Honey, Lime and Ginger Cheesecake

Not the prettiest, but it was darn tasty!

I have recently joined up with a cooking community called Kitchen Surfing! It looks like it could be a lot of fun. Basically it means that if someone likes the look of the food I make (mostly curries) and the cakes I bake, then they could hire me to come and cook in their home! Fun! There also seems to be market selling opportunities too. In any case, this links in to this post as I had to cook some dishes to take to an interview/tasting to see what sort of things I make. This cheesecake was one of them. 

I love cheesecake and usually stick to my chai baked one, but this time wanted to have the flavours reflect the wintery months. Honey, lime and ginger was the winning combination as this is what you need when you start to feel a bit poorly - and they are a tasty trio.
Topped with honey and fresh ginger syrup for extra oomph.

Ingredients:
325g butter keks smashed to within an inch of their lives
30g oats
150g butter, melted
2 1/2 tblsp ground ginger

500g cream cheese(room temp)
100g sugar
100g honey
4 eggs (room temp)
250ml cream(room temp)
zest of 2 limes and the juice of one
1tsp vanilla extract
2 tblsp plain flour

thumb sized piece of ginger
2 tblsp honey

Method:
-Preheat the oven to gas mark 4. Line a loose bottomed, deep, round tin with paper and set aside.
-Make the buttery biscuit base: Pour the butter in to the smashed biscuits, oats and ginger powder and mix well. Tip in to the tin and press down firmly so it is tightly packed. Cover and refrigerate until needed.
-beat the cream cheese then add in the sugar and beat for a few minutes. Add in the honey and cream and whisk together until smooth.
-Add the eggs, zest, juice and vanilla and carefully whisk in. Sieve the flour over the top and gently fold. Try not to incorporate too mach air. Carefully bang the bowl on the kitchen side to remove large air bubbles.
- pour on to the prepared biscuit base. Bake for around an hour. It should rise up, nice and puffy, slightly brown around the edges and still have a wobble in the center. After an hour, turn off the oven and leave inside. Then after another hour, open the door and leave it for another hour. So 3 hours in total. You basically want to let it cool down as slowly as possible.
-to make the syrup, grate the ginger, squeeze the juice in to a small pan and put the ginger in too. Add the honey and a little water. Boil for a few minutes till thickened. Cool and pour over the cooled cheesecake!
Slice and munch.

Chai Masala Cake with Honey and Ginger Cheesecake Icing

With a sprinkle of ginger on the top.

It's getting rather chilly here now - snow, sleet, visible breath - so I thought it best to have a few folk over for some dinner to warm them (and my flat) up! Curry is my go to main so I baked a chai flavoured cake to go along with it. I made a version of this last year, but it didn't quite work - the icing was all runny and it felt a bit heavy. So this time I went for a Swiss meringue butter cream loaded with cream cheese for a tangy, fluffy and stable icing. Chai + ginger + honey x 4 = tasty cake in your mouth.

Ingredients:

for the chai spice mix

- 4 cardamom pods, seeds out

- 7 cloves

- 10 black pepper corns

- 1 stick of cinnamon

- 1 tblsp ground ginger

- pinch of ground star anise

for the cake

- 240g softened butter

- 240g sugar

- 4 eggs

- 240g plain flour

- 1 tsp baking powder

- 1tsp vanilla extract

- 1 tea bag (I used Yorkshire tea)

for the Swiss meringue cheesecake icing

- 2 egg whites

- 70g sugar

- 200g room temp butter, cubed*

- 150g cream cheese, room temp*

- 1 tsp ground ginger

- 1 tblsp honey

*they need to be the same temperature or else one could chill the other = lumpy butter in the icing

Method: - First thing's first: make the spice mix. Heat a dry frying pan on a low heat and add all the whole spices. Keep swirling so they don't burn. Once they smell tasty, they're done. Tip in to a spice grinder/pestle and mortar and add the ground ginger and anise and finely grind.

- preheat the oven to gas mark 4 and line two 20cm round sponge tins with baking paper. Stick on the kettle. Make a nice, strong cup of tea with 1/4tsp of the spice mix and 100ml water. Steep.
- In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy and pale. Add the eggs, one at a time mixing thoroughly after each addition. Add the vanilla.
- Sift on the flour and baking powder and gently stir in, then beat for 10 seconds or so until fully incorporated. Add the rest of the spice mixture and the strong tea (sans bag), and mix well.
- Divide between the two tins and bake for 18 mins, check for done-ness if they need more time, give them some. Once baked, turn on to wire racks to cool.

Rustic...yes. That's what we'll call it.

- For the icing: Heat an inch or so of water in a small pan and simmer. Place the egg whites and sugar in a heat proof bowl and set over the pan (do not allow the water to touch the bowl). Whisk gently by hand. You want to dissolve the sugar whilst gently cooking the egg. Once dissolved (check by rubbing some between your fingers) whisk faster. Remove from the heat and beat with an electric whisk until the bowl has cooled and you have 

meringue. It takes a while.
- Once cooled, begin to add the butter, beating well as you go. The meringue will disappear, it will look like soup and or cottage cheese at varying points, but persevere. One all in, add the cream cheese in the same fashion.
- by now it should be more solid and looking like fluffy frosting. Add the ginger and the honey and stir well.
- Assemble! Cut each of the sponges in half so you have 4 (ideally the same size...I did not manage that). Place the first layer on a plate and spoon on 1/4 of the icing. Do the same with the rest. Sprinkle with a little more ginger and enjoy!

Light, fluffy, cheesecake-esque icing.

Carrot Cake

Carroty and Cakey

I've been making carrot cake with the same recipe for a few years. It's a tried and tested one that I've tweaked in to tastiness along the way, but, alas! I forgot to bring the recipe with me to Berlin, so I have had to try and remember what it was. It could have all gone horribly wrong, but I think that it went pretty well-considering I haven't made this for over a year and I did it from memory. This recipe will do for now but could be replaced with an improved one. I couldn't find any soft dark brown sugar in the shop, so that was a bit of a shame. It's carrot, it's cake, it's got cream cheese icing- what's going to be bad about that?

Ingredients:
225g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
150g brown sugar
100g sultanas
2 very ripe, blackened bananas- mashed
250g carrots, grated
130ml sunflower oil
3 medium eggs
1 lemon, zested 
1 tsp cinammon
2 tsp grated ginger


200g cream cheese at room temp
2 tblsp very soft butter
85g icing sugar


Method:
-preheat the oven to 180C and line the bas of a 20cm/8" spring form tin with baking paper.
-sift all the dry ingredients in to a large bowl. Add the sultanas and carrot and mix. Add the banana mush and mix. 
-beat the eggs in to the oil, pour in and combine thoroughly. Add half the zest and a little squeeze of lemon juice, if you fancy.
-pour the batter in to the tin and bake for around 1 1/4 hours, checking after one. If a knife doesn't come out clean, stick it back in for 10 mins.
-leave it in the tin for a bit, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

sliced and ready for cream cheese

-meanwhile! Make the icing. Squish the butter around in a bowl with the back of a spoon then add in a few tablespoons of the cheese. Mix them together, then add in the rest of the cheese. Sift in the icing sugar and stir gently (lest you should be surrounded in a cloud of sugar!). Add the rest of the zest, cover and chill.
-Either slice the cake in half and sandwich half the icing in the middle and the other half on the top, or just spoon the lot on the top of the cake in a single layer.

nom

-ready to eat!

Red Velvet Cake

Unfortunately we ate a good chunk before I got the camera out,
and it was gone before I could get another snap!

Loaded with the knowledge that my friend will eat anything with cream cheese icing, I baked her this red velvet cake for her birthday. I went down a treat! The recipe is from the ' Good Housekeeping Easy bakes, cakes and puds' magazine and has the best cream cheese icing recipe I've found. FACT! You can make a blue velvet one by omitting the cocoa and using....blue! but a blue one would remind me too much of the blue velvet song/toilet roll advert.

Ingredients :
200g softened butter
250g plain flour
40g cocoa powder
1.5 tsp baking powder
225g caster sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
250ml sour cream
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tbsp bicarbinate of soda
a few tsps of red food colouring

400g full fat cream cheese at room temp
125g softened butter
125g icing sugar

Method:
-Preheat the oven to gas mark 4/180C. Grease and line a 8"/20.5cm loose bottomed cake tin with baking paper. Sift the flour and baking powder and cocoa in to a bowl. In another, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, then beat in the eggs.
- Alternately beat the flour mix and the sour cream in to the butter mix. Once all this is nicely mixed, add the vinegar, bicarb and colouring.  Spoon in to the prepared tin and bake for 1-1hr 10 mins. Check with a knife/skewer to see if it's done. Leave to cool in the tin fr 10 mins, then remove to a wire rack.
- For the icing, beat the butter and cheese together until smooth (it's best if they are the same temperature to avoid little lumps of butter), then mix in the icing sugar. Split the cake in two, spread half the icing on one half, add the other to the top, then load on the rest of the icing!
Ta da!

Baked Chai Cheesecake

From the top.

This is the cake that my boyfriend requests the most. It's really simple, rich and creamy, yet light at the same time. It's baked, so it doesn't have a wobbly gelatine mousse like texture to it. The general recipe is always a winner so you could alter the flavours when the mood takes you- lemon, vanilla...I think that a sharp, zingy one would work well. I really like the chai flavours, sweetly spiced with hints of cinnamon, ginger and cardamom. I use a chai masala mix that I got in India, but you can use any kind-or if you have chai teabags, just stew a few in the milk for 20 minutes. The amount of eggs and cream cheese in the recipe means it's more of a New York style bake, which is why you get the slightly higher crust. It takes a while to cook- 4 hours in total, but most of this is just leaving the oven door open. It can be made 24 hours in advance, great for when you have a few friends over!


Ingredients:
375g digestives (or gingernuts)
175g melted butter
500g cream cheese
200g caster sugar
4 eggs
75ml milk
1 tablespoon masala tea
1 star anise
2 cardamom pods
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 clove
1 breakfast teabag
300ml double cream
2 tablespoons plain flour
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
zest of a lime and the juice of 1/2


Method:
- grease a 20cm spring form, high sided tin and heat the oven to gas mark 4
- blitz the biscuits in a food processor until fine. Add the melted butter and process for 15 seconds. Tip in to the tin and flatten. Make sure it's well packed or it will crumble apart later. Put in the fridge for an hour.

uber strong chai

- meanwhile, heat the milk in a small saucepan. Add the chai, the teabag and all the spices (not the vanilla or the lime). Bring to the boil then allow to stew while the base firms up. Strain and add to the cream.
- whisk together the cheese and the sugar. Add the eggs and the cream and whisk until well combined. Bash (with care) the bowl on to the side to remove any big bubbles.
- fold in the flour, vanilla, zest and juice. Pour in to the tin and bake for 1 hour. It should rise quite a bit and go brown on the surface. There should also be a slight wobble in the middle. If it's cracked, the oven may be too high. After the hour's up and it looks about done, turn off the oven and leave it in there fro 2 hours. Then open the door and leave it be for another hour. Goodness! THEN refrigerate overnight- or till it's cold if you want it now. 

it went down a treat!

Lemon Courgette Cake

Lovely moist courgette lemon drizzle

A lovely, moist summery lemon drizzle courgette cake with zingy cream cheese icing. The courgette ensures the cake doesn't dry out and gives it a really good texture. I tried to make this last year and followed the recipe exactly- I was a little dubious about the method, and rightly so! It said to cream the butter with the sugar at the same time as adding the courgette and the lemon juice, which stopped it from blending together properly resulting in lumpy greasy bits of butter in the finished product. The cake tasted nice but it was greasy as. So this time I used the ingredients and made the cake as I saw fit. It went marvellously! (even though the oven was turned off by accident). Delicious. NOTE! If the butter for the icing can't be scooped and measured with a spoon, it is too cold and will not blend well. 

Ingredients:
250g very soft butter, 2 tsp scooped out and set aside
200g caster sugar
3 lemons
3 eggs
3 courgettes, grated (around 300g)
1tsp poppy seeds + more to decorate
1tsp vanilla
100g self raising flour + 100g wholemeal plain (or just SR)
1tsp baking powder
85g icing sugar
200g cream cheese 


Method:
Heat the oven to gas mark 4 and grease and line 2 20cm round tins
- zest and juice 2 of the lemons. Set aside
- cream together the butter (less the 2tsp) and sugar. 
-Add in the eggs and whisk together. If it starts to look a little curdled, add in a tablespoon of the flours. 
-Add in 2 tablespoons of juice, the vanilla, the seeds and the courgettes and mix well. Then add the flours and baking powder with 1/4 tsp salt.
- spoon in to the tins and bake for around 25 mins. They should be slightly browned and springy to the touch.
- cool for 15 mins in the tine then turn on to a wire rack.
- make a drizzle: mix 1 tablespoon of juice with 25g of the icing sugar. Poke holes in the cakes and drizzle over.
-make the icing: beat the 2tsp of butter with the cream cheese NOTE! they should be the same temp for them to blend together. Then add in the rest of the icing sugar. Add the zest of the 3rd lemon and 2 tablespoons of juice, or to taste.
- when cold, place one half of the cake on a plate, ice with half the icing, add the other cake and top with the rest of the icing. Add on some more poppy seeds.

ta da! nice with a cup of tea

Keeps well for a few days. Nom Nom.