Green Velvet Cheesecake Swirled Shamrock Brownies

This idea and recipe are totally from The Novice Chef's Marbled Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies.  She made incredible red velvet heart brownies marbled with cheesecake.  I was so in love with hers and wanted to bake them myself.  However, with St. Patrick's Day on the horizon I decided to make green velvet brownies in a shamrock shape.  They turned out okay, but The Novice Chef's look much better.  I can say, though, that they are DELICIOUS!!  This recipe is a keeper.  AND, she used the cut-out scraps to make a milkshake.  Wow.  She's a genius!  You should definitely visit her site, she has a lot of great things going on.

Green Velvet Cheesecake Brownies

recipe and idea from The Novice Chef

Green Velvet Layer:

3 1/4 cups  flour

2 1/4 cups granulated sugar

3 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

3 large eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

4 tablespoons milk, divided

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons green food coloring

2 teaspoons white vinegar

Cheesecake Layer:

2 8oz. packages of cream cheese, softened

3/4 cups granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Grease 13x18 inch jelly roll pan (I used a cookie sheet with raised sides)
• In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder, set aside.

• In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, vegetable oil, 2 tablespoons of milk, vanilla extract, green food coloring,  and white vinegar.

• Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until completely combined.
• The batter will be very thick, this is the texture you want.

• Remove 3/4 of the dough and place it in a medium bowl.
• Whisk the remaining 2 tablespoons of milk into the 1/4 of dough, set aside.

• Pour remaining 3/4 of the batter into pan.  Spread batter smooth with a spatula, making sure it reaches the edges of pan.

• In stand mixer or electric hand mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar until creamy.
• Add eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth with no lumps.

• Pour cream cheese mixture on top of green velvet brownie layer and spread until smooth, again, until it reaches the edges.

• Drop spoonfuls of remaining green velvet batter on top of the cheesecake layer.

• Using a knife, drag through green velvet and cheesecake to create swirls.

• Bake for 30 minutes (or until center is set and no longer jiggly), rotating pan 1/2 way through.  
• Let cool completely before cutting shapes with a cutter.

As I said, these taste phenomenal, but they could have been a little cuter!  I have something to aspire to, which is fine because I will make these again. I think I will use a little less green food coloring next time.  I did scale it back from 1 tablespoon the red velvet called for, but I think these still turned out a little too dark.  Anyway, my husband LOVED them.  Since he is not a sweets eater, I'm always thrilled to find something to bake for him on special occasions.  

Tomorrow, I'm going to take a break from green and make something springy and colorful.   Stay tuned!

Black Velvet Cupcakes - Take 2

So, I've been wanting to try Black Velvet Cupcakes again to make up for the last terrible result I had baking them.  At that time I was happy with the deep black color of the cake but they had a horrible "black dye" aftertaste.  Yuck.  They looked pretty, but that's not really the point of a cupcake now, is it?

In the meantime of trying again I've done quite a bit of reading up on "velvet" cakes and there seems to be many schools of thought on their taste and texture.  Some say there should be a hint of chocolate, while others insist there should be an obvious chocolate taste.  As for me, I would like deep chocolate flavor.  I guess it's personal preference.  With this recipe was very, very happy with the deep black color of the cakes.  AND, they did not have that horrible black dye aftertaste. 

Also, there seems to be difference of opinion whether or not velvet cakes should be light and airy or more on the dense side.  This is a more dense cake.  As I said, I really liked it, but I would also like to try a version with a lighter crumb for comparison.  Okay, so enough with my comments, here is the recipe!

Black Velvet Cupcakes

Adapted from Java Cupcakes

Makes approximately 12 cupcakes

4 tablespoons butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 tablespoons black food coloring

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoon distilled white vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On medium speed cream together butter and sugar for about 3 minutes.  Turn mixer to high and add the egg.  Scrape down the bowl and beat until well incorporated.

In a separate bowl, mix together cocoa, vanilla and black food coloring until it forms a thick paste.  Add to the batter and mix until completely incorporated.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure it's completely combined.

Turn mixer to low and add half of the buttermilk.  Add half of the flour and mix.  Add the other half of the buttermilk while mixing on low.  Mix in remaining flour and beat on high until batter is smooth.

Turn mixer to low and add baking soda and white vinegar.  Mix on high for a few more minutes.  Fill cupcake liners 2/3 and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a wooden skewer inserted in the center of the cupcakes comes out clean.

After cooling for 10 minutes in the pan, place cupcakes on a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.

Since February will be here before we know it, I decided to dress up these cupcakes for Valentine's Day:

White Buttercream Icing with Edible Pink Hearts

Valentine's Day M&M's

Silver disco dust, very sparkly and pretty!

Pink and White Icing Swirl

Heart Cut-outs

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