Tiger Stripes Cheesecake

Wow! What a name for a cheesecake you might say! If you take a look at the cross section of this cake you will know why I gave it this name. Doesn't it resemble the stripes on tiger? The stripes are achieved by spooning the two batters alternately. This cheesecake is really rich, soft, smooth and creamy in texture and what's more ... it's sinful.

Take a look.



Ingredients: (18cm springform pan)
Biscuit Base:
50g oreo cookies (remove cream and crush)
50g disgetive biscuits (crush)
40g melted butter (MW on high for 1 minute)

Cheese Filling:
500g cream cheese (room temperature)
100g - 120g castor sugar
3 eggs (room temperature)
100ml skim milk
235g sour cream
1 tbsp Rum into the chocolate batter
2 tsp lemon juice into the plain batter

75g dark chocolate (melted via double boil)
(I used 70% Valrhona Guanaja in Beans (Dark Couvertures))

Method:
1. Mix biscuit crumbs with melted butter. Toss biscuit crumbs into a lined 18cm cake pan and press firmly. Bake biscuit base at 160C for 12 minutes. Cool for use later.
2. Cream cheese with sugar till smooth and creamy.
3. Add in egg one at at time and beat till well blended.
4. Using low speed, beat in the sour cream and milk.
5. Divide batter into 2 equal portions of about 490g per portion.
6. Stir melted chocolate and rum into 1 portion of batter till well blended.
7. Add lemon juice into the other portion of the batter.
8. Spoon 1 ladle full of plain batter into the middle of the biscuit base, then 1 ladle full of the chocolate batter on top of the plain batter. Alternate between the two batters till all batter is used up.
9. Bake at 160C for 50 - 60 minutes till the circumference of the cake is cooked. The centre of the cake could be wobbly. Remove cake and cool for 1 hour. Chilled cake for at least 3 hours before serving.

Notes:
Cake tastes best when chilled overnight as all the flavours will be infused into the cheesecake.

New York Cheesecake

Cheesecakes are smooth, creamy, rich and satisfying desserts. There's the original flavoured one and there are those flavoured by fruits and chocolates. Hence there are lots of varieties of cheesecakes on the menu. I'm sure you will find one that you liked.
This New York Cheesecake which is flavoured with just a subtle amount of white chocolate without compromising on the original taste is a favourite of mine.
For Sherene, you can try this cheesecake if you are after something rich and creamy in texture. Hope you like it!



Ingredients: (for 20cm springform cake pan)
Base:
120g digestive biscuits (crushed)
50g unsalted butter (melted - 1 minute on HIGH in microwave)

Filling:
500g Anchor Cream Cheese (room temperature)
100g - 120g Castor Sugar
3 Eggs (room temperature)
65g President whipping cream (35% dairy cream)
50g Valrhona White Chocolate (melted via double boil)
1/2 zest from 1 lemon (optional)
1/2 tsp vanilla essence or 1 tsp lemon juice (I used vanilla)

Sour cream Topping:
120g Hokkaido Organic Sour Cream
70g Sweet Whipping Cream (non-dairy cream)

Method:
1. Toss crushed biscuit crumbs into melted butter.
2. Press this biscuit mixture over the bottom of a lined springform pan and leave aside.
3. Bake biscuit base at 165C for 12 minutes. Leave aside to cool for use later.
4. Cream cheese and sugar together till smooth and add in the eggs one by one beating till smooth and then add the rest of the ingredients and beat well.
5. Pour filling onto cake base and bake over a hot water bath at 160C for 40 minutes.
6. Remove the water bath now and continue to bake cake till cooked. It may take another 20 - 30 minutes. Remove when cooked and chill completely.
7. Beat sour cream and sweet cream until stiff and pour this over totally cooled cake and bake for a further 5 minutes at 200C. Do not move the cake too much as the sour cream topping might show crack lines.
8. Chilled well before serving.

Notes:
The chocolate lines are just decor and the piping around the cake are the left over sour cream topping.
This cake tastes best after chilling overnight.
The brand names stated here are the ingredients that I used in this cake, you do not have to go for the exact brands that I used.

Strawberry Mousse Cake

Made strawberry mousse cake for DH's birthday dinner party. The kids wanted chocolate but I was not too much into chocolates today. So we finally settled for a chocolate chiffon cake base and chilled fruity strawberry mousse combination. A good choice for such hot weather!
I used fresh strawberry for the mousse, I was licking and tasting the mousse all the way and it tasted like Häagen-Dazs strawberry ice cream.
Since it's DH's birthday, I made tuxedo strawberries for the cake decor.





This is the cake mould that I used. This mould is made of plastic; it is not that brittle kind of plastic; it can be bended but not too much.
This cake mould is something like the Mary Ann Cake Pan which has a convex bottom. After the cake is done and turned out, you'll have a star shaped hallowed out top which I filled it with the strawberry puree topping.


Ingredients: (20cm cake)
Cake Base
Click here for Cake base's Recipe and Method
Slice cooled cake into 2 layers of 1.5cm thick each.

Strawberry Mousse
350g strawberry puree
4 tbsp icing sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp kirsch
17g gelatin powder dissolved in 3 tbsp boiling water
300ml whipping cream + 3 - 4 tbsp icing sugar

Some diced strawberries

Method:
1. Dissolve gelatin in 3 tbsp of boiling water.
2. Puree some strawberries and weigh 350g of the puree for the mousse. Boil puree with icing sugar in a saucepan and test sweetness. Leave aside to cool.
3. Stir warm gelatin solution into strawberry puree. Stir in lemon juice and kirsch.
4. Whip cream with icing sugar till mousse state.
5. Stir cooled strawberry puree into whipped cream till well mixed.

Strawberry Puree Topping:
100g strawberry puree (strain) + 1.5 tbsp icing sugar
10g gelatin dissolved in 2 tbsp boiling water

Assembly of cake using above mould:
1. Grease mould lightly with butter. Chill for 15 minutes.
2. Pour 1/2 strawberry mousse into mould, top it with diced strawberries and then a layer of 1.5cm thick chiffon cake. Chill for 5 minutes.
3. Pour in the rest of the mousse, diced strawberries and top with another layer of chiffon cake. Press cake firmly and chill for 2 hours. For this cake form, this is the bottom of the whole cake.
4. Unmould mousse cake from mould with the help of a hot towel.
5. Pour strawberry puree topping gently onto the surface of the mousse cake and chill till ready to serve.

Notes:
Assembly of cake will depend on the cake mould you are using.
You have to test sweetness yourself as strawberries are not always sweet.
Best to use gelatin sheet if you dislike the fishy smell of gelatin powder. For gelatin sheet, soak them in cold water to soften it, when soften stir them into the warm strawberry puree in the saucepan.

Cheeseballs

JT, I know I owe you this for a long time...maybe since early June. Are these the cheeseballs you are referring to? The ones that are selling for 50cents per piece at the bakery near your place.
My kids liked them but I find them too cheesy to my liking.
Do try it and let me know the difference ok!



Ingredients: (15 pieces)
1. 105g glutinous rice flour
2. 25g tapioca starch
3. 30g - 40g grated parmesan cheese powder
4. 1/3 tsp salt/soy sauce
5. 1 egg lightly beaten
6. 30g melted butter
7. 60ml - 75ml milk
8. 15 cubed mozzarella cheese pieces
9. some black sesame seeds (optional)

Method:
1. Mix ingredients (1) - (4) till well blended.
2. Add in ingredients (5) , (6) and enough milk to form a dough. Dough could be just a little sticky. Add in sesame seeds or you can coat the balls in them just before baking.
3. Divide dough into 15 pieces and wrap a mozzarella cheese cube into each piece.
4. Bake at 190C - 200C for 15 - 20 minutes.

Notes:
You can brush the cheeseballs with some melted butter before baking.