Japanese Cheesecake

I used recipe from ieatishootipost and tried 3 times. The photo above was my third cake. All credits to ieatishootipost.

My first cake was a total failure because I only had duck eggs and picked up a phone call from a friend in the midst of beating egg whites. The cake didn't even bake after an hour in the oven.

The one above was my second cake. I completely scratched the top of the cake when I de-pan it. If you can see the cake was in 2 layers (it is a poor photo). It is likely that I didn't fold the whites into the batter properly. The top part of the cake was light and fluffy while the bottom part was heavy.

Ingredients:
Part A: Yolk
250 g Philadelphia cream cheese (1 block)
6 egg yolks
70 g castor sugar
60 g butter
100 ml full cream milk
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp lemon zest
60 g cake flour (I used the mixture of "1 cup plain flour" - "2 tbsp plain flour" + 2 tbsp cornflour" = 1 cup cake flour)
20g corn flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract (optional) - I added

Part B: White
6 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
70 g castor sugar

Part C: Glaze
1 tbsp apricot jam
1 tbsp water

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 200°C, fan forced --> because my oven is lack of the non fan force option
2. Coat cake pan with non-stick spray or oil, line bottom with baking paper
3. Whisk cream cheese till smooth over a warm water bath 
4. Add yolks and whisk
5. Add 70 g sugar and whisk
6. Warm milk and butter in microwave or stove, whisk into batter
7. Add vanilla, salt, lemon, juice, lemon zest and whisk
8. Remove from water bath, sift flour and fold into mixture until relatively smooth, don't over mix
9. Whisk whites at low speed till foamy
10. Add cream of tartar and beat at high speed till bubbles become very small but still visible
11. Gradually add sugar and beat till just before soft peaks
12. Fold whites into batter 1/3 at a time (must mix properly to avoid separation of layer)
13. Pour into cake pan and tap the pan on the counter to release air bubbles
14. Line a bigger pan with a dish towel and pour water from the water bath. 
15. Place the cake pan onto the bigger pan and bake. 
16. Bake on the middle rack for
    180°C for 18 minutes
    150°C for 12 minutes
    Turn off over and leave in oven for 40 minutes --> I tried 30 minutes but the top of cake is not brown enough)
    Open oven door slightly at the end of the baking for 10 minutes for cake to cool.
17. De-pan when still warm and remember to wrap whatever you are using to de-pan with baking paper ---> my second cake was scratched because I didn't :(
18.  Glaze top of cake with apricot jam + same amount of water (ratio 1:1) and microwaved it. 

Side note: 揮別錯的才能和對的相逢

Amarula Carrot Cake

No, I didn't lie. It is a carrot cake, see the orange bits? Yes, this is a carrot cake without cream cheese frosting. I have issues with frosting and I usually scrap them out when I eat. Half the people whom I share the calories with doesn't eat the frosting either. So I made a carrot cake with no frosting.

I first read about Amarula carrot cake from here. Of course the recipe said the Amarula can be substituted with Baileys but then it isn't Amarula carrot cake anymore, isn't it. I would then have to call it Baileys carrot cake. Long story short, I managed to get Little P to grab me a bottle when she travelled home to Malaysia from the free duty shop. Of course I need to have a few sips to see if I like the flavour before making the cake and I love it! So here's the cake, with some modifications as I made do with what's leftover in the house.

Let's pretend there are 3 carrots and 1 can of pineapple. The peanut butter bottle contains bicarbonate of soda

Again, please find original recipe here (the author is one of Masterchef contestant). I used the ml measurement.

Ingredients:

Cake
4 large eggs at room temperature
1¼ cups (300 g) castor sugar --> I cut down to 150g
1¼ cups (310 ml) grapeseed oil --> I used rice bran oil
2 cups (about 3) grated carrots
1 canned pineapple grated and drained well --> I used Golden Circle Pineapple Pieces in Natural Juice Canned 440g
1 cup chopped pecan nuts --> I used crushed peanuts
¼ cup Amarula Cream, plus extra ¼ cup for soaking later
½ cup (125 ml) apricot jam --> I used strawberry jam
2 cups (240 g) plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tbsp mixed spice --> I used 1 tsp cinnamon (I was afraid the cinnamon would be overpowering)
1 tsp salt --> after I put in the salt, I give it a taste and feel it is a bit salty, so I added another splash of Amarula cream
Extra chopped pecan nuts and pistachio, for garnish --> also crushed peanuts

Cream Cheese icing: ---> i omit the whole icing/frosting
125g cream cheese room temperature
¼ cup (100g) butter room temperature 
2 cups sifted icing sugar 
1 tbsp Amarula Cream

Method:

1. Beat the eggs in a food mixer (or handheld mixer) for 3 minutes until thick, add the sugar gradually and whisk for another 2 minutes until the mixture is pale and thick. 
2. Add the oil slowly and beat for another 2 minutes. 
3. Pour mixture into a mixing bowl.
4. Add carrots, pineapple, nuts, Amarula and apricot strawberry jam and stir well with a spatula. 
5. Sift the dry ingredients into the mixture and fold in with a spatula until well mixed. (I found the jam sticking together a little, maybe because I used strawberry jam...)
6. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). 
7. Line and grease a springform tin (used some rectangular pyrex bakeware) then pour the mixture into the prepared tin and for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a skewer inserted into centre of the cake and came out clean. 
8. Once ready, remove from oven and allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto wire rack, and leave to cool completely.
9. Use a skewer stick, poke tiny holes all over the top of the cake. Use a spoon and slowly pour amarula and let it soak into the cake. Make sure the liqueur is evenly spread through the cake and do not over soak it.
10. I sprinkled crushed nuts and very little icing sugar on the top to camouflage the holes. 
11. Add cream cheese and butter into a mixing bowl of a mixer, beat on high speed until creamy. Turn the speed to slow, gradually add the icing sugar a tablespoon at a time until all blended in. Pour amarula cream and give it another quick mix.
12. Ice the cake with the cream cheese frosting, from side first, then the top. Grab a handful of chopped pecans and in a clockwise rotation, stick the nuts onto the side of the cake. Finally decorate the top with whole pecans, and sprinkle pistachio on top.

For some reason I forgot to add in all the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, cinnamon and bicarbonate of soda) and I thinking to myself that the batter is quite watery..lol. Lucky for me that I had pre-measured the flour and while I was taste testing the batter, I saw the bowl that contained the flour. Ha!

I kid you not the batter for this cake is yummy, must be the Amarula!

Let's also pretend the ice-cream is in a perfect ball shaped ^^

To be honest, I don't actually remember how carrot cake taste like usually because I don't usually eat them...