My Favorite Cream Cheese Frosting

I consider myself somewhat of an expert on frosting. In my younger days, I used to eat it out of a can pretty often. Then, I started baking and discovered the GIGANTIC difference between homemade and store bought. I won't touch the can stuff now and even find myself weary of buying cakes. I rather make the icing myself!

Cream cheese frosting has long been my favorite.. I think because its the first choice of most of my favorite cakes! Red velvet, Carrot, Banana, Italian Cream Cake, etc! Whatever the cake, cream cheese frosting is something every cook needs in her repertoire. This is my go-to recipe that I've made numerous times and it is ALWAYS  a hit.

I use this recipe from Annie's Eats so you should go on over there, read it, and make it immediately!

Mini Strawberry Cheesecakes

These cheesecakes are a great Valentine's treat, my valentine(s) sure loved them last year! I mean, they're sweet AND red.  Bella loves anything with strawberries. I love cheesecake more than I love most.. things, but at most restaurants its filled with a ton of fat and sugar. Which is fine because it's DESSERT, but what isn't fine is the giant serving sizes that make you up waste your entire day's calories on one item (I'm looking at YOU, cheesecake factory!). These cakes are super sweet yet contain no sugar (I used Baking Splenda) and are cupcake sized so you get to enjoy your treat while still watching portions. Some people are really opposed to using fake sugar (Aspartame) but my valentine who is also a chemist assures me I would have to eat a LOT more Splenda to see any negative effects. I know that I don't normally listen to his scientific ramblings but this one benefits me :) I've also made these cheesecakes with non-fat cream cheese and while they tasted pretty good, the consistency was just terrible. So don't make my mistakes, okay? Learn from me.

Ingredients:

• 16 oz. Cream Cheese. (You could use half low-fat cheese here and still be okay)
• 1 C. Splenda for Baking + 1/2 C. for topping. Note: you could use regular sugar here if you so desire, just know the calories will be higher.
• 2 Eggs
• 12 Vanilla Wafers
• 2 Cups Fresh Strawberries
• 2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
• 2 Tbs. Orange Juice
• Dash of Salt

To Make Topping:

1. Cut strawberries into bite-size pieces. 

2. Coat with 1/2 C. Baking Splenda (you may not use all of the splenda).

3. Mix 2 tbs. orange juice and 1 tsp. vanilla into strawberry mixture. Add dash of salt.

4. Cover, refrigerate for at least an hour.

To Make Cheesecakes:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Place a muffin cup into each of 12 muffin tins and put a vanilla wafer (flat side down) in each.

3. Beat cream cheese until fluffy. Add in 1 C. baking splenda and 1 tsp. vanilla extract, beating well. Add in eggs one at a time, beating well after each.

4. Spoon into muffin tins. Bake for about 20 minutes.

5. Let cool completely then put in refrigerator for at least an hour.

(note: my cakes were cracked after baking but after putting them in the fridge, they sort of welded back together. Plus, once you put the strawberries on top, you can't tell. stupid high altitude)

Before serving, spoon strawberry topping on the cakes and enjoy! Or give them away as presents so you don't eat them all, which has been my strategy :)

Skinny Strawberry Angel Food Cake

Finding fat-free desserts is hard to do. As I've talked about before, my dad had a heart-attack pretty recently so cooking for him can be a challenge, especially in the dessert area! This shortcake is easy, low cal, and most importantly-- fat & cholesterol free. I first attempted to make a strawberry shortcake recipe from one of my cookbooks, "Cook Yourself Thin Faster." The shortcakes were TINY and still contained fat-- very unsatisfying. I knew Angel food cake is inherently fat-free, so I decided to use that as my shortcake base. I re-worked the filling from that recipe, substituted angel food cake, and changed the topping completely. And the result was.. amazing! This recipe makes a lot-- 12 servings and they are a pretty generous serving size so you definitely won't be left hungry. At under 200 calories a serving, it's certainly the guilt-free dessert everyone can enjoy. Everyone in my family loved it-- which is rare! We make this pretty often now.

Ingredients:

• 1 Box Angel Food Cake Mix (We used Duncan Hines)
• 3 C. Non-fat Vanilla Yogurt
• Orange Zest to taste
• Lemon Zest to taste
• 6 tsp. Baking Splenda
• 3 lb. Strawberries
• 5 tsp. Orange Juice

For the Strawberry Topping:

1. Cut up strawberries into bite size pieces. 

2. Toss with 3 tsp. Splenda (add more or less depending on ripeness of your strawberries!)

3. Add 5 tsp. Orange Juice and toss. Cover and refrigerate.

For the Angel Food Cake:

1. Follow directions on box-- if high altitude, make adjustments listed. Cook until DARK golden brown and dry, do not undercook!

2. Turn upside down and cool completely.

3. Cut into 12 pieces.
Note: You can totally make angel food cake from scratch that's even better but I don't usually have that may egg whites just laying around. Also, you could use store-bought angel food cake but I hate it. Okay, thanks for listening.

For Filling:

1. Mix Yogurt, 3 tsp. Splenda, orange and lemon zest.
I first tried 3 tsp. lemon zest and it was WAY too lemon-y. Then I tried 1.5 lemon and 1.5 orange, which was still too lemon-y in my opinion but my mom loved. So adjust to your liking, start small and work up. Sometimes when I'm feeling wild, I beat in a little light cream cheese. But then it's not fat free anymore and everyone loses. 

Spoon yogurt mixture over cake and top with strawberry mixture. Enjoy!