Blueberry Swirl Cheesecake

Have been craving for it since before the 1st exam,but haven't found the extra tim to satisfy my craving. Even the cream cheese was bought weeks before. So here I am baking this cheesecake with a joyful heart (because have finished 50% of the exam and trying to clear stocks :P)

It has been quite a while since I last baked a cake. And this is yet another good attempt for me. Seeing the blueberry "oozing" is kinda exciting for me. With a good cup of coffee, this is definitely a perfect tea-break.

There is one thing about this cake, I used the cream cheese blocks in this cheesecake making. Maybe I didn't do much shopping in Malaysia, but I haven't really come across such block-cream-cheese. The very first time I saw was here in Ukraine. In Malaysia, I often see Philadelphia cream cheese, and besides that, still Philadelphia. Maybe I haven't been paying much attention in groceries since I wasn't into cooking/baking 6 years back :P

So the process of baking this cake is rather long. I used about 2.5hours Bain-Marie style of baking. So good luck in your attempt :)

Ingredients :
Base :
Graham Crackers 300g
Butter
Blueberry Jam :
Blueberry 120g
Sugar 150g

Cheese Batter :
Cream Cheese 5 blocks (500g)
Sugar 100g
Corn Flour 50g
Butter 65g
Egg whites 5
Egg yolks 5
Heavy cream 150g

Method :
1. Preheat oven at 180°C, prepare the tray with water too.
2. In a pot, melt the 150g sugar with 50ml water and the blueberry, then leave aside to cool.
3. Cut the cheese into small cubes.
4. Make the biscuits base by blending the crackers and mix with sufficient butter to form the base in the cake tray.
5. Beat the 100g sugar and egg whites in a bowl till fluffy.
6. In another bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter till smooth.
7. Add in the egg yolks one by one, then the corn flour and the heavy cream.
8. Add in (5) and beat till smooth.
9. Pour 1/2 of the batter onto the base.
10. Pour in the blueberry jam and make a swirl with a chopstick.
11. Pour in the remaining half of the batter on top of it.
12. Bake in 180°C, Bain-Marie style.
13. Cool for at least 2-hours before serving.

Enjoy this wonderful cheesecake :)

Lemon Cupcakes

I made this cupcakes on Oo's Birthday-Present-Giving Day. Yeah, successful attempt, nice cake turned out. I especially like to go with a cup of coffee :P

Hope people out there trying it enjoy it as much as I do :)
Ingredients:
2 2/3C Flour
1/2 tsp Soda
1/4tsp Salt
1C (2 Sticks) Butter
1 3/4C Sugar
2 Medium Lemon Zest
4 Eggs
1 1/4C Butter Milk
4 Tbs Lemon Juice

Method :
1. Sift flour and then mix the soda and salt in it.
2. Cream butter, sugar and lemon zest on medium speed.
3. Add eggs, 1 by 1.
4. Alternately, add flour and buttermilk on low speed. Then increase to high speed.
5. Add in lemon juice.
6. Preheat oven at 350ºF.
7. Fill the paper cups till 2/3 full.
8. Bake in 350ºF until it springs ack when touched (about 16-20mins)
9. Remove and cool on rack.

Have A Marvelous Day!

P/S: This is one of the recipes that were copied out some time ago and tried out like centuries later. So, I apologize to the owner of this recipe, as I really couldn't recall which site I have copied it from. But if anyone happens to know, kindly inform me please. Thank you.

~ Tiramisu Charlotte Cake Style ~

For Khiu Fu Lung's birthday party, we (group 628) decided to do cuisines of different nationalities. And we drew lots to decide the "chef" behind the cuisines. So this is the list :

Italian/USA/UK --- Mac and Cheese

Brandon/Kok Hon/Sook Sim


Mexican --- Barbecue Stick & Roll (?)
Brandon/Kok Hon/Sook Sim


Georgian --- Salad
Ann Feng


Cuban --- Mojito (Without Alcohol)
Yan Lee


Irish --- Irish Lamb Shank
Izman


Thai --- TomYam Seafood
Oo & Cyok Noy


German --- Pork Knuckles
Wei Min & Syih Ying


Chinese --- Herbal Duck Soup
Justin & See Yee


Italian --- Tiramisu
Jacklyn

As promised in the previous post, here is the better modified version. As the instructions are already written in the previous post, this would only include some additional instructions/details. Texture for this time is much better, I think. As it is not so soft and "watery" as the last one. At least you can see the "fence" still manage to stand "still" :P

Ingredients :
3 egg yolks
3 tablespoons sugar
6 tablespoons Baileys Irish Cream

Coffee syrup (refer previous post)

500g Mascarpone Cheese
3 tablespoon coffee (strong and thick is preferable)

500ml Whipping cream

Lady Finger's biscuits
Cocoa Powder

25g Gelatin
50g hot water

Additional Details :
~ Steps are the same as previous.
~ But after you have fold in the Macarpone mixture and the whipping cream, assemble the lady finger's biscuits (without coffee) at the side of your tray.
~ Then take more lady finger's biscuits and dip them into the coffee mixture to make the first layer for the base of Tiramisu.
~ After this, only start to dissolve the gelatin in 50ml of hot water by double-boiling method.
~ Pour the dissolved Gelatin into your tiramisu cream portion by portion. Don't forget to stir/mix them evenly so that you won't get clumps of Gelatin in your cake later.
~ Then pour the mixture on the first base and proceed with the rest of the steps.
~ Chill the tiramisu for at least 4 hours.

Ingredients used

Left : Yolks + Sugar ~ Pale and frothy
Right : Gelatin + 50ml hot water ~ Double boiling method


Left upper corner: Assembling the cake, coffee-dipped biscuit at the base

--- HaPpY BirThDaY, Fu Lung! ---

Simple Tiramisu Recipe Made Easy

Tiramisu sounds Japanese to me. It is actually an Italian dessert, no bake, only need a functioning refrigerator. Yes, it's creamy and taste .... hmmm .... wonderful. This home-made Tiramisu for Sunny's birthday has acquired the taste; but for me it is still a little bit too soft. Anyway maybe you will like it. :D

These are the ingredients needed : Lady Finger's Biscuits (For those in Simferopol, you can get it in Metro)

Mascarpone can be bought in Furshet/Metro, about uah50 (250g) or uah90 (500g)

Ingredients :
3 egg yolks
3 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoon Baileys Irish Cream

250ml (more less) Coffee (Espresso preferable, as thick and strong as you wished)
3 tablespoon Baileys Irish Cream

*May add some sugar into the coffee (I used 3-5 teaspoon sugar)*

250g Mascarpone Cheese
3 tablespoon coffee (strong and thick is preferable)

250g Whipping cream

Lady Finger's biscuits
Cocoa Powder

Method :
1. Over the heat, with double boiling method, melt the sugar in the yolks and Baileys. At the same time whisk it till frothy (as shown below).
2. Remove (1) from heat and leave to cool.
3. Whisk the whipping cream till soft peak is formed (as picture below) with an electrical mixer, leave aside.4. Add Mascarpone cheese and 3 tablespoon of coffee into (1), whisk till no lump is formed.
5. Fold in 1/2 of the Mascarpone mixture (as picture below) into the whipping cream and then continue with the next 1/2.6. Gently dip the surface of Lady Finger's Biscuit with the coffee (NOT TO SOAK!!!) and cover them at the bottom of the cake tray.
7. Pour 1/2 of (5) onto the coffee-dipped biscuits.
8. Continue the 2nd layer of coffee-dipped Lady Finger's biscuits and place them on the creamy mixture.
9. Pour the balanced 1/2 of mixture on the 2nd layer of biscuits.
10. Sift cocoa powder on the surface of the cake and refrigerate for at least 4 hours (I did it overnight).
11. Spoon to serve.

P/S:
~ You may sift additional cocoa powder on the cake before serving.
~ DON'T remove the side of the springform pan, as it is still rather watery.
~ Substitutions for Baileys --- rum essence(only few drops is required!)/Kahlua/Marsala

I will be making another Tiramisu this Friday for Khiu's birthday party this Saturday evening . If my modified version is better, I shall share them with you. So wish me luck *wink*

Happy trying :D

Check out the better improved version here!!!

Sarchertorte

Sarchertorte is a chocolate cake, invented by Franz Sacher in 1832 for in Austria, specifically in Vienna. It is one of the most famous Viennese culinary specialties, which is made only in Vienna and Salzburg, according to Wikipedia. So what is so famous about it? Well, it's a chocolate cake of two layers, whee in between is laid with a layer of apricot jam. It is traditionally topped with dark chocolate icing and served with whipped cream, just like below.


I made this Sarchertorte somewhere like 2 years back. Hmm, I didn't manage to take the picture that time, guess I haven't realize how much I value pictures of my own cooking yet LOL (quite unlikely though)

However, I know I used this recipe. Sorry, but I don't remember which website I used already.

Ingredients:
130g butter
130g dark chocolate
100g powdered sugar
6 eggs
80g white sugar
130g flour
apricot marmalade

Icing:
150g chocolate
75g coconut shortening

Method:
- Preheat the oven to 180-200°C.
- Melt chocolate and butter in Bain Marie style.
- Remove from heat and let the mass cool.
- Add the powdered sugar and the egg yolks little by little while carefully stirring.
- Beat the egg whites and add the white sugar.
- Mix into the batter and add the flour gradually while constantly stirring.
- Pour batter into a greased spring form pan. Bake at 165°C for 50 to 60 minutes.
- Allow the cake to cool completely before removing from pan and before icing.
- Once cool remove the cake from pan.
- Slice horizontally and fill with the jam in between the layers.

As for the icing,
- Next, melt chocolate and shortening in Bain Marie style.
- Cover the top and sides of the cake with the warm (not hot) icing.

Hope you guys enjoy baking it.

Chiffon Cake

I made a chiffon cake for Shiau Fui's Birthday Party on 18th February 2010.

I reshaped an eventually resize the cake as I tried to remove it from the pan before it is completely cool (and I believe the forgetting of the parchment/foil paper also contributes to its ugly holed sides while trying to force it out of the baking tray.)

Apart from the physical appearance, the rest were just fine. Fully risen, taste is good.

Reshaped and resized with a layer of dark chocolate.

After some simple decorations

I modified the Pandan Chiffon Cake recipe from Little Corner of Mine. Original recipe can be found here. Below is the modified version.

Ingredients:
(A)
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1/2 cup sugar

(B)

1/2 cup vegetable oil

6 egg yolks

3/4 cup coconut milk

2 drops of banana essence

(C)

6 egg whites

1tsp. vinegar

(D)
3/4 cup sugar

Method:

1. Combine (A) in a bowl, mix them well.

2. Add (B). Beat with an electric mixer until smooth.

3. In a separate bowl, beat (C) until a moist peak is formed. Gradually add (D), beating until stiff and shiny peaks are formed.

4. Fold in 1/2 of the egg whites into the egg yolks mixture, fold to mix and then add the rest of the egg whites. Fold gently but thoroughly.

5. Pour the batter into baking tray.

6. Bake in preheated oven of 180°C, for about 60 mins or till a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

7. Invert cake and cool it completely in the pan. When cool, loosen the edges and shake pan to remove cake.

P/S : Make sure you cool it completely before you remove it from the pan and I think it's better if you lay a piece of parchment paper before baking :)
Otherwise you would have to resize & reshape the cake like I do hahahaha

The inner texture of the chiffon cake

By using the same modified recipe, instead of 3/4C coconut milk, I squeezed in 3/4C of fresh orange juice. Hence I baked an orange chiffon cake for Brandon's birthday party(20th Feb 2010). Here is the end result :D

Topped with dark chocolate glaze, oranges and of course the green kiwi.

Almond flakes at the side.