Birthday cake for Eve!

This cake was baked for my friend's 23rd birthday. I was comtemplating between doing a blueberry cheesecake and a chocolate cake. Decided to go ahead with the blueberry cheesecake since it was easier to handle and I was confident the cake would look nice at least. From my experience with cheesecakee, they are quite easy to decorate. There is not need to bother with smoothing the surface and sides if proper lining is prepared.

The recipe for this cake comes from this book named Catherine Lau's Cheesecake Seduction. The cakes featured are mouth watering and the recipes work out quite well with minimum adjustments needed. I ran out of ideas when i tried to decorate the blueberry topping. Was pondering what would look nice on top of a dark purple background. In the end, I thought that the fresh redness of strawberries would add a nice contrast to the blueberry toppings.

Everything went smoothly. The cake was set, the toppings and decorations were decent. However, i find that the cake was a bit too soft when i was eating it. Not sure if it is because it has been left out of the refrigerator for some time or that i did not bake the cheesecake long enough. Or it could have been that i did not whipped the batter until it thickens. It took me 70 minutes to bake this cheesecake. This is considered long as i only take 40 minutes to bake a New York cheesecake of the same volume.

Perhaps next time i will leave out the cornstarch and beat the whipping cream before adding mixing. Hopefully that will help me get a texture i am satisfied with.