New Chapter Cheesecake

Last week I made this amazing cheesecake. It was simply perfect, and so easy to make. Cheesecake seems to be my go-to dessert. I absolutely love it and there are so many variations that it’s never boring. (Like my bacon brown sugar cheesecake.)

For this one I started out with unsweetened shredded coconut for the crust. Just layer it on the bottom of a springform pan until it’s covered. Then I made the cheesecake part of a Philadelphia cheesecake.

Once the cheesecake was cooled I made the dark chocolate ganache. Place 12 ounces (one bag) of dark chocolate chips in a medium bowl. Bring 3/4 cup whipping cream to a boil over medium heat, then pour over chocolate. Let sit and stir. Once all the chocolate is melted and you have a smooth texture pour the ganache over the cheesecake and allow to cool in the refrigerator until it is hardened.

For the blueberries, heat 2 cups of frozen blueberries in a pan with 1/4 cup white sugar. Until the juice begins to bubble. Refrigerate until cool (or eat warm if you like). Then dollop on top of the cheesecake and enjoy.

The cheesecake was so good we ate it in three days. Oops! So worth it though. 🙂

What’s your go-to dessert?

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Chocolate Orange Cake

The holiday season is officially upon us! What better way to begin celebrating than by combining the chocolate and orange flavors into a delicious dessert? I’ve captured that classic chocolate orange taste and turned it into a cake.

The past few weeks have been incredibly busy for me and I haven’t had much time in the kitchen. December is such a hectic, wonderful time of year! I hope to really dive into that holiday baking in the next couple weeks, but for now this cake will do quite well.

 

To make the cake you’ll need:

• two boxes chocolate cake mix and the ingredients to make them (I used Glutino chocolate cake, each box made one round cake)
• 1 tsp orange extract (1/2 tsp per cake)

Make the cake as usual, but add the teaspoon of orange extract. The Glutino cake calls for vanilla extract, but I just used the orange extract instead. Divide the batter into 2 round cake pans and bake as directed. Allow to cool completely.

 

The frosting is a wonderful piped chocolate orange ganache.

For the frosting:

• 2 Cups whipping cream
• 2 (12 oz) bags chocolate chips
• 1-2 tsps orange extract

Heat the whipping cream until it nearly boils. Place chocolate chips in a bowl and pour the hot cream over them. Let stand for a few minutes, then mix until thoroughly combined and smooth. Add the orange extract and stir. Refrigerate until it is somewhat solid and can hold its shape.

 

Once the cake is cooled, frost as desired. I added tangerine slices to the top of mine; orange candy slices could also be a wonderful addition!

I hope you enjoy!

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Gluten-Free Almond Joy Cupcakes

Happy Friday, everyone!

And happy anniversary to Fiesta Friday!

Today I have something a little special for you. Gluten-Free Almond Joy Cupcakes.

These have the perfect balance between a sweet, sugary top and a milder cake.

For the base I used this cupcake recipe, and just substituted 1 1/2 tsp almond extract for the vanilla.

Start by lining your muffin tins.

Cream the butter and sugar.

After adding the eggs…

And the rest of the ingredients.

Take a large spoon and scoop batter into lined muffin tins.

Then bake.

The lovely finished cupcakes…

Then, as the cupcakes cool, mix together 2 cups shredded coconut, 6 Tbls (1/4 C+ 1/8 C) sweetened condensed milk, and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract in a medium sized bowl.

Scoop spoonfuls of the coconut mix onto cooled cupcakes and press gently with the palm of your (clean) hand to get the coconut to stick and spread out.

Do this until all the cupcakes are topped with coconut.

Make chocolate ganache by heating 3/4 cup whipping cream on medium heat until almost boiled. Mix in a 12 oz bag of dark chocolate chips. (Sorry for not having pictures of the ganache.) Remove from heat, and stir until chocolate is melted.

Dollop ganache over coconut, and spread just enough that it starts to drip over edges.

Top with sliced or slivered almonds, and enjoy!

Of course, I’m sharing these with my friends over at Fiesta Friday. Why don’t you go whip some up and share them with some friends of yours? They’re bound to love it!

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone! 🙂

How I Failed Friday

Welcome to the pessimistic portion of this blog! How I failed Friday. Now, this wasn’t something I was planning on, but it happened to work out that way.

I was thinking on Friday that a cake sounded really good. So I decided to make a brownie, pudding, ganache, cake-like thing… With raspberry sauce and whipped cream on top.

It went… not exactly as planned. First, I burned the brownies. Then I ended up having to cut all the edges off because of it. Still tasted good, it was just incredibly hard.

The pudding was too thick… Not even sure what happened there, I may have cooked it too long…

The ganache was amazing, as were the raspberries and whipped cream.

The thing is, it wasn’t pretty. But just because something isn’t pretty doesn’t mean we failed. As long as we always learn from our mistakes, there really isn’t such a thing as failure. Maybe a failed attempt at perfection… But is perfection something that any of us can really ever have anyway?

I learned that next time, I need to cook the brownies for a shorter time (maybe the pudding too). And I’ll also make two layers of brownies instead of trying to cut a single one in half. It also reaffirmed my idea that baking isn’t really for me… But I’ll try it anyway!

Then there’s also this: I’ve been reading Start by Jon Acuff. Just the other day I got to the part where he says, “This too shall post.” I had decided to post about this failed attempt at a perfect dessert before I read it, but it’s still a powerful reminder to be open and share our weaknesses and failings as well as our success.

If we learn how not to do something, why not use that to share with others, or to better ourselves for the next time an opportunity arises?

It’s also important to be willing to get up, dust ourselves off and try again when we’ve approached what seems like a failure. I’m going to try this brownie cake again. And I’m going to do better next time… And hopefully have a recipe to post. And… If I don’t, I guess I’ll have another post to share with you on the importance of “try try again.”

Here are some pictures of my beautiful brownie cake. Nailed it!

 

 

I really can’t contain myself! Cracking up at those photos. I hope you were able to get a laugh out of them as well.

So there’s my how I failed Friday. I guess it wasn’t so negative after all. Mistakes are an opportunity to grow, not an excuse for self-deprecating thoughts, comments or actions. What mistakes have you made recently that have actually served to be a learning experience? Let me know in the comments!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone! I’ll see you on Monday!