Mini Frozen Cheesecakes

After making the pumpkin cake roll for Christmas dessert, I had some chocolate whipped cream leftover, on top of having some cream cheese mix left. On top of that, I also had a bunch of brownie crumbs, as it was very difficult to cut good pieces out of the brownie.

In an effort to use up all these leftovers (or at least most of them, as I still have brownie crumbs left), I made these mini frozen cheesecakes. The base is simply brownie crumbs pressed into the bottom of a silicone mini-cupcake mold. Then I folded the cream cheese, quark, and icing sugar mixture into chocolate whipped cream, and plopped it all on top of the bases.

The tops were flattened with the back of a buttering knife, and everything was put into the freezer. While a little hard to manage straight out of the freezer, as they were virtually impossible to scoop with spoons, these cheesecakes were enjoyable when softened but still cold.

Lemon and Berry Cheesecake with Marzipan Mice

November 11, 2015

This cheesecake got lost between posts as I had taken pictures with my dad's camera, having forgotten my own. This was one of the many many desserts available for my niece's 5th birthday party.

The cheesecake itself was made in a manner that was similar to the reunion cheesecake, except with lemon, as I did not have any limes around. The last of the frozen berries I had used then to make the topping, so I watered down some red fruits jam.

The base is the usual shortbread pastry.

The focus point this time are these little family of mice I made to run on the serving plate that I borrowed from my cousin. They are made of plain marzipan, a bit of which I kneaded with chocolate powder to turn it brown. The eyes just have less chocolate. I made a baby one with inverted colors for some variety. Maybe one day, I'll post a tutorial how to make these, as I learned it from a book my brother has.

Lime and Strawberry Mini Cheesecake

For reasons, I had to provide some baking samples a few days ago. I wasn't too sure of what to bake, and I wasn't in the mood for baking a cake like banana bread. I did not really have the ingredients for much else, so I opted for cheesecake (and even then I had to borrow butter from a neighbor).

Inspired by the reunion cheesecake, I opted for a lime flavored base on top of a shortcrust pastry. I got distracted and thought we still had a jar of forest fruit jam, but I was mistaken. Therefore, I cooked, reduced, and crushed some frozen strawberries we still had, and topped the cheesecake with that. I made 4 of the same ones, in 10.5 cm springform pans.

I then dug through the various sizes of boxes and cardboard in our recycling box, to find some way to package 3 of these so they wouldn't get crushed or fall while I biked to deliver these for the people who were going to sample them.

Reunion Cheesecake

August 8, 2015

A week after my return from China and Hong Kong, I had a reunion with other alumni from my High School. Because we are spread all over the place, we had a mini European reunion for those of us based in Europe (and who could make it on that date).

We had a great barbecue, with skewers, corn, potatoes, salad, and more. Someone the week before had told me they missed the cheesecake our dorm mother used to make. Since I was hosting the event this time, and also since my recipe came from our dorm mom's recipe, I thought I would make cheesecake for our reunion dessert.

I made a shortcrust pastry for the crust, and the filling is lime flavored. Due to not having enough Greek yogurt, I thought I would try baking it a little less time, to keep the cake from being too dried. Apparently, it was a good choice, since my cousin who has eaten many of my cheesecakes said this was one of the best.

I topped it with a berry sauce made from blended frozen berries that I had let thaw, then reduced with some sugar to cut through the acidity. When I brought it out to the table (under the sunny sky), some others decided we should write DVA (the initials of our alumni association) on it. It wasn't very visible just carved out with a skewer, so I used some leftover almond powder I had to go over the letters.

Lemon and Nectarine Cheesecakes

 July 20, 2015

This was an unplanned cheesecake, to be honest. I went to the supermarket with my uncle, with the idea of getting ingredients for tiramisu. The cheese/dairy section of the first place we went to had been cleaned out, however, and the 2nd one did not have any ricotta or mascarpone. I had to settle for something else.

When I found a few boxes of cream cheese, I figured I could make cheesecake. My uncle had mentioned liking denser, rich cheesecakes, which is close to the ones I have been making (although I've been trying to make them less dense, these cheesecakes will never be the fluffy or spongy types that use eggs). I then ran to the yogurt aisle in hopes of finding Greek yogurt to use instead of sour cream. No luck. I went for plain yogurt, and figured I'd deal with it as it comes.

The first thing I did when getting home was to put the yogurt to drain in a strainer, in the fridge, for the whole night. I was teaching someone how to make the cheesecake, and he was surprised at the amount of water the yogurt released. This, by the way, is how to make a Greek yogurt-like substance to use. Then I made the cheesecake as usual, flavoring it this time with lemon zest and lemon juice. I did not have any egg replacer, so I tried making my own out of a mix of starches and baking powder (recipe here). I ended up with way more batter than I'd bargained for.

Therefore, I made 2 cheesecakes, with the same filling and topping, but with different crusts. The first, in a smaller mold, had a homemade shortcrust pastry crust that went up the sides, whereas the second just had a crushed cookies and butter crust at the bottom.

I topped it with watered-down nectarine jam, to which I had added more lemon juice. While I was dealing with the jam, I took some green nectarines, and let them macerate with a sprinkling of sugar, to soften them a little. Then I arranged them on the top. The slice of lemon in the middle was a reminder to the filling's flavor.

Mini Strawberry Cheesecake

I made this last week for a friend whose birthday was on Wednesday. I was only able to give it to her on Friday, however, as cheesecake needs to chill overnight. I kind of threw this together really quickly without really measuring the amounts of ingredients used.

I picked 3-4 of the ugliest strawberries from the punnets I'd gotten at the market the week before. These I mashed into a pulp before adding a 200 g tub of Philadelphia cream cheese and a bit of sugar. I also added about 2-3 tablespoons of quark instead of the usual sour cream/Greek yogurt.

As it was late, I did not want to have to dig out the egg replacer and have to mix it with water to add in. Therefore, I opted to leave it out. As the strawberry pulp had added some juice and thus liquid to the batter, I threw in half a teaspoon of cornstarch to make sure the cake held together.

After baking it a bit in the oven, I let it to cool to room temperature, then topped it with sliced strawberries, on top of which I sprinkled some more granulated, unrefined sugar. The whole thing was placed, unmolded, into the fridge overnight.

Orange Cheesecake, Christmas Tree Cake Remake

 

For yet another hallway dinner (February 2nd), I made a very simple orange cheesecake. The crust is a simple crushed cookie and butter crust, topped with a cream cheese and orange juice mix. The hardest part was making the topping using supremed tangerines. The failed ones got chopped into small pieces and cooked with a bit of pectin to cover the rest of the surface. Then I just shaved some chocolate on top.

I made about 10 of these, and will make this recipe again when I'm in a pinch, as it is so very easy to make. The recipe called for less orange juice than I used, but I just added enough for the batter to reach a consistency I felt was normal for cheesecake, based on previous experiences. This cheesecake also does not need to be baked, simply chilled overnight.

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I also made a 2nd Christmas Tree cake, with an improved interior. The exterior, however, wasn't as good due to my ganache not holding the way it was supposed to...

Triple Cheesecakes

Did I mention that I received some new springform pans for Christmas? I got about 4 of them, around 10.5 cm in diameter. Since with these, I now have a total of 8 mini springform pans, I used the opportunity to test some different recipes for cheesecakes, all in one go! As you can see, I made 3 types, and I made 2 of each type. They all have a butter cookie crust (with a tiny bit of almond).

Let me describe them from left to right:

Classic Cheesecake: This is a twist the "classic" recipe I usually use, with cream cheese and Greek yogurt (as sub for sour cream or fromage blanc that I used to use). I flavored this with rose, and topped with a berry sauce and cinnamon whipped cream.

Ricotta Cheesecake: I read somewhere about a cheesecake made out of ricotta, so I wanted to test it, since ricotta is a much lighter cheese than cream cheese. I flavored this one with lemon zest and lemon juice, topped with somewhat candied lemon slices. Although it was indeed lighter, I felt that the slight grittiness due to the ricotta's texture wasn't what I was looking for in cheesecake.

Greek Yogurt Cheesecake: This recipe was pure Greek yogurt, although I added a bit of starch to stabilize the mix. I really enjoyed the creaminess. I left this one vanilla flavored, and topped with a bit of berry sauce, and cinnamon whipped cream.

Served with more cinnamon whipped cream.

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THREE CHEESECAKE RECIPES (filling only)

  Ingredients

     Classic Cheesecake [2 x 12 cm pan]

• 200 g cream cheese
• 125 g Greek yogurt
• 1 1/3 eggs' worth of egg replacer
• 1/3 lemon's juice
• . rose water
• sugar
• topping

     Ricotta Cheesecake [2 x 10.5 cm pan]

• 250 g ricotta
• 2/3 eggs' worth of egg replacer
• 1/6 cup cream
• 1 lemon's zest
• 1/2 lemon's juice
• sugar
• topping

     Greek Yogurt Cheesecake [2 x 10.5 cm pan]

• 285 g Greek yogurt (~2 cups)
• 1 egg's worth of egg replacer
• 1/2 tbs cornstarch
• 1 pack vanilla sugar
• sugar
• topping

  Procedure

1. Mix all ingredients except the topping.
2. Pour into prepared pan (with prepared crust/base).
3. Bake at 180°C for 15 mins.
4. Let cool to room temperature, then refrigerate overnight.
5. Top as desired, and serve.

  Tips

     Put a pan filled with water on a rack underneath the cheesecakes while baking to provide steam and prevent cracking.

Mini Cheesecakes with Nectarine and Grape

As I have mentioned several times previously, we have hallway dinners in the student housing I live in. Basically all or most tenants of the same hallway gets together to eat, roughly once a week. Last semester, I was in a different hallway (having moved during the summer), and this hallway has themed dinners.

For example, the stuffed bell peppers I made a couple of weeks ago were for a Mexican-themed dinner.

This week, we had an American themed dinner. I immediately volunteered to make cheesecakes, for although I've made them numerous times in the past (21 to be exact!), I haven't made a cheesecake in a while. It was high time for me to get back on my cheesecake track.

These were plain vanilla cheesecakes, with a small crust made from crushed digestive-type cookies and some melted butter. I topped them with nectarine slices that I left to soak in a bit of slightly sweetened water syrup, and I added half a grape for color contrast.

As sour cream is not cheap, I opted for some Greek-style yogurt to sub in. It may have been part of the cause for a higher density of the cheesecake, which was not the usual smooth creaminess. That may also have been partially because I'm still not used to baking in the small toaster oven we have here, and may have overbaked it all a bit...

As I had leftover cheesecake filling, I put it all in a small springform pan to make the larger one.

Lemon Crumble Cheesecake

Yesterday was my brother's birthday. He's not a big fan of cheesecake, but my mom had already ordered a durian cake for him. That cake, however, has eggs, which means not everyone could eat it. So as usual, I took it upon myself to make a cake.

My mom's first suggestion was "a banana cake," to which my first thoughts were "I have only made one before in my life, and it's not something I see as a birthday cake." Then after some thought, she added "what about that really good lemon cheesecake you made before?" I knew it was her favorite of all cheesecakes I'd made (and that she had eaten), so I thought "why not?"

The recipe is the same as this one, except I used 2 whole lemons in zest and in juice. I used about 185 g of cream cheese, and 500 g of sour cream. For the egg replacer, I used my usual Orgran ones, since I had it on hand (instead of making my own like that time I made this cheesecake).

I thought the topping being crumble mix would make it kind of boring. Decorating the cake makes it much more interesting, but the challenge was to decorate it without making the crumble topping soggy. I went for an arrangement of 3 candied lemon slices. Easy enough to make: slice lemon, boil in a sugar syrup (2 parts of water for 1 part of sugar), then let cool. After putting them on, I sprinkled some granulated sugar for extra prettiness.

Last Christmas, one of my brothers gave me a decorating pen, with which I could write things on cake. I thought I'd test it out on this cake, using some chocolate.

I tested it out a bit on some spare baking paper, to make sure I could control it well enough. Surprisingly, it is easy to use. Just squeeze the barrel a bit while writing.

Melted some chocolate chips over a bain-marie. Then I got to writing. I tried to copy the Brock Script typeface for the capital letters, the rest being my own (neatified and fancified) handwriting.

"Bon Annif" is short for "Bon Anniversaire," which means "Happy Birthday" ~

Mango Rose Cheesecake

Since my mom brought a cake yesterday for my birthday party, we didn't use the one I baked. So I thought I would provide it for hallway dinner today!

The crust is made of spéculoos cookies with some melted butter. The filling is cream cheese and greek yogurt with a hint of cinnamon and some lemon (no rose flavor, the appellation comes from the shape). Topped with mango, strawberries, and whipped cream.

The whole cheesecake:

And rose details:

Candied Lemon-Orange Zest

A few days ago, I made these candied lemon and orange zest. I was making a fruit salad, and thought it would be a waste to throw away these nice zests, so after scrubbing them, I separated them from the bitter white parts.

After cutting into strips, I blanched them a bit in boiling water, removed them and drained them, and then dunked them and simmered in a bit of sugar syrup (sugar to water ratio 1:1).

The water from blanching and the leftover syrup were good, so I mixed them and made tea.

I tried making steamed cheesecake, but seeing how I didn't have any cream cheese, and not enough quark to make a full recipe, I kind of eyeballed the amounts and mixed some quark, cornstarch, and baking powder together. Then I threw in the candied zests, and steamed it. Guess I went a bit overboard on heat (or on baking powder)....

After cooling and refrigeration, it was ok... but the texture wasn't really great. Instead of nice creamy cheesecake, it was something closer to cheese, like some mozzarella or something, except less smooth. This would be something to experiment some more with.

The finished cheesecakes were pretty though. They tasted nice, just the texture was horrible for a cheesecake.

Hallway Dinner

In my college dorm, we often organize hallway dinners where everyone living in the same hallway gathers together for a dinner. The way it is done varies from hallway to hallway, but in mine, we usually have one person cooking for the whole hallway. This Monday, it was my turn.

First, I cooked up a large pot of curry, accompanied by a choice of white or brown rice.

This curry consists of potatoes, carrots, lentils, a bit of tomato, eggplant, and cashews. The thickening agent in the sauce is simply the potato starch (and an extra potato I mashed up), since I couldn't use wheat flour, since one of my hallway mates is allergic to gluten. Some extra stuff added, besides the spices, curry powder, and cilantro are soy cream (heavy cream made out of soy) and lactose-free yogurt, for another of my hallway mates is lactose intolerant. Besides these, the recipe's pretty much the same as this one. With me as a vegetarian and others who are omnivores, we've got people of all kinds here!

I also made a bowl of raita (yogurt-cucumber salad) simply seasoned with salt and pepper. I made it with lactose-free yogurt as well. I didn't manage to take a picture of it, though.

For dessert, I made individual portions of blackcurrant topped lemon cheesecake in silicone cupcake cups. These were accompanied by small bars of spéculoos cookies, and all in all were just smaller versions of these ones.