Easy to Impress Dessert Recipe: Baked Lemon Cheesecake

I'm a huge fan of cheesecakes and my choice is always the fluffy baked cheesecakes compared to their dense, pudding-like non-baked cousins. Although occasionally I do enjoy the non-baked Oreo Cheesecake, but that's another story.


So yea, talking about fluffy cakes, it reminded me of my first attempt to bake Butter Cake for dad. I came across this blogger who name himself fatboybakes and I remember the outcome of my butter cake was simply amazing - moist, flavorful and of course, fluffy. It was really really good and dad loved it so much. I can't wait to bake some soon!


So it was only natural that I went back to the same blogger looking for a fluffy cheesecake recipe and boy, there it was a Baked Lemon Cheesecake recipe (Link) just waiting for me to pounce on with eagerness to make my own! The result was an A+ hehehe :D The cheesecake was rich, fluffy, lemony, refreshing and just plain awesome. Definitely a keeper, this one. :D

Baked Lemon Cheesecake

To give you a rough idea of the texture:

The texture I was hoping to achieve - airy and light :)

I didn't have any springform cake pan at home, so I used a baking tray of 35cm (L) x 28cm (W) x 5 cm (H) to bake this cheesecake. And it works! So don't over worry about what pan or tray to use, just improvise with what you have. Recipes are meant to be a guideline, so don't be too strict about it. My recipes are meant for those who have done research on their own and are not afraid to experiment and customize the recipe to make it theirs.


Anyways, here is my experiment and adaptation from the original recipe to make my own Baked Lemon Cheesecake :D


Biscuit Base

Ingredients
Biscuit crumbs of your choice (I used Marie Digestive Biscuits because it's easier to crush into crumbs)
Melted Butter

(I didn't follow any recipe or bother to do any measurements because the amount is entirely based on your preference - e.g. thickness of the biscuit base, texture, additional ingredients like nuts is completely up to you. Some recipes add sugar in their base but not for me.)


Step 1: In a bowl, combine biscuit crumbs and melted butter until you get a soft crumbly sand-like texture (you can use a fork or your clean hands to do this task).

Step 2: Line baking tray with aluminium foil and then with baking paper on top. Gently press the crumbs with a back of the spoon or a fork to make the biscuit base on the baking tray.

Step 3: Refrigerate for at least an hour/overnight.


Filling

Ingredients
500gm cream cheese
100g sugar
3 large eggs
3 tablespoons corn flour
400 gm whipping cream (or in Aussie, they call it thickened cream)
zest of one lemon
juice of one lemon


Step 1: Prepare and measure all the ingredients. Put aside.

Step 2: Separate the egg yolks from the whites. Beat the egg whites until soft peaks are formed. Put aside. (Recommended to use the mixer but if you are want to build some arm muscles, go ahead and whisk it on your own. That's what I did. Luckily the pain was worth it! Haha)

Step 3: Preheat oven to 160C.

Step 4: Add cream cheese and sugar in the mixer and beat until the colour is light and fluffy. Add yolks one at a time. Add cornflour and then the lemon zest and juice, mix well.

Step 5: Slowly stir in the whipped cream (you have to whip the whipping cream to make it whipped cream, if you don't already know! >_<)

Step 6: Fold in the whisked eggs whites into the batter.

Step 7: Pour filling into the biscuit base and bake in a water bath for 1 hour or more until set. Switch off oven, take it out from the water bath and let it rest in the oven with the door ajar for an hour or so until it cools down completely.

This was how it looks after it was taken out from the oven

Step 8: Refrigerate overnight. Time to reveal the beauty.....or the ugly!! Lol.

Don't judge me by my looks!

Step 9: Serve with some strawberries and cream if you fancy.

After some trimmings and addition of some beautiful strawberries laced with chocolate. Pretty and YUM :D

That's it! Awesome dessert after a good dinner :)


I can't say it was easy because I whisk the egg whites with my own hands and TWO of my guinea pig's hands too!! Lol! It was the only tiring part which is why I decided the next time I try this recipe again, I will whisk the egg whites first with the mixer and then put it aside to cream the cheese and all. Important lesson learned. But no regrets, all pain was worth it :')


I can proudly say I've baked my first cheese cake and it was awesome!


Have you? ;P

I Must Have Breakfast! (Part 2)

Goooood morning!!! Rise n shine peeps, and have some breakfast! :D


It's always good to start the day with good breakfast. As for me, I try to make sure my breakfast contains a good balance of protein, carbs and colours :)


Yea, colours! Colours in my food is very important. It doesn't just make the food more appealing but also a great way to ensure you always have a good balanced meal.


Breakfast 1: Tuna Ciabatta

I could just slab some tuna in my ciabatta and call it breakfast! But the colours would be blah. So I added some red from the tomatoes and greens from the cucumber. Pretty and YUM. :)

Toasted Tuna Ciabatta with tomatoes and cucumbers

Breakfast 2: Avocado Ham Cheese Tortilla wrap

Again the colours from ham and cheese would be too blah. So I added some greens from avocado and cucumber, and of course my red always comes from my favourite tomatoes. :)

 

Avocado Ham Cheese Tortilla Wrap

Breakfast 3: Cheese Kransky Pastry

If you are interested to make pastries, do check out my earlier post about puff pastries! (Check out the post here: Playing with Puff Pastry!)

Cheese Kransky Pastry with cherry tomatoes and spinach leaves

Breakfast 4: Cheese Kransky and Baked Beans Pastry

Unfortunately, no more greens in the fridge. :'( If you are interested to make your own Tau Sar Piah looking pastry, check out my earlier post here: Puff Pastry Part 2!)

Giant Tau Sar Piah for breakfast. LOL.

How you like the colours in my breakfast?

Can you spot a common item in the photos above? Yes, that's the cup of Milo I can't live without every morning! Hahaha.

I will explore more options to add other colours in my breakfast. But that's all for now! :D

Have a great day ahead! :)

Easy Snack Idea: Grilled Corn with Butter

4pm. The stomach is growling.


Feels like I am smacked right in the middle of the day when lunch is too late and dinner is too early. Trying hard not to touch that bar of chocolate in the fridge or that bag of chips on the counter top! >_<


Luckily, I have some corn in the fridge!


Great idea for an afternoon snack! Something I would find it hard to resist if I see it selling in the streets! Omg, the holy smell of corn! >_<


This is extremely easy to prepare - just throw it on a grill pan, season it with some salt and serve with a nice cube of butter :D Yummmm....just enough to fill the tummy until dinnertime :)

Extremely Easy and Delicious Afternoon Snack

Extremely easy, but we don't often think of making it at home. I wonder why.

Oh well, I love this one, hope you do too!

Ciao! :D

Simple Breakfast Recipe: Awesome Fluffy Pancakes

I've been thinking of making my own pancakes at home for a very long time. Why pay more for a pancake when it's so cheap and easy to make at home?


So finally, the day arrived. It was a beautiful Sunday morning. Found a pancake recipe by Nigella Lawson (Link).  And I thought to myself, wow, if this recipe is from The Domestic Goddess, I can't possibly fail this one, can I? >_<


Guess what, I didn't! The pancake was thick, spongy and fluffy just as described in the website. The BEST pancake you can make at home! :D It was super easy, only involves throwing everything into a mixer, cook and eat! Serious!

Eat it while it's warm so that it's crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside! :D

Here's the recipe to make for 3 person (Nigella said 4. They must be really small eaters. We can eat 3-5 pancakes each! Lol):


Dry Ingredients
225g plain flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 pinch of salt
1 teaspoon of white sugar

Wet Ingredients
2 large eggs (beaten)
30g butter (melted and cooled)
300ml of milk

Some butter for frying


Step 1: Prepare the wet ingredients - beat eggs, melt butter and prepare the amount of milk needed. Put aside.

Step 2: Throw in all the dry ingredients in a mixer and gently stir to mix with a spoon. Make a small well in the middle and add the wet ingredients and blitzzzz away (Nigella said throw everything in and blitz. But I was quite skeptical, so I added eggs and butter first. And then slowly add in the milk.)

Step 3: Heat a small pan and start cooking your pancakes already! (I use a small round pan which makes normal sized pancakes and butter to fry but that's optional)

Step 4: Serve with butter and maple syrup. Or honey. Or banana and nutella. And nuts! Strawberries would be great too! Well, any berries would do. Especially blueberries! Or blueberry jam, omg! What about vanilla ice cream? ;D Endless possibilities.


And that's it! So easy to make and soooooo good!


The weekend is here again, I might just make some! You should too, enjoy!! :D


Note: There were some slight bitter taste in my pancakes due to the bicarbonate of soda but it didn't bother me much because it was easily masked by the maple syrup/honey. Read more about baking powder and bitter taste here.


Pancakes becomes the reason to wake up on a lazy day ~ Emily 

Simple Dinner Recipe: The Best Homemade Bak Kut Teh Recipe (肉骨茶)

I'm not kidding - I'm a huge Bak Kut Teh fan and this is by far one of the best I've tasted. Dad would be so proud of me :')

Yup! Self-proclaimed "The Best Bak Kut Teh" with nods and thumbs up signs from my guinea pigs :D

Bak Kut Teh or 肉骨茶 literally translates as "meat bone tea", which is basically pork simmered in a broth of herbs and spices for hours until the meat is soft, tender and easily fall of the bone. Additional ingredients like mushrooms, fried tofu puffs, vegetables and offal can be added to the dish to make it a complete meal. I love my Bak Kut Teh soupy instead of the dry version, with significant taste and smell of herbs but not too over-powering. In summary, "light but flavourful", is to me what makes a good Bak Kut Teh. A good Bak Kut Teh does not have the oily aftertaste that makes you laden with guilt nor does it have the bitter aftertaste that makes you want to scrap your whole tongue off. It has to be light with a good balance of flavour to make you smile the entire day :)

Additional Ingredients I added in my Bak Kut Teh :D

How to make a good Bak Kut Teh experience better? For me, I love it simple with normal white rice soaked in the soup. No thanks to yam rice, oily rice or whatever fancy rice you have to offer me. Just plain white rice would do so I can taste the original flavour of my precious Bak Kut Teh soup. And if you have fresh youtiao (Chinese deep fried dough fritters) which are still nice and crispy, I would take a double serving anytime and give you additional 3 stars! Heh! Oh, and don't you forget the important condiments which are crucial to enhance the flavour of a good Bak Kut Teh - chopped garlic or chilli padi (bird's eye chilli) in soy sauce. Now, put all that combination in your mouth and just wait for the awesomeness to kick in!! YUMMMM! :D

Important condiments to go with your Bak Kut Teh :)

If your love for Bak Kut Teh is the same as mine, then this recipe is a must-try! :D Absolutely easy to prepare at home and to impress your guinea pigs.


Here is the recipe to cook for 4 people:


Main Ingredients:
1 packet of Bak Kut Teh Herb Mix (Recommended Brand: A1)
Pork Ribs, chopped to pieces and cleaned
1 packet of Enoki Mushrooms
1 can of Whole Button Mushrooms
Iceberg Lettuce
A few cloves of garlic
Optional: A handful of red dates and ginger

Seasoning:
4 tablespoon of Light Soy Sauce
2 tablespoon of Dark Soy Sauce
2 table spoon of Oyster Sauce
Salt & White Pepper

Condiments:
Chopped garlic
Chopped chilli padi
Light Soy Sauce


Step 1: Following the package instruction for the amount of water needed, bring the pot of water to boil. Once boil, throw in the herb mix, red dates, ginger and garlic. Let it simmer for at least 30 minutes.

Step 2: (Optional) To remove the "porky" smell of the ribs, I blanched it in a pot of water with ginger before I rinse it slightly with cold water.

Step 3: Add the pork ribs into the pot of herb soup and allow it to simmer for at least another 30 minutes before adding the seasonings -  light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, salt and pepper to taste. Let it simmer for another 30 minutes (the bf likes the soup peppery, so I added more pepper. You can adjust the seasonings to your own preference).

Step 4: Add in the Enoki mushrooms, button mushrooms and iceberg lettuce. Stir well and cooked until the lettuce are soft (but still crispy) and serve with a bowl of hot white rice :) Don't forget your condiments too! >_<


And that's it, another easy recipe for you to try (takes longer to cook but shorter preparation time)!

Dinner's Ready!! :D

It's really really yummy and I highly recommend the A1 Brand, for only $4.50 a packet I bought from Boxhill Centro - inside the packet, there were fresh herbs which I rinse slightly with cold water before cooking it and also a small tea-bag of grounded herbs which you can just throw into the water. Overall, it was very flavourful but not bitter. The ribs, red dates and lettuce definitely helped to sweeten the broth :)

Recommended Brand: A1 Herbal Soup

Hope you like this one!

Enjoy! :D