30 Days of Pumpkin - Day 5 Pumpkin Pie Stuffed New York Cheesecake

This creation is sort of my youngest son's brainchild.  I say sort of because he picked me up at the airport after my first trip last month to Texas and during the drive home I was telling him about the craziest thing I've seen on Pinterest so far, which was the Cherpumple created by Charles Phoenix.  It is a three layer cake, except that each layer has a whole pie baked in it.  Crazy, huh?   His mind immediately starts whirling and he asks, "Why can't you do that with a cheesecake?"  Yea, why not?  I have been working on perfecting my New York Cheesecake so why not add a pumpkin pie?  So this is what I came up with.  The Pumpkin Pie Stuffed New York Cheesecake!  Now that's a mouthful!  So here it is.

First you need to make the filling using Moms Pumpkin Pie recipe.  Prepare an 8-inch spring form pan by lightly greasing it and lining the bottom with parchment  Next pour the filling into the prepared pan and bake at 425F in a preheated oven for 15, reduced heat to 350F and bake for another 30 minutes or until inserted knife comes out clean.  Cool to room temperature and place in freezer.  Leave overnight.
The following morning prepare the crust by mixing 1 cup graham cracker crumbs, 1 1/2 Tablespoons sugar, 2 1/2 Tablespoons melted butter in a bowl.  Press evenly on the bottom and about 1-inch up the sides of a 10-inch spring form pan.  Place in freezer while you prepare the cheesecake.


Cheesecake


2 1/2 lbs. cream cheese at room temperature (this is 5- 8oz pkgs)
1 3/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons flour
5 eggs, at room temperature
2 egg yolks, at room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 teaspoon lemon zest


Using the paddle, cream cream cheese and sugar, add flour mixing on low speed.  Add eggs, one at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition.  Add egg yolks mixing well, then add sour cream, vanilla, and lemon zest.  Take crust out of freezer and pour cheesecake mixture in pan to about 1-inch.  Take pumpkin filling out of freezer, remove from pan and peel off parchment from bottom of filling and place on top of cheesecake mixture in pan.  Now pour the remaining cheesecake mixture over pumpkin filling and fill to almost the top of the pan.  Pan will be really full.  Place in preheated oven at 450F for 10-12 minutes or just until puffed.  Do not let it brown.  Turn oven down to 200 and bake for 1- 1 1/2 hours or until center is set.  Turn oven off and leave cake in the oven for 1 hour longer.  Do not open oven during this hour.  Cool to room temperature and place in fridge.  refrigerate at least 6 hours before serving.  Run a spatula around side of pan to release cake.  Enjoy!  I love the way the flavors marry in your mouth.  This is truly amazing!

30 Days of Pumpkin- Day 4 Paula Deen's Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake

I found this one on Foodnetwork.com.  I absolutely love Paula Deen's Gooey Butter Cake so when I saw this recipe, I thought "YES."  Yes whipped cream is the perfect accompaniment for pumpkin pie, but just think "butter and pumpkin" altogether.  What could be better?  Then I had a brillant idea.  Why not halve the recipe and make a pan of butter cake and a pan of pumpkin butter cake?  I'm always trying to cut the recipes down now that it's just me and the hubs.  So here is what I did.

1  box yellow cake mix
1 egg
8 tablespoons butter, melted
1 (8oz) package cream cheese, softened
1 cup fresh cooked pumpkin, pureed
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
8 tablespoons butter, melted
1 (16oz) box powdered sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine the cake mix, egg, and butter and mix well with an electric mixer. Divide in half and pat the mixture into the bottom of 2 lightly greased 8x8 baking dishes.

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla, and butter, and beat together. Next, add the powdered sugar and mix well. Divide in half.  Spread half the mixture over the cake batter in one of the  baking dishes.  Add the pumpkin, cinnamon, and nutmeg to the other half and mix well.  Spread pumpkin mixture over cake batter in the second baking dish and bake both for 40 to 50 minutes. Make sure not to overbake as the center should be a little gooey.

Serve with fresh whipped cream.  Or not.  I took it to my Bible Study just how you see in the picture and they loved it!

30 Days of Pumpkin- Day 3 Pumpkin Dessert

Okay I know I said 30 days, but I didn't say 30 consecutive days (although it truly was implied).  I went to Texas to make my youngest grandson's birthday cake and was so busy with it that I just couldn't find the time to blog.  So now I'm playing catch up.  Trust me when O say it will all be worth it.  I can't wait to show you his cake.  I think it turned out great and he was happy so nothing else really matters.

This recipe came from my sister, Eva.  It's really pretty simple and is so yummy.  It's even better with whipped cream!  But then again, isn't everything?

Pumpkin Dessert

3 eggs, beaten

3 cups fresh cooked pumpkin, pureed

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp allspice

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup sugar

1 can evaporated milk

1 box yellow cake mix

1 stick butter, melted

3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Mix together the eggs, pumpkin, spices, salt, sugar and milk until thoroughly mixed.  Pour into a greased 9x13 pan, sprinkle dry cake mix on top of mixture, then pour melted butter on top.  Sprinkle walnuts on top.  Bake in preheated oven at 350F for 1 hour.  Can be served warm or cold.  Serve with whip cream.  Refrigerate.

30 Days of Pumpkin- Day 2 Mom's Pumpkin Pie

   Of course pumpkin pie would be my next post.  It's the most famous use of pumpkin.  And it's one of my favorites.  Almost anything served with a pile whipped cream on it just has to be great!  This recipe was adapted from LIBBYS-Famous-Pumpkin-Pie by my mom.  I also tweeked it slightly. Hey, a girls got to do what a girls got to do and this girl was always in a hurry!

My Mom's Famous Pumpkin Pie

1 9inch unbaked pie crust
¾ cup sugar

½ tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cloves 
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 cups fresh cooked pumpkin
1 ¼ cup milk (or 1 can evaporated milk)
2 eggs

Puree cooked pumpkin in food processor until smooth.  Combine pumpkin, sugar, salt, spices, and eggs in mixing bowl blender, mix blend on med high speed until blended., while gradually adding milk. while beating. 

(See how it mixes beautifully in the blender.  And it purees the pumpkin all at once saving me another step.)

When it is all blended and uniform in color, pour into prepared pie crust. 

  

Place on baking sheet in preheated 425F oven for 15 minutes, then turn oven down to 350F and continue baking for 40-50 minutes or until inserted knife comes out clean.  

 Cool to room temp then refrigerate several hours. Serve with whipped cream.


If the outer edges of your crust get too dark, next time just cover the edges with foil for the first 15 minutes, then uncover when you turn the oven down.   

30 Days of Pumpkin

I can't believe it's that time of year again.  Seems as though I just packed up the Christmas decor and now it's back in the stores.  What happened to fall?  We seem to get so excited about Christmas that we forget to stop and enjoy the changing of the seasons.  I love fall.  It's my favorite time of year. I love the crispness is the air, the multitude of colors in the trees, the crunch of the fallen leaves, and baking.  Yup, I'm really not fond of being cold so I have an excuse to bake daily...to keep the house warm!  Anyway, I went to the local nursery to shop for pumpkins for Halloween because they always have the best selection and I love funky.

Just look at all the pumpkins, gourds and squash (well, technically pumpkin is a squash). They had such a vast variety that the girl working there couldn't name them all!

I started researching the different varieties of pumpkin.  It's amazing how many there are!  I'll try to enlighten you with each post for the next 30 days.  But for now, we'll start with your average field pumpkin.  You know, the one you carve into a jack-o-lantern.  Everywhere I read that these are not really good for cooking because they have very little flesh pulp, whatever you call it.  But I have to say, these are the pumpkins I grew up on.  My mom never used canned pumpkin.  She always took the jack-o-lantern the day after Halloween and peeled it, cut it into chunks and then cooked it in the pressure cooker.  Wow, that's a lot of work!  I don't do all that.  I look for the easiest route, even if it means I have to explore my way through.  

  

Okay, we start with a pumpkin. Just a typical, average size field pumpkin.  You'll need a large sharp knife for the next step.










   On a sturdy surface, stab your pumpkin but don't pull the knife out.  Pull the knife down, cutting through the side of the pumpkin and continuing around until you reach the beginning of your cut.  Pull the knife out carefully and set aside.  Now you can just reach in and pull the pumpkin apart into 2 halves.




In this next step use a sturdy spoon.  I like a large metal spoon like you would use to stir the pot.  Using your spoon sideways, scoop out the seeds and that stringy mess.  Yes, you guessed it.  This is my least favorite part.  If you'd like you can pull the seeds away from all the goop, thoroughly rinse them and roast them in the oven.  I don't like to waste anything.  I even compost the goop!

Now, like I said earlier, my mom taught me to cut it into chunks and peel it, but we're not doing that.  No, it's so much easier now.  Get out your roasting pan and ass about a cup of water and set one of the halves in the pan skin side down.  Cover and cook for about 40 minutes in a 350F oven.  The pumpkin is done when the tip of your spoon can go into very easily.  Take it out and let it set for about 10 minutes to cool down some.  

After it's cool enough that the steam isn't come off of it any more, use your spoon to scoop out the pumpkin, being careful not to pierce the skin.  Place it in a colander or wire mesh strainer over a bowl and let it set while you cook the other half.  It's very important to let it drain, so if you'd like you can put the bowl/strainer full of pumpkin in the fridge overnight.  

At this point, my mom would puree the pumpkin in the food processor.  If you'd like to do that now, you are more than welcome too.  I, however, am cheating once again.  My family loves pumpkin so much that it's a waste of time for me to puree, measure 2 cups and package it in freezer bags.  I take the pumpkin as it is after squeezing as much water out as I possibly can and fill up those freezer bags and put it right into the freezer.  Please note that I never put warm pumpkin into my freezer.  It could actually spoil the food you already have in there. 

If you would like, you can cook the pumpkin in the microwave.   

Just cut it into smaller pieces and place in a glass baking dish with a lid.

 Add about 1/4 cup of water, cover with a lid and place in microwave.

Microwave on high for 7 minutes or until tender.

Okay, now you know how to cook a pumpkin.  Tomorrow I'll show you what to use it in. 

Out of the Dark

     I started this blog some time ago because I love what I do and wanted to share with as many people as I could.  It is the greatest feeling on earth to see what joy your creation brings to someone.  I started many years ago, (I hate to admit that because I don't feel the least bit old) when my children were very little.  I did my best to make their birthdays extra special.  I read all the books and taught myself how to decorate a cake, starting with the "Wilton Star Method".  You know, those shaped pans that all you had to know how to do is squeeze the bag and stop.  Squeeze the bag and stop.  Squeeze the bag and stop.  You get the idea.  All the little stars connected together to form the decoration.  It was so easy and the kids were so impressed!  They really thought their mother was amazing.  With four children in the house I was always the center of someone's world.  It's so easy to let yourself go and just be "mom" because it truly is the most rewarding job on the planet.  
     And then they grow up.  I don't really know when this happened and I certainly don't remember it, but it did.  They grow up, leave home to explore the world, one by one.  That is the difficult part because you start believing there is still another left at home.  Until one day.  The first one leaves, finds love, gets married and starts a family of their own.  The next in line stays awhile, but eventually he is off to discover who he is, falls in love, gets married, starts his own family.  The next in line does things a little bit different.  He joins the military, sees the world, returns home to find true love.  They get married and off they go together to see the world.  Ahh, but I still have my baby.  Or so I like to tell myself.  She leaves home, comes back, leaves home, comes back with a boyfriend in tow, leaves again, only this time she's not coming back.  She's in love and ready to get married.  It just really hits hard when it's the last one. 
     The "Darkness" starts to creep into your life as the children step out.  You don't see it coming. At least I didn't.  All in the matter of six months I lost my children (Yea, I know they are adults but they are still my children).  One moved closer (two hours away, across the state line, but still better than 3000 miles), one took his family (my precious grandson included) and moved several states away, my oldest graduated college finally (I had been keeping my two other precious grandsons while she was in class), and the baby got engaged.  What was I to do?  No more children or grandchildren surrounding me.  I didn't know what to do so I did nothing!  Wow was that a big mistake.  I started to stay up late, then sleep in.  I lost interest in everything because life as I had known it was over.  I just couldn't find happiness anywhere in my life.  Until...
     A ray of sunshine.  My baby  was getting married and while she really didn't need any help with any of her wedding plans she did need one thing ...a cake!  She knew exactly what it was that she wanted and she wanted her mom to make it.  It didn't matter to her that I had never made a gumpaste flower let alone an orchid.  She knew her mom could do anything!  She would call every evening to see if I had started on the orchids yet.  She pushed me with her belief in me.  I couldn't tell her that I didn't know anythiing about gumpaste, so I took the advice of a very wise man, my son and went straight to "Youtube" and "Google."  He had told me very recently that there is no excuse these days for not knowing something when you have "Youtube" and "Google." It is amazing, you can find anything you need on the internet and being self taught, this is just perfect for me.  It took me a day of practice but I did it!  She had the cake of her dreams for her dream wedding and I, once again felt like "Mom."  Here are the orchids!

I have discovered a new hobby! 
Tomorrow: How to make gumpaste orchids!

Who Ever Heard of a Cake Ball?

Have you heard of cake balls?  I had the opportunity to help my daughter & her husband make these for Christmas, but I really didn't know what I was doing so I decided to research it.  Then I found this book on Amazon last week. 

I ordered the book from Amazon on Wednesday and it came on Thursday!  And best of all, because I joined Amazon Mom, the shipping was free!  After all, I have a ton of cake scraps and this just seemed to make sense.  Finally a way to use those scraps that I have from sculpting cakes.   So here we go:

This recipe is from "Cake Pops" by Bakerella.  (I used cake from my freezer, so I didn't quite go by her directions.)

  Basic Cake Balls

YOU WILL NEED
1 9x13 cake made from an 18.25oz box cake mix, cooled
16 oz ready made frosting
Large mixing bowl
Large metal or sturdy spoon
Wax paper
2 baking sheets
Plastic Wrap
32 ounces (2 pounds) candy coating
Deep, microwave-safe bowl
Toothpicks
Plastic bag or squeeze bottle


You will need to crumble your cooled cake into a large bowl.  Make sure you do not have any large cake pieces.

I took my scraps out of the freezer and once they were thawed, I crumbled them.

And added  3/4 can frosting.  If you used the whole can the balls will be too moist.  (I did this because I was so excited I didn't read all the way through the directions.  If they are too moist to work with just put them in the fridge for a while to stiffen up.) I made 3 different flavors, chocolate, German chocolate and lemon.  For the lemon I used white cake with lemon frosting.

I used my hand to mix them (of course I had gloves on).  Or you can use a large sturdy spoon.  Once the mixture was complete, I used a really small scoop to make them all uniform in size and rolled them by hand into balls.  Place the balls on a baking sheet and put into the freezer. (I left mine overnight.  I like to prep and start fresh in the morning)  Bakerella leaves them in the freezer for 15 minutes.  She likes them firm but not frozen.  

I found these silicone ice cube trays at Target in the dollar isle. (They weren't $1 though, they cost $2.50 which makes my husband question the whole dollar isle name)  So I had a great idea!  Valentines cake balls!!  You can use a small cookie cutter, but to be honest I am lazy and this is just too easy!

 Melt you candy coating, following the directions on the package.  Microwave at 50% power for 30 seconds at a time (if you use higher power or longer length of time, the candy will burn).  Stir in between heating cycles.  You can also use a double boiler.  I prefer this method.  Don't have one?  No problem.  I really don't use mine, well not the top anyway!  I take the bottom pan, add 1- 1 1/2 inches of water and heat, but not to boiling.  Then I put my candy into a deep glass bowl that will easily fit into the pan.  I set the bowl in the water and turn the heat to very low.  When using white or light colored candy coating, I had about a tablespoon of Crisco (I don't use generic vegetable shortening for any of my baking), to help thin the coating enough for dipping.  This takes several minutes.  Be sure not to get ANY water into the candy coating or it will ruin it.  Once it is melted, it's time to dip the balls.  At this point I take the coating off the stove but keep it in the pan of water to help keep it melted.

One at a time, place a ball in the coating.  Cover completely with coating.

Set on wax paper or foil lined baking sheet.  (My baking sheets were so cold from being left in the freezer overnight that they actually helped to set the coating fast.)  If you are going to use sprinkles, this would be the time to do it.  I actually dipped two, sprinkled two.  I tried to go to three but they set too fast.

If you don't use sprinkles, you will want to drizzle some chocolate on them at this point to make them pretty. Remember, you want them to look as good as they taste!

Don't they look yummy?  I took them to Bible Study and they were a hit.  In fact, they ate them all!  I'm so glad that I have such wonderful friends to let me use them try new cooking projects on. 

I also tried to make some Heart Cake Pops, but that is another post!