Sunday, May 20, 2007

recipe is: souffle cheesecake

EUREKA!!

Ingredients

250 gm cream cheese at room temperature
60 ml milk
3 eggs, separated, at room temperature
120 gm caster sugar
35 gm cornflour/cornstarch
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp baking powder

Method

position rack on the lower shelf of the oven. preheat oven to 175 degrees Celcius. line a 20cm round cake tin with baking paper

soften cheese with milk in a bowl. add half the sugar, mix. add the egg yolks one at a time, mix to combine. add the cornflour, mix. add the lemon juice, mix and add the cream of tartar. mix thoroughly to combine all the ingredients

put the egg whites and the baking powder in a large metal bowl and whisk until firm peaks are formed. add the remaining sugar in 3 goes and keep whisking til stiff peaks are formed

fold in half the egg white into the batter and fold to mix gently. add the other half of the egg white and fold the mixture very gently but thoroughly

pour mixture into prepared cake tin. put cake tin on a wire rack about 2 cm high in a large roasting tin. pour in boiling water til it comes to about 2 cm high up the roasting tin

bake for about 35 - 40 minutes. remove the cake from the roasting tin and bake for a further 15 mins at 170 degrees celcius

take cake out of the oven and leave it to cool in the tin


NOTES:-

if the surface of the cake becomes too brown during the baking process, loosely cover with a piece of foil.

do not open the oven for at least 25 minutes from the start of the baking process

Thursday, May 17, 2007

recipe is: butter cake

the best butter cake. yes, i don't mind tooting my own horn

i've been looking for a butter cake recipe and all those that i've tried doesn't seem to come out the way i want it, so i've experimented and tweaked around and came up with my own recipe.

Ingredients

180 gm butter, at room temperature

150 gm caster sugar

50 gm milk powder

140 gm all purpose flour

30 gm cornflour/cornstarch

1 tsp baking powder (to be sifted together with the dry ingredients)

another 1/2 tsp baking powder (to be beaten with egg white)

3 medium size eggs, separated

1 tsp vanilla essence

80 ml milk


Method

preheat oven to 180 degrees Celcius. grease a loaf cake tin with butter

sift the flour, cornflour, milk powder and the 1 tsp baking powder together in a big bowl

in a mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar til creamy and fluffy, add in the egg yolks one at a time and mix to combine. add the vanilla essence and mix thoroughly. add the sifted dry ingredients and mix to combine thoroughly. add the milk and mix

whisk the egg white with 1/2 tsp of baking powder til soft peaks form. fold into the batter mixture and combine thoroughly

pour into loaf cake tin and bake for 45 minutes. turn the heat down to 170 degrees Celcius and bake a further 15 minutes til a toothpick poked in the middle of the cake comes out clean. cover loosely with foil if the top browns too much

take cake out of the oven and let cool completely in cake tin before slicing


NOTES:-

the milk powder could be omitted if you do not want a cake that's too 'milky' in taste. if you do that, then reduce the butter amount to 160 gm.

when whisking the egg whites, use a metal bowl for best results. make sure that the bowl is clean, dry and oil-free.