soft, fluffy and melt-in-your-mouth

I learned this cheese cake at Genius r us , a culinary school for parent and child, and a place which Sheen and I absolutely enjoyed bonding over... and the best part? I need not worry about the vomitous cleaning up!

The cheesecake usually requires some skills, so I am surprised when this class was offered to masak-masak baker.

It is basically a mixture of cream cheese, milk, and butter, flour, egg yolk being folded into the stiff-whisked egg white to create the volume and leavening. If this step is done correctly, the cake will be light and airy... not quite the same as what you get in the japanese restaurant but good in it's own way.

In the class, the kids jostled to do the mixing, and in their frivolous enthusiastic, they ended up mixing (instead of folding), and losing a far bit of air in the process. The end game was a rather dense and heavy cheesecake. Moreover some blending ain't properly done, so I get some bit of the cream cheese mixture at the bottom of the cake.

So yesterday I baked another one; double the lemon juice and added zest from half a lemon. It makes the cake more tangy. I like it cos it lightens the taste of the heavy cheese.

It was brought to a family gathering and was whacked like tornado has just visited!

• Gwen-In can't wait for the rest to finish eating before the dessert was served.

• Sheen savouring the whipped cream. To him that's Creme de la Creme.
  

My bake notes :

• The dry heat in the oven will dry up the cake, and you won't achieve the cottony texture. An easy old way is to place the baking tray over a tray of water, somewhat like the water bath, to create a steamy environment that the cheesecake thrive on. This is known as bain marie in the books.


• Pass the cream cheese mixture through a sieve before folding in the egg white will ensure smooth batter.


• To ensure the cake does not sink when taken out of the oven, bake at low temperature. This gives a slow and steady rise, and ensure it stays there :-)


• After it was baked, I left the oven door ajar (half open) for 30min. I am not sure if this step applies to japanese cheesecake but I did anyway to avoid possible cracks on the cake. BTW, I noticed my cake still have small cracklines...

Unlike the european and new york cheesecake, this version is really soft, fluffy, melt in the mouth and not too sweet. But.... i won't be baking this often cos it uses helluva eggs... half of my "monthly allocation"!

Strawberry Cheesecake

I was so smittened by Rei's elegant strawberry cheesecake... and had wanted to have my copy-cat version. I scouted for the best strawberries and cream cheese. After having all the ingredients ready, I sat on the whole thing until the punnet of strawberries threaten to rot and mould... then I get down to the project...

BUT, after all the grand plans and ambitions I never get down to do the nice decor like hers. *tsk* Let's just call mine a "no-frill" version. :-)



I used another recipe which I have from the BlueKey Flour becos I do not have whipped cream which is required in Rei's recipe. Also since my cream cheese comes in 200g-tub, I apportioned all the ingredients accordingly.

Sweet Pastry Base
Blue Key Superfine Superwhite flour 200g
Butter100g
Eggs 24g ( ½ egg)
Icing sugar 50g ( ¼ cup)

1. Beat the butter with sugar and eggs until light and fluffy.
2. Sift the flour and gradually add to the butter mixture.
3. Mix together until a dough is formed. Wrap the dough in a plastic bag. Let it rest in the refrigerator for ½ hour.
4. Preheat oven to 200C. Roll out the dough flat between 2 pcs of greaseproof paper to a diameter of 22cm.
5. Deposit the rolled out pastry on a greased tray and bake for 10-15min. After baking, cool pastry on a wire rack.
6. Trim the pastry to fit the base of a 8” (20cm) springform or a baking pan.
   

Cheese Filling
Powder Gelatine 9.6g (I used 5 leaves)
Hot Water 80g
Castor Sugar 2 tbsp
Cream Cheese 200g
Evaporated Milk 48g
Vanilla essence 2 g (½ tsp)
Diced Strawberry 80g
Juice 48g (or water)

1. Cream the sugar, cream cheese, evap. Milk, peach syrup and vanilla essence until smooth.
2. Dissolve the gelatine in hot water and add to the cheese mixture. Mix well.
3. Arrange diced strawberry evenly on top of the pastry base. Pour in cheese to cover the fruits. Allow the cake to set in the fridge.
4. Prepare the jelly topping by boiling 35g of jelly powder with 160g of water. Allow it to cool slightly before pouring on top of the set cheesecake.
5. Place cheesecake back into the fridge to allow it to set.

My Adaptations:

• Pastry Base - I always keep some cookie dough in the freezer. So I used the sugar cookie dough instead making from scratch again. But if you are using this recipe here, you may omit the egg. My sugar cookie dough is eggless.
  
• Juice - I puree some strawberries, then top up the amount with ready-to-drink Ribena cranberry juice which is sweet yet not overly sweet. A little sourish, something that I enjoy.


• Sugar - I used 2 tbsp only. Just the right level of sweetness that I like.


• Springform pan - I do not have the proper springform pan, so I use whatever I have... that's why my cake is so shoooort!

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See this lazy baker didn't do a proper pastry base by pressing it down tightly and evenly... What you reap is what you get!


In the end I am too shy to bring the awful looking cheesecake to office. I kept at home had the whole thing to myself! How not to get fat agh?

Simple Cheese Cake

I have been abit lazy at home. First reason: trying to take a break after the continous baking last week... and secondly I am hooked to a game which I just discovered in Sheen's notebook. This game "Adventure Inlay: Safari " has got me so addicted... burning several midnight oils to break thru the level at which I have been stucked for several days!

So this is my only bake (actually no-bake) in the week: a simple cheesecake which I got from Natalie.





You can see that I am real lazy - I have omitted all the toppings, just to have more time for the games :-)))

For some strange reason, I didn't take a pix of the full view of the entire cake. May be the fatigue from last night gaming session! *tsk*



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For the Crust
50g unsalted butter
25g light soft brown sugar
45ml golden corn syrup (3 tbsp)
115g or 1 cup of cornflakes

For the filling:
11g sachet powdered gelatin (I used 4 gelatin leaf)
225g soft cheese
150g greek yoghurt
150ml single (light) cream
finely grated rind and juice of 2 lemons
75g caster sugar
2 eggs separated (I used 100ml whipping cream)
1 packet of strawberries
1/4 packet strawberry jello

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1. Place butter, brown sugar and syrup in a pan and heat over a low heat stirring until mix has melted and well blended. Remove from heat and stir in cornflakes.


2. Press mixture over the pas of a 30cm loose base round cake tin and chill for 30mins


3. Sprinkle gelatin over 45ml water in a bowl and leave to soak for a few mins. place the bowl over a pan of simmering water and stir until gelatin is dissolved.


4. Place the cheese yoghurt, cream, lemon rind and juice, caster sugar and egg yolks in a large bowl and beat till smooth and thoroughly mixed.


5. Add the hot gelatin to the cheese mixture and beat well.


6. Whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks and fold into the cheese mixture.


7. Pour mix over the corn flakes base and level surface. prepare strawberry jello mixture and cool slightly.


8. Slice strawberries and place them in radiating order starting from outside - in.


9. Pour Jello mix over strawberries just to coat strawberries with a nice glossy shine.


10. Chill for 4 to 5 hours or until filling is set.
    
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For my version, I have used the normal biscuit crust instead. These are the balance butter cookie that was sitting in my kitchen in the last 2 weeks so I am trying to salvage them. Otherwise I would have used cornflake for some little surprise.

Since this is a no-bake version, I left out the eggs for fear of salmonella! I used the whipping cream for leavening effect instead.

No-Bake Cheesecake

I had a great sense of accomplishment when i baked made this cheesecake. There's probably the least carbon footprint you can get to as far as baking is concerned!

1. I whipped everything manually. No electric mixer... though I did regret a little half way thru... tired lah!



2. No need for oven...this is a big deal when it comes to my energy-guzzling monster!



3. I recycled the plastic containers that I have, instead of buying new springform tin.
   

As it's name says, there's no baking so it depends on gelatine to set the cheese.

Gelatine comes in two forms, leaf and powder. They can be used interchangeably. I bought the leaf version cos the powder is of beef origin. Otherwise, the powder is a more convenient and more powerful variety.



A teaspoon of gelatine powder is equal to 2 leaves, and 3 leaves is about 1½ teaspoons of powder gelatine.



To prepare leaf gelatine: Soak three gelatine leaves in cold water for at least 10 minutes, then squeeze out as much water as possible. Next, warm 3 tablespoons of water or any flavoured liquid in a small saucepan, remove saucepan from the heat and stir in gelatine sheets to dissolve.

Never add gelatine to boiling liquid because it loses its jelly strength.


For powder gelatine: Soak 1½ teaspoons of powder gelatine in 3 tablespoons cold water until it becomes spongy, then dissolve in warm liquid as for leaf gelatine.

Finally, do note that of final points before I zoom off:

• This cake must be served chilled and eaten within 2 days of making.


• For a clean slice - dip the sharp knife into hot water before cutting. Clean the knife before each slice.
  

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Biscuit Base (A)

150g digestive biscuits, finely crushed.

75g unsalted butter, melted



Cream Cheese (B)

170g sweetened fruit juice

5 gelatine leaf (or 10g powder)

250g whipping cream, very chilled

250g cream cheese, softened



Method:

1. To prepare the biscuit, mix the 2 ingredients together. Press the biscuit mixture into a ring mould with the back of a spoon. Chill the biscuit base for at least 30min



2. Whip the whipping cream until soft peaks form. See the pix on here - when you lift up the whisker and the shape stays there, it is done. Keep in the fridge.




3. Dissolve the gelatine in the fruit juice. See above on how to prepare the gelatine.



4. Whip the cream cheese on medium until it is smooth. Increase the speed to high, add juice and gelatine mixture. Beat until it is very smooth.



5. Fold in the whipped cream very gently with a large spatula. Pour into the prepared mould and chill overnight till set.