Blueberry Cheesecake

I am not quite sure how I completed a weekend full of baking, while also having a 10km race to run. But I made a no-bake Rose Tres Leches and two cheesecakes. One was a Chocolate Cheesecake, which was devoured by all of my running team mates. Second, is this delicious Blueberry Cheesecake, which was a hit with friends and family.

I had to purchase 1kg of cream cheese, so wanted to use up the cream cheese as soon as possible and the cheesecakes are so easy to make. Making up different flavours are so easy. I do love making a marble cheesecake with a mix of chocolate and vanilla cheesecake batter. And other flavours such as mango, strawberries and lemon can be made easily once you know the base ingredients.

Rose Tres Leches

Once I tasted the Rose Tres Leches, there was no going back. Using Rose Syrup to flavour the milk mixture, the cake has a beautiful, fragrant rose smell with pale pink colour. Topping it with some strawberries and dried rose petals makes this cake something you keep going back for seconds, and thirds.

Chocolate Cheesecake

While I prefer regular cake over cheesecake, it’s hard to walk past a decadently chocolatey cheesecake. I always prefer my cheesecakes baked. The texture is just so much more creamy and delicious. And easier to make as well, without the hassle of gelatin.

Queen of Puddings

The recipe for Queen of Puddings is a slightly modified recipe I got from my first ever cookbook. Actually this cookbook was never even really my cookbook to start with, it was just there at my house and because I just loved that single recipe in this book, I’ve lugged it around with me (while moving houses, cities and countries). It’s a really thick, old English cookbook which was printed in 1991 (the cover boasts that it is an ‘All Colour’ Cookbook). I’ve spent hours just browsing the different recipes in this cookbook (it has hundreds) and dreaming of cooking or eating the different dishes.

This Queen of Pudding is delicious to eat and very easy to make. I love this recipe because this was the first ever recipe I made and the nine year old me was given a lot of grief by the meringue and the pudding base. The only thing I probably got right was probably the jam, but I have a vague memory of burning that at some point too.

Tres Leches Cake

People either love this cake or love to hate it. I’m not sure why this cake seems to divide people. I only recently ate it for the first time and it was a winner for me.
The most complicated part of the cake is separating the eggs. Don’t feel tempted to skip this step because the whipped egg whites gives the cake a really light texture, which works perfectly when it is then soaked in milk. Because the cake is so light, I don’t think it matters if you soak the cake when it is hot or once it’s cooled down. It will have plenty of cooling and soaking time when you make it the day before anyway.

Feel free to play around with the toppings. Some recipes just sprinkled cinnamon powder one top. But this cake went really well with sour fruits that have some bite to it. Berries are perfect (I loved the combination with the strawberries). I also don’t put sugar in the whipped cream on top. There is already a lot of sweetness in the cake, so the unsweetened cream really helps balance the sweetness. But that being said, this probably is a cake for people who have got a sweet tooth.
Make this cake the day before so you can leave it to soak over night. Also, bake the dish in which you are going to serve in. I thought I could cut out lovely pieces once it had been soaked, but it was really hard. The first piece came out in such a mess (I had at this point put the whipped cream AND the strawberries so the top was heavy and sliding down everywhere), but it was a delicious mess.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup flour
• 1 ½ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp salt
• 5 eggs, separated
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 can condensed milk
• 1 can evaporated milk
• ¼ cup thickened cream

For topping

• 3/4 cup thickened cream
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 250g strawberries, thinly sliced

Method:

• Pre-heat oven for 180 degrees Celsius. Grease and flour a 9×13 oven proof dish. Or prepare two 8inch
• Place the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and mix. Next place the eggs yolks, vanilla and ¾ cup of the sugar in a bowl and whisk until it turns pale and creamy. Add the egg yolk mixture into the flour and whisk with milk until combined.
• Next place the egg whites in a clean bowl and beat until soft peaks form. Gradually add ¼ cup of sugar and beat until the mixture is glossy and white.
• Fold in the egg white in the flour mixture gently until combined. Pour the batter into prepared pan and bake in oven for about 30 minutes or till skewer comes out clean.
• Meanwhile, combine the condensed milk, evaporated milk and cream in a jug. When the cake is cooked, poke holes in it with a toothpick.
• Pour the milk mixture over the cake. Cool the cake in the fridge over-night. The cake is best baked in the dish that you plan to serve it in as removing the cake from pan once it is soaked with milk is difficult.
• When ready to serve, prepare the topping. Place the cream and vanilla in a bowl. Whip the thickened cream with an electric beater until soft peaks form. Spread the cream over the cake and top with strawberries.

Nutella Biscuit Pudding

I feel I don’t make this under-rated dessert enough! I had made this version of biscuit pudding with my uncle, way back in 2011. Biscuit pudding is one of those desserts that everyone has a recipe or version they use, and they all result in the delicious layers of chocolate and milk-soaked Marie biscuits.

When I Googled biscuit pudding, the result seemed to indicate this dessert had it’s origins in Sri Lanka. But it’s also really popular in the Maldives and the words Nestle Cream and Marie biscuits are synonymous with this dessert. Everyone knows what you’re talking about when you mention theses ingredients. Some recipes use egg, and a lot use cocoa powder. But I’ve modified this recipe from my friend Sheeni who used dark chocolate (the higher cocoa percentage you can find, the better) which gives the pudding a deliciously bitter undertone which then is cut through by those layers of Nutella.

This pudding can made the day before. If you want to omit the Nutella, just double the chocolate mixture.

Nutella Biscuit Pudding:

• 200g Dark Chocolate, chopped
• 500ml Nestle Cream
• 1/3 cup (70g) caster sugar
• 1 ½ packet Marie biscuits
• 1 ½ cup Nutella
• 1 cup (250ml) milk, lukewarm
• cocoa powder to dust

Method:

• Place dark chocolate, cream and sugar in a saucepan over low heat. Stir the mixture until the chocolate melts and the mixture is smooth. Remove from heat and set aside.
• Dip the biscuits in the milk and arrange a layer of biscuit on the bottom of a rectangular dish (approximately 23cm x 15cm x 4cm). Cover the biscuit layer with the some of the chocolate mixture.
• Add another layer of biscuits and then spread half of the Nutella over the biscuits. Add another layer of biscuits and continue making alternate chocolate and Nutella layers with biscuits till you run out of mixture. You should be able to make about 5 layers of biscuits, 2 layers of Nutella and 3 layers of chocolate (final top layer will be a chocolate layer).
• Place in the fridge for at least 6 hours. Dust with cocoa before serving.

Strawberry and Thyme Jam

An unexpected pairing, strawberry and thyme, but tastes delicious. Everyone that I’ve mentioned this jam to, has a little look of wonder and surprise at first at this combo, but has never failed to love this. But the best thing about this is it’s home made.

There were a few misconceptions that had stopped me from attempting homemade jam. First of all, the sterilising jars seemed like such an effort, but once I did it, it actually wasn’t that hard. I also thought I would need to cook the jam for ages, but this isn’t the case either. And I always thought I needed a LOT of fruit to make jam and I would be left with jars and jars of jam. But I could easily make a batch with a packet of frozen strawberries. After this, I felt I could make jam every weekend!

Sterilising Jars:
I am going to put a little note on this so you don’t have to go and search somewhere else on how to do this.
– Wash jars and lids with warm soapy water.
– Place the jars in a large pot of boiling water and for 10-15minutes. Drain on a tea towel and pop them in the oven to dry. Alternatively you can sterilise them in the oven. After washing the jars, pop them in the oven at 120 degrees Celsius for about 15 minutes.
– Make sure the jars are warm when you pour in the jam.

I made this jam to serve with scones when I did Tea Time with Thooha with Jazz Cafe in the Maldives. While we were making the jam, we had plenty of eager taste testers. To the point where we had to forbid any more enthusiastic taste testers in case we ran out for the actual event! It goes really well with a lovely scone, but I equally love it on toast.  Or would be delicious as a doughnut filling!

Strawberry and Thyme Jam
Make about 700ml jam

Ingredients

• 500g strawberries (frozen, sliced)
• 450g caster sugar
• juice of 1 lemon (30ml approximately)
• 5 sprigs of thyme
  
  Method:
•  Place strawberries, caster sugar and two pieces of thyme in a big saucepan. Mix well. Then add lemon juice and mix. Let the strawberries macerate for about 1-2 hours.
• Place the saucepan over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Then bring the mixture to boil and cook for about 5-10 minutes. When cooked for about 5 minutes, add the rest of thyme leaves.  Cook the jam till it comes to 105 degrees on sugar thermometer OR spoon a little jam onto one of the cold saucers. Leave for 30 secs, then push with your finger; if the jam wrinkles and doesn’t flood to fill the gap, it is ready. If not, turn the heat back on and boil for 2 mins more, then turn off the heat and do the wrinkle test again. Repeat until ready. 
• Spoon jam into sterilised jars. Leave the jars out to cool and then store in refrigerator for up to 3 weeks. 

 

 

Chai Brûlée

This recipe is for my Chai girls. We love a good cup of chai, cooked in a saucepan with delicious spices and sweetened with condensed milk. The longer it’s cooked, the better it tastes. We enjoy our chai as much as we enjoy watching the latest Bollywood hit.

The first time I made a creme brûlée, the custard did not set. I didn’t know how long I should cook it for and I was so scared of having the oven temperature too high and over-cooking the custards. My success came when I tried the Lavender Creme Brûlée by ZoeBakes. Check out her videos on Instagram for some really useful creme brûlée tips!

Passionfruit Cheesecake Cookie Slice

 

 

It has been a while since I have posted a recipe on my blog. I have been spending a lot of time baking and cooking, but I’ve been mostly trying out recipes from my favourite chefs and cooks, rather than creating my own recipes. I’ve just been reading lots of recipes, cookbooks and watching cooking shows. Practicing recipes and experimenting is an important part of cooking for me, because not everything works out the first time.

It didn’t take long to come up with this recipe though. Few recipes work out so well the first time, but I had an already fantastic base recipe to go with, so that helped. This Passionfruit Cheesecake Cookie slice is inspired by the Dulce de Leche Cheesecake Cookie Bars made by A Cozy Kitchen (you can find her recipe here). I love a good combo and this cookie and cheesecake mix is heaven. I thought it would be too rich, but I could easily go for seconds (and thirds!).

Chocolate Self-Saucing Pudding

On World Chocolate Day, I want to share one of my favourite chocolate recipes, and frankly, one of the most under-rated puddings: the chocolate self-saucing pudding. I’ve made this pudding countless times and it is always a hit with friends and family.

The first time I saw a recipe for this was when my parents bought our first ever microwave. The recipe was in the booklet that came with it. When we made it, the bowl we used was way too small and all the sauce just overflowed as it cooked. I remember thinking what a messy pudding this was, but after tasting it, I quickly became a fan. While this was at least 15 years ago, every time I have this pudding now, it takes me back to that moment I tasted this microwaved version.