Chocolate Walnut Cheesecake

I was trying to clear/use up some cream cheese in my fridge before they expire but didnt really want to bake the usual creamy cheesecake. Been baking quite alot of those type and frankly, too much creamy cream cheese is not good. So....I took out Alex Goh's Fantastic Cheesecake cookbook (I highly recommend his book) and flip thru to see what type of cke I can try out.

It was between the Beer Cheesecake( which I will try to bake ) and this one considering I have most of the ingredients at home. But again, the beer cheesecake is the creamy type and I was quite 'lazy' to make the crumb base and also that recipe calls for water bath..Hmmm troublesome. So! Next option, the Chocolate Walnut Cheesecake which looked pretty easy to make.(^.^)



Chocolate Walnut Cheesecake

(A) 130g Butter

      130g Cream Cheese

      170g Brown Sugar (I reduce to 150g)

      2 tbsp Honey

(B) 4 Eggs

(C) 260g Flour

      30g Cocoa Powder (I used chocolate powder)

      1/2 tsp Baking Soda

      1/2 tsp Baking powder

(D) 1 Orange zest, grated

      50g Orange juice

(E) 200g Walnuts, Chopped (I recommend to reduce to 100-150g as 200g was just too much)

1. Cream (A) until light & fluffy. Add (B) and cream until light & smooth. It might start to curdle which is normal. Immediately add 1/2 of (C) and mix till well blended.

2.Add (C) & (D) ingredients alternately in several batches. Mix till well blended.

3. Add (E) and mix until well incorporated.

4. Grease & line a 23 cm / 9" square pan. Pour the batter onto the prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven of 180 degree C for 40 mins.

5. Remove from pan and set aside to cool before frosting.

Cream Cheese Topping

250g Cream Cheese

60g icing sugar

1 Orange zest, grated

2 tbsp Orange Juice

- Beat the cream cheese & icing sugar until light & smooth.Add in orange zest & orange juice.Mix until well blended. Spread it on top of the cake.

Baked Curry Puff

So far I have not been venturing into pastries as I was quite 'lazy' to roll and cut the pastry and cook the filling, etc, etc.. But after doing the sardine rolls, I tried out the curry puff, another old time favourite.

Again, from Agnes Chang's "Baking Made Easy" book, I use the 'Basic Rich Short Crust Pastry' recipe for the skin of the curry puff. You can also use store bought puff pastry to wrap up the fillings.

Rich Short Crust Pastry

250g Cold Butter, cut nto cubes
50g icing sugar
1 Egg yolk
360g plain flour mix with 2 tbsp Custard Powder, sifted

- Beat butter, icing sugar & egg yolk till creamy.
- Add in flour and mix to a plaible dough.
- Leave aside for 30 mins before shaping them.


Curry Puff Filling

200g Potatoes, cubed
1 Big Onion, cubed
100g Chicken Meat, diced
4 tbsp Curry Powder
Salt & sugar to taste

- Heat some oil & stir-fry onion till fragrant.
- Add chicken meat folowed by potatoes.
- Add curry powder then salt & sugar. Add some water if texture is rather dry.


1) Put pastry between plastics to roll them into thin round sheets.
2) Place 1 tbsp of filling in the middle & seal the edges.
3) Brush top with egg wash (egg yolk + some water)
4) Bake at 180 degree C for 23 - 30 mins.

Tiramisu

Tiramisu is one of the most popular Italian Cakes. It is made of biscuits dipped in coffee, layered with a mixture of egg yolks and mascarphone and flavoured with liquor and cocoa. It is considred to be a 'desert made in heaven'. Some made it into a cake and some in cocktail glasses.

I made this tiramisu with a chocolate sponge cake base This recipe is taken from Agnes Chang's "Baking made easy" with slight alteration. Please forgive me for the decoration. I ran out of chocolate flavoured whipped topping and had to add some vanilla topping. I didnt blend them together as I wanted to have some 'colours' :-)

Chocolate Sponge Cake

110g Self Raising Flour
20g Cocoa Powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
4 Eggs, separated
1/4 tsp Cream of tartar
pinch of salt
180g Castor sugar
60g Butter, melted
60ml Water
1 tsp Vanilla Essence

- Sift flour, cocoa powder and baking powder 3 times. Set aside.
- Whisk egg whites and cream of tartar & salt until soft peak formed. Add sugar gradually and continue whisking until stiff peaks.
- In a separate bowl, whisk egg yolk with melted butter, water & vanilla essence. Fold into egg whites & combine well.
- Finally fold in the sifted dry ingredients & pour batter immediately into an 8 in round cake tin lined with greaseproof paper.
- Bake in preheated oven of 170 degree C for 30 - 40 mins.
- Remove from oven & let it cool. Slice into 2 layers.

Coffee Liquor Syrup
250ml boiling water
2 tbsp instant coffee
4-5 tbsp sugar
4 tbsp Kahlua

- Mix boiling water, instant coffee & sugar til dissolved.
- Leave to cool and add in Kahlua.

Cream Cheese Layer
500g Mascarphone Cheese
80g castor sugar
120g whipping ceam, whipped

- Beat Cream cheese & sugar till light.
- Add whipping cream and mix well.

* Extra ingredient: Sponge fingers
                                Whipped Topping

To assemble:
1)  Place 1 layer of chocolate sponge cake at the bottom of the cake tin.
2) Sprinkle/ brush coffee liquor over the cake.
3) Spoon half of the cream cheese layer to cover the cake.
4) Dip the sponge fingers into coffee liquor and place on top of the cream cheese layer.
5) Spoon the remaining cream cheese on top of the sponge fingers.
5) Place the last layer on top and chill in fridge for at least 3 - 4 hours.
6) Remove cake from the tin and decorate as you like with whipped ceam.

Sardine Rolls

Hmm sardines, the fish with the fishy smell :-). Its been quite some time since I ate this and I think not many cafes or bakery are making this for sell. A friend asked if she can order sardine rolls for a tea party next week so before I could promise her, I gave this recipe a try and I'm satisfied with the crust and filling but few of my friends commented that it was not spicy enough. Hmmm I must add some 'cili padi' next time.

I remembered making this sardine roll by placing mashed sardines on a piece of white bread which was then rolled up and deep fried during my childhood times. For this recipe, I made these rolls using a shortcrust pastry taken from Agnes Chang's 'Baking Made Easy'

Basic Short Crust Pastry
240g plain flour, sifted
120g cold butter, cubed
4 tbsp cold water

- Place flour and butter in a mixing bowl.
- Use finger tips & rub butter into flour until it resembles breadcrumbs.
- Make a hole in the center, add in cold water and mix into a dough.
- Leave aside to rest for 30 mins before shaping.

Sardine Rolls
1 small tin sardine, drained & mashed
1 onion, chopped
1 tbsp chili sauce
1 tbsp oil
juice of 1 lime
sugar & salt to taste

- Heat oil and stir fry the onion till fragrant.
- Add sardines, chili sauce, sugar & salt & lime juice.
- Fry till mixture becomes dry. Dish out.

1) Place 1 tsp of sardine filling on one end of a 9 x 6 pcs of pastry.
2) Roll up swiss roll style and seal edges with water.
3) Place rolls on baking tray and brush top with egg yolk.
4) Bake in preheated oven of 180 degree C for 20 - 25 mins or until rolls become golden brown.

New York Style Sour Cream Topped Cheesecake

Wow! Talking about yummy & sinful Cheesecake. This New York Style Cheesecake  has an 'extra' to it which is the sour cream topping. I got this recipe from Kraft Cooking School in the You Tube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5P4GnnrJKQ

If you love cheesecake, you should try this. I halved the recipe and baked it using a 7" square pan but I think an 8" pan would be better as there was not enough 'room' for me to add the sour cream topping as the cheesecake itself almost reached the top of the pan.

My children loved this cheesecake and it is really addictive..:-)

Crust
1 1/2 cup Graham Crackers / Digestive Biscuit, crushed (I used Oreo cookies)
1/4 cup Butter, melted

Filling
4 x 250g Cream Cheese, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup sour cream
4 eggs

Topping
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence

Crust:- Mix the graham/digestive/oreo biscuits & melted butter.
           Put on a foil covered 13 x 9 pan (leave some foil hanging for easy removal)
           Bake at 170 degree C for 10 mins. Set aside

Filling:- Beat cream cheese with sugar, vanilla & sour cream.
            Add eggs one at a time. Do not overbeat.
            Pour onto the crust and bake at 160 degree C for 40 mins.

Topping:- Mix sour cream, vanilla and sugar together.
               Spread the topping over the cheese cake & put back into oven for another 10 mins.
               Let cool. Cover with foil & refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.

Easy Baked Potato

What to do when you have left over meat like chicken or you have chicken franks aka hotdog and you are bored of pan fry them? You can try this very easy recipe. I actually do not measure them. Just add accordingly to taste but for my blog viewers, I give you an estimate measurement.

My children love this very much as its full of cream & cheese and an alternative to lasagne which I had yet to try (^_^).

4 Potatoes
1 tbsp Butter
 1/4 cup whipped cream
cooked chicken meat, cubed (or 2 chicken franks, sliced)
2 slices cheese
1/4 cup breadcrumbs


1) Cook & mash potatoes well. Whisk together with whipped cream.
2) Add chicken meat/ chicken frank.
3) Pour into tin and dot with butter.
4) Cut cheese into small pieces & spread on top of the mashed potatoes.
5) Sprinkle breadcrumbs over the cheese.
6) Bake for 25 mins at 180 degree C or until surface turns golden brown.