Sweet and Savory: Bacon Chocolate Cinnamon Cake

Last weekend was my friend's birthday party and I wanted to bake something different for him because I was bored with the usual cake flavors. I was thinking about possible flavor combination when an idea hit me. Bacon chocolate cake! I had this amazing bacon chocolate chip pancake cupcake from Phoebe's cupcakes in Chicago and it was one of the best cupcakes I have ever sunk my teeth into. The cake was moist, the sweetness of the frosting was just right, and the bacon made the perfect smokey savory topping. Seriously, it was sooooo good! I had to find a way to replicate that cupcake into a bigger cake. I looked for recipes in my baking books and I decided to use the genoise and cream cheese frosting recipes from Sherry Yard's "The Secret of Baking" with slight modifications. I added cinnamon, nutmeg and maple syrup to the genoise batter and cream cheese frosting to make them more breakfasty. Then, I made the best part of the cake, bacon dipped in chocolate! I crumbled the chocolate-dipped bacon for the filling and topping, glazed the cake with chocolate ganache, and decorated the cake with a few whole pieces of the bacon, done! Mmmm.... it tasted very similar with the cupcake, but it was a little bit drier probably because I put the cake in the fridge. It was still very delicious though. Some of my friends were skeptical about it, but most of them liked the cake after they tried it :D For those of you out there who are not convinced, just try the cupcake or make this cake then you can decide whether you like it or not. Be careful though, you can get addicted ^^

Ichigo Matcha Millefeuille

Lately, I feel like I lose interest in everything except for baking. Don't know why. Just need to take a deep breath and move on I guess. Anw, I needed to relax my mind and, to me, nothing works better than making puff pastry from scratch. You have to be patient when you make puff pastry, fold, roll, refrigerate, again, again, and again. I baked the puff pastry until golden brown and woww.. it worked! I could see the flaky layers! Mmm... I could smell the butter too :) To make the millefeuille, I filled the baked puff pastry with sliced strawberries, vanilla and green tea pastry cream. I put the stack into the freezer for at least 15 mins and sliced it with a serrated knife. The flaky and salty puff pastry complemented the sweet and creamy pastry cream very well. The strawberries added freshness and helped cut the richness of the cream and pastry. It was a great combination :) Fhewww, I was definitely a little bit less depressed after eating a slice of that, lol. Probably I need to make it more often so that I can be happier :D For all of you out there who are feeling a little bit down, just a eat a slice of millefeuille or any pastry you love, you'll most likely feel much better afterwards ^^

 I also made some chocolate peanut butter macarons last weekend. Since I'm not in the mood to write, I'll just post their pics here as well :p

Obsession: Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake

I am OBSESSED with chocolate and peanut butter. To me, it is the most perfect flavor combination ever created. That is why I can never resist chocolate peanut butter anything if I see it on the menu. Last week or 2 weeks ago I went to a pasta place on campus and they had Cheesecake Factory's chocolate peanut butter cheesecake! OMG, I was sooo gonna get it, but... no one wanted to share a slice with me and it was huge, there was no way I could finish it without gaining 2 lbs of fat, lol. Ughhh, I wanted it sooo bad :(

This weekend, I was still craving for that sinfully looking cheesecake. So, I looked up my favorite cheesecake recipe and added a bunch of chocolate and peanut butter, voila! Homemade chocolate pb cheesecake! Maybe it wasn't as good as Cheesecake Factory's, but it was sufficient to satisfy my craving :p Creamy, chocolatey, peanut buttery, and decadently rich... A little bit too rich actually :p I could feel my arteries clogging up, lol. Anw, pics are below as usual..

 

Basic baked cheesecake recipe can be found on my post "To bake or not to bake: Cheesecake dilemma". Just make the crust with Oreo cookies instead of graham cracker, fold Reese's pieces into the cheesecake batter, pour half of the batter into a 9" springform pan, top with a layer of smooth (or crunchy) peanut butter, pour the rest of the batter into the pan, and bake as directed. After the cheesecake is refrigerated overnight, make some chocolate ganache and peanut butter ganache, spread them on top of the cheesecake (or make decorative patterns with them like I did), and decorate the top with some Oreo halves and Reese's pieces. Lastly, grab a fork and enjoy ^_^

P.S. Check out my cake pop entry on www.cutestfood.com :)