Red Velvet Cake & Pumpkin Pie - My Thanksgiving Desserts

For Thanksgiving, I was in a mood to make a Red Velvet cake; that is because I have made two pumpkin pies in the last two weeks and I haven't baked a cake in almost a month. I actually planned on making only red velvet cupcakes but there is always batter left over, so I used my heart shaped pan for the cake. The picture above is a slice of the red velvet cake with cream cheese icing and raspberries on top - so pretty! and really good.

The picture at the top is a slice of the red velvet cake and my mascarpone pumpkin pie cheesecake. The slice doesn't really show the mascarpone layer on the bottom, but it's there.

So, I ended up with 24 cupcakes and a cake. It was my first time making the red velvet recipe and I must say I love the color. I guess the thing with this cake is mostly about the color; so red and rich looking. Even though the cake is good it doesn't really has a distinct flavor. I used a recipe that called for 1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa and I thought I would get more of the chocolate taste, but not really. There were other two recipes I found in my books that called for only 2 tsps of cocoa. I am glad I went with the 1/2 cup, recipe I don't think I would like the other one.

The red velvet cake batter -beautiful rich red

Red Velvet Cupcakes just out of the oven

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing and Raspberries

Here is a good tip when you are making a homemade pie crust with gingerbread cookies, as I did.
Pie Crust Tip - use a measuring cup wrapped in plastic wrap to press the crust on the pie dish. You will get an even crust and no messy hands.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

For this pumpkin cheesecake I combined a couple of recipes. Instead of using regular cream cheese I used mascarpone cheese with the pumpkin pie mix. It still turned out delicious, specially topped with a homemade cream cheese -- so yummy!

Ingredients used for this Pumpkin Cheesecake:

• 1 cup of mascarpone cheese
• 1 cup of pumpkin pie mix
• 2 eggs
• 1 store bought 9" unbaked pie crust

Preheat oven at 425 F - Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl, pour into pie shell Bake pie for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 F and bake for another 50 minutes. Cool on rack for 2 hours- then you can serve or refrigerate. One of the recipes suggest not freezing the pie because the crust will separate from the filling.

You can find more yummy pumpkin recipes at http://www.verybestbaking.com

Key Lime Pie with Meringue Top

I haven't made key lime pie in a while and it's such an easy recipe. So, yesterday I doubled up on a key lime recipe and made two pies. One with a meringue top and another topped with melted chocolate and homemade whipped cream; just like my Key West Key Lime Pie.

For the key lime pie ingredients all you need is:

• 1 gram cracker crust (store bought works just fine)
• 1/2 lime juice
• 1 can of condensed milk
• 2 tsp water
• 3 egg yolks
• green food coloring or icing optional
  

Mix the eggs and condensed milk then add the water and lime juice slowly; add food coloring. Pour it into the pie shell. Bake at 350 for about 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven and let it cool for about 30 min. then place it into refrigerator for another hour.

Since I added meringue, I removed the key lime pie from the oven about 10 minutes before and added the meringue on top. Then, it goes back in the oven for another 10-15 minutes.

I love how the meringue gets a little burned, looks great and it's delicious!

Easy Blueberry Peach Pie

The other night I made a very easy and delicious blueberry peach pie, with ingredients I had in my pantry. Since blueberries are in season and at low cost, I stocked up to get my antioxidants servings for the day, suggested 5 servings by Dr. Oz , Oprah’s doctor, and also used to make this delicious pie.

Ok, so here is what you need – Blueberry Peach Pie Ingredients:

• 1 package of room temperature Pillsbury pie crust – keep package to follow instructions
• 1 can of sliced peaches
• ½ cup of fresh blueberries
• Get ingredients listed on pie crust package – it might be a recipe to make apple pie, but you can sue the same things this pie, just replacing apples with blueberries and sliced peaches
  

Directions

1. Roll out pie crust on round baking dish
2. Make pie filling by following instructions from pie crust using package; sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, flour etc – use sliced peaches and fresh blueberries instead
3. Pour pie filling into pie crust
4. Roll out second pie crust to cover pie, sprinkle some sugar
5. Bake in oven at 425 degrees for about 40-45 min. Set rack in middle
   

I wonder if blueberry pie slice would count as a serving of our needed antioxidants for the day! Probably so, but also count for the calorie intake and sugar, carbs etc – all that bad and good stuff we love ;-)

Enjoy!

Banana Butterscotch Cream Pie

This weekend I made a quick dessert with some bananas and sugar-free butterscotch instant pudding – easy and delicious. So, here is what you need:

• 2 bananas

• 1 pack of instant pudding – butterscotch for this recipe but you can also use vanilla; it doesn’t have to be sugar-free but it makes me fell a little better and it tastes just as good as the regular pudding


• 1 chocolate gram cracker crust; you can also make your gram cracker crust if you prefer – but since this was a quick fix I used the store bough gram cracker crust

Directions

1. Slice the bananas, and place them all over the crust


2. Prepare the pudding according to box directions and pour it over the bananas


3. Place it in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours to
   

I also topped with chocolate cookie crumbs - just delicious!

You know, before I started baking I never knew that almost every ingredient you by comes with a little recipe on the box; I never paid any attention to the box; I used to open and discard it right away – not anymore! How can you go wrong? This is how I started many of my baking and some cooking too – just look at the box and try the suggested recipe.

My Test Kitchen

That weekend I was trying a few differeent things to enter the Pillsbury Bake-Off contest, which I did and now I am waiting to be called ;-) so I hope!

Ok, so I made a delicious chocolate tart, which got perfected later and fa ew other sweet things - check out my test kitcehn post at http://webbyzard.wordpress.com/2009/03/17/having-fun-baking/

Peanut butter cookie stack

Baking on Sunday – Cupcakes, wheat bread & more

You have to check this post I did a few months ago, it's in my other blog; and I guess I am just to lazy to move it all to the new La Petite Baker blog, so I will be adding links to my older baking posts here and there.

Anyway, that Sunday I wanted to finish a lot of the stuff in refrigerator, like ½ can of cranberries and ½ can of crushed pineapple. So, in an effort to not let the food spoil ..... read more go to http://webbyzard.wordpress.com/2009/03/24/baking-cupcakes-wheat-bread/

Key West Key Lime Pie

If you have ever been to Key West, FL you might have seen that some stores sell their own key lime ice cream; which tastes just like a key lime pie on a stick but covered with rich dark chocolate - very delicious.

So, with that in mind, I decided to create my own version of the Key West Key Lime Pie. And, as you can see in the picture, it came out great. I used the blottled key lime juice and just followed the directions, then added some coconut flakes, coconut is one of my favorite ingredients to add to my baking. Ok, so ater the pie was baked and cooled I poured a tick layer of good dark chocolate ganache, and to the refrigerator it went. At the end, just made some homemade whipped cream and decorated. Voila!

Below is a picture of my ordinary Key Lime Pie - but also very yummy!

Chococlate Raspberry Cupcakes