Chilled Durian Cheesecake

It's a big day of my other half and it's always a headache of thinking what type of birthday cake for him is the best as you might have the same feeling like me hope to give the best to our life partner, right?! Since he likes durian a lot and I still have a box of frozen durian, why not make a durian cake or durian cheesecake for him. Thinking along the way, if you did follow my blog you'll know that I've just made a durian cake and durian cheesecake not long ago. So, it's not a good idea to do the same for him which is nothing special anymore.

Time is limited, I don't really have much time to think somemore as his birthday is just around the corner. Ended up, I make durian cheesecake again, but with a Non-Baked version sandwich with plain spongy cake. I followed a sponge cake recipe from a video clip and luckily it turn out really good. If you did try my chocolate spongy cake before, you will know this lady. Again, I'm very satisfy with her recipe.

For the cheese filling, I'm very particular with chilled cheesecake, as too much gelatin will cause the cake like jelly type. I'm really looking for a soft, light and melt in-the-mouth texture but not jelly cake. So, really have to be cautious about the portion of gelatin added in.

I was quite nervous when he was taking the first bite of this durian cheesecake, guess what? It's so obviously show the satisfaction from his face. I couldn't believe it and I quickly tried the first bite too and it's really something I was looking for. It's soft, light and super tasty for us and couldn't feel the gelatin texture. As I added less gelatin in the batter, the cake couldn't stay at room temperature for too long but it set and stand nicely in the fridge. I'm really glad that the cheesecake turn out very well. When he is happy, I'm happy too!

Ingredients for the plain sponge cake:
(Please follow the video clip)
140g plain flour
4 eggs
30g milk
180g sugar
4g salt
30g oil

Ingredients for durian cream cheese filling:
350g cream cheese
60g caster sugar
250g durian flesh
350 whipping cream
1 tablespoon gelatin
3 tablespoon water

For the filling, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Stir in durian flesh until well combine. Now, get ready for others ingredients. Melt gelatin powder with water over simmering water until the gelatin dissolve. Whip the cream until thicken but not over whipped. Stir in 4 teaspoon of gelatin into cheese mixture until well combine then fold in the whipped cream. Keep the remaining gelatin for the toppings. Place a slice of sponge cake into 8 inches lose bottom baking tray. Spread in half of the durian cheese mixture. Place another layer of sponge cake on top. Spread half of the remaining cheese mixture on top and chilled in the fridge. Mix together the remaining gelatin and cheese mixture and put into a piping bag. Place in the fridge for about 30 minutes until it slightly set (the time depends on how cool the fridge is, so watch it and try to squeeze out a little to test whether it could form any pattern). Pipe out any pattern you like onto the cake and chilled in the fridge for over night. Enjoy!

Sponge Cake (Cocoa)

This might not something special as I know many of you know how to make it. I did have a cocoa sponge base recipe that I used quite frequently but this is something I found which is better than my previous one.

It's quite easy to make and the result was good with a spongy, light and fluffy texture. My previous cocoa sponge was slightly dry whereas this one stay moist which you can eat it straight. Not only that, the main thing is the sponge can be used as a cake base for making all kind of celebration or party cake. Feel free to watch the video clip on how the lady chef did it as well as my final result of experiment. See how spongy it is :)

Cocoa sponge cake recipe for 8 inches round cake pan : whole eggs 203g、egg yolks 32g、caster sugar 135g、glucose 21g、 salt 1g、oil 32g、cocoa powder 21g、plain flour 106g、baking soda 1g、milk 21cc

Bumble Bee

Many thanks to Baking on Cloud 9 for the method of making this bumble bee. Look! Each one of them had their own character and emotions. That's very unusual for me to make this but I feel that sometime it's quite fun playing with it. Thanks quizzine!

Cherry Crumble Cheesecake

After the first attempt on durian cheesecake, I feel quite encourage to try another cheesecake from the same recipe book 我和起士蛋糕的秘密. At first, I was thinking to make an apple crumble cheesecake but at the same time I want to use the canned apple cherry given by PH. I was very curious about the taste of that apple cherry so ended up I make cherry cheesecake.

The cheesecake was not too bad but I still like the texture of durian cheesecake as it's very smooth and silky texture that melt in the mouth was great! This texture is slightly thicker that might take a few more second to melt in your mouth.

I tried to place a piece at room temperature for 15 minutes and the texture was not that thicker then. The crumble is very tasty and goes well with the cheesecake but the apple cherry wasn't that very special. It taste ok but nothing so special for me.

I've done a few study from the recipe book and found that some cheesecake had a very silky smooth texture. I remember before baking the durian cheesecake, the batter was quite liquid or should I say runny whereas this batter of cherry cheesecake was quite thick.

I guess it's due to the ingredients used. Although they both used the same amount of inggredients like cream cheese, sugar and eggs. The different is batter that added with same milk or cream is smoother than the batter made with cream cheese and eggs only. The durian cheesecake was added milk whereas this is not, may be that's make the difference. Please correct me if I'm wrong but so far this is the experiment I've gone through. Anyway, people who are not very choosy like me will still love this cheesecake. It's just an ordinary one for me :P

Recipe from 我和起士蛋糕的秘密 for (7 inches cake tin)

For the base:

200g digestive biscuit

100g butter

For the filling:
400g cream cheese

80g caster sugar
3 eggs

140g cherries

For the Crumble:

60g plan flour

60g caster sugar

50g ground almond

30g butter

1 tbsp cooking oil

1. To make the base, stir all ingredients until combine. Press mixture into base of 7 inches cake tin.
2. To make the filling, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Beat until well blended.
3. Place cherries into the tin. Pour in cheese filling.
4. To make crumble, combine flour, sugar and ground almond, rub in butter and oil until mixture resembles bread crumbs. Sprinkle over the top.
5. Steam-bake in preheated oven at 160C for 1 hour 20 minutes or until cooked. Remove from heat and leave to cool. Chill in fridge for 5 hours or overnight.

Cinnamon Bread Pudding

I've some leftover cinnamon buns and I want to give it a twist to something else. Bread butter pudding is a very traditional English dessert that usually serve with a dollop of ice cream or custard.

I made this pudding for breakfast so we eat it without adding any toppings. The bread pudding is very tasty with the smell of cinnamon together with the raisin and walnut. I like the crusty texture on top and soft moisture texture at the bottom. It's simply the best!

How I made it:

Lightly grease an oven proof shallow dish and preheat the oven to 170C. Cut three cinnamon buns into chunky pieces and place on the dish. In a sauce pan, warm 150ml fresh milk and 150ml fresh cream (or you could use 99% fat free butter milk). Add 1 tablespoon of natural maple syrup or honey until well combine. In another bowl, lightly beat 1 egg and add in the warm mixture and whisk until well combine. Pour the mixture to the cinnamon buns and bake at 170C preheated oven for 20 minutes. Serve warm.