Tuesday, July 28, 2015
Joanne's Easy Bake: Matcha Cheesecake
Joanne's Easy Bake: Matcha Cheesecake: I am truly blessed to have an awesome friend, May Sia, who is a school mate of mine since kindergarten. She stood in line at 7 a.m....
Joanne's Easy Bake: This blog is dedicated to all my lovely friends wh...
Joanne's Easy Bake: This blog is dedicated to all my lovely friends wh...: "This is what I have observed to be good: that it is appropriate for a person to eat, to drink and to find satisfaction in their toil...
Joanne's Easy Bake: Easy Banana Bread
Joanne's Easy Bake: Easy Banana Bread: Bananas are my favourite only when they are not too ripe. We usually stock about twenty bananas in our fruit basket every week, but when...
Joanne's Easy Bake: Easy Tiramisu Cake
Joanne's Easy Bake: Easy Tiramisu Cake: This cake was experimented for a special boy whom I invited over for dinner at my house. I asked what is his favorite dessert and he...
Easy Tiramisu Cake
This cake was experimented for a special boy whom I invited over for dinner at my house. I asked what is his favorite dessert and he said, "Auntie Joanne, I love Tiramisu!" So, Tiramisu it shall be! You can use pan or deep dish of any shape and they will be just as good or just assemble them in glasses and serve individually. The best thing about this is that you can spread the work out in two days; get the custard done the day before and place in the fridge until ready to assemble. You do not need to use any complicated mixer, it costs you half the price of a store bought and it is fresh. I always use skim milk in all my baking to shave off some milk fat.
Easy Tiramisu Cake
Ingredients:-
Custard Filling (A)
1-3/4 cups + 1/4 cup skim milk
1/3 cup + 1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup all purpose flour
6 large egg yolks
1/4 cup Amaretto liquor
2 teaspoons pure vanilla essence
1/8 cup unsalted butter (cubed) at room temperature
8 oz or 1 cup or 227gm mascarpone cheese at room temperature
Method
Place 1-3/4 cups milk and 1/3 cup sugar into a medium sized saucepan and heat over medium heat until milk comes to just about to boil,
stirring occasionally.
In a separate bowl, whisk egg yolks with 1/4 cup milk, 1/4
cup sugar and 1/4 cup flour until there is no lump.
Once milk is about to boil, remove saucepan from heat and
whisk in egg mixture.
Return saucepan to heat and cook over medium heat until
mixture thickens and comes to boil, whisking continuously. Continue to stir for
another one to two minutes until mixture thickens.
Remove from heat. Add Amaretto, vanilla and butter. Whisk to
combine and until custard is smooth.
Cover with a plastic wrap immediately and let it cool. When
it is cold enough, place custard in the fridge to cool until custard is thick.
Meanwhile, whisk mascarpone cheese until it is smooth in a
separate bowl by just using a wire whisk.
Add mascarpone cheese to cold custard and whisk until smooth. Set
aside to chill in the fridge again until ready to use.
Coffee soaking Syrup (B)
1 cup very strong coffee by adding 4 teaspoons full of instant coffee
to boiling water
1 tablespoon Amaretto liquor
1/4 cup granulated sugar
Mix all the ingredients together to form coffee syrup.
Pour into a wide and deep plate.
Biscuits (C)
3 packages of ladyfingers (about 36 pieces) if you are
making the round cake with an outer ring of fingers. Otherwise, about 24 pieces
will be sufficient. (I use store bought)
Assembling the cake
Method
Prepare a 9"x9" cake pan or a round cake pan or any deep dish.
Working quickly with your fingers, dip each ladyfinger into
the coffee and shake off the excess coffee. Place each ladyfinger side by side and line the sides of the pan as well as on the bottom of the cake pan, until the whole bottom is lined in a single
layer with ladyfingers. Spoon the custard mixture that was set aside onto the
fingers, making sure that the layer is fully covered with custard. (If you have
a deep pan for three layers of fingers, the you spread 1/3 of the custard, but
if you have two layers, then you spread 1/2 the custard).
Then repeat the second layer by laying coffee soaked
ladyfingers in a single layer on top of the custard. Spoon the rest of the
custard on top of the ladyfingers and make sure it covers the whole surface.
Shave some chocolate over the top of the cake and place in
the fridge to chill for at least 6-8 hours before serving.
Enjoy!
Matcha Cheesecake
I am truly blessed to have an awesome friend, May Sia, who is a school mate of mine since kindergarten. She stood in line at 7 a.m. to buy me a Japanese cheesecake the last time we met up and it was no doubt one that I will never forget. It tasted really good and as usual, good food is never enough...so I went on to make one for May and many more for my boys. Matcha is a variation from the original.
Matcha Cheesecake
Ingredients:-
(A)
140 g granulated sugar
6 egg whites at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
(B)
6 egg yolks at room temperature
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
(C)
50 g butter at room temperature
250 g cream cheese at room temperature
100 ml fresh milk
(D)
40 g all-purpose flour
40 g cornstarch
1 tablespoon matcha (green tea) powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Method :-
1. Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees F.
2. Ligthly brush the inside of a round, 8 inch spring form pan with canola oil and line inside bottom and sides with parchment paper. Cover the outside bottom of the pan with double layers of aluminium foil to prevent water from seeping into the pan when placed in the water bath. Set aside.
3. Using a double boiler or place a large heat proof bowl over a pot of simmering water, place all ingredients (C) in the heat proof bowl and melt them until forms a smooth paste. Once done, turn off heat and remove bowl and set aside to cool.
4. When ingredients (C) is cooled, add ingredients (B) and mix well. Then sift ingredients (D) over the bowl and stir until well combined. They will form a smooth cheese batter and if there are lumps, pass the cheese batter through a sieve to remove lumps. Set aside until egg whites are ready to be incorporated.
5. Using another large and very clean bowl, place egg whites in (A) and beat using a wire whisk until there are small bubbles. Add all of the cream of tartar and sugar little by little while continue beating until egg whites turn into a soft peak and all sugar is incorporated. When whisk is lifted, the whites should form something like an eagle's beak at the tip and the meringue should look shiny and smooth. This process should take about 15 minutes.
6. Spoon about one third of the meringue into the prepared cheese batter and fold lightly until well incorporated. Continue until all meringue is folded completely into the cheese batter.
7. Pour cake batter into the prepared pan. Tap cake pan several times to remove large air pockets in the batter and place cake pan in a hot water bath. Then place the whole thing into the oven and bake for 1 hour 20 minutes. Turn off oven when done and open the oven door slightly and set a wooden spoon over the door to keep door slightly open. Leave cake to cool inside for another 30 minutes before taking it out to prevent shrinkage or cracks.
8. Remove from pan and serve. Refrigerate if there are any left overs!
Enjoy!
Monday, July 27, 2015
Easy Banana Bread
Easy Banana Bread
Bananas are my favourite only when they are not too ripe. We usually stock about twenty bananas in our fruit basket every week, but when they become over riped, especially on hot summer days, I will use them for my banana bread. This is an easy banana bread recipe that I love after trying many others.
Dry Ingredients:-
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
Wet Ingredients:-
2 large eggs (lightly beaten)
1/2 cup unsalted butter (melted)
3 large over riped bananas
1 teaspoon pure vanilla essence
Method:
Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a 9" loaf pan with parchment paper and set aside.
Dry ingredients:-
Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a large bowl. Add sugar and whisk to mix and set aside.
Wet ingredients:-
Melt butter in the microwave oven and set aside. In another bowl, mash bananas with a fork. Add lightly beaten eggs, vanilla essence and melted butter to mashed bananas and whisk to combine.
Then pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients all at once. Mix the two using a spatula until just combine. Do not over mixed. Pour into prepared loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes. Test to see if it is cooked by inserting a toothpick or tester if it comes out clean. If not, continue to bake for another five minutes. Remove from oven and let stand for 15 minutes. Then remove from loaf pan and place bread to cool on a wire rack. Transfer to serving plate, slice and serve when warm to touch.
Note: Bread can be frozen in freezer when cooled completely for up to one week. Defrost in the fridge before bringing it out at room temperature to prevent condensation. Enjoy! Just don't go bananas :)))
This blog is dedicated to all my lovely friends who love to ask if I can share my recipes whenever they tasted something good. I love baking because it is the easiest way to cook and I prefer making everything myself mainly for the freshness and the freedom to control what is in my food and the amount of sugar, salt and fat. The recipes that I share in this blog are my favorites and I hope you will try them and like them too. Enjoy the sweetness of your labor!
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