Mary Berry Lemon Cheesecake

Last week I had a craving for cheesecake. A lemon cheesecake to be precise. I remember watching Mary Berry demonstrate this cheesecake so I decided to look up the recipe. It's a really simple no bake recipe which took all of 10 minutes to put together. The longest wait is for the cheesecake to firm up and we were too impatient so it was still a little soft when we first tried it. It firmed up nicely in the fridge for the next day. I used Hobnobs for the base instead of ginger biscuits as I'm not a fan of ginger and used different berries to decorate. The result was divine. It's a really creamy, rich, lemony cheesecake and I loved the crunch of the hobnob base. This would be great for a dinner party and will be sure to impress.

 cheesecake base on left, cheese filling on right 

 I just couldn't wait for the cheesecake to set properly so it's a little soft but it tasted divine! 

Recipe is available on Mary Berry online

I made a few minor changes listed below

I used a large cake tin 23cm which resulted in a very flat cheesecake, I'd recommend using a 18cm or less cake tin.

200g hobnob biscuits, crushed
100g butter, melted
500g mascarpone cheese
325g jar luxury lemon curd
Juice of 1 small lemon
Fresh strawberries and blueberries, to decorate
Icing sugar, to dust

• Place the biscuits in a ziplock bag, seal and bash with a rolling pin.
• Melt the butter in a microwave.
• Add the melted butter to the biscuits and mix well.
• Press firmly into the base of your cake tin making sure not to go up the edges.
• In a large bowl, mix the mascarpone cheese, lemon curd and lemon juice until smooth.
• Pour over the biscuit base and smooth the top with a spatula.
• Chill in the fridge for 4 hours but preferably overnight.
• Decorate with fresh berries and a sprinkling of icing sugar before serving. 

Banana and Berry Loaf

Apologies for the long absence, September has been a really busy month as I was away celebrating my birthday and moving house in between! I then got a bad chest infection/sore throat which meant no unpacking, no baking or blogging! Anyway I am just about back on my feet so I thought I'd share this recipe with you quickly. I baked this back in August before moving house as I had leftover ingredients to use up. It's a really quick and simple bake and tastes amazing!! I really loved the chocolate chunks with the berries and bananas. 

I'm sending this to the No Waste Food Challenge run by Elizabeth from Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary. This month it's guest hosted by Mireille from Chef Mireille's East West Realm. I used up leftover fruit and half a bag of chocolate chunks for this recipe.

Similarly it's suitable for Credit Crunch Munch hosted by Sarah from Maison Cupcake for Helen and Camilla.

It's also perfect for the Vegetable Palette hosted by Shaheen from Allotment 2 Kitchen. The September challenge is purple and blues. The blueberries are blue but they look purple after baking! 

Finally to Four Seasons Food hosted by Louisa from Eat Your Veg and co hosted by Anneli from Delicieux. The theme this month is "getting fruity" and there's plenty of fruit in this!

 I like adding chunks of banana rather than completely mashing them up 

 adding sour cream 

 lovely fresh berries 

 leatherwood honey - a really fragrant solid honey from Australia 

 chocolate chunks for extra indulgence

 

An original recipe by bakingaddict 

220g flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
115g brown sugar
1 tablespoon Leatherwood honey
80mls vegetable oil
2 eggs
125mls sour cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 bananas, cut into large chunks
blueberries,raspberries and a handful of chocolate chunks (I forgot to weigh the berries but just throw in what you have)

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Whisk the sugar and vegetable oil together then add in the eggs and continue whisking. 
• Stir in the mashed bananas followed by the sour cream .
• Gently fold in the berries by hand.
• Add the flour and baking powder to the mixture.
• Stir in the honey.
• Mix briefly being sure not to overmix.
• Finally stir in the chocolate chunks and pour into a loaf tin. 
• Bake for approximately 50minutes - 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Check at 45 minutes as you will need to cover the top with foil if it's too brown. 

Summer Berry Cake

I baked this cake last week for a birthday at work. It was so good I made the same cake again at the weekend and it's all gone! It's a vanilla sponge cake filled with fresh berries topped with creme fraiche and more fresh berries. The birthday girl wanted something with fresh fruit so I loaded the cake with lots of it! I used fresh strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries.  The sponge was really light and moist and the vanilla flavour really lifts the fruits. Everyone enjoyed the creme fraiche topping which was flavoured with ground vanilla beans as it was lighter than cream and helped cut through the sweetness of the cake and fruit. 

As fresh berries are still in season, I'm entering this to Simple and in Season hosted this month by Elizabeth from Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary for Ren from RenBehan.com.

I'm also sending this to Celebration Cakes & Bakes hosted by Mummy Makes Cakes as this was made for a birthday celebration and it's perfect for any celebration. 

And to Bake of the Week run by Casa Costello which is guest hosted by Kirsty from Hijacked By Twins. 

And to Recipe of the Week hosted by Emily from A Mummy Too.

I think it will also fit in with with month's Tea Time Treats hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage and co hosted by Jane from Hedgecombers. The theme this month is Picnic Food and Picnic Treats. When I think of picnics, I think of summer and this cake definitely screams summer! 

 adding vanilla bean paste and vanilla extract 

 toss the berries in flour 

 press a few fresh berries on top

 ground vanilla beans in the creme fraiche

 fresh from the oven - you can clearly see the berries

 add a layer or sweetened vanilla creme fraiche

 top with fresh summer berries

 add a sprinkling of vanilla dusting sugar 

 I love how you can still see the berries inside the sponge 

I used my usual weigh your egg method for the sponge - use the same weight for your butter, sugar and flour

For the cake

4 large eggs = 266g in weight 

266g butter

266g caster sugar

266g self raising flour

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

60mls milk

366g fresh summer berries tossed in 2 tablespoons of flour

For the topping

300mls creme fraiche

ground vanilla beans

2 tablespoons icing sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

selection of fresh berries

• Preheat the oven to 180C. 
• Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. 
• Add in the eggs, one at at time, mixing well between each addition. 
• Add in the vanilla bean paste and vanilla extract.
• Add in the flour and then the milk. 
• Toss the berries in 2 tablespoons of flour and stir them into the cake mixture by hand. Set aside a small handful of berries. 
• Pour the batter into a 23cm cake tin. Press the reserved berries into the cake before baking. 
• Bake for approximately 45 - 50 minutes or until it's golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. It's a large cake so may even need an hour to cook!
• Allow the cake to cool completely before decorating. 
• Use a vanilla bean grinder to grind vanilla beans into the creme fraiche. 
• Add in 2 tablespoons of icing sugar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.
• Spread the creme fraiche on top of the cake.
• Pile lots of fresh berries on top. 
• Sprinkle with vanilla dusting sugar or plain icing sugar. 

Browned butter, Yuzu and blueberry madeleines

Yuzu is a citrus fruit originating in East Asia. It is commonly used in Japan and has a tart citrus flavour similar to a grapefruit. I've tried yuzu sorbet previously in Japanese restaurants and really liked it. I've never tried cooking or baking with it so when Yutaka asked if I wanted to review their Yuzu citrus seasoning I thought why not?

I looked online for recipe inspirations and there were lots to choose from. It's commonly used to make sorbets, creme brulee and cakes and also as a salad dressing or in savoury dishes. I shortlisted a few recipes and then decided to create my own. The inspiration came from my favourite combination of lemon and blueberry. I spotted my madeleine tin under the table which has been neglected for a while hence these yuzu and blueberry madeleines. I remember attending a French glace cherries masterclass where we used browned butter to make financiers which I thought would work well with these so I gave it a go. The results were surprisingly good. The browned butter added lovely flecks of browned butter to the madeleines and gave a nice, slightly nutty flavour. The yuzu complemented the blueberries well and the madeleines tasted light and refreshing.

It's almost impossible to get fresh yuzu fruit in the UK so this yuzu seasoning is a great alternative. It has a lovely aroma to it and is beautifully presented in a little bottle. It comes with a little recipe booklet and there are a few other recipes on their website. 

 

 browned butter 

 you can see the flecks from the browned butter 

 add 4 bluberries per madeleine 

 dust with icing sugar before serving 

 

An original recipe by bakingaddict

Makes 20

2 eggs
100g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
100g caster sugar
100g butter
2 tablespoons yuzu seasoning
80 blueberries

• Preheat the oven to 160C.
• Place the butter in a saucepan and heat gently until brown.
• Leave to cool slightly.
• In a bowl, mix the eggs, flour, baking powder and caster sugar until smooth.
• Stir in the yuzu seasoning (you can add more to taste).
• Finally add in the browned butter.
• Fill a madeleine tray about 2/3 full with the batter.
• Place 4 blueberries in each madeleine.
• Bake for about 8-10 minutes until it's golden brown. 
• Allow to cool in the tin for a few minutes before placing on a wire rack to cool completely. 
• Dust with icing sugar before serving. 

Disclaimer: I was sent a bottle of yuzu citrus seasoning for review purposes. I was not required to write a positive review and all opinions are my own. This is not a paid post. 

Zesty Lemon and Summer Fruit Roulade

This Spring Dr. Oetker has teamed up with Kimberley Wilson as part of the Even Better Baking Team to create an exclusive and delicious low fat Zesty Lemon and Summer fruit Roulade recipe. It's a light and refreshing cake which is fairly healthy and quite simple to make.  The full recipe and instructions can be viewed in the video below.

One of my colleagues said that this is her second favourite cake that I've ever baked, the first being Nigella's Olive Oil Cake. I have to say it barely lasted an hour as it was wolfed down with gusto and I have no doubt that I will be making this again. I've not made many swiss rolls but was excited to use my new swiss roll tin which worked beautifully. I actually made this recipe twice as the first was a bit disastrous. You need to be patient and whisk the eggs and sugar for at least 5 minutes - I was in too much of a hurry the first time and it didn't turn out well. 

This is my first time using the Dr Oetker Sicilian Lemon Natural Extract and I was pleasantly surprised. It smells like fresh lemons and just 1/2 teaspoon as stated in the recipe is enough to give a deep lemon flavour. The sponge was light and lemony and the yoghurt berry filling was absolutely delicious. The lemon curd worked really well with the yoghurt and berries and is definitely an idea I will be repeating for future bakes. 

 

 whisk the eggs and sugar until the 'ribbon stage' 

 filling my swiss roll tin 

 fresh from the oven 

 stir lemon curd into the yoghurt 

 spread lemon curd/yoghurt over the cake and sprinkle chopped berries on top 

 zesty lemon and summer fruit roulade 

Disclaimer: I was sent Dr Oetker products used in this recipe by Dr Oetker. A positive review was not required and all opinions are my own.