Over the years I have received a lot of compliments on my cooking and baking, especially my cakes and cupcakes. I really enjoy cooking and baking for people, I feel that not only am I creating something wonderful to eat, I am also creating a piece of art to enjoy visually as well. I find it very satisfying and I must be pretty good at it, when I bring something, especially a cake or cupcakes to an event-either a family even or community event, people seem to remember and talk about it-a lot! My teenagers even tell me I should open up a bakery! I’ve been asked to share my recipes so, if you are interested in this sort of thing-I have decided to share my recipes and “secrets” here, so have a seat & enjoy!
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WHITE CHOCOLATE COOKIES & CREAM CAKE
The cake pictured above was my latest creation. This was a cake I made for Valentine’s Day for my family. In the back of my mind I think of recipe ideas…I keep them there until just the right time. This was the right time to try one of those ideas. The idea was to make a “Cookies & Cream” cake. We had about 1/4 package of vegan Oreo type cookies (my daughter is vegetarian, borderline vegan) left over from a recipe in which I made a chocolate crust…I’ll have to share that recipe another time!
So the idea was to start with a standard vanilla cake, and my standard cream cheese, whip cream frosting. (A lot of my recipes start out with those two things) Also, I always use Ghirardelli chocolate in my recipes. The flavor and texture cannot be beat, anything else just isn’t the same.
So the first step is preheat your oven, prepare your white cake batter, grease and lightly flour the pan. I added a T. of vanilla to the cake batter. I took the 1/4 bag of cookies and gently smashed them with a rolling pin, just enough to break them up a bit. There were lots of uneven pieces, and it worked out great that way. I took a handful and gently folded it into the batter. Baked and cooled the 2 9-inch cake layers.
Frosting:
2-8oz packages of cream cheese
1 pint of heavy whipping cream
1 cup of powdered sugar
1 t. real vanilla bean vanilla (I use Penzeys)
1/2 bag of Ghirardelli white chocolate chips melted in a double boiler
Start by melting the white chips. Set aside while you beat the cream cheese and powdered sugar with the vanilla and a splash of the whipping cream. As soon as that is creamed together nicely, spoon some of it into the melted white chocolate chips, stir that up, add some of the whipping cream to moistened it if it seems to need it. Use a scraper to scrape the white chocolate mixture into a large mixing bowl. In another bowl, whip the remaining whipping cream. Gradually beat the two together into one of the bowls until they are combined and smooth. Now smash the remaining cookie crumbs until they are smaller, so there are no large chunks remaining. Fold the crumbs into the frosting. Once the cake layers have cooled, from the cake. This cake is so good, it will disappear fast! The white chocolate and real vanilla is really what makes it so good. Enjoy! Scroll down to the bottom of this blog and click on “personal” to see more of my recipes. Let me know if you have any questions!
All of my cake recipes start with this basic cake recipe (it’s better than any cake mix from the grocery store)
2 c. sifted flour
1 tsp. baking powder (sifted into the flour)
1/2 c. butter
1 c. sugar
3/4 c. milk
1 tsp of either lemon extract or vanilla, whichever fits your needs.
3 eggs separated (save the whites for later)
Cream butter and sugar together, in sep. bowl, add sifted baking powder and flour together, combine with mixer. In sep. bowl beat egg yolks and milk with a fork. Blend with flour mixture using beaters on high for 2 minutes. Set aside. Beat egg whites until stiff and glossy. Fold into cake mix batter. Pour into two greased and lightly floured 8 inch cake pans. Bake in a pre heated oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, or just until done. Cool in pan before converting onto cooling racks.
Click on recipes below to see more. Enjoy!