Last week was a fruitful baking week. Tiring, but totally worth the effort when I hear the raving praise about the cakes I had made. There'll be no pictures for this post as there was simply no time to take one.
I mentioned in my last post about trying to bake a chocolate cheese cake. It was for the undergraduate's graduation party at Dr Perlin's place. I had baked my chocolate cheesecake based on a recipe from allrecipes.com. Opps, I just realized that there were 40 photos attached to the recipe to show what the cake would look like and mine was completely not like those because I refused to dump the chocolate chips on top of the cake.
In an attempt to forge a perfect recipe, I ran through all the comments and tried to incorporate all that are suggested. Our love for nuts in baked goods also meant I had snuck walnuts and pecans into the crust. I had almost completely adulterated the recipe that the original chef who post the recipe may not want to claim this as hers. I would still gladly acknowledge Jessica as the originator of my recipe though. Everyone who dared to try it at the party did love it. If you do try this out, let me know what you think : )
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Ingredients:
1 cup ground vanilla wafer
1/2 cup walnut, grind
1/2 cup pecan, grind
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3 8-oz cream cheese (leave at room temperature to soften)
1 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons sour cream
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Tip: About shopping for ingredients, I again strongly advocate going for the best you can afford for the ingredients that really matters. For example, I used Philadelphia cream cheese, Ghirardelli chocolate chips and Hershey's special dark cocoa powder while all the other ingredients were house-brand goods. (I have a special Mexican vanilla extract though)
Directions:
1. Melt the chocolate chips completely and leave to cool.
Tip: I used a 16-oz glass measuring cup and place it in a medium saucepan, with the handle outside the pan. This allowed me to measure the chocolate chips into the cup, double boil in the saucepan to melt, with complete control over stirring and be able to remove the cup easily when it is done.
2. Preheat the oven to 300°F.
3. Mix well with hand, crushed vanilla wafer, walnut, pecan, sugar, butter and cocoa powder, until you obtain an evenly mixed "playdoh-like" dough.
4. Press thinly and firmly onto the bottom and up the sides of a 9-in springform pan. Set crust aside.
Tip: I had just found out that springform pans are leaky. Therefore the firm crust serves to keep the batter in the pan.
5. Beat cream cheese until smooth.
6. Gradually add condensed milk.
7. Add vanilla extract, eggs and sour cream, and beat until smooth.
8. Add cooled melted chocolate (lukewarm is fine) and mix until smooth.
9. Pour batter over crust.
10. Place a roasting pan filled with water on the lower rack of the oven and bake 1 hour.
11. Turn off the oven and leave the door shut for another 1 hour.
Tip: Step 10 and 11 are meant to prevent cracks. I managed to resist the temptation to open the door although the smell was overwhelming in the house. I still had small cracks along the edges but the center was beautiful.
12. Remove from the oven and cool completely.
Tip: Placing the pan on a wire rack helps with the cooling.
13. Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight before enjoying it.
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I baked a second chocolate cheesecake on Sunday since I had other friends I had intended to share the cheesecake with. I also baked a chocolate oatmeal cake for Jinny's birthday. My criteria was that the cake must be able to be enjoyed as it is. It wasn't easy to find one that had unanimous good comments about it. The only thing I changed was to add an additional teaspoon of cocoa powder, as suggested by another user. This turned out to be a hit too.
If you enjoy whipping something together once in a while, do share it with the rest of us.
Tip: I had just found out that springform pans are leaky. Therefore the firm crust serves to keep the batter in the pan.
5. Beat cream cheese until smooth.
6. Gradually add condensed milk.
7. Add vanilla extract, eggs and sour cream, and beat until smooth.
8. Add cooled melted chocolate (lukewarm is fine) and mix until smooth.
9. Pour batter over crust.
10. Place a roasting pan filled with water on the lower rack of the oven and bake 1 hour.
11. Turn off the oven and leave the door shut for another 1 hour.
Tip: Step 10 and 11 are meant to prevent cracks. I managed to resist the temptation to open the door although the smell was overwhelming in the house. I still had small cracks along the edges but the center was beautiful.
12. Remove from the oven and cool completely.
Tip: Placing the pan on a wire rack helps with the cooling.
13. Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight before enjoying it.
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I baked a second chocolate cheesecake on Sunday since I had other friends I had intended to share the cheesecake with. I also baked a chocolate oatmeal cake for Jinny's birthday. My criteria was that the cake must be able to be enjoyed as it is. It wasn't easy to find one that had unanimous good comments about it. The only thing I changed was to add an additional teaspoon of cocoa powder, as suggested by another user. This turned out to be a hit too.
If you enjoy whipping something together once in a while, do share it with the rest of us.
This recipe has won the hearts of many and have in fact, attracted potential customer to ask me for catering. I have never sold my bake goods before, and this can be a start : )
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