Red Velvet Cheesecake Cake!

So it's my dad's (Chef George) birthday tomorrow, and I let him request what kind of birthday cake he wanted. Per request, I baked the following...
A layered Red Velvet Cake... with a CHEESECAKE center layer!

As you can see, it is a very rich cake. My eyes were almost bigger than my stomach, but I forced down every bite of this deliciousness!
This was both my first attempt at cheesecake and my first attempt at red velvet, and I am happy to say it turned out well! 


The following is adapted from Erin's Food Files
Ingredients:
Cheesecake:

• 20 oz cream cheese, room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest (finely grated)
• 1/2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (the lemon makes the cheesecake pair nicely with the sweet red velvet!)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup sour cream

Cake:

• 2 and 1/2 cups cake flour
• 1 and 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder (I used Hersheys!)
• 1 teaspoonful salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 and 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup buttermilk (first time using buttermilk in a recipe!)
• 2 tablespoons red food coloring (make sure you have enough to get it bright red! I had to make 2 trips to the grocery store because I kept thinking I had enough)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar

Frosting (yumm):

• 12 oz cream cheese (softened)
• 12 oz butter (softened) (and yes folks, this is 3 sticks. I felt like Paula Deen!)
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups confectioners' sugar
• Decorations! I shaved a dark chocolate and white chocolate bar with a vegetable peeler!

Directions:
Cheesecake:  (make this at least 1 night beforehand!)
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and start boiling some water.
The mixing part is standard enough. Beat the cream cheese until fluffy and then gradually add the sugar until it is fluffier. (Fluffy, sugary cream cheese = yum!). Beat in the lemon zest, juice, and salt, then the eggs (one at a time), and then the sour cream.
Using a cheesecake pan (I used this one from cooking.com! Cheesecake Pan! It's 9" just like my cake pans, so they layered perfectly!), line the bottom with parchment paper and then wrap the bottom half of the pan in foil.
Pour the filling into the cheesecake pan, and place it in a large roasting pan. Pour in the boiling water halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan.
Bake about 45 minutes until it is just set in the center. (That is what my recipe said. Not having ever made cheesecake before, and knowing that my oven is terrible (see last post) I gave it about an extra 15 minutes or so to be safe.) 
Remove from water, let cool about 20 minutes or so, then run a paring knife around the edge and allow to cool completely. 
Throw it in the fridge overnight, and in the morning, wrap it in plastic wrap and freeze until you are ready to put the whole thing together!


Cake and Frosting:
Cake:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Sift together flour, sugar, baking soda, cocoa, and salt into a bowl.
In a separate (larger) bowl, beat eggs, oil, buttermilk, food coloring, vanilla, and vinegar.
RED ALERT (hah.): THE RED FOOD COLORING STAINS AND WILL SPLASH. 
I suggest wearing crappy clothes and covering your countertop with paper towels or something!

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones and beat until smooth. Divide the batter equally between 2 greased and floured cake pans (again, I used 9") and bake 25 to 30 minutes. (rotate halfway through to ensure even doneness. I guess. :) )
Let cakes cool about 5 minutes, then let cool on a cooling rack completely. Level if necessary for a straight top/bottom!
Frosting:
Beat everything but the sugar together until combined. Add sugar and beat until fluffy (because again, fluffy = YUM).




Assembly:
Shocker: You stack them! Remove the cheesecake from the freezer, unwrap, and place on top of the bottom layer of cake. Then, put on the top layer.
Genius. :)
Spread a layer of frosting around the cake to capture any crumbs, and chill for about 20 minutes to firm up the frosting. Then you can go ahead and put as much more frosting on as you want! (I used it all. There is no such thing as moderation in my house.) Top with whatever you want, again, I used the shavings.

Didn't anticipate how the shavings would FLY when he blew out the candles. Maybe don't use shavings if it is going to be a birthday cake!

Keep it in the fridge until you are ready to enjoy it, like we did!


*Serving tip: Use a very sharp knife to cut the cake!*


Enjoy! (And happy birthday to my dad!)

Brownie "Rapture"

So first off, to introduce this blog, my family and I cook a lot, and enjoy taking pictures of our creations. While we shared them on Facebook originally, we wanted to expand our audience, so here we go, with the fork and dagger!
Tonight, on a spur of the moment decision, I decided to make brownies. 


Ingredients:

Ignore the mail in the corner! Didn't clean up too well...

• 1 and 1/2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cups flour
• 3/4 cups cocoa powder (good quality! I used Ghirardelli cocoa powder)
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup butter, melted
• 3/4 cup chocolate chips (my recipe says semi-sweet, I'm partial to milk chocolate. Use what you'd like!)

Directions:
It's honestly very straight forward. No double boilers, no tempering eggs, no secret ingredients (other than love!)


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.


Mix all ingredients except the chocolate chips together until the dry ingredients are just wet. (If you mix too much, the brownies get tough! Yuck.). Stir in the chocolate chips (and/or some nuts if you want!)

Grease whatever pan you want to use, I prefer an 8"x8" or a 9"x9"... I like a big, thick brownie! (Note that if you use a bigger pan, say, a 9"x13" it may cook faster! My cooking time is based upon an 8"x8")


It should only take about 30 minutes to cook. Our oven is terrible and always takes longer BUT go with your gut! The brownies are done when a knife or toothpick or light saber can be put in the middle and comes out clean!

Cool and cut. Done! Easy as pie! (Well... brownies!)

Mmm... delicious!