Oreo Cheesecake

I made a few Oreo cheesecakes this weekend from my mothers recipe. She got the recipe from my grandmother who found it in the newspaper, it's called 'Cheese Cake Father Sarducci'. When ever my mother makes this, which is usually holidays, everybody goes crazy for it! She usually makes it plain with a graham cracker crust but I wanted to try something different so i made an Oreo crust for all three cakes and one with crushed Oreos on top the other two with crushed Oreos inside. The first cake I made with the Oreos on top came out okay in the center but the Oreo topping tasted a little bit burnt. The other two came out good with the Oreos inside but all three were a little bit oily from the cream inside the cookies. When I make this again I'm probably just going to add the cookies to the top after it's cooked.

Here's the recipe and a few pictures.

Cheesecake

-1 pound ricotta cheese
-2 cups sour cream
-16 ounces cream cheese
-1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
-1/2 cup butter, softened
-3 extra large eggs
-3 tablespoons flour
-3 tablespoons cornstarch
-5 teaspoons vanilla
-5 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

- Cream the 16 ounces of cream cheese in a bowl
- Add the pound of ricotta cheese to the cream cheese and mix until ricotta looks creamy
- Mix in the 2 cups of sour cream
- Then add the 1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar and 1/2 cup of butter
- Increase speed to medium and add 3 eggs, 3 tablespoons of flour, 3 tablespoons of cornstarch, 5 teaspoons of vanilla and 5 teaspoons of fresh lemon juice
- Beat on the highest speed possible without splattering for 5 more minutes
- Pour mixture into a 10 inch spring form pan
- Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for one hour
- Turn the heat off after the hour of cooking and leave it in the oven for one more hour

Tips-

- Make sure ALL ingredients are at room temperature before making!
- Bake the cake directly in the middle of the oven.
- Do not open the oven door while cooking or cooling.
- If you have a large capacity food processor. You could use it to mix all the ingredients together and it will help to blend the ricotta for a creamier cake.
- Place a large cookie sheet in the oven filled with cold water one rack underneath the cake. This will prevent cracking on top of the cheesecake.


Oreo crust

-1 1/2 cups Oreo crumbs
-2 1/2 tablespoons salted butter, melted

- Mix together Oreos and melted butter
- Flatten the mixture into the spring form pan just a little bit higher than the seam of the pan


These cakes were made in a smaller pan and needed to cook for a little less than an hour. That's why they're a little bit more browned than i was hoping. Still edible though =P






I couldn't even get in a picture of this one whole.. lol

Pink Cupcakes

I made these for my cousins communion.. I am so happy with how they came out! Everything was made from scratch except the sprinkles. The cake is chocolate, the frosting is vanilla butter cream and the fondant is homemade with marshmallows. I decided to try making the fondant because the store bought pre-made one tastes really terrible, this one tasted like Lucky Charms marshmallows. It was a little bit sticky to work with but fondant usually is. Here are a few pics.. Tell me what you think! (=

My First Order! =D

This last 2 weeks has been pretty busy.. I got my first job! I couldn't believe it because it just fell into my lap. I had to make 65 cupcake pops. I didn't realize at the time how much of a job it was going to be.. But it wasn't too terrible =P. I had my mom and my boyfriend helping me because I just didn't think I would finish in time if I did it by myself. So they helped me package them because i'm too much of a perfectionist for them to help me with anything else. I know I shouln't refuse the help but I cant help it, Especially on my first order, They had to be absolutely perfect. They came out pretty good, I wasn't very happy about having to use ice cream sprinkles though. I just don't think that they look as nice as the little round sprinkles do but thats what I was asked for and the customer is always right.. lol =]. The other problem was that I wasn't really prepared. I didn't have enough cake so I had to make more after I shaped 2/3 of the cupcakes and I had to take 2 days molding them. I also ran out of sprinkles at 2:00AM and found at that there is only 1 supermarket open at that time so I had to drive all over the universe to figure that out. I'd say it was a good learning experience though and i'm glad I got the job. =]
If anybody needs anything.. Let me know =P

Waiting to be dipped..



Drying so i could do the tops..



My assembly line..


Finished and waiting to be bagged..


All ready to go..


I got some feedback a few days later.. She said that they were great but she thinks I should make them gigantic. I think it's because I didn't put them on sticks. I'll definitely ask how big they want them to be next time.

Spongebob Squarepants Cake

My sister and her friends had to bake a cake for school for a project and didn't feel like doing it, So I decided that I would help them by taking over.. lol. The cake had to be a little off because they were supposed to be doing it and at 12 years old I doubt they are going to perfectly decorate a cake. I think I should have done a worse job because the teacher knew someone "helped" them. They ate it anyway =P

Here are some pics..

All from canned frosting and food coloring..

I think it came out pretty good =]