Spiced Orange and Fig Cheesecake

This cheesecake was made possible by the addition of a food processor to our appliance family. Thankyou, B,B&B returns, gift certificates and coupon for facilitating this acquisition.

The first thing you should know about this cheesecake, is that when a woman tasted it at the restaurant, she immediately inquired how she could buy a whole cheesecake to give to a friend. I made her the cheesecake, and she requested yet another for the near future. It's that unusual, and that good.

This is why:

The spices are just right for fall, it's not too sweet, there are several textures to contend with, and you feel cool eating figs and liking it.

The cheesecake layer isn't super thick, the finished cake ends up being about half cheesecake, half figs and crust, so next time (I've made this three times so far), I might increase the cheesecake mixture, just to see what happens.

The Recipe:

The Directions:

First, mist a spring form pan with oil. Get out your food processor and blend brazil nuts and vanilla wafers until fine. (I used pecans, still very good). While the processor is running, add the melted butter and run until combined. Press this mixture into the bottom of your pan and refrigerate for 30 min to let the butter harden.

Next, process the figs until finely chopped.

Put the chopped figs in a pot with the OJ and spices. Simmer for 10 minutes, or until most of the OF is absorbed. If there is too much liquid, it will bubble over to the top of the cheesecake, marring it's pretty face.

Add the cheesecake mixture and bake at 325...the recipe says 1 and 1/4 hours, but I rarely make it past an hour.

The final product has the tendency to look like a cheese pizza, so I think a dusting of powdered sugar goes a long way to help the aesthetic of the thing.

Aztec Gold

I've been obsessed with the idea of making a spicy cupcake, like the Aztec Gold Truffles at the Chocolate Spike in Blacksburg. (the picture above shows a mini bar of Aztec Gold chocolate, to which I compared the taste)

I found some recipes for chili-chocolate cupcakes, but I wanted some other flavors too, so I ended up adding cinnamon and orange flavors as well. Next time I will add ginger, too.

I also bought some edible gold dust at Michael's and dusted the cupcakes before bringing them to the restaurant. I think a little detail like that makes people feel loads better about paying big bucks for cupcakes.

I mostly went off this recipe from chockylit at Cupcake blog.

Cupcakes
~24 regular cupcakes / 350 degree oven

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1-1/4 cup water
1-1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground pequin chilies
2 sticks butter
1-1/2 cups dark brown sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Boil water in a kettle then measure out 1-1/4 cup.
2. Combine chopped chocolate and cocoa powder in a medium sized bowl, add boiling water, whisk until smooth, set aside.
3. Sift flours, baking soda, and salt into a bowl. Add the ground pepper, set aside.
4. In a standing mixer, beat butter until creamy.
5. Add the brown sugar and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes.
6. At medium speed, add eggs one at a time, beat well between each.
7. Add sour cream and vanilla and beat until combined.
8. Add about a third of the flour mixture, beat briefly until combined.
9. Add about half of the chocolate mixture, beat briefly until combined.
10. Repeat, adding flour, chocolate, then flour. Beat until just combined. Scrape down bowl if needed.
11. Fill cupcake papers about 3/4s full. Bake at 350 degree oven for 22-25 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean

Chili Chocolate Ganache Frosting

1-1/2 cup heavy cream
3/4 teaspoon ground pequin chilies
12 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) butter
2-3 cups powdered sugar, optional

1. Heat the cream over medium heat until it bubbles around saucepan edge.
2. Place pepper and chopped chocolate in a medium sized bowl.
3. Pour heated cream over the chocolate
4. Let the mixture sit for about 30 seconds then start whisking it until smooth.
5. Add butter in pats and mix until combined.
6. set aside mixture and stir occasionally with a wooden spoon until cool.
7. Beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Optionally you can add sifted powdered sugar and beat until combine. This will sweeten the frosting and make it less rich and intense. Also helpful if you are low on chocolate and want to stretch the frosting a bit further…

However, I couldn't find pequin chilies, so I used cayenne pepper and cinnamon instead.

When heating the cream for the ganache, I added about a 1/2 tablespoon of orange zest and next time, I will grate some fresh ginger as well.

I added more cayenne and cinnamon in the ganache as well, and beat it after it cooled, adding a generous cup of confectioner's sugar.

making the ganache:

The cupcakes fell a lot when they came out of the oven, and I think it's because I over mixed them. Who knows though. Next time I'm going to try my Martha chocolate cake recipe and just add my spices. It will be less dense- though with this cupcake the density is pretty nice.

cupacakes cooling on new baking racks:

I must say that I LOVE these cupcakes. When selling them at the restaurant (a big hit, might I add) I described them as "warm" chocolate. I think people feel exotic when they eat spicy chocolate.

(this is my fantastic new double decker cupcake holder) (collapsable, too)

My new friend, figs.

Dried figs. Sweet, raisiny and crunchy. Very fashionable. The star of the Spiced Orange and Fig Cheesecake.

Our house

My basil plant! I dug it up on the farm in Virginia and put it in a pot on our back porch. I love having fresh basil handy.
Our awesome kitchen herb window.


view from the dining room. doesn't it seem like we live in a cabin in the woods? nope, we're a few hundred feet away from a main road.



dining room border detail. (made from paint samples gathered from many trips to lowes)


the mixer :)

whoops.

It occured to me that it might not be a good idea to post specific references to the restaurant, especially if I'm talking about spilling root beer on cakes and phallic eggplants. So I will now refer to it as "The Restaurant."


update:

I googled "The Restaurant" in google blogs, and my blog still comes up, even though I have taken out "The Restaurant's" name.

ooohhnooooo

Lime Cheesecake turned Chocolate Lime Tarts

Saturday was quite the fiasco.

I made a Lime Cheesecake for the restaurant, but Rootbeer got spilled on a little part of it. (you can see where I scraped it off in the picture below.) (don't ask me how rootbeer got spilled on the cheesecake).
I brought this half to Fred's for the boys to eat while they watched the VT vs Miami game. It was probably good that I didn't serve it to patrons, because the cheesecake by itself was a little tart. It did have a ginger cookie crust, though.

The cheesecake, tart though it was, paired beautifully with chocolate pastry cream.


I had some pastry cream left over from the day before, so I made a chocolate ganache by melting some chocolate and cream, and then mixed it into the pastry cream with some cocoa powder. It made a delicious, chocolatey cream.

So as a quick fix for the restaurant, I piped the chocolate into tart shells I whipped up, and then piped the unblemished lime cheesecake filling on top. An AMAZING combination.


I had to go in to the restaurant on Saturday night to help the other baker with a traditional French wedding cake, called a Croquembouche. Basically creampuffs stuck together in a christmas tree shape.

(this is not the cake we made, but it looked very similar)




The puffs are stuck together with hot caramel inside of funnel lined with parchment paper. It is done upside down, then flipped over for the final product.
I dipped the puffs in caramel and handed them over to be placed in the funnel. The experience was punctuated with screams of pain when the caramel dripped on our gloves, burning and sticking to our skin. I got a really bad burn on my finger that blistered almost immediately. Caramel is dangerous stuff- boiling melted sugar that sticks to you.

BBA Light Wheat Bread

This loaf is gorgeous if I do say do myself.

It was a one day recipe, too, which was nice. I mixed 2.5 c all purpose flour, 1.5 c whole white flour, 3 T honey, 1.5 t yeast, 1.5 t salt and some water with a wooden spoon, then kneaded it with the mixer for 6 or so minutes.
I let it rise in a covered bowl for 2 hrs, then formed it into a loaf and let it rise in the pan for an hour and a half more. In the oven for 30 min, let cool for a couple hours before slicing.


Bread rising on the windowsill:


towards the end of the rise:

Fresh out of the oven:




golden brown perfection, great with jam.

I think all the rising and such sounds like a lot, but if you're in and out of the house, and in the kitchen anyways, like I was yesterday, then it's really more of an afterthought. At the end of the day, it's like "Where did this perfect homebaked loaf of bread come from?"