Attempting cheesecake

A good friend's birthday brought me to attempting cheesecake.  I've never been opposed, believe me, but they seem a bit fussy.  I don't typically have time for fussy.  But the moon and stars aligned and I had a Sunday with not too much to do and so, the attempt began. 

When I am unsure of something {and I really, really need it to turn out!}, I consult the Barefoot Contessa.  As I have mentioned before, she is a reliable and trustworthy kitchen friend of mine, and I do hold her dear.  Her recipe is here, and it is the one I used.

When I was investigating cheesecake tips, I kept hearing of springform pans (check) and water baths (what?).  A water bath, as I found out, is the method of placing your springform pan with cheesecake inside of a larger pan that you then fill with hot water, while all of this bakes in the oven.  It assists in even cooking.  Not too scary afterall.  The Contessa does not suggest a water bath; hmmm.  I do not typically break recipes, but I did decide to implement this technique, because so many sites online suggested it.

I was mixed over what topping to use and, in the end, decided on this one, which is just fruit with an apricot preserve on it.  The recipe over on My Baking Addiction looks great, too, and I may try hers sometime.

As it turns out, cheesecakes are fussy.  If you have to make a dessert under pressure, I would not recommend a cheesecake from scratch.  There are lots of steps, lots of time, lots of oven adjusting, lots of cooling.  If you have a calm day right before the day in which you need a fantastic dessert, then a cheescake could be the dessert for you - as they keep very well and pretty much require being made 1 day in advance. {I started mine at 2 p.m. and it wasn't fridge ready until 8 p.m. . . . and it still had to chill for a minimum of 5 hours, or preferably overnight.}  But one bite will redeem all of your hard work, trust me.  You might even have co-workers making marriage proposals for your baking skills.

Happy Birthday, lil' Monkey!

Over the holidays, my youngest nephew turned two. It was my pleasure to volunteer to make his cupcakes.  Here's why: I experience baking anxiety on a regular basis.  What? Not so much anxiety, but there's a MAJOR correlation between the expectations of the event and things going wrong on my end. Seriously. I've forgotten eggs in cakes, dropped entire brownie pans on the floor, fallen asleep while something was in the oven - you name it.

So when the expectations on me are not high (when it isn't my child or husband or event), I view that as "practice."  And that has actually been helping me. I don't have my husband's gift of being effortless in the kitchen.  Oh noooo. I'm frequently a train wreck in the most dramatic sense and I've broken down over co-workers cakes countless times.

These monkey cakes were so fun to make. They are from scratch.  The chocolate cake was amazing, Barefoot Contessa. And the chocolate icing was easy to work with and delicious. In true form, these were made shortly after Christmas (tired, overscheduled, late at night)...and after adding the hot coffee called for in the cake recipe, I turned on the blender by accident and sent the coffee splattering over every surface available, not to mention me.  Since I'm experienced at mishaps, I took a deep breath, remembered the end result, and cleaned up the mess. Whew. I'm sure Mr. Kitchen Savvy is so glad he didn't come upon me that night crying my eyes out on the kitchen floor.

Oh & monkey cupcake designs are all over the web, of course. My variety was simply large and mini vanilla wafers and tubed red and black icing for details.

Happy Birthday, Aiden!

Contessa's Cupcakes

In the world of celebrity chefs, there's a lot of choices.  Martha Stewart, of course, is a classic.  Her recipes...well, they're good pushing amazing, but they're also bit of trouble.  And sometimes hard to follow. Or they require special ingredients.  Now, that doesn't keep me from trying them over and over again.  I just have better luck with the Barefoot Contessa. Her recipes, for me, have been fail proof.  And that's what I need.  I'm a librarian; I work.  I have a family; time is short.  Cooking typically takes place during naptime or after bedtime & a full day's work. I'm almost never fully rested at either time and I'm prone to mistakes.  The Barefoot Contessa sees me through.  I still love Martha - hold her high, high in my kitchen's heart - but the Barefoot Contessa has seen me through some dark kitchen hours, and I love her, too.

The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook (incidentally with a forward by Ina's good friend Martha Stewart) was, really, one of the first cookbooks I fell in love with.  Any recipe I made was golden, and that's hard to forget.

These cupcakes are part normal cupcake and part Barefoot Contessa.  The cake itself is just a standard vanilla - you could even use a mix.  Go ahead, I don't judge & the icing will save it anyway.  The icing is the Barefoot Contessa's cream cheese icing- the one she puts on her coconut cupcakes. [Seriously, make these for your coworkers. They will love you forever and hold your baking skills in high esteem.]

Add some berries and voila - Happy Independence Day, everyone!