Blueberry Cheesecake

Hi all sorry for the delay in posts. We’ve been on holidays and overall busy..but here is the cheesecake I did make before we went away!

I love blueberries. I’ve stumbled upon this blueberry cheesecake via Goodfood site in the UK.

It’s such a simple recipe and when put together really is a delectable treat! I always get ‘AAhhh’ moments when I bring it out!

Hope you like it as much as I do. Please note you can use whatever is in season ie raspberries, gooseberries..

x

Blueberry Cheesecake

From GoodFood UK

Ingredients

• 300g blueberries
• 100g golden caster sugar
• 200g digestive biscuits
• 100g butter , melted
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 600g soft cheese
• 100g icing sugar
• 300ml pot double cream

1. To make the blueberries, put the sugar and 3 tbsp water in a pan. Cook until dissolved then boil until syrupy. Add the blueberries, cook for a minute or two. You want them to soften but not burst. Tip the blueberries into a sieve over a bowl and cool.
2. Butter the base and sides of a 22cm spring form cake tin then line with baking parchment. To make the base, whizz the biscuits in a processor to crumbs. Mix with the butter then tip them into the prepared tin and press firmly into the base to create an even layer. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
3. Mix the soft cheese, icing sugar and vanilla in a bowl until smooth then tip in the cream and mix until combined (it’s better to use a wooden spoon for this as electric beaters will overwhip the cream). Stir through half the blueberries then spoon onto the base. Smooth the top of the cheesecake. Leave to set in the fridge overnight. Stir the remaining blueberries back into the syrup and chill.
4. Take the cheesecake from the fridge about 30 minutes before serving. Release the tin and remove the paper from the sides. Slide the cake onto a plate leaving the base paper behind. Spoon over the blueberries and syrup before serving.

Peace love Ms Fat Booty Bakes

The Best Carrot Cake Recipe

I love a great carrot cake – but half the time the ones I buy in a cafe are dry and hard. After scouring and testing recipes I found the Bourke Street Bakery recipe to be the BEST!

Bourke Street Bakery in Sydney known for their great bread and baked items have come up with a brilliant take on the carrot cake. There recipe is a bit more involved but sooooo worth it.

I need to get my hands on their Book and devour those other delicacies they have in store!

Enjoy the recipe the little trick is beating the egg whites to soft peaks so that the top of the cake becomes a beautiful  delicate merengue like texture! Dont worry if the top of the cake breaks a bit that’s how it should be. Also roast the walnuts as it enhances the flavour even more!

Carrot cake

• 70g of roasted walnuts –
• 150g of self -raising flour
• 1/8 tsp of baking powder
• 1/8tsp of bicarbonate soda
• 1/4tsp of ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp of ground cloves
• 1/8 tsp of nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp f salt
• 55ml or approx. 2 egg whites
• 60g sugar for 2 egg whites
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 160g of sugar for egg yolks
• 170ml of extra light virgin oil
• 125g of carrots, peeled and grated

Cream cheese frosting

• 20g of icing sugar and some extra for dusting
• 20g of butter, softened
• 145g of cream cheese
• 40-50ml of pouring cream ( I used 50ml)

Method:

1. Preheat over to 200C and grease and line a 18cm (7inch) cake tin
2. Chop the walnuts into big chucks. Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate soda, spices and salt into a bowl. Make sure they are mixed through
3. Beat the egg whites on high until soft peaks form. Slowly pour the sugar for the egg whites. Do not over beat. The meringue should reach soft peak stage. Transfer and set aside
4. Put the egg and egg yolk and add sugar for yolks. Mix on high for 3 – 4 minutes or until mixture doubles or quite airy. With motor running, pour in the oil in a thin stream and becareful that it does not spilt or deflat too much
5. Remove the bowl and gently fold in the flour until combine. Then fold in hazel nuts/ walnuts and carrots. Quickly and gently fold in meringue. Do not need to fold in completely. It is ok to see white ribbons through the mix
6. Pour into prepared tin and bake for 1 hour 10 minutes (I checked after an hour and it was ready) or until skewer inserted into center of the cake comes out clean. You may need to drop temperature down to 180 after 30mins if the top is browning too quickly. (I forgot and waited till 40mins so the top was slightly more brown. Must remember this step!)
7. To make the cream frosting – Cream the icing sugar and butter until pale and smooth. Add the cream cheese in slowly until all are in-corporated
8. Scrape down the sides to make sure all is mixed thoroughly. Add the cream and mix until smooth. Do not over mix or it may curdle and separate. Frosting must be not runny
9. Remove the cake and allow it to cook in the tin for about 30mins before turning out to be cooled completely. Slice the cake horizontally to form 2 evenly sized layers. Fill with cream frosting.
10. Dust the top of the cake with icing sugar and serve

Fig Tart

I am a big believer in fresh, seasonal produce. I always base my dishes on what’s in season. At my local fruit shop there were a large punnet of figs on sale – so I bought them and made a lovely fig tart that I had wanted to make 5 months ago but could not find figs anywhere!

Figs are extremely nutritious high in iron, calcium, and potassium. Well here is my fig secret : traditionally they are also meant to help with sexual weakness   ::not that Ms Fat Booty Needs Help With That:: The remedy requires one to soak about two to three figs in milk overnight and eat the same next morning. So who wants a fig now!!!

Oh yeah back to my tart…..The recipe below is from The Gumnut Patisserie which has won 44 medals at the Sydney Easter Show. This tart is a sell out at their Patisserie however if you can’t make it to Bowral this is as close as it gets.

Peace n Bakes Miss Fat Booty.

Ingredients

10 figs, cut into wedges (alternatively, use 250g strawberries, cut in half)

Sweet dough
110g butter, softened
110g caster sugar
1 egg
240g flour
2.5g baking powder
Vanilla bean (optional)

Clafoutis mix
2 eggs
35g caster sugar
165ml pouring cream
½ tbsp kirsch

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 190°C.

To make the sweet dough, combine the butter and sugar together in a mixer. Add the egg, and scrape down the sides. Add the dry ingredients and again scrape down the sides. Rest for 1 hour.

Roll out the dough, remembering to roll in different directions with your rolling pin. Carefully lay the pastry over a pastry ring, 20cm x 2cm, on a lined, flat baking tray, ensuring there are no cracks or holes in the pastry. If there are cracks, lightly bake the case blind for five minutes with baking beans. Egg wash the case and bake without the beans for a further 2 minutes.

For the clafoutis mix, crack the eggs into a bowl. Whisk in the caster sugar, followed by the cream and kirsch. Line the tart base with fresh figs, cut side up.

Pour over the clafoutis mix. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the clafoutis mix is just set.

A Date with Sticky

I tried my first Sticky Date Pudding in London a few years back and since have been pretty hooked. It has all my favorite ingredients in one sitting..dates, vanilla, brown sugar…you know what I’m talking about! I’m not too fond of dates on their own but for some reason when they are cooked in a cake I go crazy for them!!

The traditional recipe is for it to be steamed but when I’m in a rush for **a date**I bake this version – muffin style! Enjoy

Sticky Date Cake

De-seeded dry dates- 135 gms

Water- 156ml

Baking soda- 1/2 tsp

Butter- 30 gms

Egg- 1

Good quality vanilla extract- 1/2 tsp

Self- raising flour- 94 gms

Firmly packed dark brown sugar- 75 gms

Slice the dates into smaller chunks and place in a saucepan with water, over high heat.

When it comes to a boil, add the baking soda and butter and remove from heat.

Stir and set it aside to cool lightly. In this time the butter will melt. Stir again in between if necessary.

In the mean time, mix together the self-raising flour and brown sugar-making sure there are no lumps.

When the date mixture has lightly cooled, use a potato masher or the back of a fork to break up the mix or even better use a food processor and pulse a few times to get a chunky mix. It is OK to have a few bite size chunks remaining. Its a pleasure to bite into those.

Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat till well mixed.

Add this date mixture to the flour and sugar mix and fold the ingredients together until just combined and you don’t see traces of flour.

Place 6 muffin cases in a muffin pan and pour the batter till 3/4th full.

Place in the middle rack of an oven preheated at 180C and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or till a tooth pick comes out clean.

Take the muffin tray out and let it cool for 5 minutes before transferring it on to a wire rack.

Store in a cool dry place or in an air tight container, if making it a day ahead. I left it in the oven itself overnight and it was just fine. But do this, only if its made a day in advance.

Butterscotch Sauce

Double cream- 3.25 oz/ 93 ml

Firmly packed brown sugar- 83 gms

Butter- 75 gms

Vanilla extract- 1/4 tsp

Lime juice- 1 tsp (optional)

Mix all these ingredients together in a saucepan and place over medium heat, mixing well till its all melted and then stirring continuously on low heat, till the sauce thickens.

Keep aside to cool lightly and if the sauce thickens before serving, place it back on fire and heat till it becomes a bit loose.

Assembling:

Place all the muffins in a deep dish and using a skewer or toothpick pierce them in a few places, right to the bottom.

Pour the warm butterscotch sauce over the pudding making sure they seep right through the holes to the bottom making it super duper moist.

Serve with vanilla ice cream drizzled with the remaining butterscotch sauce.

I am a French Tarte…Tatin that is.

Caramelized Apple Tart, one of my favorite comfort foods. It’s quick easy and always gets a ‘wow’ when served. Granny Smiths or Fuji Apples are preferred, however I say any apple is good if its caramelized!

Legend has it that Stephanie Tatin, a proprietor in a provincial hotel in France,  left her apples on the stove too long for a pie (sounds like me).  Realizing her mistake by the smell of the burning apples she quickly threw pastry over it and tried to rectify the situation and bake the pie anyway.
Lo and Behold the Apple Tartin was born!

Few Tips:

Gordon Ramsay says to peel the apples the night before and leave it uncovered in the fridge to dry out.

Julia Childs adds cinnamon whereas Jamie Oliver suggests vanilla, and well, I used both!

Enjoy making this one.

Caramelized Apple Tart

by David Lebovitz

This is my “diet” version of the classic tarte Tatin, an open-faced tart of caramelized apples on a very thin sheet of flaky pastry.

¾ cup (110 g) flour

¼ tsp salt

1 ½ tsp sugar

2 tbsp (30 g) unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch (2-cm) cubes and chilled

3 tbsp (45 ml) ice-cold water

8 firm, tart baking apples

Juice of half a lemon

1 tbsp (15 g) butter

½ cup (120 g) packed dark brown sugar

Combine flour, salt and sugar in food processor or standing mixer. Add butter and mix until butter is in pea-sized chunks. Stir in water and mix just until dough holds together. Shape into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap. (Dough can be made up to 3 days before using.)

Quarter, peel and core apples. Toss in bowl with lemon juice and set aside. Melt butter in 10-inch (25-cm) cast-iron skillet. Stir in brown sugar and remove from heat. Arrange apple quarters in pan rounded side down, tightly packing them in overlapping concentric circles. (Really cram them in. They’ll cook down, so don’t worry.) Cook over medium heat 20-25 min. Do not move or stir apples while cooking, but gently press them down with a spatula as they soften.

While apples are cooking, preheat oven to 400°F (200°C). Roll dough on lightly floured surface into a 12-inch (30-cm) circle. Drape dough over apples, tucking in the edges, and bake tart on upper rack of oven until golden brown, 35-40 min.

Remove from oven and invert a baking sheet over tart. Carefully flip both skillet and baking sheet simultaneously. Lift off skillet, loosen any apples that may have stuck, and reunite them with the tart.

Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or crème fraîche.