My First Mini Cupcakes

These are my first mini cupcakes. Yup that's right. I have never made minis before because I don't have any mini cupcake pan. When I started to bake again a couple of weeks ago, I bought some new stuff, one of which is a mini cupcake pan. I love the sizes, they're just about the right bite sizes.

Here I made the UCBC recipe by Sarah Phillips. This is my staple chocolate cake recipe, loaded with chocolate because of the powder and the melted chocolate combination. Whenever I crave for some chocolate cake, I whip this up.

I made these for Jojo's Despedida Party.

Cheesecake and White Chocolate Strawberry Mousse

Ever since I started thinking of baking again, I had always wanted to make a mousse. I have never made a mousse before because in Israel, all the available cakes for sale were mostly mousse. I started to learn how to bake because I missed the bready, buttercreamy cakes. I also like my cheesecakes denser, and they're so fluffy in Israel.

Hence, necessity is the mother of invention.

Now that I'm away from Israel for so long (excluding that one excursion last March for a 2-week business trip), I long for some mousse once in a while. I had been thinking of what to do together with a mousse. I can't eat a mousse just by itself, I want something else with it. I was thinking of whether to do it with a sponge cake at the bottom, or some cheesecake. I opted with the later.

So here's my Cheesecake and Strawberry Mousse. It has some Graham Crust, Sarah's Luscious and Creamy No-Crack Cheesecake on the middle layer, then a variety of Sarah's White Chocolate Strawberry Mousse on the next layer, then some home made strawberry glaze on top, with some Italian Buttercream on the side. Sounds like a lot!

For the mousse, instead of using Raspberry, I used fresh strawberries, pureed it in the food processor for about 30 secs. And then I added an extra envelop of gelatin to make it hold as a layer when chilled in the fridge. I baked the cheesecake first, then chilled it, before adding the mousse layer on top.

The recipe takes a lot of time to make, but it's not really hard to do. All the wait was so worth it, everything was so good and the flavors just blended together! There's just everything to love about the recipe!

I was planning on taking a nice picture of a slice of it with some fancy garnish, but I ended up just taking a quick photo because I had to bring the cake somewhere else. Oh well, I can take a picture of a slice next time.

Chocolate Brownies

You may have noticed that I very rarely make brownies. For all my baking life, I have baked brownies only once before - twice, if you would count my Chocolate Revel Bars. Adam said he loves brownies so I promised him I will make him one of these days. As usual, for all my baking recipe needs, I always run to Baking911 for a reliable recipe. These are Sarah's Chocolate Fudge Brownie Recipe.

I don't even remember anything while I was baking it. I was like on auto-pilot while doing it. All I recall is smelling that heavenly baking smell just when the brownies were almost done in the oven.

I am really not a chocolate person, and I would prefer my cheesecakes and butter/pound cakes over my chocolate cakes anytime, but I do make good of chocolates in the kitchen. These chocolate brownies are so good, I might be baking these again soon for other friends. :)

Some More Macarons

These innocent looking pastries seem easy to make. Well they are, after a lot of practice and tons of almonds. After making my first macarons, and failing, I'd been itching on baking the perfect macarons. I got it perfectly after my 3rd attempt, although my choice of colors seem to have dulled. LOL. I will make brighter ones next time.

I used Sarah Philips' French Macaron recipe, filled it with French Neoclassic Buttercream. What's a baker got to do with all the left over egg yolks? Make a French Buttercream!

Shiny top, check. Nice little feet, check. Heavenly taste, super check. :)