Bailey's Cheesecake, an Exceptional Cheesecake!

I often take inspiration from sights, sounds and certainly flavors that surrounded me while growing up. This post is also a trip into memory lane again like the last post. During Christmas, as far as I can remember, tradition called for the offering of any visitor wishing us a Merry Christmas various sweet items such as chocolate, cake, dragée, and a small shot of liquor. Out of all the available options, my parents opted for Bailey's Irish Cream, and I can understand why! Though I could smell how delicious it was, I was not allowed to consume it of course. Once old enough, Bailey's was my first alcoholic experience, and it was love at first sip! Even till today, Bailey's remains one of my favorite drinks. 

In addition to drinking spirits and liquors, in moderation of course, I like to incorporate them into my cakes as they add another flavor dimension. Given how tasty Bailey's Irish Cream is, it is only appropriate that I use it in one of my recipes. The best candidate that I could think of was a cheesecake based recipe. I knew the combination would just work and I used the boozy cream in the three layers of the cake. I can't begin to describe how delicious it was, I just recommend that you try it and taste for yourself;  your taste buds will thank you for it! 

For the brownie base you need:

• 75 g semisweet chocolate
• 65 g unsalted butter
• 50 g white sugar and 25 g dark brown sugar
• 30 g flour
• 1 egg
• 5 g cocoa powder
• dash of salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp instant coffee
• 1 tsp of Bailey's Irish Cream

Line an 18 cm pan with parchment paper and spray with nonstick spray. 

Sift the flour and the cocoa powder and add the salt.

In a double boiler and over a gentle flame, melt the chocolate and butter. Add the instant coffee to the melted chocolate and butter mix and combine well until it dissolves. Coffee enhances the flavor of chocolate, but don't add too much as its powerful taste can mask all other flavors!

When the chocolate mixture has cooled, add the sugar followed by the egg, Bailey's and the vanilla. Mix until everything is combined well. Now add the sifted dry ingredients, and mix well.

Pour the batter into the pan and bake for about 10 to 15 min in a preheated oven (180 C). 

Leave it to cool.

For the cheesecake mix:

• 600 g cream cheese at room temperature
• 3 large eggs at room temperature 
• 120 g Greek yogurt ( you can use instead thick yogurt or sour cream)
• 130 g sugar
• 1 tbsp flour 
• 4 to 5 tbsp of Bailey's Irish Cream
• dash of salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
• 1/2 tsp of instant coffee

In your mixer bowl, add the cheese and mix on a low speed with the paddle attachment for 2 to 3 minutes. Then add the sugar,  yogurt, coffee and flour and mix again until well blended and no lumps are visible. 
Add the eggs one by one and keep mixing on a low speed. 

Finally add the salt, vanilla, Bailey's cream and mix for less than one minute. 

Pour the batter over the baked brownies and gently shake and tap to even the top. 

Bake in a preheated oven (150 to 160 C). 

Usually it's customary to wrap the spring-form pan with aluminum foil and place it in another pan filled with warm water and then bake for the required time that is usually for a pan of this size one hour to one hour and a half (oven-dependent).  This Bain-Marie method of cooking is needed to bake your cake at a gentler heat to avoid surface cracks.

What I do is different though. I put in the middle layer of the oven a pan and fill it with warm water then place the cheesecake pan over a cookie sheet and put both over the pan. This creates  a steamy environment in my oven and allows the cheesecake to cook all the way through while retaining a smooth creamy texture and most importantly with no surface cracks whatsoever.

After one hour, turn off your oven, shake the tray, make sure the middle is still a bit wiggly and leave the oven door cracked open for another half an hour to an hour. 

Let the cake cool completely before you put it in the fridge overnight. 

You can serve the cheesecake as it is, it´s amazingly delicious but a layer of a velvety chocolate ganache won´t do yo any harm, no? 

To make the ganache you need:

• 100 g  dark chocolate
• 100 g cream (35%)
• 1 tbsp Bailey's cream

Chop the chocolate into small chunks, heat the cream to a gentle simmer, then add over the chocolate and mix until all the chunks have melted. Now all you need is to add the Bailey's, stir  and let the ganache cool down for few minutes before you pour over the cheesecake.

The cake will taste even better few days after it was baked. However, I'm sure it won't last much.  
Don't be too indulgent, invite a friend or two to share this special cheesecake with!

Enjoy! 

Coffee Sponge Cake with White Chocolate and Cardamom Ganache!

It's become a habit of mine to celebrate my blog's anniversary in order to remind why I embarked on this journey in the first place. My blog turns four years old and my passion for cooking and baking keeps on growing motivated by all the wonderful interactions I had and I'm still having with bloggers and foodies from all corners of the globe.

For this occasion, I had to think of an easy to make cake that is really delicious and can be readily decorated for that extra effect.

Stacked cakes are best made with a base of sponge cake. Sponge cakes are easy to make and can be flavored in infinite ways leaving the door wide open for your imagination. As I really love the flavor coffee gives in cakes, I decided to go for coffee and marry flavors that work well with it. The first spice that I thought of as being coffee's ideal pair is cardamom. Between dark chocolate and white chocolate, I find that cardamom works better with the latter, therefore I used it. This flavor combination is not entirely new to me as I used it before and shared it  before in this post.

The end result was a light, spongy and delicious cake with a spicy and creamy ganache. For extra flavor and a beautiful presentation I made chocolate mirror glaze. It was the perfect topping for this blog-versary cake!

Now for the sponge you need: (4 x 15cm pan)

• 5 eggs
• 150 g sugar
• 150 g cake flour
• dash of salt
• 60 g melted butter
• 2 tsps of coffee melted in 1 tsp of water
• 1 tsp coffee liqueur (optional)

First you need to put some water in a pan and heat the water to a simmer, Combine sugar, eggs, coffee and liqueur if using  in a big bowl and place over the pan with the simmering water. Whisk vigorously for about 5 minutes or until it doubles in size.The mix should reach 60 C. 

Turn off the heat and remove the pan with the mix off heat. from the pan, and keep whisking with an electrical whisk until you obtain a pale and really think mixture that is triple in volume! Now fold in the flour and salt, and at the end drizzle over the melted butter and gently fold it in!

Separate the batter into the greased pans and bake for about 15 min in a preheated oven (170C). Let them cool for about 10 min then remove the cakes from the pans and let them cool completely. You can make the cake the day before.

For the ganache you need:

• 450 g white chocolate
• 300 ml of cream (you can reduce or add more to change the consistency of the ganache)
• 60 g of butter
• 1 tsp of ground cardamom
• 1 tsp of coffee liqueur or coffee melted in water

Chop the chocolate and place it in a bowl. Heat the cream and before it boils pour it over the chocolate, stir to melt  then add the butter and stir again. Add the cardamom and coffee and let it cool a bit. Now you can add it as it is over the cake or beat it with a whisk until creamy and fluffy. This is what I did, the ganache becomes really creamy and easier to pipe!

For the assembly:

Place one of the cakes on a cake board, generously frost it then top it with another cake layer and so on.

Decorate as you wish. In my case after frosting the cake I poured some dark chocolate  mirror glaze then piped some rosettes from the frosting, sprinkled some dulcey chocoloate and white chocolate shaves,  and splashed some gold dust over the rosettes and the glaze!

For the chocolate mirror glaze I used this recipe, but I  made half the batch, and even using half of the amount in this recipe I did not need all the glaze I made.

Now all you need is to cut a piece and dig in! Enjoy!

Raspberry Cream Cheese Streusel Coffee Cake

Our lives are quite often punctuated by daily activities or rituals that we just wouldn't function without. Mine are breakfast and afternoon coffee! I always need to have something with my comfort cup of coffee and it has to be something sweet of course!

This post's cake is called coffee cake but truth be told has no coffee in it, but it's called a coffee cake because it makes such a perfect companion to coffee. In fact it tastes better when eaten while drinking coffee than if you have it alone.

I have made this cake before but with different fruits, this time I opted for raspberry and a touch of lemon for fresh and floral flavors.

There's nothing overaly complicated with this recipe but it does require some planning and if possible a bit of preparation ahead. The result is really worth all the effort you put into it.  You will get a cake with four layers all harmoniously combined. The first layer is the rich and soft base, the second is the creamy and sweet cheese layer, topped  by the third layer of tangy raspberries and finished by the last crumbly cinnamon and crunchy almonds layer! 

Let´s start caking. I used an 18 cm springform pan for this one. 

For the Streusel layer :

• 20 g cold butter, cut into small cubes
• 20 g sugar 
• 40 g flour
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• dash of salt

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and with the tip of your fingers bring everything together until you get a sandy mixture! I made this layer the night before, and left it in the fridge.

Cake layer:

• 1 egg at room temperature
• 80 g sugar
• 60 g soft butter
• 60 g sour cream or yogurt
• zest of half of a lemon
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 125 g cake flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder plus 1/4 baking soda
• dash of salt

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside. 

Cream butter and sugar, add the sour cream, mix until well combined, add the egg, lemon zest and vanilla and mix again. Add the flour mixture, mix for a few seconds until combined. Spread the batter on the prepared pan, making sure that the edges are about one cm higher, making room for the cheese layer. 

Cheese layer:

• 125 g cream cheese at room temperature
• 40 g sugar
• zest of half a lemon
• 1 small egg (about 50 to 55 g)
• 100 to 125 g of fresh raspberries and almonds, preferably slivered (optional)

Mix the cheese with the sugar and lemon zest, once combined add the egg and mix again until you have a homogeneous mixture.

Now pour the mixture over the cake layer, arrange the raspberries until they cover the cheese layer. 

Sprinkle the streusel all over the top and finish with the almonds if using!

Bake in a preheated over (160C) for about 40 min. It will be ready when the edges are golden brown, the middle is slightly soft and the streusel is golden in color!

Leave it to cool in the pan for 10 to 15 min, then remove and let it cool completely. You can sprinkle some dusting sugar or have it as it is with some fresh raspberries and some coffee of course!

Coffee and Cardamom Crème Brûlée

I am one of those people whose day cannot really start unless I drink a big cup of coffee. It´s a routine that I stick by no matter what, it's almost like a sacred act. Definitely making coffee and sitting quietly to sip it is on of my favorite moments of the day.

While drinking coffee is the most common way with which people appreciate this aromatic bean, coffee can and is used in so many sweet recipes and even in savory ones!

In baking, coffee adds a really unique, deep, complex and aromatic flavor that cannot be substituted by any other ingredient. Adding coffee to your recipes will definitely create a wow factor, of course if used properly.

Given how delicious coffee can make a recipe, I like to feature it from time to time in my recipes like I did in the extremely delicious coffee and hazelnut cake. I think it´s time for another sweet treat with coffee as the hero ingredient.

Cardamom is a spice I often use in my cooking and baking. It has a very deep, complex and somewhat citrusy flavor. I like to use it alone, but quite often in combination with other aromatic spices or ingredients. While the pairing of coffee and cardamom might seem strange to some, it is indeed quite a popular pairing in the Middle East and other parts of the world where cardamom pods are ground with coffee to add more complexity to the coffee brew.

These two intense aromatic ingredients always bring back childhood memories even though at that time I didn't drink coffee. However, I remember how delighted I was whenever the wafts released from roasting coffee reached my delicate nose especially if cardamom was added to the mix.

One of the best ways to enjoy this culinary duo is in a crème brûlée, the much beloved classic!

My take on this classic dessert will surely please as it adds a delightful twist to the traditional version we are used to.

To make 3 servings you need:

• 3 egg yolks; the ones I used weighed 52 g (note, do freeze the eggs whites if you can't find a way to use them immediately)
• 1 1/2 tsp of ground coffee (use the kind that you prefer; instant or freshly ground)
• 3 pods of cardamom (slightly break it to open up the pod)
• 35 g sugar
• 250 ml of cream (half of 35% and half of 18%)

Combine the cream with the coffee and cardamom pods. Gently heat, and let it simmer, for about 5 min. You will start smelling the cardamom and coffee after a few minutes of heating.
While the cream is heating, mix together the yolks with the sugar. You need to whisk until you get a creamy and pale mixture.
Slowly start adding the hot cream over the egg yolks while you keep whisking vigorously. 

Pour the cream, through a sieve, into the crème brûlée ramekins and arrange them over a tray. Preheat the oven at 150 degrees C (around 300 F).
Put the tray in the oven and add enough hot water to it to cover half or two thirds of the ramekins. Be careful not to spill water into the cream.

Bake the cream for about 40 min in the preheated oven. Do check on them from time to time. Gently shake one of the ramekins and if there's a slight wobble in the center it's time to take them out from the oven. Remember that the cream will continue to cook for a while after you take it out of the oven so you don't want to leave to set completely while in the oven. In addition, you need to keep in mind that the baking time will differ depending on the ramekins you used, the oven, the quantity of cream you pour into each pot and even the tray on top of which you have put the ramekins. I used a ceramic tray so if you are using a metallic one you might need to consider this factor as these trays heat differently. In all cases, check your pots after 25 min to be on the safe side.

Once the cream pots have cooled down, put them in the fridge for at least four hours or overnight.

When you are ready to serve, sprinkle a thin layer of light brown sugar over the cream, and with the help of a torch or under the grill of your oven, caramelize the sugar and serve immediately! Bon appetit!

Here you can try another recipe for crème brûlée I made last year 

Pear and Honey Cake.

I love fruits, but quite often I don't eat enough, so whenever I am baking something sweet, I often go for recipes that do well with fruits whether fresh or dried. Some fruits are best served fresh along with the baked sweets, but others really shine when baked. Fruits such as apples and pears are of this latter category.
This recipe incorporate pears which are excellent when baked. In fact, I think they taste even better when cooked properly and with respect.

This simple recipe features pears as the star ingredient spiced up with cinnamon and some citrus zest. It is quite simple, easily prepared in under 30 minutes, and is perfect served with tea or coffee.

For a 15 cm pan you need:

• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 80 g sugar
• 30 g honey
• 120 g flour, all purpose
• 100 g softened butter plus extra 10 g for the pan
• 3/4 tsp of baking powder
• dash of salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• zest of half a lemon and half an orange
• 2 tbsp of orange juice (or lemon)

For the pan bottom you need:

• 2 pears 
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp of chopped almonds
• a sprinkle of cinnamon and the extra butter

Start by generously buttering the bottom of the pan, and the sides too. Sprinkle the sugar, cinnamon, and the almonds and set aside.

Combine flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.

Add the cinnamon to the honey and heat a bit until it becomes rather runny.

Cream the butter with the sugar and the honey, using a whisk or a wooden spoon, (but save a tbsp of the honey to drizzle on the pears later). Add the eggs and mix well. Add the lemon and orange zest then fold in the flour. Finally add the orange juice and mix until combined.

Before adding the batter to the pan, slice the pears and arrange the pieces. Drizzle the remaining honey over the pear and pour in the batter.

Bake the cake for about 35 to 40 min in a preheated oven (180C). Let the cake cool about 5 minutes in the pan before removing it.

The cake is great with coffee, but you can also serve it with whipped cream, or Greek yogurt and honey. Rich and moist, it is perfect for breakfast, picnic or for a lazy and relaxed coffee break!