Raspberry Cheesecake

I initially wrote a blog post about friendship, loyalty, and honesty. But you lot don't really care about that, so I'm just going to go straight to this week's recipe share: baked raspberry cheesecake. 

Raspberry Cheesecake

For the crust:

• 200g digestives
• 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:

• 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
• 300g (roughly 1 1/2 cup) fresh raspberries

1. 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 
2. 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
3. Add the sour cream, vanilla extract, and flour in one addition and beat until thoroughly combined
4. 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 
5. Pour the cheesecake filling into the springform tin about 1/3 of the way up and scatter fresh raspberries, cover with more filling, and scatter more raspberries, repeat until all the filling has been poured in
6. 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
7. 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
• Raspberry coulis (see below for recipe)

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 raspberry coulis over the top of the cream
4. Refrigerate until ready to serve

Raspberry Coulis

• 250g fresh raspberries
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup water

1. In a saucepan, bring the raspberries, sugar and water to a boil. Simmer until the fruit is mushy then stir in the vanilla
2. Remove from heat, allow it to cool then pour it all into a blender and whizz to a puree
3. Strain the puree through a sieve, then slather your cake layers with the goop

Beet It! Chocolate Cake

I spent the majority of last Saturday's daytime hours in the kitchen, baking cakes, cupcakes and scones for several orders received from friends and family. I first baked two dozen chocolate cupcakes with chocolate ganache for my mother to take to her friends' do, low fat raisin scones for breakfast (recipe coming up in the next few days), a red velvet cake, and this beautiful Chocolate Beet cake.

I found the recipe for this cake a few weeks ago on Joy the Baker's blog, and knew that I had to try it at the next occasion. And what better occasion than one of my dearest friend's birthday?

Angie and I first found each other in 1st Form, in St Teresa's girl school back in Sarawak. We got on like a house on fire, and were inseparable for that entire school year! My family moved the next year, and then Angie and I had to content ourselves with meeting only once or twice a year. But now that we've both graduated and started work, she's moved to the city and is more accessible to me! Huzzah!

Happy birthday, my love, I hope you enjoyed the cake and the company, and I can't wait to see you again (Friday Karaoke!). Love you loads.

Ravenclaw - Nadia, Slytherin - Angie, Muggle - Jess <3

Chocolate Beet Cake

Recipe by Joy the Baker

• 1 large beet (or 2 small-medium ones) - 3/4 cup grated for the cake, 2 tbsp grated for the frosting
• 1 tsp vegetable oil
• 170g butter, softened
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 3/4 cup caster sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2/3 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 cup buttermilk

1. First of all, some prep work: Wrap the beets (unpeeled, just trimmed of greens and scrubbed clean) in foil paper, wipe down with the vegetable oil and pop in the oven for an hour or so at 200C, or until a knife poked through the beets go through easily. When they're ready, remove and cool for a while, then peel and grate the beets on the fine grate of a box grater and set aside
2. Preheat the oven to 180C and line your 8x8 round baking pan with butter and parchment paper
3. Combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda & powder and salt in a medium bowl and set aside
4. Cream the butter and sugars until light, then beat in the eggs (one at a time), vanilla and beets
5. Beat in half of the flour mixture until incorporated, then pour in all the buttermilk, followed by the rest of the flour when the milk has mixed completely
6. Divide the batter between your pans, and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a skewer poked through at an angle comes out clean. You don't want to overcook this cake, trust me. When it's done, allow the cakes to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then move onto a cooling rack to cool completely

Cream Cheese Beet Frosting

• 1 cup butter, room temperature
• 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar (Joy's recipe calls for 4-5 cups, but the thought of that much sweetness makes me gag)
• 2 tbsp finely grated beets
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp milk
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice
• Salt

1. Cream the butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy
2. Beat in the beets, vanilla, lemon juice and salt
3. Beat in the sugar, half a cup at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the milk as and when it's necessary, though I didn't need to add any for my second batch

Assembling the cake

The first time I made this cake for Angie, I put a layer of the cream cheese frosting between the cake layers, though this resulted in too sweet a cake for my liking, and it kind of overpowered the taste of the chocolate. I baked a second cake the next day (for picture purposes, as well as to give a chance to my family to try this amazing recipe... thanks, Joy!) and slathered a layer of blackberry coulis (cos I love that stuff!) in between instead. Cover the cake with a thin layer of cream cheese frosting, then pop in the fridge for 15 minutes to half a hour to allow the "crumb coat" to set. Then apply another top coat (it's like getting a manicure) sparsely, you don't want too much frosting, and use a warm bench scraper (dip the scraper in a bowl of hot water, then wipe it clean quickly before use) to smooth the sides of the cake. Chill in the fridge for at least half an hour to allow the layers to set.

Sneaking veggies into dessert and then fooling ourselves that it was a healthy snack is one of my favourite things to do! Who doesn't like claiming their 5-a-day in a slice of dense, moist chocolate cake? 

If you like chocolate, you'll LOVE this cake. I was really worried that it would taste like salad, what with beets in the cake as well as in the frosting, but all the beets really add to the cake are their moisture. So if you want to try something a little fancier than zucchini in your chocolate cake, give this one a shot. 

Lots of love, 

Nabs

Ladies Who Lunch: Mama Zee's Birthday

I consider myself lucky that I have an amazing mother. She is strong, smart, beautiful, intuitive, possesses far more talent in her pinky finger than I do in my entire body, and so full of love that she has shared so generously with everyone around us. My mother really is the best.

Most people are blessed with great mothers, but in our very close-knit circle of friends and extended family, we are exceptionally lucky in that we have a wonderful team of mothers. Best friends for most (if not all, actually) of our (the children's) lives, they have raised us as a group, poured their love on us, shared wisdom wrought from their own lives, listened to our boy troubles, endured our rants, and basically have just been there.

Today one of them celebrates a birthday, and in true Team Mama fashion, they organised a long lunch this afternoon (midweek public holiday, yay!), pooled together for an extravagant present (this year, Portmeirion is all the rage among the group), and sat over good food, laughing, sharing stories and taking every opportunity to scandalise Nisa, Kaly, her hapless boyfriend, and myself with innuendo and downright disturbing comments.

Mama Zee, being one of my six mothers, obviously deserves to get a homemade birthday cake! No bakery cake for any of my mamas, no way. I may not be able to afford to buy a Portmeirion teacup (or even a saucer), but this I can definitely do.

After my friend, Amy's hen night karaoke session last night (I know, you're thinking... where is that blog post?), I hauled myself home, washed my face and found that I couldn't sleep. All I could think about was a cake for Mama Zee! I knew there was no way in hell I'd be able to wake up early enough to do it, and I had actually planned on just baking the cake layers ahead of time, then frosting in the morning... but when I finally did crawl back into bed, the clock read 5.30am.

It was well worth it though. I decided to tackle Swiss Meringue Buttercream for the first time (3am decisions, they make sense sometimes) considering The Mothers have always harangued me for my too-sweet buttercream. It was surprisingly easier than anticipated, and wowweee at that silky-smooth texture and lack of sickening sweetness! Can't believe it took me this long to try it, and now that I have, I think I may have to stick with it...

I used my favourite white cake recipe, which I then divided into four bowls (roughly 1 1/2 cups per bowl) and coloured in increasing shades of pink (a teeeeeeeny tiny drop of Wilton Pink colouring gel in the first bowl, one drop in the second, 2 drops in the third, and 3 drops in the fourth). I baked the cakes in 6-inch round pans, all at once for 25-30 minutes, then popped them in the freezer (triple cling-wrapped) for half an hour.

With leftover blackberries from my Upside-down Blackberry Buttermilk cake, I whipped up a Blackberry Coulis for filling the layers. I've got some coulis leftovers now... watch this space to see what I do with it.

Blackberry Coulis

• 250g fresh blackberries
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup water

1. In a saucepan, bring the blackberries, sugar and water to a boil. Simmer until the fruit is mushy then stir in the vanilla
2. Remove from heat, allow it to cool then pour it all into a blender and whizz to a puree
3. Strain the puree through a sieve, then slather your cake layers with the goop

Swiss Meringue Buttercream

• 2 large egg whites
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 180g butter, softened
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

1. Whisk the egg whites and sugar until sugar is completely dissolved in a heatproof bowl over a bain-marie
2. Transfer to your mixing bowl, and with your whisk attachment, whisk the mixture at medium speed for about 4-5 minutes until soft peaks form (hello, meringue!). Add the vanilla.
3. At this point, slowly add butter into the mixture, by tablespoon-fulls. Continue until all the butter is in, and just whip until the point where when you run a spatula through it... it comes up looking beautifully smooth

If you have a stand mixer, I suggest you step away during that last step of the swiss meringue process. It looks terrifying, and you'll be tempted to "fix" it, as it seems as if the mixture is curdling. But don't you worry, darlings, it's meant to be that way. It will improve upon extended whipping. My tiny batch took roughly 5-8 minutes to finally arrive at a consistency I was happy with.

 

And what a beautiful taste the frosting produces! For the first time, my frosting has not overwhelmed the flavours of my cake, and as The Mothers enjoyed the cake quite a bit... I like to think I did it right this time. No complaints of "Nabiya! This is soooo sweet!" or "A moment on the lips..." and you know how it goes.

Anyway, happy birthday, Mama Zee, hope you enjoyed the lunch and love you loads!

xx Nabs