The Joy in Baking

Something to know about me is that I love to cook, and especially to bake. It is very therapeutic to me and I find great joy in being able to create using food. I would like to say that cooking is my hobby.

I found a picture of a most beautiful dessert that I wanted to try, but I must admit it looked to be a daunting task. The picture was just so perfect! I decided to put my baking skills to the test, and came up with this...

The only thing different about my cake from the original, is that is is slightly sloping downward on one side and the piping is not the greatest (I am not perfect). I thought I would add the recipe here and some of my suggestions for the recipe seeing as this was a big hit at a bbq I attended. It is a great summer dessert full of light, lemon, and fresh fruit flavor.

Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Torte

Ingredients:
1 package (16 oz) pound cake plus ingredient to make cake
2 lemons
1 ½ cups boiling water
2 packages lemon gelatin
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese
1/3 cup cold milk
1 container (12 oz) frozen whipped topping (thawed)
1 package cheesecake instant pudding mix
1 kiwi, peeled, sliced and cut in half
1 cup blueberries

Directions:
1. Prepare cake according to package directions.
Line a 10X15 pan with parchment paper. Pour batter into pan, spread evenly. When done, cool 10 minutes by taking the edges of the parchment paper and lifting out of pan.
2. Zest lemon in small bowl and set aside. Juice both lemons. Pour boiling water into small bowl, add gelatin and 3 Tbsp of lemon juice; reserve excess for filling. Stir gelatin until dissolved.
3. Invert cooled cake onto cutting board. Remove paper. Prick cake at ½ inch intervals with a toothpick. Slowly spoon gelatin mixture over cake, making sure to reserve about 2 tbsp of mixture. Trim cake ¼ inch around the edges and discard. Cut the cake crosswise into 3 equal layers.
4. In a bowl, combine cream cheese and 2 Tbsp lemon juice. Whisk together. Add milk and whisk until smooth. Spoon whipped topping over cream cheese mixture, and sprinkle pudding mix over as well. Mix all ingredients together using a rubber spatula. (mixture will be thick).
5. Place 1 layer of cake on a platter. Using a cake decorating bag and tip, fill with cream cheese mixture and pipe a straight border around edges. Place 3-4 scoops of filling in the middle and spread evenly to border. Top with second layer of cake and repeat. For third layer, pipe a decorative border around edge, spread evenly with remaining filling in center.
6. Arrange kiwi slices on cake. Add blueberries to reserved gelatin mixture (if it has settled, microwave for 5-10 seconds). Spoon blueberries over top, sprinkle with reserved zest. Garnish if desired.

My suggestions:
To make this cake slightly not as bad for you, I used sugar free fat free jell-o mix and sugar free fat free pudding mix. I also used Cool Whip "free" and 1/3 less fat cream cheese (neufchatel). A 10X15 pan is a rather large pan, but I used a 7 1/2 by 11 1/2 (ish) pan and my cake was still very thick (a little more than an inch) and I had to cut each layer in half almost. I would suggest using a large shallow baking pan to bake the cake in. If you do not own a piping bag/decorating tip for the piping work, you can buy a cake decorating tip at any craft store for about 99 cents, and then you can cut the tip of a ziploc bag to creat a homemade decorating bag.

Let me know how it turns out if you decide to make it and/or if you have suggestions of your own :)

*recipe revised from one I found in a pampered chef cook book