Hi folks.
I had a cake kick my ass.
Seriously!
Totally knocked me out...
Down for the count...
Then I redeemed myself and made this cheesecake!
Finally, I found redemption. I was seriously worried. This process had been a long one and just about had me questioning my sanity, well, more than usual. So first I'll share the star of today's post then I'll share the caketastrophe story with you. I think sometimes the best recipes come from the ones that didn't work. You just have to pull up your boot straps and move on when failure happens. No point crying over spilled milk if you ask me. And what goes better with milk, than cereal. Cake made with cereal no less. Yup, this one totally rocks. Thanks to Christina Tosi for the inspiration.
Ingredients
- FOR THE COCOA PEBBLES CRUNCH make ahead of time:
- 4 ½ tablespoons unsalted butter
- 4 ¾ cups Cocoa Pebbles cereal lightly crushed
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons nonfat milk powder
- FOR THE CRUST:
- 1 cup oreo flavoured crumbs
- 2 tablespoon vanilla sugar
- 3 tablespoons butter melted
- FOR THE CHEESECAKE:
- 3 250 gpackages of cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup vanilla sugar
- 3 eggs
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups cocoa pebbles crunch ½ cup less if you want it more cheesecakey and less cocoa pebble crunchy
- FOR THE TOPPING:
- 2 cups whipped cream homemade or store bought
- 2 cups cocoa pebbles crunch recipe listed above
Instructions
- FOR THE COCOA PEBBLES CRUNCH:
- Preheat your oven to 275 degrees.
- Toss dry ingredients together to mix.
- Melt butter in microwave for about 30-45 seconds.
- Add the butter to the dry ingredients and mix well.
- Spread the mixture on a parchment lined cookie sheet in an even layer.
- Place in oven and cook for about 20 minutes, or until browned lightly.
- Remove and let cool.
- Break into clusters.
- FOR THE CRUST:
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- Melt butter in microwave for about 20-30 seconds.
- Mix butter,sugar and crumbs together.
- Press into the bottom of mini springform pans that have been sprayed with non stick spray.
- Place in a 325 preheated oven for about 8 minutes.
- Remove and let cool.
- FOR THE CHEESECAKE:
- In a stand mixer (or bowl with hand mixer) mix together the cream cheese and sugar until well combined.
- Add your eggs one at a time, mixing well between each addition.
- Add the vanilla extract and mix again briefly.
- Add cocoa pebbles crunch. Mix by hand.
- Pour over top the crust in your springform pans. Place in oven and cook for about 40 to 45 minutes.
- Remove from oven and let cool.
- Place in fridge for about 4 to 6 hours to set.
- FOR THE TOPPING:
- Once the cheesecake is set, you can begin the topping.
- Mix your whipped cream and cocoa pebbles crunch together in a bowl, a spoon works well.
- Cover the top of cheesecakes with the topping and smooth out.
- Place in fridge for about 30 to 60 minutes
- Serve with a big old cocoa pebbley smile!
This was so good. It's just fun to play around with cereal. So odd that I do not eat the stuff but, man oh man, I love baking with it. This turned out great. I would quite likely do the topping a bit differently next time. Maybe just plain whipped topping with chocolate curls or something. But all in all this was a win for me. Especially after how long it took me to get it right.
This caketastrophe story started weeks again. I came across a recipe by Christina Tosi who is the genius behind Momofuku Milk Bar. I've never been there nor do I have her cookbook. I'd love to get it, I just have not had much money to spend on cookbooks recently. I had found a recipe for her Cocoa Pebbles Crunch Cake in an old InStyle magazine. I pulled it out eons ago and forgot about it. Then during my cereal obsession, where I made Trix Krispies, Cocoa Pebble Krispies with Nutella Frosting and Cocoa Pebbles Ice Cream and Cocoa Pebbles Ice Cream Bites, I knew I had to find it and make it. I dug it up and got all the ingredients ready and was so excited to make it. Then it flopped. I mean big old bomb. The cake did not rise properly. I have no clue what I did wrong. It was horribly flat and not going to work for a giant layer cake. So I took the cake and made it into Rolo Parfaits. I hate to waste ingredients so I figured it was a good way to use cake. So for round two I decided to make brownies and use that as a base for the cake. Brilliant right! It really was. Yet the topping for the recipe was now an epic fail. The original recipe uses Fluff which I am a huge fan of. But let's just say it doesn't hold up well when icing a cake. I think it needed to be cold to get the stiff peaks you see in Christina's cake. I had no stiff peaks. I had no peaks of any kind. I had marshmallow fluff sliding down my cake. Big old bummer and epic cake fail #2. This really knocked the wind of out of my cake sails. Now I had to rethink this recipe again. I decided to make it a cheesecake. I used a basic cheesecake recipe I use for most of my baked cheesecake needs and tweaked the bejesus out of it. I put cocoa pebbles crunch inside the cheesecake and inside the topping. Huge hit! It really tastes great. If you eat it immediately the cereal still has that crunchy bite to it. If you wait it gets soft and tastes like cake bits. So there's my story of my Caketastrophe. I'm sure we all have these kinds of stories. I am quite certain it was my error as we all know Christina is a rock star. I am sadly not a rock star. I make mistakes, I screw up, I have epic baking fails. But I move on and try to make the best of them. I do have to say as far as taste goes the brownie version kicked ass in a big way. It tastes amazing. It was just ugly. I'll try making it again the right way and post the recipe when I do. Here's some photos just to prove even Lunatic's have horrendous Caketastrophes.
See, told you it was a fail. Pretty, yummy cake up front. Ugly but still tasty cake behind. I honestly thought I would never be able to turn this one around. But I'm stubborn like a mule so I just kept at it.
So the moral of the story is never give up...eat lots of cake...use cereal for everything but breakfast...take pictures of your fails...and buy bigger pants. You're going to need them.
Toodles and smoochies! xx
Jen @ Juanita's Cocina
I support your "eat lots of cake" motto. I think you should put it on a t-shirt!
Kim Bee
I think I shall!
Maureen @ Orgasmic Chef
I could have eaten the caketastrophe with a big spoon and a smile. 🙂
The cheesecake sounds yummy.
Kim Bee
Lol, it tasted pretty good. Wish it had looked as good. The cheesecake was fab.
The Mom Chef ~ Taking on Magazines One Recipe at a Time
I'd like to dive face first in that cheesecake, that's all I've got to say. 🙂
Kim Bee
Lol, have at it.
Carrie @ Bakeaholic Mama
even your caketastrophe looks pretty scrumptious to me! But those cheesecakes... WOW! Those look so good!
Kim Bee
Thanks so much Carrie. I've had far too much fun with cereal lately.
Baker Street
“eat lots of cake” is surely the way to go! The cheesecake looks incredibly delicious!
Kim Bee
Thanks so much.
Roxana GreenGirl { A little bit of everything}
if you hadn't told us, I had no clue this is a caketostrophe. Looks great Kim!
p.s. I prefer not to tell you about my caketostrophes. It would take me all night :))
Kim Bee
Thanks so much Roxana. Lol, I know right. It happens to all of us. And often.
Jenny @ Ichigo Shortcake
I think your 'catastrophe' actually looks quite rustic and nice! I'd happily eat all of that by myself 😀 Love your plates as well, the patterns on them are beautiful.
Kim Bee
Thank you so much. That's so funny you like the plates. They were a gift and I quite honestly hate them but they work great for photos. Lol.
Joanna @ Chic & Gorgeous Treats
A few of us in my family are cheesecake fans.. oh! wait, pretty much all of us. I believe this will disappear off the table before I could even photograph them. Lovely photos and they look sinfully delicious. Yumm.. if only you could send one piece to me ;). xoxo
Kim Bee
Lol, mini-me doesn't eat them but the rest of us do. I made two this week so she missed out. Maybe one day we can meet up and go to the cheesecake factory together. I've never been there. Sad I know. xx
Tina@flourtrader
The best way to end a day is with a success and that is exactly what you did-the cheesecake looks amazing! We all have our fails in the kitchen and you were brave even to include it in this post. Like Roxanna, my catastrophes are my secret! Enjoy the day.
Kim Bee
I am fearless, or stupid, it's a crapshoot. Lol.
Choc Chip Uru
A typical friday night would be eating the caketastrophe to get over the catatrophe, then make cheesecake, then eat said cheesecake to celebrate success of cheesecake 😀
And what a cheesecake it is!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Kim Bee
Lol, I loved that way too much. So funny. I like the way you think.
Kristen
I don't know, that caketastrophe looks pretty delicious., like S'mores gone wild. The cheese cakes are fantastic, though. Cheesecake anything is supreme with me. I love me some cream cheese.
Kim Bee
It really was good hot. I should do it again for mini-me's sleepover this week. Isn't cheesecake amazing. Everything should be made in cheesecake form.
Anonymous
Caketastrophe...yup, I've been there, but they usually go into the trash without any thoughts of a photo. I love that you shared it with us...and now all my flops will be caketastrophes 🙂 You more than redeemed yourself with these amazing cheesecakes! You cereal goddess, you!!! xx
Kim Bee
I had to share so others can embrace their own caketastrophes. Let the healing process begin. Thanks, I'll take goddess even if it's cereal related. xx
Renee
Even cake catastrophes can taste good. Live, learn, and try, try again. I like that you posted your catastrophe as it shows what we all go through from time to time.
Kim Bee
Thanks, I felt the need to share. The story, not so much the cake. Lol!
Jill Colonna
Kim, you made me laugh so hard with your caketastrophe and that book cover look at the end. You rock. What matters is that the taste rocks too. As for your cheesecake, bliss!
Kim Bee
Aw thanks Jill. I had so much fun playing around with this. It may have won the battle but I won the war. Lol.
Anita at Hungry Couple
Eh, if you didn't say catastrophe, we'd never know. It just looks like ooey, gooey, oozing goodness. The winner looks good, too. I'll take one of each! 🙂
Kim Bee
It is an ooey gooey mess for sure. I'll have to post the recipe for it soon. One of each coming up.
Ramona
Hey now...what you call a cake catastrophe... I call YUMMMMMMY!! That looks really good and the cocoa pebbles cheesecake... holy heck... tooo good!! I am totally loving this creative genius you are having!
Kim Bee
Lol, thanks. I don't feel very genius some days but I sure love experimenting. So much fun.
Clare Bills
How fun! Ironically I just made a chocolate cheesecake myself this past week. A great combinations - chocolate and cheesecake.
Kim Bee
It is classic. And lovely. And addictive. And my fave kind of cheesecake. I tend to like cherry with chocolate the best.
Our Eating Habits
These are some cute cheesecakes!!
Kim Bee
Thank you so very much.
Ann
Oooh, yum! I gotta say, Kim...they BOTH look good! Congrats on the perseverance and the idea of cocoa pebbles CRUNCH in the whipped topping is divine!
Kim Bee
Thanks so much Ann. I find cereal fascinating but yet I don't actually eat it. So I keep coming up with ways I can eat it without having to have it in a bowl like a normal person.
Coco
Cute and brilliant!
Kim Bee
Thank you.