Raspberry Brownie Cheesecake

I've been quite ill these past few weeks, and have only just begun feeling a bit like my old self. So to celebrate, I baked up one of my favourite treats, a recipe I've wanted to share since the first time I tried it out of the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook over two years ago.

This recipe combines three of my favourite things: chocolate brownies, baked cheesecake, and raspberries. When I first tried a slice of this from the London store many, many years ago (gosh... it's been so long since uni), I feel completely in love with it. So when my friend, Jimmy, came back from a holiday in the States with a copy of the Hummbingbird Bakery Cookbook for me, it was the first thing I searched for. And lo, there it was!

It's a simple enough recipe to whip up on a night in, assuming you have all the ingredients on hand. So turn on the telly, watch a couple episodes of The Voice, and bake away! Yes, that's exactly what I did on Saturday night after attending a friend's wedding with my boyfriend, and I can't think of a better way to spend a night in.

Raspberry Brownie Cheesecake
from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook

Brownie ingredients:

• 200g chopped dark chocolate
• 200g unsalted butter, softened
• 250g confectioner's sugar
• 3 eggs
• 110g all purpose flour

Cheesecake ingredients:

• 400g cream cheese
• 150g confectioner's sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs

Raspberry cream ingredients:

• 300ml whipping cream
• 100g confectioner's sugar
• 150g fresh raspberries, plus extra to decorate

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a 9x6 baking tin
2. Melt the chocolate over a bain-marie, and while waiting for that, beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl. Beat the eggs in, one at a time, then incorporate the flour and mix on medium speed. Pour the chocolate in and gradually increase speed to get it all combined. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and set aside.
3. To prepare the cheesecake layer, put the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl and beat until creamy, then add the eggs one at a time and increase speed of the mixer to ensure everything is mixed thoroughly. Spread the batter over the brownie batter, then bake for 35-40 minutes until the edges are golden. Remove from the oven and let it cool to room temperature before refrigerating for at least 2 hours (I like to leave it overnight at this point and finish in the morning)
4. When ready to serve, prepare the raspberry cream. First chill your mixing bowl and whisk attachment in the freezer for 5 minutes (I can't remember where I learned this trick, but have always done it for whisking cream). Whisk the cream and sugar until stiff peaks form, then whisk in the raspberries. Spread or dollop the raspberry cream over the brownie cheesecake, and serve with fresh raspberries! 

Persimmon, Plum & Blueberry Pie

Little Jack Horner,
Sat in the corner, 
Eating a Christmas pie;
He put in his thumb,
and pulled out a plum,
and said, "What a good boy am I!" 

I love nursery rhymes, and I especially love finding out the stories (or rather, theories) behind them. Apparently this particular nursery rhyme is about opportunism. Here's an excerpt from the ever trusty wealth of general, and oftentimes doubtful, information - Wikipedia:

"In the nineteenth century the story began to gain currency that the rhyme is actually about Thomas Horner, who was steward to Richard Whiting, the last abbot of Glastonbury before the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII of England. The story is reported that, prior to the abbey's destruction, the abbot sent Horner to London with a huge Christmas pie which had the deeds to a dozen manors hidden within it as a gift to try to convince the King not to nationalize Church lands. During the journey Horner opened the pie and extracted the deeds of the manor of Mells in Somerset, which he kept for himself. It is further suggested that, since the manor properties included lead mines in the Mendip Hills, the plum is a pun on the Latin plumbum, for lead. While records do indicate that Thomas Horner became the owner of the manor, paying for the title, both his descendants and subsequent owners of Mells Manor have asserted that the legend is untrue and that Wells purchased the deed from the abbey."

Now before I get started on other nursery rhyme origins, or - God forbid - the Tudor era random trivia that nobody but my closest (and weirdest) friends seems to care about (you know who you are)... I'm gonna slap the recipe down. This was my first time making a double crust pie, so I kept it simple and patchworked together 3 or 4 recipes for the filling (cos I didn't have enough plums). It turned out pretty darn well, and I will definitely improvise the filling for next time (too sweet), but the crust is a winner.

Persimmon, plum & blueberry pie 

• 1 double crust pie dough (recipe below)
• 6 medium sized plums
• 3 persimmons 
• 1 cup fresh blueberries
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 1/4 cup cornflour
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp milk
• Extra caster sugar for sprinkling on top of the crust

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C 
2. Dice the plums and persimmons and mix with the blueberries, sugar, cornflour, vanilla, and milk in a large bowl
3. Roll out the prepared pie crust: turn each disc onto a lightly floured surface, roll out to a circle slightly larger than the size of the pie dish so you have a bit of overhang.
4. Pour the filling into the prepared crust and roll out the second disc of dough over the top, prick the crust to create air vents, then brush with milk and sprinkle the extra sugar
5. Bake the pie for 60 - 75 minutes 

Double crust pie dough 

• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 180g chilled butter, cut into cubes
• 6 - 8 tbsp cold water

1. If you don't suffer from having too warm hands like I do: whisk the flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl, rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture is very coarse and stir in cold water with a fork until the dough almost comes together into a bowl. Don't dump all the water in at one go cos you may not need all of it
2. But for less mess and ease, use a food processor: Pulse the flour, sugar and salt for a few seconds then pulse in all the butter at once until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Slowly trickle in the water, a tablespoon at a time until it begins to form a ball then remove the dough
3. Divide the dough in two, form into discs with your hands and wrap each disc in cling wrap. Chill in the fridge for at least an hour or overnight and pull it out to thaw for a bit before rolling out

Black Forest Cheesecake

First of all, please play the following track http://youtu.be/NucJk8TxyRg

Okay, now that the mood has been set, lets get to it.

I baked this silky-smooth Black Forest Cheesecake last week. My family loves Black Forest chocolate from Cadbury and I've always wanted to put it in cake form, so thanks to the year end holidays, I finally had that opportunity! I'll save some time and go straight to the recipe share for this week:

Black Forest Cheesecake
7" Springform Tin
Preheat oven 180°C

For the crust:

• 200g Oreo biscuits, filling removed and biscuits crushed
• 100g butter, melted

1. Grease & line a 7" springform tin with parchment paper
2. Combine the crushed biscuits and melted butter in a medium bowl and then pour into the prepared baking tin and press up the sides and the bottom
3. Cover with a clean cloth and refrigerate the crust for at least 10 minute

For the cheesecake filling:

• 170g dark chocolate chips, melted & cooled
• 450g Philadelphia Cream Cheese, cold
• 3/4 cup caster sugar 
• 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp milk, room temperature
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup sour cream, room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 heaped tbsp all purpose flour

1. Melt the chocolate chips in a bowl in the microwave for 30 seconds, take the bowl out and stir with a spoon until smooth
2. Pop the cream cheese and sugar in a large mixing bowl, beat until it blends into a smooth mixture then gradually add the milk and continue to beat 
3. Beat the eggs in one at a time, and make sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl with a spatula to ensure it's all mixed properly
4. Slowly pour in the cooled melted chocolate, continuously beating the mixture 
5. Add the sour cream, vanilla extract, and flour in one addition and beat until thoroughly combined
6. Take the tin with the crust out of the fridge, wrap it with tinfoil and place the tin in a larger roasting tray or baking tin 
7. Pour the cheesecake filling into the springform tin and smooth it out (or draw heart shapes with your spatula) 
8. Now here's the move that will literally make or break your cheesecake (no, seriously, don't skip this if you don't want cracks in your cheesecake): Pour hot water into the larger roasting tray/baking tin until it comes up to about 3/4 of the springform tin with the cheesecake inside (this is a water bath, and people make a huge deal about it like it takes so much effort but it really takes 2 minutes and truly makes a huge difference in ensuring the success of your cheesecake)
9. Carefully transfer the entire thing to the oven and bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes, then leave the cake inside the oven until the oven has cooled. Remove the cake when that's done, and cover it with a clean cloth and leave it in the fridge overnight to set 

For the topping:

• 150ml thickened cream
• 2 tbsp sifted confectioners sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• Cherry pie filling
• Fresh cherries for decorating

1. Whisk the cream until soft peaks form, then add the sugar and vanilla extract and whisk until slightly firmer. Don't overbeat or you'll end up with sweet butter
2. Pipe out some pretty swirls around the edges of the top of the cheesecake, then cover the top with the remaining cream
3. Spoon out some canned cherry pie filling (I used Duncan Hines for this) on top (within the swirly edges) 
4. Refrigerate until ready to serve

Nigella's Raspberry Lemongrass Trifle

Being assigned the task of bringing dessert to a barbecue in the perpetually hot climate of this Equatorial country in which we reside is one of the most stressful things that has ever happened to me. A good sort of stress, but stress all the same.

I mean, the thought of how hot the barbecue itself will get, plus how thirsty people will be, and then topped off with the thought of having the oven on at all... Rh'llor, save us all, cos I can't take this heat.

Trifles. Cold, creamy, and tart trifles are the answer for warm weather, friends. I mentioned before that my mother's go-to dessert to prepare is a fruit trifle, with fresh fruits, custard, and a jelly topping. But in keeping with my new year, new things resolution, I decided to try out a different sort of trifle.

Nigella Lawson's Raspberry Lemongrass trifle, to be exact. I remember sitting through a Nigella Bites marathon on the Food Channel a few months ago, and this was one of the recipes she featured. I coveted it from the get go, and saved the recipe in my little red recipe notebook, but only pulled it out now.

It's amazing, and I swear you have to try it. It's amazing. I had no idea what I was missing out on until I tried this recipe. If you can get your hands on store-bought trifle sponges, or a light pound cake, or finger biscuits, then do so for the base of this recipe. If, like me, you are unable to find an acceptable store-bought sponge, then make your own! Recipe below.

Trifle Sponge

• 4 eggs, separated
• 150g caster sugar
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 100g all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 200C, line two baking trays with parchment paper, and prepare a piping bag
2. In a large bowl, whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form, then gradually add 2 tbsp of the sugar. Continue whipping until stiff and glossy
3. In another bowl, beat the egg yolks, remaining sugar, and vanilla until fluffy and pale
4. Sift the flour and baking powder and set aside. Fold half of the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture. Fold in flour, then fold in the remaining egg whites
5. Fold in the melted butter at the very end, don't beat the batter
6. Transfer batter into a piping bag, snip off the end, and pipe out short lines onto the baking trays. Be sure to space them evenly, as these tend to spread out (especially if the batter's been over-mixed)\
7. Bake for 8-9 minutes, take them out and cool completely before using for trifle, or store in an airtight container until ready for use

Nigella's Raspberry Lemongrass Trifle

• 600ml water
• 400g caster sugar
• 60g lemongrass, cut in half lengthwise)
• 350g frozen raspberries, thawed (or is it thawed frozen raspberries?)
• Trifle sponges (Nigella says 16, but I just used however many needed to soak up all the jam)
• 3 tbsp limoncillo (Again, Nigella uses vodka, but I didn't have any on hand)
• 600ml single cream
• 8 egg yolks (save the egg whites for macarons!)
• 500ml double cream
• 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract

1. Lemongrass syrup: Make a syrup with the water and 325g of the sugar in a saucepan by bringing them to a boil for 5 minutes. Then turn off the heat, and add the lemongrass and allow to infuse for at least half an hour. Next time I will let it infuse for a lot longer, or add more lemongrasss
2. Strain the syrup into a jug, and keep the saucepan with the lemongrass inside aside
3. Raspberry jam: Measure out 200ml of the syrup into a medium sized saucepan, add the raspberries, and bring to a roiling boil. Let it thicken, and mash the fruit to make a "jam-like consistency". Let it cool slightly, then dunk the trifle sponges in and then arrange at the bottom of your trifle bowl. I soaked up all the jam. Add the limoncillo or vodka, or skip this bit if you don't want any alcohol. Then pour about 100ml of the lemongrass syrup over that to let it absorb all the flavour, and reserve the rest
4. Custard: Heat the single cream in the pan with the lemongrass until almost boiling, then take it off the heat and infuse for 15 minutes (again, I'll probably add fresh lemongrass instead of reusing). In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks and the remaining sugar (75g), then slowly whisk in the cream. THEN, put the custard back into the cleaned out pan, and stir over the heat until the custard thickens, then pour it over the trifle sponges and let it cool, or refrigerate until ready to serve. 
5. Cream topping: Just before serving, or before you leave for the barbecue, whisk the double cream and vanilla in a cold bowl (I usually pop my kitchenaid mixing bowl and whisk into the freezer for about 5 minutes before I whip cream), until it thickens, then cover the custard layer
6. Caramelized lemongrass syrup topping: Heat 250ml of the lemongrass syrup in a saucepan until it turns a golden brown, then drizzle over the cold whipped cream topping to decorate

One of my friends, Nisha, finishing up the very last bit of trifle

This is by far the best trifle I have ever made (and tasted), though I have some notes of improvement that I plan on implementing in the next attempt of it (which, frankly, is probably going to be as soon as tomorrow). Such a great recipe, thanks, Nigella! 

x Nabs

Kiwi & Passionfruit Pavlova

Ever since my trip to New Zealand at the end of last year, where our gracious hostess had left a homemade pavlova in our fridge for our Christmas pudding, I have been tempted to recreate the recipe. And as the pavlova is NZ's national dessert, there was an abundance of recipes in most of their souvenir and curio shops (such as a very cute apron with the recipe embroidered on the front that my aunt bought). Yet, as friends may know, I have always been a bit wary when it comes to working with egg whites (as in whipping or separating them).

Last weekend though, I felt like it just needed to be done. I just had a craving for that crispy crunchy shell, and the icky-sweet marshmallowy centre, with tangy cooling fruits over the top... Mmmm! Besides that, it has also been a while since I've challenged myself with a recipe.

So being the paranoid baker that I am, to prepare the kitchen for whipping meringues in an incredibly humid country (we live on the Equator), I drew all the curtains in the house, put the air-conditioning and de-humidifiers on, and shooed my sister out (body heat, ya know? LOL) of the kitchen. After a good half hour of house conditioning, I felt it was safe to begin...
Pavlova recipe
from an embroidered apron bought in NZ

• 4 large egg whites, room temperature 
• 220g caster sugar
• 2 tbsp cornflour, sifted
• 2 tsp white vinegar

1. Preheat the oven to 150C
2. In your thoroughly grease-free large mixing bowl, with the whisk attachment, whip the eggwhites (with a pinch of salt) until stiff peaks form (roughly 8-10 minutes depending on the climate)
3. Add sugar slowly, whisking well as you go
4. Add the cornflour and vinegar, whisk until just combined
5. Shape the meringue onto non-stick paper on your baking tray
6. Reduce the oven temperature to 120C, bake for 1 hour 20 minutes, after which you prop the oven door open with a wooden spatula, and allow the pavlova to cool in the oven with the oven

Toppings

• 150ml whipping cream, refrigerated
• 1 tsp vanilla
• Pinch of salt
• 1 kiwi fruit, sliced thinly
• Passionfruit seeds

1. Pop your mixing bowl and whisk in the freezer for up to 10 minutes, then when you're ready, whisk the whipping cream, vanilla and salt until fluffy (about 8 minutes, do not overwhisk as this will turn into butter)
2. Gently (I am telling you three times, gently) pipe or cover the top of the pavlova with the cream, then drizzle over with the passionfruit seeds, and arrange the kiwi slices as you like

Caution: this recipe is VERY sweet, though the texture turned out perfectly! I was so surprised that it worked on my first try, as I fully expected it to only work on the third try. My new oven is a godsend, I swear. My aunt mentioned a way to make it less sweet while retaining that texture... I'm going to give that a shot this weekend, and if it works, I'll definitely share the recipe with you.
Lots of love,
Nabs