When cheesecake meets spongecake

This is not a normal cheesecake. It's cotton soft! A texture like no other. A mixture between cheesecake and spongecake. Mmmm..


I first had this last year in Singapore. From Four Leaves bakery, Bugis Junction. I ate it at the airport whilst waiting for my flight home. Mmm.. it was so delicate. So yummy! Hehe. So I gave a shot at making it. And the result? A texture like no other~ HaHA! :D

L-R: Sprinkled with green tea powder, plain, sprinkled with soybean powder, plain. ;) (If you're wondering why the plain ones look different from each other, it's because they came from 2 different cakes. I made 2 mini rectangular and 2 mini circular ones)

Japanese cheesecake

250g light cream cheese, softened
50g butter
100ml milk
6 eggs, separated
125g sugar
60g cake flour (low protein flour)
20g corn flour
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tbsp lemon essence

Preheat oven to 160C.
Melt cream cheese, butter and milk in a double boiler.
Allow to cool.
Whisk egg whites until soft peaks. Gradually add sugar while whisking until stiff peaks.
Sift cake flour, corn flour and cream of tartar in a large bowl. Mix in cream cheese mixture, egg yolks and lemon essence.
Gently fold in egg whites.
Transfer mixture into a greased/lined baking pan. Wrap the sides and bottom of the baking pan/s with aluminium foil. Do not cover the top! (This helps prevent water from seeping through to the pan and cake mixture.)
Place baking pan into a large roasting pan. Fill roasting pan with boiling water about up to half way to the baking pan.
Bake for about 1hr or until cooked. (Will depend on pan sizes. Check with skewer. If it comes out clean, it is cooked)
Leave door ajar for about 45mins. (ie. leave an oven mit in between door and oven to give about 1-2cm gap for heat to slowly disperse. Don't open the door fully!)
Allow to cool completely on wire rack.


Sprinkled with matcha (green tea powder).


Eat happily. :)

Baking for a birthday

This was a hideous night of 'not enough time' baking. And the fact that it was a complete disaster, disappointed me completely. There was just not enough cocoa in the cake for it to be chocolate cake! Sadly, I didn't take photos of what I made. I just didn't have time to! :( (Except for the one you see in this post, which was taken 2 days later. They looked much better 2 nights ago. I swear they did..)

I'll draw what they looked like. (Just give me some time to do that, and I'll upload a scan.)
I'd like to remember the concept of this bake even if I don't have photographic evidence of it.

Chocolate cake
Makes 48 baby cupcakes and a small-medium slice tin cake

3 cups plain flour
2/3 cup Cadbury Bournville Cocoa (This isn't enough cocoa. I'd say, probably add 2 cups+ for a cocoa taste. I didn't realise the ratio of flour to cocoa was so low because I don't write ingredients down until after I've baked.. Haha..)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda (I wouldn't add this next time, you don't need it. It creates holes)
1 cup sugar
100gm butter
2 eggs, separated
2 cups milk

Preheat oven to 175C.
Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and cocoa in a large mixing bowl.
In another bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks are formed.
In yet another bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Then add the egg yolks one by one, along with the milk. Mix until combined.

Add the milk mixture into the dry flour mixture and mix until combined. (I usually hand mix with a wooden spoon for everything, but this time I used a electric hand mixer)

Fold in egg whites gently, bit by bit until combined.

Scoop into lined cupcake trays, and greased/line baking tin.

Bake for about 12-14mins or until cooked. (Check with a toothpick/skewer. If it comes out clean, then it's cooked!)

Transfer onto cooling rack and allow to cool before decorating.

Cupcake decoration:

200gm Dark chocolate Maltesers
150gm Dark cooking chocolate

Melt dark cooking chocolate. Dip the top of each cupcake carefully.
Allow to cool for a bit before adding a Malteser to the centre of it.
Allow to cool further until set.
Serve within 24hrs or else..

This is what it looked like, 2 nights later. There was condensation when I checked them two mornings after so I put them in the fridge. And this what what happened.

Chocolate cheesecake truffles
Makes about 35

1 chocolate cake (see above)
2 tbsp cocoa
200ml condensed milk
200gm Philidelphia Cream Cheese
100gm dark cooking chocolate (from what was left over from before)
condensed milk
dessicated coconut

Crumble up the cake in a large mixing bowl.
In another bowl, cream the condensed milk, cocoa and cream cheese.
Add to the cake crumbs and mix.
Roll mixture into little balls.
With the leftover Maltesers, smash them up into little pieces.
Dip each ball into the melted chocolate, and place onto some baking paper. Sprinkle with Malteser pieces and allow to set.
If you run out of dark chocolate (I was only able to coat about 14 of them or so), coat the balls with little condensed milk and roll into dessicated coconut.

Refrigerate overnight before serving.

I only brought these to the party, and apparently they were good. The cake tasted much better in here. So if you have a failed edible cake, then do this to it! :)

Sadly, I do not have any photos of them. I was busy and in a hurry. I just had no time. I'll make them again next time. But they will be better. It was my first time making these so of course they'll be better next time!

Baked cheesecake

The last time I ever baked a cheesecake was about 2 1/2 years ago, in 2006. I don't quite remember making it nor eating it, but I have photographic proof that I did make it once upon a time. Haha..

A few days ago, I asked my sister what cake she wanted for her birthday. She said she wanted a baked cheesecake because she's never had one before (she doesn't remember the one I made in 2006 either). So I decided to bake one. I said I would. And I did. It was.. time consuming. And I didn't really have the time to spare. So I compromised.. and made the time to bake instead of studying for a test. Let's just say.. that there's no way I am going to pass the midsemester test on Thursday. We'll see, I suppose.

I tried the steam bath method to bake my cheesecake as I've heard that it creates a better result. I just used a large roasting pan filled with some hot water, and placed my cheesecake in the center and baked it. And people are right! There were no cracks on the top of my cheesecake and the texture was pretty smooth. :)

This recipe was pretty much fool proof. The biscuit base and cheesecake filling were perfect. My only problem was that my lemons didn't give me any juice. :(


Baked cheesecake
Makes a large cheesecake (about 16-20 servings)

Base:

1 1/3 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg, room temp
70gm butter, softened at room temp
1/3 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 175C.

Sift and mix flour and baking powder in a bowl.
Cream butter and sugar in another bowl. Then add vanilla extract and egg. Mix.

Combine flour and butter mixture until a dough like or crumbly dough like consistency is reached. (Eg. The dough should hold if you squeeze a ball of the mixture together)

Grease a large springform pan.
Press the dough mixture into a thin layer at the bottom and the sides of the pan.

Bake for 10mins. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.


Wrap the outside of the springform pan with a few layers of aluminium foil.

Filling:


500gm cream cheese, softened and cubed (I used 2 x 250gm blocks of Philadelphia Cream Cheese)
2/3 cup sugar
1 tbsp lemon essence (my lemons.. didn't have any juice for me.. )
lemon rind


200gm sour cream
3 eggs, at room temperature
1/4 cup corn flour

1L of hot water

Preheat oven to 170C.


In a mixing bowl, cream the sugar with the cream cheese, lemon essence and lemon rind.


Add the sour cream and corn flour. Combine.


Then add one egg at a time, blending until combined.


Pour the filling on top of the base.


Place the springform pan into the center of a large deep roasting tray.
Pour the hot water into the roasting pan around the springform pan until it reaches half the level of the springform pan.


Bake for 1 hr and 20 minutes without opening the oven.

Leave in the oven with just the fan on for 45mins. Remove from oven to cool.
Then put into fridge overnight before serving.


Slice and serve chilled.

It would go great with some fruit compote, but I didn't have the time for it. Or you could add some fruit into the filling and have a baked fruit cheesecake. Mmm.. some blueberries would have been nice.