Baked cheesecake

'This wonderful cheesecake is equally good made with other fruit.  Use whatever is in season, or whatever you happen to have in the freezer.  Raspberries and blackberries are particularly delicious'

Rachel Allen, 'Bake', p76

Well, just after Megan's dedication some friends who had been unable to make the party popped round for dinner.  Good excuse to try out a new pudding recipe! I've made cheesecake before, but never a baked version.

Rachel's original recipe suggests using blueberries, however I decided to make a raspberry version with some of last year's crop from the freezer. As I was making it, I realised that I was short of cream cheese, with no time to go out for more.  Oops! I happened to have a luxury raspberry amaretto yoghurt in the fridge*, so used this to make up the difference.  Bit of a gamble but it worked really well.  I also found a jar of raspberry coulis lingering in the pantry, and drizzled this on top.  Unusually creative for me!  The final result was very much enjoyed by all.  Here's the recipe for you...

• 175g (6oz) digestive biscuits**
• 75g (3oz) butter, melted
• 175g (6oz) blueberries, plus extra for decorating
• 450g (1lb) cream cheese
• 150g (5oz) caster sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten
• Icing sugar, to dust

• 24cm (9 1/2 in) diameter spring-form/loose-bottomed tin

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/GM4.  Butter the sides and base of the cake tin.
2. Place the biscuits in a food processor and whiz until quite fine.  Alternatively, place them in a plastic bag and bash with a rolling pin.  Mix the crushed biscuits with the melted butter and press down into the base of the tin so that it is nice and even.  Spread the blueberries over the base and allow to chill in the fridge while you make the topping.
3. Beat the cream cheese; sugar; vanilla extract and eggs together in a large bowl until smooth and creamy.  Pour over the top of the blueberries and then bake in the oven for 40 minutes, or until it is pale golden and should only wobble very slightly when you gently shake the tin.
4. Allow to cool in the tin for about 10 minutes, then run a knife around the edge to loosen it and carefully remove the cheesecake from the tin***.  Transfer to a serving plate.  Sprinkle over a few blueberries, if you wish, then dust with icing sugar.  Cut into slices to serve.  This cheesecake is best eaten when it is at room temperature.

* The yoghurt was made by 'The Collective Dairy Company' and was a limited edition, so you might struggle to get hold of the exact version.  However, you could try any flavour which complements your cheesecake.

** Rachel suggests experimenting with different kinds of dry, sweet biscuits or cookies for the cheesecake base.  She gives the example of a chocolate biscuit base, omitting the fruit. I've seen recipes which use ginger nut biscuits; rich tea or chocolate chip cookies as the base.  See what you can come up with, and let me know!

*** Removing a biscuit-based dessert from the tin is something that has always foxed me.  I usually wimp out and just serve it from the tin! However, here I tried one of Rachel's tips which worked well.  When using a springform tin, turn the base upside down before pressing in the biscuit base.  This gives you a flat surface, rather than one with a lip.  Makes perfect sense when you think about it!  I've also found that with some recipes, you need to add a little more butter to the biscuits than stated.  If the base is still a bit crumbly when pressed down, it will probably fall apart when you try to serve it.  But if it does, don't get too stressed (unless you're trying to win the Bake Off!)  It's the taste that counts!

Fairy cakes

'These are the prettiest little cakes for a birthday party or just for a special treat; they are also known as butterfly buns' 

Rachel Allen, 'Bake', p39

Right then, part deux of Megan's party food (see previous post).  When I was planning her dedication party, I had grand plans to make fancy, girly pink cupcakes.  In the end I was pushed for time, and just had time to do these.  I also wanted to do fancy piped icing, but didnt have time to work out how to use a piping bag.  I ended up just spooning the icing on, and adding some lovely 'strawberry glimmer crunch' that I picked up in a supermarket.  They looked OK I think, and tasted lovely.  

Being totally truthful, they didn't actually make the party.  By 2am on the day, I'd just finished icing the main cake and was crawling into bed (at which point Megan woke for a feed... grrr!) Didn't have a spot of energy left for the cupcakes.  I ended up icing them the next evening, and they went to Megan's singing group and to pre-school for Evan's teachers.  They were much appreciated!

Well, if you're decidely more organised than me, these are definitely worth making alongside a celebration cake.  As they use all the same ingredients, I just whizzed the batter up in my KitchenAid straight after making the cake.  No need to wash the bowl out.  And I just made up a load of buttercream, which i shared between the cake and fairy cakes.  For that, I use a recipe from my Great British Bake Off cookbook... it adds a little melted white chocolate which makes it extra yummy (and extra naughty... but who cares when you're celebrating?!)  I won't include the fairy cake recipe here, as I'm sure most readers will have made them at some point.

Going back to the piping bag issue, it's something I do intend to master by the end of this challenge - and will need to when I come to making profiteroles.  It's got me thinking of which other skills I'll need to master. So after a flick through 'Bake',  here goes...

1. Rolling a Swiss roll or roulade
2. Making praline
3. Removing a biscuit based dessert from the tin (more about this next time!)
4. Making meringues
5. Making a steamed pudding
6. Making yeast bread
7. Using fresh yeast
8. Making a plaited loaf
9. Making sourdough bread
10. Jointing a chicken
11. Collaring a cake tin
12. Making shortcrust pastry (Hooray, tick, made Quiche Lorraine)
13. Making choux pastry
14. Making hot water crust pastry
15. Making puff pastry
16. Making flaky pastry
17. Piping, including making a piping bag
18. Making American-style frosting
19. Making creme patissiere
20. Making crystallised flowers
21. Making chocolate curls
22. Making marzipan
23. Making candied peel
24. Preserves, including jam; marmalade and curd, and sterilising jars.

Hope that's given you some insight into what's coming up.  It seems like a long list, but I'm looking forward to mastering (or maybe just attempting) all these new skills!

Party food!

OK, so I'm going to cheat a little here and blog 3 recipes in 1.  I have 9 recipes to write up, and thought this was the best way to catch up!

On 18th May this year, we had Megan's church dedication.  For anyone who doesn't know, this is a Baptist version of a christening.  We don't baptise babies - instead we have baptism by full immersion, as adults.  Here's me being 'dunked' in 2003...

The dedication is a sort of 'welcome to the church', and a bit less formal than a christening.  We had a lovely day - the sun shone brightly and many friends and family members came to celebrate with us.  And of course, there was plenty of food.  The week before truly was a 'baking frenzy', as I filled up the freezer with lots of make ahead treats.  From Rachel's 'Bake', I made the following:

• Chocolate and vanilla marble cake.  I forgot to photograph this, but you'll have to believe me!  It's such a simple, classic recipe that nonetheless tastes fantastic.  I froze it for about a week beforehand, and it came out well.  I've never frozen cake before, but certainly will again if we're expecting visitors or planning a party. *
• Banana and chocolate loaf.  Another really simple recipe, that froze beautifully.  Here is the evidence!  I've made banana loaf before, but the chocolate added another depth (and many more calories I guess, but who's counting?!) *

• Carrot and pecan squares.  These are similar to carrot cake, but use wholemeal flour to produce a denser bake.  The recipe is supposed to make 16 squares, but I cut them very small and made about double that.  We were worried that there wouldn't be enough food so I was trying to stretch it... needless worry, we were eating leftovers for a week!  Anyway, I digress.  I'll share the recipe here, if you fancy a go.  You will need...

175g (6oz) wholemeal self-raising flour

1/2 tsp salt

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp mixed spice

1 tsp ground ginger

50g (2oz) raisins (optional)

150mls (1/4 pint) sunflower oil

150g (5oz) soft light brown sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

225g (8oz) carrot, finely grated

50g (2oz) shelled pecans, chopped, plus 25g (1oz) for sprinkling

For the cream cheese icing

75g (3oz) chilled cream cheese

25g (1oz) softened butter

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

75g (3oz) icing sugar, sifted

20 x 20 cm (8 x 8in) square cake tin

To make...

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/GM4.  Butter the sides of the cake tin and line the base with greaseproof paper.
2. Sift the flour; salt; baking powder and spices into a large bowl.  Add the raisins (if using) and mix well.
3. Whisk the oil; brown sugar; eggs; vanilla extract; grated carrot and chopped pecans in a separate bowl, then mix in the flour and spice mixture.  Spoon into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes, or until springy to the touch and a skewer, when inserted in the centre, comes out clean.
4. Allow to cool, then remove from the tin and place on a serving plate. 
5. To make the icing, beat cream cheese and butter together until combined.  Add the vanilla extract and sifted icing sugar, and mix to combine.  Should be smooth and quite thick.  Using a palette knife, spread over the cooled cakes, dipping the knife in hot water if the icing is hard to spread.
6. Sprinkle the cake with chopped pecans, and cut into squares to serve.

Rachel says that these cakes would be equally good un-iced, but who could resist a good dollop of cream cheese icing?!

Here are my finished cakes, all ready for the party...

As Rachel would say, "yum!"

I also made Rachel's fairy cakes for the party, but they can wait for next time!  I'll close with a photo of the party girl, who had a great time and certainly enjoyed sampling some cake.  The dress was mine, made by my mum when I was about 2.  A real family heirloom!

Until next time!

* I've decided not to share all 3 recipes on here, for several reasons.  Firstly because it would make a really long blog!  Secondly, as they are recipes that most of you will be familiar with (or something very similar at least!)  Thirdly, I never intended to share every recipe as I'm not sure if that counts as plagarism.  Although you could probably Google any of them these days so maybe it doesn't matter.  But just to be on the safe side!