New York Cheesecake

*WARNING: This will ruin your post-Christmas healthy eating attempt*

I have made a cheesecake in the past, a Passionfruit cheesecake which was refrigerated rather than baked. You can find the recipe here: http://girlbaking.blogspot.com/2013/07/passion-fruit-cheesecake.html

While the ingredients will make your heart stop, the end result is delicious. 

Ingredients:

For the pastry:

85g plain flour

40g ground almonds

50g caster sugar

85g unsalted butter

For the filling:

850g full-fat cream cheese

270g caster sugar 

2 medium eggs, 1 egg yolk

420ml whipping cream

50g plain flour 

1 1/2 tsps vanilla extract

Grated nutmeg

Method:

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees Celsius fan. Grease a 23 cm tin.

Mix the ingredients for the pastry together in a bowl and press the mixture onto the bottom of the tin. Bake for 20-25 minutes until lightly golden, the set aside to cool.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius fan. 

Combine the cream cheese and sugar. Add the eggs, yolk and cream and lightly mix. Fold in the flour with the vanilla extract and nutmeg. 

Bake in the oven for around 1 hour. The cheesecake should have slightly risen at the edge and should wobble slightly when moved. Leave the cheesecake to cool and   then remove from tin.

Cover with tin foil and leave the chill overnight. 

I served it with berries and some chocolate Flake, sprinkled on the top. 

Happy Baking! Gx

Mad Hatter Jam Tarts, Brownies and Polka Dot Cookies

Last weekend it was my birthday party so I did a bit of baking in preparation and these were the result.

First, jam tarts which are names "Mad Hatter Jam Tarts" mainly due to the strange way in which the pastry is made. Two eggs are boiled the egg whites are removed and the yolks smashed up and mixed with the normal pastry ingredients. The pastry is left to chill over night and then baked with jam in it. Once out of the oven a raspberry is placed in the middle of the tart as decoration.

I then made polka dot cookies which are basically cookies with Smarties on the top, which adds colour and makes them look more appealing. They are not particularly daring as a recipe but they are chewy and cookie-y, just what they are supposed to be. 

Finally, I made chocolate brownies. This recipe was supposed to have rum and orange juice in it but I decided to leave them out as I didn't want the taste of them. However it didn't impact them that heavily, it did make them a little fudgier which is no bad thing! 

So that was my contribution to my birthday party which was lovely as the whether was so warm and sunny. Great for a barbecue and outdoor film screening.

Perfect. 

Victoria Sponge

Now, everyone has made a Victoria sponge at one time or another, simply because it is so simple to do and you can create your own methods of making it. I have my own method but of course I have to try Annie Bells, after this I will write my own method up for you.

So, obviously her first step is to cream butter and sugar together. You then pour in all the eggs and mix it, which makes the mixture very lumpy and I was slightly worried by it.

Then you add the self-raising flour and baking powder which again I was sceptical about as I never put more than one raising agent in to a cake but it turned out alright in the end. The recipe says to add milk, which I don't put in unless the mixture is too dry.

Also it says to bake the cake for 50 minutes but my oven is very fierce so mine was cooked in only 25.

I then layered the cake up with strawberries and cream to make it extra summery.

I then place the second sponge on top of the cream and then dusted it with icing sugar over a strawberry leaf to make a pretty pattern - I am just so arty!

The cake although a different recipe to my own, it was still soft and light. It was very tasty but because of the stress of the recipe itself, as it is not mine, I don't think I will use it again. However it was good and a very summery and fresh cake especially with the cream and strawberries. 

Blueberry and Orange Muffins

Basically I made muffins.

They are simple and delicious and great for snacking or breakfast-ing.

These are made with the normal cake stuff but with oil not butter and added orange juice and zest. Once these are all combined you lightly stir in some on the blueberries. The mixture is put in to muffin cases and the remaining blueberries and sugar are sprinkled over the top.

They are then baked, obviously and then they are ready to eat.

 

Next Recipe: A simple Victoria Sponge

Summer Berry Genoise

Wimbledon has just finished! And thus a light, fruity, creamy summery cake is needed.

A genoise is different to a normal sponge as it has no raising agents. The only thing that aids this is beating egg whites into stiff peaks, thus filling them with air! The yolks are also included in this sponge, whisked with sugar. And mixed with the remaining sugar and plain flour. And finally melted butter. It is then baked.

The cake is brushed with a rose water and honey syrup, after being cut open -  very badly...  

              

Finally the cake is filled with a whipped cream and fresh strawberry and raspberry icing - like thing.

I then put a few berries on the top to provide a bit of decoration and it was ready to eat! 

                                                     

So that is a delicious and summery berry which is light pudding but still lovely. 

Now all that needs to be said is....

WELL DONE MURRAY!

Next Recipe: Blueberry and Orange Muffins