Individual Cheesecakes Cute as Can Be

These perfect little individual cheesecakes were made to serve at a special dinner for some friends. Every, single thing about them was perfect: flavors, appearance, texture, and the bonus was that they came out of the little ramekins just perfectly. Better results could not be hoped for. 

Black Sesame Matcha Individual Cheesecakes

While they were perfect, and have stayed in my mind ever since, I haven't returned to them. Why? Well, there is really no huge valid excuse at all really. The biggest thing was that I ran out of Matcha Green Tea powder and haven't replaced it. 

Even longer ago, I had made Matcha and Black Sesame Muffins, and they were delightful. It was this combination, the green and the black flecks together are quite striking, that made me want to do something else with it. 

Using Matcha Green Tea

Matcha Green Tea Powder

Using Matcha green tea powder can be tricky, only in the sense that depending on the quality, the color may be the brightest of lime green (higher quality, more flavor, higher price), or a very dull green, or even a very pale green (lower quality, less flavor, lower price). The dull green was what was used in both the muffins and the cheesecakes.

With less flavor and color, more is needed to achieve even the least bit of color in a baked good. This alters the dry ingredient contents upwards, with the possibility of a dry outcome, whether dry muffins or a very stiff and dry cheesecake. 

Using higher quality Matcha will give a lot of color, but when it comes down to the facts, Matcha is very bitter. Too many people will not automatically love this bitterness, so a fine line is walked when making something like these recipes. Too much of a good thing and they may not be at all well-received. 

Some of this bitterness in a baked item can be mitigated by using more sugar, yet breakfast muffins are not meant to be sweet as a cupcake (though far too many are), and too much sugar will alter a cheesecake's consistency as well. 

An idea on that score is to dissolve the green tea powder in just enough hot water to make a smooth paste. In this way, the texture of either recipe would not be significantly altered. It also would afford the ability of actually seeing how much color is being added. The final baked goods will never be that same color, but it at least gives a clue. 

Aside from the issue of Matcha, having some in the first place, and then all these other considerations, these little cheesecakes are no difficulty to make. The mixture is a straightforward style, black sesame is available in many stores nowadays. While black sesame is not much different in flavor than the white, they do give visual interest. So, on with the recipe:

Black Sesame Matcha Individual Cheesecakes

Makes about 6 (6-ounce) 

or 8 (4-ounce) servings

Black Sesame Matcha Individual Cheesecakes

12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 teaspoon lime zest, finely grated
½ cup white sugar
2-3 tablespoons Matcha Green Tea powder
1 pinch salt
1 cup sour cream
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 tablespoon black sesame seeds

- Extra sugar, for dusting
- Butter for greasing

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease six (6-ounce) or eight (4-ounce) ramekins with butter. Dust them with sugar, tapping out excess. Set the ramekins into a roaster pan that can hold water halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Heat a large kettle of water and keep hot.

In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar and green tea powder. In a separate mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth, then add in the sugar mixture and lime zest and beat gently, just to combine. Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating gently until incorporated, then add in the sour cream and fold in the black sesame seeds.

Fill the ramekins of choice with the mixture. Set the roaster pan into the oven and carefully pour in the hot water around the ramekins to about halfway up their sides. Bake the cheesecakes 20 minutes for the smaller ones or 25 minutes for the larger ones. The centers should be a bit jiggly. Remove the pan from the oven and set the ramekins aside to cool. Chill the cheesecakes completely, refrigerated, before unmolding.

To unmold the cheesecakes, run a knife around the edges. They should start to spin a bit in their molds. Set a plate over top of the mold and invert the ramekin over the plate until the cheesecake comes loose onto the plate. Serve with a twist of lime and/or a dollop of whipped cream.

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

What to do with Extra Beets

Make a cake, that's what!

I had someone give me a large paper sack full of red beets one time. I love beets. I canned some of them. I baked some of them, in Lemon Garlic Beets, I put them in salads, made Root Vegetable and Greens Soup, and I still had some beets leftover. Someone suggested a Chocolate Beet Cake. I said, "What???" I'd never heard of such a thing in all my nearly 70 years (at that time) of life!" But as I Googled, I found many recipes for Chocolate Beet Cake out there, so color me shocked!

Chocolate Beet Cake

Okay, all that is well and good, but I am not personally over fond of chocolate. Chocolate cakes (I eat them occasionally, not at all often) or chocolate ice cream (I really dislike chocolate ice cream), um, no thank you. I wondered, "Is there a cake made with beets that does not include chocolate?"

At the time I created this cake, and searching for recipes in existence, the pickings were mighty slim. Most cakes made with beets, and this still holds true, having done a cursory search just now, have chocolate as an ingredient. As an observation, when I did make the Chocolate Beet Cake originally, the batter was a lovely dark red. Once baked, however, the color was just simply that of a chocolate cake - no particular red color left as "evidence," making it something my husband, a confirmed beet-hater, truly enjoyed.

And so, I hoped this would hold true if I made a cake without the chocolate to hide the evidence of beets as an ingredient. My thought process was to go with a spice cake. We both love spice cakes, my Prune Spice Cake being one in particular I have made fairly often. The prunes give it a bit more depth of color, but a spice cake on its own is still darker than any white or yellow cake. I proceeded with the idea of a Beet Spice Cake. 

Beet Spice Sheet Cake

My instinct payed off; there was absolutely no evidence of pinkness in the final cake. Looking back at the recipe (I never stop tweaking, even with my own recipes!), I used some of my Mocha Spice Blend II, but that gave me the idea of maybe just adding in some instant expresso powder, maybe 1 to 3 teaspoons, depending on how much you love coffee flavor! If a fine powder, this can be added with dry ingredients. If it is in crystal form, then mixed with a tablespoon of water to melt first and added with the eggs and oil would work. 

Beet Spice Sheet Cake

Makes one 18 x 24-inch sheet cake, or one 8 or 9-inch round, two-layer cake

1 cup pureed, cooked beets (about 3 medium beets)

Beet Spice Sheet Cake

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons allspice
2 teaspoons Mocha Spice, optional (or substitute your favorite Pumpkin Pie Spice Mix)
1 cup vegetable oil
4 large eggs
¾ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup brown sugar
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
¾ cup ground pecans or walnuts

Boil the whole beets in water to cover for 45 minutes to an hour, until easily pierced with a fork. Cool completely. This can be done a day earlier. Peel the beets and puree finely in a food processor, food mill, or on a small holed grater.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease or spray with cooking spray a sheet pan (about 18 x 24-inches, with a rim at least ½-inch high). Line the pan bottom with parchment and spray again with cooking spray. Set aside.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, allspice and Mocha Spice blend. Separately, whisk together the vegetable oil, eggs, both sugars and vanilla extract. Pour the liquid ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients and stir well until all the dry ingredients are moistened, then fold in the ground nuts. Pour the batter into the prepared sheet pan and spread batter evenly. Bake the cake for about 13 to 15 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out mostly clean.

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

A Showstopper of a Cheese Coffeecake

Sometimes, we want to entertain, but it's just too much trouble to make things from scratch.

And sometimes, it really isn't that much trouble at all. It only SEEMS that way.

I want to talk here about a coffeecake. This coffeecake comes out perfectly, so amazingly good and so very beautiful, and it is easy to make, to boot!

Cheese Coffeecake Showstopper

Long ago, I used to love Entenmann's Cheese-Filled Crumb Coffeecake. Of all the Entenmann's cakes, that one just did it for me. And then there is this recipe. It is made similarly. Two yeasted pieces of dough, encasing a cheese filling. No crumbs on top, but there is no need. This recipe just truly tops anything in the "coffeecake" type recipe, in any category you can think of. 

Despite that, for some reason - maybe because it is so elegant - maybe because it is just that delicious - but for whatever reason, I don't make it often. When telling anyone about it, I go into raptures over all its attributes. One of my daughters one time said to me that she loved that cake, but it seemed too complicated. 

"What?!?!?" I replied. "No way! This is so simple. Why would you think it's complicated?" 

And I proceeded to show her how very easy it was to make this cake. And once we finished, she said, "Wow! That WAS easy!"

Recently, talking with one of my sisters, I brought it up once again, and again, going into raptures over the cake, the beauty, the flavors, the ease. And I just thought, "Why do I always do that? Go crazy over it all, plus its ease, then never make it?" So, I made it there and then. And again I wonder why I wait so long to do this... 

Cheese Coffeecake Showstopper

The cake part is a yeasted dough, and lest there are any out there with a fear of using yeast, just use a packet of the "rapid rise" type, and you need not worry about killing the yeast at all. Nor is there any significant "bread methodology" that means kneading or punching down or proofing - none of that!  The filling is a really simple cheesecake type of mixture that goes together quickly and easily. The dough is made and divided in two pieces. One half is rolled out to fit a pan, much as with pie dough. I like to roll the bottom piece big enough to go up the edges of a 9 x 13-inch pan by about an inch or more, so that the filling does not touch the edges of the pan. The filling is spread over the bottom crust and then the top piece of dough is rolled to just fit the top of the coffeecake. It is left to rise for a couple of hours, true. But this requires nothing more than a timer.

So, without further raptures, here is the recipe:

Cheese Coffeecake Showstopper

Cheese Coffeecake Showstopper

Serves 8 - 12

2½ cups flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 package rapid-rise yeast1 cup unsalted butter, softened
¼ cup evaporated milk
4 egg yolks, lightly beaten
------
FILLING: 
1 pound cream cheese, softened
1 egg yolk
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
 
1 egg white, lightly beaten till frothy
½ cup chopped walnuts, or pecans
confectioner's sugar
 
Combine flour, salt, sugar and yeast in a bowl. Cut in butter till crumbly. Whisk together the egg yolks and evaporated milk, then stir into the bowl and combine, stirring until the dough comes together into one ball. Divide dough in halves, making one half just slightly larger than the other. 

Roll the slightly larger half of the dough to fit into a 13 x 9-inch pan with the edges coming up the sides of the pan by about 1 to 1½-inch. Trim the edges so they are neat. 

Baked Cake with trimmed edges

In a bowl, beat the cream cheese, the one egg yolk, 1 cup of sugar and vanilla in a bowl until light and fluffy. Spread over dough in the pan.

Roll out the remaining piece of dough on a lightly floured surface, just until it will fit the top of the cream cheese layer, going to the edge of the pan. Trim carefully and set in place. Brush top with the slightly beaten egg white. Sprinkle with nuts.

Cover and let rise in a warm place till doubled in bulk, about 2 hours. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. Cool and sprinkle with confectioner's sugar. 

NOTES: When the cake has cooled, if your pan, like mine, has slightly flared sides, trim the edges on each side so the sides of the cake are straight. This means there will be narrow, rounded pieces that have been cut away. What to do with them? Satisfy your sweet tooth, or those of your family. The cake, once trimmed, yields perfectly straight sides and makes an excellent presentation.


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Tis the Season for Pumpkin

'Tis the season for Pumpkin in all its forms. My favorite of the squash varieties, when it comes to baking, are either butternut squash or one of those big blue-green colored ones, whether called Jarradale, Jamboree or whichever name they come by. They have such lovely smooth flesh, making them ideal for things like pumpkin pie, pumpkin tarts, pumpkin loaves, pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin cookies and anything else baked with pumpkin. Another reason I love these two types of squash best for baking is that they are less watery. 

Some Squash Varieties

Most every "pumpkin" (those orange ones, be they round, flat or other) I have ever tried is stringy and/or watery, even the sugar pumpkins. I bake my squash, to avoid having any water added to the equation, but even so, the pumpkin varieties give off so much liquid that by the time you've set the cooked flesh into a colander to drain for use in a recipe, there is not much left to use. 

I try to accomplish a nice, thick puree, similar to a can of "pumpkin." Ultimately, I use either the blue Jarradale type or everyday butternut for this purpose. Just my preference. If you have great luck with another variety, then do use whatever works for you. 

And then, there are always cans of "pumpkin," in case you run out during the year!
 

Soft Pumpkin Cookies

I started off using some of my stash of already baked and pureed Jarradale squash in the freezer. I do this with the big blue varieties in the fall and portion it into freezer zip-top bags in 2-cup portions, suitable for a pie. If I need less than 2 cups for a recipe, then I use the rest added into soup, which gives a nice body (not to mention great flavor) to any thin soup. This time, I decided to make Soft Pumpkin Cookies.

Lard vs Shortening vs Butter

I want to clarify on my reasons for using lard in this recipe. Firstly, I do not like using shortening, which is an unnatural product, and worse for one by far than lard or butter, which are from natural sources. (My own opinion.) I have made these cookies various times using one of all three fats. Butter tastes great, but leaves a flat cookie, just too soft. Shortening works better, keeping shape a bit more and holding their domed shape a bit better. Lard makes these cookies tender and delicate yet still retaining their pretty dome shape on baking. Ergo; lard it is, for me. Just know if you switch the fat the results will be far different. 

These cookies are, as the name states, "soft." They have a most wonderful flavor, and are as delicate as can be. They have a nice glaze icing using browned butter, making these truly irresistible. Next I want to attempt a Pumpkin Sandwich Cookie. I have the cookie part down, but was unhappy with the filling, which was too soft. Back to the drawing board with the icing part, but for now, here are my Soft Pumpkin Cookies:

Soft Pumpkin Cookies

Made 5½ dozen (2-teaspoon) drop cookies

Soft Pumpkin Cookies

COOKIES:
½ cup light brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup lard (or shortening)
1 cup pureed pumpkin/squash, or canned pumpkin
zest of one orange
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups whole grain, ground Kamut Khorasan flour (or half whole wheat and half all-purpose flour)
½ cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
½ cup ground nuts (walnuts preferred)

ICING:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter (no butter substitutes!)
3 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 to 3 tablespoons milk, as needed

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Have ready one or two ungreased baking sheets.

COOKIES: Combine in a mixer bowl the sugars and lard, beating until smooth. Add in the pureed pumpkin, orange zest and vanilla extract and beat to combine. In a separate bowl whisk together the flours, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and cloves. Add the dry ingredients in, beating very slowly until moistened, then beat briskly just to combine thoroughly. Add the nuts and stir to distribute.

Drop the cookies onto the baking sheet(s) using a two-teaspoon measure or cookie scoop, keeping them at least 2 inches apart. Try not to make them any larger, as they come out soft already. Bake the cookies for about 9 to 11 minutes, or until just set. Remove the cookies at once to racks to cool completely.

ICING: Heat the butter in a preferably light-colored skillet, so you can keep track of the browning process. Allow the butter to brown nicely, but not burn. Using a non-butter imitation will only burn. Pour the browned butter into the confectioners' sugar in a bowl and stir to combine. Add in the vanilla and a pinch of salt, if desired. Add milk one tablespoon at a time, only if needed to make an icing that the cookies can be dipped into, leaving with a nice coating. If too stiff, add a little more milk. Dip the tops of the cookies in the icing, then turn upright and let the icing set.



My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

New Cheesecake Flavors

Some time ago, possibly years already, I heard or read about a cheesecake using goat cheese. I took notes at the time.

For a few days now, I had been wanting to make a dessert, but just couldn't settle on what I wanted. Cake? Cookies? What? And after days of this, I finally thought I should get out all my notes. I have notebooks worth of recipe notes; ideas for another day, another time. 

In looking through notes, I came upon the notes for a cheesecake made with goat cheese. Since it had pretty precise amounts, apparently I copied it from somewhere, for later perusal. This time it fairly jumped out at me, so I took notice. 

Pistachio & Goat Cheese Cheesecake

I have noted in past that when I come up with an idea, I read a lot of different recipes online to see what others have done, and only then make notes on what I want to do for myself. For starters, what amounts to use of the component parts: cream cheese, goat cheese and yogurt. I rearranged the amounts 4 different times before I was content that it would have the flavors I wanted. I wanted a little bit of cream cheese just because I love cream cheese. But, what really grabbed my attention about this whole concept was the goat cheese - because I really love goat cheese. Chevre or Montrachet are the most common goat cheeses I use, but I also love the harder sorts, like goat "cheddar," or other semi-hard goat cheese like "Drunken Goat," Garrotxa, or soft Humboldt Fog and my most favorite of all, Bucheron. So, goat cheese had to make a statement in this cheesecake, period.

After rearranging amounts of goat cheese, cream cheese and yogurt over and over, I finally settled on 8 ounces of cream cheese, with 12 ounces each of goat cheese and plain Greek style yogurt. Then I went to the store to pick up the goat cheese and yogurt, only to find that they had NO plain goat cheese, but only various flavors. I opted to go for the Honey Chevre, and ultimately it was very tasty, so no complaints. I don't know how much actual difference it made in the end.

Then came the eggs. I was using eggs for sure, and with the same overall ingredient amounts I have generally used 3 eggs. As I was unsure of the texture of a cheesecake made mainly with goat cheese and yogurt, I opted for 3 whole eggs and 2 egg yolks. The only other real consideration was how much sugar to use. I briefly considered using another can of dulce de leche, but as I wanted to use pistachios for the crust, I wanted them to stand out in flavor, not get mixed with the caramel-like flavors of dulce de leche. Back to sugar, again by ingredient quantities, in past I have used 1 cup of sugar. However, I was hoping to make a slightly less sweet cheesecake, so while I filled the 1-cup measure with sugar, I planned on using about ¾ cup of the sugar and only adding the remainder if the mixture didn't taste sweet enough.

Best Laid Plans . . .

When it came time to add the sugar I totally forgot about starting out with only ¾ cup worth and instead dumped the whole cup of sugar into the bowl. 😬 Arrrggghhh! Oh well, one cup of sugar it was going to be, after all.

Pistachio & Goat Cheese Cheesecake

As for the crust, I wanted pistachio. Whatever recipe I had jotted into my notes used pistachios in the crust, but the bulk of the crust was made of flour. I wanted to avoid unnecessary additions of white flour, so I went back to the other nut crusts I have made in past. When making my Chestnut Cheesecake, I have made an Almond Crust. When making my Dulce de Leche Turtle Cheesecake, I make a Pecan Crust. So I planned the same preparation, substituting ground pistachios for the other nuts. 

This worked less well than the other crusts, as I had a harder time pressing the nut mixture into the pan. It took a longer time getting all the holes to fill, and then when it baked, it puffed up all over the place, and I had to press it all back into place with a glass while still hot. It worked, and it all came out just fine, but now I wonder if using some flour in the mix, or possibly cookie crumbs, might have made it all easier in the end. For now, it worked. And if at some other date I decide to make this cheesecake again, possibly with different flavors mixed in, I will try something else for crust.

Ultimately, after also opting NOT to use a hot water bath to bake the cheesecake, it came out stunningly well. The cheesecake was so perfect it nearly brought tears. It is so exceedingly creamy and smooth. It has a lovely tang without going overboard. It is slightly sweeter than needed, but that will be remedied another time. For now, I am extremely content with flavor and texture. Here is what I did:

Pistachio & Goat Cheese Cheesecake

Pistachio & Goat Cheese Cheesecake

Makes one 9-inch cheesecake (about 1½-inch deep)

PISTACHIO CRUST: 
1½ cups whole, shelled, unsalted pistachios
2½ tablespoons sugar
¼ teaspoon almond or vanilla extract
2½ tablespoons softened unsalted butter

CHEESECAKE MIXTURE:
1 (8-ounce) block cream cheese, room temperature
12 ounces plain (or Honey flavored) Chevre or Montrachet goat cheese, at room temperature
12 ounces plain Greek yogurt
¾ to 1 cup granulated sugar
½ teaspoon salt
3 whole eggs plus 2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon cornstarch

FOR THE CRUST: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Process the whole pistachios into relatively fine crumbs in a food processor. Remove about ¼-cup aside for topping later. To the remainder in the processor, add the sugar, extract of choice and butter and process until the mixture will clump. Turn into a 9-inch spring-form pan and press to about 1-inch up sides and evenly over the bottom of the pan. Bake for 8 minutes. If the crust puffs during baking, use a straight sided glass to press back into place while still hot. Set the crust aside to cool while preparing the filling. Lower the oven temperature to 325 degrees.

FOR THE CHEESECAKE FILLING: Place the cream cheese and goat cheese into a large mixing bowl and mix, preferably with a hand mixer on low speed until well blended. Add in the yogurt and sugar and mix well to combine. Add in the salt and eggs with yolks and mix well, still with low speed. Add the cornstarch and vanilla extract, mixing to combine. Pour into the cooled crust. Set the spring-form pan onto a baking pan with rim. Set the baking sheet on a middle rack in the oven and bake the cheesecake for about 45 minutes. The center should still be quite jiggly. Remove from oven and cool completely on the counter. As it cools, it will firm up. Sprinkle the reserved ground pistachios around the edges of the cheesecake and set aside to cool. Once cooled, cover tightly and place in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours or overnight, before serving.


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Unbelievably Easy Ice Cream

By now, I am pretty sure most people have at least heard of No-Churn Ice Cream. My understanding is that it was invented by British chef Nigella Lawson, but I could be wrong on that. All I can say is, whoever invented it, it is pure genius. I'm embarrassed to say it took me nearly 2 years to get around to trying it out.
 

Salted Dulce de Leche No-Churn Ice Cream (served over Best Peach Crisp Ever)

My idea came about when my sister-in-law was having her house moved. Yes, they moved her house to a new lot! I'd never heard of such a thing until I came up to South Dakota, and as a matter of fact, the same house had been moved once before! But back to my sister-in-law... She had a couple of cans of sweetened condensed milk that were a couple of months past their expiration date. Since the cans were not puffed or distended, I said, "How about making Dulce de Leche?" This question got a resounding YES! And then, I got thinking about what I could make with it.  

Dulce de Leche Turtle Cheesecake

I have a most amazing cheesecake recipe, called Dulce de Leche Turtle Cheesecake. I made it when I first tried out making dulce de leche of my own, back in 2013. It was so good I nearly cried! And, while I could certainly have made that cheesecake again with complaints from no one, I thought about it some more and got wondering about ice cream. And in particular, that "no-churn" kind I had read about, so simple, yet never tried. 

Since the recipe, such as it is, calls for a base mix of one 14-ounce can of sweetened condensed milk and 2 cups of whipping cream, whipped . . . I wondered if it could possibly make any difference if the sweetened condensed milk was substituted with a can of sweetened condensed milk that was first turned into dulce de leche? I wanted to try it out. 

Also, since I am a huge fan of Talenti brand's Salted Caramel Gelato, I planned to make this ice cream salted. Not too salted, as my sister-in-law does not like to actually taste salt in her sweets, but just enough to make it interesting. 

Making Dulce de Leche

Dulce de Leche

If you haven't made dulce de leche before, it is simplicity itself. I make it in my slow cooker on low. First, remove labels from one or two cans of sweetened condensed milk. Lay them on their sides in a slow cooker and cover with water. Turn on low and leave it for 8 to 9 hours. Eight hours yields a slightly lighter caramel and nine hours a slightly darker caramel. This process can be started before going to bed, allowing it to slowly cook into amazing caramel-ly goodness overnight, or start it early in the morning, to be done by dinner. Either way, once the time is up, turn off the slow cooker, but leave the cans in the water to cool completely. Once cooled, write on the cans with an indelible pen the date and what is in the can(s). Voila. 

While there are other ways to accomplish this process, this method allows the dulce de leche, still sealed in its can, to be stored for a bit longer, until needed for your recipe, without pressure to have to use it up right away.  

The Salted Dulce de Leche No-Churn Ice Cream I made was just superb. 

Salted Dulce de Leche No-Churn Ice Cream

Makes one 9 x 5-inch pan worth

Salted Dulce de Leche No-Churn Ice Cream

1 can dulce de leche (above), cooled
2 teaspoons caramel flavor, or vanilla extract
1½ teaspoons Kosher salt
2 cups heavy whipping cream, whipped

Pour the dulce de leche into a large bowl. Add in the caramel flavoring or vanilla extract and the salt and stir in. In a separate bowl, beat the whipping cream until just stiff. Fold the whipped cream into the dulce de leche until completely blended with no streaks remaining. Pour into a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan and set in the freezer to chill for at least 5 hours. If adding any flavoring pieces, such as chocolate or caramel chips or other add-ins, do this after two hours. The ice cream will have started setting but still be soft enough to fold.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once I tasted this ice cream, all sorts of possibilities came to mind. Mint Chocolate Chip has traditionally been my favorite ice cream (until I discovered the Talenti Salted Caramel Gelato), so for sure that will be one I must try. Our friend Rich, who loves all things chocolate, would be one to try out chocolate no-churn ice cream for. I love coffee flavor also, so that will be another I want to try, but not while my sister-in-law is in residence, as she does not drink coffee or eat anything coffee flavored.  So I have a list of ideas for future flavors of this amazingly creamy ice cream. The fact that it is so easy to make makes it doubly (or triply) dangerous 😀.


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Fresh Fruit on a Cake Saga

This post was supposed to come first, but I wanted the better cake (for this recipe) to be available, so I posted my recipe for Borracho Cake first. 

For the 4th of July, I wanted to make a pretty shortcake type cake, using a pan I had never used. The pan is about 11-inches across the top and 10-inches across the bottom. The bottom of the pan is indented upwards, so when the cake is turned out, it forms a bit of a well. 

My plan was to make a spongy cake that would absorb juices nicely, if they should get through, much like those little individual shortbread cakes sold in stores everywhere. I wanted a sponge cake, and while I have made sponge cakes many times over the years, I strayed from the tried and true and looked up cakes similar to a Victoria Sponge. Suffice to say, this is not in any way a sponge cake as I know it. Turns out, what the British call Sponge Cake is what we in the U.S. call Pound Cake. 😮 Read more about all that, here. 

Fresh Fruit Shortcake with Mascarpone Cream

★So, I ended up with a pound cake instead of the light and airy cake I had intended. The cake tasted great, so if that is what you would prefer, then just follow this recipe and you're all set. If you want more moisture, make a simple syrup of some kind, add a little liqueur of your choice for flavor, and moisten the cake with this syrup BEFORE topping with the cream and fruit.

If you prefer the soft, airy, absorbent cake I wanted, then make the cake I used for this Borracho Cake.

Cake and Cake Pan

All in all, the cake came out beautifully, and the cake pan I used has a well in the center, perfect for fillings. In this one, I wanted to make some kind of creamy filling, but absolutely not using something like cream cheese and Cool Whip! My desire, my plan, was to use Mascarpone somehow. Should I just make Mascarpone Whipped Cream? That was my first plan, but then I got thinking. I wanted something more, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Then I thought eggs! I wanted something a bit more cooked in texture, much though I love my Mascarpone Whipped Cream. So I started thinking about what to do.

I wanted to use some sort of liqueur, and finally settled on Limoncello. Lemony flavors go great with fruit. I mixed Limoncello into the Mascarpone cheese and set that aside. I planned to lighten the whole mass with plain whipped cream, and looking for flavors to incorporate, I went with a little Orange Flower Water, for its light, flowery and uplifting scent, and then a few drops of Angostura bitters just to mitigate sweetness levels. This might sound convoluted, but the flavors are stellar!

Mascarpone Cream & Fresh Fruit Cake

Makes one 10-inch, single layer cake
 

Fresh Fruit Shortcake with Mascarpone Cream

(POUND) CAKE:
1½ sticks (6 ounces) softened unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1¼ cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup cornstarch
1½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
¼ cup boiling water
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon almond extract

LIMONCELLO MASCARPONE CREAM:
6 ounces / ¾ cup Mascarpone cream, room temperature
2 tablespoons Limoncello
2 eggs
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
¾ cup chilled heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon orange flower water
3 drops Angostura bitters

Fresh Fruit for decorating: sliced strawberries, raspberries, blueberries
2 tablespoons red currant jelly, melted

Make the cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 10-inch baking tin and line with parchment. Grease the parchment. Set aside. 

In a bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt and whisk to combine. Set aside. In a stand mixer, beat together the butter and sugar for about 5 minutes, until very light colored and fluffy. Add one egg to the butter mixture along with a tablespoon or so of the dry mixture and beat until incorporated. Add a second egg with another tablespoon or so of the dry ingredients and beat until incorporated. Repeat this with the third egg and another tablespoon of dry ingredients. Add in the extracts, the boiling water and then the remaining dry ingredients and stir to combine. 

Bake the cake for about 25 minutes or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Let rest in pan for about 10 minutes, then turn out to a rack to cool.

Make the Limoncello Mascarpone Cream: Stir the Limoncello into the Mascarpone in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Place the two eggs and 3 tablespoons of sugar into a wide mixing bowl, either glass or metal. Have a large saucepan with about 1 - 2 inches of water in the bottom at a simmer on the stove. The bowl with the eggs should be able to set atop the saucepan without the bottom of the bowl touching the simmering water. Off the heat, whisk the eggs and sugar with a large wire whisk until somewhat foamy. Set the bowl over the simmering water and continue to whisk until the mixture has started to thicken and has fine foamy bubbles.

        Mascarpone   -   Whisking eggs    - over simmering water     -   combined with Mascarpone

Without cooling, dump the egg mixture into the Mascarpone and whisk to combine.

In another large mixing bowl, combine the heavy whipping cream with the orange flower water and Angostura bitters. Beat the mixture until it holds stiff peaks, then fold into the Mascarpone egg mixture. 

Set the cake onto a serving plate and top with this Mascarpone cream, then set sliced fruit on top, as desired.

Mascarpone Cream         -          Spread over cake         -         Fresh fruit to decorate

Once fruit is in place, brush the fruit with the melted Currant Jelly; this helps keep the fruit looking pretty. Chill the cake for 2 to 4 hours before serving. 


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Elegantly Drunken Cake

When I lived in Guatemala, some 17 years ago now, one of my most favorite desserts was Borracho Cake. Funny, but no one I knew EVER made it. The only place I ate it was when my husband (at that time) took me to a bakery.

While I was down there, I learned everything I could about cooking and baking. I watched people prepare a thing, then went about recreating it on my own. Or I tried a recipe (of which there were very few) and then tweaked it to be as I wanted the flavors to taste. When there were no recipes and I loved something, such as Enchiladas, or this Borracho Cake, I set about finding a way to make it. 

Borracho Cake

What I knew about this cake, from eating it at the pastry shop, was that it had a sponge cake type base, this sponge cake was perfectly saturated with a syrup flavored with cinnamon and rum, and the topping was a cornstarch pudding decorated with raisins. I needed three recipes, then:

• Sponge cake
• Syrup
• Cornstarch pudding

Borracho

If you know nothing about Spanish, you might not know that "borracho" means drunk, or "drunkard," depending on how it is used in a sentence. The fact that there is a fair amount of rum in the syrup is the reason for its name. And it is soooo good.

Older Style Borracho Cake

I had only 7 cookbooks when I got married that first time, so my sum total of cooking instruction came from those 7 books. My 1966 copy of The Joy of Cooking had the most information, so I went there for ideas. I was no cook at all, when I first got married at just barely age 20. I watched my Mom at home, but never ventured into trying things on my own, outside of a box cake. So, on my own in a foreign country with no one to ask - well, this was long, long before cell phones, internet, or easy long distance calling, I had no place but my books to turn to for advice. In Guatemala, over the course of 12 years and 4 houses, we had a phone in only one of those houses. Phones were not terribly common. Calling my Mom for a quick consult was out of the question, even if we'd had a phone, as it was so costly.  So back to the Borracho...

The Joy of Cooking has a recipe for "sponge cake" that is a flexible recipe. There is a choice of 3 to 6 eggs, choice of flavorings, and so on. Over the years, I tried the recipe with 3, 4 5 or 6 eggs, and my favorite, hands down, was with just the three eggs. More and it just tastes "eggy."  

A Note on Sponge Cake

When watching "The Great British Baking Show," I saw them making a "Victoria Sponge." Watching this intrigued me, because it looked like a regular batter cake, to me. What's the difference, you say?

Well, what I have always known as a "sponge" cake is that is should be like a sponge; lots of nice little holes, light and fluffy. A sponge cake is leavened by beating air into eggs - first the yolks and the whites at the end before folding in. A true sponge cake uses no other leavening like baking powder. (My cake does cheat and uses a little baking powder, just to give it a boost.)

British type Sponge (aka Pound cake)           vs           American type Sponge

Watching The Great British Baking Show, they used both butter and leavening in their "sponge" cake. What???

Come to find out, the British call sponge cake "foam cake." Their "sponge" cake is more like a pound cake. I recently ran into all this when I wanted to make a sponge cake type base for an American shortcake type application with fresh fruit on top. The cake I made, cobbling what I wanted from various (apparently British) "sponge cake" recipes and using the method used by Mary Berry, where she adds some flour along with the eggs as they are added, so the mixture does not look "curdled." This supposedly allows the cake to rise higher. I have no direct experience of this...

What resulted was a beautiful cake - don't get me wrong. It's just that it was in no way the kind of sponge cake I had wanted for my recipe. However, the cake was made, and that was that. And so I continued.

This is when I thought I just had to give my old Joy of Cooking tried and true sponge cake a go. The thing I was doing is using a new pan I had yet to use. I'd had it for years without even giving it a test drive. (So to speak). That first "sponge cake" (read: "pound cake") came out just beautifully in that pan. So now, would the real sponge cake do the same? It did.

A New Cake Pan

Since I was testing cakes in the pan, and now had one pound cake made in it, with absolutely beautiful results, true, and now this lovely sponge cake that was also beautiful, I opted to use it for a new Borracho cake look. 

In Guatemala, at that pastry shop, the Borracho was served in lovely squares, resting in a muffin type paper, but sopping with syrup. This new idea of mine was made in a lovely round pan with fluted edge, that creates an indented top when turned out. It's not very deep, but it does the trick, and it was perfect to hold the Cornstarch Pudding.

Here is what I do to make Borracho Cake:

Borracho Cake

Borracho Cake

Serves 10 to 12

CAKE:
3 large egg yolks
1 cup (6.95 ounces / 197 grams) superfine sugar
¼ cup (60 ml) boiling water
1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla
½ teaspoon (2.5 ml) almond extract
2 tablespoons (0.6 ounces / 17 grams) cornstarch
1 cup (4.35 ounces / 124 grams) all-purpose flour
1½ teaspoons (0.2 ounces / 6 grams) baking powder
½ teaspoon (0.1 ounces / 2 grams) sale
3 large egg whites

SYRUP:
1 cup (235 ml) water
½ cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
1 (4-inch) stick true cinnamon
½ cup  (118 ml) white rum

CORNSTARCH PUDDING:
1½ cups (353 ml) milk
1 (4-inch) stick true cinnamon
2 tablespoons (17 grams) cornstarch
6 tablespoons (83 grams) granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

Raisins, to decorate

Make the cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 10-inch cake pan and line the bottom with parchment. Grease the parchment. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the cornstarch, flour, baking powder and salt  and set aside.

In another mixing bowl, beat the egg yolks until very light in color, using a hand mixer or whisk. Beat in the sugar gradually; the mixture will become very thick. Beat in the hot water and continue beating until it cools slightly. Mix in the vanilla and almond extracts. Spoon about a third of the dry ingredients into the wet mixture and fold in. Repeat until all the dry ingredients are incorporated.

Separately, in a squeaky-clean bowl, with super clean whisk or beaters, beat the egg whites until stiff, but not dry-looking. Fold a third of the whites into the batter to loosen slightly, then add the remaining whites and gently fold in. Pour into the prepared cake pan and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the cake tests done in the center. Remove from oven and let set for about 10 minutes, then turn the cake onto a rack to cool slightly.

Make the syrup: While the cake is baking, place the water, sugar and cinnamon stick in a saucepan and bring to boil. Simmer gently for about 10 minutes to allow the flavor of cinnamon to permeate the water. Remove from heat, remove and discard the cinnamon stick and add the rum. Once the cake has cooled slightly, set it onto a dish with a rim and begin ladling the syrup over the cake. Use all the syrup. Allow the cake to completely cool.

Make the Cornstarch Pudding: In a saucepan, combine the cornstarch and sugar, then pour in the milk, whisking to combine. Add the cinnamon stick and place over medium heat and whisk until the mixture boils and thickens, then reduce heat and simmer, whisking constantly, for about 5 more minutes. Remove from heat and add the vanilla. Remove the cinnamon stick and discard. Pour the pudding over the cake. If the cake has a well, as mine does, this can be done at once. If the cake has a flat top, cool the pudding slightly, placing a piece of plastic film directly on the surface of the pudding to prevent a skin forming, then spread the pudding on top. Decorate with raisins, as desired.



My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.