Cupcakes with a twist - Mini Cookies and Cream Cheesecakes & Raspberry Swirl Cheesecakes

Lately, I have been rather addicted to TV programs featuring food and cooking, namely the US Masterchef and the Australia Junior Masterchef series. Although gluing myself in front of my television set has made me somewhat a couch potato at times, watching these programs allow me to be exposed to the food culture of other national boundaries.

It is no easy feat taking part in these culinary competitions. Imagine the immense pressure faced by the contestants given the allocated time, not forgetting that there are judges breathing down their neck and monitoring their every progress as they prepare their food. What amazes me is that these participants are left on their own to mastermind their culinary creations, without the availability of recipes to refer to. I can hardly imagine myself baking a cake or making a dessert without any recipes to refer to. My mind will just be a total blank. It just didn't come across to me as something quite possible, especially when there is a hundred and one things to learn and so many precise measurements when it comes to desserts.

Since I do not cook often, I very much hoped that most of the challenges will come in the form of desserts or bakes. Watching these participants toil their hearts out in the kitchen, I have my utmost admiration towards their passion and love for everything food. 

I am glad that being a couch potato has helped me re-ignite my love for food and the process of creating them, which are usually in the form of bakes. However, remaining a couch potato will not help me improve my baking skills in anyway. There is a need to practice. A whole of it it in fact. 

Practicing means finding more opportunities to try out recipes. Since the cupcake mood is still ongoing, I figured I would try out even more recipes from my Martha Stewart Cupcakes. Instead of the usual cupcakes, it will be with a twist - cupped cheesecakes.  

Making cheesecakes in cupcake form is definitely a clever idea. Whoever thought of it is a genius. It is so much easier to do these mini cheesecakes in a water bath and there is no need to spend more than 2 hours to bake a thick and dense 8 inch or 9 inch round cheesecake in a springform tin. Each batch will probably take at most 30 minutes and the chilling time is subsequently reduced due to the significant reduction in size compared to a full-size cheesecake. Furthermore, these dainty looking cheesecakes look perfect for parties and gatherings or as giveaways.

Not all was a success though. The Oreo mini cheesecakes turned out thick, dense and creamy with a slight vanilla flavoured tang, indicative of a good cheesecake. Although the raspberry swirl cheesecakes were a nice sight to look at, the tart berry flavour did not quite come through. With a little nip and tuck on the recipe, the results should be promising.

Mini Cookies and Cream Cheesecakes ( recipe adapted from Martha Stewart Cupcakes)
Serving size: Makes 13 standard size cupped cheesecakes
Taste and texture: Dense, thick and creamy with a slight tang.
Equipment and Materials:

• Standard size muffin tin
• Cupcake liners to fit
• Measuring scale
• Measuring Jug
• Flexible spatula
• Handheld beater/ stand beater
• Mixing bowls
• Large baking tin/tray used for water bath

Mini Cookies and Cream Cheesecakes

• 13 whole Oreo cookies and 7 Oreo cookies coarsely chopped (with filling removed)
• 500g Philadelphia brand cream cheese, room temperature
• 110g sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 2 eggs (55-60g with shell), lighten beaten
• 140ml sour cream

Making the cheesecakes

Prepare oven and muffin tin - Preheat oven to 160 degrees C. Line muffin tin with cupcake liners.

Mixing cream cheese, sugar and vanilla - Place cream cheese in a mixing bowl. Beat cream cheese until fluffy on medium-high speed. Gradually add in the sugar and beat until combined. Add vanilla and mix well. Scrap sides and bottom of bowl with a flexible spatula to incorporate stray ingredients.

Adding eggs and sour cream - Add the eggs in four parts and beat until batter is evenly mixed. Lastly, mix in sour cream on low speed and beat until combined. Scrap sides and bottom of bowl.

Removing air bubbles from batter - Using a spatula, push the batter against the wall of the mixing bowl, attempting to flatten the batter and remove air bubbles. Repeat to get rid of most of the air bubbles. This will prevent air bubbles from rising to the surface and bursting while baking, creating little craters. 

Adding chopped Oreos - Fold in coarsely chopped Oreo cookies and ensure they are evenly dispersed. 

Diving the batter - Place a whole Oreo in each muffin liner. This will act as the cheesecake base. Divide the batter into 13 muffin liners. 

Baking the cheesecakes - Place muffin tin filled with cheesecake batter over a large baking tin. Pour hot water into the baking tin. This is known as a water bath, ensuring that the oven maintains a moist environment during baking and helps to churn out smooth cheesecakes. 

Bake mini cheesecakes in the water bath for 22-25 minutes at 160 degrees C or until cheesecake filling is fully set and not jiggly. 

Once cheesecakes are done. Allow them to cool  in the muffin tin completely before chilling them for 2-4 hours to allow the texture to firm up. For best results, chill overnight.

Notes:

1. Since I only have a single 6-hole muffin tin, I baked the rest of the cheesecakes in souffle cup liners placed on mini tart tins (prevent souffle cups from becoming wet due to direct contact with water bath) which are placed in the water bath. 

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Two Bakers and a Cookies and Cream Layer Cake

Last Saturday was a day which I very much looked forward to. Me and Jean had arranged to meet up and do a couple of bakes. The bakes on our list are a cookies and cream layer cake and a chocolate banana swiss roll. 

Unfortunately as I was down with Sinus and my nose was like a running tap, the plan for the chocolate banana swiss roll had to be called off. I was not able to focus well while baking. Had Jean not reminded me, I would have carelessly left out the cocoa powder for the chiffon sponge.  

Combining our efforts, both of us assembled the cake from scratch. Jean layered the cake while I did the frosting. Compared to my previous cookies and cream cake (pictures were lost when my com crashed recently), the frosting was not very well executed. You can see some parts of the cake only had a thin layer of frosting which could barely cover the chocolate sponge in the interior. I was not really in the mood to bother myself with a cleanly frosted cake. 

When it comes to frosted cakes, I am not quite a cream person. On the other hand, Jean loves fresh cream. For me, if it has to be a cream cake, the fillings and flavours that accompany the cream are crucial. I was kind of skeptical at how the cake would turn out to be initially and I am glad that it turned out great. The chunky Oreo cookie bits softened in the cream filling to a texture similar to that of a cookies and cream ice cream. To enhance the flavour, I added in a bit of icing sugar and vanilla extract. If you are a cookies and cream lover, this is the cake for you. 

I am definitely glad to have Jean at my place for a nice Saturday afternoon of baking and sharing session. Look forward to our upcoming baking sessions and executing many more bakes. When you have company, you can expect to be more ambitious. 

I am submitting this entry to Aspiring Bakers #7 - Chocolate Delight (May 2011) hosted by DG from Tested and Tasted

Cookies and Cream Cake ( Chocolate Sponge Cake recipe adapted from 超人气香港蛋糕56款, Cream filling adapted from My Birthday Cake by Kevin Chai)

Serving size: Makes a 8 inch round cake. Serves 10 slices.

Taste and texture: Cake base is soft and moist. Cookies and cream filling is similar to cookies and cream ice cream.

Equipment and materials:

• 8 x 3 inch round pan
• 9 inch round cake board
• Cake leveller or palette/serrated knife longer than 8 inches
• Balloon/wire whisk
• Rubber spatula
• Handheld beater/Stand beater
• Baking paper
• Wire rack
• Toothpick/wooden skewer
• Flour sieve
• Mixing bowls
• Cake turntable (optional)
• Star Piping tip (Wilton # 22)

• Piping bag
• Coupler

Chocolate Sponge Cake (3 layers):

• • 70g egg yolks, room temperature
  • 50g caster sugar
  • 4 tbs vegetable oil
  • 4 tbs water
  • 80g cake flour
  • 15g cocoa powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 145g egg whites, room temperature
  • 50g caster sugar
    
    

Making the Chocolate Sponge Cake:

Prepare Oven - Preheat oven to 160 degrees C.

Prepare flour mixture - Sift flour, cocoa powder and baking powder in a large bowl. Whisk to combine and allow the dry ingredients to be evenly distributed.

Making the egg yolk batter - Place egg yolks, 50g caster sugar in a large mixing bowl. Whisk egg yolks and sugar until sugar is dissolved. Add in oil and water. Mix well with a wire whisk. Add in the flour mixture and mix to obtain a smooth and thick chocolate batter.

Beating egg whites - In a clean metal mixing bowl, beat egg whites on low speed. Increase speed slowly to medium-high and beat untill egg whites are at soft peaks. Add 50g of sugar gradually and beat untill egg whites are almost stiff and still moist. This is when the beaters are lifted, the egg whites will form peaks that are upright and not drooping slightly. Egg whites will resemble whipped cream.The entire bowl of whites will not drop out when the bowl is overturned. Do not beat until the egg whites are dry and clumpy.

Folding in egg whites - Using a balloon whisk, fold one third of beaten egg whites into egg yolk batter gently to lighten and combine. Fold in the rest of the beaten whites to combine. Final batter should be foamy and uniform in colour with no streaks of egg white present. Folding egg whites gently using a balloon whisk will prevent egg whites from deflating too much.

Baking the sponge cake - Pour batter into a greased and lined 8 x 3 inch round pan and bake at 160 degrees C for 25 -30 minutes. Test doneness using a skewer or toothpick. The highest part of the cake should rise up to 4/5 of the height of the tin. When the cake is done, the inserted skewer will come out clean. Cake will shrink from edges and in height on cooling. Unmould sponge cake and leave to cool upright on a wire rack.

Cookies and Cream Filling:

• 250 ml chilled whipping cream (diary)
• 160g coarsely crushed Oreo cookies, cream filling removed
• 1 tbs icing sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Whipped Cream Frosting and Decorations: 

• 300ml chilled whipping cream  (diary)
• 10 pcs mini Oreo cookies (with cream filling)
• some finely crushed Oreo cookies
• 9-10 pcs Oreo cookies to decorate perimeter (cream filling removed)

Preparing Cookies and Cream Filling:

Whipping the cream - Place 250 ml chilled whipping cream in a mixing bowl. Beat the cream on high speed until it reaches mousse state. Add 1 tbs icing sugar and continue beating the cream on low speed to dissolve the sugar. Add vanilla extract and continue beating, stopping and checking the consistency every 5 seconds. Beat the cream until it reaches soft peak (80% stiff). Fold in coarsely crushed Oreo cookies into the whipped cream to obtain cookies and cream filling. Set prepared fillings aside for use.    

Preparing Whipped Cream Frosting:

Whipping the cream - Place 300 ml chilled whipping cream in a mixing bowl. Beat the cream on high speed until it reaches mousse state.  At this point change the speed to low and continue beating the cream, stopping and checking the consistency every 5 seconds. Beat the cream until it reaches soft peak (80% stiff). Set prepared whipped cream aside for frosting and piping rosettes.  

Assembly:

Slicing sponge cake - Slice sponge cake into 3 even layers using cake leveller or long serrated/palette knife. Slice off the part that has domed.

Preparing the layers - Using the removable base of a round tart tin or a round cake board, slide the tart tin base or cake board under a sponge layer and carefully transport one sponge layer onto a 9 inch round cake board placed on a cake turntable (optional). This method of transferring is to prevent the sponge layer from breaking.

Dab half of the cookies and cream filling and spread it evenly onto the first sponge layer using a palette knife or spatula.

Place a second sponge layer (using the tart tin base or cake board to transport) carefully over the first sponge layer and align it properly with the first layer. Dab the remaining half of the cookies and cream filling and spread it evenly onto the second sponge layer using a palette knife or spatula.

Add the 3rd sponge layer (using the tart tin base or cake board to transport) and align it well with the first two layers. Apply a thin layer of whipped cream frosting on the surface and the sides (perimeter) of the cake to seal the crumbs first (crumb coating). Once the crumb coat is done, add enough whipped cream to the surface and sides of the cake and smooth the whipped cream using a palette knife. Set aside remaining whipped cream frosting for piping rosettes.

Decorations:

Piping rosettes and placing mini Oreos - Fill a piping bag fitted with a Wilton #22 star tip with the remaining whipped cream frosting (or any other tip you desire). Hold the piping at 45 degrees to the cake surface and gently squeeze out the whipping cream, applying constant pressure and moving your hands in a circular motion to pipe a rosette. Release pressure and pull the tip away to complete the rosette. Pipe 10 rosettes and place a mini Oreo cookie resting against a piped rosette in a circular fashion (see pictures above).

Placing Oreo cookies around perimeter and scattering finely crushed Oreos - Place Oreo cookies evenly spaced apart around the perimeter of the cake see pics above). Scatter finely crushed Oreos in the middle of the cake. 

Notes:

1. Whipped cream is not stablized and would not hold its shape for too long at warm room temperature 
2. Try practice piping rosettes on a strip of baking paper 1st before piping on the cake surface.
3. Cream whipped to 70-80% stiff is ideal for piping, filling and frosting. If it is too stiffly whipped, the cream will not be smooth when piped or may separate when it is frosted (if cream is too vigourously handled).  
4. Use about 1/2 tsp cream of tartar to stabilize the beaten egg whites if required. It will make folding of egg whites easier.

Notice:

If you wish to post the recipe and instructions online, please give due credit and do re-phrase the instructions. I have taken quite a bit of effort to construct, edit and type them out. Thank you =].

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Oreo Butter Cupcakes

It has been a slow start to a new year where baking is concerned. For the past 3 weeks or so, I haven't been baking as frequently as I usually do. Consider it a little holiday or getaway from everything baking-related; baking, reading my bake books, blog hopping and blogging.

Thankfully, my baking momentum is returning slowly. Ought to grab hold of the opportunity to bake before procrastination sets in. To build up my momentum, I decided to do some Oreo Butter Cupcakes. The last time I did these mini cakes, all my cups overflowed. I was using mini cupcake liners for the first time and was too generous with the batter.

Learning from my previous mistake, I only filled these mini cupcake liners slightly less than the halfway mark. They rose nicely but turned out to be a little dry and were slightly compact, which was entirely no fault from the recipe but rather due to oversight on my part.

As I was unfamiliar with the baking times for these smaller sized liners, I had slightly overbaked my first batch of cupcakes. Maybe it will help to add a tad more milk the next time round to maintain the right moistness.

While I was adding the eggs to the creamed butter, the mixture curdled. The same thing happened the last time when I made these cupcakes. Previously, the mixture curdled when I added in the first egg. This time round, I added the eggs by the tablespoon but the mixture still curdled towards the end. Maybe next time I would ensure that each bit of egg added is well emulsified before adding the next addition.

Curdling is something that rarely happens for me. Hmm, maybe I lost my baking touch.... Or maybe it is the premium butter that I am using. When I used other non-premium butter (bought from Phoon Huat), curdling doesn't pose as an issue at all.... I am quite sure that my butter and eggs were at room temperature.Weird..  

Even though the mixture curdled, the batter turned out smooth after the flour is added. However, all the creaming that is done to the butter has been in vain. I am going to be extra careful the next time round and see if this mishap happens again.

Lessons learnt/ points to note:

1) be careful when adding eggs. ensure each addition of egg is well incoporated before adding the next.

2) add more Oreo.

3) add a bit more milk.

4) check for doneness at 15mins.

Mocha Cheesecake

What was meant as a Chocolate cheesecake turned out to be a Mocha Cheesecake instead. The recipe asked for a minute amount of instant coffee to heighten the chocolate flavour but it resulted in a mocha-ish flavour instead. 

When I first tasted the cheesecake batter, I was rather disappointed by the mild chocolate flavour. It was nowhere near the richness that I have envisioned. Little did I expect that the cheesecake turned out to be rich and chocolatey with a prominent coffee aroma after the cheesecake was baked and chilled. Lesson learnt. You can never be too sure how your bakes will turn out.

Texture-wise, it was a deviation from the usual dense cheesecake which I preferred. Based on previous experience, chocolate cheesecakes seem to set more as compared to non-chocolate ones. Hence I shortened the baking time for fear that the cheesecake might overset and become rock hard. The result was a gooey-creamy softly set cheesecake instead of being dense, which was a delightful change from the norm. Had it been a non-chocolate cheesecake, the baking time would be insufficient and the cheesecake would not have set properly.

Mocha Cheesecake:  Recipe adapted from Cheese Cake with Kevin Chai
Serving size: 10-12 slices
Taste and texture: Gooey and creamy with a rich mocha flavour.
Equipment and materials:
1) Stand electric beater/ handheld electric beater
2) Food processor/ rolling pin
3) Measuring spoon set
4) Spatula
5) Mixing bowls
6) Wire rack
7) 7 inch springform tin
8) Baking tray larger than springform tin
9) Aluminium foil

Biscuit base:
130g Oreo cookies, finely ground (cream filling removed)
60g melted butter
1 tbs brown sugar

Cheesecake filling:
500g cream cheese, softened
100g castor sugar
1 1/2 tbs cocoa powder
2 tsp instant coffee powder
150ml whipping cream
3 eggs, lightly beaten
160g dark chocolate, melted and cooled (I used 55% dark chocolate)

Method:
Making the base: Prepare biscuit base as mentioned in Preparing a Cheesecake Tin. Freeze prepared base for 10 minutes or until ready for use. Alternatively, bake the base at 180 degrees C for 10 minutes and allow to cool.

Preparing the oven: Preheat oven to 170 degrees C.

Preparing cheesecake filling: Beat cream cheese, sugar, cocoa and coffee powder untill creamy on medium speed.  Beat in the eggs at low speed, one at a time until incorporated.

Next, stir in whipping cream. Finally, fold in the melted chocolate to obtain a smooth batter.

Baking the cheesecake: Pour filling onto biscuit base. Wrap top and sides of spring form tin with aluminium foil as mentioned in Preparing a Cheesecake Tin. Bake at 170 degrees C for 45-60 minutes in a water bath. The filling should be set near the edges but most of the centre region is still jiggly. The cheesecake will continue to set when cooled.

Cooling the cheesecake: When baked, allow cheesecake to cool in the oven with oven door ajar for 30 minutes. Remove the tin from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack. Place cooled cheesecake tin in the refrigerator and chill for 4-6 hours. Dislodge chilled cheesecake from cheesecake tin.

Notes:
1) To slice cheesecake nicely, wipe the knife after each slice with kitchen towel/s.
2) To smooth the sides of the cheesecake, dip a knife in hot water. Wipe the knife dry and run it around the perimeter of the cheesecake. Repeat the step if necessary.
3) Bake the cheesecake for a further 30 minutes to obtain a denser cheesecake.
4) Flavour of cheesecake will continue to mature after 1-2 days of chilling.

Cookies and Cream Cheesecake

Earlier, my apple-upside down cheesecake vanished without a trace. This time round, I made sure that the same thing would not happen again.

I baked a cookies and cream cheesecake meant for my friend's birthday. To me, cookies and cream cheesecakes are no different from Oreo cheesecakes. If it has to be a chocolate sandwich cookie, the choice would be none other than Oreo.

Unlike the previous attempt, I decided to tweak the filling a little and simply added some finely ground Oreo cookies to the filling, hoping to achieve a texture similiar to that of cookies and cream ice cream, cream coloured with tiny flecks of Oreo. I ended up being too generous with the addition and the cheesecake filling turned out to a greyish-brown hue.

When the cheesecake was cooling down on a wire rack, the filling appeared to have totally set. From my previous experiences,  baked cheesecakes were supposed to be softly set instead while cooling on the wire rack. It then ocurred to me that I have probably overestimated and overbaked the cheesecake. Pressing down on the surface of the cheesecake with my index finger, the surface was dry and would not give way under pressure. It seemed as though  the cheesecake needed no further chilling in the refrigerator for the final firming up. Even though I had the hunch that the cheesecake would turn out rock hard after chilling, I chucked the cheesecake into the refrigerator as usual.

Decorating the cake was easy. It only involved placing Oreo sandwich cookies near the edges round the cheesecake. Some finely ground oreo crumbs were sprinkled in the middle for a final touch. After everything was in place, all I had to do was wait for the results.

Before the cutting of cake, I warned and apologized to my friend that I might have overbaked the cake. It turned out that my worries were unfounded. Whew! The Oreo cheesecake was desirably dense and smooth in the mouth. Nope, not dry at all as I had thought. I had been duped. 

Cookies and Cream Cheesecake a.k.a Oreo Cheesecake: ( Recipe adapted from Cheesecake Seduction by Catherine Lau)

Serving size: 12 slices
Taste and texture: Dense and thick but not dry. Shorten baking time to get a less dense and creamier texture.
Equipment and materials:
1) Stand electric beater/ handheld electric beater
2) Food processor/ rolling pin
3) Measuring spoon set
4) Spatula
5) Mixing bowls
6) Wire rack
7) 9 inch springform tin
8) Baking tray larger than springform tin
9) Aluminium foil

Biscuit base:
200g Oreo cookies, finely ground (cream filling removed)
90g melted butter
1 tbs brown sugar

Cheesecake filling:
500g cream cheese, softened
120g castor sugar
200ml whipping cream
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs, lightly beaten
10 g Oreo cookies, cream removed and finely ground (This is optional. I used 30g Oreo sandwich cookies with cream removed and the cheesecake filling turned out very dark as depicted in pictures)
9 oreo sandwich cookies with cream filling, coarsely chopped (use hands to break into coarse bits) or 90g coarsely chopped Oreo cookies with cream removed.

Toppings
9 Oreo sandwich cookies
1 Oreo sandwich cookie, cream removed and finely ground

Method:
Making the base: Prepare biscuit base as mentioned in Preparing a Cheesecake Tin. Freeze prepared base for 10 minutes or until ready for use.

Preparing the oven: Preheat oven to 150 degrees C

Preparing cheesecake filling: Beat cream cheese and sugar untill creamy on medium speed. Add whipping cream and vanilla extract to cream cheese mixture on low speed. Beat until smooth and incorporated. Do not overbeat else the cream may separate (due to excessive beating), resulting in a grainy batter. Lastly, add the eggs and beat until combined on low speed.

Adding in cookies to cheesecake filling: Add in the finely ground cookie crumbs from 10g Oreo cookies (with cream removed) to the prepared cheesecake filling. Next, mix in the finely ground cookie crumbs a little at a time. Stop adding once you are satisfied with the colour. The objective is to obtain a texture similar to cookies and cream ice cream with tiny flecks of Oreo cookie. (This step is optional)

Lastly, fold in the coarsely chopped cookie bits, with or without cream filling as desired.

Baking the cheesecake: Pour filling onto biscuit base. Wrap top and sides of spring form tin with aluminium foil as mentioned in Preparing a Cheesecake Tin. Bake at 150 degrees C for 1 hour 15 minutes in a water bath. The filling should be set and will not jiggle much when pan is moved.

Cooling the cheesecake: When baked, allow cheesecake to cool in the oven with oven door ajar for 30 minutes. Remove the tin from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack. Place cooled cheesecake tin in the refrigerator and chill for 4-6 hours. Dislodge chilled cheesecake from cheesecake tin.

Decorating the cheesecake: To decorate the cheesecake, place the 9 Oreo sandwich cookies near the edge and around the cake. Sprinkle with oreo cookie crumbs in the centre. Serve cheesecakes chilled.

Notes:
1) To slice cheesecake nicely, wipe the knife after each slice with kitchen towel/s.
2) To smooth the sides of the cheesecake, dip a knife in hot water. Wipe the knife dry and run it around the perimeter of the cheesecake. Repeat the step if necessary.
3) This recipe uses 3 to 4 tubular packs (150g per tube) of Oreo cookies.
4) I baked the cheesecake for 1 hour 45 minutes resulting in a very dense texture. Any longer and the cheesecake would dry out.

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Oreo Cheesecake

Ok here goes my first post on this brand new blog =]. I am still learning and exploring the art of baking. It all first started when i chanced upon this blog. Her blog gave me inspiration and from then on i started to bake using recipes from the net and from cookbooks. Hopefully, i will become as good as her in time to come. Wish me luck!!

Cheesecakes are yummy and are rather easy to prepare. This cake was supposed to be a New York Cheesecake. The texture is creamy and it has a tangy vanilla taste. Personally, i feel that the recipe is simple and the taste is good for a home-bake cheesecake.

For a change i thought it would be fun to give the recipe a tweak and do some experimenting. I added oreo and it turned out quite decent, deviating from the usual cookie and cream cheesecake which calls for milk. Comparing the two, I would prefer the original new york cheesecake recipe.

Oreo Cheesecake
Serving size: 8-10 slices
Equipment and materials:
1) Stand electric beater/ handheld electric beater
2) Measuring spoon set
3) Spatula
4) Mixing bowls
5) Wire rack
6) 18cm (7 inch) springform tin
7) Baking tray larger than springform tin
8) Aluminium foil

Biscuit base:
110g oreo cookies, filling removed
50g melted butter

Cheesecake filling:
250g block cream cheese (at room temperature)
20g butter softened
70g sugar
200ml sour cream (bulla light sour cream or premium sour cream)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
5 oreo sandwich cookies, with or without cream filling as desired
1 egg

Topping:
2 oreo sandwich cookies, filling removed, crushed into powder

Method:
1) Prepare biscuit base as mentioned in Preparing a Cheesecake Tin using a 18cm (7 inch) springform tin.
2) Preheat oven to 160 degrees C
3) Beat cream cheese and butter untill creamy on medium speed. Add sugar and beat until combined.
4) Add sour cream and vanilla extract to cream cheese mixture on medium low speed. Beat until smooth and incorporated.
5) Lastly, add the eggs and beat until combined on low speed. Use a spatula to run through the filling in a zig zag manner to eliminate air bubbles.
6) Fold in the coarsely chopped cookie bits.
7) Pour filling onto biscuit base.
8) Wrap top and sides of spring form tin with aluminium foil as mentioned in Preparing a Cheesecake Tin. Bake at 160 degrees C for 45 minutes in a water bath.
9) When baked, allow cheesecake to cool in the oven with oven door ajar for 30 minutes.
10) Remove the tin from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.
11) Place cooled cheesecake tin in the refrigerator and chill for 4-6 hours. Dislodge cheesecake from cheesecake tin. Scatter oreo topping over cheesecake. Serve cheesecakes chilled.

Note:
1) To slice cheesecake nicely, wipe the knife after each slice with kitchen towel/s.
2) To smooth the sides of the cheesecake, dip a knife in hot water. Wipe the knife dry and run it around the perimeter of the cheesecake. Repeat the step if necessary.