- Part 139

Chocolate Lemon Pear Cake

Chocolate Lemon Pear Cake~ What makes up five layers of cake love? Let me tell you: 3 layers of chocolate cake, a layer of lemon curd, a layer of pears and some chocolate ganache in between and all around and you have enough cake love to last a few days.

That is unless you are my son, who a few weeks ago, told me “I don’t like cake”. Well, you have never seen anyone pull a better Linda Blair 360-head turn.

B-l-a-s-p-h-e-m-y.

Deciding not to disown him on the spot, I covered a piece in chocolate cake with buttercream frosting sprinkled on some his favorite M&Ms, and . . . to no avail. Weird thing is, he likes cupcakes-huh?
Well stubborn is as stubborn does; I pushed the issue once more and decided to bake a cake with his favorite fruit: pear.

And. . . . once more, to no avail. The kid doesn’t like cake. Why can’t it be brussel spouts that he doesn’t like?! Yeah, I know “bad-mommy-me”. Go ahead. But without him, I would have never thought of this cake.

So many thanks to my non-cake loving child and you will be thanking him too because this cake, to put in its correct vernacular (that is according to my friend’s 23-year-old daughter). . .

. . .is ridiculous!

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Blackout Brownie Bottom Cheesecake

Blackout Brownie Bottom Cheesecake ~ Stand aside graham cracker crust, this cheesecake has been bottomed out with a soft brownie crust. Like a one-two punch, the brownie and cheesecake pairing makes for a delicious knockout combination.

Brownie Cheesecake, Cheesecake, — Blackout Brownie Cheesecake

I don’t know what it is about brownies, but brownies or the addition of them to anything clears a dessert plate faster than almost any of my other desserts.

I think it has someting to do with brownies being one of those classic comfort sweets that is universally enjoyed. Add the cheesecake and it becomes the yin to the yang of this dessert. Continue reading Blackout Brownie Bottom Cheesecake

Raspberry Ripple Cake

Raspberry Ripple Cake ~ Arm yourself and get fork ready for this summer time cake. Keep your friends close and your cake closer. . . this one goes quickly.

My friends and I devoured this cake in one afternoon sitting. In fact the last bite was eaten directly off the cake stand with all of us slicing and stabbing a piece of the last serving.

Being an especially light and easy dessert to make, Raspberry Ripple Cake one of my favorite ways to show case the beauty and flavor of raspberries.

For the cake, I used a Magnolia’s Vanilla Cake and added a browned butter glaze. The glaze gives the cake a nice nutty flavor while the light dusting of confectioner sugar and the vanilla buttercream adds a subtle sweetness that nicely compliments the raspberry preserve.

Baking late at night isn’t always conducive to success, especially when one is weary. After failing to pay close attention to the recipe in which the degrees were written in Celsius rather than Fahrenheit (the latter being the default setting on my digital thermometer) my raspberry preserve failed to set properly. Given that failing, my impatience dictated store bought raspberry preserve—Not a good start to a simple cake.

But stubborn and determined to not to be sabotaged by my weary brain, I laid down the thermometer and set aside the too thin preserve for the store bought stuff and moved on to the cake and buttercream. Thankfully this portion was something my stand mixer and I can almost do on auto pilot.

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