February 27, 2007

Blueberry Swirl Cheesecake

Blueberry swirl cheesecake

I have not made unbaked cheesecake for a long time. I think the last time would have been 3-4 years ago. With the continuously hot weather the past couple of weeks, it was time for this cold dessert to make a long overdue appearance.
As it happened, I had to make a cream cheese icing for a cake last week, so I had opened a 250g pack of cream cheese and about 200g was left sitting in my refrigerator. I added another packet to get 450g in total to make this cheesecake, still 50g short of a normal recipe which usually used 500g cream cheese. Bravely I soldiered on by increasing the thickened cream slightly by ¼ cup to make up the shortage of the cream cheese. It turned out beautifully so this recipe will serve me well the next time I only have 450g cream cheese to use.

Blueberry swirl cheesecake


Adapted from the recipe 'Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake' in Family Circle’s mini cookbook series 'Cheesecakes, Pavlovas and Trifles', published by Murdoch Books, 1994 (2001 reprinted edition).

Serves 8-10.

[Ingredients]
Crust:
250g Marie biscuits
100g butter, melted
Filling:
¼ cup hot water
2 x 10g-sachet gelatine powder (about 6½ teaspoons in total)
450g cream cheese
1/3 cup lemon juice
½ cup caster sugar
1½ cups thickened cream, whipped
250g frozen blueberries
2 tablespoons caster sugar, extra

Blueberry swirl cheesecake
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
1. Line the base of a 22cm round springform cake tin with baking paper. Blend biscuits in a food processor until finely crushed. Transfer to a mixing bowl and add melted butter; mix until combined. Spoon into prepared tin, press firmly into base. Refrigerate 20 minutes, or until firm.
2. To make Filling: Place hot water in a glass measuring jug. Sprinkle gelatine over water, stir until gelatine is dissolved. If there are still lumpy bits, put the glass jug in the microwave and heat for about 30 seconds to completely dissolve the gelatine. Repeat if necessary. Cool slightly.
3. Using electric beater, beat softened cream cheese until creamy, add lemon juice and sugar, beat until smooth. Gently fold in whipped cream.
4. Place blueberries and extra sugar in food processor. Process until smooth. Fold half the gelatine mixture into the cheese mixture. Fold the remaining gelatine into the blueberry mixture.
5. Alternatively spoon both mixtures into prepared tin and swirl with a skewer. Refrigerate 4 hours or until set.

Blueberry swirl cheesecake

[Note]
1. Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
2. The size of egg used is about 60g (includes shell) unless otherwise stated.

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posted by SeaDragon @ 27.2.07 17 comments

March 11, 2006

Cheese Sponge Cake

Cheese Sponge Cake
It is very frustrating when I have cream cheese leftover after using part of a package for a recipe. The leftover usually then just sits in my refrigerator until it gets mouldy. Thinking of a way to make use of the leftover cream cheese, I decided to try it out in a sponge cake recipe.
Taking the Japanese Cheesecake recipe and combining it with a basic sponge cake recipe, I came up with this recipe. The cake came out very fluffy and soft while still warm, although it did set slightly denser after cooling, but still soft. It also cut beautifully.
Cheese Sponge Cake

[Ingredients]
190g cream cheese
150ml thickened (whipping) cream
4 eggs
150g caster sugar
50g plain flour
50g self-raising flour
50g cornflour
2 tablespoons lemon juice, reduce if you don’t want it too lemony in taste
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
1. Preheat oven to 160°C. Grease and line a 20cm round cake tin. Sift the flours together three times.
2. Dissolve cream cheese in thickened cream over a bain-marie (or double boiler). Remove from heat and whisk until smooth. Set aside while preparing other ingredients.
3. Beat eggs for about 1 minute. Gradually add caster sugar and beat until creamy and leaves a trail of ribbon.
4. Gradually fold the sifted flours into the batter.
5. Pour the batter into the cream cheese mixture and fold in. Mix in lemon juice.
6. Pour into prepared tin and bake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until cooked.
7. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool.
Cheese Sponge Cake

[Note]
1. Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
2. The size of egg used is about 60g (includes shell) unless otherwise stated.

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posted by SeaDragon @ 11.3.06 35 comments

July 04, 2005

Japanese Soufflé Cheesecake

Japanese Soufflé Cheesecake
I like to eat both the traditional baked cheesecake and the Japanese-style soufflé cheesecake. The former is denser and heavier with an intense cheesy flavour, whilst the latter is lighter, fluffier, less intense and makes you feel like eating clouds, well, that’s what I would imaging how clouds would taste like… So sometimes I would alternate between making either one or the other.
As it was this past week, I found myself with half a tub of cream in my fridge which was one day from expiring, and a block of cream cheese which was going to expire very very soon too. Well, what should I do with them, throw them away? No! Not yet but I needed to use them up immediately to make something… So could I use them to make the Japanese cheesecake since one block of 250g cream cheese is really not enough to make the traditional cheesecake?
The recipe I use often to make the Japanese cheesecake does not include cream at all. But I thought I might just experiment by substitute some ingredients in the recipe with cream… Why ever not? So here it is, my new version of Japanese cheesecake and I am also rid of the two nearly expiring items in my fridge without any wastage! The result was quite successful, very creamy and real yummy in terms of the texture… I don’t know whether it was my imagination or not, but I thought this new version is also sturdier and creamier than the original. Will definitely make it again! The only problem again was appearance-wise with the cracks on top of the cheesecake. I have never been able to bake a Japanese cheesecake without some sort of cracks on the surface. I tried all the tricks, like using water-bath, and not beating egg whites until stiff peaks… but nothing works for me. Grrrrrrrr… I think the problem may lies in the oven temperature used. Of course this time I could not stop my meddling hands and experimented by playing around with the oven temperature once again, using higher temperature than normal (200°C) at the beginning then lower temperature (150°C) to finish baking. Well, it didn’t help as the cracks still appear. Maybe I should just bake it by using low temperature all the way and bake longer…
Freshly baked Japanese Soufflé Cheesecake with cracks on top
Final thoughts, this cheesecake will rise up during baking, but upon cooling it will sink back to its original level, so don’t worry too much about it. The thing to remember is to let the cheesecake cool completely in its tin before turning out. Oh, and make sure when you melt the cream cheese and the cream, whisk them thoroughly until smooth before adding to the other ingredients – as any lumps will sink to the bottom after baking making the cheesecake quite dense on the bottom! Oh, another thing – always use the cream cheese in blocks, not THOSE that say ‘spreadable’ in tubs which are not suitable for baking!
Cream Cheese


Adapted from the recipe ‘中乳酪蛋糕’ at 克萊兒的點心小棧, Canada.

Makes one 20cm cheesecake.

[Ingredients]
250g cream cheese
200ml thickened cream (35% milkfat)
40g (1/3 cup) cornflour
4 egg yolks
75g (1/3 cup) caster sugar (A)
finely grated zest from 1 lemon
40ml (2 tablespoons) lemon juice
4 egg whites
75g (1/3 cup) caster sugar (B)
Apricot Glaze:
Heat 1 tablespoon Apricot Jam with 1 tablespoon water, then sieve to get a smooth glaze
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Grease a 20cm round cake tin and line bottom with baking paper.
2. Dissolve cream cheese with thickened cream in a bowl placed over simmering water (or in a double-boiler). Remove from heat. Whisk until smooth. Cool slightly.
3. Beat egg yolks with caster sugar (A), lemon zest and juice. Gradually whisk the warm cheese mixture into the yolk mixture. Fold in cornflour.
4. Beat egg whites until foamy with uniform tiny bubbles. Gradually beat in caster sugar (B), spoonful by spoonful, until firm but not to stiff peaks stage.
5. Fold 1/3 of the meringue into the cheese mixture. Repeat two more times with the rest of the meringue.
Batter of Japanese Soufflé Cheesecake ready for baking
5. Pour batter into the prepared tin. Place the cake tin in a deep roasting tray and fill the tray with hot water to halfway up the sides of the cake tin.
Cooled Japanese Soufflé Cheesecake, cracks sealing back
6. Bake for 10 - 15 minutes, or until the top of the cake starts to colour. Then turn oven temperature down to 150°C and bake for another 25 - 30 minutes, or until cooked. Let cool completely before turning out. If the cake is hard to turn out, assist it by placing the tin over warm water briefly. Glaze the top of the cheesecake before serving.
Japanese Soufflé Cheesecake with Apricot Glaze
A slice of yummy & fluffy Japanese Soufflé Cheesecake

[Note]
1. Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
2. The size of egg used is about 60g (includes shell) unless otherwise stated.

Addendum November 1, 2005
Japanese Soufflé Cheesecake Nov05
Baked another Japanese Soufflé Cheesecake, but this time I used 150°C from beginning to end (thanks Cete!) and baked in water-bath for just over one hour (could try 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours next time) - yipee, NO big cracks!

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posted by SeaDragon @ 4.7.05 53 comments