Birthday Vanilla Slice

JAPANESE COTTON SOFT CHEESECAKE

JAPANESE CHEESECAKE


TABLE DECORATION (ROSES AND IVY FROM THE GARDEN)


ROAST TURKEY ASIAN STYLE WITH GLUTINOUS RICE STUFFING

Well, it has been a while since I last posted anything on this blog! Christmas/CNY kept me REALLY busy .......before I knew it, it's almost Easter.

Mind you, I have not been lazy with my cooking and baking. We had a Christmas eve 'do' at our place (BBQ mainly) and I even roasted a turkey! (pix attached) Of course, there was Christmas cake but I forgot to take a picture.

After Christmas, we went to KL/S'pore for a 2 week break during which I bought a large chiffon cake tin. So now, I bake my pandan chiffon cake in the large tin, using 9 eggs (again, didn't take photos - how silly of me!)I even made kuih lapis as I had leftover coconut cream the week before(no pix, sori!) and cupcakes with butter cream icing last week - yummy! Recipe fm colleague - no photos :-( Also made a fudgie chocolate cake yesterday while waiting for my popiah dough to rest - see other post on my success with the skins.

Anyway, I did remember to take some pictures of the Japanese cheesecake that I baked sometime during CNY - didn't have any shots of the sliced cake as we were too busy cutting and eating! So, here you are ........

Oh, I almost forgot to post the recipe for the cheesecake :-0

400g cream cheese
200ml (1 cup) milk
100g butter
¼ tsp salt (I leave this out as it makes the cake a bit salty)
60g superfine flour (I use plain flour)
25g cornflour
6 egg yolks
1 tsp lemon paste or ½ tsp lemon essence (I use 1 tsp lemon juice and grated rind of ½ lemon to substitute)
6 egg whites
150g sugar
¼ tsp cream of tartar
Method:
1. Melt cheese, milk, butter and salt in double boiler. Cool. (Sieve into a basin to remove lumps.)
2. To above, fold in sifted flours, egg yolks, lemon paste and mix well.
3. Whisk egg whites with cream of tartar till foamy. Add sugar and whisk until fluffy but not stiff.
4. Add cheese mixture to egg white mixture and mix well. Pour into 10” round tin.
5. Bake over water bath for 1 to 1 ¼ hours @ 160C

EL’s Notes: (tried and tested)
1. Line bottom of tin with greased greaseproof paper.
2. If using springform pan, wrap outside of pan with aluminium foil to prevent water from bath seeping into tin. (The std size springform pan is a little small and the cake may overflow while cooking. Adjust quantity of ingredients to 300g cream cheese, 150ml milk, 75g butter, 4 eggs, 40g & 20g of the flours and 100g sugar)
3. Use only fresh eggs at room temperature, otherwise the egg whites will not rise successfully and the cake will be anything but light.
4. Not necessary to place hot water in the water bath. Works well with tap water.
5. Check the cake after 1 hour. It’s done if a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

Egg custard tarts

OK, so the tarts didn't look that 'pretty' BUT.......they tasted GREAT!!!
I think I left them in the oven for too long and the temperature was a bit high, so the egg custard puffed up but when I removed them, the custard 'sort of' deflated, hence, the 'crinkled' look!

EGG CUSTARD TARTS 10 Sept 08

Pastry:
160g plain flour
40g rice flour
100g butter/vegetable shortening
¼ cup icing sugar
1 egg yolk, beaten
¼ cup ice water

Filling:
3 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup (60g) caster sugar
1 ½ cups (375ml) milk
yellow food colouring (optional)
½ tsp vanilla essence (optional)


METHOD

1. Make pastry using the rubbing-in method. Leave to rest.
2. Roll pastry to about 3mm thickness.
3. Cut and fit greased 12-hole (10cm) tart pan.
4. Place filling ingredients into a wide-mouthed jug and beat till smooth.
5. Pour the filling into the pastry-lined tart pan till almost full.
6. Bake for 10min at 210C then 10-15min at 200C, until the custard has set.
7. Remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool.


NB: You can brush the pastry bases with beaten egg white (yolk used in pastry) before pouring in the filling. If you replace part of the milk with cream, say ½ cup of cream, the tarts will ‘become’ Portuguese egg tarts.

Original recipe fm Tok Suan (DPA) for 24 small egg tarts
Pastry:
3 cups (375g) flour
180g lard
5 tablespoons hot water

Made on Tuesday 28 October 2008 using 150g plain flour, 50g rice flour for pastry(no egg yolk; used cold water to bind pastry) and 4 eggs / 500ml (2 cups) milk. Produced 16 tarts. Yummy! Next time, try using half rice / half plain flour.

Mango Galette

(Used leftover pastry from spinach/ricotta/feta quiche to make mango galette. Recipe below )


MANGO GALETTE

Pastry
Brown sugar
Ground almonds
2 ripe Mangoes

Glaze
Apricot jam
Lemon juice

1. Roll pastry out. Place on baking tray. Make decorative ridge around edge of pastry (to retain the filling ingredients)
2. Sprinkle pastry with ground almonds and brown sugar.
3. Place sliced mangoes (cut in halves and sliced just before using) decoratively on top of filling. Press in lightly.
4. Bake at 180C for 30-40 minutes, till pastry is golden and mangoes are soft.
5. Cool and brush with glaze, if desired. (warm jam over stove; remove and add lemon juice. Sieve)

Apple Crumble Slice

Sorry - no recipe for this. I got the idea for the apple crumble slice from one of the blogs on the internet when I was searching for another recipe.

Basically. I made a short crust pastry for the base, then baked that for 10-15min till golden. Then, I 'slapped' on a layer of home made plum jam which one of my friends had given to me. I then topped that with some stewed granny smith apples (stew with a bit of sugar, cinnamon and lemon rind) then finished it all with a crumble made with plain flour and butter, then sprinkled it with almond flakes before baking in a moderate oven for 20-30min till golden. Serve warm with cream or ice cream or custard. Also delicious on its own.

TIRAMISU

TIRAMISU
4 egg yolks
½ cup brandy or coffee liqueur (Kahlua / Tia Maria)
500g mascarpone or cream cheese
4 egg whites
½ cup sugar
1 large packet finger biscuits (Saviordi)
2 cups strong coffee - cooled
21 oz semi sweet chocolate, grated OR cocoa
1. Blend egg yolks, liqueur and cream cheese well.
2. Beat egg whites till stiff. Add sugar a little at a time & beat until stiff.
3. Fold egg whites into cheese mixture.
4. Dip ½ the biscuits in the coffee (count to 6). Line tin.
5. Spread half the blended cheese mixture over the cookies. Sprinkle with grated chocolate or cocoa.
6. Repeat with other half of biscuits and cream mixture.
7. Refrigerate overnight.

Baked cheesecake with sour cream topping