the recipe.

Red Velvet White Chocolate Cheesecake

I have a confession. One that I'm slightly ashamed to admit. Ok here goes: I've never baked an actual cake. (The mini ones don't count. Small ones are super easy to frost and decorate.)

There, I said it. Feels good to have gotten that one off my chest! lol.


As you all know, I have an obsession with cupcakes. I think that was a huge contributing factor. I've been thinking for a while now that I would try my hand at this cake baking thing, but I kept putting it off.

The thought of finally attempting to bake and decorate a cake was just so daunting. I mean, what if it turns out dry? And how the heck do you frost a cake so that it looks completely smooth and clean? Yes, it was fear of failure that kept me from attempting it. I thought that I would take a cake decorating class first. I looked up several classes in the area, but could never commit to an entire series. Hence, the procrastination.

But two things happened recently that acted as a catalyst to kick my butt into gear: (1) I had the most amazing Red Velvet Cheesecake at Cheesecake factory and (2) I convinced myself that a true domestic goddess would know how to bake and decorate a cake. I mean, the Queen Domestic Goddess herself, Martha, would never shy away from a baking task purely because it was daunting. No. In fact, I'm sure she would embrace it and triumph! True domestic goddesses would have some mad cake decorating skillz!

Ok, more about this new Red Velvet Cheesecake at Cheesecake Factory. At first, I was a bit skeptical about ordering it. It seemed like it would be super sweet and rich. But no, it was amazing. Simply divine. Hubby and I are rarely able to finish an entire order of cheesecake at CF, but every single time we've ordered it, we devoured the entire thing.

I couldn't stop thinking about it. So I made up my mind that my first cake baking experience would be to replicate this amazing beauty! It presented itself as a worthy challenge for an aspiring domestic goddess!

I researched recipes for Red Velvet cake and Cheesecake for literally a month, before even attempting to bake anything. I must've read several dozen recipes for each, before settling on a handful to test. I tested four recipes before finally finding the two winning ones. Of the four that I tested, two were cheesecake recipes, and two were red velvet. They didn't turn out to my liking- sometimes the cake wasn't moist enough, or didn't have enough flavor. The cheesecakes either turned out too soft in texture or was too rich and sugary.

But after tasting these two, I knew they were perfect: (1) a Red Velvet cupcake recipe from Martha's cupcake book, and (2) A heavily modified WS White Chocolate Cheesecake Recipe.

(1) The Red Velvet Cake

Combine the dry ingredients and mix together well. As I mentioned in a previous post, I always use a super high quality cocoa powder: Ghirardelli. It really makes a difference in the flavor of your end product.

Combine the wet ingredients: oil, eggs, vanilla....

...and of course, red gel-paste food coloring. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of buttermilk. Lastly, stir together baking soda and vinegar in a small bowl- they will fizz and bubble, add it to the batter and mix well.


Divide the batter evenly between two parchment paper-lined 9 inch spring form pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until a knife comes out clean. When done, set aside to cool completely.

(2) The White Chocolate Cheesecake

Melt 2 oz of white baking chocolate. Set aside to slightly cool.



Beat sugar and cream cheese until smooth and creamy.

Mix in flour, eggs, vanilla, and the melted white chocolate. Beat until completely smooth and well blended.

Pour all the batter into a single parchment lined 9 inch spring form pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until the center has set. Allow the cheesecake to cool completely. (At Cheesecake Factory, they have two layers of Red Velvet and two layers of cheesecake, but I decided to do one thick middle layer of cheesecake, as opposed to two thinner ones. Feel free to double the recipe if you'd like four layers total.)

(3) The Cream Cheese Frosting

Ok so, I toyed with what kind of frosting to use for a good long while. Traditionally, Red Velvet cake is paired with cream cheese frosting, as did the one at Cheesecake Factory. I really dislike super sweet frosting, so I thought about using a lighter-on-the-sugar-and-palate Swiss Meringue Buttercream. But since I was replicating the one at Cheesecake Factory, I decided to stick with the original frosting. However, as a good compromise, I cut down the sugar by a lot. The cake and cheesecake layers already has sugar in it, so I didn't want to add a super sweet cream cheese frosting to drown out the flavors of the cake itself.


Usually you use about 2-3 cups of powdered sugar for one 8 oz package of cream cheese. However, in my recipe, I used a 1 to 1 ratio (3 cups of powdered sugar w/ 3 packages of cream cheese). If you are a big fan of cream cheese frosting, I suggest tasting the frosting as you're making it to adjust it to your liking. You might want to add more sugar than I did. Feel free to use your favorite cream cheese frosting recipe if you have a go-to one. =)

(4) The Daunting Task of Frosting and Decorating the Cake

This was the part that I was afraid of the most! I was totally stressing over whether or not I could decorate a cake and make it look flawless.

I bought a cake leveler and tried to trim the cake as best as I could. I ended up wasting a lot of it! My cake layers turned out to be way thinner than the actual cake when I pulled it out of the oven. Oh well, practice makes perfect, I guess. At least it was level! hehe.


I took a deep breath and went for it. First up: a bit of frosting on the first layer, before applying the cheesecake layer.


Alright, so far so good. Got all the layers together and frosted the middle between each layer! That was the easy part, but...


...it proved to be super difficult to get the icing around the cake to be smooth. How do people do it?? Tips anyone? I kept picking up pieces of red cake, which stuck out like a sore thumb on my white frosting! I had to layer it on thicker and thicker to try to get rid of them and to try to smooth out the "wrinkles!" It was hard work. Took me forever. I bet Martha could frost a perfect cake in couple of minutes..


Ta-DA! My very first cake!! I think it turned out quite well! I piped some flowers around the edges and garnished them with some cute white chocolate chips. Not bad for an amateur, eh?


The cake was so gorgeous when we cut into it! This would be a beautiful dessert to have for a holiday party or a Christmas dinner! Wow! I was so proud of myself for pulling this one off! Took me all day to do it, but it turned out fantastic! What do you guys think? =)

Ok, here are a few things about the cake:

(1) SO incredibly delicious! Everyone who tried it was amazed by the fantastic flavor of the red velvet with the white chocolate cheesecake. The cake was super moist and flavorful, while the cheesecake was subtly sweet and had a really nice, dense and creamy texture. The flavors complimented perfectly! It doesn't taste exactly like the one at Cheesecake Factory, but it was still pretty damn good- as delicious as the original one. =)

(2) When the cake is fully assembled, refrigerate overnight. The cheesecake needs time to set- that's when you'll get the best texture and flavor. Serve immediately after taking it out of the fridge. This is one of the rare times when cake tastes the best when it's chilled.

(3) So about the cream cheese frosting... it wasn't super sweet, so it didn't over power the cake like a normal cream cheese frosting would. However, next time when I make this, I will definitely try using a lighter, more mild Swiss or Italian Meringue buttercream. Since the flavors of the red velvet and the white chocolate cheesecake are so delicious and unique, the buttercream that goes with it should be muted, so that you can really enjoy the flavors of the cake itself. But if you're a big fan of cream cheese frosting, please try it with this cake! Some of my friends who tried this cake loved it with the frosting- I think it was because they were fans of cream cheese frosting in general.

Anyway, all in all, this cake adventure from beginning to end was a huge success! Aside from the cake being super beautiful and photogenic, it was also incredibly delicious, which is all that matters in the end anyway. It's me and Hubby's new favorite cake! Give this a try and let me know how you like it! I'm so excited to be sharing this super unique recipe with all of you! =)


Recipes from this entry:

Red Velvet Cake
White Chocolate Cheesecake
Cream Cheese Frosting

Click HERE to view all recipes.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Brownie Bars

Truth be told, I really didn't want to feature these on my blog at first.

I've seen these bars everywhere. Every other person who owns a food blog has already featured them. It's my goal to be innovative and creative with what I post, so that people can get fresh and exciting ideas/recipes from my blog. So I told myself that it was absolutely out of the question to give these a try. But every time I saw them featured, my mouth watered and I wanted so badly to try them...I really had to restrain myself. Many of my readers are huge foodies and frequent sites like Tastespotting, so I knew that this would be a "repeat" for them.

But remember last week when I wrote about being all up in a panic because my Pumpkin Pecan Pie was ugly? Well, during the several days when I struggled with my inner turmoil (of whether or not to post those ugly pictures), I decided to give this recipe a try. It would be my "back up pumpkin recipe," should my personality disorders triumph. (If this doesn't make any sense to you, read the Pumpkin Pecan entry. hehe)

And it really didn't help that I kept seeing them. They were sooo gorgeous and I was all up in a panic about pumpkin recipes, so I totally caved. Anyway, Hubby's a big chocoholic, so I wanted him to be able to try them.

They turned out really well! They were SO photogenic. And you know how much I love them pretty food pictures... =)


Whenever I bake anything chocolatey that calls for cocoa powder, I always use Ghirardelli. It's the best and it really brings out the flavor of your brownie/cake/whatever. You'll get a super deep and rich dark chocolate flavor. Good quality ingredients will make a huge difference in your end product.

First, make the brownie batter. mmmm...so chocolatey and delicious!


Spread it into your pan as the bottom layer. Reserve 1/3 of the batter.

Next, make the pumpkin cheesecake batter. Slowly pour it over the brownie batter in the pan.


Scoop the rest of the brownie batter over the cheesecake layer in small dollops throughout the pan.


Run a knife horizontally across the pan, in rows. Then run it vertically across the pan, in columns. Repeat to make more swirls.

Bake at 350 degrees, for 40 minutes. Refrigerate before serving.

I tried these when it was warm-ish, and then when it was completely chilled. Beantown Baker says that the flavor really comes through when it's chilled. But I preferred them when it was still gooey and warm. When we ate them the next day, we microwaved them. Soooooo yummy!

I cut them into tiny bit sized pieces, and put some poison toothpicks in them.

They're perfect for a Halloween party!

After I decided on featuring the Pumpkin Pecan Pie, I thought that I would just scrap this recipe and leave it out of the blog. But I really couldn't help myself because the brownies were so delicious and the pictures were so beautiful! Anyway, to those of you who have already seen this recipe featured, I apologize. But at least the pretty pictures provided a little bit of entertainment, right? =)



Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake Brownies
Click HERE for the recipe.

Blueberry Cheesecake with Hazelnut Crust

I love cheesecake and can never resist when dining at The Cheesecake Factory. I've tried just about every cheesecake on their menu!


As much as I love it, I've never tried my hand at it. So when I saw an awesome recipe for blueberry cheesecake bars with a hazelnut crust, I was super excited and had to try it at once! This recipe is from my new Williams Sonoma Baking cookbook, which is absolutely the best authority on sweet treats!

Peeled, skinned, and chopped hazelnuts, flour, sugar, & butter: ingredients for the best crust ever!

Mix ingredients in a food processor- the best and easiest way to go when making any kind of crust. Pour into a buttered 9x9 pan.

Press crust into the pan; 1 inch up the sides. Bake crust until golden brown. Set aside until the cheesecake batter is ready to go.


And now for the cheesecake batter. First beat the sugar and cream cheese.


The sugar and cream cheese batter will be creamy and shiny! Add eggs, one at a time.

After all the eggs are incorporated, the batter will be super smooth!

And now for the blueberries! I almost always weigh everything out when I bake now a days. I find that it makes everything easier. I like it better than measuring everything out with spoons and cups. Also, it's more accurate. You can never be too accurate when you're baking! =) Super helpful to have one of these scales around the house.

Fold in the blueberries.

Pour into the pre-baked crust and bake for 30-35 minutes, until the middle is set.


So...the recipe says to loosen the crust and transfer it to a wire rack to cool. But I seriously tried for like 20 minutes to get it out of the pan and couldn't. I tired everything! I even tried using my super giant pancake spatula, to no avail! So I gave up and left it in the pan, covered it up, and stuck it in the fridge to cool. After being chilled for the proper amount of time, it came out super easily!



The crust was SO amazing! Jing took some to work and his co-workers really enjoyed it. Apparently, the crust got a lot of attention! I love corner pieces, they're the best!

I couldn't decide how to serve the cheesecake, so I tried a few different ways! Here, I cut them into small, 1 inch bites. So cute! Great to serve as finger food at a party.


I made these into little individual cheesecakes. I used a round cookie cutter, 3 inches in diameter. These would be great to serve as dessert for dinner.


Lastly, I cut them into square bars! I really can't decide which way is my favorite! They're all so cute! =)

Recipe:

Blueberry Cheesecake Bars with Hazelnut Crust
Essentials of Baking, Williams Sonoma, p. 56

For the crust:
1 1/4 (6.5 oz) cups all purpose flour
1/3 (3 oz) cup sugar
3/4 (3 oz) cup toasted, skinned, and finely chopped hazelnuts
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 (4 oz) cold unsalted butter, cut into 3/4- inch pieces

For the filling:
1 pound of cream cheese, at room temp
3/4 (6 oz) cup sugar
2 Tbsp all purpose flour
3 large eggs, at room temp
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
1 1/2 cups (6 oz) blueberries

Position a rack in the middle of the oven, and preheat to 325 degrees. Butter a 9x9 square baking pan.

In a food processor: to make the crust, combine the flour, sugar, hazelnuts, and salt and pulse 2-3 times to mix. Add the butter and pulse 8-10 times until the mixture forms large, coarse crumbs the size of small peas.

Press crust mixture into the bottom and 1 inch up the sides of the prepared pan. Bake crust until golden and the top looks dry and firm, 15-20 minutes. set aside.

To make the filling, in a large bowl, combine the cream cheese and sugar and beat together until blended and smooth. Stir in flour until blended. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition until the batter is smooth. Stir in the cream and vanilla and almond extracts and stir until incorporated. Gently fold in the blueberries. Pour the batter into the prepared crust.

Bake until the center is set when you give the pan a gentle shake, 30-35 minutes. Remove from oven and using a small knife, loosten the warm cheesecake square form the sides of the pan. Let cool on a wire rack for 1 hour. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled, at least 3 hours or over night.