Melbourne Central used to house the Japanese department store Daimaru. It was an upmarket sort of place with a whole section of the toy department devoted to Hello Kitty and elsewhere designer t-shirt sold for $200. I once had a present gift wrapped and I marveled at the intricate folding that went into it all. I left the gift wrapping room with a handsome package printed with the trademark green and white logo and I thought for a moment I should keep it for myself.
Whilst working in the Melbourne Central Tower and during farewells/birthdays/project manager-feeling-generous, we used to be given free reign to purchase cakes from Daimaru. The flourless cakes were always a favourite, and now flourlessness in cakes will always remind me of Daimaru.
I always liked the almond flavouring and moistness of a flourless cake. It's more robust than a sponge but not as dense as a mud cake. It doesn't need a thick coating of often discarded cream topping or icing to make it look and taste delicious.
Sadly, in 2002 after a decade of trading and never turning a profit Daimaru closed its doors. I guess it was a little too upmarket considering those door buster/$50-TV sales still existed just up the road at Myer. Now I only partake in flourless cakes by the slice at cafes and restaurants with fond remembrance of Daimaru.
These days the whole configuration of Melbourne Central is different. The majority of the white foyer of the office towers is now replaced by eateries and the curve that was once the entrance into Daimaru has been demolished but it was set back so deeply that it was located somewhere inside one of the numerous cafes that now exist on Elizabeth street.
To those who remember and to those who only ever knew the era of Max Brenner around the corner, a recipe of nostalgia and of just yumminess.
http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/14822/flourless+orange+cake
Though my oven is pretty reliable, I had to bake it for an extra 30 minutes for the skewer test to return clean.
I used icing sugar instead of the syrup as I thought it would keep better on its own.
Showing posts with label baking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label baking. Show all posts
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Sunday, July 13, 2008
New York cheesecake
A few of my friends say that the Deli Hall at the Queen Victoria Market is not what it used to be, which I guess is true for many of our personal mainstays that change over time. I still like it immensely, for the grey drabness hiding culinary deliciousness, its smells and the throng of foodies and tourists lingering at each step. I also like the cool marble counters and the hole in the wall feel of all the stalls, opening up with charming sash windows with shop owners peeking out through hanging salamis. These days there are a lot more take away outlets but there are still enough cheese and preserved meats to steer your tastes back.
My favourite stall is the cake shop at the entrance, just off Thierry st. Occupying the corner allotment, you cannot help get snagged by the biscuits and cakes lining the window display and this is where I first had a slice of New York cheesecake.
To me, a New York cheesecake is a cut-to-the-chase, thunder thigh inducing gobblefest. It consists of full cream everything without fruits or other fussiness taking up the slack, because there is no slack - it is relentless in its fat content and that's what makes you 'snap into a fetal position, crying out for more' (to paraphrase Woody Allen). Clogging creaminess with a slight tang is what it is.
As I read through different recipes, there seemed to be a lot of variation: prebake the base, don't prebake, use 6 eggs, use 4 eggs, tips on preventing cracking, water baths, it seemed a little more challenging than I had first assumed. However there did seem to be consensus that all ingredients need to be at room temperature and the mixture should not be aerated too much to prevent it rising and then sinking due to the lack of raising agent in the recipe.
So with tips jotted all over my chosen recipe I gave it a go the other day. After my failed warm- in-the-hands experiment with the butter for the choc chip cookie recipe, I tried to be good: I left the ingredients on the bench for 2 hours. However it was still not long enough for the kilogram of cream cheese but I proceeded anyway. My little electric beater heaved and protested through the glug of cream cheese and sugar. The mixture got all got caught up in my beaters and churned the motor painfully as cheese flecks landed on my clothes. I switched to a wooden spoon and vowed that I will let the blocks of cream cheese warm to the point of fungal blooms the next time around. Afterwards when it did become softer and easier to manage I used the beaters to incorporate the milk but then obediently switched over to wooden spoon for the rest of the ingredients to prevent overly aerating the mixture.
Then came the long wait. 1 hour of baking followed by 5 hours in the oven to cool down gradually then a couple of hours chilling in the fridge. A long haul dessert it is.
It was certainly worth the wait. The cake did not crack, it was creamy and smooth and though the hot water in the bath leaked slightly into the springform pan, a slice sent me falling all over the place, literally. Had you been a fly on the wall, I may have used you to support myself as I went through some over the top throes of oohing and ahhing. Seriously though, even if disaster strikes and fault lines forms on your cake or it sinks, we are talking about cream cheese with sugar, a concept that is delicious in any form. Grab a spoon and tuck in.
This recipe has been adapted from
Chantel's New York Cheesecake recipe.
Ingredients
16 McVities Digestive biscuits, crushed* (or Graham crackers)
40g butter, melted
900g cream cheese (full cream), softened
300g white sugar
180ml full cream milk
4 eggs
230g sour cream
15ml vanilla extract
30g plain flour
Method
1. Preheat oven 175C. Grease a 22cm springform pan and wrap base with a few layers of aluminum foil.
2. In a medium bowl, mix biscuit crumbs with the melted butter. Press firmly onto the bottom of the pan to ensure crust is compacted. Use a spoon to compact crumbs around the edge of the pan.
3. In a large bowl, mix cream cheese with sugar using an electric mixer or beater on a low setting until smooth. Blend in milk.
4. Mix in eggs, one at a time, mixing with a wooden spoon just enough to incorporate. Mix in sour cream, vanilla and flour until smooth. Pour into pan.
5. Place pan in 2 cm hot water bath and bake for 1 hr.
6. Turn off oven and let cake cool in oven with door closed for 5-6 hours. Chill in fridge until serving.
* Making biscuit crumbs - break biscuits into smaller pieces and Pulse in short bursts in a blender until biscuits resemble coarse crumbs. There will be a few larger pieces which can be crushed with a fork.
A sad footnote. I seem to be allergic to this cheesecake. I always had an aversion to dairy products but after two serves over a few days, I rashed up all over. It could have been something else as I am one of those dorks with strange food allergies but not to risk it, I have given away a wedge to my neighbour and continue to give it away, only allowing myself a few pathetic licks of the cake server when all is done.
My favourite stall is the cake shop at the entrance, just off Thierry st. Occupying the corner allotment, you cannot help get snagged by the biscuits and cakes lining the window display and this is where I first had a slice of New York cheesecake.
To me, a New York cheesecake is a cut-to-the-chase, thunder thigh inducing gobblefest. It consists of full cream everything without fruits or other fussiness taking up the slack, because there is no slack - it is relentless in its fat content and that's what makes you 'snap into a fetal position, crying out for more' (to paraphrase Woody Allen). Clogging creaminess with a slight tang is what it is.
As I read through different recipes, there seemed to be a lot of variation: prebake the base, don't prebake, use 6 eggs, use 4 eggs, tips on preventing cracking, water baths, it seemed a little more challenging than I had first assumed. However there did seem to be consensus that all ingredients need to be at room temperature and the mixture should not be aerated too much to prevent it rising and then sinking due to the lack of raising agent in the recipe.
So with tips jotted all over my chosen recipe I gave it a go the other day. After my failed warm- in-the-hands experiment with the butter for the choc chip cookie recipe, I tried to be good: I left the ingredients on the bench for 2 hours. However it was still not long enough for the kilogram of cream cheese but I proceeded anyway. My little electric beater heaved and protested through the glug of cream cheese and sugar. The mixture got all got caught up in my beaters and churned the motor painfully as cheese flecks landed on my clothes. I switched to a wooden spoon and vowed that I will let the blocks of cream cheese warm to the point of fungal blooms the next time around. Afterwards when it did become softer and easier to manage I used the beaters to incorporate the milk but then obediently switched over to wooden spoon for the rest of the ingredients to prevent overly aerating the mixture.
Then came the long wait. 1 hour of baking followed by 5 hours in the oven to cool down gradually then a couple of hours chilling in the fridge. A long haul dessert it is.
It was certainly worth the wait. The cake did not crack, it was creamy and smooth and though the hot water in the bath leaked slightly into the springform pan, a slice sent me falling all over the place, literally. Had you been a fly on the wall, I may have used you to support myself as I went through some over the top throes of oohing and ahhing. Seriously though, even if disaster strikes and fault lines forms on your cake or it sinks, we are talking about cream cheese with sugar, a concept that is delicious in any form. Grab a spoon and tuck in.
This recipe has been adapted from
Chantel's New York Cheesecake recipe.
Ingredients
16 McVities Digestive biscuits, crushed* (or Graham crackers)
40g butter, melted
900g cream cheese (full cream), softened
300g white sugar
180ml full cream milk
4 eggs
230g sour cream
15ml vanilla extract
30g plain flour
Method
1. Preheat oven 175C. Grease a 22cm springform pan and wrap base with a few layers of aluminum foil.
2. In a medium bowl, mix biscuit crumbs with the melted butter. Press firmly onto the bottom of the pan to ensure crust is compacted. Use a spoon to compact crumbs around the edge of the pan.
3. In a large bowl, mix cream cheese with sugar using an electric mixer or beater on a low setting until smooth. Blend in milk.
4. Mix in eggs, one at a time, mixing with a wooden spoon just enough to incorporate. Mix in sour cream, vanilla and flour until smooth. Pour into pan.
5. Place pan in 2 cm hot water bath and bake for 1 hr.
6. Turn off oven and let cake cool in oven with door closed for 5-6 hours. Chill in fridge until serving.
* Making biscuit crumbs - break biscuits into smaller pieces and Pulse in short bursts in a blender until biscuits resemble coarse crumbs. There will be a few larger pieces which can be crushed with a fork.
A sad footnote. I seem to be allergic to this cheesecake. I always had an aversion to dairy products but after two serves over a few days, I rashed up all over. It could have been something else as I am one of those dorks with strange food allergies but not to risk it, I have given away a wedge to my neighbour and continue to give it away, only allowing myself a few pathetic licks of the cake server when all is done.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
What's this trap door thing again? A foray into baked goods.
After an email from MJ who discussed intentions to bake Mrs Fields style choc chip cookies I got a craving to do the same. Well actually I got a craving to just go over there and eat them.
I am not much of a Kitchen anything, instead relying on the efficiencies of various appliances to heat up food and clean up the mess afterward. The closest thing to making food from scratch is beef koftas or tacos or other meals that require 500g minced beef, loads of spices and a hot frying pan.
Of course it's all my parents' fault. They were the ones who insisted I studied hard whilst they cooked all our meals. The smell of garlic in hot oil and the sounds of wok and wok charn clattering away busily are motifs of my childhood.
Later as my mum suddenly realised that time had passed so quickly and I was now of marrying age she told me to stand by her and the stove so that I may absorb some good housewife skills. Unfortunately I yawned and dreamed of real estate and stocks instead. My loss indeed.
When I moved out of home mum gave me a 30 years old brand new National brand rice cooker with matching HK-Australia power adaptor. She also gave me 25 identical china cake dishes which she had hoarded over the years. Both gifts have been very useful.
These days it is my good fortune to still enjoy mum's meals, occasionally appearing on my front veranda in air tight containers and encased in 2 plastic shopping bags. The last time I nearly missed it sitting on my little veranda seat away from the front door 'so that the ants near the front door I saw last time I visited don't get to it'. Inside were 3 serves of fried noodles with beef and snowpeas.
Lately, I have been visiting her one night a week for a meal and I have even started jotting down recipes with seasonings relayed from years of experience as 'add salt so it tastes a little salty'. Seeing me take interest at long last she replies that there is really no need to write it down, 'I make for you'. Without saying so much, in my family and many others, food is the way love is expressed to children. End Amy Tan moment.
A few months ago, after putting up with the late 80's oven, the stove top, range hood and oven were upgraded. The main reason was that pizzas took way too long to cook due to the crazy whims of the oven thermostat only ever having one setting of 'Lukewarm'.
Having spent a small fortune buying and installing it all so that pizzas could be timely, I thought it was time to use the oven to cook things, rather than to reheat things. I made a roast for the first time and that turned out great and roast potatoes tossed beforehand in olive oil, rosemary and salt are also replacing supermarket bought sacks of oven fries.
I had a free afternoon today and with MJ's baked goods in my mind, I tried my hand at a googled choc chip cookie recipe. The first step of beating the butter and sugars together had the butter pieces flying about a little because my definition of softened butter was sitting it on the table for 2 minutes followed by holding the pack in my warm hands for 30 seconds. After a while it did in fact become 'pale and creamy' and I was delighted by the amount of choc chips the recipe allowed.
The fan forceness of the oven worked well with two levels of cookies on the go and afterwards I scoffed down 3 of the misshapened ones and they were quite moist and downright delicious.
http://www.exclusivelyfood.com.au/2007/11/chocolate-chip-cookie-recipe_24.html
I am not much of a Kitchen anything, instead relying on the efficiencies of various appliances to heat up food and clean up the mess afterward. The closest thing to making food from scratch is beef koftas or tacos or other meals that require 500g minced beef, loads of spices and a hot frying pan.
Of course it's all my parents' fault. They were the ones who insisted I studied hard whilst they cooked all our meals. The smell of garlic in hot oil and the sounds of wok and wok charn clattering away busily are motifs of my childhood.
Later as my mum suddenly realised that time had passed so quickly and I was now of marrying age she told me to stand by her and the stove so that I may absorb some good housewife skills. Unfortunately I yawned and dreamed of real estate and stocks instead. My loss indeed.
When I moved out of home mum gave me a 30 years old brand new National brand rice cooker with matching HK-Australia power adaptor. She also gave me 25 identical china cake dishes which she had hoarded over the years. Both gifts have been very useful.
These days it is my good fortune to still enjoy mum's meals, occasionally appearing on my front veranda in air tight containers and encased in 2 plastic shopping bags. The last time I nearly missed it sitting on my little veranda seat away from the front door 'so that the ants near the front door I saw last time I visited don't get to it'. Inside were 3 serves of fried noodles with beef and snowpeas.
Lately, I have been visiting her one night a week for a meal and I have even started jotting down recipes with seasonings relayed from years of experience as 'add salt so it tastes a little salty'. Seeing me take interest at long last she replies that there is really no need to write it down, 'I make for you'. Without saying so much, in my family and many others, food is the way love is expressed to children. End Amy Tan moment.
A few months ago, after putting up with the late 80's oven, the stove top, range hood and oven were upgraded. The main reason was that pizzas took way too long to cook due to the crazy whims of the oven thermostat only ever having one setting of 'Lukewarm'.
Having spent a small fortune buying and installing it all so that pizzas could be timely, I thought it was time to use the oven to cook things, rather than to reheat things. I made a roast for the first time and that turned out great and roast potatoes tossed beforehand in olive oil, rosemary and salt are also replacing supermarket bought sacks of oven fries.
I had a free afternoon today and with MJ's baked goods in my mind, I tried my hand at a googled choc chip cookie recipe. The first step of beating the butter and sugars together had the butter pieces flying about a little because my definition of softened butter was sitting it on the table for 2 minutes followed by holding the pack in my warm hands for 30 seconds. After a while it did in fact become 'pale and creamy' and I was delighted by the amount of choc chips the recipe allowed.
The fan forceness of the oven worked well with two levels of cookies on the go and afterwards I scoffed down 3 of the misshapened ones and they were quite moist and downright delicious.
http://www.exclusivelyfood.com.au/2007/11/chocolate-chip-cookie-recipe_24.html
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