Oreo Cheesecake Cookie Dough Bars

When I first saw this recipe, I knew immediately I had to make this.  Oreo + Cheesecake + Cookie Dough... all the makings of everything delicious.  However, I had to go through a bit of trial and error before perfecting the recipe.  This is the second take at this recipe and it matches a lot closer to the pictures in the recipe and the texture I was envisioning than the first trial did.  Needless to say, the audience loved it.

The crust is an Oreo cookie crust, the middle layer is Oreo cheesecake and the top is cookie dough.

Also, I found out today (from my husband's podcast) that Oreo was actually not the original cream filled cookie! The original was a brand called Hydrox in 1908. Oreo was introduced in 1912.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrox

Black Sesame Cupcakes

This past weekend, we went to a pot luck for my husband's Karate sensei. Since I love black sesame so much, I thought black sesame cupcakes would be pretty fitting since black sesame is used in a lot of Japanese pastries.  For those who aren't familiar, black sesame has a mild nutty flavor.  I also roasted it so it was a toasty nutty flavor.

I made black sesame cupcake with black sesame buttercream, and topped it with crushed black sesame cookie that I bought from T&T.

Pistachio Almond Cake

It's my husband's birthday coming up and I wanted to make a cake for him that was different... healthy but still delicious and unique.  I dug through all my recipe books and found the recipe for pistachio and almond cake that I thought I'd try out. It was simple to make was also flourless.

I took a bunch of whole almonds and whole pistachios, blended it all together in our Ninja blender, mixed it with eggs and egg whites and a few other spices and then baked it. To top it off, since I had so much pistachio left over, my husband suggested putting pistachio buttercream on top, which turned out to be the perfect topper.

It was a bit tricky to make because unlike cupcakes and regular, cake, you can't put a toothpick inside to see if it is cooked all the way, nor can you even taste test it. But it turned out perfectly and eveyone loved it.

Engagement Cupcakes

It's been a while since I've posted my cupcake adventures. It's been a busy half year as I got engaged and also got married in 6 months!  Sooo... I haven't had much time to bake, but I did manage to have an engagement photo session with my 2 loves... my husband (fiance at the time) and making delicious cupcakes.

For romantic looking cupcakes, I decided to make strawberry cupcakes with strawberry buttercream, topped it with a heart candy. I added chunks of strawberry into the batter to give it some texture and additional strawberry flavours. 

 

Superhero Cake!

My first attempt at making a fondant cake was a superhero cake for my boyfriend.  Only the top was covered in fondant but it was all I could handle.  I made a chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream and decorated with the superheros that he liked the most (at least majority of them were... Batman, Spiderman, Wolverine and the Hulk.

Karate Cupcakes!

My boyfriend was taking his black belt test for Karate this past weekend so I thought I'd surprise him and the other testers with some Karate cupcakes for our celebration BBQ.  Since Karate originated from Japan, I thought green tea would be fitting theme.  I made chocolate cupakes with Matcha green tea buttercream. I also decided to experiment with the frosting designs and made a flower decoration and a 'pie' decoration.

Chocolate Coconut Retro Candies Cupcakes... with Chia Seeds!

I thought I'd experiment a bit with my cupcakes and tried adding a healthy ingredient to them.  I normally add ground Chia seeds to my salads, but I thought I'd try adding them to my cupcakes, especially since there isn't much of a flavor to them.  

I ended up grinding up coconut flakes in a blender, added the coconut and the chia seeds into the chocolate batter before baking.  I topped the cupcakes with vanilla cream cheese buttercream and various retro candies for decoration (jelly beans, nerds, life savers).  It turned out really well and people didn't notice a difference in the texture or the moistness of the cupcake. 

Finally! A cupcake that really IS healthy for you! :)

Little Man Baby Shower Cupcakes

A cute theme for a cute couple who will soon have the cutest baby! :) 

Toffee Coffee Cupcakes

For those with a sweet tooth... this one is for you...

Moist, melt in your mouth chocolate cupcakes filled with toffee bits in the middle, topped with creamy coffee buttercream and sprinkled with crunchy toffee bits.

Spiderman Cupcakes