Cream Cheese Pound cake

 We are back from India after a long 3 week break. This time we had decided to have a relaxed time in India. In the past every time we visited India, we were busy with some work or the other & we hardly had a relaxed time. The weather is Kerala was very pleasant & in fact cold in the mornings & night. There is a lot of space outside my hubby's house in Kerala & Zion loved running around.There was a dog too which Zion was very fascinated about. We also planned a 3 days road trip to Munnar & we had great fun there. We stayed at Mountain Club resort in Munnar & I will recommend everyone to go there. The property is huge & beautiful. They are very big spacious 2 bedroom cottages & the way it is built is beautiful. One bedroom in the ground floor & the other in 1st. The service is very good & so is the food. When I say food, this resort mostly had a wide spread of south Indian Kerala dishes, which we loved. It seems after sunset you will get to see wild Elephants out side the main gate & around that locality. That sounds scary right? Fortunately we never tried to adventure in the night:)

Well before travelling to India I had lost 4 kgs doing my high protein diet & In India I was eating like a pig all unhealthy food. Now I have put on weight again & don't know how much:( Definitely see a difference in my waist line. Now its time to get back to healthy eating & loose those extra pounds. 

Today I will be sharing a Cream cheese Pound cake recipe. I made this cake 2 months ago & this was very very delicious cake. The recipe is very simple & I am sure you will love this cake. I tried this recipe from  thelittleteochew 's blog.

Serves: 8 people

Preparation time: 20 mins

Cooking time: 45 tp 60 mins

Ingredients:

• 1.1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 150g unsalted butter, room temperature
• 140g cream cheese, room temperature
• 200g Castor powdered sugar
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• Zest of a lemon or orange

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 175°C and place rack in center of oven. Butter and line an 8-inch round cake tin. 
2. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. In the mixing bowl beat the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add the sugar, in three additions, beating well after each addition. Continue beating on high speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the vanilla and lemon zest and beat until incorporated.This should take about 3 mins.
4. Add the flour mixture and mix just until incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.
5. Bake for about 45- 50 mins.
6. Remove the cake from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool for about 20 minutes. Remove the cake from the pan and cool completely.

Note:

1. The cake is cooled in the pan first for about 20 minutes so the cake has time to set. The cake may collapse if you try to remove it from the pan too soon
2. This cake will keep several days at room temperature and one week when refrigerated. Can also be frozen.
3. If you want you can add any other flavor to this cake. 

Salted Caramel chocolate cheese cake

No Bake cheese cakes are the easiest to make & its definitely a crowd pleazer recipe. By being a little creative you can make the cheese cake look very stunning. The main thing is in setting the cheese cake & making it look appealing. The basic no bake cheese cake recipe is very simple & no one can go wrong. 2 weeks ago when my friend was around, I asked her if she has had cheese cakes before? She said no & since i made some cream cheese lying in the fridge for weeks, i thought will make some cheese cake. I have always made just one flavour cheese cakes, so thought this time will mix caramel & chocolate. Since my friend is a die hard fan of chocolate, I decided to go with this flavour.My hubby hates Chocolate cheese cake & he just had a small piece. The cake turned out perfect & it was really a rich cake. The most enjoyed people were my friend & my son:) When I served my friend with a piece, she was like "Waw!" you are totally a professional & this looks like a international standard. As usual I just blushed:)

I made a small quantity of caramel sauce as I had only 1/2 cup of whipped cream left in the fridge. The cake was well balanced & tasted yumm. This is a must try for all chocolate lovers. This is how I made it.

Ingredients:

• 250gms Cream Cheese (I used local Cream Cheese )
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 cup melted semi sweet chocolate
• 1 cup Milk
• 100 gms Agar agar powder or 1.5 Tbsp gelatine
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 10- 15 digestive biscuits
• 50 gms Butter

 

Method:

1. Crush the Digestive Biscuits in the Mixer. Add 50 gms of butter to this powdered biscuits & make a base in a cake tin 8 0r 9 inch (square/round mold or spring form pan). I made a high base till it reaches half way of the tin. You can choose to make a short base.
2. In an electric beater beat the cream cheese, sugar, melted chocolate & milk to a smooth mixture.
3. Add 100 gms of agar agar to 1/2 cup hot water & stir continuously so no lumps are formed. Now microwave this mixture for 30 seconds & mix it well to remove any lumps from them. Set this aside to cool down.
4. Once cooled, Pour in this mixture to the cream cheese mixture & mix well. Pour this into the mold & chill this in the freezer for an hour or in the fridge to set for 5 to 8 hours.
5. After an hour remove the cheese cake mixture & pour the caramel sauce on top of the cake evenly. Now put this back in the freezer for about 15 to 20 mins to set.
6. After its set a little, remove the cake out & top it up with the thick rich chocolate ganache. Now put it back in the fridge & not freezer this time. Cover the cake with a silver foil or cling wrap & refrigerate it for at least 2 hours to set well.
7. Now the cheese cake is ready to serve.

(My cake piece did not come out clean coz I cut it immediately once it was out from freezer. Please wait for the cake to stay in room temperature for some time & only then cut it to get clean pieces.)

Caramel Sauce:

• 1 cups granulated sugar
• 2 Tbspn unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 tspn salt

Directions:

1. First, make sure you have all of the ingredients ready. Once you start the caramel sauce you have to pay close attention so you don't burn it.
2. Heat the sugar over medium high-heat in the saucepan. When the sugar starts to melt, start whisking the sugar. The sugar will clump up, but keep whisking. It will continue to melt. When the sugar is melted, stop whisking. You can swirl the pan to move the sugar around.Continue cooking the sugar until it reaches a deep amber colour. Make sure you watch the pan very closely. This is where it is easy to burn the caramel.
3. As soon as the sugar reaches the dark amber colour, carefully add the butter & salt. Whisk until butter is melted.
4. Remove the pan from the heat and slowly pour in the heavy cream. Whisk until cream is incorporated and caramel is smooth.
5.  Let the caramel sauce cool  &once cooled, Pour the caramel into a air tight box and refrigerate it. You can store the salted caramel sauce in the refrigerator for about a month.

Thick Chocolate ganache

• 1 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 3 Tbspn of sugar
• Pinch of salt.

Directions:

1. Bring the cream to a boil along with sugar & salt. Now add in the chocolate chips into the hot cream & wait until all the chocolate is melted. Once it is cooled a little, use it on the cake immediately. If you allow it to cool down completely the chocolate will become hard & crumbly.

 

Chocolate Tofu Pudding

Now the Haze situation seems to be getting better. I am just praying hope it doesn't come again due to wind flow direction. Last week when the Haze was really bad we decided to fly off somewhere & take a break for a week. My hubby is from Kerala & his house is just near the river. During Monsoon there will be bad floods & the water will come up to the living room. This time around there was floods & we dint want to travel to Kerala. Along with Floods comes all kinds of illness too. Heavy rains at my home town coorg too:(. To go there we have to take a flight to Bangalore & than drive all the way. To avoid all this hassel, we decided to go to Chennai. Can you believe, out of all the places we booked tickets to Chennai:) My sister lives in chennai & she has a 7 years old girl who is crazy about Zion. So thought it will be fun for the kids.

Now why Beach resort at Chennai? simply because while I was working at CSC, I used to do a lot of training programs for the campus grads at a off site location. Mostly we used to do it in Fishermans-Cove-Chennai & ideal beach resort. These 2 places were amazing & I use to love the 3 days training program. I was unmarried then & I always dreamt that I have to come to this place after marriage. This place is very romantic, the food is amazing & the property is really huge. Since we had one team building activity where in participants need to cook food, i used to get access to the kitchen . For this activity, I had to brief the chef's on what we need & I also wanted the chef to be our judge. Oh I really miss those days! I used to do like 3 to 4 workshops in a week & used to travel so frequently to Chennai from Bangalore. I cant tell you how much I love facilitating Training programs & I am so glad that I am back to facilitating job. The respect you get in this field is so good & Unexplainable. Its like how we still respect our teachers & look up to them. Its the same way here & the only difference is that I train adults in corporates:)

So now coming back to today's post, My son likes anything that looks like custard. He calls it yummy. Most of the time I make either egg custard or Vanilla Panna cota for him. There are times when I pick up ready custard from the supermarket. I had picked up some silken Tofu & thought of making pudding out of it. It came out very well & Zion Loved it. Tofu has a wired smell & its totally bland. Its very important to flavour it well. I made Chocolate Tofu Pudding & its very very easy to make. This is how I made it.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup silken Tofu
• 1/2 Cup sugar
• 1 Tspn Vanilla essence
• 4 Tbsp melted Milk chocolate
• 1 Tspn Gelatin
• 1/4 cup hot water

Direction:

1. Mix the 1 tspn gelatin in 1/4 cup of water & let it rest for 2 to 5 mins. Now with a fork mix it well.
2. In a mixer tip in silken tofu, sugar, Vanilla essence, melted chocolate & gelatin mixture. Blend it for 2 minutes until everything is well combined.
3. Now pour it in a mould & let it set in the fridge for 4 to 6 hours, or in the freezer for 1-2 hour.
4. Since I had some cherries, I garnished this dish with cherries.
5. Note this pudding is very delicate so be careful when you cut it or serve it.

Note:

• If you dont like Tofu you just replace it with heavy cream/ whipping cream.
• Eat it fresh & try to finish it off by a day or 2. 
• Tofu is very healthy & rich in protien.

 

Japanese Cheese cake

I have seen & tasted this delicious light fluffy Japanese cheese cake many times. I never thought I could make this at home. After doing a good amount of research & I was convinced that I can make this at home. I made this almost a month ago 7 totally forgot to post it. This is not a easy cake, there are few techniques to follow. I think this is the only recipe where I strictly followed the weights & directions. I actually measured each & every items to make sure it turns out perfect. Only reason I delayed making this coz its very rich & the amount of eggs you use in it is many. Best part of this cake is its not very sweet & its very light. I followed Catherine's recipe & my cake turned out pretty good. I was very satisfied with the results. Best part was that my lill Zion also loved it. The only changes I will do next time is that I will make a smaller cheese cake as this one I made was really big.

Serves around 15 people
Source: Christine Ho Here
cooking time 1.3 hours

Ingredients:

• 250 gm cream cheese (Cut into cubes & softened at room temperature )
• 250 ml Milk
• 60 gm butter, softened at room temperature
• 6 egg yolks
• 55 gm cake flour
• 20 gm corn flour
• 1 lemon zest
• 6 egg whites
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
• 130 gm caster sugar

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 150C (302F).
2. Place a large bowl over simmering water & don’t let the bottom of the bowl touch the water.
3. Add in milk, cream cheese, stir occasionally, until the cream cheese is  completely dissolved and the mixture turns smooth.
4. Stir in butter till its well blended. Remove from heat.
5. Once the mixture is cooled add the egg yolks and combine well.
6. Sift in the flours(Cake flour+corn flour) into the cream cheese mixture, a small amount at a time. Mix well between every addition, and make sure there aren’t any flour lumps. Stir in freshly grated zest. Set aside.
7. Use an electric mixer &  beat the egg whites for 3 minutes, then add cream of tartar and blend again. Pour sugar in the egg whites and beat until stiff peaks form.
8. Fold-in the egg whites into the cream cheese mixture gently with a spatula just until all ingredients are incorporated. Do not stir, over mix or beat.If not just fold in egg whites with a small amount at a time, at least for 3 times.
9. Pour the mixture into a 9 inch round or square baking pans.
10. Place the pans in another larger baking tray. Add hot water in the tray up to half way. Bake for about 50 to 60 minutes or until the tooth pick insert comes out clean.
11. Turn off the oven. Leave the oven door ajar for 10 minutes.
12. Remove from the oven and pans. Let cool completely, you can have this as it is or chill in a fridge for about 3 hours.

Note:

• Make sure the cream cheese mixture is not too hot, as you don’t want to cook the egg yolks.
• If you are doing this for the first time, please watch some videos so that you are well prepared. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aI3eai-Re8

Mango Cheese Cake

 
This is my 1st post under BM 28 under Mango special.

I made this cheese cake almost 2 weeks ago when we had gone to visit one of our friends place for lunch. I am a big fan of no bake cheese cakes & I find these desserts very light & tasty. You can see that I already have a good collection of no bake cheese cake recipes in my blog. Well all these pics were taken at my friends place. I really dint have much time to plate them. Some how managed to click from pics in their balcony. We all loved this cake & my friends hubby was all praises about this dessert. Unfortunately the Mangoes I picked up was not very tasty & that is why I have added some Mango essence for a nice flavour.
This is how I made it.

Ingredients:

• 250gms Cream Cheese (I used Philadelphia)
• 100 gms powdered sugar
• 2 large Mangoes chopped & pureed
• 1 cups whipped cream soft peaks
• 1 tspn Mango essence
• 1.5 Tbsp Gelatin
• 1/4 cup hot water
• 8 to 10 digestive biscuits
• 3 tbsp Butter
• 1/4 tspn yellow colour
• 1/4 tspn salt

Method:

1. Crush the Digestive Biscuits in the Mixer. Add 3 tbsp of butter to this powdered biscuits & make a base in a cake tin (8 or 9 inch square/round mold).
2. Add 1.5 tbsp Gelatin to 1/4 cup hot water & stir continuously so no lumps are formed. Set  this aside to cool.
3. Now pop in the 2 chopped Mangoes to the mixer & make a smooth puree.
4. To it add  cream cheese, sugar, salt, gelatin,  essence & grind for about 1 minute until its smooth
5. Now fold in the whipped cream mixture into the Mango cream cheese mixture & also add some yellow colour.
6. Mix it well & pour this into the mold, chill this in the freezer for an hour or in the fridge to set for 5 to 8 hours.

Note:

• I added Mango essence as the mango did not have much flavour.
• Colour is optional, since I wanted a rich Alfonso mango colour so added some colour
• If you don't get cream cheese just hang thick yogurt in a cheese cloth overnight & you will get fresh home made cream cheese.
• I added color only to half of the cheese cake mixture & made it like 2 different color layer.

 

 

  

In the below picture you can see the biscuit base & the next picture I have poured the cheese cake mixture in the mould & its ready to go into the refrigerator.

 

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#28

Strawberry Cheese Cake

Finally after almost 5 days I am back to Blogging. All of a sudden Zion fell sick. He had a very bad cold with runny nose phlegm cough. Gosh... so many days of sleepless nights & loss of appetite for me. He is better now & on medicines. When kids are sick they get really cranky & just want Mamma all the time. I was all the time busy pampering him. I really missed blogging for the last few days & I wanted to try out so many new recipes under traditional:(. Now that the seasonal special has started, I am still scratching my head & thinking of ideas.

Well This is my 1st post for BM-27 under seasonal. Strawberries are not available around the year. They are very seasonal & they perish really fast. The fruit is so versatile that you can make so many varieties of desserts. I made this Strawberry cheese cake long back ago. They are so easy to make & very tasty to eat. I don't have good clicks of this dish & I plan to make this again & post better pictures.

Ingredients:

• 250gms Cream Cheese (I used Local Cream Cheese)
• 100 gms powdered sugar
• 1 cup Strawberry puree
• 1 cups whipped cream
• 1 tspn Vanilla essence
• 1 Tbsp Gelatin
• 1/4 cup hot water
• 8 to 10 digestive biscuits
• 3 tbsp Butter
• 2 tbsp Strawberry jelly powder
• 1 cup water
• 4 fresh Strawberries sliced to garnish

Method:

1. Crush the Digestive Biscuits in the Mixer. Add 3 tbsp of butter to this powdered biscuits & make a base in a cake tin (8 or 9 inch square/round mold).
2. In an electric beater beat the cream cheese, sugar & vanilla essence to a smooth mixture
3. Add 1 tbsp Gelatin to 1/4 cup hot water & stir continuously so no lumps are formed.
4. Pour in this mixture to the cream cheese mixture & mix well.
5. Now fold in the whipped cream mixture into the cream cheese mixture
6. Mix it well & pour this into the mold, chill this in the freezer for an hour or in the fridge to set for 5 to 8 hours.
7. Once its set, just lay the Sliced Strawberries on top of the cheese cake & pour the strawberry jelly on top of the cheese cake.
8. Now again freeze this for another 30 mins until the jelly in set. Or refrigerate for 2 to 4 hours.
   

Strawberry Puree:

Just clean, chop strawberries & pour in in a souce pan along with 3 tbsp of sugar & 1/4 cup of water. Let is simmer for about 5 mins untill the strawberries are soft & sticky. Once they are done, just put them in the blender/ Mixie & puree it.

 

Note:

• You can use hung curd if you dont get ready cream cheese.
• You can also blend all the ingredients in the blender too.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#27

Blueberry Cheese Cake

No Bake Cheese cakes are the easiest desserts to make. This is one recipe that anyone can make & I guarantee you that it will turn out super good.  No wonder cheesecake recipes are so popular. My hubby is not a big fan of cheese cakes but he loved this one like crazy. Since we had some friends coming over for dinner, I had made this in the morning last week. My hubby had started digging into this from morning itself. When we actually served this to our guests at dinner, only  half the pan was left:) This is real good &  a must try this Valentines.

Ingredients:
250gms Cream Cheese (I used Local Cream Cheese)
100 gms powdered sugar
1 cup blueberry puree
2 cup Milk
1 Tspn Vanilla essence
1 tspn lemon zest
1 Tbsp Gelatin
1/4 cup warm water
6 - 8 digestive biscuits
2 tbsp Butter




Method: Crush the Digestive Biscuits in the Mixer. Add 2 tbsp of butter to this powdered biscuits & make a base in a cake tin (square/round mold). In an electric beater beat the cream cheese, sugar & milk to a smooth mixture.





Add 1 tbsp Gelatin to 1/4 cup hot water & stir continuously so no lumps are formed. Pour in this mixture to the cream cheese mixture & mix well. Now add in the lemon zest & Vanilla essence. Mix it well & pour this into the mold, chill this in the freezer for an hour or in the fridge to set for 5 to 8 hours. Just pour the blueberry puree on top of the cheese cake before serving.


Blue berry puree recipe:

1 cup fresh blueberry
3 Tbsp sugar
1/4 cup of water

Method: Mix all the above ingredient in a pot & cook this for about 5 to 8 mins on low flame. Mash the berries with a fork &  turn off the gas when this mixture becomes thick like a Puree. Once cooled you can preserve this in the fridge for week long. This can be had with the bread too.

Note:

• Once its out from the freezer, put it back into the fridge.
• For best results, try & consume this withing 2 days.
• If you want you can add more sugar. I added less sugar in my cheese cake.
• Its better to add the blueberry puree at the end or just before serving. Or else they will dry out.

 

No Bake Oreo Cheese Cake

I have been thinking of making Cheese cake for a while & every time I keep postponing it. Finally decided to make it today as I will be having some friends coming over in the evening. This is a no bake cheese cake & its very filling. One piece will really make you full. If you notice my cheese cake doesn't have a good height. That's because I used a really big Pan.(10 inch one,) Well you can use a smaller Pan & it will give you a very good height. Make sure you use a detachable pan as its easy to remove the cake out of the Pan. Cheese cake recipes are so simple & easy to make. Its a safest dessert you can make when you have guest coming over. Here is the simple recipe that I follow for most of my Cheese cakes.

Ingredients:
1 cup crushed OREO Original Cookies
50g butter, melted
500g block PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
3/4 cup caster sugar
3 teaspoons gelatine, dissolved in 1/4 cup boiling water
1 cup cream
1 Tsp Vanilla Essence.
100g OREO* Chocolate Crème Cookies, crushed
50g OREO* Chocolate Crème Cookies, extra, roughly chopped

Method: combine the Oreo crumbs and butter and press into baking pan. Chill this for 10 mins in the freezer.
Beat the Philly* and sugar with an electric mixer until smooth. Fold in the gelatine mixture, cream and OREO* Chocolate Creme Cookie crumbs.
POUR the filling into the prepared crust, refrigerate for 30 minutes. Sprinkle with extra OREOs* and refrigerate for another for 2 hours or until set.

Chocolate Cheese Cake

If chocolate is good for the soul, then adding it to a cheesecake is like going to heaven. No wonder chocolate cheesecake recipes are so popular. This is a very easy recipe & the best part is no need to bake this. Since my hubby is not a great fan of cheesecakes, I had to eat majority of this. I actually froze some of these & you know what?? It tasted like chocolate ice cream. Since my Hubby loves Ice cream he loved this when he eat it frozen. Here is the recipe


Ingredients:
500gms Cream Cheese (I used Philadelphia Cram Cheese Block)
200 gms powdered sugar
100gms melted semi sweet chocolate
2 cup Milk
1 Tbsp Gelatin
1/4 cup warm water
6 - 8 digestive biscuits
2 tbsp Butter


Method: Crush the Digestive Biscuits in the Mixer. Add 2 tbsp of butter to this powdered biscuits & make a base in a cake tin (square/round mold). In an electric beater beat the cream cheese, sugar, melted chocolate & milk to a smooth mixture. Add 1 tbsp Gelatine to 1/4 cup hot water & stir continuously so no lumps are formed. Pour in this mixture to the cream cheese mixture & mix well. Pour this into the mold & chill this in the freezer for an hour or in the fridge to set for 5 to 8 hours. 


Note: 

• Once its out from the freezer, put it back into the fridge. 
• For best results, try & consume this withing 2 days.
• If you freeze it for too long in the freezer it will taste like Ice Cream:) which you can do if you have made lots.
• If you want you can add more sugar. I added less sugar in my cheese cake.
• Garnish it with some coco powder

Gulab Jamoon Cheese Cake

Cheese cake is a very light dessert and if its made with hung curd its all the more healthier. By adding julab Jamoons to cheese cake you can indianise this dessert and make it richer. Its a very tasty dessert with lots of indian flavours in it . The elachi, saffron, jamoons hmmmmm... I watched this recipe on Master Chef India and just wanted to try this badly. It took almost a month for me to make it coz this is a very rich dessert and I thought will make it the day when I make very simple food coz that way I could balance my diet:).The not so healthy part is the fried gulab jamoons:) My hubby loves Jamoons and can eat 10 to 12 within minutes:) and hence I rarely make jamoons.




Recipe: 20 small Gulab Jamuns (you can choose how many you want), 375 gms Cream Cheese (You can use Hung curd if cream cheese is not available), 100 gms wipped cream, 3 tablespoon powdered sugar, 1 tbspn gelatine (mix it with 1/4 cup hot water)1/4 spn elachi powder, 1/2 spn saffron (Mix it with 1/4 cup hot water or milk),1/4 spn lemon zest, 4 to 5 Digestive biscuits for crust, 1 tbspn butter
Beat creamcheese and powdered sugar. Add wipped cream, Gelatine, elachi, Saffron, lemon zest and mix well. In a cake tin or bowl powder biscuits, mix it with butter and preapare a base. Now add in half of the cheese cake mixture, Now place in the jamuns and cover it with the remaining cheese cake mixture. Freeze it for 1 hour and its ready to eat.