Cheesecake Galore!

One of the cheesecake I baked during my open house last two weeks. This is what happened when you keep it for so long, I forgot which recipe did I used!! Hahahaha. Oh kejap, I think I remember something (yes I should try shouting next time if I forgot something). Ah yesss. That's the one.

This cake was loved by everyone! Ceh semua I baked was loved by everyone (this is not a statement). Hehehe. Ok now seriously, everyone's loved it!

Baked White Chocolate Cheesecake

Adapted from Homesweethome

150 gm digestive biscuit/crushed

80gm butter/melted

180gm white chocolate

500gm cream cheese (at room temperature)

300gm sour cream (I don't have this)

3/4 cup caster sugar

1tsp vanilla essence

3 eggs

Chocolate ganache/whipping cream

1. Heat the oven at 160 Degrees Celcius. Prepare your baking pan.
2. Grate coarsely 3/4 of your white chocolate (leave some for hiasan)
3. Mix together the biscuit crumbs and melted butter. Press evenly on your baking pan and chill for 30 minutes.
4. In another bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla essence until well incorporated. Then add eggs, one at a time.
5. Pour the cream cheese mixture onto the biscuit pastry and mix in the grated white chocolate. Stir gently with a fork.
6. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes.
7. When it is done, turn off the oven and open the door a bit but do not take your cake out. Let it be in the oven for the next 2-3 hours.
8. Chill the cake in the fridge for 4 hours.
9. (Since I ran out of whipping cream) Pour chocolate ganache on top of the cake. Sprinkle the leftover white chocolate. Ready to be serve when it has cool completely.

And this is another chessecake I baked last week. I have another box of cream cheese and some raspberries so Afi requested me to bake some. I halves the ingredients since they were only two of us at home (which took 3 days to finish!).

Strawberry-Raspberries Cheesecake Slice

Adapted from My Kitchen Snippets

3/4 cup crushed digestive biscuit

6 tbsp melted butter

250gm cream cheese

1/2 cup sugar

1 tbsp flour

1 egg

3 tbsp strawberry jam

Fresh raspberries for decoration

1. Preheat the oven to 325 F. Grease and line a 6"x6" square baking pan with parchment paper.
2. Mix crumbs and butter together and press firmly on the bottom of the pan.
3. Beat cream cheese, sugar, flour in a bowl on medium speed until well blended. Add egg at low speed. Mix well. Pour over crust.
4. Drop the strawberry jam on different sites on the batter. Use a knife and make a marble effect on it.
5. Bake for 40 mins or until it is done. Refrigerate overnight before serving.
6. Arrange raspberries on top of the cake.

Bread Pudding

Ok ini recipe jump. Jump disini bermaksud lompat macam potong que because I want Yasmin to try it. Yas, I know you're reading this and this post is specially for you!

The first time I ate bread pudding was like 10-12 years ago. My sister baked it (yes kakak you baked before aite? Hehe). And that was also the last time I ate bread pudding. Pathetic I know. So, there were some leftovers of the sides of the breads (you know the hard/brown thing that people cut and throw when they're preparing for sandwiches?) from last Sunday sandwiches. I had 2 long loaf of Gardenia bread (What was I doing with that many sandwiches? Hehe) and I really don't want money wasted just like that if we throw it. So I keep it.

And yesterday I baked a bread pudding. Sedap sedap tak tipu tolong lah percaya!

Pecans streussel topping.

Sorry. I couldn't resist the temptation that even before I get my camera ready, I scooped it for food testing. Ok pass. Hahaha.

Actually this bread pudding has it custard sauce that goes with it but I wanted to try it first. I don't want it to be that sweet. I know I have sweet tooth but just as a precaution, when you have dessert in your place twice a week, hurm? And I reduced all the amount of sugar one quarter each. And I am relieved that I did! The sweetness, just perfect!

But what I didn't know, bread pudding is like your substitution of rice. I took one small square and not even finishing half, dah full. Eggs+breads? No wonder lah!

The Best Bread Pudding

Adapted from Paula Deen

Ingredients

2 cups granulated sugar (1 3/4 cups)

5 large beaten eggs

2 cups milk

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

3 cups cubed Italian bread, allow to stale overnight in a bowl

1 cup packed light brown sugar (3/4 cup)

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened

1 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup yellow raisins

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 13 by 9 by 2-inch pan.

Mix together granulated sugar, eggs, and milk in a bowl; add vanilla and raisins. Pour over cubed bread and let sit for 10 minutes.

In another bowl, mix and crumble together brown sugar, butter, and pecans.

Pour bread mixture into prepared pan. Sprinkle brown sugar mixture over the top and bake for 35 to 45 minutes, or until set. Remove from oven.

Coconut Cupcakes

I know the recipe called for coconut cupcakes but I can assure you it tasted more like the usual vanilla cupcakes. It was the best! Memang best. Dense and moist. And sedap! Sumpah!

It was for my friend's hantaran actually. I baked the trial cupcakes few days before, alter the ingredients a bit then voila!

Coconut Cupcakes
adapted from Tendercrumbs

6 oz (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 tsp almond extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup buttermilk (I substitute with coconut milk)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy. With the mixer on low speed, add the eggs, 1 at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and mix well.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In 3 parts, alternately add the dry ingredients and the coconut milk to the batter, beginning and ending with the dry. Mix until just combined. Fold in coconut.

Line a muffin pan with paper liners. Fill each liner to the top with batter. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, until the tops are brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Remove to a baking rack and cool completely.

For the frosting, I'd been dying to try Italian Meringue Buttercream. I was told it was awesome so I just had to try. There were a few recipes/methods available but I opted for the simpler one.

But you know what? I hate how it tasted like. Macam ada one thick layer on my tongue after makan and it tasted empty. So no, I won't try it again unless someone assure me to.

Carrot cake and Dates bar

So my sister in law (erk I must get used to it) asked me to bake a carrot cake for her for raya. But I already preparing for a cheesecake so I told her I nanti. Nanti Shaleen bake.

This was the second time I bake using this recipe. The first one wasn't what I expected for. And that was 3 months ago. But I won't give up. I just though maybe I'd missed out somewhere so baked it again for the second time.

And it fails. Big time.

It was too spongy!! I don't know if that was what it should tasted like but I don't think carrot cake was supposed to be spongy macam sepan. There, sepan tau! So sila. I drew my line, just here.

And this on the other hand was my favourites. It was dense and full with nuts and dates. I know my Mom would love it and she did :)

The Bar

Adapted from Thepioneerwoman

1-½ cup Butter, Melted And Then Cooled

8 ounces, weight Pitted Dates, Chopped Coarsely (around 1 1/2 Cups

1-½ cup Walnuts, Chopped

1 cup Pecans, Chopped (optional)

2 cups All-purpose Flour

½ teaspoons Salt

¼ teaspoons Baking Powder

¾ cups Packed Brown Sugar

¾ cups White Sugar

4 whole Eggs At Room Temperature

1 teaspoon Vanilla

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Take 2 tablespoons of the melted butter and brush your pan (one 9×13 pan or two 8×8 pans), making sure to grease the sides as well.

3. Set the coarsely chopped dates, walnuts and pecans (if using) aside in a bowl. (If the dates you are using are too dry, you can soak them in a little bit of liquid. Make sure you drain them before mixing them in with the nuts.)

4. Sift the flour, salt, and baking powder into a bowl. Set aside.

5. Mix the remaining 1 1/4 cup melted butter and sugars until well incorporated.

6. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

7. Add in the vanilla.

8. Reserve ¼ cup of the flour mixture. Dredge the date and nut mixture with the reserved flour. Use more of the flour mixture if needed.

9. Mix in the rest of the flour mixture with the wet ingredients. Do this gently, by hand, until just incorporated.

10. Fold in dredged dates and nuts with the batter.

10. Pour the batter (it will be very thick) onto the buttered pan(s).

11. Bake for 30 or more minutes, until light golden brown. It can take up to 40 or so minutes to cook, so keep checking. The bars are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs.

Baked Peach Cheesecake

On the first day of raya, I only managed to bake one cake. One. A total disapoinment. I know I could have baked more if I can managed my time efficiently. But I had a lot of cleaning ups to do. I was working half-day that day. And I really wanted to go home before iftar. Even if its mean I had to breakfasting in the car. Which I did. And Mom was the one who called me all the way from JB to tell me 'dalam TV dah azan so you can buka puasa now'.

I had few blocks of cream cheese so I thought of making a cheesecake (and left few blocks in the fridge which in a real bad condition when I get back after raya due to fridge rosak :( ). I think this recipe I copied from Kuali or something. I forgot. You can google it if you want.

Yes I know my cheesecake turned out not as beautiful as they should be. I brought back to JB rightaway, still hot and warm when I arrived. So I had to left the inner lining of baking paper on the side of the cake. Takut deformity berlaku. Hehe.

And the cake? Biasa-biasa je lah. Its either me or the recipe. I think it was me haha.

Shortcrust pastry:

200g plain flour

1/4 tsp salt

125g very cold butter

3 tbsp ice-cold water

Filling:

300g cream cheese(leave at room temperature)

2 eggs, separated

75g castor sugar

1 tbsp grated orange rind

2 tbsp orange juice

1 1/2 tbsp corn flour

175g canned peaches

Method
Sift flour and salt into a mixing bowl. Dip the whole piece of butter into the flour. Place a grater above the flour, take the butter out and grate it into the flour. Mix grated butter into the flour. Rub in using your fingertips until butter is well distributed and the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Do not overwork the mixture.

Add ice-cold water gradually, stirring the flour and butter mixture with a palette knife. When mixture starts to bind well, stop adding water.

Knead the pastry lightly for a short while until smooth. Wrap pastry with plastic food wrap and chill for 30 minutes in the refrigerator.

Roll out pastry between two sheets of plastic wrap. Peel top layer of plastic from pastry. Roll pastry round a rolling pin. Bring rolling pin over a 21 cm flan tin.ease pastry carefully into the tin. Trim edges.

Prick the base with a fork and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Bake blind in preheated oven at 190°C for 10 minutes then remove beans and paper and bake for a further 20 minutes or until lightly browned. *cough* FYI saya pakai green beans :p

To make filling: Preheat oven to 180°C. Drain peaches well then slice thinly. Arrange slices evenly over the base of baked pastry case.

Beat cheese until light then add in sugar and continue to beat until creamy. Add egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each one is added. Stir in orange juice and rind. Sift in corn flour and blend well.

In a medium bowl, beat egg white and add a pinch of salt. Sprinkle 1 tbsp castor sugar gradually when egg white is almost firm. Go on beating until egg white turns stiff. Fold egg white mixture into creamed cheese mixture.

Carefully pour filling over the peaches. Bake in preheated oven for one to one and a quarter hours or until cake is firm. Leave cake in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes with oven door ajar. Remove the pie and cool completely on a wire rack. Refrigerate cake overnight then turn out. Sift icing sugar over and slice into eight pieces and serve.

For the topping, I arranged the sliced peaches on top of the cake the next day, and strawberry then I pour instant jelly on top of it ;)

Banana Cake

Again, bananas left ripen on the counter so I baked banana cake! I left the bare cake for a day before I made the filling and ganache. When I sent Lana to the airport, I managed to grab one bag of Daim from the store so I decided to chop it and toss(?) it on my ganache. The filling was a different story. I had all the ingredients on hand but I had no idea which recipe to be followed. I stood there then I sat. Then I decided to make something different. Rather than using all the creams I used, CUSTARD! Yes damn freaking custard powder! I didn't know where did the idea came from but I was pretty sure I had to make it fast.

Obe loved it. So much. He said that was the best cake I ever made. Which was a lie. I know I baked some pretty good stuff before. And it were all good! Hahaha. But seriously, I think if you have all the patience and rajin, spare some time and prepare a good filling. Seriously.

And I don't know why did I choose this recipe although the original recipe was called for an upside down walnut cake. But yes, the cake was dense, moist and the best for a banana cake. Be experimental and try adding some fun to it ;)

Banana Cake

Adapted from SmittenKitchen

1 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup mashed very ripe bananas (2 to 3 large)
3 tablespoons sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 170 degrees. Sift first 4 ingredients into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter and both sugars in large bowl until blended. Beat in eggs 1 at a time, then mashed bananas, sour cream, rum, and vanilla. Beat in dry ingredients in 2 additions just until combined. Spoon batter into pan. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes.

For the filling, I don't exactly remember the measurement of all the ingredients. Its in my head naturally, abundance and engraved on one of my lobes I guess. But I won't let you down. Saya cuba.

1/2 tin susu cair IDEAL
3 full tbsp custard powder

Boil the milk together with the custard powder until dissolve on a low heat. When it starts to boil, continue stir until it thickens. Turn off the heat and spread on the cooled cake (after you cut it to layers of course ;) ).

For the ganache, erm ini memang aku tak ingat. My own recipe and techniques differ from time to time :p

Oreo Cupcakes

Oreo Cupcakes

from BeantownBaker.com

Cupcakes

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup milk

2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups flour, plus 2 Tbsp for the Oreo chunks
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 2/3 cup sugar

3 large egg whites, at room temperature

1 pkg Oreo Cookies (~45 cookies)

Preheat over to 350F. Insert liners into a medium cupcake pan.

Twist apart 24 Oreos. Place the wafer with filling on it, filling side up, in the bottom of each paper liner. Cut other wafers in half. Save 24 halves to place in the frosting. Crush the other wafer halves, also for garnishing.

Cut the remaining Oreo cookies into quarters with a sharp knife. Toss with 2 Tbsp flour and set aside.

In a large bowl cream the butter until fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Add the milk and vanilla and mix to combine.

In a separate bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Add the dry ingredients to butter mixture. Mix until integrated. Stir in sugar. With an electric mixer on low speed, beat for 30 seconds. Turn the mixer up to medium speed and beat for 2 minutes. Add the egg whites. Beat for 2 more minutes. Stir in the quartered cookies.

Fill the cupcake lines three-quarters full. Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of cupcakes comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in the pan.

Frosting
8 oz cream cheese at room temp
1 stick butter at room temp
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
3-4 cups powdered sugar

Cream butter and cream cheese until fluffy.

Add vanilla extract. Slowly add powdered sugar until desired consistency is reached.