TWD: ESPRESSO CHEESECAKE BROWNIES

Wow. It has been well over a year since I first joined the lovely interactive baking group; Tuesdays With Dorie, and my day has finally come...the recipe rotation gods have spoken! It's my week to choose a recipe from Dorie Greenspans, "Baking: From My Home To Yours" and my opportunities of choice seemed endless. There were pies, tarts, cookies, cakes--oh so many I could have selected without batting an eye. However, when my eyes scanned page 104-105; it was love at first site. Espresso? Brownies? Cheesecake? All in one?--I had to plea no contest.

These brownies were absolutely delicious. Each creamy, espresso-spiked, chocolaty, brownie bite got better and better as my consumption continued...and continued...and (we all know how this story ends) resulted in my dinner for the evening that left me with a sugar hangover. And a worthy hangover at that.

Rather than the suggested 9X9 square pan I baked these guys in a 9 inch round pan and sliced them in thin wedges. Chocolate chunks, dark chocolate covered espresso beans, cappuccino chips, cocoa powder, and a chocolate wafer cigar were among many of the toppers. Please please pleaseeee make this if you haven't already. They are a great end-of-the-summer cool treat for season ending BBQ's! Labor Day, anyone? You're welcome.

Espresso Cheesecake Brownies

From Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home to Yours

For the brownies:

1/2 cup ap flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

pinch of salt

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into cubes

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

1/3 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 F, with a rack in the center. Butter a 9" square baking pan placed on a baking sheet and set aside.

To make the brownies:

Whisk together the first three ingredients. Put the butter and chocolate over a double boiler with water simmering. Stir until the ingredients melt, but don't overheat so that the butter separates. Remove the top of the double boiler and set aside.

Stir the sugar into the chocolate mixture with a whisk, then add the eggs one at a time. Beat well after each egg, then beat in the vanilla. Next, gently stir in the dry ingredients until they disappear. Set aside.

For the cheesecake:

1 1/2 teaspoons instant espresso powder dissolved in 1 tablespoon boiling water

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

2/3 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1/4 cup sour cream

1 tablespoon ap flour

Allow the espresso to cool to tepid. With a stand mixer fitted with the paddle, beat the cream cheese on medium until it's completely smooth. Add the sugar and continue to beat for 3 minutes more. Beat in the vanilla and espresso before adding the eggs one at a time. Beat for 1 minute after each egg, then reduce the speed to low and add the sour cream, then the flour. The batter should be smooth.

Pour about 3/4 of the brownie mixture into the prepared pan. Smooth it out, then pour the cheesecake layer over the top, taking care to make it even. Place spoonfuls of the rest of the brownie batter on top, and use a knife to swirl the dark and light batters together. Be careful, however, not to plunge the knife into the base brownie layer. Swirl only as much as necessary.

Bake for around 30 minutes. The brownies should come away from the sides of the pan. The cheesecake will puff and turn lightly browned around the edges. Transfer the pan to a wrack to cool. Once it reaches room temperature, refrigerate for at least 2 hours, until well chilled.

For the topping:

1 1/4 cups sour cream

1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

Warm the sour cream and sugar in a small saucepan over very low heat. You need to stir constantly until the sugar is dissolved. Pour over the chilled brownies, then return them to the refrigerator and chill for at least another hour. Cut the brownies into squares and serve.

VANILLA MINIS

I made these tonight with left over cake batter. They are adorable. They are delicious. They are minuscule. Three adjectives that would highlight any great dessert, in my mind. I experimented with my own recipe for a full-on fluffy, moist, white cake. No no no folks, no egg yolks in these bad boys. Many people get confused with the traditional white cake. I've seen several recipes for "golden vanilla cakes" that have the taste of vanilla but not the appearance; keyword golden. In this case, it's all vanilla from the inside out and it's darn tasty at that.

I topped these minis with a creamy, rich, instant fudge frosting and garnished with blue and white non pareils. I'd love love loveeee to publish this recipe for ya'll because I feel like I'd be doing an injustice to the world of sweet teeth if I didn't, butttttttt I think I need to keep this one to myself because it just may be my next unique go-to white cake recipe. Everyone should feel special, shouldn't they?

CAKE SLICE BAKERS: MARBLED LEMON BLUEBERRY BUTTERCAKE

OK, I realize I'm SEVERAL months behind in my favorite little baking group, The Cake Slice Bakers. I've been so incredibly overwhelmed that I've completely neglected this interactive monthly baking group for oh so long. However, my mini hiatus has come to an end. What better time to start back up being that I'm in my Advanced Cakes module in culinary school...? Any excuse to bake cakes, consider me in!

Well, I'm back and better than ever and began catching up with July's cake which was posted on the 20th; marbled lemon blueberry buttercake. Luckily I already made August's cake selection; Pistachio Petit Four cake, last year so I'm up to date for September. Wow, I came back just in time because this cake was absolutely fantastic. It was very similar to the base of Dorie's perfect party cake with an added marbled blueberry throughout, a homemade lemon blueberry puree, and a lemon swiss meringue buttercream. Mmmm mmmm delicious!

I went the extra mile and made my own lemon swiss meringue buttercream. The original recipe called for whole eggs and I'm really not a fan of that kind of buttercream. I stuck shaved coconut around the sides of the entire cake and colored a portion of my buttercream purple to pipe across the top. I sprinkled a touch more coconut on the rosettes and stars and dropped a blueberry on each, as well as 3 in the center. I had dinner with my 94 year old grandma last week in the city and brought her this cake. For a woman who weigh 85lbs and doesn't have much of an interest in food, she sure scarfed this cake down faster than you could imagine. She called me the next morning to inform me that she had it for breakfast as well.

Go ahead and check out the cake slice bakers blogroll and become a member today. We'd love to have you!

September's selection features Sky High's triple chocolate fudge cake. Keep your eyes peeled!

Marbled Lemon Blueberry Butter Cake
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
2 tsp grated lemon zest
1½ tsp lemon extract
7 egg whites
3 cups cake flour
4 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1¼ cups milk
Fresh blueberries, for decoration

Lemon blueberry preserves (below)
Lemon buttercream frosting (below)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottom and sides of three 8 inch round cake pans. Line the bottom of each pan with a round of parchment or waxed paper and butter the paper.
In a mixer, cream together the butter, sugar, lemon zest and lemon extract until light and fluffy. Gradually add the egg whites 2 or 3 at a time, beating well between additions and stopping occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Combine the flour, baking powder and salt, whisk gently to blend. In 2 or 3 alternating additions, beat the dry ingredients and milk into the butter mixture, scraping down the sides of the bowl several times. Beat on medium-high speed for about 1 minute to smooth out any lumps and aerate the batter.
Scoop 1 cup of the batter into a small bowl. Divide the remaining equally among the 3 prepared pans, smoothing the tops with a spatula. This gives you a smooth surface to work with. Add 2½ tbsp of the lemon blueberry preserves to the reserved batter and blend well. Drizzle heaping teaspoons of this blueberry mixture over the batter in the pans. Use a skewer to swirl the blueberry mixture in short strokes to drag it down through the lemon batter without mixing it in.
Bake for about 25 minutes or until a cake tester or skewer stuck in the centre comes out clean and the cake pulls away from the sides of the pan. Lat the layers cool for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack, peeling off the paper and leaving to cool completely.

Lemon Blueberry Preserves
3 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen
¾ cup sugar
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1½ tsp grated lemon zest
1 tsp grated fresh ginger

Puree the blueberries with any juices that have exuded in a blender. Pass the puree through a coarse strainer to remove the skins.
In a heavy medium saucepan, combine the blueberry puree with the sugar, lemon juice, zest and ginger. Bring to a gentle boil over a medium heat, stirring often for 20 minutes, or until the preserves have thickened and are reduced to 1 cup. To check the proper thickness place a small amount of a saucer and put in the freezer until cold. Drag your finger through it. If a clear path is made through the preserve then it is ready. Let the preserves cool before using. (Can be made up to 5 days in advance).

Lemon Buttercream Frosting
1 cup sugar
¼ cup water
2 eggs
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and water. Bring to the boil over a medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Continue to boil without stirring, occasionally washing down the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush until the syrup reaches the soft-ball stage, 238 degrees F on a candy thermometer. Immediately remove from the heat.
In a large mixer bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed, beast the eggs briefly. Slowly add the hot syrup in a thin stream, pouring it down the sides of the bowl; be careful to avoid hitting the beaters or the syrup may splatter. When all the syrup has been added, raise the speed to medium,-high and beat until the mixture is very fluffy and cooled to body temperature. This can take 15-20 minutes.
Reduce the mixer speed to medium-low and gradually add the softened butter 2 to 3 tablespoons at a time, beating well between additions. As you’re adding the last few tablespoons of butter, the frosting will appear to break, then suddenly come together like whipped butter. Beat in the lemon juice, and the frosting is ready to use.

To Assemble
To assemble the cake, place a layer, flat side up, on a cake stand. Spread half of the lemon blueberry preserves over the top. Place a second layer on top of the first and spread the remaining preserves over it. Finally place the third layer on top and frost the top and sides with the lemon buttercream.
Decorate with fresh blueberries and serve.
Makes one 8 inch triple layered cake.

ENGAGEMENT CAKE

This is an engagement cake I made for a friend of a friend's engagement party. The cake consists of 4 layers (it was huge!) of interchanging chocolate and vanilla sponge cakes and each layer was filled with a whipped chocolate ganache. The entire cake was iced with a chocolate swiss meringue buttercream and I used a cornet to pipe the writing using white chocolate. I made chocolate sablee cookies and piped their initials on them which I then stuck around the sides of the cake. I made marzipan white roses in bunches around the 4 corners of the cake and piped pretty borders around the top and bottom perimeters. I heard the cake was a huge hit and I was so happy to share my love of decorative sweets with the bride and groom to be! Enjoy!

CAKES GALORE

As I mentioned earlier, I've been knee deep in cakes. All day, everyday I'm immersed in the art of cake baking, cake technique, and decorating in school. I still have 2 more weeks of my advanced cakes module so stay tuned. Here's what I've been up to lately in both school and extra curricular projects:

Horseradish Grill's chocolate cake filled with whipped praline chocolate ganache, iced with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream with a rich chocolate ganache glaze across the top and drizzled down the sides. Piped buttercream rosettes garnished with shaved chocolate and toasted hazelnuts

Triple layer chocolate genoise cake soaked with brandy syrup, filled with a mocha swiss meringue buttercream with piped buttercream kisses and "mocha" written across in chocolate using a cornet.

Petit Fours: Almond frangipane cakes sandwiched together with raspberry and apricot jams and topped with poured fondant. Decorated with dried lavender, chocolate, and almond slivers.