Italian Cream Cake Trifle

Okay last post of the day.

I have been wanting to use these glasses to make a layered dessert for a while now and this recipe gave me the opportunity to do so: http://www.bakeorbreak.com/2013/06/individual-italian-cream-cake-trifles/

The cake itself is delicious so if you don't want to make a trifle, I recommend you just making the cake and possibly the frosting as well.

Beautiful. Tasty too.

Ma Ti Gao (Water Chestnut Cake)

You can usually find this dessert at dim sum restaurants and they pan-sear it before serving. I didn't think the extra oil was necessary so I just served them after they were steamed.

You can find the recipe here: http://en.christinesrecipes.com/2013/01/water-chestnut-cake.html

I used canned chestnuts and one small can had about 16 chestnuts so I ended up making 3 batches!

Note: the tan/brown color comes from the sugar used

Bo Luo Bao (Pineapple buns)

This bread is one of my favorites. The best ones are fresh and hot out of the oven, with a slab of butter sandwiched in the bread, called bo luo yau. Mmmmmm...so tasty, my mouth is watering just thinking about it.

I used the recipe found here: http://www.morethanbread.net/2010/11/bo-lo-bao-pineapple-bun.html

If you don't have shortening, you can use butter instead, which is what I did.

Remember that the buns double in size when you let the dough rise so shape the buns accordingly, unless you want to make huge buns like I did...

Melopita (Greek Honey Cheesecake)

Hmmm...I'm not such a big fan of this cake in all honestly. It makes for a pretty cake but taste-wise, it's not my favorite.

You can find the recipe here: http://cookmegreek.blogspot.gr/2012/12/melopita-honey-pie-from-sifnos-island.html

For the glaze on top, I mixed 2 Tbsp honey and 1 Tbsp lemon juice together.

Can you tell I've been baking with a lot of honey lately...

Artisan Bread

I really love fresh bread, especially the artisan breads available in markets like Whole Foods or Central Market. My family bought an Italian White loaf bread from Central Market one day and we devoured it in one meal. Delicious.

It seems difficult to recreate at home but in reality, it's very simple!

The recipe can be found here: http://www.simplysogood.com/2013/03/artisan-no-knead-bread.html

The only change I made was that I used 1 tsp of yeast instead of the 1/2 teaspoon stated in the recipe.

Here's the result:

I actually let this loaf rise three times and kneaded it a little so that the bread was chewier.

Here's another variation:

I didn't flour the surface of this loaf and added orange zest and toasted walnuts to the bread.

Strawberry Crêpes

I found a lot of different crêpe recipes online and some used 6 eggs while others used 2, some used butter while others used olive oil, some used water and milk while others used milk, etc. etc. etc. 

After looking through the recipes, I made my own adaptation: 

Strawberry Crêpes

-makes 4 medium sized crêpes 

Crêpe:

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup whole milk

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 egg

1 Tbsp butter (melted) 

1/2 vanilla extract 

Note: You can add 1 tsp sugar or salt to make the batter sweet or salty depending on if you want to make sweet or savory crêpes. Olive oil can also be used instead of butter to make olive oil crêpes. 

1. Blend all the ingredients together in a blender until smooth. 

2. Pour about 1/3 cup of the batter onto a non-stick pan and swirl the batter around to make a circle. 

3. Cook until the edges are cooked and bubbles form in the crêpe.

4. Flip and cook the other side until done. 

Filling: 

Strawberry jam 

Fresh strawberries, cut into bite-sized pieces

To assemble, spread the jam over the entire crêpe and add strawberries to half of the crêpe. Fold in half and in half again. Voilà! 

If you don't like strawberries, you can substitute other fruit or make savory crêpes instead. 

Medovik (Russian Honey Cake)

This cake requires some time and effort to make but it is definitely worth your time. You can find the recipe here: http://www.grabandgorecipes.com/cake-rijik/

For the topping, I sprinkled some cocoa powder and crushed cookie (I just rolled out the remaining dough, baked, and crushed it). 

After you let the cake sit in the refrigerator for some time, the cookie layers get soft and has a cake-like consistency, but still kind of maintains a cookie-like texture. Does that make sense? 

Well, try it out and you'll see what I mean. 

Look how beautiful the cake is when you cut into it:

I'll definitely double the recipe and make more layers next time. 

Honey Mini-Cheesecakes

So here comes the affluence of posts since I put off blogging until now.

Let's start out with honey mini-cheesecakes. I didn't have any graham crackers available to make a crust and I wanted to try something other than the walnut crust I made last time for these apple rose tarts:

I found an oatmeal crust as I browsed cheesecake recipes and here's my variation:

Honey Mini-Cheesecakes: 

Oatmeal crust:

1/2 cup butter (softened)
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 cup oatmeal (I used instant but old-fashioned should work as well)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Combine all the ingredients and press into the bottoms of a cupcake pan. (Or if you want to make cleaning and taking out the cheesecakes easier, use cupcake liners.)
3. Bake for 12 minutes.

Filling: 

8 oz cream cheese (softened)
1 egg
2 Tbsp whole milk
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Keep oven at 350°F.
2. Beat the ingredients together until combined and pour onto the crusts.
3. Bake for 25 minutes.
4. Let cool.

Cinnamon Honey Glaze: 

1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 Tbsp honey
Walnuts (I used a small handful because I only wanted a few to garnish the cheesecakes but you can use as many as you like)

1. In a small pan, heat the cinnamon and honey until warm.
2. Place the walnuts in the glaze and toss to coat.
3. Garnish each cheesecake with a few walnuts and glaze.

The finished product: