Chocolate Cream Cheesecake

If you have read my previous post last month, I said that I have excess of marcarpone cheese.. I've been procrastinating all these while.. Hence, I've been baking excessively this Christmas week cos I wanna use up all the mascarpone cheese and also for the gathering I have at work.. And of ocurse trying out new recipes from the new books that I have.. Weee~

I never tried making chocolate cheesecake before.. Hence, you should know what happened... I made a new recipe from the new book that my sis bought for me.. The author is a Malaysian if I'm not wrong or Singaporean.. I don't know.. It's called Cheesecake Seduction by Catherine Lau...All her cheesecakes look fabulous and mouth watering.. It's very inspiring actually... However, what I don't really like about the book is that it's not very detailed.. hence making it hard for me to decipher the steps.. I have to think properly and experiment on my own.. But other than that, it's a great book.. Go get it if you can... Support Asian cooks and Bakers!! hehe..

Chocolate Cream Cheesecake (taken from Cheesecake Seduction by Catherine Lau)
(my notes in red)

TOPPING
200ml whipping cream
50ml milk
250g dark chocolate, chopped

FILLING
10 egg yolks
2 eggs
60g brown sugar
500ml milk
300ml whipping cream
2 tsp instant coffee powder
250g dark chocolate, melted
250g mascarpone cheese, stirred gently until smooth

BASE
30g butter, diced
60g dark chocolate
1 tbsp brown sugar, firmly packed
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp instant coffee powder, mixed with 1 tsp hot water
2 tbsp cocoa powder, sifted
1/8 tsp bicarbonate of soda, sifted
40g ground hazelnuts

Directions:
TOPPING
1. Heat cream and milk over gently simmering water. Add chocolate. Stir until smooth.

2. Pour two-thirds of topping into a deep 20-cm round cake pan. Cover and refrigerate. Set aside remaining chocolate.

Filling
1. Preheat oven to 160 deg C. Whisk egg yolks, eggs and brown sugar for 2 minutes. Set aside.

2. Combine milk and cream in a pan over low heat. Bring to the boil and remove from heat immediately. Stir in coffee powder and chocolate. Stand for 5 minutes. Slowly pour chocolate mixture into egg mixture while stirring until combined. Strain then leave to cool.

3. Stir in mascarpone into chocolate mixture until smooth. Slowly pour mixture on chocolate topping in cake pan. Place pan in water bath. bake for 50 minutes. (I need to bake quite long.. almost more than an hour..and I had to increase the temprature higher for the last 15 minutes or so. The point is, you need to bake till the  batter is firm enough to hold the base later.. so that it won't sink.. I'm assuming that it will sink it its still in liquid-y state).

Base
1. Combine butter and chocolate. Stir over low heat until smooth. Remove from heat. Stir in brown sugar, egg, milk, and coffee mixture, one at a time. Add remaining ingredients. Mix well. Spoon into a piping bag with a large plain nozzle.( I didn't use a piping bag.. Just spread it with a trusty spoon or spatula. Try to make as leveled as possible)..

2. Remove cake pan from oven. Pipe mixture on filling. Bake for 15 minutes or until centre of base is firm. (I did a toothpick test with the base). Remove and cool. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

3. Carefully run a knife around the edge and invert cheesecake onto a serving plate. Warm remaining chocolate topping and serve with cake. Decorate as desired.

I made half the recipe as usual.. I used 70% chocolate for the whole recipe.. and the cheesecake wasn't sweet at all including the topping.. Hence, I would recommend using milk chocolate or not-so-dark chocolate for the topping at least... I think you can opt out the coffee if you don't want to bitterness tang inside the filling..

This recipe produces a soft cheesecake.. not cakey at all although it's a baked cheesecake.. It's not really like custard.. More to creamy.. Overall, I think it's a lovely cheesecake for all dark chocolate lovers.. You can tweak the recipe a bit for a slightly sweeter cheesecake..

~Another day is going by..
I'm thinking about you all the time~

Chocolate and Banana Cupcakes

Recently, my sister bought for me some recipe books.. 3 books to be exact.. One is a Cupcake book, one Bread book and one Cheesecake book.. They were quite affordable actually.. Which is good.. But she bought it so that I can bake some of it for her.. Partly.. Pffftt~ Thanks for the wonderful books anyway.. :)

Anyway, I love love love the Cupcake book.. It's called Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery.. The cupcakes look really pretty and I can't wait to make them all.. Haha... I kept looking through the book everyday.. Contemplating which one I want to make.. All I had to do was wait for payday to make my first one.. The book had so many pretty pictures and I like the fact that they do not use any tip to frost the cupcakes.. just a spatula to spread and sprinkle away with the beautiful toppings.. Hence, on Monday.. I finally made something..

The cupcakes rose nicely, nice eaten just like that.. I like the buttercream for the fact that it uses dark chocolate.. It's still sweet but I it was just nice to me.. The buttercream consistency was on the softer side which I had mixed a bit longer.. Helps a bit.. but I suggest you just fridge it for a while.. It kinda helps.. The banana taste was kinda mild.. maybe the bananas I used were quite small.. But I would put more bananas in next time...

Chocolate and Banana Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream (taken from Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery by Martha Swift and Lisa Thomas) (my notes in red)

125g unsalted butter, at room temperature
250g caster sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp good quality vanilla extract
250g plain flour, sifted
2 tsp baking powder
4 ripe bananas, mashed with a fork
175g good quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), broken or chopped into small pieces

1. Preheat the oven to 160 C / 350 F/ gas mark 4 and line a 12-hole muffin tray with the appropriate size cupcakes cases

2. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until the mixture is pale and smooth, which should take 3-5 min using an electric mixer.

3. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and beat again briefly (add the eggs one at time making sure it is has incorporate well in between). Stir in the mashed bananas and chocolate pieces using a wooden spoon (careful not to over-stir).

4. Carefully spoon the mixture into the cupcake cases, filling them to about 2/3 full. Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes. To check they are cooked, insert a skewer in the centre of one of the cakes - it chould come out clean.

5. Remove from the oven and leave the cakes in their tins for about 10 minutes before placing on a wire rack to cool.

6. Once they are completely cool, ice the cupcakes with chocolate buttercream. If you wish, pop some chopped walnuts on each one. Alternatively, you could simply serve them with no icing at all for a breakfast treat, warmed in a the oven for a few minutes beforehand.

Chocolate Buttercream Icing

175g good quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
225g unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tbsp semi-skimmed milk, at room temperature
1 tsp good quality vanilla extract
250g icing sugar

1. Melt the chocolate in a bowl or plastic just in the microwave until smooth and of a thick pouring consistency. A general guide would be to heat at 30 sec intervals on medium, stirring in between, to avoid burning the chocolate. Alternatively, melt the chocolate in a heatproof glass bowl over a saucepan of barely simmering water. Stir in occasionally until it has completely melted and is quite smooth. Leave to cool slightly.

2. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter, milk, vanilla and icing sugar until smooth - this can take several minutes with an electric hand mixer (I beat the butter, milk and vanilla first to soften the butter a bit and then add the icing sugar gradually). Add the melted chocolate and beat again until thick and creamy. If it looks runny to use when trying to ice the cupcakes or cakes, simply keep beating - this will thicken the icing and improve its consistency.

~Running away you can't pretend..~

Wilton Course 2

Yes.. That's my cake!!! My beautiful garden that I created... Hahaha.. I just had like abundance of flowers.. Hence, I overloaded my cake with it so as not to waste it.. What do you all think? The flowers were like done in a span of one week.. I did on average 2 different types per day when I'm free.. I had to do it at night after work and it would take one whole night to dry...

My concept was like flowers on both side.. I wanted to make an all rounded cake.. Hence, I made the flowers flow down to the front on the right side.. and flowers flow down to the back on the left side.. But for picture taking purposes, I can only put the bird facing one 'front'.. But my concept is all-rounded.. I just placed as many flowers as possible cos I had waaaaay toooo many.. Haha.. I still have leftovers till today.. PPfftttt...

My favourite flowers were the almost-red daisies and primrose.. For colouring, I love the Orange coloured roses.. But my roses can never be as pretty as the ones in the book.. Why???? My favourite flowers to make would be Apple Blossom and Violets.. haha.. I love making pansies too.. Daffodils are pretty too!! Ok ok.. I love all of them!!

I enjoyed Course 2 alot.. Our instructor was Kathryn.. Very knowlegeable and shared alot of stories with us.. Made new friends.. Pauline, Kristina (she's with me from Course 1), Wilmur, Melody and Christina.. All a happy and friendly bunch.. Learned a lot.. Exchanged a lot of info.. Wish we can all be in the same class again!! These are the other awesome cakes that were made by the ladies of the class..

The cake above is made by Christina.. I loved her daffodils.. She made the centre bud with orange colour.. It was really pretty and outstanding..
I thought her pink rose was pretty even though she thought it wasn't that nice.. She makes awesome chrysanthemum too.. :)

Next is Wilmur's cake.. Very pastel, very sweet.. I liikkee... Hehe.. I love her purple primrose.. And the height of the cake made it so magnificent.. Simply decorated which is good.. I wonder how it was being eaten in the end though.. Hehehehe..

Up next is Melody's cake... Very nice blue which makes the white flowers stand out.. And her basketweave look ultra neat!! haha.. One of the outstanding cake cos of the different colour.. Oh yeah.. I love her leaves colour actually..

Here is another Kristina's cake.. She makes lovely roses since our Course 1 days.. Her cake was big too but not as tall as Wilmur's.. hehe.. I love her pink flowers.. There's something nice about her pink.. The flowers are arranged and crowded in a good way that makes it all pretty.. And I liked her leaves colour also.. haha.. I think I have a fetish for looking at leaf colours.. Hmmm

Presenting to you Paulines' cake.. Her cake looked simple and pretty.. I like the fact that she used the voilet leaves.. I hated to make that.. Cos I can't make nice ones.. Her rope borders look perfect and is nicely placed on the cake.. And it's good that she does not cover it with her pretty flowers.. Her roses are a beauty too..

All of us this a great job.. And to see our final project out was the greatest relieve for the week.. at least for me.. It was an achievement.. Good Work Ladies!! I hope to see you in the next class...

Not forgetting my cake.. haha.. How about a last shot of it.. at another angle.. Just lovely.. I don't have the pictures of a cut slice cos I gave it away to my friend's baby shower event as a present.. I hope it tasted ok if not overly sweet.. Just for your info, I made a 3 layered cake.. Chocolate layer, vanilla layer and another chocolate layer.. I got the recipe from Martha Stewart website.. In between the layers, I spread some chocolate ganache.. I seriously wonder how it tasted like...

~It's been a while, so let's start now..

Let's leave the world behind us...~