Chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecakes

Hey hey. Guess what I've got on my mind today?
 ... 
Did you guess yet?


Books. And Crushes. 


Lemme explain. I am an avid reader. That's how I know how to use words like 'avid' ;p And today, I was tweeting about the book I'm currently reading when I thought that I'd really like  to start incorporating book reviews into my blog. Which means you guys are going to be subjected to my opinions about some of the books I read. If you don't like to read, well ...  then ... you're missing out big time. And no! You can't just watch the movie. It is never as good!


On a related note, the lovely people at Quadrille books have sent me a new cook book to review which I'll do next week, as well as run a giveaway for a copy of the book. My very first giveaway! Are you excited? I am!


On to crushes. I was thinking that I have a blog crush on the creator of today's recipe; Lauren's Latest. And it got me thinking of the other blog crushes I have - Annie's Eats, How Sweet it is and Gingerbread Bagels to name a few.  
Y'all already know about my chef crush on Nigella Lawson right? Well did you know I also crush on the lesser known though equally talented Jo Pratt? And the Caribbean food god Levi Roots? Oooh and the Ace of Cakes. Though I don't know his name.
I have clothes crushes on dresses and playsuits. 
Hollywood actor crushes on Josh Hartnett and Joshua Jackson - *swoon* wasn't Pacey Witter just the best character to ever grace our TVs? 
Halle Berry, Nicole Richie and Rihanna are my girl crushes, Kathryn Stockett (have I raved about her debut novel 'The Help' yet?) and Chimamanda Adichie are my author crushes ... I think you get the message, I have crushes just about everywhere.


Everywhere, that is, except in real life. If my work's HR department is reading this, it is upon your weary heads I lay the burden of  hiring me a real life, everyday crush. Thank you.


Till then, peace, love and cookie dough cheesecake. 


Makes 12


Ingredients


For the cookie dough
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp icing sugar
pinch salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 tbsp chocolate chips


For the cheesecakes
12 Oreo cookies
227g cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp all purpose flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg


Chocolate chips (to decorate)


1 - Preheat oven to 170C /Gas mark 3/ 325F. Line 12 muffin tins with paper liners and set aside
To make cookie dough:
2 - Place softened butter into a medium sized bowl. Stir in sugars until well incorporated

3 - Stir in vanilla, salt and flour. It may seem too dry at first but it should all mix in

4 - Once flour is no longer visible, mix the dough with your hand. The heat of your hands should help keep things sticking together. 

Mix in chocolate chips and form dough into a log with the same diameter as the Oreo cookies

5 - Score the top of the dough to get even pieces and then slice

6 - Place dough rounds on top of Oreo cookie and press down lightly to help it stick. If the dough circles are a little too big, just press the overlapping dough to be flush with the side of the cookie, and then smooth the top
7 - Place these into the prepared muffin tins and set aside

To make the cheesecake filling
8 - Whip cream cheese in a large bowl
9 - Slowly pour in sugar and flour. Scrape down sides and mix again briefly
10 - Whip in vanilla extract and egg until incorporated. Scrape sides and whip again
11 - Spoon 1 heaping tablespoon of cheesecake mix over each cookie stack and spread on top and around cookie. (This recipe makes just enough cheesecake to cover these, so start with smaller amounts covering the tops and adding extra spoonfuls from there)

12 - Bake for 20 minutes or until cheesecake is set completely. Cool to room temperature and then refrigerate until completely chilled. Once ready to serve, remove paper liners and top with chocolate chips

Cinnamon Roll Cookies

Last week was kinda tough for me - I made the decision to let go of someone in my life. Letting go is difficult at the best of times - especially for me as I'm a natural hoarder. I hang on to books, clothes, letters, CDs; pretty much everything - but it's even harder to let go of someone that I've fought to keep in my life in the past and if life was perfect, someone I'd never have to let go of. Anyway, c'est la vie... and enough about me. Let's talk about my baking as I intend to bake my way through my funk! Hang on, that's about me too ... ah well, we'll talk about it anyway.

I made these cookies for church. I go to this great Church called 'Equippers' and for the first time ever, I can say I actually really enjoy church! I can't wait to go on a Sunday and I feel like I've missed out if I miss one Sunday. It is a church where everyone pitches into the life of the church and for a long while, I wasn't contributing anything till recently when I started baking. We have a break between worship and the sermon for tea and coffee and whenever I can (I'm aiming for every week), I make something to eat with our teas and coffees. So far I've made Rocky Road and brownies and I'm constantly on the lookout for suitable recipes as it has to be stuff that is already portioned or easy to portion and also easy to transport. So there will be a LOT of cookies and bars in my church's future!

I love cinnamon and bookmarked these cookies as soon as I saw them. Now, I have to admit that I wasn't expecting great things from these cookies as y'know, they don't contain chocolate, or peanut butter, or Oreos (all the staples of a great ... anything) in them ... but they are AMAZING! They're soft and each mouthful is choc-full of cinnamon roll taste. And the slightly coffee flavoured icing is a stroke of genius! Thanks to Sing for your Supper for the recipe!

If I had a big enough freezer, I'd have a roll of this dough always in it, ready to cut and bake wonderful cookies!

Ingredients

For the cookies

226g unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup golden caster sugar

2 eggs

2 tsps vanilla

2 tsps cinnamon

3 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 tsp salt

For the filling

57g unsalted butter, very soft

1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

For the icing

2 cups icing sugar

2 tablespoons melted butter

1/2 teaspoon instant espresso powder

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 - 4 tablespoons milk

To make cookies

1 - In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt

2 - In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. 

Add the vanilla and eggs one at a time, and beat until just combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl

3 - Add half of the flour mixture and mix until just combined. Add the remaining flour mixture and beat until thoroughly combined, scraping the bowl as needed

4 - Scrape the dough into a ball in the centre of the bowl, cover with cling film and chill in the freezer for 30 minutes, or in the fridge for at least an hour.

5 - Once the dough is chilled, divide it into two equal halves. Place one half back in the bowl and put it back in the fridge. On a large piece of cling film, pat the first half of the dough into a rectangle about nine inches by 12 inches and about half an inch thick

6 - Place half of the butter on the dough and spread it all the way to the edges. Sprinkle half of the brown sugar evenly over the buttered dough and press the sugar into the dough using the back of a tablespoon. Finally, sprinkle half of the cinnamon evenly over the dough.

7 - Use the plastic wrap to tightly roll the dough into a log.Place the log in the freezer for 30 minutes or the refrigerator for at least an hour. 

8 - Repeat with the remaining half of the dough and filling ingredients.

9 - Preheat the oven to 180C / 350F/ Gas Mark 4. Line a baking sheet with grease proof paper

10 - After the dough has chilled again, slice each log into one inch slices (about 20 per log). Place on the prepared baking sheets and bake for 10 to 12 minutes. 

Transfer to a wire cooling rack and allow to cool completely before icing

To make the icing
 11 -  In a medium bowl, combine the butter and instant espresso powder. 
 12 - Add the icing sugar and vanilla and whisk until it just comes together. 
 13 - Next, add the milk, one tablespoon at a time until the desired consistency is reached. It should be thin enough to drizzle, but thicker than a glaze.
 14 - With the cookies on a wire cooling rack set over parchment paper, drizzle the icing over the them with your whisk. Allow the cookies to set up for a few minutes before stacking or storing.

Triple Layer Oreo Cake (Warning: You might put on weight just LOOKING at this cake)

It was my mum's *cough* 40th *cough* birthday on the 27th of May and as I told you in this post, she's LOVES chocolate. So I knew I had to make her a cake that was loaded with chocolate. This cake came to mind pretty quickly because it was love at first sight as soon as I saw it but as it's such a big cake, I wanted to save it for a special occasion. And what better occasion than my amazing mum's birthday eh?


This recipe has been adapted slightly from Beantown Baker's. She's one of my favourite baking bloggers and I want to make layer cakes like her when I grow up!


I won't lie to you - this is a very involved cake. It took me about 7 hours to make but it is totally worth it in the end! I also had a few issues with the chocolate layers - my cake mixture was too watery and they rose unevenly making for very ugly uneven cakes; I'm amazed at the multitude of sins I was able to hide with the frosting! I've adapted the recipe slightly to try and resolve the issues I had but I haven't tested it yet. I'll update you guys when I do.


However, the time it takes is totally worth it. Even with their problems, the chocolate cake layers were wonderfully moist cake - I think they might be my favourite chocolate cake recipe (after Guinness chocolate cake) and the Oreo filling ... wow. It's creamy and vanilla-ey and not too sweet but still full of flavour. Yum. Yum. Yum. I'm using it to frost every cake I ever make EVER! Well. Okay. That is an exaggeration but this filling is that good! The whole cake is rich and decadent and incredible. It's just an amazing cake! And I'll stop now because I'm gushing. But you try it and see if you don't gush too!

Steps it takes to put this cake together
1 - Bake the cake layers. The cake layers can be made in advance and refrigerated or frozen. Layers should be completely cooled prior to assembling the cake
2 - Make the Oreo filling
3 - Stack the cake - Place 1 chocolate layer, flat side up, on a flat plate or cake pedestal. With a knife or spatula, spread the top with half of the Oreo filling. Place the Oreo cake layer on top and spread with the remaining Oreo filling. Place the last chocolate cake layer on top.
4 - Make the chocolate frosting
5 - Frost and decorate the cake. Spread frosting evenly on the top and sides of the cake and decorate with Oreo cookies and reserved filling. I used mini cookies.

Chocolate Cake Layers
Butter for greasing the cake tins
1 3/4 cups flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cups cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs, at room temperature
2 tsps vanilla
1/2 cup freshly brewed hot coffee (I used instant)
1 1/2 packs of Oreos (about 21 cookies), cut  into quarters


1 - Preheat oven to 180C/Gas Mark 4/350F.Grease and flour 2 (8 inch) round cake pans
2 - Combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt
3 - In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs and vanilla
4 - With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With the mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl to make sure it is all combined
5 - Stir in the Oreo chunks and pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 35-40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
6 - Cool in the pans for 30 minutes and then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely


Oreo Cake Layer
57g unsalted butter, at room temp
1/2 cup milk
2 tsps vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup + 2 tbsp + 2 tsp sugar
1 1/2 egg whites, at room temp
1 pack Oreos (14 cookies), cut into quarters


1 - Preheat oven to 180C/Gas Mark 4/350F.Grease and flour 1 (8 inch) round cake pan
2 - In a large bowl cream the butter until lighter and fluffy, about 3 - 5 minutes. Add the sugar and beat for another two minutes. Add the vanilla and beat until combined.
3 - In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt
4 - Add the dry ingredients in three batches, alternating with the milk. Start and end with the flour mix. Each time, beat only just combined
5 - Add the egg whites and beat for one more minute
6 - Fold in the quartered cookies, pour batter into prepared cake tin and bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean. 
7 - Allow to cool in the tin for about 10 minutes then turn out onto a rack and allow to cool completely


Oreo Filling
113g cream cheese, at room temp
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup icing sugar
1 cup whipping or double cream
7 Oreos, cut into quarters


1 - Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese, vanilla and icing sugar until light and creamy. 
2 - Add half of the cream and beat until smooth. Add the rest of the cream and beat until it has the consistency of whipped cream.
3 - Reserve 1/2 cup to use to decorate top of cake (I forgot to do this) and place the rest in the fridge until ready to use
4 - When ready to use, stir in the Oreo chunks


Chocolate Frosting
170g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
227g unsalted butter, at room temp
1 egg yolk, at room temp
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 tbsp instant coffee


1 - Chop the chocolate and place it in a heat-proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir until just melted and set aside until cooled to room temperature.
2 - Using an electric mixer, beat butter on medium high speed until lighter and fluffy, about 4 minutes
3 - Add the egg yolk and vanilla and continue beating for 3 minutes
4 - Stir in the icing sugar (so that it doesn't go everywhere) and then beat until smooth and creamy, scraping down the bowl as necessary
5 - Dissolve the coffee in 2 teaspoons of very hot tap water. On low speed, add the chocolate and coffee to the butter mixture and mix until blended. Spread immediately on the  cooled cake

Weight Watchers Banana Bread

Let us call a cake a cake. Banana 'bread' is cake. It is unashamedly cake. It's not even straddling the fence between cake and bread like say Brioche or Stollen. It is a cake. Someone suggested that perhaps it's called bread because it is baked in a loaf tin. But the problem with that argument is that so many other cakes are baked in loaf tins. Most of the pound cake family is baked in loaf tins and we don't go round calling them bread willy nilly.


You might be wondering why I'm so hung up on whether it is called banana 'bread' or 'cake'. What's in a name eh? I'll tell you. You call something 'bread' and in my opinion, that means it is fine to eat several slices of it for breakfast. I mean, I've only just come to accept that despite the fact that muffins are called 'muffins' instead of 'cake', there ain't no hiding the fact that they're fatty cake fully of chocolate chips and toffee and banana and all sorts of other calorific goodness naughty stuff and hence, I should avoid them for breakfast. 


Which is why I love this recipe. While it is called a bread, it is actually a cake. It doesn't taste diet-y even though it only contains about half the butter and sugar of this other recipe, it is easy to make and a great way to get rid of very ripe old bananas and best of all, I can eat a slice or two for breakfast!


Recipe adapted from Weight Watchers UK


Propoints per slice - 5
Makes 12 slices


Ingredients
5 sprays cooking spray, calorie controlled
200g self raising flour
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
75g butter, softened
75g dark brown sugar
1 level tablespoon honey
2 eggs, beaten
2 medium ripe bananas, mashed
100g sultanas
1 tsp vanilla


 - Spray a 450g loaf tin with cooking spray. Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4/180C/350F
 - Combine the flour and bicarbonate of soda
 - Cream the butter for 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat for another 2 minutes. 

Add the honey and beat for 1 more minute 
 - Add the eggs and vanilla and beat for 2 more minutes
 - Fold in the flour until combined. (Do not beat)
 - Fold in the mashed bananas and sultanas. 
 - Spoon into the tin

Bake for 45 minutes - 1 hour until a skewer inserted comes out clean. (Check after 45 minutes and using your judgment, every 5 or 10 minutes thereafter)
 - Turn out and cool on a rack
Note
Very ripe bananas are best for all banana breads as they have a natural sweetness and mash easily

Cake Pops!!!

The overwhelming response when I told people I was making cake pops was "What are cake pops?"Well my dears, in case you're asking yourselves the same question, cake pops are cake balls on a stick. Kinda like lollipops but with cake. Got it? I'd heard about and seen pictures of cake pops and would have gotten round to making them sooner or later but well, fate decided it was sooner when my friend Doyin asked me to make them for her friend's one year old's birthday party.


Now cake pops are very pretty, and pretty straight forward to make - a lot of people make them with boxed cake mixes and ready made icing - but man are they time consuming! It's more the final stage that is a bit of a pain in the butt - dipping the cake balls into your melted chocolate and decorating them. For the decoration and chocolate not to drip, you have to hold each ball upside down for a couple of minutes till the chocolate sets a tiny bit more - pain in the butt I tell ya!


Despite not tasting any of these, I have it on good authority that they were amazing so go on, give 'em a go. Especially if you have kids. I think they'll love the idea of cake on lollipop sticks. Though it might leave them on a sugar high like never before ... ummm, sorry about that in advance but I blog about food not children, you really shouldn't have listened to me ;p


Ingredients


For the Cake - Adapted from  (From Joy of Baking)
2 1/2 cups / 250g sifted cake flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons / 15g cocoa powder
1/2 cup / 113g unsalted butter, at room temperature
250g granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup / 240ml buttermilk
2 tablespoons liquid red food colouring
1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
1 teaspoon baking soda


For the frosting
100g unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract


For the covering and decoration
400g white chocolate
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
Whatever sprinkles you want to use


lollipop sticks
a couple of blocks of florist foam


Makes about 30 cake pops


1 - Preheat oven to 175C / 350F and place rack in center of oven. Butter and flour a 12 inch round cake tin. Set aside.
2 - In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt, and cocoa powder. Set aside
3 - In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until soft (about 1-2 minutes). Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes)
4 - Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined
5 - In a measuring cup, whisk the buttermilk with the red food colouring.
6 - With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and the buttermilk to the butter mixture, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour until all just combined
7 - In a small cup combine the vinegar and baking soda. Allow the mixture to fizz and then quickly fold into the cake batter.
8 - Pour batter into your cake tin and bake in the preheated oven for approximately 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean
9 - Cool cake for a couple of hours or overnight
10 - For the frosting, whisk softened butter for 2 minutes. Add vanilla and icing sugar and whisk together until  you have a creamy frosting (about 5 minutes). I use my electric mixer. It would take longer by hand.


For the cake pops (Note that you can ignore the first part of this recipe and buy a cake mix and some ready made frosting)
11 - Break cake into a bowl and adding about half the frosting and smush it all together with your fingers. 

Keep adding frosting and smushing (isn't this such a wonderful non-word?!) until the mixture binds to itself and not to the bowl. I used all the frosting but you might not (especially if you are not using my frosting recipe).

12 - Line a baking sheet with grease-proof paper
13 - Shape mixture into round balls and place on your baking sheet. I used a tablespoon of mixture per ball to get the size I wanted and also get evenly sized balls

14 - When you have finished shaping your balls, put them in the fridge for 30 minutes
15 - After 30 minutes, melt about 50g of the white chocolate in a bain marie (leaving the chocolate bowl in the hot simmering water). Take out your cake balls from the fridge and your lollipop sticks
16 - Dip the lollipop sticks in the melted chocolate and insert into the cake balls, going more than halfway through

17 - Repeat for all the cake balls and put them back into the fridge for about an hour
18 - Melt the remaining chocolate with the 2tsps of oil (Again leaving the bowl on the simmering water as the next part can take a while and you don't want your chocolate to solidify)

Taking each cake ball on stick, dip into the chocolate until covered, then swirl round gently until chocolate stops dripping
19 - I did this next part over the sink as it can be messy, hold the cake ball over the sink and gently sprinkle sprinkles (or whatever decorations you are using) in whatever pattern you want and then I recommend holding it upside down for a couple of minutes before sticking it in the florist foam (stick side down!) as when I didn't, the chocolate and sprinkles dripped a bit onto the foam slightly misshaping my cake pops.

20 - Repeat until your foam is full of decorated cake pops and put in the fridge for about half an hour for the chocolate to set

Voila! The prettiest things you would have made in a very long time!

My Wonky Black Forest Gâteau

Hey! Hey! Sorry I've been rather, umm, delayed, on the posting front. I wish I had a good excuse I have great excuses; I've been lazy and busy and I've been on holiday! Whoop whoop! I went to LA and San Francisco and Atlanta. It was my first time visiting the West Coast of the US so I was very excited! Plus I got to see a couple of lovely friends get married. Have I mentioned that I love weddings? Well, if I haven't, I'm mentioning it now; I love weddings! 


You probably know me well enough by now to know that I love eating when I'm on holiday. Especially in the US. And this trip was no exception. Some new things I tried were Love at first Bite cupcakes in Berkeley, California (AMAZING! One of the only times that I've found cupcakes to live up to their looks and description), In 'n' Out Burger (I'm not much of a burger person but these were incredible. Their milkshakes are great too. Plus they're a Christian company!) and Crumbs cupcakes (HUGE and great looking with lots of wonderful sounding flavour combinations but rather underwhelming). And some old favourites I just had to have; Cheesecake Factory (I had the Reese's peanut butter cheesecake and it was scrumptious. I'm going to find a similar recipe because I need it in my life!) and Five Guys burger (as good as the first time I had it!). Something else I discovered were peanut butter M&Ms. Wow! Why has nobody ever told me how amazing they are???


Anyway, before I get too carried away, back to today's post. I made this for a friend of mine who had been harassing me ever since he found out I baked to make him a Black Forest Gâteau. Now I have to say, I'm not the biggest fan of this cake. Mainly because the only way I like my cherries is fresh and washed. But after a lot of hassling, I found this recipe and gave it a go. My cake was pretty tall and it ended up rather wonky when I put it together. All in all, I wasn't too impressed with it when I had a slice later. It was rather dry, despite soaking the sponge layers in the black cherry syrup, and it just wasn't as tasty as other cakes I've had. And I've had a lot! However, if you still want to give it a go - here's the recipe. It is by Antony Worrall Thompson from the BBC Food website.


Ingredients


For the chocolate cake
340g/12oz golden caster sugar
340g/12oz unsalted butter
6 eggs
240g/8.5oz self raising flour
100g/3.5oz cocoa


For the filling
2 cans black cherries in syrup
2 tbsp kirsch


For the icing
600ml/21 fl oz double cream
200g/7oz good quality dark chocolate, broken into small pieces


To decorate
50g/2oz dark chocolate, for shaving


1 - Preheat oven to 170c/325F/Gas Mark 3
2 - Lightly butter a 20cm (8in) loose-bottomed cake tin then dust with a little plain flour and shake off any excess. Line the tin with greaseproof paper

3 - For the cake, place butter and sugar in a bowl and whisk until light and fluffy. 

Beat in the eggs one at a time 

Then fold in the flour and the cocoa powder
4 - Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake tin, smooth the surface with a knife and bake in the pre-heated oven for 35-40 minutes until firm and springy. 

To test if the cake is done, insert a clean skewer into the middle of the cake - if it comes out clean then the cake is ready
5 - Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for five minutes before turning out onto a wire rack
6 - Drain the cherries, reserving 200ml (7 fl oz) of the cherry syrup. Add the kirsch to the reserved syrup

7 - Use a large serrated knife to slice the cake horizontally into three equally sized rounds
8 - Place each round on a chopping board and spoon the cherry syrup evenly over each disc and leave to soak in
9 - For the icing, heat 200ml (7 fl oz) of the double cream to scalding point then add the chocolate pieces. Remove from the heat and stir gently until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Pour into a bowl and allow to cool in the refrigerator, to thicken slightly
10 - Whip the remaining double cream until thick. Spread one of the cake discs with half of the cream then cover with half of the cherries, pressing them in lightly.

Top with the second disc of sponge and repeat this process, finishing with the third disc left plain on top. Gently press the whole cake together with the palm of your hands

11 - Remove the chocolate icing from the fridge and give it a quick stir. Use a palette knife to thickly spread the top and sides of the cake with the icing, starting with the top first. This way, if the chocolate oozes down the sides of the cake, it won't matter.
12 - Garnish with chocolate shavings. I pressed them into the sides of the cake
13 - Leave the cake to set in a cool place then slice into large wedges and serve