Audrey's Cooking Lab

Chocolate Gateau

2019-07-23T14:05:00.002-07:00

Chocolate Gateau

I made this chocolate gateau for my little girl's second birthday. I'd been eyeing this recipe from Just One Cookbook for quite a while but never found time to make it, so what better excuse is there than

to make it for our little princess' birthday?

My husband bought me chocolate gateau from a local bakery here in Seattle called Hiroki for Mother's day this year. He had also bought me that cake years ago for my birthday and I loved it so much. Probably my favorite chocolate cake. Hiroki is a Japanese bakery, so when I found this recipe from a Japanese food site, I thought they should end up being pretty similar so I'd been dying to try.

Now, making this for my little girl's birthday was probably a risky decision because of a number of reasons. First, it was a special occasion. Second, we invited guests over, so actual people - not just myself - are going to eat the cake (and probably judge!). Third, the original recipe only yield one 8-inch cake, and that wasn't enough to feed the number of people I wanted to feed, so I had to triple the recipe in this case.

I do not own a standing mixer. All I have is a cheap, old and beaten down hand mixer. I had thought about buying a standing mixer but it will take up so much space in the kitchen and I don't bake often enough lately anyway. Thankfully though, when my friend and I were making kaasstengels the other day, he brought his standing mixer and hasn't brought it back with him. This was a huge help because since I tripled the recipe, the batter ended up being so much that my tiny hand mixer wouldn't have been able to do the job.

I made two cakes - one 10-inch cake for our celebration at home, and a smaller one for the kids at daycare. I garnished them with strawberries (instead of raspberries like in the original recipe) and I brushed the strawberries with jam+sugar glaze. I also made some chocolate ganache since I thought I may have wanted to decorate the cake more, but ended up not using them that much because I was exhausted and could not think of a good way to decorate. I basically only piped a little bit under the strawberries so they sort of acted as the glue. For the larger cake I started piping smaller swirls/flowers along the rim just because I didn't want to waste the ganache.

One mistake I did though - I left the big cake in the oven too long so it's a bit dry. Because it was bigger than the original recipe, it needed longer baking time. I set my timer and checked the cake (by poking a toothpick in the center to see if it comes out clean) and put it back in the oven to keep baking when it wasn't done yet. I did this a couple of times. The small one was done so I took it out, but the big one wasn't done yet so I put it back in the oven and set my timer. When the timer went off, I was holding my daughter because she was crying. My husband turned off the alarm but left the oven on and the cake inside... and I forgot about it. I don't know how long after that I realized I hadn't taken out the cake, so when I took it out and checked with a toothpick, it came out SO clean (meaning it is dry inside).

I still really liked the cake though, and guests also said they were good (again, not sure out of courtesy or they were being honest lol). One said they liked it because it wasn't too sweet. I am glad I used bittersweet chocolate rather than semi-sweet.

I love this cake so much I am wanting to make another one now! But finding time to do this will be another challenge...

Kaasstengel

2019-07-23T14:02:00.001-07:00

Kaasstengel

Kaasstengels are Dutch/Indonesian cheese cookies. For 3.5 centuries, Indonesia was colonized by the Dutch so we have quite a lot of food that are influenced by the Dutch, such as perkedel and hutspot which I've tried making in the past.

I used to love snacking on these when I was little. I could eat whole jars of these cookies by myself. It's so easy to overeat these because they are bite-sized (like 1.5 inch sticks).

This was my first time making these by myself. In the past I have had someone showed me how to make these, but I didn't partake much of the making process - I was just watching.

In Indonesia we often get these as gifts for special occasions, like religious holidays. It was Lebaran/Idul Fitri this year and my little girl's daycare provider celebrates it, so I thought about making these for her.

I asked a friend of mine to help find a recipe, and we modified it a bit from there. There are not many ingredients in this recipe, so I wanted to make sure to use good, high quality ingredients. Since this is a Dutch-influenced food, I used a European butter (I believe the fat contents in European vs American butter is slightly different) and cheese. We looked at different recipes and they were all slightly different. Most used combination of cheddar and Gouda. I decided to use a Dubliner Irish butter and cheese, because the cheese was on sale at Costco.

The steps were also pretty easy to follow… but a bit labor intensive at the end (rolling them into long thin rolls and cutting them up into small pieces, then garnishing them. These are easy to do, but kind of menial and time consuming to do them by hand. I don’t know if people in Indonesia has better tricks to do this easier and faster…

I was pretty satisfied with the results, although for sure there are plenty of room for improvement. For example, I feel like the texture was a bit too dry. Perhaps it was because the flour and butter ratio were a bit off. In terms of taste, it was more towards the salty/savory side and my friend (who gave me the recipe) likes it more that way. He said adding milk or vanilla extract (which some recipes have) will yield a sweeter taste, which I think I would have preferred (a slightly sweeter taste). And definitely, using different types of cheese will definitely make a difference. This Dubliner cheese we used were already really good though, I found myself snacking on the leftover cheese.

I brought some to the office and (thank God) my colleagues liked them. My husband also brought some to his office and got a similar response from his colleagues. I sure hope they honestly loved it were not just being nice :D.

Here's the modified recipe that we used.

Ingeredients:

500 gr all-purpose flour
25 gr corn starch
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

300 gr butter
2 egg yolk
250 gr grated cheese

2 beaten egg yolk for wash
grated cheese for garnish

Methods:

Mix butter + 2 egg yolk + grated cheese.
Sift together flour + corn starch + baking powder + salt.
Gradually add the dry ingredients (2) to the wet mixture (1).
Refrigerate for about an hour.
Take the dough out, roll and cut to pieces (as shown in picture).
Brush with yolk wash and sprinkle grated cheese for garnish on top.
Bake at 320F for about 10-15 minutes or until golden.

Oreo Cake

2019-07-05T07:14:00.000-07:00

Oreo Cake

It's been a really long time since I've last updated this blog. Major life-changing situation has hindered me from cooking even simple daily meals, let alone baking. That life-changing event is…having a kid! Let's just leave it at that and not get into it any further, because I could write a whole other blog on my thoughts on that.

Anyway, I tried to cook and/or bake something every once in a while. For example, on hubby's birthday. This year I made him an Oreo cake. The reason was just because I had a big package of Oreos that I wanted to use up before they go bad.

Oreo Cake

I used this recipe here. I was kind of proud of how my cake ended up looking, although I know it was nowhere near the original. As for the taste, to be honest, it was a tad too sweet for me. But Oreos are sweet, so I guess that was to be expected. The cake texture itself was good for me. What I really liked was the fact that we had the crushed Oreos incorporated into the white cake so we get that crunch in every bite. I also really liked the color of the buttercream, which had crushed Oreos mixed into it. I think this was the major contributor of the sweetness because the buttercream was pretty much icing sugar and butter.

Oreo Cake Slice

A side note - I made and decorated the cake a day in advanced, and part of the decoration were some whole Oreos on top of the cake, as you can see in the pictures. By the time we consumed the cake, those Oreos had lost their crunchiness. So I'd suggest adding the Oreo decorations just before serving. The chocolate ganache and piped icing were okay if added beforehand.

Onigiri

2015-07-07T14:13:00.001-07:00

Onigiri

I had some leftover rice and beef from the gyudon, and had been meaning to try making onigiri, and so I did. Oh how I have been underestimating an onigiri! I thought it would be pretty easy to make - basically you just take some rice, stuff some fillings, and then cover it with more rice, shaping it into a ball or triangle, right? Turns out, shaping that rice is difficult! I have wet my hands with salted water, but my hands quickly dried out and pieces of rice were sticking all over my hands. When I wet my hands again, the onigiri just fell apart. I ended up having to use a lot of rice but very little fillings... not sure if that's how it's supposed to be.

I used calrose rice and sprinkled some black sesame seeds there. Again, the filling was just some leftover beef. I would like to use salmon next time. Then I used strips of seaweed for the decoration.

Gyudon

2015-07-07T14:04:00.000-07:00

Gyudon

Hi again! Here is another meal that I made just because I wanted to use my new donburi bowl! :D

I've always loved gyudon but never had a chance to made one myself. I followed the gyudon recipe from http://www.justonecookbook.com/gyudon/ but I omitted the sake and egg. I forgot to buy the sake and will definitely try to use it next time.

I used sliced beef briskets, and these came out a little too dry for my taste. Not sure if I had overcooked it. It is still good, and definitely healthier, but I am used to eating gyudon that had a little bit more fats in the meat...hahaha...

Then I topped my gyudon with some aonori & togarashi.

Zaru Soba (ざるそば)

2015-07-07T13:53:00.001-07:00

Cold Soba / Zaru Soba (ざるそば)

Seattle's weather had been extremely hot these last couple of weeks, so I had been eating cold soba or zaru soba!

I don't exactly have any recipes that I follow. I have the dried soba that I just need to boil according to the instructions in the package, and I also have the tsuyu sauce that is ready to use.

I've just been looking at pictures of zaru soba on the internet and see how they are served. Most are served on a bamboo mat, and have grated ginger and some green onions on the side. My bamboo mat is actually a sushi roller - it is too big to fit into my plates, so I just put it on top. I've also topped my soba with kizami nori (shredded seaweed).

In the picture there, I had cold tofu and harusame salad as the sides. I will put up a separate posts for these some time later.

And I have a confession to make...these are my new dinnerware, so I just could not wait to use them... lol...

If you need to look at an actual recipe, I've been looking at this wonderful website called www.justonecookbook.com. This has become my number one go-to website for Japanese recipes, along with mamaloli.com. They both have a lot of interesting recipes and I've been trying out a few of them.

The Ultimate S'mores Cake

2015-06-26T12:52:00.003-07:00

The Ultimate S'mores Cake

We had a BBQ gathering last Friday evening, and had tons of s'mores ingredients left. So I tried to find out what we can do with those, and stumbled upon this recipe that looks sooooo delicious.

I was pretty intimidated at first because there are a lot of steps involved, but the author noted that if you've been in the kitchen before, this is something that you can definitely handle (or something along that line), so I decided to give it a shot.

I haven't baked any cakes in years, so I tried to follow the instructions to the tee as much as possible. I still remember that every time I tried to follow someone's recipe, my end result never came up as beautiful as the original...so I thought this time I really shouldn't try to be clever and make any stupid adjustments.

There is one thing that I just had to do a little differently though... which was the marshmallow frosting. The original site tells you how to make your own homemade marshmallow frosting, but I really want to use up my leftover marshmallow fluffs...so I used that those as the topping (more for decorations) instead.

Essentially, this is a two-layer devil's food cake - with a graham cracker crust sandwiched in between - covered with double-chocolate buttercream frosting. I have to say....the frosting is to die for.

The Ultimate S'mores Cake: in the making...

The recipe for the cake ends up yielding a lot more than what my short 9-inch pans can handle, so I had some leftover batter that I baked in small heart-shaped cake pan.

Also, the frosting yields so much more than what I ended up using for the cake. Really though, I should've made the frosting a lot thicker....because it is THAT good! I started imagining my friends who usually skip eating the frosting of a cake...but I am going to tell them that they'd better eat this frosting, because it is so dang good and it wasn't easy to make (at least for me).

Oh yes... I think I spent about 4-5 hours making the whole cake + frosting it (and a horrible job at that too). Even though the author said it took them 30 minutes to make their frosting, I definitely spent a lot more time than that. Granted though, I don't have the good-quality equipment either (e.g., I only have a hand-mixer, and only 1 metal mixing bowl, etc).

One of my friends decorated the smaller cake since we had lots of buttercream left...and we were snacking on the cake scraps+frosting as well. That was really fun. She did a better job decorating the cake than I did, for sure.

The leftover stuff...

I refrigerated the cake overnight, and then the next day topped it with toasted marshmallow. I don't have a torch burner available, so I broiled these marshmallows in the oven for a little bit (all the while observing to make sure they didn't get too burned), and then just stacked them on top of the cake.

One thing though - because this cake has the graham cracker layer in the middle, it was a little hard to cut when the knife reached that point. I didn't get a nice clean cut, as you can see in the picture.

The Ultimate S'mores Cake Slice

If I weren't trying to make a s'mores cake, I would probably try to add strawberries to this cake. So instead of graham cracker layer in the middle, I'd add more chocolate frosting + sliced strawberries in the middle. Then of course more chocolate frosting + strawberries on top as well.

Here are the links to the recipes that I followed:

http://bake2thefuture.com/2012/11/29/the-ultimate-smores-cake/#.VY2jivlVgSV

http://bake2thefuture.com/2012/11/29/double-chocolate-buttercream-frosting/#.VY2ltflVgSU

Midnight Truffle Cake

2013-11-30T01:03:00.003-08:00

Midnight Truffle Cake

I wanted to try making this cake since I tried the chocolate cake with a same name from Ivar's Acres of Clams. It was soooo good that sometimes I still think about it before I go to bed... The description on the menu was "Moist chocolate cake, Grand Marnier syrup, layered with chocolate ganache. With Snoqualmie Gourmet Irish Cream crème anglaise and berry coulis", so I told myself that this would be my next project. For the holidays would be good, since for me, holidays = chocolate. Well, some other days = chocolate for me too, but that's neither here nor there. Anyway, I love chocolate so the cake description sounds perfect for me. It was Thanksgiving so I decided to spend the day making this. However I did not add the crème anglaise or berry coulis - I only did the cake.

I googled "Midnight truffle cake recipe" but could not find anything that perfectly fits what I wanted, so I decided to mix and match a little.

For the chocolate cake base, I used German's Chocolate Cake recipe from David Lebovit's website that I tried before.
I knew I had to soak the cake with Grand Marnier syrup, so I was looking for chocolate cake recipes...but there were a lot! I don't know which type is good with some liquor-syrup soak stuff. Butter chocolate cake? Devil's chocolate cake? Chocolate velvet? Sacher torte? Genoise? So many types! I never went to patisserie school so I have no idea how they're different from one another. I tried reading some of the descriptions, but I got so confused in the end. So I remembered that David Lebovit's chocolate cake recipe called for some dark rum. I have no idea what dark rum is, but I know it's some kind of alcohol, so that'll do. And the German's chocolate cake I made before was a pretty good hit among my friends, so I thought I'd use the recipe again.

Then for the ganache, I know it's chocolate and heavy cream, so that was easy. I just looked for recipes because I don't know the proportions. But I know I had to use good quality chocolate to yield good ganache. Thankfully I made this cake for Thanksgiving, so a lot of baking ingredients were on sale, including Ghirardeli's baking chocolate, so I stocked up on those. I used the 60% bittersweet chocolate, although the semisweet one would probably be good too. I did not want to use milk chocolate because I don't want everything to be too sweet. I want more of the chocolaty flavor.

For the Grand Marnier syrup - well, I kinda had to make it up myself...

I loved the final product. I know I still have major problems with decorating skills and patience, because by the time we have to assemble the cake, I am usually too eager to eat it already. I had a couple friends came over that day too and we're all (or maybe just me) could not wait any longer. So for the fallback plan - use chocolate chips as garnish.

Well anyway, sorry for the rambling, but here are the recipes!

Midnight Truffle Cake

For the cake:
Source: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2005/09/german-chocolat-1/

2 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chopped
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
6 tablespoons water
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 ¼ cup + ¼ cup sugar
4 large eggs, separated
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Butter two 9-inch cake pans, then line the bottoms with rounds of parchment or wax paper. Preheat the oven to 350°.
Melt both chocolates together with the 6 tablespoons of water. Use either a double-boiler or a microwave. Stir until smooth, then set aside until room temperature.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, or by hand, beat the butter and 1 ¼ cup of the sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in the melted chocolate, then the egg yolks, one at a time.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Mix in half of the dry ingredients into the creamed butter mixture, then the buttermilk and the vanilla extract, then the rest of the dry ingredients.
In a separate metal or glass bowl, beat the egg whites until they hold soft, droopy peaks. Beat in the ¼ cup of sugar until stiff.
Fold about one-third of the egg whites into the cake batter to lighten it, then fold in the remaining egg whites just until there’s no trace of egg white visible.
Divide the batter into the 2 prepared cake pans, smooth the tops, and bake for about 45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Cool cake layers completely.

For the ganache:

Adapted from: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/chocolate-ganache-10000000554764/

and http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chocolate-ganache/

1 (12-ounce) package bittersweet or semisweet chocolate morsels
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
3 tablespoons butter

Heat the cream in a small sauce pan over medium heat. Bring just to a boil.
Pour the cream over the chocolate.
Whisk until smooth.
Add butter and whisk until smooth.
Let it cool down until it thickens a little, then whisk till thick.

For the soaking syrup, mix the following ingredients together:

4 tablespoons Grand Marnier
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

To assemble:

Trim the cake so it is level (cut the top, domed part off horizontally using a serrated knife or cake leveler).
Set the first cake layer on the cake plate.
Brush the top with the soaking syrup.
Spread about 1/3 of the ganache over the cake layer, making sure to reach to the edges.
Set the second cake layer on top.
Brush well with syrup.
Spread the remaining ganache on top and on the sides of the cake.
Garnish as desired.

Midnight Truffle Cake

French Almond Cake with Green Tea Honey Glaze

2013-07-08T18:54:00.000-07:00

French Almond Cake with Green Tea Honey Glaze

Wanted to make this cake for a fellow dessert lover's birthday... and of course this person is not even in the country, so I am eating this cake on his behalf! Bwahaha... (Yes, this is always my excuse for baking a cake!).

Anyway, I wanted to make something quick since this was not planned, and I have a bag of almonds that I bought from Costco. So I googled "almond cake" and came across this recipe, which looks simple enough, but from the way the author describes it, it has to be a wonderful cake.

Quotes from the original post
(http://www.daringgourmet.com/2013/05/06/french-almond-cake-with-green-tea-honey-glaze/):

"Oh. My. Golly. Goodness.
Don’t let the simple appearance of this cake fool you – there’s nothing simple about the flavor. Almonds, vanilla, green tea and honey combine to make this a truly remarkable cake. Light and airy, layers of flavor, and the perfect touch of moistness make this a cake you will long remember."

That is the best description for this cake. Won't say anything else!

Three things I love abut this recipe:

Cake is so yummy!
Does not take a lot of prep time, and the baking time is only half an hour. While it was baking in the oven, you could smell the wonderful fragrance of the almond cake... oh my gosh...
No need to decorate. Well... technically you could if you want... but it was not described in the original recipe, and that delicious almond fragrance was just too tempting so I did not want to bother with making it pretty...

And I think, even without the glaze, this cake would still taste wonderful. Of course it wouldn't be as moist, but I think it would still be great.

French Almond Cake with Green Tea Honey Glaze

French Almond Cake with Green Tea Honey Glaze

Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 30 mins
Total time: 45 mins

The Daring Gourmet, www.daringgourmet.com
Serves: 8

Ingredients:

½ cup butter, at room temperature
¾ cup white granulated sugar
¾ cup blanched almonds
3 egg yolks
3 egg whites
½ teaspoon cream of tartar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon almond extract
½ cup cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ cup concentrated green tea (brewed with 6 or more tea bags), decaf or regular
3 tablespoons honey

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9×2 inch round pan or a 8×8 inch square pan.
To blanch the almonds, pour boiling water over them to cover. Let them sit for about 5 minutes or until the peels slip off easily. Discard the peels and let the almonds air dry for a few hours. Grind the almonds with ¼ of the sugar.
Cream the butter and ½ cup of sugar until light and fluffy, about 4-5 minutes. Add the egg yolks one at a time, beating until the mixture is pale and fluffy, another 3-4 minutes. Add the vanilla and almond extract and beat just until combined. Fold in the ground almond mixture.
Beat the egg whites in a clean, dry bowl on medium high speed until foamy, then add the cream of tartar. Continue to beat until stiff peaks form.
Sift the cake flour and baking powder into a small bowl.
Fold in ⅓ of the egg whites, then ⅓ of the flour mixture. Repeat with the remaining egg whites and flour. Be very careful not to over-stir.
Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan.
Bake for about 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Be careful not to over-bake.
Remove the cake from the oven and let sit for 10 minutes. Carefully invert the cake and the place top side up on a cake platter.
Poke some small holes around the top of the cake with a toothpick to allow the glaze to fully absorb.
To make the glaze, place the green tea and honey in a small saucepan and heat until the honey is dissolved, then remove from the heat.
Pour the glaze over the cake and let the cake sit for at least 20 minutes before serving.

Notes:
*** THREE FANTASTIC VARIATIONS: Eliminate the green tea and make the glaze as instructed with water and honey, only reduce the water amount by 1-2 tablespoons and substitute with either 1-2 tablespoons rose water or 1-2 tablespoons orange blossom water. Third option: Steep 2 teaspoons of lavender flowers in ½ cup of water and proceed with the honey glaze. ***NOTE ON GREEN TEA: When brewing the green tea, use very hot, but not boiling water. Boiling water will turn the green tea very bitter. Also be sure to steep for no more than 3 minutes, as longer will likewise turn the tea bitter.

Cherry-Vanilla Cheesecake

2013-05-21T16:56:00.001-07:00

Cherry-Vanilla Cheesecake

Another version of the delicious and beautiful zebra cheesecake! This time I used cherry, because Yogi's in town and he loves cherries. Same recipe as the Blueberry-Vanilla cheesecake, only use cherries instead of blueberries. I made some cherry topping as well. I used Martha Stewart's blueberry topping recipe (of course substituting blueberries with cherries). I actually tried it before with the blueberry cheesecake, and it was really great, so I wanted to stick with it.

Cherry-Vanilla Cheesecake

Cherry-Vanilla Cheesecake
Adapted from http://www.mandymortimer.com/threesome-cheesecake/

Ingredients:

Crust:

200g Digestive Biscuits
¼ cup Brown Sugar
115g (1/2 cup) Unsalted Butter

Cherry puree

12 oz cherry
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tbsp lemon juice

Cheesecake

4x 225g (8oz) Full Fat Cream Cheese, room temperature
4 Eggs, room temperature
1¼ cups Granulated Sugar
1 cup Double Cream, room temperature
1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
½ tsp Salt
1 cup cherry puree

Methods:

Carefully butter a 9" springform pan all the way to the top.
Wrap the bottom of the pan with 2 layers of tinfoil to make sure no water seeps in. The foil should be at least 2" high up the sides of the tin.
Line the bottom with wax paper (this will make it easier to slide the cake onto your serving dish).
Prepare the crust. Blend the digestive biscuits to a fine crumb.
Melt the butter & combine with the sugar and biscuit crumbs until well mixed.
Press the crumb mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan.
Prepare the cherry puree.
Note: this is just something that I tried myself - not from the original recipe.
Put the cherry, sugar and lemon juice into a food processor to combine. Then pour into a cooking pan over medium heat to cook (I heard that this will thicken it).
Preheat oven to 165°C/330°F (145°C Fan Forced).
Bring enough water to the boil to fill a larger dish for the waterbath.
With mixer at low speed, cream the cheese until smooth.
Add the sugar and mix until combined.
With mixer still at low speed, add eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly before adding the next. Make sure to scrape the sides of the bowl between adding each egg.
Add the double cream, vanilla extract, lemon juice & salt, mix until well combined and smooth.
Divide the mixture equally into 2 bowls.
Add 1 cup cherry puree into one of the bowls.
The 2 mixtures will be poured into the prepared springform pan a cup at a time to create the "zebra" design (use seperate cups for each batter).
Pour 1 cup of either the regular cream cheese or the cherry cream cheese mixture into the center of the pan (it will spread by itself as you add more of the other mixture).
Pour 1 cup of the other mixture directly into the center.
Keep alternating until all of the batter has been poured into the pan.
Carefully place the springform pan into a larger ovenproof pan or dish and place in the preheated oven
Pour enough hot water into the larger pan to come to about 1½" up the sides of the cheesecake pan
Bake for about 1h15 to 1hr30 until it is almost done (the cake should be firm around the outside but still have a lot of jiggle to the centre when you gently shake the pan)
Turn the oven off and leave the cheesecake in the oven with the door shut for about an hour (the cheesecake will carry on cooking in this time and firm up until it's baked through. Also, as it gently cools down in the oven, it will help prevent the top from cracking.)
After the hour in the cooling oven, remove the cake from the oven & carefully lift it out of the waterbath. Let it finish cooling on the countertop.
Once cooled, put it in the fridge to chill.

Cherry-Vanilla Cheesecake

Cherry Topping
Adapted from: http://www.marthastewart.com/336649/blueberry-topping

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pints (3 cups) cherries
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon cornstarch

Methods:

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan over medium-high heat.
Bring to a simmer, and cook until cherries break down, about 4 minutes.
Let cool, then refrigerate, covered, until cold (or up to 3 days).

Pasta with Alfredo Sauce and Grilled Chicken

2013-05-21T16:42:00.000-07:00

Pasta with Alfredo Sauce and Grilled Chicken

We bought some Parmagiano Reggiano cheese over the weekend. Yogi does not usually like strong smelling cheese, but he wanted to be a little adventurous, so he said he'd like to try it in a pasta. So we decided to make alfredo sauce using some of the Parmagiano Reggiano cheese.

The alfredo sauce recipe below is very easy and I had all the ingredients on hand. I just substituted some of the parmesan cheese with the parmagiano cheese. When I was grating the cheese, Yogi noticed how pungent the smell was and told me not to use too much of it... lol...

Decided to use chicken breast for the protein of the night. We just sprinkled some salt and black pepper and grilled it. Nothing fancy.

Alfredo Sauce Recipe
Source: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/alfredo-sauce-2/

Original recipe makes 4 servings.

1/4 cup butter
1 cup heavy cream
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese (AW Note: I used 1/2 cup Parmagiano Reggiano + 1 cup Parmesan)
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Method:

Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium low heat.
Add cream and simmer for 5 minutes
Add garlic and cheese and whisk quickly, heating through.
Stir in parsley and serve.

Strawberry Kiss Cake

2013-05-02T16:06:00.000-07:00

Strawberry Kiss Cake

And... this is the dessert that I prepared to close for our 9th anniversary dinner - Strawberry Kiss Cake! When I saw the pictures from the original recipe, I fell in love with it - it's pink! It's so pretty! And when I read it, what I love is that the recipe uses real strawberries instead of strawberry flavored gelatin. Yogi loves strawberries so I thought this will be perfect.

The only thing that intimidated me was that it uses Swiss Meringue Buttercream. I tried making this before but I was helped by my pastry chef friend - without him, I think it would've been an utter failure. Another friend told me that when making Swiss Meringue Buttercream, at one point the cream will appear curdled - just keep mixing and it will all come together. It did, but it took a long time. I only have a hand mixer. Making this buttercream was complicated enough, so I decided to borrow a friend's standing mixer, along with the spinning table thing to help decorate the cake later on. Huge difference it made to the way my cake looks! And definitely, a standing mixer was a great help. I am thinking if I should invest on it now... but still hesitating because it is huge and I don't have any more space in my small kitchen, and secondly, I don't really make cakes that often... only when the mood strikes... so I am still pondering if it would be a good investment or not....

Anyway, enough of this gibberish and on with the recipe! This cake is yummy yummy yummy!

Strawberry Kiss Cake

Strawberry Kiss Cake
by Cakewalker
Source: http://www.askchefdennis.com/2011/04/its-guest-post-friday-with-cakewalker/

Recipe: Yields one 9-inch 3-layer cake. Requires the use of 9×2-inch pans.
(AW Notes: I only have 2 pans, so my cake was 2 layered)

Cake:

2 cups sifted cake flour
1 ¾ cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
2 ¾ cups granulated sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
¾ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
8 egg whites (approximately 1 cup. Pasteurized, liquid egg whites may be used)
½ cup whole milk
1 cup fresh strawberry puree

Simple Strawberry Syrup:

½ cup water
½ cup sugar
2 tablespoons fresh pureed strawberry (about ¼ cup)

Strawberry Swiss-Meringue Buttercream:

2 ¼ cups granulated sugar
8 to 10 egg whites (1 ¼ cup, may substitute pasteurized liquid egg whites)
2 ½ cups (5 sticks) unsalted butter, cubed and slightly cooler than room temperature
½ cup fresh strawberry puree
2 tablespoons good quality strawberry jam
2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
AW Note: I also used about 5 drops of red food coloring to make the pink color pop more. Otherwise, my buttercream looked really pale (not too different from the cake color).

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Brush the bottoms and sides of the pans with melted butter. Line the bottoms with parchment paper; grease the paper.
In a large bowl, mix together the cake flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder and the salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy.
Add the vanilla and mix in.
Turn the mixer to its lowest speed and gradually add the egg whites, scraping the bowl often.
In a separate bowl, mix the milk and strawberry puree together.
Alternately add the flour mixture and milk mixture to the creamed butter and sugar, starting and ending with the flour. Scrape the bowl after each addition, and beat thoroughly until combined.
Divide the batter evenly between the cake pans.
Bake approximately 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the pans on racks for 20 minutes.
Run a spatula around the perimeter to release the cakes. Turn them from their pans onto racks, remove the paper and cool completely.
A good time to prepare the strawberry syrup is while the cakes are baking. Combine the sugar, water and strawberry puree in a small saucepan and whisk until the sugar is incorporated but still granular. Bring to a boil over high heat without stirring. When the sugar comes to a boil, remove from heat and cool completely.
Make the buttercream. In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the sugar and egg whites until well combined.
Set the bowl over a pot of boiling water and whisk constantly.
While whisking, heat the mixture until all the sugar granules have dissolved and the mixture is hot to the touch. Aim for getting the mixture as hot as possible but don’t overcook it into scrambled eggs.
Return the bowl to the mixer and seat the whip attachment. Beat on high speed until the meringue thickens and forms stiff glossy peaks, about 10 minutes. The bottom of the bowl should be at or close to room temperature.
Stop the mixer and replace the whip with the paddle attachment. Set the mixer on low speed and add the butter, a few cubes at a time. After all the butter has been incorporated, beat the frosting on medium speed until fluffy.
Set the mixer back to low speed and add the vanilla, strawberry puree and jam. Once everything is incorporated, scrape the bowl down and continue to mix until a smooth, creamy texture is reached. If the frosting is too liquid, place in the refrigerator until thoroughly chilled and firm, then rewhip. If the frosting appears broken, beat on high for 3 to 5 minutes more and it will come together.
Assemble the cake. Place the first layer on a serving plate, brushing the top with the strawberry syrup.
Place a large dollop of frosting on top and spread evenly to within ¼ inch of the edge.
Place the 2nd layer on top, brushing its top with the syrup.
Frost this layer as you did the last.
Now place the final layer over top and brush the top again with syrup.
Frost the top and sides with a thin crumb coat. Place the cake in the refrigerator to firm the coating.
Finish frosting the top and sides of the cake reserving a small amount to use for borders.
When the cake is frosted pipe a decorative border at the base and at the top edge. As an added touch, make your cake dainty with some sprinkles on top.

Notes: Fresh berries yield superb flavor and color to baking—choose ones that are fragrant, ripe and red. You may substitute frozen berries provided they are the whole, quick-frozen variety. Just thaw them and puree. If use you frozen berries with added sugar, then adjust the sugar accordingly in the frosting or it may be too sweet. Are you are unfamiliar with Swiss-meringue buttercreams? Be sure your equipment is grease-free (mixer bowl, whip and paddle) by wiping them with a paper towel dampened with vinegar. Then take it step-by-step and follow the tips if the process goes awry. The pasteurized egg whites in liquid form found in cartons at the grocery store are convenient and saves time.

Bacon Asparagus Cream Soup

2013-05-02T15:42:00.002-07:00

Bacon Asparagus Cream Soup

This is the appetizer/side dish that I paired with the Chicken Pesto Sandwich I made for our 9th anniversary dinner at home. The recipe called for cream, and I used heavy cream since that was what I had at the time. I'd suggest using regular cream, because using heavy cream made it sooo rich... it was good on first spoonful, but I quickly got sick of it...and I normally love super creamy stuff.

Other than that, this recipe is cool!

Asparagus Soup with Bacon
Source: http://honestcooking.com/asparagus-soup-with-bacon/

Prep Time: 30 minutes | Yields: 4-6 people

¾ lbs of asparagus (about 1 bunch from the store or little less than 2 cups (500 ml))
1 tsp butter
3 shallots
8 oz (230 g) bacon
2 cups (500 ml) chicken stock
1 cup (250 ml) cream
1 tsp balt
Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Start with cleaning the asparagus and then cut into ½ inch pieces. (Save a few pieces for presentation). Put the asparagus into a pot of water with 1 tsp salt and let boil for 2 minutes. Then remove the asparagus and set aside and dispose of the water.

2. Cut the bacon in ½ pieces and put into a frying pan. Let the bacon cook until the desired crispy state. I usually like mine just slightly browned not very crispy.

3. On the side finely chop the 3 shallots and put that in a deep bottomed pot with 1 tsp of butter and sauté the shallots for 2-3 minutes. Then add the chicken stock and let it boil. Then add the cream and the cooked asparagus. Let it simmer for 10 minutes. After that puree the soup in a mixer to the desired state and put it back into the pot.

4. Add the bacon, salt and pepper to taste.

Another alternative could be to add fried mushrooms to the soup.

Serve soup and add a few asparagus pieces for presentation.

Chicken Pesto Sandwich with Grilled Onions, Spinach and Cheese on Ciabatta

2013-05-02T15:37:00.001-07:00

Chicken Pesto Sandwich with Grilled Onions, Spinach and Cheese on Ciabatta

April 30th, 2013 marked Yogi & I's 9th year together. He arrived in town in the evening of May 1st, and he wanted to have some sort of chicken sandwich. Since it was close to our anniversary, I decided to make something a little special for dinner. Not too much - just a little. I've never really made this kind of sandwich at home before, so I looked up some recipes and found some that were pretty easy to make.

In addition to the sandwich, I also made Bacon Asparagus Cream Soup, bought Sweet Kale Salad with Poppyseed Dressing from Costco (I can't really "make" salad...it's a bunch of cut up veggies topped with dressing... well I guess I could've tried homemade dressing, but I didn't have enough time), and made Strawberry Kiss Cake for dessert. I will post the entries for those shortly as well.

I found some recipes in the internet and modified it a little bit. Unfortunately I cannot find the one website where I adapted this from... so I am very sorry! I modified your original recipe by a tiny bit, but your recipe is great - whoever you are!

Chicken Pesto Sandwich with Grilled Onions, Spinach and Cheese on Ciabatta

Ingredients for Pesto:

2 cups of fresh basil
2 Tbsp toasted pine nuts
1 tsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
2 Tbsp parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Ingredients for chicken sandwich:

Sweet onions
Boneless chicken breast
Parsley
Rosemary
Mince garlic
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil
Cheese (I used farmers cheese)
Baby spinach
Ciabatta loaves

Methods:

Make the pesto by blending the ingredients in a food processor. Set aside.
Grill the onions until brown.
Trim and butterfly chicken breast.
Marinate 1-2 hours with chopped parsley, rosemary, garlic, salt, pepper, and olive oil.
Grill chicken approx. 4 minutes on each side.
Lightly grill ciabatta until crisp (press down on griller if possible).
Spread fresh pesto on both sides of the bread.
Assemble bread with chicken, grilled onions, cheese, and baby spinach.

Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

2013-04-29T21:39:00.000-07:00

Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

I made this cake in celebration of my mom's birthday (and yes, she's all the way in Indonesia, so this is another occasion where I just want to find an excuse to bake and eat cake! ;p).

The cake is pretty good, although I have to be honest, I have tasted better. I don't think it's because of the recipe that's bad. The best red velvet cake I've ever had was made by a friend who's a pastry chef... and I'm just a novice, so it's not really a fair comparison. Also, I used some substitution in the recipes, because I was short of some ingredients.

But I have to say, in terms of appearance, I think it turns out better than I expected! My cakes are usually pretty messy. I know this cake does not look perfect, but it's one of the better ones!

Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Source: http://www.joyofbaking.com/RedVelvetCake.html#ixzz2RuuWml5K

Ingredients for Red Velvet Cake:

2 1/2 cups (250 grams) sifted cake flour
(AW Note: I used a all purpose flour + corn starch based on the substitution table here http://www.joyofbaking.com/IngredientSubstitution.html)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons (15 grams) regular or Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups (300 grams) granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup (240 ml) buttermilk (
AW Notes: I used the yogurt based on the substitution table here http://www.joyofbaking.com/IngredientSubstitution.html)
2 tablespoons liquid red food coloring
1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
1 teaspoon baking soda

Ingredients for Cream Cheese Frosting:

1 - 8 ounce (227 grams) cream cheese, room temperature
1 - 8 ounce (227 grams) tub of Mascarpone cheese, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup (115 grams) confectioners' (icing or powdered) sugar, sifted
1 1/2 (360 ml) cups cold heavy whipping cream (double cream) (35-40% butterfat)

Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Method for Red Velvet Cake:

Preheat oven to 350F (175 C).
Prepare two 9 inch (23 cm) round cake pans - line the bottom with parchment paper. Set aside.
In a mixing bowl, sift together the flour, salt, cocoa powder. Set aside.
In another bowl, beat butter until soft (about 1-2 minutes).
Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes).
Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add vanilla extract and beat until well combined.
In a measuring cup whisk the buttermilk with the red food coloring.
With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk to the butter mixture, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour.
In a small cup combine the vinegar and baking soda. Allow the mixture to fizz and then quickly fold into the cake batter.
Working quickly, divide the batter evenly between the two prepared pans and smooth the tops with an offset spatula or the back of a spoon.
Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 25 - 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean.
Cool the cakes in their pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes.
Place a wire rack on top of the cake pan and invert, lifting off the pan.
Once the cakes have completely cooled, wrap in plastic and place the cake layers in the refrigerator for at least an hour (or overnight). (This is done to make filling and frosting the cakes easier.)

Method for Cream Cheese Frosting:

In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese and mascarpone cheese until smooth.
Add the vanilla and confectioners sugar and beat until smooth.
Using the whisk attachment, gradually add the heavy cream* (See Note) and whip until the frosting is thick enough to spread. Add more sugar or cream as needed to get the right consistency.

Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Assemble:

With a serrated knife, cut each cake layer in half, horizontally. You will now have four cake layers. (AW note: I did not do this, so I only have two layers).
Place one of the cake layers, top of the cake facing down, onto your serving platter.
Spread the cake layer with a layer of frosting.
Place another layer of cake on top of the frosting and continue to frost and stack the cake layers. Frost the top and sides of the cake.
Can garnish the cake with sweetened or unsweetened coconut. (AW Note: I garnished using melted chocolate, as well as scrapes of cake that I crushed - as you can see in the pictures)

German's Chocolate Cake

2013-04-08T10:09:00.003-07:00

German's Chocolate Cake

I saw my friend posted pictures of German's Chocolate Cake during Lent, and they looked so yummy... but it was Lent, and I gave up chocolate this year, so I could not try them at the time. Then last Sunday was my boyfriend's birthday, and although he is halfway round the world, I just like to find an excuse for me to bake a cake...lol...

Took me about 6-7 hours from the time I started until I have assembled the cake. I am not a very patient person, so I always have a hard time waiting until things cooled down (I just wanted to eat them already!)

I used the recipe from David Lebovit's website, so I will just copy the instructions here, and noted where I did things differently. The instructions were pretty clear, although it seems like a lot, but the cake was reaaallly good so it was worth it!

What I really like about this cake, is that it is moist. Not sure if it's thanks to the syrup, but I had some leftover pieces of cakes that I did not soak with the syrup, and just kept them in a container and put it in the refrigerator. I ate those 3 days afterwards, and they are still pretty moist.

I love the chocolate cake by itself, but the filling is also very good. I've never tried a real German's Chocolate Cake before, so I have nothing to compare this too, but since it's not a regular cream icing, it's just seems fresh and different. I love the coconut and pecan custard mix. I thought I might not like the coconut so much, but it turns out to be really good!

Oh, and while researching about this cake, I found that it is not a cake that originated in Germany... it was first created by an American named Sam German...lol... just thought it's funny, because the name can be very misleading!

German's Chocolate Cake

German Chocolate CakeSource: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2005/09/german-chocolat-1/

One big, tall 9-inch cake; about 16 servings

For the cake:

2 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chopped
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
6 tablespoons water
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 ¼ cup + ¼ cup sugar
4 large eggs, separated
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the filling:
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup sugar
3 large egg yolks
3 ounces butter, cut into small pieces
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup pecans, toasted and finely chopped
1 1/3 cups unsweetened coconut, toasted (*AW: I could only find the sweetened ones on the grocery store, so I used that. I was afraid it was going to be too sweet, but it still turned out pretty good).

For the syrup:
1 cup water
¾ cup sugar
2 tablespoons dark rum (*AW Note: I used kirsch, since that is the only liquor I have)

For the chocolate icing:
8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 ½ ounces unsalted butter
1 cup heavy cream

1. Butter two 9-inch cake pans, then line the bottoms with rounds of parchment or wax paper. Preheat the oven to 350°.

2. Melt both chocolates together with the 6 tablespoons of water. Use either a double-boiler or a microwave. Stir until smooth, then set aside until room temperature.

3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, or by hand, beat the butter and 1 ¼ cup of the sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in the melted chocolate, then the egg yolks, one at a time.

4. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

5. Mix in half of the dry ingredients into the creamed butter mixture, then the buttermilk and the vanilla extract, then the rest of the dry ingredients.

6. In a separate metal or glass bowl, beat the egg whites until they hold soft, droopy peaks. Beat in the ¼ cup of sugar until stiff.

7. Fold about one-third of the egg whites into the cake batter to lighten it, then fold in the remaining egg whites just until there’s no trace of egg white visible.

8. Divide the batter into the 2 prepared cake pans, smooth the tops, and bake for about 45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Cool cake layers completely.

While the cakes are baking and cooling, make the filling, syrup, and icing.

To make the filling:

1. Mix the cream, sugar, and egg yolks in a medium saucepan. Put the 3 ounces butter, salt, toasted coconut, and pecan pieces in a large bowl.

2. Heat the cream mixture and cook, stirring constantly (scraping the bottom as you stir) until the mixture begins to thicken and coats the spoon (an instant-read thermometer will read 170°.)

3. Pour the hot custard immediately into the pecan-coconut mixture and stir until the butter is melted. Cool completely to room temperature. (It will thicken.)

To make the syrup:

1. In a small saucepan, heat the sugar and water until the sugar has melted. Remove from heat and stir in the dark rum.

To make the icing:

1. Place the 8 ounces of chopped chocolate in a bowl with the corn syrup and 1 ½ ounces of butter.

2. Heat the cream until it just begins to boil. Remove from heat and pour over the chocolate. Let stand one minute, then stir until smooth. Let sit until room temperature.

German's Chocolate Cake - Steps

To assemble the cake:

Remove the cake layers from the pans and cut both cake layers in half horizontally, using a serrated bread knife. (*AW: I did not dare cut each cake layers in half, because I was afraid I would break the cake while assembling. So I ended up just using the two layers).
Set the first cake layer on a cake plate. Brush well with syrup. Spread ¾ cup of the coconut filling over the cake layer, making sure to reach to the edges. Set another cake layer on top.

Repeat, using the syrup to brush each cake layer, then spreading ¾ cup of the coconut filling over each layer, including the top.

Ice the sides with the chocolate icing, then pipe a decorative border of chocolate icing around the top, encircling the coconut topping.

(It may seem like a lot of chocolate icing, but use it all. Trust me. You won’t be sorry.)

German's Chocolate Cake

Blueberry-Vanilla Cheesecake

2013-02-12T17:40:00.003-08:00

Blueberry-Vanilla Cheesecake

A couple of days ago somebody mentioned blueberry cheesecake. This weekend I am going to a friend's Valentine's potluck party thingy, and I'm gonna have to bring something, so I thought I'd practice making this.

The recipe I used is based on Mandy Mortimer's blog. This has become my favorite cheesecake recipe. This time though, I'm making a vanilla with blueberry layers. I tried making my own blueberry puree - not sure if it is the correct way to do it, but it seems to work alright.

Next time though I might want to add more blueberry... but I need to be careful because if I add to much of the puree, I am afraid the consistency will be too thin and the cake won't hold.

And I'm so happy because my layering technique has improved! The first time I tried this, the layers didn't look good at all. It's still not as good as Mandy Mortimer's layers, but hey, it's still an improvement (check out my first try here)

Blueberry-Vanilla Cheesecake

Blueberry-Vanilla Cheesecake
Adapted from http://www.mandymortimer.com/threesome-cheesecake/

Ingredients:

Crust:

200g Digestive Biscuits
¼ cup Brown Sugar
115g (1/2 cup) Unsalted Butter

Blueberry puree

12 oz blueberry
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tbsp lemon juice

Cheesecake

4x 225g (8oz) Full Fat Cream Cheese, room temperature
4 Eggs, room temperature
1¼ cups Granulated Sugar
1 cup Double Cream, room temperature
1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
½ tsp Salt
1 cup blueberry puree

Methods:

Carefully butter a 9" springform pan all the way to the top.
Wrap the bottom of the pan with 2 layers of tinfoil to make sure no water seeps in. The foil should be at least 2" high up the sides of the tin.
Line the bottom with wax paper (this will make it easier to slide the cake onto your serving dish).
Prepare the crust. Blend the digestive biscuits to a fine crumb.
Melt the butter & combine with the sugar and biscuit crumbs until well mixed.
Press the crumb mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan.
Prepare the blueberry puree.
Note: this is just something that I tried myself - not from the original recipe.
Put the blueberry, sugar and lemon juice into a food processor to combine. Then pour into a cooking pan over medium heat to cook (I heard that this will thicken it).
Preheat oven to 165°C/330°F (145°C Fan Forced).
Bring enough water to the boil to fill a larger dish for the waterbath.
With mixer at low speed, cream the cheese until smooth.
Add the sugar and mix until combined.
With mixer still at low speed, add eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly before adding the next. Make sure to scrape the sides of the bowl between adding each egg.
Add the double cream, vanilla extract, lemon juice & salt, mix until well combined and smooth.
Divide the mixture equally into 2 bowls.
Add 1 cup blueberry puree into one of the bowls.
The 2 mixtures will be poured into the prepared springform pan a cup at a time to create the "zebra" design (use seperate cups for each batter).
Pour 1 cup of either the regular cream cheese or the blueberry cream cheese mixture into the center of the pan (it will spread by itself as you add more of the other mixture).
Pour 1 cup of the other mixture directly into the center.
Keep alternating until all of the batter has been poured into the pan.
Carefully place the springform pan into a larger ovenproof pan or dish and place in the preheated oven
Pour enough hot water into the larger pan to come to about 1½" up the sides of the cheesecake pan
Bake for about 1h15 to 1hr30 until it is almost done (the cake should be firm around the outside but still have a lot of jiggle to the centre when you gently shake the pan)
Turn the oven off and leave the cheesecake in the oven with the door shut for about an hour (the cheesecake will carry on cooking in this time and firm up until it's baked through. Also, as it gently cools down in the oven, it will help prevent the top from cracking.)
After the hour in the cooling oven, remove the cake from the oven & carefully lift it out of the waterbath. Let it finish cooling on the countertop.
Once cooled, put it in the fridge to chill.

(Supposed to be)Matcha-Banana Bread

2013-02-12T17:20:00.001-08:00

Matcha-Banana Bread

I hadn't made anything new lately, so I hadn't been updating this blog. Last weekend though I tried making this matcha-banana bread...but the banana flavor overpowered the matcha so it's become more like a regular banana bread...lol... I don't know if I did not put enough matcha powder, or maybe the bananas were so ripe that the flavor was so strong.

In any case, it was still a great banana bread. My home smelled really good that afternoon. But if you want a stronger matcha flavor, maybe you need to add more matcha powder, or use the matcha powder that is really for baking (I used one that is for making matcha frappe).

I took the base recipe that my friend gave me in http://audreyscookinglab.blogspot.com/2009/10/banana-bread.html.
It's really quick and easy!

Matcha-Banana Bread

Ingredients:

4 ripe bananas
2.5 cup all purpose flour
1.5 cup sugar
4 large eggs
1.5 cup butter
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp matcha powder

Method:

Preheat oven to 350F-370F.
Mix all of the ingredients above except the matcha powder until well mixed.
Divide the matter in half.
Add matcha powder to half of the batter.
Pour the batter into a loaf pan, alternating between the regular banana and the matcha batter. I poured 1 cup at a time.
Bake for 45mins to 1 hour, or poke a toothpick into the middle part and see if it comes out clean.

White Chocolate Bread Pudding

2013-02-12T17:19:00.002-08:00

White Chocolate Bread Pudding (with Neapolitan Ice Cream)

I made this for our post-Christmas potluck party last year, but did not get a chance to upload the post. I really like this bread pudding recipe, and I only used a regular hot-dog bread. The original recipe calls for brioche, so if you use that, it might even taste better!

And stupid me, I just realized that there is a limit to the pictures you can attach in blogspot, so I can no longer post the step-by-step pictures like I used to... :(

I just use some hot-dog bread.

White Chocolate Bread Pudding
Source: http://bakingbites.com/2009/10/white-chocolate-bread-pudding/

Ingredients:

1 large egg
3 large egg yolks
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups half and half
1/4 cup sugar
5 oz while chocolate (not white chocolate chips), chopped
3 cups challah/brioche bread cubes, crusts removed (approx 1/2 loaf)
Note: I used hot-dog breads because that's what I had, and I use just enough until it fills my baking pan

Method:

Preheat oven to 350F.
Whisk together egg, egg yolks, and vanilla extract. Set aside.
In a saucepan, combine half and half and sugar. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar, until the cream almost comes to a boil (it will steam and small bubbles will form around the edge).
Turn the heat down to low and add chopped white chocolate. Stir until chocolate has melted and mixture is smooth.
Whisking constantly, very slowly stream the hot cream mixture into the egg mixture until everything is incorporated.
Take a 9x5 inch loaf pan and place the bread cubes in it in a roughly even layer.
Pour the warm white chocolate mixture over the bread crumbs.
Make sure the bread is well soaked.
Use a water bath (put the loaf pan in a larger pan. Fill the larger pan with water until water level comes approximately halfway up the loaf pan).
Bake for 55-60 minutes, until the custard is set.
Serve warm, and you can even add ice cream!
Store leftovers in the fridge and reheat to serve.

Chocolate Velvet Cake

2012-05-28T17:12:00.002-07:00

Chocolate Velvet Cake with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

I was craving chocolate cake last night, and decided to bake something today. I remembered about the red velvet cake that a friend made for my 24th bday. He said that red velvet was originally a chocolate cake, the reddish color coming from cocoa powder. Of course, nowadays people put in red coloring to make it more appealing. Others said that red velvet cake is actually devil's food cake (chocolate cake) plus red coloring.

So I looked for some recipes in the internet, and found this recipe from McCormick's that had more cocoa powder in it compared to other cakes. So I thought I'd try this, since really I was craving for some chocolate cake. I did not care about the red coloring, so I just omitted it altogether. The cake's for myself, and I don't exactly care for appearances (well, a bit, since I knew I wanted to post the pictures in my blog).

For the frosting, I did not want it to be too sweet, so I did not use as much sugar as instructed in the recipe. I ended up with a lot less amount for the frosting to cover the whole cake nicely...but oh well...not a big deal for me.

Anyway, the cake itself is great. To my surprise, it is not as sweet as I thought it would be, which is wonderful! The texture is nice, although I wouldn't complain if it could be just a liiiittle moister. It is not that dry though, so it's still fine.

And of course, my cake assembling skill still needs major improvement. First, I didn't level the cakes enough, so it is a little curvy/bulky in the middle. Second, there wasn't enough cream cheese for the filling and frosting. Third, I did not bother with any other garnishment...so yeah, it looked ugly. But again, I just wanted a chocolate cake! I got my slice, so I'm happy...Now I have to think about how I'm going to finish this huge cake. Anyone want some cake? If you don't mind the ugly appearance, I promise you this cake is edible! :)

Chocolate Velvet Cake with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting
Adapted from http://www.mccormick.com/recipes/desserts/red-velvet-cake-with-vanilla-cream-cheese-frosting.aspx

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
2 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup milk
1 bottle (1 ounce) Red Food Color (Note: I omitted this)
2 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract

Methods:

Preheat oven to 350F.
Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.
Cream butter and sugar for about 5 minutes until light and fluffy.

Beat in eggs, one at a time.

Add sour cream, milk, vanilla extract (and red food coloring, if you choose to do so).

Gradually add the flour mixture.

Beat with low speed until just blended. Do not overbeat.

Pour into two 9-inch round pans.

Bake for about 35-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
Let cool before frosting.

Vanilla Cream Cheese Ingredients:

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened
2 tablespoons sour cream
2 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract
1.5 cup confectioners' sugar (Note: The original recipe called for 1 box (16 ounces), but I did not want it to be too sweet).

Methods:

Beat in cream cheese, butter, sour cream, vanilla extract.

Add confectioners sugar and beat well.

Fill and frost cooled cake with frosting.

Good Old Fashioned Pancake

2012-01-05T20:20:00.000-08:00

Good Old Fashioned Pancakes

I've been making pancakes using this recipe the last few months - sometimes for a weekend breakfast, or late night snack. This recipe is very easy and always works for me. The pancakes are fluffy, and if you add just a little butter on top...yum!!! I don't even have maple syrup at home, but they are already so good!

I never take pictures when making these...but I do have one picture of the end result. But it really is very easy - if I can do it without step-by-step pictures, I am sure anybody can too!

Good Old Fashioned Pancakes
Adapted from: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/good-old-fashioned-pancakes/
Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 1/4 cups milk
1 egg
3 tablespoons butter, melted
Chocolate chips (optional)

Method:

Mix flour + baking powder + salt + sugar.
Make well in the center and pour milk + egg + melted butter.
Mix well.
Add chocolate chips as desired.
Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat.
Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake.
Brown on both sides and serve hot.

Mocha Buche de Noel (Yule Log)

2012-01-05T20:04:00.000-08:00

Buche de Noel with Mocha Cream Filling and Mocha Buttercream Frosting

I made another Buche de Noel last Christmas, but used a different recipe. I think I love this version better. It was not as sweet as my first attempt (http://audreyscookinglab.blogspot.com/2010/05/buche-de-noel-yule-log.html), but I am not sure whether it was the cake or the cream, or just me. On my first try, I altered the original recipe and used Nutella cream for the filling. This time, I used a mocha cream filling and mocha buttercream frosting - I stuck to the original recipe. I think the cake itself was a little better...It seemed easier to work with...or maybe it was just me again...maybe it was a Christmas miracle!

Unfortunately, I did not manage to take pictures for each step. I was making this during a Christmas dinner, and between making dessert and the main entree, and having to wash the pans and pots and bowls and other utensils, things could get really messy. Well, the entree was basically just pasta with ham...and I was only making dinner for five people...but the other four were my boyfriend's buddies and they were all playing online games...one of them made pizza, which was nice...Still, for a novice like me, feeding five people could be quite a task.

Also, I did not make the meringue mushrooms, as I promised myself I would...

Okay...enough with the excuses. Here is the recipe!

Buche de Noel with Mocha Cream Filling and Mocha Buttercream Frosting

Chocolate Roll Cake
Source: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chocolate-yule-log/
Ingredients

5 eggs, separated
1 cup sugar, divided
1/2 cup cake flour
1/4 cup baking cocoa
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Method

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Beat egg yolks on high until light and fluffy.
Gradually add 1/2 cup sugar, beating until thick and lemon-colored.
Combine flour+cocoa+salt.
Gradually add the dry mixture into egg yolk mixture until blended.
Beat egg whites on medium speed until foamy.
Add cream of tartar to egg whites.
Beat egg whites until soft peak.
Gradually add the remaining 1/2 cup sugar into egg whites, beating on high until stiff peaks form.
Stir 1/4 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture to lighten.
Fold in remaining egg whites.
Spread batter onto lined cookie sheet.
Bake for about 12-15 minutes.
Let cool for 5 minutes.
Peel off parchment paper, and roll up the cake in a paper towel.
Let cool.

Mocha Cream Filling
Source: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chocolate-yule-log/
Ingredients

1 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons instant coffee granules

Method

Beat cream until it begins to thicken.
Add sugar and coffee granules.
Beat until stiff peaks form
Chill.

Mocha Buttercream Frosting
Source: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chocolate-yule-log/
Ingredients

1/3 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup baking cocoa
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon brewed coffee
2 tablespoons milk

Method

Beat butter and sugar until well blended.
Add cocoa and beat well.
Add vanilla extract+coffee+milk and beat until well incorporated.

Assemble the Cake:

Unroll chocolate cake.
Spread the mocha cream filling.
Roll up the chocolate cake.
Spread the mocha buttercream frosting.
Use fork to make the log effect.
Chill for about 15 minutes.
Cut a little portion at one end of the roll, diagonally.
Stuck the cut out portion on the top of the cake.

Sorry for the lack of step-by-step pictures! If it helps, refer to my previous post (http://audreyscookinglab.blogspot.com/2010/05/buche-de-noel-yule-log.html) - it has more pictures, and most of the steps are the same anyway.

Chocolate Cake with Espresso Buttercream

2011-09-30T01:14:00.000-07:00

Chocolate Cake with Espresso Buttercream

Made this cake for Adrian's birthday. The original recipe uses ganache for the coating, but I have been doing this for the last several cakes I made, so I decided to use the espresso buttercream for the coating as well. One mistake that I did - I should've doubled the buttercream recipe. I barely had enough to cover the whole cake...and the filling in between the cakes had to be thin...

Anyway, I love the chocolate cake - it is really easy to make, and it goes really well with the buttercream... The buttercream was so smooth, and not too sweet. Perfect combination.

Chocolate Cake and Espresso Buttercream
Source: http://www.oprah.com/food/Chocolate-Cake

Chocolate Cake Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup sugar
1 1/3 cup all purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt

2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
6 Tbsp canola oil
2 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 cup very hot water

Chocolate Cake Method:

Preheat oven to 375F.
Combine all the dry ingredients above (sugar + flour + cocoa + baking powder + baking soda + salt).

Whisk all the wet ingredients together (eggs + milk + oil + vanilla), except the hot water.

Add the wet mixture into the dry ingredients, and mix for about 5 minutes.

Reduce mixer to low speed and add 3/4 very hot water.

Pour mixture into jelly roll pan lined with parchment paper.

Bake for about 20-25 minutes.
Let cool completely.

Cut into 3 equal parts.

Espresso Buttercream Ingredients:

Note: If you want to use the buttercream for the coat as well, it is better that you double the portion. If not, you can use ganache for the coat, just like the original recipe.

4 egg yolk
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
2 sticks butter
2 tsp espresso powder
1 tsp hot water

Espresso Buttercream Method:

Beat 4 egg yolks (medium speed) until lemon colored and ribbon like when you lift the beater - about 5 minutes.

In a small sauce pan, put sugar + water on medium/low heat, swirling occasionally, until it just boils.

Increase to high heat, boil until it reaches 238F.

Add the syrup to egg yolk mixture in a thin, steady stream (mixer on medium speed).

Beat mixture until it cools down to room temperature, and the texture is light and fluffy (about 10 minutes).
Gradually add butter, 1 Tbsp at a time.

Dissolve espresso powder in hot water.
Add to the buttercream and beat until well incorporated.

Assemble the cake:

Bottom part of cake.

Spread some buttercream.

Add the middle layer of the cake.

Spread more buttercream.

Add the top layer of cake.

Spread the buttercream all around. Do a thin layer of crumb coating first, refrigerate, then coat it again.

Well...garnish as desired!!! I added some chocolate sprinkles on the bottom.

Since I could not coat it nicely, I decided to make some kind of lines patterns on the side using fork...

Didn't know what to do with the top, so I dusted some chocolate powder.

Cut and serve!

Chocolate Hazelnut Gateau

2011-09-17T23:19:00.000-07:00

Chocolate Hazelnut Gateau

I made this for Adrian's mother's bday. The recipe was not too difficult and I liked the end-result. I just could not find a way to decorate it in a nice way. I was running out of time too, since we were surprising her at midnight, so I had to just make use of the white chocolate chips to make it look a bit nicer.

Don't let the appearance fool you! This recipe is good!

Chocolate Hazelnut Gateau
Source: http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Chocolate-Hazelnut-Gateau

Gateau Ingredients:

2/3 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs, separated
1 cup (6 oz) semisweet chocolate chips, melted and cooled (Note: I used dark chocolate)
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup milk
2/3 cup ground hazelnut, toasted

Glaze Ingredients:

3 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp light corn syrup
1 Tbsp water
1 cup (6 oz) semisweet chocolate chips
Some white chocolate and hazelnuts for garnish.

Method:

Cream butter + sugar until light and fluffy.

Beat in egg yolks + melted chocolate + vanilla extract.

Combine flour + salt.
Gradually add flour mixture to the creamed mixture, alternating with milk. Beat well after each addition.

Stir in hazelnuts.

Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.

Carefully fold egg whites into the batter.
Spread onto 9-inch springform pan.
Bake at 350F for about 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
Let cool.

In a saucepan, bring butter + corn syrup + water to a boil, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat.
Add chocolate chips and stir until smooth.
Cool to room temperature.
Spread over top and sides of gateau.

Garnish as desired.

Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies

2011-09-13T15:24:00.000-07:00

Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies

It's been a while since I last posted anything on this blog... I haven't been baking anything new this summer. I did make some things I have made before though, like the layered cheesecake, macaroons, matcha-chocolate marbled cakes, and I made several batches of cream puffs the last few months. I just got really lazy this summer so I haven't been researching any new recipes to try out.

Anyway, I was watching an episode of Friends where Monica was trying to figure out Phoebe's grandma's cookie recipe, and it turned out to be the recipe written on the package of Nestle's chocolate chips... so I thought that I should try it out. I had a stash of Nestle chocolate chips in my kitchen that I could use, and all other ingredients were available too.

Recipe was really easy and the cookies were great! I saved some of the dough in the freezer - shaped into log and wrapped in wax paper - so I could slice and bake them in the next few days. Quick, easy and cheap way of satisfying my sweet tooth.

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups (12-oz pkg) Nestle Toll House Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels (Note: I did not end up using the whole 2 cups because I thought there were a bit too much chocolate chips in my cookie dough)
1 cup chopped nuts (Note: I omitted the nuts)

Method:

Preheat oven to 375F.
Combine flour + baking soda + salt.
Beat butter + granulated sugar + brown sugar + vanilla extract until creamy.

Add eggs, one at a time. Beat well after each addition.

Gradually beat in flour mixture.

Stir in morsels & nuts.

Drop by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake for about 9-11 minutes or until golden brown.