No-bake chocolate cheesecake

A few 'firsts' for me with this recipe = gelatin and whipping cream. Lesson learned = don't add in the solidified bits of gelatin (liquid only) to the cheese mix because you'll get little gelatin chunks throughout (to be honest it wasn't very noticeable in the final product). I used 5 scant tsp of gelatin by the way and the texture was great in my opinion (not too hard or soft). This recipe was fantastic and will definitely make again to try the layer technique. Made this with choc ripple biscuit base and milk chocolate only for the cheesecake. I then cooked some strawberries for about 2 mins in some water and vanilla caster sugar (that had simmered down to a syrup for about 5 mins prior). Grated white chocolate on top and made some chocolate curls from a block of slightly softened chocolate and a vegetable peeler!

No-bake chocolate cheesecake

Breakfasts lately

Been having either oatmeal or cereal with STACKS of fruit lately. Super delicious.

Quinoa oat porridge 

Quinoa, multigrain oats, pre-soaked chia seeds, sunflower kernels, cinnamon, strawberries, blueberries and a gold kiwi. 

Golden Graham cereal with strawberries, blueberries, a gold kiwi, soy milk and cinnamon sprinkled on top.

Cookies, macarons, muffins, slices, pastry, spiders and CRACK pie

Have had a few bake sales and dinner parties lately. Here's the update!


Snickerdoodle egg-yolk cookies
These were very addictive. Delicious. Stayed soft overnight. Baked these for 10 minutes in my oven. Added cinnamon chips on top.

Salted Caramel Macarons
Shells 
Salted caramel swiss meringue buttercream
These shells may be my best ones yet. They were in the oven for 17 minutes. Wasn't 100% sure about the silky soft filling - would have preferred it to have a stronger caramel flavour and maybe be slightly firmer. Got rave reviews from all who tried these though!

Peanut butter and chocolate filled pastry pillows
Quick and easy dessert. So good!!!!

Chocolate coconut rough slice
Base = 1/2 this recipe
Filling and ganache
Quite yummy! Used some of the ganache to ensure the filling stuck to the base. The filling was a little dry so would maybe reduce the oven time in the future. May try dessicated instead of shredded in the filling too for a 'smoother' texture.

Chocolate Spiders
A childhood favourite! Used Dark Chocolate Dreams peanut butter.

Crack Pie
So decadently gooey. Soooooooo unhealthy but man.. you gotta try this.

Blueberry macarons
Shell (as above)
Filling
Not too bad. I don't think these shells were left in the oven long enough so were a bit soft (they were in the oven 10-15minutes). The filling was delicious! Quite runny though and had to leave it in the freezer for some time before it was workable.

 

Vegan Pumpkin Walnut muffins/loaf

Incredibly moist and tasty. Topped it with chopped walnuts and demerara sugar. Freeze well! I actually enjoy them frozen straight from the freezer.

Coffeehouse Hermit Breakfast Bake

Been wanting to try a baked oatmeal recipe for ages! This is quite tasty. I think it probably needed a bit longer in the oven (couldn't wait! baked it for 20min). I added a bit of milk once I had eaten most of it which was a nice way to have it. Next time I'll add chopped dates to the mix and add fresh fruit on top (gold kiwi, strawberries etc).

Coffeehouse Hermit Breakfast Bake from Healthy Exposures

My version:

Serves 1

• 1/4 c. old fashioned rolled oats (I used Uncle Toby's Multigrain oats)
• 1/8 c. (2 T.) oat bran
• 1/8 c. (2 T.) AP flour
  
• 1 T. quick oats
• 1/2 t. baking powder
• 1 t. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 t. ground nutmeg (fresh is best)
• 1/4 t. ground clove
• 1/8 t. ground ginger
• pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 t. dark brown sugar, divided
• 1/4C of unsweetened applesauce
• 1/4 + 1/8 c. brewed strong coffee or espresso (I used espresso)
• 1-2 t. maple syrup
• 1/4C frozen blueberries
• Toppings = cinnamon chips, sunflower kernels.

1. Preheat the oven to 170C (fan-forced).

2. In a small bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients and spices, reserving 1 t. of the brown sugar.

3. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add the applesauce, coffee and maple syrup. Combine. Fold in the blueberries.

4. Transfer to a lightly oiled ramekin and sprinkle the remaining brown sugar on top. Bake for 20-25 minutes. The top will have puffed up a bit and it will be firm to the touch.

5. Add toppings if desired and enjoy!

Apple Pie

OMG love apple pie. This recipe took forever but was well worth it. Only managed to wait 1hr once I pulled it out of the oven. Served it hot with vanilla ice cream. The only way!

Am making this again tomorrow for a different group of people and am using the food processor for the dough instead. Added extra buttermilk when I did it by hand. Will report back on how it compares!


Joy the Baker's Apple Pie

Macerating

Red Velvet and Butterbeer cupcakes

Made some cupcakes for RSPCA cupcake day!!! Managed to raise quite a bit of money which is fantastic and the cupcakes seemed to be enjoyed by all. Am really happy with these two recipes. Next time I make the butterbeer one I'll add some butter flavouring and would like to try a butter (rather than oil) based red velvet recipe just for comparison.


Red Velvet Cupcakes (based on Bakerella's cake recipe)

Butterbeer cupcakes (from Cook Like a Champion)

Baking mega update:

Dark choc chip chunk and almond biscotti - my first shot at biscotti. Slicing it was a bit of a mess but turned out quite alright!

Peanut butter cupcakes with chopped Reeses Pieces on top - recipe from 500 cupcakes book

Carrot cake with a slightly lemony buttercream icing - recipe from The Baking Bible. Made this with gluten-free flour for my mum's birthday. Was a bit crumbly but still moist and addictive.

Choc chip cookie and oreo brownies - turned out quite well! The top is a tad crumbly and dry but the rest of it is lovely and fudgey. It aged well and got even fudgier.

Black velvet whoopie pies - recipe from. First shot at making these. They were quite flat and soft. Haven't tried a proper whoopie pie so was hard to judge how well this really turned out!

Breakfast of oats with blueberries in a jar of near empty nutella. Mmmm.

 

The Prince Regent Torte (prinzregentorte). After seeing this cake made on the UK TV series Come Dine with Me I was dying to give it a shot. Took me a whole afternoon!

  

The suspense was immense as the time came to slice this regalness up.. success!

 Super rich! Very tasty. Used coconut oil/butter for the first time ever in the ganache and gave it a nice coconut flavour. Used coffee in the buttercream and kahlua in the ganache. The sponge was a tad dry. Not sure if it's because it sat in the fridge for a whole day before serving or due to my sponge-making technique.

 Also been wanting to make souffles!! These were super rich and decadent. Rose pretty impressively!

 

Not convinced the texture was 100% as it should be so will have to keep practicing. Possibly try another recipe. Ice cream on the side is a must!