Mini CheeseCakes

I recently did a party for a christening. The customer wanted something other than cake. I suggested a platter of mini desserts. What started out as a party for 8 turned into "well, I want some for us after the party!" Brownies, Rasberry Bars, Key Lime Pies which I've already written about and then she requested Mini Cheesecakes. I have a great recipe for a cheesecake but had never done the minis before. I was surprised to see the recipe.

I would recommend using the baking cups which are sturdier and lined with a foil. I found the ones shown in the food store, Reynolds makes them.

The recipe I saw called for a vanilla wafer on the bottom which did not appeal to me so I made the traditional graham cracker crust or you could also crush oreos (delicious)

I ended up making 2 batches as I was not happy with the 1st and made some changes. Our family ate the 1st batch and they were certainly not unhappy!

So here goes:

12 Mini Cheese Cakes
Line a cupcake pan with 12 foil cups
For the crust, measure 1 cup of graham cracker crumbs, add 3 tbs of sugar and 3 - 4 tbs of melted butter. Fill each cup with a well rounded tablespoon and press the crumbs into the cup with a spoon.

For the filling you will need 2 packages of cream cheese(softened) please do yourself a huge favor and buy the good stuff (philadelphia) There is a total difference in the consistancy, at least to me there is.

Add 2/3 cup of sugar and mix well until smooth.

Add 2 eggs (room temp) Don't overbeat.

Add 1 tbs of vanilla or if you like lemon extract (as always the real lemon extract)

Fill each cup to the top (the other recipe called for 2/3 full but only do this if you want a topping on each as they tended to sink a bit. You may come up a bit short on batter ( just a friendly warning) so you may have to adjust each filling just a bit.

The recipe called for 15 - 17 min at 350. I don't know how this could be true as when I tested them ( I use a piece of pasta) they were certainly not done. So it ended up being about 25 minutes.

They were absolutely delicious. The recipe I found said they were 95 calories each. You had better add some more calories with the graham cracker crust. I would definitely bake these again and will probably bring some over to the store this week.

Don't be alarmed when the cheesecakes are baking if they start to crack. They come together as they cool.

I'm not a fan of cheesecake toppings such as canned cherries etc but I'm thinking that an oreo crust with a melted chocolate drizzled over each cake would be delicious or a fresh sliced strawberry sounds perfect to me.

Let me know what you think!

Just added to my Etsy Shop!

2011 A Year of Firsts & My Favorite Recipes

2011 was a busy year & also year of many 1st's! So for this post, I'll share some of my favorites and the recipes that came out of them.

Let's start out with my grandson's 1st birthday. I had the honor of making his cake. At that point he loved trucks! I never took sooo much time with any other cake!! I love this little boy:)

Next big 1st was starting the planning for my daughter's baby shower. Another huge 1st and a miracle. No idea boy or girl, so everything was yellow and green. We made it all. Lime green & pom poms (thank you Martha for your tutorials as these were a 1st), Mini Key Lime Pies (another 1st), Cupcakes with Lime Print Pinwheels from my Etsy Shop and the centerpieces, which were daisies saved from their wedding day!

My one failure were the French Macaroons. I have not had the courage to try these again. Still can't figure out the problem.

Next came the hurricane which was probably the worst we've had around here and which made everyone very nervous as the baby was due soon.
This was the 1st time I have ever seen such damage to our beaches and boardwalks.
Hurricane cupcakes came out of this 1st.

Finally, the best 1st of this year- Ellery Jane!

& of course Mini Pink Cupcakes were baked for the store in honor of this tiny perfect little girl!

Most of my recipes in this 2011 blog were 1st's. From whoopie pies to making purple roses until 2 am but nothing can beat the feeling of being "Ama" to two little 1st's in my life!

Happy New Year & looking forward to another year of 1st's!

Let me know what you think!

Merry Christmas to my Mom & Auntie Sweetie - Going Vintage!

My 86 year old aunt who I've mentioned before just recently sent me all of her baking equipment. This included a "Wear-Ever Cookie Gun" Probably from the 1960"s & in perfect condition, box & all. I have never used a cookie gun - I thought they were called cookie presses and have seen all different models, made out of plastic and even electric. But this was the old fashioned "metal" gun. As long as I was going vintage, I decided to find a recipe out of my mom's 1950 Goumet Cookbook. I found it. Short & sweet & easy.
Spritz
Cream 1 cup of butter until light & fluffy. Add gradually 1/2 cup of sugar & cream together until light and fluffy. Add 1 egg, mix thoroughly, and add about 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, or enough to make a soft dough which may be forced through a fluted nozzle of a pastry tube into various shapes. Bake the cookies on a lightly butterd sheet in a moderate oven for about 8 minutes, or until very faintly brown.

This is not that much different from any other Spritz recipe I looked at. To fill in some additions. I used unsalted butter, softened and 2 1/2 cups of flour is just right but no more. I did not butter the baking sheets as I have the Calaphon Sheets - no butter needed. Aunt Sweetie did send me her "old fashioned cookie sheets" but I'll stick with mine & no extra butter. A "moderate" oven was 350 & that worked.

I made tiny trees with green sprinkles

and my 2nd batch will have a citrus glaze which I grabbed from Martha Stewart.
Citrus Glaze 3 cups of powdered sugar, 1/4 cup plus 2 tbs of citrus juice,3 tbs of citrus zest, 1 tbs of vanilla & 3 tbs of light corn syrup. I'm making half with fresh lemon juice and the other half will be lime using "Nellie & Joes Fresh Lime Juice" which is the best!

So although this recipe is nothing fancy or that different, I loved being able to use the cookbook and the cookie press. I will talk to my aunt on Christmas Eve and again on Christmas Day and think wonderful thoughts about my mom.

Also while searching for the recipe, I came upon a bonus! Years ago one of my sister in laws husband was a baker. Every holiday he would bring a box of "Chocolate Leaves" which the entire family would fight over. They still talk about them. (He's no longer in the picture & doesn't bake anymore) so I am heading to the store for the ingredients and will let you know the result!

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Red Velvet Cupcakes & Peppermint Buttercream Frosting

I needed to come up with an idea or a holiday cupcake & really didn't have much time to think about it. These cupcakes were part of an order for my son who needed to bring them to work. I'm not really sure I understood the entire concept but instead of the managers of each department giving gifts to the staff, they decided that each floor manager should bring in 2 desserts, enough for 60 people. He also added that this was a competition and yes, everyone knew he would cheat by asking me. I would have done it anyway as this is a wonderful rehab facility (Kessler Institute) and the staff is unbelievable. They are probably the most caring group I have ever met. He also mentioned the word competition. I swear I am not that competitive but when it comes to baking.....
My criteria - easy to eat, no slicing or cutting & festive. So I ended up with cupcakes! I'm sure you are not surprised. Red Velvet is still going strong at the store I bake for so that was my choice of cake. (see recipe for Red Velvet under postings) I wanted to have some type of Christmas taste to these so peppermint or a candy cane type of look sounded good to me. I started them late & everything was going great until I came to the peppermint. I had not a drop of red food coloring left. Very little hot water and red sugar crystals completely disolved gave me my color. The icing is vanilla (see previous posts for recipe) although you could substitute the mint extract for the vanilla but be careful as the mint is very strong. (always use Pure Extracts) I get mine from the health food store. I added mint to the red icing that I was going to swirl on top of each cupcake. It was just enough flavor for me. As I was not happy with the color of the red, due to the coloring problem, I dusted the tops with red sanding sugar. The result? I like the candy cane look and would deinitely do this again.
My 2nd dessert was Black & White Cookies and for a non chocolate lover, I made some with just vanilla icing and halved them with green and red suggar crystals. No pix, just too late at that point. This recipe is also listed.

Let me know what you think. Would love to hear from you.



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GingerBread Boys & Cupcakes

I love gingerbread! It's probably one of my favorites. Not too sweet but just enough. This order was for a baby shower with the theme of Ginger Bread Boys! I decided to try a new recipe as I haven't done anything new in awhile. I am going to give you one of 2 recipes. The new one produced a softer gingerbread cookie and not as spicy. Next time I will add a bit more spices. My recipe that I have used every year will give you a harder cookie which I prefer. I'll post this next week. Either way - they're both delicious and a perfect way to dress up your holiday cupcakes!

GingerBread Men (mini) 48 cookies
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup shortening, melted and cooled slightly
1/3 cup molasses
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons water
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract


1. Sift together the flour, baking powder, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together the shortening, molasses, brown sugar, water, egg, and vanilla until smooth. Gradually stir in the dry ingredients, until they are completely absorbed. Divide dough into 3 pieces, pat down to 1 1/2 inch thickness, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Place cookies 1 inch apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet.
4. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. When the cookies are done, they will look dry, but still be soft to the touch. Remove from the baking sheet to cool on wire racks.
5. Cool & pipe frosting of your choice

I used a mix of powdered sugar and milk to get the consistance I wanted. Start with 2 cups of powdered sugar and add a tbs. of milk at a time.

This little gingerbread cookie cutter is just about 2" tall. I love it as it was given to me by my Aunt Sweetie who loves to bake. Perfect name for my favorite aunt!

If you have a chance, stop my my Etsy Shop and take a peek at some of my Christmas/Holiday items! http://welldressedcupcakes.etsy.com
Convo me and get 10% your order, just mention this blog!

Purple Roses for My Little Cakes

How long has it been since a post? A few reasons. A new baby girl which is the best reason and no time to bake any new recipes due to specific requests. People seem to just want the basic cupcake flavors recently. I did just have one request for devils food cupcakes but they required purple roses on top of each cupcake. (the school symbol) I have taken decorating classes long, long ago but was never really that great at it. I always tell people "I'm not a decorator" So I really hesitated to say yes. Having no recollection of my rose making techniques, I headed over to you tube and found "many" videos. There were only 4,320,000 results in just 76 seconds! I know that you are supposed to make decorator frosting but I have to say I just added additional powdered sugar and the frosting was fine. I used Wilton Violet Coloring. They have just about every color and then finished the decorating with purple dust (also by wilton)which really looked pretty. A lot of the videos were for roses large enough to cover the entire cupcake but I made them much smaller. I was nervous about this order and of course critical of the results but just got a call yesterday for another order of purple rose cupcakes for their Awards Dinner as everyone loved them!

I am trying a new recipe for next week and can't wait! Pumpkin Angel Food Cupcakes! Will let you know.....

My Etsy Shop has been keeping me busy, lots of custom orders, which I really enjoy. Take a look at my shop if you have a minute, Lots of holiday items. My latest order is to Egypt!!

Calling all Pumpkin Lovers

Pumpkin. One of my favorites. So far I've made pumpkin bars, muffins, bread & pie. So why not pumpkin buttercream for little cakes? It's easy and simple. Just make a regular buttercream frosting. See my previous post on this and add 3 or more tbs of pumpkin. I like the Libby's Pumpkin Pie mix as it has more flavor. You may have to add a bit more powdered sugar to keep the correct consistency. I used this on my mini cupcakes this week and also made Dark Chocolate Whoopie Pies with pumpkin buttercream filling. The result was delicious. The color of the buttercream was a pale pumpkin color & you could always add more pumpkin along with sugar but not too much as you will spoil the consistency. This is worth trying. Let me know what you think.

380 Cupcakes Oh My!

I wish I had a recipe to share with you this week but I honestly had not a minute to even think of something new. I had weddings the past two weekends to bake for and after 380 cupcakes and 3 wedding cake toppers, that was it.
I loved the brides and grooms from both weekends. They were so easy going and just so happy. Both wanted a mix of cupcakes which I love to do and both were identical with their cake top requests. Half chocolate, half vanilla with vanilla icing. The 1st couple had a bride and groom on a motorcycle for their cake topper and this week's couple had beautiful fall colored roses.

So what did I bake? Chocolate and Vanilla Cakes with a variety of frosting flavors. Almost forgot Red Velvet. Strawberry Buttercream, Oreo Cookie, Chocolate Chip Cookie Frosting, Funfetti (yes funfetti - the groom's fav) which was my version of Funfetti!

Take a look and let me know what you think!

Apple Crumb Cupcakes - Is it a Cupcake or a Muffin?

It's apple season! I saw this recipe and knew it would be delicious. We just had these for dessert tonight with steaming hot cups of green tea, honey & lemon. But these little cakes will be perfect for breakfast tomorrow. The recipe did not have crumbs &this last minute addition was perfect. Try this recipe. It's easy, quick & one you will make again and again during apple season. I found this on MyRecipes.com which has enough treats to keep me busy for awhile!

Ingredients
2 apples (I used ones that were for baking) chopped
1 stick of unsalted butter
1 cup of light brown sugar
1/4 tsp of salt
1 1/2 cups of flour
1/2 cup of chopped walnuts
3/4 tsp of baking soda
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Confectioners' Sugar

Preheat oven to 350
12 cup muffin pan ( I did not use liners as called for in the recipe. I lightly greased and floured the muffin pans)

Peel and chop 2 apples
Melt the butter in a pan and add the apples
Cook for 5 minutes on low heat and then stir in the light brown sugar.
Cool for 5 minutes

Mix the flour, walnuts and baking soda in a bowl
In a seperate bowl, whisk the egg and vanilla

Stir the apple mixture and egg mixture into the flour mix. (Do not overmix as the cakes will become tough)

Spoon into cupcake pans about 3/4 full.

For the crumb mixture measure 1/2 cup of flour, 1/2 cup of sugar and a tbs of cinnamon. Add 3 -4 tbs of melted butter and mix into a crumb topping. Add as desired to cupcake batter.

Bake for 18 - 20 minutes

Cool and dust with powdered sugar

Enjoy and let me know what you think!

One more thing! As you can see on my sidebar, I have an Etsy Shop where I sell cupcake supplies. I usually do not talk about this in my posts as these are for recipes! I catered a wedding this weekend and made these wrappers, matching the bride's color scheme. I just loved the colors and the way they turned out. Just had to post a picture. Thanks for looking!

French Almond Tart Cupcakes for Donsumor’s “Dessert a Day" National Dessert Month

I decided to participate in Donsuemor’s “Dessert a Day" after receiving an email regarding this product and National Dessert Month in October. I was given several choices of Donsuemor's Products and I chose the French Almond Cake. The task was to create some kind of dessert with these little French Almond Cakes. First I have to say these little cakes are delicious. They come in the shape of little tarts with a nice almond flavor. So what to do with them? Of course I had to use them with my cupcakes and finally made my decision. I would make a vanilla cupcake with almond extract. Using a quality extract is important to me & I use Watkins All-Natural Pure Almond Extract. These extracts are free of artificial coloring and are my favorites. The tart would be sliced into 2 parts. The bottom would be about 1/3 of the tart and the rest would be used for the top.
The result was absolutely delicious. No need for icing or frosting. The bottom part fit perfectly into a cupcake liner, I then added the cupcake batter and placed the top of the tart on the batter. I was curious to see what happened with the tart. It came out perfectly. The bottom of the cupcake was slightly more dense with the addition of the almond cake bottom and the top which has sliced almonds looked and tasted wonderful.
I would definitely use this recipe again. Anyone who loves the taste of almonds will love this.

Start out with your favorite vanilla cupcake recipe. I use Magnolia's Vanilla. I've tried many vanilla cupcake recipes and I keep going back to this one. Just substitute the almond for the vanilla extract. Don't forget my recommendation about the extract. It is not worh your time to use artificial extracts.

You will need

Cupcakes:
1 1/2 cups self-rising flour (I use Presto)
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon almond extract
12 Donsuemor’s French Almond Cakes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Line 2 (1/2 cup-12 capacity) muffin tins with cupcake papers.

Slice 12 Donsuemor’s French Almond Cakes (1/3 for the bottom, remaining cake for the top)

In a small bowl, combine the flours. Set aside.


In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in 3 parts, alternating with the milk and almond extract. With each addition, beat until mixed in but do not over beat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended.
Take the bottom portion of the Almond Cake and place in the bottom of each cupcake liner.
Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about 3/4 full.
Place the top of the almond cake on the batter

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.

Cool the cupcakes in tins for 15 minutes, then remove from the tins and cool


Additions for those who love chocolate - melt Baker's Chocolate (unsweetened) and drizzle over the top of each cupcake.

Rasberry Lovers - Split the top part of the almond cake and place a reasberry in between each half.

The possibilities are endless. Give it a try. Well worth it!

Espresso Buttercream Devil's Food Cupcakes

No post last week due to a small miracle added to our family last week. Ellery Jane is finally here and she's beautiful! While we were in the city, I saw cupcake trucks

and visited several cupcake stores. Magnolia was my favorite. I went to the NY store on the east side. A shop to visit. Wood floors, curtains and little tables made this place the best. A great place for a cappacino and a cupcake! I even ate a cupcake which I usually don't do! I picked Vanilla/Vanilla with tiny pink sprinkles in honor of Ellery Jane. Most of the stores seemed to focus on vanilla, chocolate and red velvet. Some had variations with the frosting just as I do.
So back to baking. I have 3 parties this weekend. I'll write about the store order today. Pumpking Bars are in season so I made one tray of them and moved on to cupcakes. As the store doesn't really like different types of cake, I need to change up the icing each week. So this week a jar of espresso coffee caught my attention and I went with it. The result was delicious! I think I may have to say it's my favorite. At least for this week!

Espresso Buttercream

2 sticks of unsalted butter (softened)
6 cups of powdered sugar (sifted)
1/3 cup of whole milk
Medglia D'oro Instant Espresso Powder

In a bowl, mix the butter, sugar and 1/3 cup of milk for 4 minutes until smooth.
Gradually add the additional cups of sugar.
Now for the espresso. Take a tbs of espresso and mix with a very small amount of hot water until disolved.
Add 2 tsp of this to the buttercream.
You will have to play around with the amount of espresso powder used but do not make it too watery as it will thin your icing out.
The result is a light mocha colored frosting with the espresso flavor. Frost the cupcakes and sprinkle a tiny amount of espresso on top of each.

Let me know what you think!

Pumpkin Bars! Is it a Dessert,a Breakfast Bar or a Snack?

This week I made stuffed devils food cupcakes, half with vanilla, half with chocolate but needed to bake something else for the store.

My favorite recipe that does not involve cupcakes is Pumpkin Bars. This is easy, pretty healthy and delicious. Breakfast, Dessert, Snacktime - they are good any time of day.

Pumpkin Bars
2 cups of Flour
1 1/2 cups of Sugar
2 tsp Baking Powder
2 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Cloves (if you don't have this, try pumpkin pie spice)
1 can of Pumpkin 16oz (I like the Libbys Pumpkin Pie Mix but you can use either that or just regular Pumpkin. The bars with the mix are a little darker in color. I just prefer this)
1 c Oil
4 Beaten Eggs
1 cup of Walnuts or Raw Pumpkin Seeds (I get them in the health food store but these can usually be found in the supermarket)

Preheat oven to 350
Mix dry ingredients together well
In a seperate bowl, beat the eggs (room temp please) oil & pumpkin
Add to the dry mix and blend on low speed by mixer or by hand. Don't overbeat, just make sure all the dry mix is completely blended in.

Line a 10x13x1" pan with parchment paper (it just makes your life so much easier)
Spread mix onto pan.
Sprinkle pumpkin seeds or walnuts on top.
You can also add to mix if you would like more nuts or seeds
Bake for approximately 25 - 30 min or until tester comes out clean

Cut into squares.
You should be able to have a yield of 24 squares.
Would love to show a pix of the pumpkin bars cut but these are heading out to the store so what you see is still cooling in the pan!

Let me know what you think
Hmmmm next week these just might be cupcakes with a cream cheese frosting!

Labor Day Raspberry Cupcakes

"Observed on the first Monday in September, Labor Day pays tribute to the contributions and achievements of American workers. It was created by the labor movement in the late 19th century and became a federal holiday in 1894. Labor Day also symbolizes the end of summer for many Americans, and is celebrated with parties, parades and athletic events."

Now for my definition. Labor Day = End of Summer

I don't like that at all. I feel like it was just Memorial Day and I certainly have not yet recovered enough from last winter. I do love Fall and if I could just find a place that cycled those two seasons, I'd be just fine. I love to see what other people are doing with their cupcakes for Labor Day so again I googled "Labor Day Cupcakes" & up popped cupcakes that looked like corn on the cob, hamburgers, red, white & blue etc. None of which particulary motivated me. I'm thinking....
I went to the Farmer's Market today & bought beautiful organic produce. Tomatos, Green Beans & Peaches. Sitting here looking at them on the counter gave me my idea of what to bake. I had frozen some organic raspberries so why not make raspberry vanilla cupcakes with raspberry buttercream? I had to give it a try. The result? I LOVE them! I just tried one stright out of the oven.

The flavor has a hint of raspberry blended with the vanilla and the raspberry icing will finish it off perfectly. Mini raspberry colored cupcake wrappers were in my cabinet - what luck!

I used my vanilla cupcake recipe and after crushing the frozen raspberries, I folded them into the batter. I really did not add alot of raspberries, maybe 1/4 - 1/2 cup. I was afraid of what would happen to the batter. I also think the next time I am going to try raspberry extract. I found a site online to order from which was recommended by a "real" baker. You can find it at olivenation.com Do NOT use imitation extracts. You can tast it immediately. It's worth the extra cost.

It's late so I will post more pictures tomorrow after I make the buttercream. So stop back!
Let me know what you think.

Happy Labor Day

Mixing it Up! My Hurricane Irene Cupcake Recipe

When I googled "hurricane cupcake" I did not really expect to find anything. There it was, a recipe for hurricane cake. I did not like all the ingredients in the recipe so I am changing it a bit. I'm leaving out the cream cheese - I don't have it anyway and adding frosting. Was not thrilled with the look of the real recipe. Haven't made them yet but after this post, heading into the kitchen in case we lose power. Pix to follow! So here goes:

You'll need:

1/2 cup margarine
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup flaked coconut & additional 1/2 cup of coconut

Chocolate Cake Recipe see previous post)

Melt the butter & mix in the chopped pecans and coconut
Spread into each cupcake liner, fill 1/2 the liner with cake batter, sprinkle some additional coconut /pecan mix and then add the remaining batter. Bake at 350 until done by testing. Probably about 15 -18 min.

Your choice: chocolate or vanilla frosting. Recipes are in previous posts. I'm going with chcoclate. Toast the coconut lightly in the oven and fold into the frosting.

I think this will taste delicious! It will satisfy my chocoholics!

Stay Safe! Let me know what you think!

If you're interested in the original recipe, here's the link