The Highly Anticipated Food Bloggers' Meetup - My Very 1st

Sunday, 8th August 2010 is a very special day for me. Nope, it isn't National Day Eve (Singapore's National Day falls on the 9th of August, marking our anniversary of independance). It is the day I met up with like-minded bloggers from all walks of life holding a passion for the culinary arts, be it baking or cooking.

The meeting took place at Edith's lovely and spacious home. It was really kind of her to welcome us with an open heart, considering that some of us are meeting her for the first time in person. All along, I got to know about these fellow bloggers through their blogs. Through reading their blog posts and exchanging comments, I learnt about little tidbits regarding their family, profession and other interesting details about their daily life. However, that was only the blogging persona. It is hard to imagine the looks of the talents behind these food blogs.  

Among the fellow bloggers, I got to know Youfei and Pei-Lin the earliest. Back then, I was still a noob at baking and blogging and that was before I went on my year-long hiatus (I'm still noobish in some aspects, for instance bread making, lol). Slowly, I discovered more lovely blogs on the bloggosphere by other creative food directors whom I met at Edith's place for the very first time.  

Fellow talented bloggers and creative directors at the meetup:

Pei-Lin from Dodol & Mochi

Jane from Passionate about Baking

Grace from Kitchen Corner

Edith from Precious Moments

Josephine from Sugar and Everything Nice

Bee Bee from Honey Bee Sweets

Aimei from Baking Cottage

Youfei from Loving Baking

Jess from Bakericious

Shirley from Kokken 69

Yan Ee from Sweeter Side of Life

The entire meetup lasted for 6 whooping hours! At 12 noon, the bloggers started flowing in. When everyone arrived, it was time for a sumptuous buffet spread of home prepared food seasoned with lots of effort and spiced with tender loving care. I could swear that the buffet spread is one of the best that I have eaten in my entire life. Sorry to the five-star hotels and reknowned restaurants. Most of them would not even come close to the standard of food served at the meetup. I was grinning from ear to ear and could hear my mind exclaiming with delight when I helped myself to the food.

Snap! Snap! Photo-taking time... Typical of us food bloggers, lol.  First thing we did was dish out our cameras to take pictures. No pictures, no blogging...

Edith's open concept kitchen. Buffet time!

Mee Rebus prepared by Shirley. Thick and flavourful gravy.

Bandung drink prepared by Edith. Great beverage to go along with all the mouth-watering food.

Bakewell tarts prepared by Grace. Soft-cakey yet crumbly. 

Sandwiches prepared by Yan Ee with nice eggy filling which I enjoyed.

Sweet and savoury porkfloss seaweed swiss rolls. I never had such swiss rolls. Really special. Kind of reminds me of sushi.

Wonderful pork and beef burgers prepared by Grace. The buns were homemade too. Nice and soft. This burger beats all the fast food burgers hands down anytime!

Chicken curry prepared by Josephine. I like the thick consistency of the gravvy. Not overly spicy. Sedap =]

Wholemeal cookies by Yan Ee. Full of nutty goodness. 

Chocolate truffles by me..

Chocolate cookies with fleur de sel. I like the sandy crumbly texture of the cookies. Very different from the chocolate cookies I had so far.

Lavendar and plain shortbread cookies by Aimei. Cute packaging obtained from Daiso.

Olive oil spiced assorted nuts by Jane. I liked the aroma of herbs and spices here, fragrant but not overwhelming. Each blogger was given a tub to bring home.

Durian tarts by Pei-Lin. My favourite flavour of all time. I took back some tarts for my friends to try the next day. Everyone unanimously replied it was really good!

We forgot to take group pictures after eating and chatting. Jess helping herself to the mee rebus and Edith busy snapping away..

The lovely ladies: Josphine, Jess, Bee Bee, Edith (concealed) Aimei and Yan Ee (concealed)

I missed out some pictures on the food. Bee Bee brought along Mang Guang Kueh (Similar to Soon Kueh). The skin was soft and chewy, not hard and dry even though it was cold.

Some of my friends who knew that I going to the meetup jokingly asked if I could bring them along for a good feasting. They would have been in for a superb treat had they attended the meetup with me, lol.

Bakertan's Chocolate Factory - Part II

2 boxes of  rum and raisins dark chocolate truffles. The size of these truffles were smaller compared to the white chocolate matcha truffles.

Rustic, homemade look

I tried to 'temper' the chocolates using the seeding method without a candy thermometer and it did work for a short moment. The chocolate coating was glossy but when it set, it turned dull, probably due to rapid change in temperatures. 

Notice the inconsistency in the colour of the chocolate coating. This is due to the chocolate undergoing extreme change in temperature. The chocolate coating has developed a chocolate bloom.

Plain dark chocolate truffles with dark chocolate ganache centers. These chocolates were made using a simple inexpensive chocolate mould.

Rum and Raisins Truffles / Plain Dark Chocolate Truffles - see notes below (recipe adapted from Chocolate: 70 of the best recipes from Hamlyn)

Serving size: 15 -20 pieces
Equipment and materials:
1) 2 Heatproof bowls
2) Spoon
3) 2 Fork
4) 3/4 inch or 1 inch Melon baller (optional)
5) Measuring spoon set
6) Baking/parchement paper
7) Foil/paper mini cupcake liners
8) Saucer
9) Clingfilm
10) Baking trays
11) Diposable food gloves
12) Knife for chopping chocolate

Ingredients:
50 ml heavy cream (whipping cream)
85g bittersweet (60% cocao) dark chocolate, finely chopped (use the best quality you can afford)
35g raisins finely chopped and soaked in 2 tbsp dark rum for 1 hour, covered  (I used Meyer's dark rum)
1-3 tsp dark rum
120g - 150g dark chocolate pistoles or finely chopped

Method:

Making the Chocolate Ganache: Place 85g of finely chopped bittersweet dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl.  Place heavy cream in a saucer and heat it untill it is almost coming to a boil on medium heat. Turn off the flame and remove the saucer. Pour the cream over the finely chopped dark chocolate and allow chocolate to sit for a while in the heated cream. Stir gently to allow chocolate to melt and blend in with the cream. Do not overstir or the mixture may become grainy. The smooth cream and dark chocolate mixture is known as a dark chocolate ganache.

If dark chocolate is not completely melted: Place the heatproof bowl over a saucepan filled with water. The bowl should fit snugly onto the saucepan and the bottom of the bowl should not be in contact with the water in the saucepan. Bring the water in the saucepan to a low simmer on low heat. This is known as a double boiler. Stir the chocolate cream mixture gently to obtain a smooth ganache. Do not overstir or the mixture may become grainy.

Cooling and flavouring ganache: Remove heatproof bowl from the heat and allow ganache to cool. Add rum soaked raisins to the cooled ganache. Next, add in 1-3 tsp of dark rum to taste. Place a piece of clingfilm over the bowl and press onto the surface of the ganache. Refrigerate ganache untill firm.

Shaping chocolate ganache balls: When ganache is firm, use a 3/4 inch melon baller to scoop out rounded (slightly heaped) portions onto a tray lined with baking paper. Refrigerate these portions for 10 minutes or untill firm. Using the disposable food gloves, roll the chilled portions into round balls. Refrigerate these round balls for another 10 minutes or till firm. Melt remaining 120g dark chocolate in another heatproof bowl using the double boiler method on low heat.

Coating ganache balls with dark chocolate: Using the tines of 2 fork, dipped the round ganache balls into the melted dark chocolate to coat. Lift the dipped ganache ball away from the melted dark chocolate. Rotate and transfer the coated balls at the same time between the 2 fork to ensure ganache balls are well coated all around. Transfer coated ganache balls to a tray lined with baking paper. Allow the dark chocolate coating to set at cool room temperature. Alternatively, refirgerate coated ganache balls untill firm.

Storing chocolate truffles: Line truffles with mini cupcake papers and store truffles in a single layer in the refrigerator for several days. Serve truffles at room temperature, not chilled and directly from the refrigerator.

 
Notes:

1) For Plain Dark Chocolate Truffles, omit the raisins and rum. Follow the above method as stated.

2) For Liqueur Truffles, omit the raisins and rum. Add 1-3 tsp of desired liqueur to taste. (Bailey's is a

good choice)  

3) Chocolate truffles are best eaten at room temperature. When eaten chilled, the chocolate flavour is 'trapped'.

4) It takes some practice to melt dark chocolate. Dark chocolate is easier to melt as compared to white chocolate. The best is to use low heat. If the water in the double boiler comes to a strong boil, the heat may cause the dark chocolate to burn. Burnt dark chocolate is dry and cannot be melted anymore.

5) Do not allow even a drop of water to come into contact with the melted dark chocolate. The dark chocolate will seize and will be unusable. If this happens and you still want to salvage the dark chocolate, add in more water instead and stir constantly. The melted dark chocolate will become smooth but end up being watery, affecting the taste and texture. Use it as a chocolate sauce instead.

Bakertan's Chocolate Factory: Part 1

Tomorrow will be the Blogger's meetup initiated by Pei-Lin. At the thought of meeting up with other fellow food bloggers, I feel kind of excited. Afterall, this is my first meetup and I always thought it would be great to meet up like-minded people sharing the same passion for food and its preparation.  

Each of us is supposed to bring along one homemade food item for the potluck. I have long decided that I would be doing chocolate truffles. Since everyone knows how to bake and is pretty proficient at it, I decided not to do any baked goods. Cooking is out of the option as I only have that few kitchen tricks up my sleeves, hardly worthy to be brought along for the potluck. Furthermore, a potluck would signify an excess of food. Chocolate truffles are hardly filling and hence would be a good idea for an after-meal dessert.  

The first time I made chocolate truffles was ages ago, dating back to about one and a half years back. Back then, my best friend was leaving Singapore for China on an overseas exchange. Hence, I made some Bailey's chocolate truffles for his farewell. My maiden attempt turned out well. Making Chocolate truffles seems like an easy affair with few ingredients to handle. However, it is time consuming having to chopped chocolates finely, melt the chocolates, make the ganache, refrigerate the ganache, scoop the truffle centers and coat them with chocolate. The weather is definitely not on my side since Singapore is humid and warm all year round. We only have one season here and that is Summer.

In total, I made 3 different flavoured chocolate truffles to bring along to the meetup: green tea white chocolate truffles, rum and raisins truffles and lastly plain dark chocolate truffles. Out of these, the green tea truffles took the longest time to prepare. I started with the green tea truffles first and gained some practice. Making the rum and raisins truffles became much easier afterwards. For the plain chocolate truffles, I used a simple chocolate mould to differentiate them from the rum and raisin truffles, since both are covered with dark chocolate.

Rolled green tea truffles centers

Notice that the truffle is sweating due to condensation.

Green tea truffle speckled with matcha powder. The idea is inspired by this website

Reminds me of mooncakes. Anyway Mid-Autumm will be coming soon..

Truffle centers actually look like pandan lotus paste

I chose 3 of the not so good looking ones and sampled them. Taste is not too shabby. Those who do not like white chocolate probably will not appreciate the sweet milky caramel taste.

Thats all for now regarding tomorrow's  preview. Will take more pictures on the remaining truffles soon....

Green Tea Truffles ( recipe adapted from Truffles: 50 Delicious Decadent Homemade Chocolate Treats by Dede Wilson)

Serving size: 11 pieces

Equipment and materials:

1) 2 Heatproof bowls
2) Spoon
3) 2 Fork
4) 3/4 inch or 1 inch Melon baller (optional)
5) Measuring spoon set
6) Baking/parchement paper
7) Foil/paper mini cupcake liners
8) Saucer
9) Clingfilm
10) Baking trays
11) Diposable food gloves
12) Knife for chopping chocolate

Ingredients:
50 ml heavy cream (whipping cream)
120g white chocolate, finely chopped (use the best quality you can afford)
1/2 to 1 & 1/2 tsp matcha powder
120g white chocolate pistoles or finely chopped
a little matcha powder to sprinkle on green tea truffles

Method:

Making the chocolate ganache: Place 120g of finely chopped white chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Place cream in a saucer and heat it till it is almost coming to a boil on medium heat. Off the flame and remove the saucer. Pour the cream over the finely chopped white chocolate and allow chocolate to sit for a while in the heated cream. Stir gently to allow chocolate to melt and blend in with the cream. When chocolate is blended with cream, the resulting mixture will be cream coloured. The mixture cream chocolate mixture is known as a white chocolate ganache.

If white chocolate is not completely melted: Place heatproof bowl over a saucepan filled with water. The bowl should fit snugly onto the saucepan and the base of the bowl should not be in contact with the water in the saucepan. Bring the water in the saucepan to a low simmer on low heat. This is known as a double boiler. Stir the white chocolate and cream mixture until the white chocolate melts completely to obtain a smooth ganache.

Cooling and flavouring ganache: Remove heatproof bowl from the heat and allow ganache to cool. Add in 1/2 tsp of matcha powder to the cooled ganance. Mix evenly. Add more matcha powder to taste if required. White chocolate is very sweet so strike a balance between the green tea flavour and the milky sweetness of the white chocolate. Allow ganache to cool. Place a piece of clingfilm over the bowl and press onto the surface of the ganache. Refrigerate ganache till firm.

Shaping matcha white chocolate ganache balls: When ganache is firm, use a melon baller to scoop out rounded (slightly heaped) portions onto a tray lined with baking paper. Return to refrigerate these portions for 10 minutes or till firm. Using the disposable food gloves, roll the portions into round balls. Refrigerate for another 10 minutes or till firm.

Coating ganache balls with white chocolate: Melt remaining 120g white chocolate in another heatproof bowl using the double boiler method on low heat. Using the tines of 2 fork, dipped the round ganache balls into the melted white chocolate to coat. Lift the dipped ganache ball up from the melted white chocolate. Rotate and transfer the coated balls at the same time between the 2 fork to ensure ganache balls are well coated all around. Transfer coated ganache balls to a tray lined with baking paper. While chocolate coating is still soft, sprinkle a pinch of matcha powder randomly on top of each coated ganache ball. Allow the white chocolate coating to set at cool room temperature. Alternatively, refirgerate coated ganache balls untill firm.

Storing chocolate truffles: Line truffles with mini cupcake papers and store truffles at cool room temperature covered or in the refrigerator for several days. Serve truffles at room temperature, not chilled and directly from the refrigerator to enjoy the flavour.

Notes:

1) It takes some practice to melt white chocolate. White chocolate has to be melted using low heat over a double boiler and constantly stirred gently. If the water in the double boiler comes to a strong boil, the heat may cause the white chocolate to burn. Burnt white chocolate is dry and cannot be melted anymore. From experience, white chocolate is the hardest to melt among all chocolates.

2) As an alternative, roll the ganache balls onto matcha powder. It will work fine too.

3) Another alternative would be to roll the ganache balls onto grated white chocolate. This was the intention in the book by Dede Wilson

Breadmaking - Not a Success Story

A book titled - Baking and Pastry: Mastering the Art and Craft caught my attention recently. After reading reviews on it from Amazon, I decided to place a reservation for this book from the National Library. Having done some research on the price, I knew that I have to make that the book is worth its heavy price tag before getting it. This book easily costs above a 100 bucks in local bookstores and being an observant bakebook shopper myself, I know cookbooks and bakebooks hardly ever cross this mark.

I could not contain my excitement and eagerly flipped through the book the day I loaned it from the library. 'Wow' was the first thing that came to mind. The book spans over 900 pages and covers almost everything a baker needs to know, including bread, cakes, cookies, tarts, pastries, icings, chocolates even plated desserts, frozen desserts and savoury bakes. At the forefront of the book was an introduction to career opportunites for baking and pastry professionals, followed by introduction to ingredients and equipment, baking principles and food safety.

There are, however, some minor drawbacks. The section of  baking principles could be explained in further details and the recipes need to be scaled down when intended for home use. Overall, the book would make a very comprehensive textbook or homebaking reference for inspiring bakers. So far, I have been impressed by the content  and hopefully it will make its way into my library of bakebooks soon.  

Back to the main intention of this post, I tried my hands at bread-making a second time today: raisins plaited ring bread from I Can Bake by Agnes Chang. The entire kneading process took me like 40 minutes, both using my hands and the dough hook. Compared to baking cakes and cookies, this is certainly a chore for me. I have always been less inclined towards bread making and this provided a good reason as to why I should stay away.

I managed to get the dough to the window pane stage by stretching the dough gently and slowly to reveal a transulent membrane like appearance. The plaiting, however, turned out to be nightmarish. For the first half of the dough, I separated it into two equal portions instead of three as indicated and rolled the portions out to about 35cm long and plaited them.When the plaited ring was proofed a second time, it went out of shape. To make matters worst, I overbaked the dough and ended with a hideous stiff-crust dark brown ring bread. 

The second plaited dough turned out slightly better after baking. To prevent the dough from over-browning, I covered the top with aluminium foil halfway through the required baking time. In all, this bread making experience is not quite a success. I have no complaints regarding the taste but the bread turned out dry with a tough crust when cooled, not fluffy as seen on the pictures on the book. Wonder what went wrong...

Post Baking Analysis:

1) Possibility of underproofing as suggested by Wendy. Will do my 1st  and 2nd proofing longer. Both took me more slightly more than an hour.

2) Baking temperature too high. I used 200 degrees C. Perhaps I will reduce it to 190 degrees C next time.

3) Baking time too long. I baked at 20 minutes at 200 Degrees C. Will reduce it in future.

4) I realised that my second proofing does'nt seem to be effective. Perhaps next time I might omit the second proofing. Need to do some research on this...  

5) (Latest) Just realised that I added more flour than asked for due to a mistake. Oops! This should be the main culprit for the dry and tough texture.

Buried Treasure - Lychee Butter Cake

Earlier, my friend helped me to buy 3 blocks of Elle & Vire butter from Sun Lik. Each block only costs S$3.20 whereas it is selling at Carrefour outlets for S$5.20. As it is manufactured in France and french butter are considered premium, I was looking forward to see if it would make any difference in my bakes. 

I chose a lychee butter cake recipe from one of my books: Baking with Fruits by Kevin Chai. It was weird that the recipe did not ask for any leavening agents. From a previous experience, a cupcake which I attempted from Martha Stewart's recipe which too did not ask for any leavening agents turned out to be dense. Hence, I tweaked the recipe to obtain a cake with lighter texture, omitting the almonds and cornmeal, substistuted an egg yolk for a whole egg, added some lychee sryup, used self-raising flour instead and increased the proportion of ingredients. The changes were so much that the recipe I formulated was no longer an adaption from the original. Rather it was a whole new recipe inspired by the original. 

Following the pictures from the book, I placed drained canned lychees evenly on top of the batter. The lychees were supposed to be visible on top after baking, looking somewhat like a lychee version of  a pastry fruit cake. However, the batter rose and buried all of them. I then realised why the original recipe did not ask for any leavening agents. Perhaps that was the trick to keep them in place. Nevertheless, I did not regret my decision. I would rather have a cake with a more desirable texture rather than one that is pleasing to the eyes but fail to satisfy my palate.  

The end result was a nicely browned lychee butter cake with slightly uneven top due to the batter rising and making its way about the lychees. Anyway, that did not matter much since the cake was going to be sliced up anyway.

My efforts were rewarded as I dug into a rich and fragrant butter cake. The lychees were a little soft though and tasted mushy. Well, lychees are definitely unlike apples which can keep their firmness well after baking. I guess this is why apples are a favourite fruit choice among bakers, including me.

Among the brands of butter I have tried, Elle & Vire is certainly quite outstanding. I could taste the richness of the sweet unsalted butter, or maybe my palate was tricked by the salt and the lychee syrup. Anyway, I am pleased with my new found lychee butter cake recipe. If there is anything that I need to change, it would probably be using smaller bits of lychees instead since the lychee wholes do not hold well to the butter cake after slicing.

Lychee Butter Cake (Recipe inspired from Baking with Fruits by Kevin Chai)

Serving size: 20cm/8 inch square cake, 16 slices

Equipment and materials:

1) Stand electric beater/ handheld electric beater or wooden spoon
2) Measuring spoon set
3) Spatula
4) Mixing bowl
5) Wire rack
6) 20cm (8inch) square pan
7) Flour sieve
8) Parchment/baking paper
9) Brush for oiling pan
10) Weighing scale
11) Balloon whisk
12) Aluminium foil
 

Ingredients:

165g unsalted butter, softened

135g castor sugar

2 eggs, at room temperature ( 55-60g each)

1 egg yolk

3 & 1/2 tbs lychee syrup (from canned lychees) 

175g self raising flour

1/4 tsp salt
1 can tin of lychees, well drained. Slice each lychee whole into 3 smaller pieces.

Method: 

Baking preparation: Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Line a 20cm/8inch square pan with baking paper.

Prepare dry ingredients: Sift flour into a large bowl. Add in salt and use a whisk to combine the flour and salt, ensure the salt is evenly distributed.

Making the batter: In a mixing bowl, beat butter with sugar until pale and fluffy, as mentioned in How to Cream Butter. Add in whole eggs and egg yolk one by one to the creamed butter. Beat on medium speed until each egg is combined before adding the next. Scrape the sides and bottom of mixing bowl with a spatula after the third egg is beaten and combined. Beat the mixture for a further 15 seconds. Next, add in the lychee syrup. Beat until combined.

Incorporating the flour: Lastly, add in the flour mixture in two batches. Beat until the first batch flour of flour is absorbed before adding the second batch. Once the second batch of flour is absorbed, scrape sides and bottom of bowl with a spatula to incoporate stray flour. Beat for a further 30 seconds to ensure batter is smooth and well mixed. Do not overmix or cake will be tough.

Adding the lychees: Fold half of the sliced lychees into cake batter and ensure lychees are evenly distributed. Pour into prepared tin and level top with a spatula, Spread the remaining lychees evenly on the top of cake batter.   

Baking the cake: Bake at 180 degrees C for 40-45 minutes. To test for doneness, insert a toothpick or wooden skewer. It should come out clean. If not, return to oven to bake untill done.

Notes:

1) Top of cake may brown faster than it is being cooked. If this happens, use a piece of aluminium foil to cover the top of the square pan.

2) 3 whole eggs can be used instead of using 2 eggs and 1 egg yolk. Having more whole eggs will result in a stronger structure and hence a less tender product. I substituted the egg yolk for whole egg to give a slightly more tender product.

 

Cheesecakes and Baking Tips

When it comes to cakes, Cheesecakes belong to a league of their own. There are mainly two types of cheesecakes: baked and unbaked (also known as chilled cheesecakes). Cheesecakes are often flourless. However, some baked cheesecake recipes do call for small amounts of plain flour or corn starch to hold the cheesecake together and give it a more cake-like texture.

A water bath is sometimes used for baked cheesecakes. This involves the cheesecake tin submerged in a larger pan filled with hot water. Using a water bath promotes a moist environment and encourages even heat distribution, resulting in cheesecakes with creamier texture. Compared to the conventional butter cake, baked cheesecakes are actually baked custards, albeit creamier and denser. On the other hand, chilled cheesecakes often calls for whipped cream and gelatin powder to hold the structure. In fact, the texture of unbaked cheesecakes very much resembles that of a firm gelatinous cheesy mousse.

The main ingredients used in cheesecakes are cream cheese, eggs and sugar. The choice of cheese may differ slightly with some recipes suggesting ricotta, cottage or mascarporne cheese. Sometimes, it is a mixture of two types of cheese. Most people may be more familiar with the American style cheesecake which usually calls for sour cream or whipping cream as the liquid ingredient. American style cheesecakes are rich and dense whereas the Japanese cheesecake (also known as cotton cheesecake or souffle cheesecake) is light, velvety and cake-like.  

Cheesecakes may or may not come with a base. The base may be made from digestive biscuits, graham crackers, ground nuts, brownies, pastry or sponge cake.

I am a self-confessed cheesecake lover who loves to bake and eat cheesecakes. Having baked quite a couple of cheesecakes, the following are my observations and tips on baking/making cheesecakes. Hope they are useful to you: 

1) When cheesecakes are baked and come into contact with cold air suddenly, they may be subjected to cracks on the surface. This happens when the oven door is fully opened after the cheesecake is baked. To prevent cracks from surfacing, the baked cheesecake should be cooled in the switched off oven gradually for sometime before being removed to cool on a wire rack.

2) Cheesecakes baked in a water bath are less likely to experience cracks on the surface. The entire cheesecake would have a more uniform density and texture as opposed to cheesecakes baked without a water bath. Cheesecakes baked without a water bath would have tough and dry edges. Nowadays, I bake all my cheesecakes in a water bath.

3) When using a water bath, be sure to wrap 2 or more layers of aluminuim foil around the bottom and sides of the pan to prevent water leaking into the pan.

4) When a cheesecake recipe calls for whipping cream, do not overbeat the mixture when the cream is added. The cream may separate and result in an undesirable grainy texture.

5) When beating in eggs or liquid ingredients into cheesecake mixture, beat on low speed and mix until combined. Do not overbeat as air will be incoporated into the batter, resulting in a sunken cheesecake when cooled. Run a spatula through the cheesecake mixture in a zig zag manner to eliminate some of the air bubbles or rap the cheesecake tin on a solid surface and allow air bubbles to rise to the surface.  

6) Cheesecakes are done when they appear to be softly set and will jiggle slightly (centre is less set and  more wobbly compared to edges) when the pan is moved. The baked cheesecake will continue to firm up as it cools down after baking and when it is being chilled in the refrigerator. Personally, I like my cheesecakes to be softly set throughout the surface without the centre being more wobbly (when using a water bath).  

7) Baking times will affect the density of the baked cheesecake. Cheesecakes that are baked longer will be denser and dryer. Vary the baking time (shorten or lengthen)to get your desired texture. Cheesecakes that are overbaked will turn out dry and tough whereas cheesecakes that are underbaked may not hold their shape well (very watery in texture) when sliced. It will be easier to vary baking times using a water bath without drying out the cheesecake.

8) When using a water bath while the recipe does not call for one, the baking time will be longer.

9) When buying cream cheese, select the ones in rectangular blocks rather than those in tubs (more for cheese spread). The composition of the cream cheese in these packagings are different.

10) A good brand of cream cheese to use would be Philadelphia cream cheese.

11) Cheesecakes store for up to 7 days in the refrigerator. Cheesecakes can be frozen to last longer.

12) Always keep cheesecakes in the refrigerator and serve them chilled. According to some sources, the flavour of cheesecakes mature as the number of days pass.

13) When using vanilla, use the best quality vanilla to give the cheesecake a full bodied aroma. The difference in quality of vanilla used in cheesecakes is noticeable.

14) For unbaked (chilled) cheesecakes, the quantity of gelatin used is often crucial in ensuring that the cheesecake sets well. Ensure that gelatine is well dissolved using a bain marie/ double boiler but do not over heat the gelatine mixture.

15) To cut cheesecakes into neat slices, wipe the knife with a kitchen towel after every slice.

16) To give the cheesecake a smooth finishing around the perimeter, dip a knife in hot water. Dry the knife with a kitchen towel and run around the sides of the cheesecake. Repeat the step if necessary.

Baking cheesecakes is an uncomplicated affair. There are hardly any major disasters to send you on a panic. Whether you are a seasoned baker anot, it will be a good idea to include them on your baking list. So, why not get some cream cheese and start baking one right away?

The above are based on my observations and experience. The tips provided, while they work well for me, may not be suitable for everyone. Feel free to provide suggestions, opinions or comments on this article.

Useful References:

1) Baking Cheesecake: Step by Step

2) Tips for Cheesecake

3) Cheesecake 101

4) Cheesecake 101: Problems with solutions

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.