Green Tea Cheddar Cheese Cake, with a touch of green

Last month I came across an old recipe for Parmesan Cheese Cake from dailydelicious, I started adapting the recipe based on what ingredients I have at hand and ended with a slightly different cheese cake. Nevertheless, I am rather happy with the outcome.

As you can see from the little amount of cheese used, this cake is not as rich but rather more towards the souffle cheesecake texture. As compared to using crushed biscuits as the cake base, I would rather take the trouble making a layer of sponge cake for the ease of handling upon slicing. Also, there is the versatility of choosing the preferred one's preferred flavor and color to enhance the taste of the cake. 

Sponge cake (Cheese Cake Base)

3 Grade A Eggs
80g Castor Sugar
90g Cake Flour
2 tsp Green Tea Powder
30g Unsalted Butter, melted

• Preheat the oven to 180C degrees.

• Line a 25x25cm square baking pan with baking paper.

• Mix and sift the flour together with the green tea powder. Set aside.

• In a heat proof mixing bowl, whisk the eggs with the sugar over hot water until warm and the sugar melted.

• Remove mixing bowl from the hot water and continue whisking with a hand mixer until thick and lighten in color and upon lifting the mixer the batter hold the trail for several seconds.

• Sprinkle the flour mixture over the egg batter and fold to combine with a spatula.

• Pour melted butter over the batter and gently fold until combined.

• Pour batter into the pan and bake the cake for 20 mins.

• Allow the cake to cool in the pan before trimming the cake to fit as the base for the cheese cake.

Making the Cheese Cake
( Sufficient for a 21x21cm square cake pan)

80g Cream Cheese
80g Butter
50g Cheddar Cheese
1 tsp Vanilla Extract / Paste
200ml UHT Fresh Milk

30g Raisins (filling)

70g Cake Flour, sifted
25g Sugar

80g Egg Yolks
50g Plain Yoghurt + 1 Tbsp Fresh Lime Juice

180g Egg Whites
70g Sugar

Mixed Fruit / Apricot jam  for brushing top of cake

Directions :

• Preheat oven to 180C degrees. Line the bottom and the sides of a 21x21cm square cake pan with parchment paper ( I use aluminum paper). I also add another layer of aluminum paper over the cake pan to prevent water from seeping into the cake while baking in waterbath.

• Place the sponge cake layer into the cake pan and sprinkle the raisins over the sponge cake.

• Mix cake flour and sugar together. Set aside.

• Mix 1 Tbsp of fresh lime juice into the yoghurt.  Set aside.

• In a saucepan, melt the cream cheese, butter, cheddar cheese together with milk and cook over low heat. Add vanilla extract.

• Pour the above mixture into the flour mixture and whisk to combine. Add egg yolks and continue stirring until smooth. Add in yoghurt mixture and continue stirring until thoroughly combined.

• In another clean and oil free mixing bowl, beat the egg whites with sugar until soft peaks form. Fold the meringue into the egg yolk in 3 additions, fold to combine. 

• Pour batter into the prepared pan.

• Place the cake pan over the baking pan. Pour hot water into the baking pan until it reaches 3/4 of the cake pan.

• Bake at 180C degrees for 30 minutes. Lower the temperature to 160C degrees and continue baking for another 25-30 minutes. Half way through the baking, cover the cake top with aluminum foil from over browning.

• Remove cake from oven and let cool.

• Once the cake has cooled, brush the top with mixed fruit jam. 

Strawberry Cheese Bread

We were back in Malaysia for an entire week during the first week of April for 清明节 and 观音诞 celebrations. It was an extremely tiring week for me  filled with lots of activities, traveling time from KL to Taiping Perak.

By the end of the trip I was extremely home sick. I missed my fur babies, the familiar scents of my bed and living space. Yesterday, I started going through the stacks of unpublished photographs and began working on the arrangement and typing out the recipes for this blog.  This is the second time I have revisited this recipe (previous batch using Alex Goh's version) with some adaptions. 

Sweet Bread Dough 基本麵团甜麵包 (A)

200g Milk

4g Instant Yeast

330g High Protein Bread Flour

70g Low Protein Flour

80g Castor Sugar

4g Salt

1/2 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar

1 Grade A Egg

40g Unsalted Butter

Strawberry Cream Cheese Toppings (B)

125g Cream Cheese

40g Sugar

50g Whipping Cream

10g Instant Custard Powder

Method (B) 

Cream the cream cheese until light. Add sugar and continue creaming until smooth. Add in whipping cream and mix until well blended. Add in custard powder and mix until well combined. Transfer batter into a piping bag and set aside. 

Streusel Topping (C)
40g Sugar
50g Unsalted Butter
100g Bread Flour

Method (C)

Mix Sugar and butter until crumbles by using fingers. Add in flour and continue to mix until crumbles. Store in the refrigerator for later use.

Directions

• In a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment, add all the ingredients except butter. However, leave around 30g of milk left to be added slowly later. 

• Mix at low speed (speed 1) until all the ingredients are well mixed to form a coarse ball dough ( appro. 2-3 min). Add the remaining liquids if necessary.

• Add butter and slowly increase the speed to medium for approx. 15-18 min until a smooth, window pane effect is formed. 

• Shape the dough into a ball and allow it to proof in lightly greased bowls. Cover the bowl with cling film and allow to proof for 1 hour or until it doubles in size.

• Test the readiness of the dough with a finger lightly dusted with low-gluten or cake flour.  The dough is ready when the dough remain indented after the finger pokes into it.

• Punch down the dough. Roll into balls and leave to rest for another 15 mins.

Yummy.....

• Divide sweet bread dough into 14 equal portions and mould it round. Place 6 doughs into a  well greased bread loaf pan. Repeat the same if you have an extra bread mould, otherwise, you may place the remaining bread doughs onto a baking tray.  

• Spray some water over the dough with a fine-mist nozzle. Leave the dough in a warm place ( I kept mine inside the oven). Proof the final bread dough in the tin for 50 min.

• Egg wash the surface. Pipe the strawberry cream cheese fillings in the centre of each individual bread. Sprinkle some streusels over the top.

• Preheat oven to 200 degC but bake at 180 degC for about 35 - 40 minutes (for bread loaf) and 15 minutes (for individual / loose buns). Remove from oven and unmould immediately. Let the loaf cool off before slicing.

Brown Sugar Cinnamon Rolls

Brown Sugar Cinnamon Rolls

Carol Hu's "The Second Book of Baking for Beginners" was my first bread making and guide book when I first started exploring baking. The book had served me well as a self learner, providing me with a wealth of information with detailed written and pictorial instructions. Until today, I would still recommend this book to anyone who wish to pick up baking skills on their own. It is a must have starter book for beginners as the methods are very straight forward and recipes proven to yield good results.

Lately, I have been alternating between 周老师的美食教室 "天然手作麵包101道" by 周淑玲 and another book as reference for bread making. This book was given by an old old buddy of more than 20 years who took the trouble to go around books store to get me lots of good baking books. Unlike Carol's book which is packed with pictorial illustrations, this 周老师's book is less comprehensive but it compensates by bundling with one free DVD tutorials covering the necessary aspects of bread making.

For this bread, I opted for a No Knead Soft Bread Dough recipe as the base bread to compare it against other bread dough recipes which calls for considerable kneading works. This recipe derives its softness through its high content of oil and sugar, which are also essential factors in producing soft breads.

No Knead Soft Bread Dough 基本面围
免揉超软面包

270g Milk
4.5g Instant Yeast
450g High Protein Flour
90g Low Protein Flour
4.5g Salt
1 Large Egg
90g Unsalted Butter (melted)

Cinnamon Roll Filling 
80g Dark Brown Sugar
Cinnamon Powder


Directions 

• Combine all ingredients into a mixing bowl. Use the end of a flat rolling pin to stir the contents with each addition until incorporated.

• Add in melted butter and continue using the tip end of the flat rolling pin to stir the dough for 5-6 mins until combine and the dough becomes soft and elastic. (I did not complete the entire process but rather dump the dough into the stand mixer and allow the mixer to do the kneading. According to the recipe, if one prefers to knead using this 'no knead' formula, the outcome of the bread would be even better and chewy). 

• Place dough into a slightly grease bowl. Sprinkle water on the dough and cover the bowl with cling wrap. Place the bowl in a warm area and allow it to proof for 60 mins for until double in size.

• Punch down the dough. Divide and roll the dough into 2 equal parts. Cover and allow to rest for 10 mins.

• Lightly dust the work top with bread flour.

• Flatten dough and roll into rectangle shape of 16x12cm of 5-6mm thickness. 

• Evenly spread sugar over the rectangle dough and follow by cinnamon powder (adjust dosage based on preference).

• Lightly spray a thin coat of water over the dough to allow the sugar to stick onto the dough. Roll up the dough (beginning from the long side) into a long roulade and pinch to seal the seams securely.

• Cut 8 equal size rolls and arrange side up on a greased baking pan. 

• Repeat the same for the other half dough to create another 8 equal size rolls to be arranged onto the same baking pan.

• Cover and allow the dough to proof for another 50 mins.

• Apply egg wash over the cinnamon doughs. Sprinkle another thin layer of brown sugar over the doughs.

• Bake the rolls on the 2nd lowest level of a preheated oven at 180C degrees for 20-22 mins. 

Light Strawberry Cheddar Cheesecake

Baked this batch of cheese cake for my buddy as my hubby went there for business trip two weeks ago. Unlike the normal cheesecake which is dense and creamy rich, this recipe only use small dosage of cream cheese. I have adapted this recipe from the original as I was trying to use up the leftover cream cheese in the fridge. 

I was hoping for the cake  to turn out like the souffle cheesecake, however, after baking the cake ended up like a hybrid between the chiffon and sponge. In my opinion, this cake will serve well for those who are less keen on cheese as there is only a mild tinge of cheesy flavor to it.  

Light Strawberry Cheddar Cheesecake

Ingredients (A)

140g Evaporated Milk

30g Cheddar Cheese

30g Cream Cheese

50g Butter

(B)

110g Superfine Flour

(C)

5 Egg Yolks, 

1 Whole Egg

1 Tbsp Strawberry Extract (I use blended fresh strawberries)

(D)

5 Egg Whites

110g Castor Sugar

1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar

(E) 

Fresh Strawberries for Decoration (optional)

Method

• Preheat oven at 150C degrees (Upper and Lower Rack).

• Line and grease bottom and sides of an 9" x 9" square cake mould with parchment paper. 

• Using a hand whisk, combine and boil (A) in a heat proof saucepan / mixing bowl over low heat. Keep stirring until butter and cheese is fully melted. Remove from heat.

• Sift in (B) to (A) mixture while it is still warm. Mix well. 

• Set the above mixture over hot water to keep warm. Add (C) and combine well.

• In another clean and oil free mixing bowl, whisk egg whites and cream of tartar in (D) until frothy. Add sugar in 2 batches and continue beating until soft peak is formed.

• Fold 1/3 of the egg whites mixture to egg yolk batter. Mix until just incorporated. 

• Pour the batter to the remaining egg white mixture. Mix well.

• Transfer the batter into the prepared pan and bake at under the lower rack 150C degrees for 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 130C degrees and continue to bake for another 35-40 minutes till skewer inserted comes out clean. 

• Remove cake from oven and immediately drop the cake pan at a height of 30cm onto the kitchen counter top to release the hot air inside the cake.  This process helps to reduce sinkage / shrinkage of the cake upon cooling. Unmould the cake immediately. 

• To unmold, place a large plate or baking sheet on top of the cake pan, invert the cake pan onto the plate / baking sheet. Remove the cake pan and the parchment paper on the base and sides of the cake. Place a cooling rack on the base of the cake, invert the cake right side up onto the cooling rack and leave to cool immediately. 

• Chill the cake in the fridge for 2-3 hours or overnight before serving.

Chicken Pie 鸡肉派

Being raised from a traditional Chinese home,  my exposure to savory desserts were mainly steam buns, hand made kuihs, dumplings, fried carrot cakes etc. Pies and tarts only came into the picture after I started working in Singapore in the early 90s.  During then, I only buy egg tarts and would choose egg tart over chicken pie. I guess I was probably more inclined towards eggs than meat in general. So when I turned full vegan 2 years ago,  it took me a while to disengage myself from my eggs attachment. 

I remembered how I loved munching on the crust of egg tarts,  the buttery cum firm bite of the fruit tarts from delifrance. Being new to vegan baking and the difficulty of getting vegan ingredients from Indonesia, I have no choice but to bake non vegan versions for my household members, who has been my supporter and many thanks to them I get to continue my baking and cooking quest without having to worry about wastage or leftovers.

Chicken Pie 鸡肉派

Ingredients A (Filling - 馅料)

300g Chicken Breast Meat  鸡胸肉
2 Cooked Eggs 煮熟鸡蛋
3 Slices Ham 火腿 (Optional)
1/4 Onion 洋葱
150g Cooked Potatoes 煮熟马铃薯
1/2 Capsicum 甜椒
2/3 Cup Evaporated Milk 奶水
20g Corn Flour 玉米粉
1/2 Tsp Salt 盐
1/4 Tsp Pepper 胡椒粉

Dice All Ingredients. 

Heat up 2 - 3 Tbsp cooking oil and fry onions till softened. 

Add in chicken meat and stir fry till 80% cooked. 

Stir in eggs, ham, potatoes and capsicum. Season with salt and pepper.

Add in corn flour and evaporated milk to thicken the mixture. 

Remove and set aside to cool for later use.

将所有配料切丁. 在锅里烧热 2-3 汤匙油, 加入洋葱炒香至软, 加入鸡肉炒至8分熟, 加入蛋, 火腿, 马铃薯和甜椒, 拌炒均匀后加入盐和胡椒粉调味. 最后加入拌匀的玊米粉奶水一勾芡至浓稠状.

Ingredients B (Crust 派皮)

150g Cake Flour  低筋面粉

100g Frozen Butter 冰硬牛油(diced)

1 Egg Yolk 蛋黄

1/4 Tsp Salt 盐

1/4 Cup Ice Water 冰水

Sift Cake flour onto table top. Add frozen butter to the flour. Using a dough cutter. cut the butter into coarse bits. Using chopsticks, mix well flour and butter mixture, egg yolk, ice water and salt to form a dough. 

Place the dough in a plastic bag and press with palms to even out the dough. Refrigerate the dough for 1 hour.

将面粉过筛在面板上, 放在上冰硬牛油, 以切面刀切碎, 加入蛋黄, 冰水和噔盐, 以筷子搅拌成团. 装入塑胶袋. 再以手轻轻压成厚度均匀的面团, 放入冰箱冷藏1 小时.

Method

• Remove dough from fridge. Take 2/3 of the dough and divide into smaller portions. Roll / Flatten out each portion and cut into round disc with cookie / pie cutter. Place the dough into pie mould, add filling. Repeat until all the portions are used up. 

• Roll the balance 1/3 of the dough (crust) and cut into round disc, use it to cover the pies.

• Remove excess crust. Use fork to press the edges of the pie to form patterns. Use tooth picks to punch a few holes onto the upper crust.

• Brush with beaten egg yolk.

• Bake in preheated oven at 170C degrees for 40 minutes. 

• 取出面团, 将 2/3 的面团分成小份, 擀成圆形薄片, 放入塔模中整形, 填入适量馅料, 将剩余的派皮擀薄, 刷上蛋黄.

• 将派放入预热至170C 的烤箱, 烤约40 分钟即可.

Coffee Yoghurt Nutty Cake

Here is another " easy to make" cupcake recipe. Most people who ate this cupcake mistakenly thought it was cheesecake due to the creamy texture of the cake.

Coffee Yoghurt Nutty Cake

Ingredients :

(For the base and the crumbs)

120g digestive biscuits (crushed)

40g Walnuts (lightly roasted and chopped coarsely)

40g Hazel nuts (lightly roasted and chopped coarsely)

80g Light brown sugar

8g Instant Coffee powder

80g butter (cold, cubed)

Ingredients :
(For the cake layer)
 
225g Butter (softened at room temperature)
130g Castor sugar
3 Eggs (lightly beaten , Grade A)
1 tsp Vanilla extract
A pinch of salt
300g Cake Flour
1-1/2 tsp Baking powder
225g Plain Yoghurt

Method

• Preheat oven to  170C degrees.  

• Mix crushed digestive biscuits, light brown sugar, chopped walnuts, hazelnuts, instant coffee powder in a mixing bowl. With finger tips, rub in the cold butter until mixture becomes crumbly. Set aside.

• Sift cake flour and baking powder, set side.

• Prepare and line the bottom of the cupcakes mould, baking cups with 1/2 of the crumbles.  Spread evenly and press firmly with the back of a spoon. Set aside.

• Using a stand mixer with paddle attachment, beat butter with sugar until batter turns pale, creamy and fluffy.

• Mix in vanilla extract, salt and mix well.

• Add in eggs, one at a time while continue mixing until fully incorporated.

• Fold in the cake flour and baking powder with swift and light folding strokes until flour mixture is evenly combined. The batter at this stage will be thick and firm.

• Stir in the yoghurt until the batter is of 'spreadable' consistency.

• Transfer the batter into prepared baking cups. Sprinkle the balance of the crumbles on top of the cupcake batter.

• Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

• Remove cupcakes from oven, let cool slightly before serving.

• The cupcakes can be left at room temperature or left to chill in the fridge. 

• When chilled, allow the cupcakes to return to room temperature before serving.

Strawberry Souffle Cheesecake......sweet and tender

Last week I was suddenly drawn by the urge  to fiddle with the camera, and as usual, the subject of my photography would evolve around my fur babies or baking. As I have already taken truckloads of photographs for my three furry babies, the thought of taking pastries appeal to me more. Then I started rummaging through my collection of recipes against whatever available ingredients I have on hand.

Okay, I still have leftover strawberry puree kept in the fridge and a block of cream cheese beckoning for attention. Hence I settled for making cheese cake which would be a safer choice and general crowd pleaser since it would be hard for my hubby to finish the same cake alone by himself and I could distribute the excess away.

Strawberry Souffle Cheesecake

(Makes one 9' x  9" Cake)

175g Cream Cheese (cut into cubes)

84g Unsalted Butter (cut into cubes)

7 Egg Yolks (Grade A Eggs with net weight of 55g or more)

120g Milk

50g Strawberry Puree / Paste ( I use 50g fresh strawberries and blend into paste) 

1 Tsp Lemon Juice

105g Cake Flour

49g Corn Flour

7 Egg Whites (Grade A Eggs)

160g Castor Sugar

1 tsp Lemon Juice

1.5 Tsp Instant Coffee (Dissolve with 1 Tbsp Boiling Water & 1 tsp vanilla extract)

Method

• Preheat oven at 150C degrees. Sieve together cake flour and corn flour and set aside.

• Line the base and sides of a 9" square cake pan (fixed base) with parchment paper. For the sides, make sure the paper extends higher than the cake pan by 2-3cm to allow the cake to rise properly rather than spilling out from the side. 

• Place cream cheese and butter in a heat proof large mixing bowl. Set the mixing bowl over a saucepan of simmering water while making sure the base of the mixing bowl does not reach or touch the simmering water. 

• Keep stirring while allowing the cheese butter mixture to melt smoothly. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

• When the cream cheese butter mixture has cool, add in egg yolks one at a time while using a hand whisk to whisk until combine.

• Add milk, strawberry paste and continue to whisk until evenly combined. Stir in lemon juice and whisk well.

• Sieve over the flour mixture and using quick light strokes whisk to incorporate the flour into the cheese butter mixture. Apply gentle strokes while whisking the mixture until there are no visible lumps in the batter, avoid over mixing the batter.

• In another separate, dry and clean mixing bowl, beat egg whites and lemon juice with an electric hand mixer on low speed until mixture turns frothy. Add in 1/2 of the sugar and continue beating the egg whites with high medium speed for a minute. Add in the balance of the sugar and continue beating the egg whites until soft peaks are formed. Turn to low speed an beat for another 1-2 mins to help stabilize the air bubbles.

• With a spatula, fold in the egg whites meringue to the cream cheese batter in 3 separate additions until combined.

• Spoon 3 Tbsp of the strawberry cheese batter into the coffee mixture. Mix till smooth.

• Pour batter into the prepared cake pan. Tap the pan lightly on a table top to get rid of any trapped air bubbles in the batter. Drop dots of coffee batter onto the cheese cake batter. Draw the marbling with a knife.

• Place cake pan in a baking tray. Fill the tray with hot water to reach about 1cm of the cake pan.

• Place cake pan on lower rack of the oven and bake at 150C degrees for 60 mins or when the  cake tester inserted comes out clean.

• Remove cake from oven and immediately drop the cake pan at a height of 30cm onto table top. This helps to prevent the cake from shrinking upon cooling. Unmould the cake immediately and quickly remove the cake pan and parchment paper. Place a cooling rack on the base of the cake, invert the cake right side up onto the cooling rack and allow to cool completely. 

• Leave the cake to chill in the fridge overnight before serving.