Cherry Frangipane Tartlets

Strawberry Swiss Roll

Short post today and I think you all know why. Yearlies.

I remember eating this at a bakery, and I loved the light cake filled with juicy strawberries. I made two of these cakes - one for my family to eat and another to bring to a picnic. The second one I frosted with some leftover filling.

My pan is smaller than what is called for, so I ended up with a thicker cake. A thicker cake means less creamy filling. This is quite upsetting, but the cake itself is tasty too. I substituted strawberry jelly powder for the gelatine in the filling, which turned it pink and gave a subtle strawberry essence.

This is amazing and spectacular to look at. I have to get back to studying now (yeah right). I'm sure you'll all do great.

Good luck!

Black Forest Cheesecake

I don't like birthday cakes. They are expensive and often I can replicate them at home. This year, I did not plan on making a cake because I was lazy, but I ended up putting together an easy cheesecake. I found it on the back of a package of cream cheese, but it's also on the Kraft website.

I love black forest themed stuff. It was light and creamy and not too sweet or rich. This was delicious and I was honoured to have it as my 'birthday cake'.

See you guys soon.

White Chocolate and Cherry Brownies

I have a love-hate relationship with white chocolate. I refer to it as fake white crap as in it's not real chocolate, containing no cocoa mass. But occasionally I crave it because dark chocolate is too rich and milk chocolate is too sweet (ironic?). I can eat a small piece of white chocolate, and every piece after that causes toothache. I had to make these blondies though because I love cherries and I was craving white chocolate.

This recipe is called 'Cherry Blondies', but blondies are made with brown sugar and no chocolate. I'd rather call them more accurately, white chocolate brownies. I used a drained jar of Morello cherries instead of fresh cherries, which added sourness against the sweet of the chocolate.

These white chocolate brownies were really nice. Chewy and sweet, without a strong tooth-aching white chocolate taste. The cherries were juicy and paired well with the brownie. They were so easy to make and I plan on making them for a few friends in the future.

Strawberry Shortcakes

My 50th Post! Don't know why it's significant, just thought I'd mention it.

Up until a few months ago, I disliked the idea of Strawberry Shortcake. I'm not sure if it was the relation to the doll, or the fact that I thought shortbread was dry and yuck. Not anymore though, now that I know I don't have to make a big shortcake but can make small scones and fill it with berries and cream.

I don't quite like the recipe for the scones, though, because it was very thick and hard (...). I also made them too big so it was very difficult for people to actually eat. Next time, I will make thin soft scone disks which can be eaten easier. The strawberries were nice and sweet. And the cream!!!

See you guys in a  few days!

Blueberry Tartlets

Remember the Strawberry Tartlets? Well when I was making those I also made a small batch of blueberry tartlets. I was originally planning to make a big batch of these tartlets for a friend's assignment, but cancelled (sorry).

Fresh blueberries are so frickin' expensive, so I simply substituted frozen blueberries. For some reason there was an excessive amount of syrup leftover, so next time I will cook it down a little longer. I did not use the crust recipe given in the recipe, but used the one in the Strawberry Tartlets instead. The blueberry filling made far more than what could be filled in the shells, but they were delicious on pancakes and oats.

The lemon cream was a light and zesty accompaniment to the sweet tartlets. I still have half a package of frozen blueberries in the freezer so I can't wait to throw them in a cake.

Bye!

Coconut, Chocolate & Banana Muffins

A quick post today, I'm really busy.

I made these muffins a few weeks ago, and they were very impressive. They had a great texture and tasted fantastic. I think it would taste better if white chocolate replaced the dark chocolate.

The recipe calls for small muffin pans, but I used normal-sized ones and made 15. My mum's going to China tomorrow for a month, so I don't know how that will affect my cooking or this blog.

Bye!

Strawberry Tartlets

I said I was making a lot of tarts, and I wasn't lying. I immediately wanted to make this when I saw the delicious photo in The Big Book of Baking. The hardest part is the Crème Pâtissière (pastry cream) which ended up lumpy and ugly, but you can hardly see it under the strawberry. The recipe calls for redcurrent jelly, which I couldn't find, so I substituted with strawberry jelly to glaze the top. I halved the original recipe to accommodate my smaller tart pans.

Typing this, I've realised I didn't actually taste one. I think I only made 5 small tartlets, and each of my family members had one, leaving me with none. Hmm... according to them it was very nice. Oh well.

See you guys soon!

Lemon Cheese Tart

It's the last day of Winter, which means Spring is tomorrow. I'm sad that the cooler months are over, but happy since berries, mangoes, pineapples and other Summer fruit are coming. Technically lemons should be out of season soon, but these days shops have everything all year round. This recipe comes from a cookbook called Cheesecakes by Maxine Clark. I made this for a dinner with family friends, and they all loved it.

Basically, this is a cheesecake in a tart shell. The use of lemon zest is very interesting, and it produced a great citrusy flavour. I had a bit of trouble working with the pastry, but it obeyed me in the end. I also left the tart in the oven too long, giving it a brown surface, but it did not affect the taste.

I have been and will be making a lot of tarts, small and big, these days. This was so nice, but next time I would dust it with a little caster sugar, just to balance out the sourness. I say this year's Winter was awesome, and Spring's gonna rock!

Morello Cherry Clafoutis

I wanted to use the oval ramekins I got with my blowtorch, and cherries were on my mind so I decided to make cherry clafoutis. Clafoutis is traditionally unpitted cherries baked with a crepe batter. The pits that are left in gives of an almond flavour.

It's still Winter here, so cherries aren't in season. I decided to use jarred pitted Morello cherries. I put too many cherries into the dish before adding the batter, so the result was more sour than I would have preferred.

Cherries are one of my favourite fruits, so I enjoyed this a lot. I look forward to Summer when I can make this with fresh cherries.

Crepes Suzette

Adam won. Yay!

[Rant] While on the note of MasterChef, I will not willingly watch a single episode of Junior MasterChef. It's not because I'm jealous that I'm a year older than the maximum age, it's because it is so racist. In the ad, I could not see any Asian dishes. Where are the plates of stirfries? The big bowls of wontons? And seeing these kids serve up so much pretentious, western food makes me feel angry and sad. It goes to show how much their parents impact them. Where are the kids whose families don't eat roasts every week, or can't digest the fact that other people don't use woks. Heck, where are the children who don't speak English? The kids who only know Asian dishes and who don't have a chance, because the judges are all western people with western palates.
The judges are wowed and impressed by a three tiered cream cake with strawberry buttercream and candied raspberries, but when someone turns up with a plate of sticky rice pudding (a delicious Asian dessert), they say 'It's a bit plain'. What does that say about the judges? They see pretentious western food as glorious, yet Asian food plain. Well I'm sorry if Asian dishes don't have ass-loads of butter and bucketfuls of sugar. And yet that's what the judges expect from contestant. I don't mind it when it's adults competing, hopefully they can take it. But I just feel sad for the children. Having to learn western food and impress the judges with what the judges like, not what their families eat everyday. I can imagine a little 9-year old Chinese kid looking at a recipe and thinking, 'WTF!!! 500 grams of butter? That's going to clog veins and everything! Oh well, at least the judges will like it and give me the advantage for the rest of the week!'
The judges can't seem to be able to understand children are being westernised and are disowning their own cultures. They teach children how to make French-style this, Asian-style that. It's not Asian! It's a western cut of meat marinated in soy sauce! That makes it Asian!? God. I love MasterChef, and enjoy watching the normal one, but not this Junior crap. [Rant finished]

In my last post I promised sugar, alcohol and fire. I was referring to Crepes Suzette, a dish of pancakes soaked in orange syrup and alcohol, flambéed (set on fire).  I was so excited - I made my own crepes and everything. Sadly, to put it bluntly, it was disgusting. It was horrible, and it tasted like bitter alcohol. Bitter from the orange zest and alcohol from the Cognac. I used Cognac, a type of brandy, instead of Grand Marnier (an orange liqueur) because I did not have it. Not sure if it was because of that, but there was a bad alcohol taste.

The crepes themselves were nice, but I know I need a lot of practice to get them right. I was hoping for a big flare when I lit the alcohol. That didn't happen. I tried again. Only small blue wisps of fire appeared. It wasn't very exciting, and I could not get a very good shot.

Aw... look at that insignificant glow...

Nobody in my family like them, and I honestly don't know why you would want to make this. I know many people like this dish, but I think my family's just not into alcoholic desserts. Because I am in a pissy mood, and I'm tired, I won't be posting a recipe. But I shall return with something (hopefully) spectacular and delicious. Though I wouldn't advise holding your breath.

Chocolate Cherry Trifle

Oh no, it's the end of the holidays and the beginning of another gruelling school term. Yeah, it's okay though, they can't hurt us - it's against the law.

On Saturday, a few family friends came over and I was in charge of snacks and desserts to have with tea. Black forest was on my mind, and it was between this trifle and a cake. Trifles always win.

 There are so many things I want to say about this trifle, but I'm just going to sum it up in a few points:
1. This makes a ton, like 1000kg. Well not literally, but enough to serve an army.

2. It is very fattening, so be aware!

3. It is so simple, yet so complicated with the heating and warming and reheating.

4. I made my own chocolate cake, instead of buying 2 pound cakes - they were alright.

5. Use much less cream than called for, it's just too rich.

6. It also uses 8 egg yolks, so yeah.

Yeah, that basically sums up this delicious but calorific trifle. Hope you guys had a great holiday and all the best for this upcoming term.

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Mangomisu

A few days ago, I made my own cheese again. This time I made mascarpone - a soft Italian cheese made with cream. I had a few problems with it, either it not curdling enough or not making firming up. In the end I made a considerable batch, but it was still no enough. I used spreadable light cream cheese to make up for the rest. I used the cheese to make Mangomisu. People may know what Tiramisu is - an Italian coffee-flavoured dessert, but this is mango-flavoured instead.

The recipe says to put a layer of sliced mangoes on top, as decoration, but I ran out, so I left it out. It looks really good even without it. It tasted deliciously creamy and the savoiardi biscuits turn into what tastes like a sponge cake.
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The structure of the cake wasn't very stable though. It nearly separated into two when I was takeing it out of the pan. I also could not slice it properly. But this no longer matters once you take a bite of this Mangomisu. The recipe also gives a raspberry sauce which I did not make.
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Peach and Cream Cheese Mille Feuille

 I have been eye-balling this recipe since I received my copy of Simply Heaven. When I bought the packet of filo pastry, I wanted to make this but I didn't have time. Yesterday marked the start of the school holidays, so why not make it?

Mille Feuille means thousand leaves in French and is originally 3 layers of puff pastry filled with a cream of some sort. This is a more contemporary version, with cream cheese and canned peaches. For some reason my cooking spray wasn't working properly, so the layers of filo did not stick together. I used the single sheets to make round 3-layered mille feuilles, and the sheets which stuck together for 2-layered rectangular ones.

The canned peaches are coated in a syrup made with vanilla essence and brown sugar. I used my very own vanilla essence which I made a few months ago. It smells fantastic. Spreadable cream cheese is then combined with caster sugar to create the 'cream'.

The result was absolutely delicious. It was fruity and creamy. The crunch of the pastry also adds great texture.

Apple Cannoli

A few days ago, I bought filo/fillo/phyllo pastry, because it was on sale. I've always seen recipes which use filo pastry, but I thought it was an America-only product. Not so, apparently. Filo pastry is basically very thin layers of pastry, layered together with oil in between, and then baked, to produce a crunchy and flaky result. The first thing I made was Apple Cannoli, which is delicious apple filling wrapped in filo pastry. I did not make the vanilla dipping sauce, because I was lazy. It probably would have tasted great, though.

The recipe uses 3 types of apples - 2 Golden Delicious, 1 Granny Smith and 1 Fuji. I just used 4 Granny Smith apples. I also used oil spray instead of brushing the filo with melted butter, all in the name of laziness.

The filling had a slight tartness, and was very delicious (you'd expect anything with this much butter to taste great). The pastry was crunchy and flaky and yum. I can't wait to experiment more with filo pastry.

Apple and Oat Streusel Muffins

 Ack... my internet died yesterday so I couldn't post, but now it's all better.

After making chocolate chip muffins, my craving for muffins didn't ease. I craved (fantasized?) about apple muffins and remembered eating a delicious apple muffin somewhere which I cannot remember. I also imagined it topped with oats or a crunchy streusel. I couldn't find a recipe that was suitable, so I made do with an apple recipe topped with an oat streusel recipe. Let's see how that turned out...

The apple muffins are from Taste, and they received rave reviews. I didn't have Granny Smiths, so I used Red Delicious instead. People who are familiar with baking with apples know that Red Delicious is an eating apple, and should not be used in baking. Well I planned on reducing the sugar and liquid from the mix to make-up for it, only I forgot and the result was too sweet. I omitted the raisins as well, because I don't think my family likes raisins. The oat streusel is from a book called The Baker's Manual, but it seemed to have too much butter. I wanted whole oats to add interest to the top of the muffins, but I didn't have that either, nor brown sugar, so I had to make-do with crushed oats and white sugar.

I can say that these were nice, and they were, but so many things went wrong that I really don't see it as a success anymore. They tasted fine to me, but others said they were too sweet. The muffins were also too soft, due to the excess moisture in the apples. I can't believe I used up all the cinnamon powder in these, now I have to buy some more.

I trust that the original recipe for the apple muffins taste great, with the Granny Smith apples, but my ones didn't turn out so great. I am currently looking forward to making other recipes from Simply Heaven, such as pumpkin soup, so stay tuned. I'll give the original recipes for each, because I think my 'adapted' version is just too pitiful.


Recipe

Obtained from Taste and The Baker's Manual

Makes 12

Muffins

Melted butter or margarine (optional), for greasing
300g (2 cups) plain flour
1 tbs baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
150g (3/4 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar
2 medium (about 375g) Granny Smith apples, cored, peeled, chopped
125g (3/4 cup) seedless raisins
125g butter or margarine, melted, cooled
2 eggs, lightly whisked
185mls (3/4 cup) milk

Oat Streusel (I halved this and still got some extra)

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 ⁄2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1 ⁄2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 ⁄8 teaspoon salt
1 ⁄2 teaspoon
1 ⁄2 cup unsalted butter, melted


Make Oat Streusel

1. In a medium bowl whisk the flour, oats, brown sugar, and salt together until well combined. Stir in the melted butter and mix well with your hands. The streusel mix should be crumbly but form clumps when squeezed.

Make Muffins

2. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease or line muffin trays.

3. Sift the plain flour, baking powder and cinnamon together into a large bowl. Stir in the brown sugar, apples and raisins until well combined.

4. Whisk together the butter or margarine, eggs and milk until well combined.

5. Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture and stir with a large metal spoon until just combined. It is important that the ingredients are only just combined.

6. Spoon the mixture evenly into the muffin pans.

7. Bake the muffins in preheated oven for 20 minutes or until golden and cooked through.

8. When cooked, remove from oven and stand for 2-3 minutes before turning onto a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Apple Tart

Continuing the list of things I made when guests came over last time is apple tart. Now, apple tart is not the same as apple pie. Apple pie has a top layer of pastry, and tarts do not. I think apple tarts are easier to make solely because you don't have to fiddle around with another layer of pastry. I've never actually made an apple pie before - shocking, I know. Another reason why I prefer to make tarts is I don't have a pie plate, and it's the shape of the plate that gives the pie its rounded shape. But I will get around to making an apple pie, promise.

This apple tart is a recipe by Paula Deen, from Foodnetwork.com. When I first read the recipe, I was surprised that the crust had no sugar or salt, and had sour cream. Always curious, I decided to make it as apples were on my mind.

I do not have a food processor, so I simply rubbed the butter into the flour until it resembled fine breadcrumbs, and added the sour cream. I used about half a tablespoon more sour cream, because I was working by hand and the cream wasn't distributed evenly enough. The dough was... interesting to work with. Don't worry if the base of the tart looks a bit thin - it's perfectly fine. The recipe doesn't call for it, but I blind baked it with weights, although I doubt it made much of a difference though, so next time I won't weigh it down.

The 'custard' mixture almost overflowed, but didn't which was good, but the glaze made too much. I would recommend halving the recipe for the glaze. Oh, and if you can't get orange juice concentrate, just use plain orange juice, much cheaper and I don't think you can get the concentrate in Australia. This tart was a hit with the guests who each had two slices. I will be definitely making this again.

Recipe

Obtained here.

Makes 6 servings.

Crust


1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (114 grams) butter, room temperature
2 tablespoons sour cream

Filling

About 6 medium apples, peeled, pitted, and sliced (I used Granny Smith)
3 large egg yolks
3/4 cup sour cream
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour

Glaze

1/2 cup apricot preserves or jelly
1 tablespoon frozen orange juice concentrate (Or just plain orange juice)
Mint, for garnish
Whipped topping, for garnish


1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

To make the crust:

2. Place the flour, butter, and sour cream in a food processor and pulse to combine. When the dough has formed a ball, pat with lightly floured hands into the bottom and sides of an ungreased 10-inch tart pan with a removable bottom and 1/2-inch sides, or a round au gratin dish.

3. Bake for about 18 minutes, until the crust is set but not browned. Let cool while preparing the filling.

4. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F.

To make the filling:

5. Peel and thickly slice the apples. Arrange the apple slices in overlapping circles on top of the crust, until it's completely covered. Overfill the crust, as apples will shrink during cooking.

6. Combine the egg yolks, sour cream, sugar, and flour and beat until smooth. Pour the mixture over the apples.

7. Place the tart pan on a baking sheet and bake for about 1 hour, until the custard sets and is pale golden in color. Cover with an aluminum foil tent if the crust gets too dark.

8. Transfer the tart pan to a wire rack to cool. When cool, remove the side wall of the pan.

To make the glaze:

9. Combine the preserves or jelly and orange juice. Spread with a pastry brush over the top of the warm tart.

10. Serve the tart warm, at room temperature or chilled. Garnish with fresh mint.

Orange Self-Saucing Pudding

When guests came over last time, I made four(!) desserts. My mum said that the two desserts I planned to make weren't enough to feed 12 people, so I had to make something else. I had oranges and... nothing else. We hadn't been shopping in the past few days, so I didn't have any special ingredients. I was in search of an easy dessert with oranges as the main ingredient. Taste came to my rescue again, with their Orange Self-Saucing Pudding.

Self-Saucing simply means is comes with its own sauce, which means you don't have to slave over the stove with a pot of simmering syrup. At first I didn't realise this but, as an added bonus - it's a microwave dish! My mum is always raving on about how the oven costs so much to use because it uses a lot of electricity, and how I turn it on and off and on and off. I was happy when I found out, because it meant I didn't have to spend much effort making it.

One thing you should note though, is that it uses a cup and a bit of orange juice, so you will need a lot of oranges. I actually ran out of oranges, so I used a mixture of orange and lemon juice for the sauce. Next time, just use shop-bought orange juice, please. If you really want to juice your own oranges, do it, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with making it easier for yourself. Every single component of this dish is made in the microwave, including the sauce. I also downed the amount of sugar, and that along with the lemon juice gave it a sweet and sour taste, which asian tastes seem to enjoy.

The recipe says caster sugar - don't bother. If you have it, use it, but if you don't, just use plain sugar! It really defeats the purpose of a self-saucing pudding if you have to drive to the shops to buy an ingredient, or blitz sugar until it's powder. If you can make something easier for yourself, do it.

The pudding was served with vanilla bean ice cream, which added another dimension of cool, creaminess. Please try this recipe, when you are 1) tired, 2) stressed, or just lazy - it really doesn't take much effort, while still tasting fantastic.


Recipe

Obtained here.

Serves 4.

1 cup self-raising flour, sifted
1/3 cup caster sugar
1 orange, rind finely grated
60g butter, melted, at room temperature
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 egg
ice-cream, to serve

Sauce

2/3 cup caster sugar
1 1/4 cups freshly squeezed orange juice


1. Lightly grease an 8cm deep, 6-cup capacity, heatproof, microwave-safe dish.

2. Combine flour, sugar and orange rind in a bowl. Whisk together butter, juice and egg. Stir into flour mixture until well combined. Spoon into prepared dish. Smooth surface.

3. Make sauce: Place sugar and orange juice into a heatproof, microwave-safe bowl or jug. Cook on MEDIUM (50%) power for 3 minutes, stirring every minute, or until sugar dissolves. Cook on HIGH (100%) power for 1 to 2 minutes or until sauce comes to the boil. Pour hot sauce over the back of a large metal spoon to evenly cover pudding.

4. Place pudding onto a microwave-safe rack or upturned dinner plate. Cook, uncovered, on MEDIUM (50%) power for 8 to 9 minutes or until a skewer inserted around edges comes out clean but centre is still a little sticky.

5. Cover tightly with foil. Stand for 5 minutes or until centre is no longer sticky. Serve with ice-cream.

Strawberry Swirl Cheesecake

I don't know what it's about with me and cheese. I LOVE cheesey pizza with tons of stringy mozzarella on top. I love melted cheddar on toast, with it's tangy saltiness. And I love cheesecakes. I know people 'believe' that cheesecakes should be firm and dense, and should not have excessive air mixed into the mixture. I, on the other hand, do not mind either a dense cheesecake, or a rather light and fluffy one. Light ones are actually easier to swallow (not the literal meaning) because they are not as sticky, and almost mousse-like. But while I adore this product of milk, I know that in every bite of my cheesy pizza, cheddar-topped toast and delicious cheesecake, I am swallowing countless calories. That's exactly why I don't buy  piece of cheesecake at every cake shop I pass. But when a neighbour's friend requested it, how could I refuse?

Originally, he asked for a 'Creamy Mango Cheesecake', but I thoroughly convinced him not to by stating mangoes aren't in season, just because the name says 'creamy' doesn't mean it's any more creamy than other cheesecakes, etc. So in the end he agreed to make Strawberry Cheesecake instead. Apparently, strawberries are one of his least 'hated' foods. I just hate it when someone says, 'Ugh, I hate such and such' or 'I would never eat that!' I mean, I don't like every food in the world, but at least I try everything, and if I don't like it, I don't put it down. I don't say stuff like, ' OMG, such and such is DISGUSTING!' So when my neighbour's kid said, 'Ah, lychees are one of the last few things on the list of food I like', I almost facepunched him.

Anyways, I settled on a recipe from Allrecipes for Strawberry Cheesecake. It looked very appealing, but after reading some reviews I modified it a bit. I reduced the amount of cream cheese to 2 packages, baked it in a waterbath, and since there wasn't any fresh or frozen strawberries at the shops, I used canned strawberries instead. The base and the sauce came together wonderfully, but I have no idea why all my cheesecake mixtures turn out lumpy. I have a theory that my mixer doesn't scrape the edges of the bowl, leaving a layer of cream cheese, and when I scrape that down and start mixing again, it doesn't break down that much. Although none of my cheesecakes seem to have suffered from that which is great.

The strawberry sauce makes leftovers which is made into a deliciously fruity sauce. You really need that sauce to add flavour to the cheesecake, as the strawberriness seems to disappear from the swirls after you bake it. It was actually fairly light, which I prefer, and not a crack in sight, due to the waterbath.

Yesterday, I plunged myself into cheesemaking and made a small batch of goat cheese! I'll be using it in a recipe in a few days, I'll post how it goes.


Recipe

Modified from Allrecipes (Original recipe here)

Serves 12

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted
400g can strawberries
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 (8 ounce/250g) packages cream cheese, softened
395g can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup lemon juice
3 eggs
1 tablespoon water


1.Combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar and butter. Press onto the bottom of an ungreased 9-in. springform pan. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

2. Preheat oven to 300°F/150°C. Boil a pot of water for the water bath.

3. In a blender or food processor, combine strawberries and cornstarch; cover and process until smooth.

4. Pour into a saucepan; bring to a boil. Boil and stir for 2 minutes. Set aside 1/3 cup strawberry sauce; cool. Cover and refrigerate remaining sauce for serving.

5. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in milk. Add lemon juice; mix well.

6. Add eggs, beat on low just until combined. Pour half of the cream cheese mixture over crust.

7. Drop half of the reserved strawberry mixture by 1/2 teaspoonfuls onto cream cheese layer. Carefully spoon remaining cream cheese mixture over sauce. Drop remaining strawberry sauce by 1/2 teaspoonfuls on top. With a knife, cut through top layer only to swirl strawberry sauce.

8. Wrap the bottom of the springform pan with at least 2 layers of aluminium foil. Place pan onto a roasting tray and place in the oven. Pour boiling water halfway up the side of the springform pan. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes.

9. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen; cool 1 hour longer. Refrigerate overnight.

10. Remove side of pan. Thin chilled strawberry sauce with water if desired; serve with cheesecake.

Mango Mousse

After making Apple Tarte Tatins, I had a rather large batch of wipped cream used to decorate, left over. I thought about making parfaits, mousses and even just eating it right there and then. I trashed the last idea pretty quickly. I looked in the fridge for inspiration, but it struck when I saw a few mangos sitting on the bench. My mind whirled with ideas as I searched for mango mousse recipes.

I found the easiest recipe I could because I was tired and didn't want to make anything overly complicated. It says to use gelatin, but I've never used that in a mousse recipe before. First time for everything! I had to halve the recipe because I remember I whipped 300ml of cream. In Australia, we get 300ml and 600ml bottles of thickened cream... What's up with that? They think that giving us a cup of cream isn't enough, so they give us and extra 50ml? It's rather retarded, the Australian food industry, but not nearly as retarded as the Americans. Watch Food, inc., you'll know what I'm on about.

Anyways, I forgot that I had added 2 tablespoons of sugar into the cream before, so it was a bit too sweet, but only a bit. The mousse mixture turned out quite well, but I had to refrigerate it because it wasn't firm enough for me to pipe. I originally intended on wide straight bowls, but realised there would be too much mousse, and by nozzle wasn't big enough. I settle on small shot glasses, which make them look very sophisticated. I adorned the top with mango cubes and mango slices. They are all very cute.

Recipe

Obtained here

Serves 6

500 g mango slices
1 tablespoon gelatin
¼ cup water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
¾ cup sugar
2½ cups cream


1. Peel mangoes, cut flesh away from stone and reserve a few slices for decoration. Mash remaining mangoes to a puree.

2. Sprinkle gelatin over water, dissolve over low heat.

3. Add to mango puree with lemon juice and sugar.

4. Whip cream to stiff peaks, fold into mango mixture.

5. Spoon into individual serving dishes or large serving dish, refrigerate until set.

6. Decorate with reserved mango slices and, if desired, toasted almond flakes.