Simple Cheese Cake

The downside of making a cheesecake is the “crack” after baking it. That’s why some people prefers to make a no-bake cheesecake to avoid the hassle. But since I am not a cook-to-sell foodie, I don’t really dwell much on the presentation. I am more on the taste and consistency. That explains why I posted this picture instead of the whole cake. Yes, as much as I want to avoid the “crack”, my cheese cake ended up with a big zigzag slit across the top. Oh well, no biggie. Besides, you can decorate the top with icing or whipped cream to cover the crack.

What I love about this cheesecake is it’s consistency and of course the taste. The golden crust on top gives a bit of a rough texture that blends well with the smoothness of the cake. It’s not so sweet and quite easy to make. Not as complicated as the Chocolate Cheesecake I made before.

So here’s how:

Ingredients:

• 200g Petit Beurre or Graham Cracker with 50g melted butter (in this recipe I used chocolate petie beurre)
• 750g  9% cheese
• 1 box/can sour cream
• 5 tbsp. plain flour
• 5 eggs; separated
• 1 and 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp. lemon juice
• another 50g. melted butter

• Crumb your petit beurre or graham together with your melted butter.
• Press it evenly into the base of your 26cm. springform pan and let it sit inside the freezer for later.

• Preheat your oven to 200C.
• Beat the egg whites with 3/4 cup sugar until smooth and stiff; set aside

• In another bowl, mix the egg yolks, sugar, flour, cheese, sour cream, vanilla extract and lemon juice; Mix thoroughly until smooth.

• Mix it carefully with your eggwhites; mix slowly not to knock out the air from the eggwhites.
• Now wrap your springform pan with plastic food wrapper

• Finally cover it with aluminum foil. This will prevent the water in going inside your cake.

• Pour the mixture into the springform pan with your graham. Tap it a bit to make the mixture even and fill the air spaces on the sides or below.
• Put your springform pan in another large deep baking pan and pour 1 liter of boiling water on the bigger pan.

• Put it in a 200C preheated oven for about 10 minutes.
• Lower the temperature to 160C and bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes or until your cake tester will turn out clean.
• Turn off the oven and let the cake rest inside for another 1 hour and 30 minutes.
• Chill inside the fridge for a couple of hours before serving.

Wish I could post the Chocolate Cheesecake soon. I hope you’ll try this recipe at home. Feel free to ask any questions via the comment box. Enjoy!

Graham Cracker Cake

The simplest cake I’ve ever made. And I’m pretty sure, an 8 year old child can do this. I made this with fresh peach and mango and it’s uber yummy. They also call this “refrigerator cake” maybe because this is a no-bake cake and the only way to make it firm is to chill it inside the fridge. There’s nothing fancy about this cake, only it’s super delicious, sugar free and refreshing.

Yesterday, I made Peach Mango Yogurt Pudding (which I will share later) and I had extra graham crackers and fresh fruits. I remember those times when I was still in the Philippines, we often make this cake for some occasions. That’s the time when I don’t have oven and mixer and of course, money to buy those pricey ingredients for more lavish cakes. Haha.

This is so easy to make, no fuss, cheap but one of the refreshing fresh fruit cakes ever. All you need are graham crackers, whipped cream and your favorite fruit. No sugar added, no flour, no baking =)

First of all, when I make simple graham cracker cake, I want it in a disposable aluminum pie plate because I want to mold the graham up to the sides. it will hold my whipped cream well. You can use your baking tin but don’t overcrowd your cream with lots of fruits. Otherwise, you will end up with messy and scattered cake. You can mold the graham up to the sides of your baking tin but i think it would be too high. You can use your pie tin too. 

Second, I whipped my cream well. I don’t buy powdered which you can put milk. I always buy 38% cream and whip it until it’s stiff enough to hold my fruits. 

Now here’s the ingredients for this small cake:

• 250g Graham Crackers. In this recipe I used 100g Graham, 100g of Lady’s Fingers and 50g digestives. (Nothing, i just want to experiment things, haha)
• about 60g butter; melted and in room temperature.
• 350ml. 38% whipping cream; whipped to stiffen.
• 3 large peaches; peeled and cubed
• 1 mango; peeled and cubed

Here’s how:

1. Put your Graham Crackers in a food processor and process until it’s finely crumbled. 
2. Set aside about 50g. of the crumbs for later.
3. Dump in your melted butter and mix thoroughly.
4. Transfer to your aluminum pie plate and press the crumbs evenly into the base and on the sides. Sometimes I use my potato masher to do this or if you don’t have one, you can use a clean bottle with a flat base.
5. Freeze the graham for at least 1 hour. I want the butter to be very firm. It will hold your crumbs in place.
6. After an hour, whip your cream to stiffen.
7. Dump it into your graham cracker base and spread evenly.
8. Decorate it with your fruits, covering all the sides, pressing down to put more fruits.
9. Finally sprinkle your remaining crumbs on top and chill for 5 hours or overnight. This will make your cream more firm.

Filipinos are used to Mango Float where they put condensed milk and all purpose cream. For me it’s too sweet and watery. I prefer the texture of whipped cream and fresh fruits. So there you go guys, it’s easy to do. You and your kids will love it. =)

Almond Roulade

This is my 4th attempt to do this uber delicious roulade with fresh fruit inside. Since the Peach and Cherry cake was long gone, I need to make another cake for Fany because she cannot live without anything sweet and yummy inside the fridge. This roulade has been her constant favorite aside from chocolate cheese cake and cheese pie which I will share with you in the coming days.

What i love about this roulade is the almonds. It gives a rough texture but at the same time it gives a little edgy taste. It’s too tricky to roll up because you can possible break the cake but it will always depend on how you prepare and bake the sponge. I can’t say this is easy to make but for 4 attempts, i guess I’ve already perfect this cake.

As much as I want to make this with ripe yellow mangoes from the Philippines, I don’t have any choice but to settle for peaches since I cannot find any “Philippine mangoes” here in Israel. The original recipe is actually with ripe apricots and nectarine but you cannot find apricots in the supermarket or in fruit stands at this time of the year. And, I kinda like peaches than apricots so…yeah, peaches it is. I’m quite sure you can put any fresh fruits or berries you like as long as it’s ripe.

Ingredients:

25 g. flaked almonds
115g. blanched almonds, finely chopped
150g. sugar
5 eggs, separated
40g. plain flour
1/2 tsp. almond essence
150ml. double cream, whipped
150g. greek yogurt
3 large peaches, peeled and thinly sliced (or mangoes, apricots or any fresh fruits you like)
1 tbsp. sugar for sprinkling

• Line a 13×9 inch Swiss roll tin with non-stick baking parchment and sprinkle with flaked almonds. I also buttered the parchment up to the sides to make sure the cake won’t stick to it.
• Preheat the oven to 180C/350F.

• Place 125 g. of sugar and egg yolks in the bowl and beat together until thick and creamy. Remove the bowl from your mixer and fold in the grated almonds, flour and almond essence.

• Using a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites with the remaining 25g. sugar until they are stiff and form peaks. Carefully fold into the almond mixture, making sure not to knock the air out of the mixture.

• Pour into the prepared tin and spread out evenly. 
• Bake for 15-18 minutes until well risen and firm to touch. 
• Remove form the oven and leave in the tin. Cover it with non-stick baking parchment until cool.

• Whip your double cream until it just holds it shape. Fold in the Greek yogurt and spread over the roulade.
• Sprinkle over the fruits.
• Carefully roll up the roulade using the paper to help. Dust with some sugar and transfer to a serving plate. 

Enjoy!

Peach and Cherry Streuselkuchen

I was thinking about cakes lately but since I’m into “diet” and “i-will-not-eat-too-much-sweets” state of mind, I pushed away the idea of making chocolate or cheese cake and the likes. I want something with fresh fruits inside.

I asked the help of the ever reliable internet for any light and unsweetened cakes but unfortunately, the “logic” says that cakes are supposed to be sweet. (well, there are unsweetened cakes, right?) Anyways, since I cannot find anything in youtube and google, I settled for the cookbook which came with the box of my Kenwood Mixer. There are a lot of good recipes in this booklet and most of them are very easy to make.

kenwood recipe book

I found the Peach and Cherry “i can’t read” Streuselkuchen and decided to make it. First of all, it has fresh fruits. Second, the rest of the ingredients can be found inside my cupboard. And of course, the sugar content is fair enough for my preference.

Now, Streuselkuchen means crumb cake or any cake topped with a mixture of sugar, butter and flour called streusel. It sounds German but I’m not really sure if it is. 

So here’s the recipe. It’s a no fuss cake, easy to make and so yummy. It goes well with coffee or tea. 

250      g. self-raising flour

5ml      ground cinnamon

175g    butter, softened and cubed

175g    sugar

75g      ground almonds

1          egg

4          fresh peaches, halved, stoned and slice

175g    fresh cherries, stoned, or fresh raspberries

10 ml   cornflour

• Preheat the oven to 200C/400F. Grease a 23cm (9 inch) spring-form cake tin. Place the flour, cinnamon and butter in the mixer bowl. On minimum speed, mix together until the mixture starts to stick together.
• Add the sugar and ground almonds and mix to a coarse, crumbly texture. Do not over-mix.
• Weigh 175g of the mixture and set aside. Add the egg to the remainder and mix to a dough.
• Transfer to the prepared tin and press over the base and about 2.5cm up the sides of the tin. (More like a pie base)
• Mix the peaches, cherries and the corn flour then place in the tin.
• Sprinkle over the reserved crumble mixture and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until golden. Leave to cool for 30 minutes then remove from the tin and place on a wire rack to cool completely.

Have a slice 🙂

Tiramisu

First up for the Recipe Page is my ever favorite Tiramisu! 🙂

I’ve tried different ingredients and preparations for Tiramisu but I decided to stick to this one. Simple but deli-sh.

Ingredients: (for the cake)


4 eggs
115g (4oz) sugar
100g (3.5oz) plain flour
15g (0.5oz) corn flour
25g (1oz) butter, melted

Ingredients for Filling:


115g (4oz) plain chocolate, grated
150ml very strong coffee (i prefer espresso)
100ml coffee liquor, Tia Maria or Kahlua
300ml double cream
2.5ml vanilla essence
50g sugar
3x250g cartons mascarpone cheese
cocoa powder (to decorate)

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Grease and base line a 22cm (8.5 inches) spring-form cake tin. Place eggs in a bowl and whisk while slowly adding sugar. Whisk until pale, thick and creamy. The mixture should be thick enough to hold a trail when the whisk is pulled from the surface.

2. Sieve the flour and cornflour together and lightly fold in half with the mixture using a metal spoon. Fold in half of the melted butter, then repeat with the remaining flour and butter. Fold in lightly to avoid knocking the air from the mix.

3. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden. Turn out and leave to cool overnight if time allows.


4. Mix the coffee and the coffee liquor together. Cut the cake into 3 layers.

5. Line the base and sides of the cake tin with clear film and base it with non stick baking parchment. Place one sponge layer in the base. Sprinkle over a bout a third of the coffee mixture.

6. Whip the double cream, vanilla and sugar together until it forms soft peaks. Fold in the mascarpone cheese. Mix well. Spread 1/3 of the mixture over the sponge. Sprinkle over half of the grated chocolate. Top with another layer of sponge. Drizzle over half of the remaining coffee mixture. Top with half of the remaining cheese mixture and all the grated chocolate. Top with the last sponge and press down slowly and lightly. Finish with a final layer of cheese mixture. Chill for 2-3 hours.

7. Release form the tin, peel off the clear film and transfer to a serving plate. Spread the reserved cheese mixture around the edges. Sprinkle with chocolate, dust with cocoa powder and serve.