Birthday Cake Oreo White Chocolate Cheesecake

Last Thursday was my (and my twin sister Genevieve's!) birthday and I had a fantastic day being spoiled by my fiance, who took me to my first NHL playoff game that evening, which was really exciting even though the end result of the game didn't turn out quite how we'd hoped!

On the weekend I celebrated with my family, which meant that I got to choose a birthday dinner, but I made my own cake as usual because I look forward to it every year!  For dinner, my parents made a somewhat Mexican-themed meal with sangria, chips and guacamole, and caramelized pineapple and chicken quesadillas with a strawberry salsa - it was all amazing!

And for dessert, I made this festive birthday cake Oreo white chocolate cheesecake! 

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm not a huge fan of the typical white birthday cake with super sweet frosting, but cheesecake is a different story - I love any and every kind of cheesecake!

My older sister had just brought back birthday cake flavoured Oreos for us from her trip to the US, so I decided to incorporate them into a birthday cheesecake!  I don't think I've seen these Oreos anywhere in Canada but I could be wrong - if someone knows if they're available, let me know!  If you can't find them, you can still make this with regular Oreos, it just won't smell as much like birthday cake :)   I didn't have quite enough birthday Oreos to use throughout the cake by the time I got around to grabbing the package, so I just used half regular Oreos which worked fine!

This cheesecake has an Oreo crust, with the birthday cake Oreos chopped up and mixed throughout the cheesecake batter, along with some sprinkles (necessary for anything birthday themed, of course) and melted white chocolate chips to enhance the sweet birthday cake flavour. 

I also made a quick buttercream frosting, which I don't particularly like but in this case I needed it to stick some Oreos on top for decoration.  I mixed in some sprinkles and Oreo crumbs to the frosting which ended up turning the frosting into a somewhat unappealing grey colour, so if you want to avoid my mistake just leave the Oreos out of the frosting, there's plenty of Oreos elsewhere in the cake anyway!

I have a tendency to overbake my cheesecakes because I'm always paranoid about them not being cooked all the way through and haven't quite mastered the art of knowing when a cheesecake is done yet, so as you can see mine was a tad overdone, but everyone still loved it! 

I loved how festive it looked, and it smelled and tasted just like a birthday cake but with the creamy texture of cheesecake - like a grown-up version of a kid's birthday cake to help make this getting older business a lot easier :) 

Birthday Cake Oreo White Chocolate Cheesecake

Note: Recipe adapted from this Philly Oreo cheesecake recipe and this white chocolate raspberry cheesecake recipe

Makes one 9” cheesecake; serves around 12

Ingredients:

For the Crust:

16 Oreos – I used regular Oreos for the crust

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For the Filling:

2 cups white chocolate chips

1/2 cup half-and-half cream

3 (250g or 8oz) bricks of cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sugar

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

14 ‘Birthday Cake’ Oreos, chopped (I chopped each one into about 6 pieces)

2 tablespoons sprinkles

For the Topping (Optional):

1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup icing sugar

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 teaspoons milk

6-8 Oreos

Sprinkles

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Crush the 16 Oreos for the crust in a food processor or blender until they form crumbs.  Stir in melted butter with a fork and mix until combined, then transfer Oreo mixture to a 9” springform pan, and press evenly to cover the bottom in a thin layer.

In a metal bowl placed over a small saucepan of simmering water on the stovetop, melt white chocolate chips and half-and-half, stirring occasionally until melted and smooth.  Remove from heat.

In a large bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth, 2-3 minutes.  Add eggs 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition.  Add vanilla extracte and melted white chocolate mixture and beat just until smooth.  Gently fold in the chopped Oreos and sprinkles with a flexible spatula.  Pour batter over prepared crust and gently tap the pan against the counter a few times to remove any air bubbles. 

Bake in preheated oven for 50-55 minutes, until center is almost set.  My cheesecake had some butter drip out the bottom of the pan, which is an issue with my pan, but in case you have the same issue, be sure to place a baking sheet on the rack below the cheesecake to catch any drippings.  You could also use a water bath if you prefer to bake your cheesecakes that way.  Once done, I turn off the oven and let my cheesecake cool in there for about 10-20 minutes or more, then remove transfer it to a wire rack.  Run a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the cake so it doesn’t crack as it cools.  Let cool at room temperature for at least an hour, then refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.

If you wish to decorate the cheesecake as I did, you can prepare a simple buttercream frosting to stick Oreos on to the top of the cake.  To make buttercream, beat 1/4 cup butter for 2-3 minutes until smooth and creamy.  Add 3/4 cup icing sugar slowly and mix on low speed until incorporated.  Mix in 1/4 teaspoon vanilla and 1 to 2 teaspoons milk until smooth.  If the frosting's too thin you can add more icing sugar; if it’s too thick you can add more milk.  I also stirred in 2 teaspoons of sprinkles and 1 crushed Oreo but this can alter the colour of the frosting (mine came out kind of grey) so I might recommend leaving those out and just adding sprinkles on top, or at least just leaving out the Oreos.  Pipe buttercream onto spots of the cake where you want to attach Oreos and stick Oreos into the frosting (see pictures). Keep cake refrigerated until ready to serve.

Gingerbread Oreo Cheesecake Bars

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and happy holidays!

I've been having a very restful and quiet holiday break so far, except for the fact that I came down with the flu a couple of days before Christmas, and though the fever and aches are now gone, I've been left with a nagging cough that won't seem to go away.  The good news is that it has forced me to take it easy so I've been doing a lot of relaxing!  Being sick put a little bit of a damper on Christmas but I still had a fantastic day with my family, who spoiled me as usual, and I got out of any cooking duties so I just got to enjoy all the fabulous food made by everyone else!

Another good thing about being sick is that I haven't overindulged on food and drink like I usually do this time of year, mostly sticking to a ton of water and tea in the evenings.  The one thing I probably enjoyed more than my fair share of though was these delicious cheesecake bars that I luckily made a few days before I got sick.

These were inspired by the limited edition gingerbread flavoured Oreos that I couldn't resist picking up this year.  I immediately decided to use them in cheesecake bars similar to the candy cane ones I made last year, but with molasses and gingerbread spices instead of candy canes and peppermint extract for flavouring.

I wasn't originally going to share these because I ran out of time before Christmas to post them, but I got so many compliments and enjoyed them so much that I thought I should share them now anyways.  I'm sure most of you are already past the gingerbread stage and perhaps not wanting to go anywhere near dessert right now, so if that's the case just be sure to save this recipe for next year!  Or maybe you can find some gingerbread Oreos on clearance right now, in which case you should make a double batch of these!

Gingerbread Oreo Cheesecake Bars

Adapted from my Candy Cane Oreo Cheesecake Bars

Makes one 8x8 pan, about 16-20 bars

Ingredients:

For the Crust:

23 Gingerbread Oreos

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For the Filling:

16 oz (2 bricks) cream cheese, softened

1/3 cup sugar

1 large egg + 1 egg yolk, lightly beaten

1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons sour cream, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons molasses

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon cloves

12 Gingerbread Oreos, roughly chopped

*Note: You will need to buy two boxes of gingerbread Oreos to make this recipe, though you won't use the entire two boxes

Directions

Preheat oven to 325°F.  Line an 8x8-inch baking dish with aluminum foil, leaving an overhang around the edges to easily lift the bars out of the pan later.   Lightly spray the foil with non-stick cooking spray.

To make the crust, finely crush the Oreos in a food processor.  Add the cinnamon and melted butter and pulse until cookie crumbs are moistened.  Pour mixture into the prepared pan and press crumbs into an even layer over the bottom of the pan.  Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes, then set aside.  Leave the oven on.

To make the filling, beat the cream cheese in the bowl of an electric mixer on medium-high until smooth, about 2 minutes.  Mix in the sugar until well combined. Add egg and egg yolk one at a time, mixing just until each is combined. Mix in the sour cream, vanilla extract, and molasses until just combined.  Mix in the spices until just combined.  Stir in the chopped Oreos.

Pour the cheesecake batter over the baked crust, smoothing the top with a spatula.  Bake for 40-45 minutes, until the cheesecake is set around the edges but slightly jiggles in the middle.  Sprinkle gingerbread quins on top for decoration, if desired.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool at room temperature for about one to two hours, then refrigerate until well chilled, at least 3 hours (I chilled mine overnight).

To cut the bars, pull the entire cheesecake out of the pan by lifting the foil edges, then peel away foil and slice into bars.  Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

Frosted Mocha Brownies

I love baking and used to bake treats all the time, but I can't even remember the last time I made a dessert before last weekend.  I actually don't eat dessert myself that often, but I like trying new recipes and sharing treats with others; the problem is that everyone I know seems to be on diets or trying to eat healthier lately (which is a good thing!), and there aren't really any big dessert-worthy celebrations in the summer, so I haven't had an excuse to bake in a long time!

This past weekend though, I had a sudden urge to bake something so I decided to stop waiting for an excuse and just make something to give away to the boyfriend's coworkers (after trying one myself, of course!).  I was in the mood for a warm and comforting dessert but wasn't quite ready to break out the apples and pumpkin yet (though now that it's cooled off, that will be up next!), so I decided to go with brownies.  Everyone loves brownies, and I had all the ingredients for these latte bars I'd had bookmarked for a while, so I went right to work!

The original recipe for these bars was called 'latte bars', but since they're made up of coffee and chocolate, and mine turned out much more like brownies than bars, I'm calling them mocha brownies.  They're chewy and dense and everything you'd want a brownie to be (i.e. not too fudgey and not too cakey - just in between), with coffee in both the brownie, frosting, and the chocolate coffee beans on top, giving them the perfect amount of subtle coffee flavour.  I topped mine with a cream cheese frosting instead of buttercream because I think everything is better with cream cheese!

I'm not a huge chocolate lover but I do love coffee and I loved these bars, and so did the coworkers who were kind enough to help me eat them all!  I know the pictures are terrible (it was pretty dark out when I got time to take a few pics), but trust me that these are way better than I've made them look!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Frosted Mocha Brownies

Adapted from Land O Lakes

Makes one 8x8-inch pan; can be sliced into 16-20 brownies

Ingredients:

For the Brownies:

1 tablespoon instant coffee (+ 2 teaspoons hot water)

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Frosting:

8 oz (one brick) cream cheese, softened (I used light cream cheese)

3/4 – 1 cup icing sugar

1/2 tablespoon instant coffee

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For Topping:

16-20 chocolate covered coffee/espresso beans (or more, if desired)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Spray an 8x8 baking pan with non-stick cooking spray (I lined mine with parchment paper instead for easy removal after – use whatever method you like for brownies).

Prepare the brownies:  Combine instant coffee with hot water and mix until dissolved in a small bowl.  In a separate bowl, add the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, and salt, and whisk to combine.  In another separate bowl, whisk together the butter, eggs, vanilla extract, and coffee mixture until combined.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and fold together with a spatula until just combined.  Spread the batter in the prepared pan and bake in preheated oven for 23-27 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Prepare the frosting: Combine instant coffee with vanilla extract and mix to combine in a small bowl.  Beat cream cheese with an electric mixer in a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, until smooth and creamy, 2-3 minutes.  Add icing sugar and mix until combined.  Add coffee-vanilla mixture and mix until combined.  Taste and add more sugar if needed (I don’t like it to be too sweet).  Keep frosting in fridge until bars have completely cooled.

Once bars have cooled, spread frosting over them (you might not need all the frosting), and slice into bars.  Top each bar with a chocolate coffee bean, or chop multiple coffee beans and sprinkle overtop.

Caramel Latte Cheesecake Squares for my 2nd Blogiversary (+ a Giveaway!)

It’s my second blogiversary!  Well, technically it was yesterday, but due to a minor disaster with my planned dessert and my subsequent freak out, I’m celebrating a day late.

I spent a long time trying to choose the perfect dessert for a two year anniversary/birthday.  I wanted something cupcake-like because I feel like cupcakes are worthy of a celebration, but I had a hard time thinking of a recipe idea considering I’m actually not the biggest cupcake fan.  So when I remembered these raspberry swirl cheesecake cupcakes based on a Martha Stewart recipe I thought I’d found the perfect solution; mini cheesecakes baked in a cupcake pan – perfect!

I decided to use a chocolate crust and a cherry swirl instead of raspberry, so I went out and spent a lot of money on cream cheese (cream cheese is expensive here – almost $4.50 each if you can’t get it on sale) and cherries, and went to work making my little cheesecakes Tuesday night.

They looked beautiful coming out of the oven, but when I took them out of the fridge Wednesday morning, I discovered that they were still mushy with an almost pudding-like texture (see picture below). I’m not quite sure what went wrong, but I suspect it may have had to do with the fact that I was making these late at night and somehow got it in my head that halving a recipe for 32 cheesecakes meant I should make 12. Don’t judge!

I was so sad to not only have wasted my time and money, but that I wouldn’t have a dessert ready for my blogiversary. I considered just skipping the celebration because I’ve been super busy with school this week anyway, but I thought about it and realized that if there’s one thing that the last two years of blogging have taught me, it’s that things won’t always go as planned, but instead of giving up or getting upset, you just have to keep moving forward and things will often turn out just as well if not better (and you usually learn something along the way too).

If I gave up every time a recipe didn’t work out the first time; if I worried too much about losing readers every time I was too busy to share a post one week; if I cried every time an anonymous person left me a mean comment; if I criticized myself every time I compared myself to bigger and prettier blogs; then I would have quit a long time ago.

The truth is I love my little space I’ve built on the internet, I love having a motivation to try new things in the kitchen every week, I love the warm and friendly comments I receive from my amazing readers, and any of the failures and criticisms I’ve experienced along the way have all helped me to learn and grow.

So I picked myself up and went for a new dessert. Still cheesecake-themed, but using a recipe I know works as a base this time, and going with new flavours that I know I love - caramel and coffee!

These creamy cheesecake bars have a standard graham cracker crust, but with toffee bits melted over the crust and sprinkled on top of the cheesecake, espresso mixed into the cheesecake, and a drizzle of caramel sauce overtop, giving them a lovely caramel latte flavour.  I'm so, so glad I pushed forward and made these because they may be one of my new favourite cheesecake bars!

And what goes better with caramel latte cheesecake than a caramel latte or frappuccino – or any of your other favourite Starbucks drinks! To celebrate my blogiversary and give back to my loyal readers in a small way, I’m giving away a $30 gift card to one of my favourite places in the world, Starbucks!

I’m trying something new with this giveaway and using Rafflecopter, which many of you are likely familiar with, in an attempt to make things easier on all of us. Just use the widget below to enter and let me know if you have any problems - Canada or US entries only please.  The giveaway will close Monday July 29th, 2013, at midnight EST and I'll contact the winner soon after that, so be sure to use a valid email address/Facebook account. The e-gift card will be sent by email, so please make sure you have a working email account and access to a printer if you win!
(the rafflecopter will load immediately below this sentence; if you have a slow internet connection like the ridiculously slow one at my office today, just wait for it to appear!)

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Thanks for celebrating with me and for reading this blog – I truly appreciate all of you!

Oh and by the way, it's also my twin sister Genevieve's blogiversary at Vanilla & Spice today!  If you haven't checked out her blog before (it's full of healthy vegetarian recipes), be sure to stop by and say hi!

Caramel Latte Cheesecake Squares

Adapted from Food & Drink and these cheesecake bars

Makes one 8x8 pan; 16-20 squares depending on how you slice them

Ingredients:

For the Crust:

1-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

2 tablespoons light brown sugar

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1/2 cup toffee bits

For the Cheesecake:

16 oz (2 bricks) cream cheese, softened

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1/4 cup sour cream

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 tablespoon instant espresso

1/4 cup toffee bits

For the Caramel Sauce:

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon milk

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Line an 8-inch square baking pan with aluminum foil, leaving a few inches of foil draping over the sides of the pan (which will help with removal later).

Make the crust: Whisk together the graham cracker crumbs, brown sugar, flour, and salt in a medium bowl.  Pour the melted butter over the mixture, and stir together with a fork until all crumbs are moistened.  Transfer the mixture into the prepared pan and press evenly to form the crust.  Bake in preheated oven for 12-15 minutes, until crust is beginning to brown.  Remove from oven then pour the 1/2 cup of toffee bits in an even layer over top, pressing down lightly. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool for about 20-30 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare cheesecake filling.  In a large bowl or bowl of an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth, about 3 minutes.  Beat in the two sugars until well combined, about 1 minute.  Beat in eggs one at a time, fully incorporating each egg into the mixture. Beat in sour cream until just combined.  Mix the vanilla extract and instant espresso together in a small bowl, then add to cheesecake mixture and mix until combined.

Pour cheesecake mixture over cooled crust, then sprinkle 1/4 cup toffee bits evenly on top (I used a bit more to fill in some gaps).  Place in middle rack of the preheated oven and bake for 40-45 minutes, until edges are set but the middle jiggles slightly (as a whole) when you shake the pan.  Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool to room temperature, about 2 hours.  Transfer to a refrigerator (I don’t cover mine) to cool completely, for at least 4 hours or preferably overnight.

Meanwhile, prepare caramel sauce by adding the butter and brown sugar to a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook 1 to 2 minutes, until slightly thickened. Slowly stir in the milk and continue to simmer until thickened slightly. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract.  Transfer to a small container and set aside until cheesecake has cooled to room temperature.  Drizzle caramel sauce over the cheesecake (I transferred mine to a small ziplock bag and snipped off the corner to drizzle with more accuracy) before refrigerating it (you could also do this step the next day after it has  been refrigerated).  *If you already have storebought caramel sauce at home and wish to use it instead, that would work fine too - I didn't have any so it was easier for me to just make some, which only takes about 5 minutes.

Slice cheesecake into bars.  Keep refrigerated.

Canada Day Cheesecake Bars

Canada Day (which will be our country’s 146^th birthday this year) is coming up on July 1^st – yay long weekend!  I love coming up with recipes for Canada Day because there aren’t really a lot of ideas out there (especially compared to the number of red, white, and blue recipes!) so it’s easy to be creative, plus we’re lucky that our flag is fairly simple to represent using food because it has only two colours - red and white.

One idea I had last year but never had time to try was to make plain white cheesecake bars and top them with strawberry jam to create little Canada flags.  So I decided to give them a try this past weekend for a family get together, where I knew there would be lots of people to help me eat them all!  Plus my cousin is about to leave Canada for a few years, so Canadian flags were very appropriate!  

 I was a little behind in trying to finish and photograph these before I had to leave, so they were done in a bit of a rush, but I was so happy that they turned out just how I’d imagined in my head!

The filling for these bars is plain vanilla cheesecake that’s rich and creamy (and didn’t crack at all, which I was thrilled about!).  Once I sliced it into bars, I just spread strawberry jam on the edges and placed maple leaf quins in the center to resemble the flag.  The quins (like these) are available at Bulk Barn this time of year, but if you can’t find them anywhere, you could just use more jam or another type of red sprinkle arranged in the shape of a leaf.

I got lots of compliments from my family on these bars, and I think they would be the perfect treat to bring to a Canada Day gathering this weekend!

Canada Flag Cheesecake Bars

Flag idea my own; Cheesecake recipe adapted from here, here, and here

Makes one 8x8 pan; cut into 18 bars

Ingredients:

For the Crust:

1-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

3 tablespoons light brown sugar

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled

For the Cheesecake:

16 oz (2 bricks) cream cheese, softened

2/3 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1/4 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

For the Topping:

Seedless strawberry jam (~1/4 cup)

Canada Day maple leaf quins (available at Bulk Barn)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Line an 8-inch square baking pan with aluminum foil, leaving a few inches of foil draping over the sides of the pan (which will help with removal later).

Make the crust: Whisk the graham cracker crumbs, brown sugar, flour, and salt.  Pour the melted butter over the mixture, and stir together with a fork until all crumbs are moistened.  Transfer the mixture into the prepared pan and press evenly to form the crust.  Bake in preheated oven for 12-15 minutes, until crust is beginning to brown.  Transfer to a cooling rack to cool for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare cheesecake filling.  In a large bowl or bowl of an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth, about 3 minutes.  Beat in the sugar until well combined, about 1 minute.  Beat in eggs one at a time, fully incorporating each egg into the mixture. Beat in sour cream and vanilla until fully combined, about 30 seconds.

Pour mixture over cooled crust and return to oven.  Bake for 35-40 minutes, until edges are set but the middle jiggles slightly (as a whole) when you shake the pan.  Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool to room temperature, about 2 hours.  Transfer to a refrigerator (I don’t cover mine because I find the cheesecake ‘sweats’) to cool completely, for at least 3 hours or preferably overnight.

On the day you will serve the cheesecake bars, use the aluminum foil to lift the cheesecake out of the pan, then slice them into 18 small rectangles (6 columns and 3 rows - see picture below).  Stir jam first, then use a small butter knife or spoon to spread strawberry jam on the edges of each rectangle to resemble the Canada flag.  Use enough jam so it shows up well but not too much that it will fall off – you’ll get a feel for what amount to use after a couple tries.  Place three Canada leaf quins in the center to complete the flag (or if you don’t have any, you could use a blob of jam or red sprinkles if you can shape it into something that resembles a maple leaf!).  Keep bars refrigerated until ready to serve.  Don’t decorate them more than a day ahead.

Lemon Yogurt Snack Cake with Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting

The sun has finally come through shining here the past few days, but for those who are still buried in snow, and for all of those affected by the events in Boston this past week, I'm sharing this bright and light lemon yogurt cake with coconut cream cheese frosting to help spread some warm and sunny thoughts.

This is a simple snack cake made of a dense lemon yogurt cake base topped with a coconut cream cheese frosting and some toasted coconut flakes.  I tried to lighten it up a bit from the original recipe by reducing the oil and sugar, and the texture still came out great and I loved how the lemon and coconut flavours shone through and complemented each other.  This is a great spring cake to make and share with others to spread the sunshine :)

Lemon Yogurt Snack Cake with Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting

Adapted from Emily Loves Food

Makes one 9x9-inch cake, about 16-20 squares

Ingredients:

For the Cake:

1 cup plain low-fat Greek yogurt

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

2 teaspoons grated lemon zest

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 cup sugar

2 large eggs

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

For the Frosting:

8 oz cream cheese (reduced fat, if desired), at room temperature

1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1-1/2 cups icing sugar (use 2 if you want it sweeter)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (or coconut extract, if desired)

1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut

1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut, toasted for topping

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Line a 9x9-inch baking pan with parchment paper on the bottom.

Mix the “wet” ingredients together with a whisk until well combined: yogurt, oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, vanilla, sugar, and eggs.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, and salt.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until just combined.  Spread mixture into prepared baking pan and even out with a spatula.  Bake in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Remove from oven and let cake sit in pan for about 10 minutes to cool, then transfer cake to a wire rack to cool completely.

Meanwhile, prepare frosting.  Beat cream cheese and butter until smooth, about 2-3 minutes.  Add icing sugar and beat until combined.  Add vanilla and coconut and beat until just combined.  When cake has cooled, frost the top with the frosting.  It should  make a thick layer.

Toast the additional 1/2 cup of coconut in a dry skillet over medium heat until golden brown.  Sprinkle overtop frosting.