Meringue Ice Cream Cake with Summer Berries ~

japanese cheese cake

Japanese Cheese Cake (adapted from Kevin Lam)

Preparation Time: 30 mins
Baking Time: 30 mins
Level: Easy


You'll need:-

(A) Soft cream cheese 200 g (you can have light soft cream cheese)
Corn starch 30 g
Caster sugar 40g
Egg yolks 3
Milk 50g
Lemon juice 2tsp
Salt 1/4 tsp

(B) Egg white 3
Caster sugar 50 g
Cream of Tartar Powder 1/2 tsp


Preheat oven to 180 C. Pour some hot water to a tray and put it in the bottom part of the oven (we called this water bath).

Use a spoon to crush the cream cheese repeatedly until creamy.

Add the rest of ingredients (A) and mix well.

Use an Electric Mixer to beat ingredients (B) for approx. 5 mins.

Fold 1/3 of (B) to (A) and blend quickly in 1 direction.

Fold the next 1/3 of (B) to (A) and blend quickly.

Add all of (A) back to the remaining (B) for the final mixing.

Line the tin with parchment paper and pour the batter to the tin.

Bake it for 25 mins. Leave the cake in the oven for 10 minutes as sudden temperature change would lead to collapse of the cake.

baileys chocolate cheesecake - all time favourite!

Today is my neighbor, Lei's birthday. I want to make her a birthday cake. What should I make? Well, who would say 'no' to a gooey chocolate cake..... so I decide to make her a chocolate cheesecake.

As Ina said, chocolate cake is never going to feel like chocolate without a tint of coffee. This time my chocolate cake incorporates a substantial flavor of Baileys, an Irish cream coffee liqueur. And it tastes just perfect.

I am pretty confident that Lei would love this cake, soft, moist and so chocolatey ... hope this cake would serve a sweet memory for her birthday this year..... xx



This cake serves 8
Preparation time: 30 mins
Baking time: 1hr 20 mins
Level: Easy

Baileys Chocolate Cheesecake

You'll need:

175 g chocolate biscuit crumbs (you can buy McVities chocolate or dark chocolate biscuits)
25 g icing sugar *
5 Tbsp cocoa powder
25 g butter, melted
200 g cream cheese, softened (you can choose light cream cheese)
150 g caster sugar *
4 Tbsp cocoa powder
3 Tbsp plain flour
3 eggs
125 g Italian Marscapone cheese or soured cream
4 Tbsp Irish cream liqueur (you can buy Baileys)


Preheat oven to 180 C. Put the biscuits in a plastic bag and use a roller to roll it to tiny pieces. Then mix together the biscuit crumbs, icing sugar and 5 Tbsp cocoa. Add melted butter and stir until well mixed. Pat into the bottom of a 23cm loose-bottomed or spring form cake tin. Bake in preheated oven for 10 mins; set aside. Increase oven temperature to 230 C.


In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, caster sugar, 4 Tbsp cocoa and flour. Beat at medium speed until well blended and smooth. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Blend in the marscapone cheese (or soured cream) and Baileys liqueur; mixing on low speed. Pour filling over biscuit base.

Bake at 230 C for 10 mins. Reduce oven temperature to 120 C and continue baking for 60 mins.

With a knife, loosen cake from sides of tin. Allow to cool slightly, then push up base of the tin to remove cheesecake. Chill before serving.

If your cake cracks, a helpful tip is to dampen a palette knife and smooth the top, then sprinkle with some biscuit crumbs or icing sugar. It makes a lot difference.

* the amount of sugar I used was just about half of the original receipe, and I think it tastes just fit. If you prefer a sweeter cake, you can always adjust the amount to your taste.

strawberry country cake

This delicious strawberry country cake surprises everyone who tastes it the first time. I learnt it from Ina Garten, my cooking goddess. It is a dense cake but it's supposed to be, yet it's so moist, rich in flavor with loads of fresh strawberries on top and in the middle, served with cognac whipped cream.... that is a cake you can't resist, I promise!

Strawberry Country Cake

This cakes serves 6
An electric mixer is needed

Preparation time : 1 hr

Baking time : 45 mins

Level : Intermediate

You'll need :

nocoupons

• 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 cups sugar (I used 1 cup of sugar which is more than enough for Asians)
  
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup sour cream, at room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
  
• 1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
  
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

For the filling for each cake:

nocoupons

• 1 cup (1/2 pint) heavy cream, chilled
• 3 tablespoons sugar (I used 1 tbsp only)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  
• 1 pint fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C.

Butter the bottom of two 8-inch cake pans. Then line them with parchment paper and butter and flour the lined pans.

Cream the butter and sugar on high speed in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy. On medium speed, add the eggs, 1 at a time, then the sour cream, zests, and vanilla, scraping down the bowl as needed. Mix well. Sift together the flour, cornstarch, salt, and baking soda. On low speed, slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and combine just until smooth.

Pour the batter evenly into the pans, smooth the tops, and bake in the center of the oven for 40 to 45 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then remove to wire racks and let cool to room temperature. If using 1 cake, wrap the second well and freeze.

To make the filling for one cake, whip the cream, sugar, and vanilla in a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment until firm. Slice one of the cakes in half with a long, sharp knife. Place the bottom slice of the cake on a serving platter, spread with 1/2 the whipped cream and scatter with sliced strawberries. Cover with the top slice of the cake and spread with the remaining cream. Decorate with strawberries.

rekindle my childhood memories ~ peanut cookies 迷你花生酥

What a lovely afternoon to start with.... beautiful sunny weather with warm wind blowing outside. 'How wonderful it is if I can have a cup of tea with some peanut cookies', 'Why not?' I said to myself.

This peanut cookie used to be one of the most popular types in Hong Kong, Malaysia & Singapore. I still remember the time my parents took me to attend a traditional chinese wedding banquet, and usually these peanut cookies were served with red bean sweet soup 紅豆沙 as dessert of the banquet. With one of these little nutty cookies in my hand, it certainly brings me back to lovely scene of my childhood memories.

Today let's start with this traditional chinese peanut cookies (迷你花生酥). I'm sure it would be one of your favorites too:)) Thanks so much for pei lin's recipe, you really make my day.

Traditional Chinese Peanut Cookies (迷你花生酥) Adapted from Pei Lin's *

This recipe makes around 40 cookies
Preparation time : approx. 1 hr
Baking time : 20 - 25 mins
Level : Intermediate

You'll need:-

300 g raw peanuts — preferably skinned
* I can only find raw peanuts with skin in UK. To remove the skin, just toast them in an oven at 170C for about 10 mins, then skin can be easily removed*

175 g sugar — separated * Sifted powdered sugar for a superfine, melt-in-your-mouth texture. Caster or granulated sugar for that little crunch in the melt-in-your-mouth cookies. Either way, they're good. *

(A) 185 g all-purpose flour — sifted once
add ½ ~ 3/4 tsp salt (depends you like the degree of saltiness)

3Tbsp creamy peanut butter OR 2Tbsp creamy peanut butter plus 1 Tbsp softened unsalted butter

Enough neutrally flavored oil
* E.g. corn, sunflower-seed or rice-bran oil.
Note: You’re going to need quite a fair amount of it.

* Enough peanut halves — skinned (B) 1 egg — at room temperature
Pinch of salt

Instead of roasting them in a wok with all the constant stirring and “shoveling” for a good chunk of the hour, I toast the peanuts in baking sheet(s), in an oven of 180°C for 15 minutes. By then, they should smell nuttier and look somewhat toasted. Remove the nuts from the oven and set aside to cool in the sheet(s) completely before use.

In a food processor or coffee grinder, pulverize the toasted peanuts with about 30 g sugar until you get a finely ground texture, though, slightly larger bits here and there are inevitable. The cookies will turn out fine anyway.

Combine the ground peanuts with the remaining sugar and (A), then mix in the peanut butter until it is well dispersed in the mixture.

Mix in enough oil to the peanut-and-flour mixture, working it ever so slightly until you’ve gotten a dough that doesn’t fall apart and doesn’t stick to your hands badly. No fixed and fast rules here. Dough too wet and sticky? Mix in additional flour! Dough too dry and crumbly? Mix in more oil!

Divide the dough into walnut-sized portions — or slightly smaller, if that’s what you prefer. Roll each into a ball and place on parchment-lined baking sheet(s).

Gently press a peanut half slightly in the center of each of them.

Lightly beat together (B) and apply this slightly salted egg wash on the shaped dough. (Remember the egg wash should be covered the top of the cookie).

Bake at 180°C, for 20 ~ 25 minutes, until the cookies look golden brown and slightly crackled. Don’t fret! The cookies will “shrink” up a wee bit as they cool.

Remove from the oven and let the cookies sit on the baking sheet(s) for 5 minutes or so to set their underside. Then, carefully transfer the cookies to the cooling racks and let cool completely before storing airtight.