Red Velvet Cheesecake Swirl Brownies!

I made these delicious, rich, and creamy red velvet cheesecake swirl brownies last month, just in time for Valentine's day!

The brownie batter is your basic, classic brownie batter, dyed red with food coloring, and layered into a pan. In a separate bowl, prepare the cheesecake filling, and drop on top of the brownie batter in dollops. Put a few drops of red food coloring on top. Next, using a butter knife (or toothpick), make the swirl design all the way across the top of the batter. Bake, cut, and voila! Beautiful and delicious!

Recipe link here!

Holiday Baking!

Happy December! These are red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, topped with sprinkle-coated decorative marshmallows.

Pink Velvet Cheesecake Cupcakes!

I made these cute pink velvet cheesecake cupcakes for a lovely co-worker birthday last week. Unfortunately the cheesecake part came out more red then pink velvet, but I compensated by making a hot pink vanilla buttercream topped with white sugar pearls for an elegant finish. I used confetti oreos for the crust!

Recipe courtesy of Cares Bakery.

Red Velvet Cookies!

This recipe was another Pinterest find, courtesy of Inside BruCrew Life blog. The secret ingredient to these soft, cakey cookies? Boxed cake mix! An addition of dark chocolate chips and white chocolate chips made these cookies a total knockout and my new favorite cookie. A huge tupperware full of them was gone by lunchtime in my office's break room!

Red Velvet Cupcakes!

Red velvet is one of my favorite flavors to bake with. Everybody loves red velvet, the color is fabulous, and few people know that it is really just a fancypants chocolate dessert. Shh! I've made red velvet cupcakes before, but for these I tested out a different recipe, from Paula Deen over at Food Network. I was intrigued by this cupcake recipe - no butter or eggs! (The lack of pounds of butter being uncharacteristic of Paula Deen, for sure.) The cupcakes came out fluffy and lovely. I used a basic cream cheese frosting, and added some cocoa powder to make it more chocolatey.

This is how I packaged them for the girls at work. I saw the idea on Pinterest and it is so fabulous! A cupcake fits into a small 10 oz plastic cup, wrap in cellophane, tie with a colorful ribbon and cute tag! They are easy to transport, they won't move around or get messy, and they look cute!

Red Velvet Cheesecake Swirl Brownies!

The best of chocolatey, red velvet brownies, mashed together with the gooey richness of simple cheesecake = genius! This is a tried and tested recipe in my book; this is the third time I've made it, something which I can say of probably a handful of recipes. I always try a different blog's take on it though, and today I used a recipe from the lovely Kitchen Meets Girl. If you like cheesecake and brownies, I highly recommend making this. It is a bit of work since you are making two batters, one after the other, but the end result is both pretty and delicious. A heart-shaped cookie cutter would make these perfect for Valentine's Day too!

Happy Holidays!

2012 is almost over! I can't believe it is already Christmas Eve, as this month truly flew by. Work has been both insanely busy and rewarding and baking a mere afterthought ... something I plan on changing with the new year! Today I made time to get my bake on and put a Carla twist on a holiday classic - red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. I made them 'pink velvet' instead and garnished with grated white chocolate, to create a cute 'snow' effect that matches the snowflake cupcake liners! I used a red velvet and frosting recipe from Joy the Baker, because she does not use cocoa powder in the batter (there are some picky non-chocolate eaters in my Christmas midst, so I was mindful). Merry Christmas everyone! :)

Recipe courtesy of Joy the Baker!

Mini Red Velvet Cheesecakes!

In honor of another lovely co-worker birthday at work, I whipped up mini red velvet cheesecakes topped with Godiva white chocolate liqueur whipped cream and garnished with white chocolate chips! I used dark chocolate fudge cookies for the crust. Recipe courtesy of Betty Crocker :)

What I have made thus far .... Baking Bites Edition!

Baby Apple Pies!
Made on 11/24/11.

Before....

And after!

Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies!
Made on 04/05/11.

Thanks to Baking Bites! :)

What I have made thus far .... Joy The Baker Edition!

Cappuccino Cookies!
Made on 12/15/11.

Red Velvet Cupcakes!
Made on 12/15/11.

Thanks to Joy the Baker! :)