Baklava Cheesecake 2.0

As per my facebook page I have had a number of requests for the Baklava Cheesecake recipe. One that I am willing to release. Heads up! This is a rather labour intensive recipe but so worth it! When you look at the picture which I have attached please note how it is put together, NOW forget about it! There are a few adjustments that need to be made to ensure proper portions and ease of eating.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees!

Step one! Make the filling…

4 8 ounce packages of Philadelphia Cream Cheese (recommended)
1 Cup of Clover Honey
1/4 Cup of Fresh Lemon Juice
2 Tsps Vanilla Extract
6 Large Eggs (as fresh as possible)

Beat the cream cheese until light and fluffy (i hope you have an electric mixer or stand mixer because 32 ounce of cream cheese is not easy to mix by hand) Gradually beat in the honey, then the lemon juice and vanilla. Once mixed beat in the eggs one a time.

Step two! Prepare the pastry…

1/2 cup of unsalted butter, clarified
2 pound fresh phyllo pastry or thawed frozen phyllo

Using a 10″ springform pan you want to brush it with the butter. Lay out a piece of phyllo on the counter, brush half of the pastry with the butter and then fold over. Lay in pan with the edges over hanging the top of the pan. Repeat until the whole pan is covered with phyllo.

Whisk the filling to reblend it and pour into the crust, fold the overhanging pastry over the top of the filling and press gently to make a flat surface. Bake in the preheated oven until the pastry is light brown and the filling is firm to the touch, This takes about 50 minutes. Cut around the pan to loosen the cake and remove the pan sides. Using a toothpick poke a few holes in the top of the cake to allow steam to escape. Cool the cake completely and chill uncovered for 1 day in the fridge and then cover and keep chilled for 1 more day to all the flavours to mellow.

Topping… You can make this the day that you are serving it.

1/2 Cup Walnuts
1/2 Cup Almonds
1 Tbsp plus 1/2 cup Sugar
1 Tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter, Clarified
1/4 Cup Water
1 Tbsp Fresh Lemon Juice
1 1/2 inch Piece Cinnamon Stick
1 Tbsp Cognac or Brandy

Preheat the oven to 350. Cover rimmed baking sheet with 2 sheets of parchment paper. Coarsely grind the nuts, 1 tbsp sugar and cinnamon in a food processor. Stack 10 reserved phyllo sheets on a works surface. Set rim of 10″ springform pan atop the pastry and use a sharp knife to cut around the inside of the pan through the phyllo stack. Cover the rounds with a damp cloth. Set the pan rim on a prepared baking sheet, brush parchment and inside of the pan rim with the butter. Place 1 pastry inside the pan rim on the baking sheet and brush with butter, repeat this step with 4 more pieces of the phyllo. Spread the nut mixture evenly over pastry and top with the remaining 5 rounds brushing with butter between each piece. This is the part that I am changing, instead of cutting it into wedges cut the baklava into small square pieces, this will make it easier to eat and to cut into. Bake until the pastry is golden brown.

Meanwhile stir the 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup water and lemon juice in a small saucepan over low heat until sugar dissolves. Add the cinnamon stick and increase the heat to medium and boil until the mixture reduces to a syrup. Remove from the heat and when the bubbles subside stir in the cognac.

Flatten the pastry that is a top of the cake, remove pan rim from the topping and set the topping on top of the cake. Recut the baklava and place the pan rim over the cake with the topping on it. Immediately pour the hot syrup over topping. Cool for 1 hour and then chill the cake for 1 to 6 hours in the fridge. Let the cake stand at room temperature for 20 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!
Sincerely

Michael Tremblay
The Butter Alchemist

Lemon Coconut Cupcakes

Some of the best flavour combinations are simple. My favorite has to be Lemon and Coconut, there is just something about it that makes me all happy inside. When translated into a cupcake both flavours make such a lovely moist cake with incredible taste. I made these guys one day on a whim which is when I make cupcakes the most, on a whim. Easy and simple these cupcakes are for sure a crowd pleaser.

For the cake part you will need:

1/2 cup butter, softened. (To achieve a room temperature butter they say you need to leave it out for an hour. I like to leave it out for about an hour and a half just to make sure it is at its best. I find when its left out this long it mixes very well with the sugar for the light fluffiness you want.)
1 Granulated Sugar
2 Eggs
1 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour
1/2 Cup Shredded Sweetened Coconut
4 Tsp Grated Lemon Rind
1 Tsp Baking Powder
1/4 Tsp Sea Salt (regular salt will work as well)
1/2 Cup Milk
1/2 Tsp Vanilla

In a bowl, beat the butter with the sugar until it is light and fluffy; beat in the eggs 1 at a time and make sure the beat after each egg.

In a separate bowl whisk (don’t sift) the Flour, Coconut, Lemon Rind, Baking Powder and Salt; Stir into the butter mixture alternately with the milk. 3 Additions of Dry and 2 of Wet.

Spoon into 12 paper liners and baked in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes or until you tester comes out of the center of the cupcake clean.

and for the Icing
4 Tbsp Cream Cheese (Same rule as the butter for softening)
2 Tbsp Butter
1 Tsp Grated Lemon Rind
3 Tsp Lemon Juice
2 Cups Icing Sugar

Mix all in a bowl, simple as that! Start with everything except the icing sugar and then add the icing sugar slowly.

To decorate:
2 Tbsp Grated Lemon Rind sprinkled over the cupcakes
1/2 Cup Shredded Coconut Sprinkled over the cupcakes before the Lemon Rind

I promise that made for whatever event or even just cause they will not disappoint. Again be sure to like the posts if its something that you would like to try so I know what would be good ones to sample!

 

Sincerely

Michael Tremblay
The Butter Alchemist

What’s My Name

Throughout the months of Febuary and March I held a contest on facebook to help determine what I should be identifying myself and my baking as. I was at a loss when I started thinking of what to call myself and I started the contest to spark inspiration. I had decided on the name The Butter Alchemist before the contest had ended but waited until the contest was over to announce both my blog and facebook page. There was quite a bit of suggestions throughout the contest and I appreciate everyone who had suggested names.

The prizes laid out for the contest were something worth fighting for, they were as follows:

1st Place – Free Layer Cake decorated to their liking

2nd Place – A batch of cupcakes of their choice

3rd Place – A classic Apple Pie

The winner of the Layer Cake was a friend of mine from Prince George who had suggested Sweet ‘Arts and got an awesome 14 votes for it, Second place was Justine who suggested “Butter Alchemy” and recieved 10 points, and third place was another friend from Prince George who suggest “Takes the Cake” which got 5 votes.

In total there were26 names suggested over the course of the contest 8 of which received votes.I feel the contest was a success and hope to hold more in the future. Not to sure what kinds of contests yet but there will be more I promise!

Sincerely

Michael Tremblay
The Butter Alchemist

Maple Bacon Cupcakes Attempt #1

In theory these cupcakes sound like they would be delicious however I think that I need to either experiment with the recipe that I found or find a better one. At the respect for the creator of the recipe that I did use I will allow it to remain anonymous.

These cupcakes turned out rather cute, however were so very very dry that they crumbled being unwrapped and there was no flavour in the cake part of it. The icing was a maple buttercream icing which was quite wonderful so there was something good about it. I was thrown off by the recipe to start as it called for self rising flour which contains both Baking powder and Baking soda and then it asked me to add more baking powder, which once the cake was baked it definately tasted like too much.

The reason I am posting this is because I believe in recognizing successes and failures and because no one is perfect and mistakes are made I want to post the good and the bad.

I would attempt this one again but there will definately be modifications to the recipe or I will hunt out a better one.

Honey Lavender Cupcakes

So the other day I got a little adventurous and branched out on the flavour scale and found a fantastic recipe for Honey Lavender Cupcakes. Honey in itself is an amazing ingredient, its natural (provided you buy it that way) it last pretty much forever without going bad and provides this amazing warm feeling when you eat it. I could do a whole post on honey alone but not today.The thought of using lavender as an edible ingredient seemed odd to me, however it something that I have wanted to use for a while and it just so happened that Scott had a little jar of dried lavender in the baking cupboard, and the search for a recipe started. I stumbled upon a few but on blog in particular caught my fancy and I went forth and made them!

The blog I mentioned above is: Spicy Ice Cream.

I always follow a recipe to the letter at least once and modify after, this recipe in particular is almost a perfect recipe! The one thing I would change is the icing, not the type of icing but I would add a little more icing sugar to make it more of a stiff icing just for decorating purposes.

At first bite I was immediately in love with these cupcakes, the flavour was outstanding and very very unique. Lavender provides this absolutely brilliant flavour and when paired with a floral honey (for this one I used a clover honey) is just … I am at a loss for words at how unbelievable these cupcakes were!

I would make these again in a heart beat, I chose to decorate the cupcakes with a few flecks of the dried lavender and a single pecan on each, which when I took them to people at Justine’s work they all awed at the pecan alone.

Vanilla Layer Cake with Almond Buttercream

This is one of my favorites! During the couple of weeks leading up to a friends wedding for which I was asked to make a cake for I realized that I needed to hone my fondant skills. So the cake making began and 2 or 3 cakes later this little beauty turned out and I was so happy!With the consistent making of cakes I decided to change up the flavours of each cake so that Justine and Scott would not get bored eating the same thing over and over again (there was a lot of cake).

This particular cake was made with an amazing almond buttercream. I used a basic buttercream recipe and substituted almond extract for vanilla. The key to using almond extract in anything is to not over do it, I know you can get away with that using vanilla but too much almond and it can have sort of a burning taste. DON’T DO IT! Use what your recipe says. The cake part of this one is my favorite go to cake; Golden Layer Cake. The reason I love this recipe is every time without fail it turns our amazing and fluffy. Then I filled the cake with buttercream and a layer of shaved almonds which gave it an amazing crunch!

What have I learned using fondant? BE PATIENT. I don’t think I can stress this enough. I have gone through a decent amount of fondant attempting to get it perfect and smooth on a cake. Don’t let it dry out and don’t stretch it to much or it will tear, Its a very picky thing. I have only used Wilton fondant that can be purchased at Michael’s however I have found a couple places here that sell Satin Ice Fondant which is the same fondant used at Carlo’s Bakery – The bakery featured on Cake Boss. I am hoping that better quality fondant makes a bigger difference but again BE PATIENT with it. More on Fondant later.

Would I make this one again? Of course, its super cute and very simple.

Sincerely

Michael Tremblay
The Butter Alchemist

 

Baklava Cheesecake

Alright! So the name pretty much says it all. This was made to say farewell to a really amazing manager at work who had decided to go forth and explore new territories (only to end up back at the same place but I would rather not get into that right now).

The main idea for this cake was to combine 2 amazing desserts to make a MEGA dessert! I only wish I had thought of it first. However here we go! The base is an amazing honey cheesecake that will make your mouth water from the first bite and it has been baked in a phyllo pastry cover in butter (who can say no to butter, and if you can you have way more will power than most of us!) What makes the cheesecake so amazing is that it is only sweetened with Honey, no white sugar at all.

The topping of the of the cake is just a basic Baklava with phyllo pastry and buttery goodness all over. There were no pistachios in this specific recipes just almonds. Top with a light drizzle of honey and icing sugar for the presentation factor and your set!

This one is also labour intensive however I would do it again just because it was amazing!
Sincerely

Michael Tremblay
The Butter Alchemist

Paradiso Peach Tea Cupcakes with Honey Frosting

The feature cupcakes of this post were a whim of the hour treat that my girlfriend and roommate both greatly enjoyed. The tea in the cupcake is my girlfriends favorite tea. We shall refer to my girlfriend as “Justine” so when that name comes up you know I am referring to my girlfriend. We shall refer to my roommate as “Scott” so when that name comes up you know I am referring to my roommate.

Back to the cupcakes

These cupcakes were a rather labour intensive cupcake as for the cupcake part itself it required the type of loose leaf tea to be infused into the butter. A really simple process and can be done with any loose leaf tea you wish. You start by melting the butter in a pot on the stove and steeping the loose leaf tea in in over heat for around 10 minutes and allow to sit off the heat for another 10 minutes. Then strain the butter and place back in to the fridge to solidify. Now you can’t really do much while this is happening as the butter needs to be a solid again but you can get the next step going. Lemon sugar! Really simple as well, zest the rind of one lemon into the bowl of sugar, mix well and let sit for half an hour. Then you can move on.

The base of the cupcake is a really basic cupcake with the lovely modified ingredients added. The frosting on these amazing treats is a honey cream cheese frosting. Think of this dessert as a cup of tea in cake form. Really subtle flavours all coming together in your mouth. mmmmmmmm.
Sincerely

Michael Tremblay
The Butter Alchemist

Teddy Bear Cake

This cake here is really awesome (if I do say so myself). This precious looking cake was made for a co-workers baby shower and was meant to accommodate around 20 people. It was a hit, it was my first real attempt at a theme cake and I feel it was executed very well. From start to finish it was around 7 hours and worth every single second. I would make this cake again in a heart beat.

The teddy bear shaped looks impressive however it is just a teddy bear shaped 3D cake pan. Really it’s all about the decorating of the bear that makes it worth it. I decided to do a traditional teddy bear for this specific event. His eyes and nose were poppy seeds and the ears and paws were just a basic cream cheese frosting.

The cake goes as follows:

Base: The base of the cake is a basic golden (vanilla) layer cake filled with a simple cream cheese frosting and sliced strawberries. Then it was covered in a homemade marzipan (yes we ground up almonds to make the almond paste as well – that may not happen again)

Bear: The Bear is a velvety Red Velvet cake stuffed with cream cheese frosting and sliced strawberries. He is iced with Chocolate cream cheese frosting (really easy, make your favorite cream cheese frosting and add an appropriate amount of cocoa powder – AMAZING!)

This to date has been the only cake that I have made and presented that received an applause (I hope for more) and was enjoyed by all those who ate him, I mean it. I was told not to name him and I made the mistake of doing so. So long Jonathan, you were greatly enjoyed and very delicious.

Sincerely

Michael Tremblay
The Butter Alchemist

Naughty but Nice Cupcakes

So this post will feature the wonderful “Naughty but Nice” cupcakes, the naughty comes from the booze hidden in the cupcake and the nice is of course the chocolate cupcake with the lovely chocolate dipped strawberries. These amazing treats were a first attempt and made for a co-worker who was leaving. In tradition of working with me (at least in recent times) I like to let co-workers part with a nice homemade baked treat.

The base for this cupcake is a decadent chocolate cupcake with a hint of brandy. The cupcake is topped with a very nice light and fluffy brandy infused whipped cream and a chocolate dipped strawberry for an added bonus.

Now this is the place where I would post a recipe however its really basic and if you have a go to chocolate cupcake recipe than make and add 2 tbsp of brandy. The whipped cream top is 2 cups of whipping cream with 1 tbsp of brandy, 1 tsp of sugar and 1 tsp of vanilla. Done and done

Sincerely

Michael Tremblay
The Butter Alchemist

p.s. Now based on the number of likes each post gets will indicate to me that this is something that you would all like to try. I would love to start having tastings in the area and want to get a good idea of what you want to try. So be sure to like a post that you would like to try!