Banana Cream Cheesecake

In your failed quest to find a recipe to duplicate the Cheesecake Factory’s Lemon Raspberry Cheesecake, you will stumble across this recipe and decide to give it a try for Sabrin.

The texture is not like the cheesecake factory’s. This one is much denser but still yummy. The flavor is a wonderful balance of banana and cream. Top it off with fresh whipped cream. This recipe is missing that luscious bavarian cream.

The crust is great because it uses vanilla oreos and gives it that banana cream pie flavor. For the crust: use 1 cup of crushed vanilla oreos and 2-2 ½ tablespoons of melted butter.

I topped my cheesecake with both fresh and caramelized bananas.

Frozen Key Lime Pie - Fail

I overlooked the word frozen. Who eats a key lime pie completely frozen? I would not make this again. It has to stay frozen or it turns into goop. A frozen crust is not tasty. A frozen pie is not creamy. The flavor was not great either- too limey, too bitter, too tart, not sweet. I guess Ina Garten likes her key lime pie in popsicle form.

Fried Oreos

Golden Oreos dipped in pancake batter, fried, then, dusted with powdered sugar when still warm.

I had always wanted to try these. Rabbia and Samrena would constantly talk about them, so I finally made them. They taste just like a donut! Like a mini donut.

Paula Deen's Cake

I’ve heard many names for this cake. Paula Deen really sold it because that’s when I decided to make it. Actually, watching her show always has that effect.

Yellow cake filled with vanilla pudding, crushed pineapple and homemade whipped cream, topped with coconut and walnuts, and frosted with a cream cheese buttercream.

Tiramisu - Two Ways

I had been holding it off long enough- attempting my first tiramisu. It’s about time! But with so many recipes out there, which to choose from? So I decided to start with the face of Italian elegance- Giada De Laurentiis. I made both of her recipes at the same time to taste them side by side and see which one I like better.  

Giada's Chocolate Tiramisu has five stars and 118 reviews. It has a light chocolate flavor. The filling was lighter and fluffier than the proceeding recipe, and a lighter coffee flavor. Basically, it was a lighter version, and didn’t really taste like your classic tiramisu you’d eat at a fancy restaurant. Then again, I omitted the Marsala but I don’t think that would have helped the texture.






Giada's Tiramisu has four stars and 199 reviews. This one tasted more authentic. I loved how you could still taste the sweetened mascarpone because it wasn’t flavored with chocolate. Instead of rum, I used a combination of vanilla and almond extract. It had great flavor. This tiramisu was a little denser.


Here’s what the recipes did not tell me: they both taste 200 times better after 48 hours. In fact, I didn’t like them at all when trying them for the first time. They had chilled for probably about 8 hours. The next day, the flavors melded more and it tasted better. Finally, the next day, when there was only one little piece left to try- yum.

Vanilla Bean and Chocolate Mousse

Chocolate Box calls this recipe Chocolate and Vanilla Creams. That’s fine, but what does that mean? Its not whipped cream. And it’s not exactly mousse either because it’s not light and airy like mousse. But it deserves a suave name like mousse.

It looks like pudding but it’s much more decadent. It's heavier, dreamier, and more intense in flavor. Don’t expect it to be the same if you use vanilla extract. You must use a vanilla bean.







Chocolate and Vanilla Creams

2 cups heavy cream
1/3 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean
¾ cup sour cream
2 tsp powdered gelatin
3 tbsp water
2 oz. semisweet chocolate

Place the cream and sugar in a saucepan, then add the vanilla bean. Heat gently, stirring until the sugar has dissolved, then bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 2-3 minutes.

Remove the saucepan from the heat and take out the vanilla bean. Stir in the sour cream.

Sprinkle the gelatin over the water in a small heatproof bowl and let it get absorbed, this takes about one minute. Then microwave the gelatin for 30 seconds on high heat. It should come out dissolved in liquid. Cool. Stir into the cream mixture. Pour half of this mixture into another mixing bowl.

Put the semisweet chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water until melted. Stir the melted chocolate into half the cream mixture. Pour the chocolate mixture into four individual glass serving dishes and let chill for 20-30 minutes, until just set. While it is chilling, keep the vanilla mixture at room temperature.


Spoon the vanilla mixture on top of the chocolate mixture and let chill until the vanilla is set. Decorate with chocolate shavings.

Deep Chocolate Cake

Chocolate Cake + Chocolate Whipped Cream + Chocolate Ganache

Do it now.

The recipe on the Better Homes and Gardens website is not the same as the one I have in my magazine. So look at this website, because it has the correct one. So, I adapted this recipe because I have never been fond of malt. It was a sad day when your mom came home with Ovaltine instead of Nesquick. Just omit the malt.

Also, for the cake, instead of 4 ounces of unsweetened chocolate- just use sweetened chocolate. You know you want to. Semi-sweet or even milk chocolate will do. For the frosting, set aside a cup of it before you start whipping with your electric mixer. This will be our ganache for the top.

This cake was dense with a bittersweet chocolate taste. It wasn’t rich and fudgy, but not dry either. I assume it would go great with coffee- if you drink that stuff.  

For Asiya and Shanada <3

Whipped Cream – Two ways

Fresh, homemade sweetened whipped cream is far superior to cool whip or reddiwhip. It takes literally 10 seconds to make, so don’t eat that junk anymore.

You can make an easy, quick version in your blender to top off that ice cream or pie you’re about to eat:

 

Blender Recipe

1 cup heavy or whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 tablespoons powdered sugar (the fresher the better)

Stir all ingredients in your blender and then blend for 10 seconds. Eat immediately, leftovers will melt but will still taste good!

Junior’s Decorator’s Whipped Cream

This recipe is from Junior’s Cheesecake Cookbook. The cream is stabilized with gelatin, making it easier to work with because it’s firmer- perfect for piping. You can use heavy or whipping cream, they usually taste the same but whipping cream tends to hold its shape a little better.

1 teaspoon unflavored granulated gelatin
1 tablespoon cold water
1 cup cold heavy or whipping cream
1 tablespoon sugar (I like to use 3 tablespoons powdered sugar instead)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract


Place the gelatin in a small heatproof bowl. Stir in the cold water, and let stand until it thickens- this usually takes about one minute. Cook the gelatin in the microwave on high for about 30 seconds until liquidy and melted. (Yes, it will smell.)

In a medium sized bowl, whip the cream with an electric mixer on high until it thickens and soft peaks just to begin to form. With the mixer still running, add the sugar and beat just until the cream stands up in peaks. Beat in the vanilla and melted gelatin until the cream stands up in peaks. Don’t over mix or the cream will curdle and look lumpy. Refrigerate for 30 minutes but not more than 1 hour. Use to fill or frost a cake. (I’ve used it immediately without chilling and it still stands up fine).

Tip: Only fill your pastry bag half full. This makes it easier to control while piping. Squeeze a little cream back into the bowl to get rid of pockets of air.  

Vanilla Cupcakes - Fail

Whisk Kid, I love your blog and saw you on Martha Stewart for that show stopping rainbow cake but this recipe was a flop. Your amazing picture of those lime cupcakes made me want to try these but unfortunately they came out horrible- they tasted like biscuits and had the texture like biscuits- crumbly, greasy and bready. But this is not the first time this has happened. I’ve tried several vanilla cake recipes and they never taste like vanilla cake- more like pancakes or KFC biscuits. I only tried making the vanilla cupcakes but I’d like to try that swiss meringue buttercream sometime.

Oatmeal Raisin Cheesecake Crumble

Let’s just start off by saying this is the million dollar winner of a Pillsbury bake-off. Okay? You are now obligated to make this.

Adaptations: Skip the 1 cup of pecans on top of the cookie. That’s way too many nuts and you don’t want this to be that crunchy. Use 3 packages of cream cheese- you don’t need to add more condensed milk, it will still be sweet. Use 3 eggs. Use ½ cup of raisins because the cookies will already have raisins. And lastly, use only ½ cup of pecans for the top. Unless you’re an extra nutty person.



And I know what you’re thinking. If this recipe won a million dollars, why would you change it? Well, I love cheesecake. So my version is worth a million and one. It will still be a crumble that's easy finger food and in the shape of a bar but still have enough creamy cheesecake. Plus, it fed like 20 people easily.