Oh, February.

I haven't posted in a looong time! Unfortunately I don't feel like I have any good images or anything real great to update. I spent a few days last week trying to make the PERFECT cheesecake. I've made cheesecake before, but this time I wanted to make it 3 inches tall/thick... Picture perfect. I wanted to make cheesecake that was very pleasing to the eye and tasted, well... PERFECT.  the ideal, nice thick slice of smooth, but somewhat cake like cheesecake.  First, I made a couple of not so perfect cheesecakes. I hadn't made cheesecake too many times and I had my first cheesecake that cracked. TERRIBLY. So I read techniques on how to not have cheesecake crack...


Tips for keeping cheesecake from cracking:

• Always mix the cream cheese and other ingredients first. Mix well in order to get the air out.
• Add the eggs LAST. One at a time. Mix gently, just until blended. Do not overmix. (The eggs are what often causes air to get into the batter. Air pockets form into the batter... resulting in a cheesecake that cracks!!)
• Always use a waterbath while baking cheesecake. This allows the cake to bake at a lower temperature and allows even baking throughout the entire pan. The temperature is kept more even. (Cheesecakes often crack because of a change in temperature, uneven baking, or baking TOO FAST. A waterbath also helps the edges from baking more/faster than the center). To do this, Wrap the bottom and sides of your springform pan with foil (the outside of the pan) Be sure to use the extra wide foil, so you can use one large piece of foil to cover the whole outside of the pan, and not have any leaks (this would result in soggy crust! which I had happen my first time. oops! Sometimes I don't use my brain). Do 2-3 layers of foil to be sure that water will not get through. Place your springform pan in a larger pan and fill the larger pan with water. Only fill it half way up the side of the springform pan.
• It is important to bake cheesecake on a low temperature (300 degrees - 325 degrees) and very slowly.
• It is also important to grease both the bottom AND sides of the spring form pan. Greasing the sides allows the cake to pull away from the edge of the pan, instead of pulling away from the center of the cake... which would result in cracking.

After a few tries (yeah a FEW), well actually four.. I made a cake that cracked and then continued to make cheesecakes that were not perfect. And I get mad if things aren't perfect (which they never are really). Anyway, after experimenting and learning.. I made the PERFECT cheesecake. Baked it very very slowly for an hour and a half. Waited for it to cool and set for a few hours, and then I decorated it with strawberries, chocolate and strawberry sauce. It looked beautiful and was just the right texture for my liking. Well it looked perfect... but then.. my dessert stand that I made just happened to break right then. My cheesecake tumbled over and went into my toaster. PERFECT. I didn't even get a picture. I did save a bit that went on my counter and put it on a plate (which looked like a bit of a mess, but still tasty). I took the plate to 7-8 of my guy friends who were hanging out, they scarfed it down in 30 seconds and kept saying it was so amazing. So at least it tasted good. Next time.. I will have the perfect cheesecake! :) I bought supplies and am anxious to make cheesecake very soon.


Last night I spent time making a airplane shaped cake for my friends birthday. Not too happy with the results though. I didn't have time to freeze the cake in-between, making it easier to frost. It was hard keeping crumbs from being seen, and well it just wasn't going too smooth. After a few hours, through temperature changes and sitting at my friends, the icing kept drooping off. It was very disappointing. Not only was the icing sliding off ... the cake just looked really childish. Not happy at all. Ehhh. Actually I hate typing about it right now. I'm so mad and can't believe I spent so much time on it. I guess I learned a bit. I've made cake that I've carved into shapes before.. But not like this one. I layered several pieces and carved the shape.. so that was an experience. I made the base out of foam core. I thought this could be cool.. but I rushed it. I worked till 8pm and tried getting it done in the same night. Not happy. I think I'm going to go back to making cheesecake and back to coming up with cookie recipes for the time being! And maybe work on more design work. I'm creating a mini calendar (5x8''?) with some of my baked good images! Pretty simple, but I think it will look nice on good paper. Just a way to use my images and also my design.

And a few Valentine's Day goods. I didn't have much time and steered away from fancy sugar cookies.. But everyone loves Peanut Butter Blossoms. I did before my peanut allergy really hit me! I shouldn't be baking with peanut butter, but most people love these cookies and they are super easy and fast.. So I wanted to make them.