Oreo Cheesecake Cupcakes

Who doesn't like cheesecake?  OK, a lot of people don't like cheesecake, but I just don't get it.  How could you not like cheesecake?  I love cheesecake, and my niece and my kids LOVE oreos, so I decided to make these individual cheesecakes for our Easter celebration.

How easy are these cupcakes?!?  Instead of having to make a crumb crust and pushing into the bottom of a springform pan, I just put one whole oreo on the bottom of each cupcake paper.  I even did these in mini cupcakes for my daughter's snack at school.  I just used mini oreos.  You could use any old recipe for cheesecake that you like and add some crushed cookies in it.  As with all cheesecakes, I baked them at a low temperature.  And, I kept them in the muffin pans in the fridge until they were completely cool.  They came out of the paper nicely and made around 3 dozen full size cupcakes.  The kids loved them!

Baking a cheesecake can be a bit tricky.  In my experience, baking at a low temperature is the best.  I tend to go anywhere between 275° to 325° depending on the particular cheesecake.  For a whole cheesecake, I always use a water bath.  To find out more about baking with a water bath, click here.  You do not want to overbake your cheesecake, but you certainly don't want to underbake it either.  Essentially, cheesecakes are baked custards which can be tricky to tell when they are done.  I always take mine out when they edges are set with tiny cracks forming around the outside edges while the center is still jiggly.  With a little practice, you will know precisely when to take it out :)

Caillou Cake

I was actually asked to make a cake for a kid's birthday party where I knew the character!  Caillou!!!  This little boy was turning 4 and wanted a Caillou cake.  

I made a monkey cake in January for this little boy's older brother.  We decided to do the same thing for this cake which was one layer of white almond cake, one layer of chocolate cake and french buttercream.  The birthday boy's favorite color is red, so I decorated the cake with red.  I used fondant to replicate Caillou.  I was pretty happy with the results.  

I have learned over the years of making cakes that if you want to do two different flavors of cake, you will most likely end up cutting a majority of people two pieces of cake instead of just one because everyone wants to taste both.  Then, a lot of cake is wasted because not everyone can finish both pieces of cake.  Instead of doing cakes half white and half chocolate, for instance, I prefer to do the two different flavors layered on top of one another.  That way, everyone gets a small piece of both in their one single slice.  This makes for less waste.  

Monster High Cake

I made this Monster High cake for a little girl who was turning 4.  Again, I had no clue what in the world Monster High was, so I had to look it up.  Like I have said, I do have 2 little girls, but I am so out of it when it comes to what's popular with kids.

Upon searching for Monster High, I found the Monster High logo and decided to replicate that on fondant as the centerpiece for the cake.  The actual logo did take me some time to complete.  I used a variety of techniques to complete it too.  I cut out the fondant to the correct shape.  I used paint brushes to paint it and used a pastry bag to pipe on it.  I let it sit for a while to stiffen up before moving it onto the cake.  After painting on the fondant, it can get a bit soft.  I used pink and black for the icing colors atop a cake that was half chocolate and half white almond.  I got to actually attend this birthday party, and the cake was a huge hit!  Someone ended up spilling almost an entire pitcher of water on the cake after it was served, though.  L:uckily, I think it was pretty well salvaged.

You have to be careful when adding certain colors to icing.  Reds and purples can really alter the flavor of icing.  You can buy what is called "no taste red,' but even that can leave you with a not quite right taste.  Even hot pinks and purples can really affect the flavor.  So, if using colors in the red/purple family, use a deft hand and keep tasting the icing to make sure it doesn't get an "off" flavor.

Chocolate PB Grahamwiches (Recipe Included)

My mom made these for us when we were younger, and I always loved them.  I thought about them recently and realized that my kids would love them too!  They are super easy and quite tasty!

So, anyone that knows me knows that when I want chocolate pudding, I make it from scratch.  It is not like me to buy a box of pudding mix.  However, I will use a pudding mix as a component in another recipe on occasion.  This is one of those occasions.  I love these tasty little frozen treats and so do my kids.  They are super easy to make too!  If you read my blog regularly, you know that I like to use natural peanut butter when I bake.  You end up with less sugar in the final product, and it tastes more peanut buttery to me.  This is no exception.  The pudding mix is so sweet, there is no need to add more sugar in the peanut butter.  I purchased the graham crackers to make these, but in the future, I plan to make my own graham crackers.  I will be sure to post about that when I do :)

Graham crackers came about in 1829 and were developed by a Presbyterian minister, Sylvester Graham.  They are made with graham flour which is a combination of finely ground white flour and coarse-ground wheat bran and germ.

Chocolate PB Grahamwiches
1 1/2 c milk
1/2 c peanut butter
1 small pkg instant chocolate pudding
1 box graham crackers

Mix the milk, peanut butter, and pudding mix until well blended.  Spread between two graham crackers.  Wrap individually with plastic wrap and freeze.

Swimming Pool Cake

I actually made this cake a while ago for a girl who was turning 12, I believe.  She loves to swim and even helps out at the local aqua club with teaching the younger students.  So, she chose to have a swimming pool cake for her party :)

We did a small 1/4 sheet cake which feeds about 16-20 people for the birthday girl's bowling party.  Her mom and her brought me a picture of a cake similar to the one that I did for me to duplicate.  Using fondant, I molded some people with swimming caps mid-stroke.  I used mini m&ms to divide the lanes in the pool.  I think it was super cute!

Just as an FYI, I never freeze any of my products.  Everything that I bake is fresh made to order.  I feel that freezing a baked good, thawing it, then selling it compromises the quality of the item itself.  So you can rest assured that anything that you order from me, be it cake, cookies, or pie, was made fresh for you the day before or the day of your order.

PIGDA Cakes

I recently made three cakes for an event for the Pittsburgh IGDA.  It was the annual Global Game Jam.  My husband and kids left for the day, and I got to baking!  

I made three different half sheet cakes.  One was white with vanilla flavoring, the second was white with almond, and the third was chocolate.  They all were topped with my French buttercream.  I decorated them with the theme from the Game Jam and the PIGDA logo using fondant.  It took me all day, but I was quite happy with the results as were my clients.

So, fondant is not super popular for its taste.  It just isn't very good no matter how you look at it.  So, instead of covering your cake in fondant, use the icing that you like to use and like the taste of.  Fondant is super great to make specific decorations though.  I find it to be difficult and time consuming to pipe each decoration, fill it in with icing, then smooth the icing.  It is much easier to just cut the design that you want out of fondant, then pipe on it if necessary.  It takes some practice, but I assure you, if you played with play doh as a child, you can do it!

Granola Bars (Recipe Included)

I had a Valentine's day party to go to last week with our friends.  I did not really feel like making anything but realized that I had all the ingredients for homemade granola bars.  I had been wanting to try this recipe for years now.  It seemed like the perfect opportunity!

Recently when I have gone to the store in search of snacks for my kids, I am often disappointed in the variety of granola bars.  I have found some good ones in the past for my kids but have not seen them recently.  Most of the granola bars geared for kids have high fructose corn syrup and/or hydrogenated oil.  No thank you!  Most of the healthier ones have big, huge chunks of almonds or peanuts that I am afraid my little one couldn't handle.  It dawned on me last time while searching through this constantly disappointing aisle that I had been given a recipe by a dear, old friend of mine years ago.  She had always made them for her grandchildren, and they LOVED them.  The great thing about this recipe is that you could tweak them to your liking.  I used, of course, oats and crisp rice cereal as a base.  I included in mine coconut, peanuts that had been chopped very finely, a very small amount of chocolate chips, and lots of raisins.  Marshmallows and peanut butter were the binders.  Next time I make them, I may decide to change it up a bit, maybe using white chocolate and craisins.  My kids loved them, and I felt that they were much healthier than the ones you buy at the store.  Plus, they were super easy to make!

A great tip in cutting down on sugar content in your baked goods that include peanut butter is by using natural peanut butter.  There is a lot of added sugar in regular peanut butter, and I have found that it really doesn't make much of a difference in the resulting product.  In fact, if anything, I have found that it enhances the product because it lends more of a natural, peanutty flavor.

Granola Bars
2 1/2 c quick oats
2 c crisp rice cereal
1/4 c coconut
1 1/2 c raisins
1 c peanuts, chopped
1/4-1/2 c chips (whichever flavor you like or have on hand)
1/2 c butter
1/2 c peanut butter
1- 10 oz pkg marshmallows

Mix all the dry ingredients together.  Melt butter, blend in peanut butter until smooth.  Add marshmallows and stir until melted.  Fold into dry ingredients.  Press into buttered 9x13 pan.  Score, cool, cut.