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.

 

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

Banoffe Pie

This will be by 2nd post for BM#27 under occasions. This is one dessert that will be a hit at your home party, festival celebration, birthday parties or any celebrations.

The first time I heard about this Pie was in last years Master chef India episode. After watching this on TV, I did some research on the net to know how it is made. The recipe was very very easy & for some reason I dint try making this immediately. Now I really regret for not making this in the past. This pie is amazing & at the moment this is our fav dessert at home. I just had a piece now & sitting in from of my laptop still staring at this pic & salivating for more:) LOL . I made this both on Saturday & Sunday. My hubby was so impatient & wanted to have it even before it was set. Well we actually had the first pie even before it could set completely:) Since the pie got over so soon, I had to make it again the next day for Easter lunch. The recipe is very simple & I think anyone can make this pie. Everyone must try this & I am sure you will fall in love with this pie.

There are various version of this recipe on the net, but I used dulce le leche in my recipe.  According to Wikipedia dulce le leche is a confection prepared by slowly heating sweetened milk to create a product that derives its taste from caramelised sugar. Literally translated, it means "candy of milk". You can make this either cooking the condensed milk in a pot of water for 3 hours or just pressure cook it until 4 whistles. The condensed milk gets thicker by doing this & is used as a sauce in many dessert recipes. I refered here for the recipe, but modified it a bit. This is how I made it...

(In this picture the condensed milk was not cooked for too long & thats why this has a light brown color & not very thick.)

This condensed milk was cooked for longer. I pressure cooked it for 20- 25 mins with whistle on low flame & took around 8 to 10 whistles.

Serves: 6 big pieces.

Making time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

1 Tin Condensed milk

10 digestive biscuits

50 gms butter

3 big Bananas sliced

2 cups of heavy whipping cream (Whip it until stiff peaks)

4 tbsp of icing sugar

3 tbsp of grated chocolate

Method:

1. Step 1:In pressure cooker place the condensed milk in a bowl with water covered till the neck of the tin. Cook this on low flame for about 20 - 25 mins until 8 to 10 whistles.
2. Once the cooker is cooled, remove it carefully & place it under the running water to cool.
3.  Once its cooled remove the tin cover & keep it in the fridge for it to cool for some more time
4. Step2: Tip the biscuit crumbs into a bowl. Add the butter and mix in. Spoon the crumbs into the 8 inch loose bottom cake tin base and about halfway up the sides of the tin to make a pie shell. Chill for 10 minutes. .
5. Step3:Spread the Dulce le leche base evenly on the pie base
6. Now place the banana slices on top of the sauce
7. Whip the whipping cream with icing sugar untill still peaks. Fill the piping bag with whipped cream & fill the pie with 2 inch thickness whipped cream. (I used the star tip to get this flower design)
8. Garnish the top with grated chocolate & chill in it the fridge for about 2 hours. If you are impatient liek me, than put it in the freezer for about 1/2 hour & its ready to serve.

Note:

If you want you can make many layers of these.

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.

 

Tiramisu

I have been thinking for making this Italian dessert "The brown beauty Tiramisu" from a long long time. every time I wanted to make this something or the other would come up. I was also hesitant to try this coz the original recipe uses raw eggs. Since I had invited my Friends family home for dinner, I thought I will make this dessert.After doing some research I liked Show me the curry recipe, just tweaked it a lill bit & made this. It turned out so good that we all loved it. Funny part is that I had never tasted this dessert before, so I really don't know how the real one tastes :). However this was a big hit & I am going to make this more often.

Ingredients:

Mascarpone Cheese – 300 gms at room temp
1 Cup Powdered Sugar
1 Cup Whipped Cream
Egg Yolks – 3
1 Cup Black Coffee
1 Packet Lady Fingers (Around 20) alternative is sponge cake
Cocoa Powder & Powdered Sugar – for garnishing

Method:

In a large mixing bowl, mix softened Mascarpone Cheese with 3 Tbsp of sugar until sugar is completely dissolved. In a separate bowl, mix 3 egg yolks with  3 Tbsp of sugar and whisk continuously in a double boiler until eggs are cooked (approx 1-2 minutes). The color of the yolks will turn a lemon yellow when done. Immediately mix the egg mixture into the cheese mixture and stir well. Add 2-3 Tbsp of the coffee into the mixture and mix well. Whip Heavy Whipping Cream  with remaining Sugar in a bowl over ice until fluffy. Fold Whipped Cream into cream cheese/egg mixture until well incorporated.

Dip each Lady Finger into the coffee (for 1-2 seconds on each side) and place into square or rectangle tray until the bottom is completely covered. Spread 1/2 of the cheese filling evenly on top of the fingers. Lightly dust cocoa powder over the filling.( Tea strainer works great! )Repeat with another layer of coffee dipped fingers.Top with remaining filling. Sprinkle cocoa powder over the top to form a coating. I made 3 layers. Chill in the freezer for about 4 to 5 hours.Garnish with a light dusting of powdered sugar or coco powder.

The whole block of Tiramisu before being cut:)

Note:

• If you don't get Mascarpone cheese you can use hung curd or Cream cheese
• I used light coffee as my hubby doesn't like string coffee. You can use strong coffee
• I freezed it coz I wanted to have it soon. You can also keep it in the fridge overnight to set & have the next day too:)
• I have also seen that you can use custard powder instead of eggs. However the taste might vary. If you don't eat eggs than try it with custard.

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.