Strawberry Charlotte

It was a friend's birthday and he had asked my for a cake. Well, who am I to deny that wish :)

What you need:

250 g lady's fingers
50 g butter

350 ml milk
2 sachets vanilla sugar
6 egg yolks
100 g sugar
2 sachets gelatine powder (equals 12 leafs, in total)
250 g strawberries (pureed)
125 g raspberries (pureed)
250 g mascarpone
400 g single cream
200 g raspberries
strawberries for decoration

First, cut ca. 1 cm from one side of the lady's fingers. Put the rim of a springform onto a plate and line it with the lady's fingers. Then, crumble the remaining lady's fingers and the cut off pieces and mix them with the melted butter. Fill the mixture into the form and push it gently onto the plate, so that it forms a base for the filling.

Then, cook the milk with the vanilla sugar and a pinch of salt. Meanwhile, mix the egg yolks with the sugar until the mixture gets a light yellow colour. When the milk has cooled down a little pour it very slowly into the egg mixture, while stirring constantly. Then, pour the mixture back into the pot and heat it, stirring constantly, until the mass gets a bit thicker. Meanwhile, soak the gelatine for some minutes. Then, stir the gelatine into the milk and let it dissolve. Then, add the pureed strawberries and raspberries and fold them under. Beat the mascarpone until fluffy and add the milk-mixture to it and stir mix with a spoon. Finally, beat the cream until stiff peak and fold under together with the raspberries. Leave the mixture in the fridge until it starts to jelly.

Then, fill it into the lady's fingers crust. Leave in the fridge for at least three hours. 

Now, feel free to decorate the cake with some strawberries.

Making of: Mascarpone Cream Cake

Can you guess why I like strategy meetings for diverse events to take place at my basement? Right, it makes an exquisite excuse for baking :)

This time we were eight persons only, so it was a 18cm cake 'only' because there was proper food before.

For the chocolate sponge you need:

3 eggs
100 g sugar
50 g ground almonds
50 g flour
25 g corn starch
1 tsp. baking powder
25 g cocoa powder

Preheat the oven to 190°C. Divide the eggs and beat the whites until stiff peak. Then, add the sugar and stir carefully. Do the same with the yolks. Mix all the remaining ingredients in a bowl and add it slowly to the egg mixture. Stir carefully until well combined.
Line the a 18cm baking pan with baking parchment. Only the bottom, not the sides! Fill in the mixture and put the tin into the oven for about 35 minutes. 

When the sponge is done and cooled down, cut it into two slices and soak them with some spoonfuls of amaretto and set it aside.

Now it is time for the mascarpone cream. What you need is:

150 g mascarpone
150 g curd cheese
1 egg
50 g sugar
3 leafs of gelatine (I used the corresponding amount of instant gelatine)

The original recipe requires, 250 g mascarpone, 250 g curd cheese, 4 eggs, 50 g sugar and 3 leafs of gelatine, but
1. There was way too much cream
2. it was too liquid, as you can see on the pictures

So, next time I will do it as stated above (in the 'what you need'-section).

First, mix the cheeses until they form an even mass. Then, add the egg and sugar and mix until well combined. Finally, stir in the no-heat-instant gelatine, or the soaked and dissolved gelatine, and leave in the fridge until beginning to set.

When the mass starts to become firm, spread some of it onto the first cake layer. Position the second layer onto it and cover the whole cake with the remaining cheese cream.

As a finish, decorate the cake with grated chocolate and raspberries.

Making of: Caramel Cheesecake

And yet another go at one of the Cheesecake Factory cheesecakes. This time I baked a small one (18cm), so if you want to bake a 26cm-cake, double the amount of each ingredient.

For the shell you need:

100 g flour
1 tbsp. sugar
50 g butter (cut into chunks)
1 egg
1 sachet vanilla sugar

I actually used some leftovers from another cake. But if you have to do it from scratch, simply put all the ingredients into a bowl and knead them until they form a dough.
Grease and flour a 18cm baking tin, fill in the dough, and flatten it with your hand until the whole bottom is covered.

Put the tin aside and make the filling. You will need:

500 g curd cheese
50 g sugar
1 sachet vanilla sugar
2 eggs
1 sachet caramel custard powder

Put the curd cheese into a bowl and stir it until it forms an even mass. Then, add the sugars, eggs and custard powder, mixing after each ingredient.
Fill the cheese mix into the baking tin. Preheat the oven to 175°C and bake the cake for about 35-50 minutes, checking now and then, whether it is done. If it becomes too dark too soon, cover the cake with a sheet of aluminium foil and go on baking until the cake is done.

Leave the cake to completely cool down. When it is, you can prepare the topping.

Caramel cream topping:
1 sachet caramel no-cooking custard powder (for about 400 ml milk)
300 ml milk
100 ml single cream

Mix everything with the electric mixer, until you get a puddingy mass.

Spread the mass onto the cake and it is ready. If you like, you can decorate the cake with whipped cream. I only sprinkled some minced almonds onto it.

Making of: Walnut Pear Cheesecake

Again people visiting, again it's time for another cheesecake. This time it is a cheesecake filled with pear halves, everything on top of a walnut crust.

What you need:

Crust:
200 g walnuts (you can as well use ground walnuts)
melted butter (about 50 g, maybe a bit more, depending on the nuts)

Cake itself:
100 g butter
100 g sugar
2 eggs
750 g curd cheese
2 heaped tbsp. flour (I mean REALLY heaped)
100 ml single cream

Cream:
200 g honey cream cheese
150 g yoghurt


Making the crust:
Grind the nuts, then mix the ground nuts with the melted butter. The mixture should not be too greasy, but just stick together. Now, position a cake setting ring onto a cake tray. Fill the mass into the ring and press it onto the tray evenly, so that this mass will form the cake base. Let it set, while preparing the cheesecake.

Baking the cake:
Melt the butter and add it to the sugar. Mix until roughly combined and cooled down a little. (This is important because otherwise the eggs might set.) Then, add the eggs and stir again. Add curd cheese and flour, stir again, and finally add the single cream and stir for the final touch :)

Preheat the oven to 175°C, grease and flour a 26cm springform baking tin and fill in the cheese mass. Bake for about 45-60 minutes. If the cake becomes too dark too early, cover the cake with some aluminium, so that it retains its colour while baking until done.
Leave the cake in the form until it is cooled down. When it is cool, carefully remove the springform and position the cake on the walnut base.

Final touch:
Now, mix the honey cream cheese and yoghurt until they form an even mass. When the cheesecake is cooled down completely, remove the cake ring and cover the whole cake with the cream.
If you like, you are free to decorate the cake however you like. I used some walnuts and almonds... as you can see :)