Monday, March 30, 2009

Peach Crumble Cheesecake

Heather asked why I haven't blog for so long and I have been asking myself that too. Laziness most probably sums it up but that is not the entire reason. 
I love the part about the food - cooking, eating and even the photo sessions (have tons of photos waiting to be posted) but not so much the latter part of blogging, ie the photo editing, composing and typing. The most daunting task for me is converting my Chinese thinking mind into English hardcopy. To put down in English words what I am thinking in Chinese calls for some major reconstruction thinking (a lot of brain cells) and so very time consuming. I told hubby I need to go for English course. Hubby sometimes helped to correct my grammar and punctuation! 
So, when I do not appear in this space for a while you know I am taking a break from thinking... in English only ie :-p.

I have done this cake three times for different occasions and always a crowd winner. The recipe came from a cook book Mui Fung gave me 4 years ago for my birthday. It is called 'A Touch Of Classic Baking' by Kevin Chai.

This is a simple basic cheesecake but with the addition of the peach and the crumbles on top, the humble cake gained superstar status in my book.
Here is the recipe.

Peach Crumble Cheesecake
500g cream cheese
100g caster sugar
3 eggs
250ml whipping cream
2 T cornstarch
1 can (825g) halved peach, drained and wiped dry

Base
250g digestive biscuit, crushed
120g butter (melted)

Topping
150g plain flour
40g caster sugar
75g butter

Preheat oven to 160C
1. Combine finely crushed biscuit (I put all the biscuits in the food processor and gave them a good 1 minute blitz) and melted butter well. Press evenly and compactly into the bottom of a 9" cake pan.
2. Beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth and fluffy. Add in eggs, one at a time, making sure each egg is properly mixed in before adding the next. 
3. Stir in whipping cream and cornstarch, mix well.
4. Spread a thin layer (about 1/2 cm thick) of the cheese mixture on top of biscuit.
5.  Arrange peaches onto the layer and pour in the remaining cheese mixture to cover the peaches.
6. For the topping, combine flour and sugar, rub in butter until mixture resembles bread crumbs.
7. Sprinkle over the cheese mixture.
8. Bake for 1 hour 20 minutes. Cool completely and refrigerate. Serve cold.   

7 comments:

frank said...

lazy is a good reason/excuse/rationale. Whatever the occasion, I like lazy.

my job is about writing, and sometimes I get lazy too, in fact I get lazy rather often.

but not so much these busy days at work. I kinda miss being lazy.

and sometimes, i get a writer's block - that's the worst. you never know when it will be over.

love the peach cheesecake. love all kinds of cheesecake, love cheese that is.

I had a chance for some durian cream cheese cake not so long ago at a shop and it was heaven, albeit a malaysian heaven.

its good to see you back posting. welcome back to the (g)food times.

daomingsi said...

Dear A Feast,

Does the whipping cream need to be whipped separately until stiff before it is added to the cream cheese mixture? or just pour straight from the box? Thanks.

Heather said...

why have i never tried this before?????

a feast, everyday said...

frank, good thing i don't hv to live off my writing or i'd be starving.

daomingsi, no, the recipe didn't call for the cream to be whipped, so i poured straight from box ;D and it worked fine. The resultant cream cheese has a light n smooth texture, very nice.

df, a recipe i tried out only just b4 last x'mas. u're not home long enough last trip, can make one in July lah.

Anonymous said...

What does the 'T' stand for in
'2 T cornstarch' ?

Zurin said...

This sounds good .m going to have to try this too...btw I think ur english is wonderful..ur expressions seem so natural..I wouldnt have thot that u were Chinese 'thinking' at all!

Unknown said...

Stumbled upon your blog. What an inspiring blog! Well done! Sabahan boleh! :)

"ll try this cheesecake recipe for Father's day. Thanks for sharing....