Recipe Recap: Birthday Treats

I’ve made this Lemon Cheesecake twice now.  I made it back in April for Bruce’s birthday, and Chelle remembered it and obviously was a fan since she requested it for her birthday.

My crust looked gooey and I thought that some of the water from the water bath got inside my springform pan.  You don’t even know how mad I was when I thought the cheesecake was ruined.  But I think it just looked that way because I used lemon crème sandwich cookies for my crust and I probably didn’t need as much butter as I mixed in.  Guess I was having a Paula Deen moment.

I need to get a non-reactive pot because my lemon curd definitely took on a bit of a metallic taste.  It was still really good so I can only imagine how yummy it would be minus the underlying metal flavor.

I know that Chelle’s favorite bakery cake combo is chocolate cake with white/vanilla frosting.  And lately anyway, it just doesn’t seem like a birthday celebration without cupcakes so even though Chelle didn’t request them and wasn’t expecting them, I made a second dessert.

 

For the cupcakes, I used my favorite doct0red-up recipe with mini chocolate chips mixed in.  Have you guys seen these Duncan Hines half-batch cake mixes?  That’s what I used because I was making mini-muffins and I knew I didn’t need a regular box’s worth.  The smaller box worked out perfectly – I had at least 36 cupcakes and enough batter left over for 4 or 5 regular ones.

For the frosting, I referenced my memory and recent experience  but didn’t follow a specific recipe.  I used 2 sticks of butter, about half a cup of shortening, 2 teaspoons clear vanilla, and probably 6 cups or so of powdered sugar.  What a perfectly delicious combo!  Normally I prefer chocolate cake with any flavor frosting besides plain old boring vanilla, but I think I inadvertently showed myself that the chocolate-vanilla combo can be quite wonderful.  These little bites of heaven were seriously addictive.

The frosting wasn’t only delectable, it held its shape so well that I wished I had done full-sized cupcakes so the frosting could be properly displayed.

Aaaaannnd now I am seriously craving one of those cupcakes right now.

Thanks, Chelle, for having a birthday and letting me commandeer it for my enjoyment.  Hopefully you (and everyone else) didn’t suffer too much.