Spiced Apple Cheesecake x2

P1020160, a photo by cookinglikespago on Flickr.

Here's an extra picture of the cheesecake, with the sauce poured over it. Flicker changed how they share their pictures and I haven't figured out how to add two pictures in one post yet.

The other slice is Miette's gingerbread cake with cream cheese frosting I also brought to Thanksgiving. Don't judge on me eating two slices please; it is Thanksgiving after all!

Spiced Apple Cheesecake with Brandy Caramel Sauce

P1020159, a photo by cookinglikespago on Flickr.

This is my very late Thanksgiving post. Thanksgiving was certainly new this year, being away from our immediate families. However, we were fortunate enough to meet my husband's uncle's family, whom my husband hadn't seen since he was a 5 year old.

I also made a new cheesecake this year. While I love my standard apple cheesecake recipe, I couldn't pass on this amazing recipe I found on Food 52.

Once again, I used Miette cookies for the crust, this time the gingersnap cookies. The caramel sauce was really different too. Instead of cooking white sugar to the caramel stage, this used brown sugar and butter. It was definitely a runnier caramel sauce than my standard recipe I use from The Secrets of Baking, but it tasted great; especially with the addition of the brandy.

It got rave reviews by all, and I hope we get invited for Christmas so I can bake more new recipes for them.

Banana Cake with Mocha Frosting

P1020157, a photo by cookinglikespago on Flickr.

I don't know about you, but every week I buy bananas and every week I seem to have some that go bad before I get to them. My intention is always to eat them quicker, but I don't get that far.

Anyways, I used some bad bananas to try out this cake I found in David Lebovitz's book "Ready for Dessert." It was fun to make a cake rather than standard banana bread. And I would have never thought to do a mocha frosting; the pairing turned out really well.

I'm glad I moved to San Francisco for a number of reasons. I now have another thing to add to those reasons; I got to have my cookbook signed by David Lebovitz since he came back for a visit.

If you have this book, this is definitely a great recipe. If you don't have the book, you should.