White Chocolate and Raspberry Cheesecake

WHITE CHOCOLATE AND RASPBERRY CHEESECAKE

Last Tuesday was National Cheesecake Day. Sure, it's an American thing, but I wanted to celebrate all the same. Plus, cheesecake is my boyfriend's favourite dessert.So I decided to make this cheesecake. Now the result was not perfect, I think mostly because I let the gelatine get too hard. But it was still a nice tasting dessert that was easy to eat - because let's face it, dessert is always amazing to enjoy. I have a whole list of cheesecakes I want to try, so you'll be seeing a few coming up. Any ideas from you which cheesecake I should make next?

If you give this one a try, remember to be careful with the gelatine. Too hot and you'll ruin the ingredients, too cold and it'll set and you'll have lumps and a hard time setting it. But it's worth the trial and error.

INGREDIENTS:

185g Nice Biscuits, crushed
90g Unsalted Butter, melted
500g Cream Cheese, softened
1 can Condensed Milk
100g White Chocolate
1 tablespoon Gelatine
1/4 cup Hot Water
3/4 cup Thickened Cream
150g Raspberries, pureed
Whole Raspberries to top

DIRECTIONS:

1 - Combine biscuits and butter in a food processor and blend till combined. Then press into the bottom of a lined springform tin. Refrigerate until firm.

2 - Beat cream cheese and condensed milk until smooth, then beat in the cream.

3 - Melt the white chocolate over a double boiler on the stove top. Allow to cool to room temperature.

4 - Sprinkle gelatine over hot water and stir to dissolve. Allow to cool.

5 - Beat cooled chocolate and gelatine into the cream cheese mixture and spoon evenly over the biscuit base.

6 - Add the raspberry puree to the top and swirl to make a pattern. Plus add whole raspberries to the top.

7 - Refrigerate before serving.

Catch you on the weekend for some baked goodness.

Wayne
xx

Red Velvet Cheesecake

RED VELVET CHEESECAKE

So we all know by now that I LOVE to bake. The joy of baking is about the sharing. Sure I enjoy to taste what I've eaten, but mostly my joy comes from other people eating my baking wares and enjoying them. So I am always chuffed when people ask me to bake for them. My friend Steph was having a birthday party and asked if I'd make her a cake. I didn't even need to think about it, of course I would. I asked her what she liked and she rattled off a few things, but the two which stuck were red velvet and cheesecake. Now I found a recipe I had been wanting to try that combined the two - this was my chance to try it.

Now the cake was a smash, it was all gone within minutes of being cut. I'm a little upset with myself that I didn't get better pictures of the cake because it was beautiful (even if I do say so myself). The cake was tasty, and the cheesecake was creamy and a perfect partner. I will definitely be making this one again! It is a little fiddly, and takes some time, but is worth it. So make sure you do what I did, and make it the day before you need it. It can use that extra time in the fridge to keep everything set and just make the icing the morning before the party.

This recipe was originally from Taste, here is the link:

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/28851/red+velvet+cheesecake

INGREDIENTS:

Cake:

185g butter, softened

155g caster sugar

2 eggs

115g self raising flour, sifted 

40g plain flour, sifted

2 tablespoons of cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon of bicarb soda

1/2 cup of buttermilk

Red food colouring (I used a gel bottle)

Oil, for greasing

White chocolate to top cake with

Cheesecake Filling:

250g cream cheese, room temperature

70g caster sugar

2 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 tablespoons of warm water

1 1/2 tsp gelatine powder

300ml thickened cream

Cream Cheese Frosting

250g cream cheese, at room temperature

60g unsalted butter, softened

80g icing sugar, sifted

1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

1 - Preheat oven to 180°C and spray a round 22cm (base measurement) cake pan with canola spray. Also line the base with non-stick baking paper.

2 - Use an electric beater to beat butter and sugar in a bowl until pale and creamy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.

3 - Combine the self-raising flour, plain flour, cocoa powder and bicarbonate of soda in a bowl. Stir flour mixture and buttermilk, in alternating batches, into butter mixture. Stir in food colouring.

4 - Spoon mixture into pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into centre comes out clean. 

5 - Cool slightly. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.Cut cake in half horizontally. Trim the top if the middle has risen too much.

6 - To make the filling, use an electric beater to beat cream cheese, sugar and lemon juice in a bowl until smooth. 

7 - Place the water in a heatproof jug or bowl. Add the gelatine. Place the jug in a saucepan and add boiling water to come halfway up the side of the jug. Stir until the gelatine dissolves. Add to the filling and beat until combined.

8 - Use an electric beater to beat the cream in a bowl until soft peaks form. Fold into the cream cheese mixture.

9 - Brush your cleaned and cool cake pan with oil. Line base and side with plastic wrap, allowing side to overhang. Place cake base, cut-side up, in pan. Spread with filling. Top with cake top. Fold over plastic wrap. Place in the fridge overnight to chill.

10 - To make the frosting, use an electric beater to beat the cream cheese, butter, sugar and vanilla in a bowl until well combined. Turn cake onto a serving plate. Spread with frosting. Decorate with chocolate curls, or shaved chocolate as I did.

11 - Enjoy

Been baking a lot lately for various people, so will lots coming over the next weeks. Remember, if you have a request, let me know and I'll have a go!

Wayne

xx 

Bakes from my birthday - a love letter to Raspberri Cupcakes

BAKES FROM MY BIRTHDAY - A LOVE LETTER TO RASPBERRI CUPCAKES

So it was my birthday recently, 38. Yes, I'm getting old. I had a few friends round to help celebrate which was wonderful. As a former Sydney boy who's only been in Melbourne 2.5 years, I feel very blessed to have made such great friends. Especially generous ones, the presents were incredible - including a brilliant new coffee machine that I'd marry if I could. And it was very lucky my Mother was able to make the trip down. She has not been very well at all. Loved having Mum here and was extra happy I was able to share with her my newish baking skills and how they've evolved.

Now baking is a really Melbourne thing for me, I have a bigger kitchen than I did in Sydney. (Any Sydney friends will know how small my Newtown box was). Part of my evolution as a baker has been about getting baking crushes on other bakers through their blogs. My favourite is definitely Steph from Raspberri Cupcakes. Her bakes are divine and I have been making her stuff for a while. A few I often get requests for are the Spiced Blondies with Chai Infused Ganache, the Cherry Shortbread Bites and the Malted and Salted Choc-Chip Cookies. I knew I wanted to make some of her bakes for my birthday, so I did. I'll share with you what they are. Now her recipes are so good I never need to change ingredients. I don't want to steal from her, so instead I'll post links to the recipes. Plus please check out all her recipes and amazing pics. She is a Baking God and you will be salivating. Friends, I will take requests if you want me to bake more of her stuff.

Now the first one was the birthday cake. My good friend Hannah said I shouldn't make my own cake, but I really wanted to. Mostly to make this great cake. Steph's original recipe was a purple ombre cake, but I decided to make a rainbow cake instead. Gay much? The recipe was the same, all I changed were the colours and I made 4 layers like she suggested in the recipe. Now the sprinkles task was difficult, especially when I only had a few minutes till people started arriving, but it was worth it. It looked amazing.

Here's the recipe link:

http://www.raspberricupcakes.com/2011/11/purple-ombre-sprinkle-cake.html

Next up are the Neopolitan Melting Moments, or Yo-Yo's as they are called here in Melbourne. I had been wanting to make these for a while. I love how the melting moments, melt in your mouth. Hence the name. And the different flavours in these just sounded wonderful, and they were. Yes, they took a while to make, but were worth it. Out of all my birthday baked goods, these were the ones I was keenest to try. I changed nothing, the recipe was spot on.

Here's the link:
http://www.raspberricupcakes.com/2010/06/neopolitan-melting-moments.html

Finally there was the lemon meringue cheesecake. I made this for my boyfriend's birthday this year. It's the trend to make a cheesecake for him for his birthday, he loves them. Last year was the apple pie cheesecake, this year was the lemon meringue one. Mum loved the sound of it and asked me to make it for her when she was down. Of course I couldn't say no to my favourite person, and happily made it again. Plus, it's bloody tasty. The combination of lemon meringue and the cheesecake is a perfect match. I highly recommend this for your next dinner party. Again, I changed nothing from the original Raspberri Cupcakes recipe.

Here's the link:
http://www.raspberricupcakes.com/2009/05/lemon-meringue-cheesecake.html

The party was a success, as were the baked goods. There were a few other things I made I may share soon too. But I really want to write this blog to say thanks to Steph at Raspberri Cupcakes for inspiring me and pushing my baking to new heights. I look forward to seeing more of your amazing creations.

Back on Monday with the red velvet cheesecake my friends have been asking me to share.

Wayne

xx

OREO CHEESECAKE

So here's my first recipe post for you, the Oreo Cheesecake. My wonderful partner, Nick, and I were heading over the dinner with his brother Sam, and his girlfriend, Kaylah,. We were gonna have a spot of dinner and then watch one of my all time favourite movies, "A League of Their Own". Nick had never seen it ... I was horrified too, so we thought he should see it. Now I asked Kaylah what she would like me to bring for dessert, she only had one suggestion, Oreo Cheesecake.

I looked over many recipes, but none really hit me as being something I wanted to try. Then I remembered a recipe I bookmarked an age ago. I have so many recipes bookmarked on my computer, I barely remember what anymore. Read carefully over the recipe and decided to make a few adjustments.The thing I liked about this recipe is that it's a traditional style baked cheesecake. The texture was so creamy and definitely works well with beautiful vanilla ice cream. It's filling, but most definitely satisfying.

So here goes, my first recipe for you:

OREO CHEESECAKE 
(Adapted from http://www.food.com/recipe/oreo-cheesecake-12177?mode=metric&scaleto=1.0&st=null)

INGREDIENTS:
Base:
24 Oreo Biscuits
1/3 Cup of melted unsalted butter

Filling:
680 grams softened cream cheese
395 gram can of sweetened condensed milk
3 eggs
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
1/4 cup of caster sugar (can use 1/2 if you have a sweet tooth)
2 squirts of lemon juice
extra Oreos for filling and topping

DIRECTIONS:

1 - Preheat oven to 150 Degrees C. Spray a springform cake tin with cooking spray and then line with baking paper. (I cut a circle for the bottom and then cut more for the sides)
2 - Make base by mixing Oreo in food processor until all fine. Add butter and mix until combined.
3 - Press firmly down the base mixture into the tin and put in the freezer to firm up as you prepare the filling.
4 - In large bowl, use beater to mix cream cheese until smooth and then add in condensed milk, eggs, vanilla, sugar and lemon juice. Cream together until well blended.
5 - Break up Oreos and drop them into the mixture. (I used 6 but could do more). Then gently fold through the mixture.
6 - Pour into tin and then break up more Oreos to place on the top. Get creative.
7 - Bake for 45 - 60 minutes. Place a pan of water in the bottom self to help prevent cracking. Is cooked when the middle wobbles. Don't cook till you get cracks.
8 - Fully cool in pan and then chill in fridge before removing from pan
9 - Enjoy!

So there goes, my first recipe. Going to try and create my own as the weeks pass.