100th POST!

Classic White Tier Cake

w/ Almond Decorator Icing

 

Verdict: Success

Neighbor-worthy

 

In honor of my 100th post I made myself a celebratory cake.  I love me some white cake but I didn't want to screw this post up so I didn't really tweak anything except for the fact that I made it a mini-tier cake!  I did however add some really cool flare to the cake in the form of color and piping to mark the occasion as well.

 

Ingredients
Cake:
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
12 x 9 x 2 buttered and lined with parchment paper

Icing:

1 stick butter

1/4 cup shortening

1 teaspoon vanilla extract almond extract

1/8 teaspoon salt

4 cups powdered sugar

4 tablespoons milk or water
+ 1/2 cup powdered sugar
+ blue food coloring
 

Preheat oven to 350°

Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl for 5 minutes.  In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and salt.  In a third bowl, combine egg whites, milk and vanilla.  Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and ½ the milk mixture, then flour, then milk, then flour.  Mind the sides while you beat and scrape them down.  Pour your batter into your plined an, smooth the top with a spatula and throw in your oven for about 25-30 minutes.  Allow to cool on a cooling rack.

Remove your cooled cake from the pan and place on a platter and chill in your fridge for 20-30 minutes.  Remove chilled cake and trim the sides so you have cake with a sharp knife so you have flat even lines.  Measure out one large and one small square and slice the cake to make two different sized cakes. There will be scraps and, if you are anything like me, you will rip through those suckers and end up with a sore tummy.  With as much precision as you can muster, slice a sliver of the top of each piece to ensure you have a flat-top. 

In a bowl, beat butter and shortening with a hand mixer on Medium speed until fluffy.  Beat in almond and salt.  Lower your mixer speed to Low and beat in sugar, 1 cup at a time scraping down the sided as you go along.  Add half your milk and turn speed up to High until it is nice and fluffy.  Gradually add as much more milk as you need for the icing to be a spreadable consistency

Ice the larger cake with your icing, keeping it nice and smooth, especially on the top surface.  Lay your smaller cake upon your larger cake and ice smoothly.

**It is not necessary to use all of the icing here as I made extra to be a little fancy.  I separated 1/4 of the icing from the batch.  I added 1 drop of blue food coloring to the larger of the 2 batches to make a subtle blue hue and added 5 drops in the smaller plus your extra sugar for a thicker consistency.  I iced the cake with the lighter blue and put the darker, smaller batch in a pastry bag with a decorator tip and added piping.

Notes:
This dessert was fun and meaningful and also a nice transition piece to something forthcoming...

(kinda) Tweaks:
I made it a tier cake!
I added piping.
I used my stand-by icing and made it almond flavored--was amazing.

Questions???  theManicCheater@gmail.com

Orange Soda Cupcakes

Verdict: Success
Neighbor-worthy

While joking around with neighbors about my brother's affinity for orange soda, I learned that my neighbor Grace is also a fan of flavored "pop", as my Rochester/Western NY readers would refer to it.  Referring to soda as "pop" not only annoys me to the core but it may be one of the top 10 reasons I moved to NYC.

In one of the many cook books I have bought in the last number of months, I came across a recipe for orange soda-flavored cupcakes and took that conversation as a sign of what my next kitchen endeavour should be.  The neighbors in question, GeFaan and Grace, are good buddies of mine and have been integral to my blog as recipients of many kitchen attempts.  They are 2 of neighbors who find little packages outside their doors when a recipe is deemed "neighbor-worthty".  This one ended up outside their door as one of the last treats they will get still warm from the oven as they are moving :(.  No worries, my kitchen will still send its love along with mine as we will be in touch.  Nonetheless, they will be missed and the floor will not be the same without them.  Enjoy guys.

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

3/4 cups sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon orange zest

1/3 cup butter softened

1 cup orange soda(pop)

2 eggs

powdered sugar

Pre-heat oven to 350°. Line a cupcake pan with 12 paper liners (or use the foil wrapped ones on a cookie sheet.)

Put all of the ingredients in a bowl and mix the ingredients with a hand mixer (Low speed for 30 seconds, then Medium for 2 minutes.  Divide your batter amongst your cups and throw in the oven for 20-23 minutes.  Cool and top with powdered sugar.  Eat or pack for friends.

Notes:

Mmmm.  I hate orange soda but these are frickin' yummy.

Recipes?  Gimme.  Holiday recipes?  Halloween, Thanksgiving and Santa's Birthday are coming up... TheManicCheater@gmail.com

Food Fight
(Cupcakes)

Chocolate Blueberry w/ Blueberry Frosting

vs

Chocolate Grape w/ Grape Frosting

  

 

          

                      

    

Verdict: Success*

Neighbor-worthy*

This post is a perfect follow-up to my last "yay me" post.  The idea was great, the fun was there, but I needed to amend a piece afterward into making a success (for one little piece that ended up a lil too much), essentially taking me down a peg.

I've been challenging my "cheater" mentality a lot lately with making things from scratch-it's part of my growth.  I used to be a "cheater" that was all about cutting the corner and saving time but this weekend was definitely an exception.  To be honest, I've been super lonely lately 'cause my partner has been traveling and I miss him to the Nth degree.  His job is so important to him and he is the hardest worker with the most dedicated worth ethic of any one I know. I accept his absent hrs whilst putting 100% support behind him and try to apply the same dedication and focus he possesses into my own side projects.  Making cupcakes obviously pales in comparison but he has always said "If you're going to do something, DO something".  So ONE of the things to put my all into is this blog...

I have a lot of plates spinning (a common thing for any successful Type A(DD) personality), and have been trying to turn everything up a few degrees (see what I did there?) while keeping them in constant motion.  So, this weekend I thought I would challenge myself to, well, myself.  I did dueling recipes and one did most certainly come ahead of the other.  One also fell short (or actually way, way past of) what I had hoped for but has an obvious solution that is noted in green for you.

For the post, I infused different flavors into "regular" chocolate cupcakes and doing the same to my first attempt at making Decorator Icing.  These are my own takes on recipes but you will even note "tweaks" to myself.  Who won in their quest to mate best with Chocolate, Grape or Blueberry.....?

Ingredients:

Cupcakes (2dozen):

2 cup flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup hot water**

2/3 cups unsweetened baking cocoa

3/4 cup shortening

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

+ **from Grape Kool-Aid (made with 2 packets) for Grape Cupcakes

+ **plus 1 handful/2 oz blueberries crushed with a fork for Blueberry Cupcakes

Decorator Icing:

1/2 cup butter at room temperature

1/4 cup shortening

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon salt (plus 1/8 teaspoon for Grape)

4 cups powdered sugar

2-4 tablesppons milk

+ 1 packet Grape Kool-Aid *1/4 packet Grape Kool-Aid for Grape)

+ plus 1 handful/2 oz blueberries crushed with a fork for Blueberry.

Pre-heat oven to 350° and place your baking cups into your cupcake pan.

For cupcakes, mix flour, baking soda, powder and salt in a medium bowl.  Mix in your water mixture (BB or G) with the cocoa in another bowl and set aside.  In a large bowl, beat your shortening with a hand mixer on Medium speed for 30 secs and gradually add sugar a little bit at a time.  Beat for 2 minutes when all sugar has been added (remember to scrape the bowl as you go along).  From here, add the eggs one at a time while beating still.  Add your vanilla and lower your speed to Low and add your flour and cocoa mixture alternatively (flour, cocoa, flour, cocoa, flour) until blended.  Add your batter to your cups equally and bake for 22 minutes.

For icing, beat butter and shortening in a bowl with a hand mixer on Medium speed.  Add vanilla and salt.  Lower speed to Low and add powdered sugar little by little.  Add your milk slowly, while beating, and eye texture before putting in too much.  Add in your Kool-Aid or Blueberries and mix with a spoon.

Allow cakes to cool and prepare to ice.  prepare your pastry bag with a decorative (I have no idea what it is called: the jagged looking one that isn't too big).  Stuff your bag with your icing and squeeze out in a circular motion upon your cupcakes.  Add a berry for the Blueberry cupcakes.

Notes:

Ok, these were both good but I think anything each pales vs my last entry.  That's okay though.  Not my best but pretty good. 

The Blueberry Cupcakes were the victor here.

**My mistake was that I overdid the grape flavor with the icing.  It came out WAY too sweet so, as marked in green, I cut it by 2/3rd for my instructions for others.

I still have some room for improvement in my decorative art which I am totally looking forward to.  I have many tips to look forward to play with.

Tweaks:

*I changed my own initial aim and reduced the amount of Kool-Aid in the recipe.

(Further notes: Did you know there is no caffeine in Kool-Aid??? Thank goodness the sugar you need to add doesn't negate that!)

Desserts?  (I'm going through a phase.)  Send them to me: theManicCheater@gmail.com

Slider Cupcakes(!)

 

 

 

 

Verdict: Success

(Most Definitely) Neighbor-worthy

 

As I had mentioned in my last post, I had a private event that I was invited to provide some of my treats for last week.  I ended up having a ball searching for something fun that I would successfully "WOW" a group with.  I found one and boy did I ever.  It was easily the most time consuming, effort-heavy recipe I have ever stolen and was 100% worth it as they came out great and had the most impressive presentation of any dessert I've ever made by a mile. (Seriously, look at this pic of them plated.)

 

I scoured the internet, my cook books, my stockpiled magazines and newspaper clippings (not like on 'Hoarders', just a nice and OCDy organized and lined-up collection in my cupboard) and even bought some new baking cook books for something that would stand out and impress. I found an Andre the Giant (RIP) sized handful of cupcake recipes that I am still dying to try but settled on two that I would make.  The first I selected was the following recipe for Slider Cupcakes that are a baked creation made to look (alarmingly) like little burgers.

 

*This one takes time (like 4-5 hours total).

 

(Maybe "gotta get")Tools:

1 1/2" round cutter

scissors

small (24) cupcake pan and (72) liners

toothpicks

brush

 

Ingredients:

Cupcakes/"buns":

2 1/3 cups flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter at room temperature (I USED REAL BUTTER THIS TIME!)

1 1/12 cups sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2/3 cups milk

 

Brownies/"burgers":

Use a box mix (requires eggs and veggie oil)

 

"Cheese":

60 orange juicy fruit candies I have no idea what that means so I assumed Starburst.

 

"Ketchup":

16 rolls of Strawberry Fruit by the Foot"  1 box Strawberry Fruit Roll-Ups *SEE NOTES FOR THIS

 

"Lettuce":

1 1/2 cup flaked coconut

4-6  6-8 drops green food coloring

 

1 cup chocolate frosting I just bought one of those tubes (it just works as a glue)

2 tablespoons honey

water

sesame seeds

 

Pre-heat oven to 350° and line a mini-cupcake tray with liners.

 

Night One (IT'S A BITCH): Unwrap your Starburst and lie them  (10 at a time) on a microwavable plate sprayed with a vegetable spray (like PAM).  Nuke 'em for 10 seconds and flatten them one by one with the bottom of anything flat you can find.  Cut the flattened out pieces into 1 1/2 to 2"squares with scissors and lie them out on parchment paper.  Make 60. Next, roll out your Fruit Roll-Ups and cut out oblong or roundish pieces that are a little smaller than the "cheese".  Make about 60.

 

In a bowl, add flour, baking powder and salt and mix it up.  In another bowl, beat the butter with a hand mixer set at Medium speed until smooth and slowly add sugar a little at a time beating well between each pour.  Keep going for a couple of minutes and then add the eggs, on at a time.  Beat in vanilla.  Lower speed to Low and add some of the flour followed by half the milk, more flour, rest of milk and rest of flour (so, flour, milk, flour, milk, flour).  Beat until blended.  It will make a kinda-thick batter.  Fill your cupcake lines 2/3rds full with batter and bake about 18 minutes.  Cool for 5 minutes and remove cupcakes and set aside.  Repeat pour and bake steps two more times.  Cover cupcakes with foil.  They will be fine the next day (as will the fruit snacks even uncovered).

 

Day Two: Make the brownie batter as directed on box.  Pour into a greased 10x15 pan with a 1" lip.  Bake as directed.  Allow to cool and cut out as many rounds as you can.  I got about 54.

 

Throw your coconut in a bowl and add the food coloring and mix up (don't overdo it, make it the color of real lettuce) and set aside.

 

Cut your yellow cupcakes in half and add a dab of frosting to both sides of a brownie round. Place on bottom "bun" and top the "burger" with a slice of "cheese" so the frosting dab holds it in place.  The "ketchup" is pretty sticky, so no need for frosting on the bottom-just add it on top of the cheese.  Dab some frosting on top of the "ketchup" and add a pinch of "lettuce".

 

In a small bowl, combine a couple of tablespoons of water and 2 tablespoons of honey and mix.  Add one last dab of frosting to the bottom of the remaining "bun" and, using a brush, gloss the top "bun" with the wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds.  Place that upon your lettuce and thrown a toothpick through the layers and plate.

 

Notes:

• This treat took SO long to make and yielded about 54 AMAZING "sliders".  It was SO worth it as they were beautiful and tasted great.
• I had to order all orange Starburst online. They took a few days to arrive but an hour to unwrap! 
• *Fruit by the Foot only comes in obnoxious, super swirly colors/flavors ('cause kids must need something flashy to catch their attention or they won't beg mom to buy them).  Needless to say, I couldn't use them for the "ketchup".  As a solution I went for Fruit Roll-Ups.  It worked but, thanks to marketing geniuses, I had to side-step the swirly kinds they offer and visit multiple stores to find plain Strawberry.  I found them but they had shapes and faces and wing-dings and shit on them. So I had to cut around the symbols.
• I ended up with extra cupcakes as I was at the mercy of the number of brownie rounds I could make.  It works perfectly if you screw up cutting them up.

I've never been more proud of my(apron)self.  I did not make this up but I did make it great!

 

Do you have suggestions of something fun you want me to try to make?  Challenges?  These kinds of treats are referred to as "tasty fakes" in 'The Simpsons" universe.  Send 'em to me: theManicCheater@gmail.com.

 

 

And PLEASE, send me some comments.  I'd love to start getting more from you.  I'm getting great traffic but want more and comments help drive it.  Thanks so much!  -Mark Patrick



Very Very Strawberry Cake Pie

Verdict: FAILURE

Not Neighbor-worthy



I have no idea why I have been baking so much lately.  The truth is I'm not all that good at it and am also not really that into sweets.  Maybe it's summer and the desire to eat fruit?  Maybe it's 'cause I'm into challenges lately or just to satisfy my shallow ego by making something that looks great. 

Either way, this one was most surely chosen in the cruisiest of manners....I was on the prowl for something that aroused my senses and when I saw this one I knew I had to do it!

There was not much room to tweak this one as it stands pretty much on its own.  I did however up the nature of the dessert by focusing on the strawberry factor and revolving the whole recipe around that essence.

Unfortunately, this attempt was a most devastating FAIL.  Perhaps it was supposed to be mushy and wet on the inside like a pie, but I think the intent of this recipe was to be a mix of pie and cake and it was just not up to par.....so FAIL, FAIL, FAIL.

Ingredients:
1 box vanilla cake mix plus required ingredients strawberry cake mix (plus eggs 'n stuff)
3 cups or 1 lb fresh strawberries quartered
1/4 cup sugar
salt
flour for dusting
coarse sugar (you all know my rule about too many kinds of sugar in my cabinet-BS)
vanilla ice cream or whipped cream for serving (pick your own poison if you want, I'll skip)

Pre-heat oven to 350°

Spray a pie pan/plate with vegetable cooking spray (like PAM). Make your cake batter and pour it into your pan/plate until 3/4 full. Bake until almost set (rim is cooked but not the center too much--maybe like 20 minutes.) While the cake bakes, toss your strawberries, sugar and salt in a bowl and let it sit until you take your (almost) baked cake is taken out and put on a cooking rack. Up the temp of the oven to 450°

Unroll one of the pie crusts (on a flour dusted work surface) and cut into 1 1/4" strips. Unroll the other crust and cut 3 1" wide strips from the middle of it and press the ends of the strip together, end-to-end to make a long strip to be used as the rim of the dessert.

Drain your strawberry mixture and spoon it on top of your cake. Press 'em into the top of the cake to secure them in there (but not too hard-duh). Arrange half of the crust strips (not the long rim one) atop the berries, parallel to one another and spaced out by an inch (using the shorter strips toward the edges-again, duh). Fold them back and make a lattice formation with the remaining strips. If you can't figure it out at first, think of it as a mind game and play 'till you find the solution.

Wrap the long rim strip around the perimeter of your pan/plate, overlapping the lattice pieces. Trim any overhanging spots and crimp the dough all around the edges with your fingers. Sprinkle the lattice with sugar and throw pie into the oven for about 10 minutes or until the crust is golden.

Notes:
This was such an upsetting fail.  I was looking forward to making it for a week.  The bake times, I have to assume, were the cause of my FAILURE.  When the pie/cake was done, the batter of the cake was oozing out, upward through the strawberries and lattice.
Even as a FAILURE, this was pretty damn good looking. 
This was my first lattice which I am okay with.

Tweaks:
I substituted a strawberry mix for the prescribed vanilla to justify the "very very" claim.

Cheats:
Now that I know how to make cakes from scratch, I always feel that I'm cheating when I use a cake mix.

Got something that'll get a rise outta me or help redeem myself as a baker?  Send it my way.  theManicCheater@gmail.com

Neopolitan Cheesecake

Taste Verdict: Success
                   Presentation Verdict: Eh                   

Neighbor-worthy

This was one of my riskier attempts at making my own dessert.  I love cheesecake and have been craving it something fierce lately.  I have already posted my margarita cheesecake, but this one was a stretch and I thought would be a good blog entry. 

This weekend I wanted to make my own marble cheesecake.  Then I thought "Ok, I'll make a strawberry-marble cheesecake for the blog".  Then I thought about trying to make a vanilla bean cheesecake.  Blah, blah, blah-I was obviously longing for a fun cheesecake-and I thought up a really fun thing to try: Neopolitan. 

Neopolitan is the ice cream choice that my parents (and probably yours) made for gatherings thinking it would cover more peoples' preferences as it is 1/3 strawberry, 1/3 vanilla and 1/3 chocolate. More times than not, we were left with a carton of strawberry 'cause no one wanted it.  That was fine with me as I hated it (SEE NOTES).  Well, I don't think that could ever be the case with cheesecake...cheesecake is just too good to avoid a flavor. 

I used this recipe for the basis of my recipe. I tweaked it by stripping it of its flavor and made the rest up as I went along. 

Ingredients:

Vanilla Simple Syrup:

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup water

1 vanilla bean split with seeds removed but reserved

Crust:

1 3/4 2 cups graham cracker crumbs

3 2 tablespoons light brown sugar

1 stick melted butter

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Cheesecake(s):

3 8oz packages cream cheese reduced-fat cream cheese
3 eggs plus one yolk
1 15oz can pureed pumpkin
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 cup sour cream reduced-fat sour cream
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 tablespoons strawberry jam
3 oz semi-sweet chocolate

Heat a small sauce pan over Medium-high heat and combine water, sugar and the stalk (pod) and seeds. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer. Stir occasionally as you cook it until the sugar has dissolved. Take off the heat and allow the syrup to cool. 

In a medium bowl, place the graham crumbs, sugar and cinnamon and mix the hell out of them.  Add the butter and mix.  Press mixture firmly into a 9" springform pan (trailing it up the sides some).

Beat the cream cheese with a hand mixer until smooth and add the sour cream and sugar, then eggs, one by one.  Add the flour and the vanilla and continue to beat until combined.  Separate into three bowls.

In a small sauce pan, melt your chocolate and allow to cool-but not long enough for it to harden.

Bowl 1: Add your chocolate and mix well.
Bowl 2: Strain your simple syrup, add 1/2 cup and mix well. 1/4 cup.
Bowl 3: Add your jam and mix well.

Pour the contents of your chocolate mix into your crusted pan first.  Chill in fridge for 10 minutes.  Then CAREFULLY layer your vanilla above on top of the chocolate and chill for 10 minutes.  Pour the strawberry upon the vanilla.  Place in the oven and bake for 1 hr.  Remove from the oven and let sit for 20 minutes.  Cover with plastic wrap and throw in the fridge for at least 4 hours. Before you pop the spring to serve, run a knife along the rim to loosen the side crust trail.  Some will fall off-no big deal.

Notes:
I love being adventurous.  This was my creation including making a vanilla cheesecake as I have never seen one nor read a recipe for one.  I had used a simple syrup in another recipe and thought "why not try it here?"
This is probably the worst presentation I have had for something I've made to date (on the blog).

No-foul Error in Judgement:
When I do this again, I will use less syrup for the vanilla.  It watered that layer down causing the strawberry to integrate with it when poured in.  It ended up tasting just fine (well, awesome actually).

Happy Accident:
**The strawberry ended up being the slightest layer which works for me.  :)


Tweaks:
I made the receipe Neopolitan
I substituted reduced-fat sour cream and cream cheese for the recipe.
I (obviously) removed the spices and pumpkin from the recipe.
I added graham cracker crumbs to yield more crust (I LOVE crust).


Any ideas for me?  themaniccheater@gmail.com.

Peanut Butter Cream-Filled
Devil's Food Cupcakes
with Chocolate-Butterfinger Icing

COMFORT FOOD ALERT:  For a bad day when you want indulgent food (and when I don't want to tweak too much and just want to cheat the shit out of a recipe).
I assumed I'd be down with this recipe I found for Peanut Butter Cream-filled Devil's-Food Cupcakes from Bobby Flay, but I felt it could leave the slightest Mark on it (see what I did there again?)

Ingredients:

Cupcakes:
1 1/2 cups cake flour flour
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk *see buttermilk cheat at bottom
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup strong coffee
3 2 large eggs (+ egg white)
+ cup whole milk
+ 1 teaspoon lemon juice
Boxed Devil's Food Cake Mix (sugar-free)
+ 2 pinches of nutmeg
+ 1/2 cup canola oil

PASTRY BAG w Medium Tip (just the tip isn't enough for me to get the job done here)

Filling:
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup creamy peanut butter low-fat creamy peanut butter
1 1/4 cups sifted confectioner's sugar    (like I own a sifter-I can barely open my utensil drawer)

Ganache  What the hell is ganache?  Icing/Topping:
1/2 cup heavy cream
4 oz semi-sweet chocolate roughly chopped (I used Ghirardelli)
1 cup roasted peanuts, chopped 2 Butterfinger candy bars crushed

Preheat oven to 325°

Line a muffin pan with foil cupcake lines (or lay our on a cookie sheet).

Follow directions on your cake mix box and make the batter.  Add the coffee.  Fill the cups half way and bake for 25 minutes.  Set on your cooling rack.

With a hand mixer, beat the butter and peanut butter until blended.  On a slow speed, slowly add the confectioner's sugar.  Crank up the speed some and beat until it's fluffy.  Spoon this mixture into a pastry bag with a medium tip and insert some of that cream in there--DON'T overdo it or it'll just break up.

Crush your Butterfingers in a Ziploc bag or in their wrappers (make it dusty but with some chunks).

Place the chocolate in a medium bowl.  Heat the cream in a small sauce pan until scalding.  Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and let sit for a minute.  Wisk it till it becomes smooth.  Let it chill out and thicken for like 10.  Dip the tops of the cupcakes in the goo and place on your rack individually. Top the soft icing with the crushed candy and allow to set (or don't I don't care, they could be good all hot an gooey).

Notes:

I made this for me not others.  I use nuts sometimes when it's for others but not tonight**.

Tweaks:
I used a sugar-free mix (no healthy tweak as it is negated by everything else here).
I added some nutmeg to sweeten this sugarless mix.

**Nuts and raisins don't belong in food--they belong in a bowl (or occasionally in a crunchy peanut butter) or in a box respectively. I opted for crushed candy for the topping.
I used low-fat peanut butter.  I understand that with this truly fattening dessert that this does not really count as a healthy tweak cut corners when you can. Plus it tastes the same and I had it already.
I cut out one egg and used one egg yolk
I cut out 2 tablespoons of butter out of the recipe for the cupcake.  Isn't 1/2 a cup enough??

Cheats:
*Buttermilk is a waste of money when it's not something already in house and you need so little of it.  One cup whole milk + 1 tablespoons allowed to curdle (15 minutes) is a great quickie homemade ingredient.
I used a box instead of doing cupcakes from scratch this time.

Verdict: Success

Neighbor-worthy.  I gave these to my buddies down at our local (and favorite) place, the Half King.  They have been so great to us over the years and I wanted to share my thanks with a few extra lbs.

Do you want to be on the mailing list or have recipes you want to share with me?  Contact me at themaniccheater@gmail.com.

Margarita Cheesecake

This post shows a different tweak: I took the original recipe and made it more complicated....
(What was supposed to be a no-bake pie into a bake-bake cheesecake proper.)

Ingredients:

Crust:
1 1/2  2 cups pretzels finely crushed
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter melted  *unsalted

Pie Filling:
2 3 (8 oz) packages of cream cheese (I used 1 "regular", 1 "low-fat" and 1 "fat-free")
14 oz sweetened condensed milk
2 tablespoons 1 shot tequila  (don't be cheap, use a good one)
2 tablespoons 1 shot triple sec
2 3 limes (with the zest of one)
2 drops green food coloring (optional)
1 (8 oz) container whipped topping
+ 3 eggs and 1 yolk
+ 1/4 cup sour cream
+ 1 1/2 cups sugar
+ 2 tablespoons flour

 

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Put the pretzels in a large Ziploc bag (let as much air out as possible) and break them down into fine crumbs using a rolling pin.  Put crumbs into a bowl with the melted butter and the sugar and mix till they all stick together.  Line a 9" spring pan and pressing down tightly.  I use my flat-bottomed 1-cup measuring utensil to get a flat, even surface.  Set aside.

Beat your cream cheese with with a hand mixer and add your eggs one at a time adding some sugar in between.  Add the extra yolk while you continue beating until smooth.  Add your zest, juice, liquor and sour cream.  Follow up by adding the flour.

Spoon the mixture into your pie crust and smooth it out.  Put your pan into the center rack of your oven and bake for 1 hour.

Remove your pan and place on a cooling rack.

Allow to cool and settle some (about 20 minutes) and pop the tin.  Wrap in plastic wrap and pop in the fridge over night.

Sleep.  Eat later.

Notes:

This recipe is, as motioned above, cranked up in the effort department.  I've never been a "non-bake" or "instant" kinda guy.  I took the essence of a no-bake pie recipe and merged it with a stand-by cheesecake recipe I do.

Tweaks:

I took made this from a pie and no-bake recipe to an actual cheesecake and baked it.
I swapped regular salt with unsalted---I mean, c'mon...isn't there enough salt in the pretzels?
I upped the amounts of cream cheese, liquor and limes because there is more stuff in a cheesecake that a pie...and I wanted to taste the tequila.
I got rid of the condensed milk, and whipped topping-I think this is for the "no bake"ness
And food coloring.  Really??
I added eggs, sour cream, sugar and flour for true cheesecake-ness.

Possible Cheats for you:
You can use a food processor to break up the pretzels for the crust.  It would probably have been simpler but, again, I drank while I made this.

Verdict: Success

Definitely Neighbor-worthy

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Brownie Walnut Pie

This dessert is lovingly executed following the recipe of Giada de Laurentiis

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons unsalted butter cut up into small pieces

3 oz unsweetened semi-sweet chocolate chopped (I used Ghirardelli)

3 eggs

1 1/4 cups dark brown sugar light brown sugar

3/4 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup walnuts broken up

walnuts for decoration

Biscotti Crust:

8 biscotti coarsely broken

8 tablespoons unsalted butter chilled and diced

1/4 cup (packed) dark brown sugar light brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Blend the biscotti, butter and sugar in a food processor until the crumbs are moist and stick together when pressed. Firmly press the crumb mixture over the bottom and up the sides of a pie dish, building up a high rim. Bake the crust until golden and feels firm to the touch for about 15 minutes. Cool the crust completely.

Whisk the butter and the chocolate over low heat in a heavy medium saucepan until the chocolate is almost melted. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk until the chocolate is fully melted and the mixture is smooth. Whisk in the sugar, then the eggs, one at a time. Fold in the flour and salt with a flexible rubber spatula. Stir in the nut pieces. Scrape the batter into the prepared Biscotti Crumb Crust. Decorate with walnuts.

Place the pie on a baking sheet and bake until the outer 2 to 3 inches are slightly puffed and dry looking and the center is set, 35 minutes.  Cool the pie completely on a rack.

Notes:

This recipe was made for my friends at Fashion GPS who will determine its fate as a success or failure.

Tweaks:

The only things I tweaked were the sugar and the chocolate.  I already have 3 kinds of sugar in my cabinet and dark brown sugar is not one of them.  I refuse to buy more. 

And I couldn’t find unsweetened chocolate.

Cheats:

This whole post is a pretty much a cheat against the nature of this bog.  One big (credit-given) hack of a cheat because I (practically) didn’t change a thing (except that I added the über crucial Ghirardelli choco-star in the middle).

Verdict:TBD

Verdict: Success

Definitely Neighbor-worthy

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Write-in Recipe

Chocolate Crunch Brownie Sundae

This is my first post with a recipe that someone has sent to me to try out.  My friend Jen sent me a recipe for Chocolate Crunch Brownies.  In keeping with the theme of the blog, I tweaked it some and then turned into my own creation. 

Thanks Jen!

Ingredients:

1 cup butter 1/2 cup salted butter 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened (I nuke mine ‘cause

  I’m not patient enough to wait for it to soften)

2 cups sugar

4 eggs beaten

1/2 cup Dutch processed cocoa

1 1/2 cup flour

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 jar (7 oz) marshmallow crème caramel (or butterscotch if you prefer)

1 cup creamy crunchy peanut butter

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips  *see cheats

3 cups crisp rice cereal (Rise Krispies)

+ vanilla ice cream

+ chocolate syrup (cooled)

+ whipped cream

+ cinnamon

+ Nesquik (powder)

+ chocolate shavings***      

          

Pre-eat your oven to 350°

Mix your cocoa, flour and salt in a small bowl.  In a large bowl, mix the butter and sugar with a hand mixer until smooth and fluffy.  Gradually add the dry mix to your butter mixture and continue blending until a smooth batter has formed.  Pour the batter into a 9 x13 greased baking dish and bake for 28 minutes.  Cool on a wire rack**

Spread the caramel on the surface of the room temperature brownies and warm a small sauce pan on Low heat on your range.  Put your chocolate and peanut butter and melt it, stirring constantly.  When liquefied (and nutty), add the Krispies and mix.  Spread the crunchy mixture over the caramel.  Put in the fridge to cool.

Cut your cooled brownies into whatever shape you want and plate them—if you’re a fancy-pants, decorate your plate too.  Scoop your ice cream (I used sugar free) onto your brownies.  Cover ice cream with chocolate syrup, whipped cream, a sprinkle of cinnamon & Nesquik and chocolate shavings.

Smile, then feel guilty---this is a bad thing for waistline watchers but good for sweet lovers.

Notes:

How dumb is it that [Nestle] Quik is now called Nesquik? Lame.

I cut some unhealthy corners but this is such a non-healthy thing that I can’t label anything a Healthy Tweak today.

***I made chocolate shavings from a chocolate Easter egg by using a mini cheese grater that I got at my cousins Jerry and Andrea’s wedding.

Tweaks:

I cut out 1/2 of the salted butter and substituted unsalted. 

I hate marshmallow anything---my brother David may not even read this blog anymore due to it even being mentioned in this post he hates it so much—so I substituted caramel (a fat-free one).

I used crunchy peanut-butter (I used “all natural” from Smart Balance) instead of creamy to further support the crunchy claim made by the title of the recipe.  Even Snap, Crackle and Pop need support sometimes.

Cheats:

*I only had about a cup of chocolate chips in my cabinet, so I broke up one of my leftover chocolate eggs that I got from my bf’s mother at Easter.  Filled the void perfectly.

**Refer to one of my Just the Tip posts for my wire rack cheat.

Verdict: Success

To call this recipe Neighbor-worthy, would be in an insult.  It is so much better than that.  They will all have to spend an extra week working this iff at the gym, but SO worth it.

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Contact me at theManicCheater@gmail.com

Dark Cherry-Red Velvet Roll-Up

Dark Cherry-Red Velvet Layer Cake

SALVAGE ATTEMPT

Ingredients:

Cake:

unsalted butter (for smearing)

1 1/2 cups flour, plus extra for dusting

1 cup dark cherry cola (I used Dr Brown’s)

2 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup buttermilk *see buttermilk mixture cheat at bottom.

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon red food coloring

2 teaspoons 1 teaspoon almond extract

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

confectioner’s sugar, for dusting

Filling:

4 oz cream cheese, softened

1 1/2 cups 1 cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon almond extract

1/3 confectioners sugar

Pre-heat your oven to 350º

Line a high-lipped cookie sheet with parchments paper.  (Unsalted) butter up the paper and the sides of the cookie sheet and dust with flour.  Lay out a kitchen towel (nothing soft like a bath towel or hand towel) on your workspace and dust with confectioner's sugar.

Cake:

Start with your cherry cola.  Put in a medium sauce pan and place on your range set on Med-High.  Bring to a boil and allow to simmer for like 20 minutes.  Let the soda reduce some.  You will need at least 1/2 a cup for this recipe.  Allow the cola to cool.

While the cola is cooling, whisk together your flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and powder and salt in a bowl.  In a bigger bowl whisk the granulated sugar, (cooled) cola, oil, food coloring, eggs, extracts and buttermilk mixture.  Slowly pour the dry bowl into the wet mixture bit by bit until the ingredients have mixed.

Pour the batter and spread evenly onto your parchment paper and put into your oven on the center rack.  Bake for 15-20 minutes.

Filling:

While cake bakes, whisk the cream cheese, 1/2 cup of the heavy cream and the extract in a big bowl.  In another bowl, beat the other 1/2 cup cream and the powdered sugar with a mixer until it ripples.  Slowly fold the mixer mixture into the other bowl, folding the cream cheese over gently. Throw in the fridge to chill.

When the cake is done baking, take out of the oven and place on a cooling rack**.

When cake has cooled, carefully flip it (and for people like me, seriously, carefully) onto the sugared towel and peel back the still buttery paper.  Slowly roll the cake and towel, from the short end, into a loose coil and set on the cooling rack to kind of get used to that shape.

After you've checked your e-mail or taken a nap, unroll the settled cake. Spread the filling over the cake surface and carefully reroll the cake. Put on a plate or platter and trim off the sides to clean it up and dust it up with confectioners' sugar for aesthetics.

SALVAGE ATTEMPT: If the cake has cracked at this point, keep cake as is and (as the cracks most likely occurred on the edges where the folds failed to sustain their curve) slice off the edges and dust it up with confectioners' sugar for aesthetics.  You will be left with a long plank with visible layers.  From here, slice width-wise into several pieces and you have portioned layer cake that still looks good (and if not screwed up due to tweaks or errors) and tastes just as good as the product the original recipe would have yielded.

Notes:
I pieced this together from different recipes and tweaked ‘em and made them what I thought would be appropriate.  I changed measurements from said recipes and added or swapped items.

Tweaks:

I cut back on the amount of soda and added time to the reduction.  Whenever I "reduce" anything, it always takes longer than as prescribed by others.

I chose to use less heavy cream than proposed in the recipes I saw--isn't this dessert indulgent enough? 

Cheats:

*I substituted a mixture of whole milk and lemon juice for buttermilk.  I HATE buying a product to only use a small portion of it.  I always have milk and lemon in the house.  1 cup whole milk + 1 tablespoon lemon yields buttermilk substitute after it has had a chance to curdle (about 15mins.)

**I live in Manhattan and don't have a freakin' cooling rack.  I take out the tray from my microwave and out it on top of two bowls. 

Personal Errors:

I forgot to measure out the buttermilk mixture after making it, so I actually used a whole cup instead of 1/3 of it.

Injuries:

I burned my palm talking the cake out of the oven.

ORIGINAL Verdict: Failure

The cake tore a bunch of times when rerolling toward the end.  Tasting happens on Easter, so we'll see...

Salvageable? Yes

Successful Salvage? Yes
(For both taste and presentation)


This recipe is not now deemed Neighbor-worthy Holiday Family-worthy.


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