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.   

Apple Cake

I like my cake to have some substance and bite with the softness. That is the reason why sponge or chiffon cakes are not high on my list of favorites as I find them just too airy  and empty like biting into sweetened cotton wool. The same applies for my bread too.

This apple cake recipe is adapted from the big blue book from Terri. I like that it has so many of my favorite things in a bite and with such simple and easy steps to follow. I don't do much cake baking as I am all thumbs when come to decorating it and the task of washing up after the baking and icing is just too daunting to consider. I salute all the blogs I visit that do such beautiful work of art with their cakes, truly inspirational (if only I can overcome this  disdain for cleaning up...). So only easy recipes end up in my kitchen. 

With most recipes, I would tweak the ingredients (especially the sugar content and for this recipe I more than halved the amount!) until I fine-tuned it to suit my palate (like doing it over and over for a whole week until I ran out of friends and foes to push the cake to). 

I don't have any problem with the taste of the cake (can't go wrong with this divine combination of apple, walnuts, raisins and maple syrup) but the texture was just not ideal as it was dry and too crumbly. 

In my first attempt, the cake turned out like rock buns and if I had given them to any of my friends they would surely be my friends no more.

After much persistence and perseverance, I finally get it down to this truly down-to-earth goodness with a solid but soft and moist texture which I think is blog-worthy. Here goes...

Apple Cake

100 g butter, softened

230 g all-purpose flour

1 t baking powder

1 t bicarbonate of soda

1/2 t cinnamon powder

70 g brown sugar

1/4 cup maple syrup

3 eggs

1/2 cup walnuts or pecans, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup raisins, coarsely chopped

2 cups coarsely grated apple

a pinch of salt

**make sure all ingredients are at room temperature**

Preheat oven to 160C. Grease and line (a must-do or you wouldn't be able to get the cake out of the tin) a 20cm (7 in) baking tin.

Mix butter, sugar, eggs, maple syrup and cinnamon together to combine well.

Sieve flour together with baking powder and b. soda into the butter mixture. Fold in the flour.

Stir in the nuts and raisins.

Spread mixture (the consistency of this batter is much thicker than, say, a normal butter cake batter) evenly into the lined pan.

Bake about 40 - 50 minutes. 

Cool cake on a wire rack.

Cut into cubes and serve them plain (the way I like it) with a cuppa tea or coffee, .

If rajin (diligent) like me ;p, frost cake with maple syrup or this gorgeous cream cheese frosting.

The only reason I frosted this last cake was just to coax someone, anyone to eat the cake! My family just about have had enough of my apple cakes. I think I'll have to wait out a year or so before I could do this recipe again. 4 in a week is too much, you think?

For maple frosting:

90 g butter

160 g icing sugar

1 t maple syrup

Mix all ingredients together until light and fluffy.

Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies

This is a totally outrageous but truly glorious indulgence. That is what you get when you marry cream cheese and chocolate.
Remember the cookbook I got from the MV Doulos? The Sweet Comfort Food is the title and it does exactly that - so comforting especially on a Monday. Whatever Monday's blues...out the window they go.
I had to reduce the butter and sugar contents to lessen the sinfulness of this sumptous treat.
Warning, do not read on if you are on a diet.

Chocolate and cheesecake brownies
Cheesecake mixture:
225g cream cheese
1 egg, beaten
50g castor sugar
1 tsp. vanilla essence

Brownies mixture:
200g dark (bittersweet) chocolate
30g unsalted butter
50g brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
50g all-purpose flour

1. Preheat ovento 160C/325F. Line a 7 inch cake tin with baking patchment.
2. To make the cheesecake mixture, beat all the ingredients together until smooth and creamy.
3. For the brownie mixture, melt chocolate and butter in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. When melted, off the heat and stir well. Add sugar and mix to dissolve. Pour in egg a little at a time and keep stirring till thoroughly mixed. Gently stir in flour.
4. Spread 2/3 of the brownie mixture over the base of tin. Spread the cheesecake mixture on top, then spoon on the remaining brownie mixture in heaps. Use a skewer to creat twirls on the two mixtures.
5. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until just set in the centre.
6. Leave to cool in the tin, then cut into small pieces (not more than 1"x 1" :p)

Indulge but in dainty bites! Best with a strong cuppa black coffee without sugar.
Jo

Happy Birthday, Don

Happy birthday!!

So sad we will not be with Don for his birthday so we are celebrating the day in a very small scale, cupcake size.

Basic Chocolate Cup Cake Recipe
Make 12 cupcakes

110g butter - softened
130g castor sugar
210g flour, sifted with 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder + 2 tablespoon cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon salt
3 eggs, lightly beaten

60 ml milk + 1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tablespoon chocolate chips (optional)

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350F (180C).
2. Line a 12 cup cake pan, with cup cake papers.
3. Beat butter and suger with an electric mixer until light and creamy.

4. Add egg mixture slowly and continue beating. Add chocolate chips if use and milk.

5. Fold in flour lightly until well-mixed.
6. Divide the mixture evenly between the cake cases about (1/2 to 2/3 full of batter).
7. Bake for 18-20 minutes until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean.
8. Transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool fully before icing.

Chocolate Butter Cream Frosting

150g butter - softened
250g icing sugar
2 tablespoon cocoa powder +2 tsp very hot water

1. Beat together the butter and sugar with an electric beater.
2. Once well combined, add the combined cocoa powder and water. Beat until smooth and creamy.
3. Use a pipping bag with a wide nozzle and let your creative juice run wild.

For the cupcakes above, I bought the chocolate cupcakes from Tong Hing Supermarket and I used the leftover cream cheese frosting from making Keshia's birthday cake. I know I cheated but was in no mood or condition to bake...regretted buying though because the cupcakes were soooo dry. Never mind, I promise to make them from scratch when Don comes home at the end of the year.

Cream cheese frosting
250g cream cheese, softened

45g icing sugar, sifted

90g butter, softened

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Beat cream cheese until fluffy and light, add the rest of the ingredients and continue beating until well mixed and smooth. Add one or two tablespoon of melted chocolate if want chocolate frosting.

This frosting is to-die-for with any carrot cakes or cupcakes.

Jo

Note: Leanne here--Hi koko HAPPY BIRTHDAY hope u enjoy looking! when u get back we will make for you.

Steamed caramel cakes

caramel cakes

This is one of our favourite old-fashion bites. We have had this recipe for years which was adapted from a local newspaper. For health and weight reasons, the sugar and butter contents in the original recipe had been reduced as much as possible without affecting the texture of cake. It is soft and moist (even when eaten the next day!) with a sweet aroma of butter and caramel (definitely a match made in heaven). Not very sure but think this cake is also called the Ma Lai Kao - translated as Malay cake.

It is considered an easy recipe but for me the real challenge is getting the caramel as dark as possible and to smell as nutty as possible without burning it. Yes, it happened many times, so I have learned to watch it like a hawk (not even to blink one's eyes) especially during the last few nanoseconds. Once burnt, it cannot be used unless you like a bitter cake! On the other hand, undercooked caramel gives a boring pale looking cake and no nutty aroma....

Steam caramel butter cake

100 g sugar

100 ml water

70 g butter

2 eggs

60 g sugar

80 ml Ideal milk

160 g flour

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1) Heat the 100g of sugar in a small saucepan in low heat until it caramelised to a nutty (the aroma) dark golden brown colour (the darker the caramel the darker the cakes will turn out). Remove pan from heat immediately to avoid burning the caramel.

dark brown caramel

2) Pour the hot water in and be careful of the sputtering syrup. Boil for a minute or so to melt the caramel. When it has cooled add the butter to melt and put aside.

Caramelized syrup

3) Beat the eggs and 60 g sugar together well, and add to the cooled syrup and mix well.

4) Sift flour, b. soda and baking powder. Add into the caramel mixture and fold lightly into a smooth batter. Add the ideal milk and mix lightly. If batter is lumpy strain it.

5) Grease moulds well and pour batter in to 2/3 full.

Greased moulds

7) Place in a preheated steamer and steam for 30 minutes.

Our faithful bamboo steamer

These are the best steamers for chinese cuisines like paus, dim sum and steam cakes because the steam does not condense on the bamboo cover, unlike the stainless steel steamer whereby water vapour drop onto the steamed food and ruin the taste and texture. If one tier is not adequate where space is concerned you can stack another tier on top, and another... we have three tiers! These have been with the family for more than 15 years and still work perfectly - good investment!

Jo