Starting Out My Journey As a Doctor to Be

Friday, January 01, 2010

Happy Baking and Happy New Year

Hey there, how are you?

I am good.

Because i finally get to satisfy my baking crave

and when i say there is no better way to get ready for a brand new year than baking

i mean it :)

i baked a cheesecake, a fruit tart and muffins because we had guests coming on new year's eve

there was A LOT of stuffs involved

just like some complicated and messy and scandalous affairs

affairs between the very healthy

and extremely evil food.

First up, Espresso Fudge Cheesecake by Smitten Kitchen (who else?)

and this time, i used 2 packets of double chocolate chips cookies for the crust. the recipe calls for chocolate wafers but i can't find any from my local supermarket. and i was too busy to make any.

Question: What does chocolate wafer look like anyway? like Chipsmore?

mix everything in a food processor (which i dun have)

and u will end up with a perfect crust (but mine was perfect toooooo) *beams*

what makes this recipe so special (at least i think so) is the fudge/choc ganache.

i am a sucker for chocolate.

i really am.

and my friend, the amount of creamcheese that goes into this cake is

INCREDIBLE

i am glad that i don't like cheese

i really am

KitchenAid is my life long best friend.

can you see that little bottle of Hennessy XO at the background? well i don't have any Kahlua. and all alcohol taste the same to me so XO was the way to go :p

bake the creamcheese filling for 1 hr ++ until the cake cracks.

literally

cool the cake down and cover the cake with a layer of 'concealer' - sour cream in this case

garnish the cake with some leftover chocolate ganache and there you go

this cake really takes ages to assemble so remember to make ahead, make ahead and make ahead.

and please only bake this for someone really special, because it really does take awhile to make, and when i say a while, i mean 8 hours, possibly 9 or 10 or 12 hrs. not because it's complicated but because it requires a fair bit of mixing-chilling-mixing-baking-freezing-mixing-baking-freezing-frezzing-waiting-freezing-waiting-granishing-and-waiting. u get the idea. oh and the cleaning up *shivers* thank god i din make this when i was in melbourne. so people, only make this for VIPs in ur life, like you mother.

P.S. i dunno what it tasted like because i dun cheese remember? but it does look very presentable :p doesn't it?

and i made this Pear and Almond Tart again!