Regular readers would know how much i adore cheesecakes!

In my very humble opinion, BEST cheesecakes are from home. Coffee joints ones really cannot make it -_-

finger print by beep. spot it? ^.^

A recent trip to our regular coffee joint, one bite was all i needed. I knew immediately that they changed their supplier! And true enough, they did (i checked). The latest supplier was crap. They cut down so much of the cream cheese used that i really think they oughtta call it Oreo CREAM + GELATINE Cake instead of Oreo Cheesecake. I detest it so much that i walked to the counter with the cake and spoke to the person in charge — my first time! i usually will just close both eyes –

In the end, they exchanged another slice of cake for me and promised that they will speak to the Manager regarding the new supplier’s cake quality. (they better, otherwise… i’ll not go back again!)

I say, don’t pray pray with cheesecakes hor, especially if i am to eat it! Ha!

When i first saw the cake on Smitten Kitchen’s blog, i knew i had to bake it. MUST.

It’s my kinda cake totally. Heh.

1 layer of chocolate truffle, 1 layer of cappucino cheesecake and 1 thin layer of sour cream topping — my new favourite on cheesecakes! (remember yam cheesecake and pumpkin cheesecake?? *wink*) — how could i not bake it???!?!

So baked i did… but a couple of months later after much procrastinating. Heeeee.

That also because Darcy requested it. A chocolate cake, please? he said. Any kind!

Darcy was desperately craving for my cakes.. which is quite abnormal. Maybe, just maybe, the lack of cakes in the house lately contributed to it.  Moreover, bossacafez was coming over the next day.. so all the more i should bake it!

I didn’t have much problem with the recipe except for the crust. Being a lazybumbum, i kinda skip the part where i gotta press the Oreo crumbs up the sides — i’m impatient! — hence, the ugly side crust *hide*.

took too long to photograph.. until everything was jelly soft

You know, i had such a hard time decorating the cake!

The chocolate gotta be at the right temperature for me to pipe it out nicely. The first attempt was terrible – chocolate was too hard = lines were uneven – then, my second attempt was still terrible – chocolate too soft = no lines!

It was during my third attempt that i managed to get it right… but not without a mess. The chocolate was everywhere when i squeezed it to pipe despite certain efforts to downplay the whole piping thingie. By the time i finished decorating, i was completely drained out — it took so much strength to pipe the chocolate out, goodness gracious me!! –  and had a tummy full with chocolate. I kinda swore off chocolate at that particular moment. HAhahahaa!

Cappucino Fudge Cheesecake

(Adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

Crust
180-200g crushed oreo
5 tablespoons hot melted unsalted butter

Ganache
1 cup single cream
15 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup Kahlúa or other coffee-flavored liqueur (i used a combi of Baileys and rum)

Filling
2 * 250g packages cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 – 2/3 cup sugar (own preference)
1 tablespoons rum
2 tablespoons instant espresso powder or coffee crystals
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs

Topping
1 cup sour cream
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp rum

A handful of chocolate covered espresso beans (optional)

(i piped them out instead with chocolate)

Make crust: Finely grind cookies. Add butter and process until crumbs begin to stick together, scraping down bowl occasionally, about 1 minute. Transfer crumbs to 8-inch-diameter springform pan with 3-inch-high sides. Wrap plastic wrap around fingers and press crumb mixture firmly up sides to within 1/2 inch of top edge, then over bottom of pan.

Make ganache: Bring cream to simmer in large saucepan. Remove from heat; add chocolate and Kahlúa. Whisk until chocolate is melted and ganache is smooth. Pour 1 1/2 cups ganache over bottom of crust. Freeze until ganache layer is firm, about 30 minutes. Reserve remaining ganache; cover and let stand at room temperature to use later for decorating.

Make filling: Position rack in middle of oven and preheat to 350°F. Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar in large bowl until blended. Scrape down bowl, making sure you get to the bottom, where little pockets of unmixed cream cheese love to hid. Beat in flour. Stir rum, espresso powder, vanilla in small bowl until instant coffee dissolves (i just dissolved the powder with 1 tbsp hot water) ; beat into cream cheese mixture. Beat in eggs one at a time, scraping down sides of bowl between each addition.

Pour filling over cold ganache in crust — it will go nearly all of the way to the top, don’t panic. Place cheesecake on rimmed baking sheet. Bake until top is brown, puffed and cracked at edges, and the center two inches moves only slightly when pan is gently shaken, about one hour. Transfer cheesecake to rack. Cool 15 minutes while preparing topping (top of cheesecake will fall slightly, making room for topping). Maintain oven temperature.

Make topping: Whisk sour cream, sugar, and rum in medium bowl to blend. Pour topping over hot cheesecake, spreading to cover filling completely. Bake until topping is set, about 5- 10 minutes. Transfer cheesecake to rack. Refrigerate hot cheesecake on rack until cool, about three hours.

Run small sharp knife between crust and pan sides to loosen cake; release pan sides. Transfer cheesecake to platter. Spoon reserved ganache into pastry bag fitted with small star tip. If you’d like to make an approximation (perhaps less rushed?) of the above decoration, pipe 6 diagonal lines atop cheesecake, spacing 1 inch apart. Repeat in opposite direction, making lattice. Pipe rosettes (or, uh, stars if you realize you do not have the energy nor inclination to practice rosette piping at that hour) of ganache around top edge of cake. Otherwise, have fun decorating freely. Espress(o) — ow — yourself!

Garnish with chocolate-covered espresso beans, if desired. Chill until lattice is firm, at least 6 hours.

Do ahead: Cake is best made a day ahead, so the flavors have time to settle. The cake also takes enough time to make that it’s best not to rush through it the day you want to serve it. It can be made up to four days ahead. Wrap loosely in foil, forming dome over lattice; keep chilled.

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Oh, if you must know, the cake was polished off the very next day and everyone was begging for more! AND it was a very very rich cake i tell ya. Not for the faint hearted ones

p.s : i still have no idea why i cant slice the cake perfectly without having the chocolate stained all over the sides of the cake, despite following every instructions!

How do the experts do it???????

pps : using my new prime lens for the first time!!!!

Locked

Heee… i think i need grid!

My photos are always crooked *hides*

Street Photo of Penang

Sunrise and shop houses from the good old days.

I love buildings with intricate details!

I cannot resist but to buy these for the boys… one boy each!

from left : beep’s, kor’s and di’s.

They were hairless botak initially.

It took us 3-4 days to get their hair this long. The boys were thrilled to bits when the hair first grew. I mean, which child wouldn’t?? Even i got excited ok?

Just few days ago, the dolls had their very first hair cut. By didi of course, the proper and responsible one. Hee… All of us just stare at him while he worked on them. Cuteness overload! Lol.

Stir fry taugeh (beansprouts)

It may cost less than a dollar but it is one of the few vegetables that i love whole heartedly. In fact, whenever i ta pao mix rice, taugeh will be my first choice without fail.

It whets my appetite every time!

I can finish the whole bowl of rice just with it. Best if got a bit of sambal lah!

I like it most when a few pieces/slices of fried ikan masin are added into it.

Enak sekali loh!

With so many egg whites left from pineapple tarts making, the most appropriate bakes to use them all up during this festive season would be the Gold Bar, or better known as Financiers. At least, that was what i thought!

Of course, the fact that i bought the mold few months ago and have not had the chance to use it yet was another reason too!

No cracks!! The way it is supposed to be

When i first read the instructions in the recipe, i thought i read it wrongly. Then i re-read and realized i wasn’t wrong at all. The egg whites require no whisking to stiff peaks! When i first baked these babies years ago, the recipe from Carole Bloom instructed me specifically to whisk my whites to stiff peaks! And Keiko Ishida doesn’t.

How odd!

For the fun of it, i experimented the same recipe, 2 ways.

Matcha ones with stiff peaks whites and the rum ones with slight beating whites.

My verdict?

I like the rum ones!

BUT.

The thing is, i filled the batter 50% full for my matcha ones and when i realized later that they didn’t rise that much, i filled the rum ones to almost brim touching!

So, i can’t really judge, can i? ^.^

Most importantly, both tasted just as good… despite the difference, aesthetically.

p.s : amount of sugar has been adjusted according to my personal preference.

Recipe (adapted from Keiko Ishida’s Okashi)

Pastry flour        50g [i used plain flour]
Corn flour          5g
Baking powder  1/2 tsp
Egg White          130g
Castor Sugar      130g 80-90g
Ground almonds 50g
Salt                    pinch
Unsalted butter  130g
Green tea powder 10g

Method :
1. Preheat oven to 220C.
2. Sift flour,corn flour, baking powder and green tea powder together.
3. In a mixing bowl, lightly beat egg white with sugar and salt. Add ground almond, and flour mixture in stages.
4. In a heavy saucepan, heat butter until brown and fragrant. Once browned, transfer butter to a different bowl and cool down immediately using ice water.
5. Add browned butter gradually to flour batter and mix well to incorporate butter into flour batter.
6. Pour batter into molds and bake at 220C (i turned it down to 150C instead) for 15mins.

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As of the many years before this, CNY photo with the boys on the Day 1!

So why in the world were we squatting down instead of standing?

Well, heeee.. because the wind was too strong!!!

I couldn’t get the hair out of the way for a decent photo! :pPpppP

As usual, pineapple tart is a must during CNY.

Otherwise, i won’t be able to get into the festive mood. Grin.

Pineapple jam is made from scratch, right from picking the ideal fruit to shaping it into small balls. It’s quite fun y’know.. despite what others might say. Yes, it’s all about hard work but at the end of the day, knowing and seeing how much your friends and family love the jam, it’s all worth it. Best of all, i have full control over the amount of sugar added into it!

Oh, strangely.. i didn’t have the need to add any sugar in the jam at all this year. Amazing huh?

It really got me scratching my head. Hahaaa.. because i got 3 very GREEN pineapples and just 1 very ripe pineapple. It shouldn’t be that sweet… it should be more sourish than sweet!

Oh well, it’s all good i guess. Sugar saved and the taste is well balanced off!

Kitchen disaster.. something a lot of bakers cannot avoid… and i’m not excluded!

My 5 minutes helper -_-

Tarties waiting to be crowned

And finally….

Pineapple tarts done!

My open face pineapple tarts…

It’s quite hard to please everyone when it comes to pineapple tarts.

In my very small circle alone, there are already so many requests…

I like mine more brown please.

Should add more milk powder.

A little crispier is good.

Oh, next time give me less pineapple ok?

Can i just have the tarts without the jam next time? Heeeeeeeee!

Jam too little lahhhh…

LOL.

Of course, there are some who love it just the way it is too

I’m thinking… if, i’m making next year.. i’ll try out another recipe. For the tart that is. I might not wanna do open face ones again. Something new for a change yeah?

Apart from pineapple tarts, i wanted to bake many other cookies as well. Alas, time is not what i could afford these days. So instead of some tedious cookies baking, i opted for something extremely easy for my second cookie.

Of course… being easy to make is not the only reason ……

It is also ..

Because i have cornflakes.

Because mil likes it.

And because it is sold for a daylight robbery price at $18.80 a tub at Takashimaya!

新年快樂!