Mars Cheesecake

A recipe from one of my cook books. I love Mars bars. I had to try it. It was for New Year's Eve. And since I have finished it in the hosts kitchen and some guests were already there, there is no picture of the finished cake... :(

What you need is:

• a crust
• the filling
• the topping

For the crust you need:

200 g cookies
130 g butter melted

I used some oreo cookies and added zwieback until I reached the 200 g. Stir in the melted butter and fill a lined spring form (26cm) with it. Refrigerate until set, about half an hour.

 

Here with a dollop of filling, already :)









For the filling you need:

800 g curd cheese
120 g sugar
3 eggs
135 g melted Mars bars (melt carefully in a double boiler)

Beat the cream cheese until fluffy, then add sugar and eggs and beat until blended.

Fill half the mass into the spring form, onto the crust.

 

 

Spoon the Mars bar mass in dollops onto the cream cheese mass and make swirls with a chop stick.

Cover with the remaining cream cheese mass. Swirl again. Then, bake on 180°C for about 40 minutes.

For the topping you need:

25 ml milk
90 g Mars bars

Place the milk and the Mars bars into a small pot and heat and stir until the bars are melted. Decorate the cake with the liquid Mars bars.

For cheese cake lovers as well as Mars bar lovers :)

Macadamia Matcha Cupcakes

Do you know the feeling of seeing one special ingredient and instantly having the urge of baking something with it? Yeah, well, I had that... with matcha.

So, I searched for cupcake recipes with matcha cream on top. Finally, I mixed several recipes and came up with this one:

For the cupcakes you need:

1 cup flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup oil (canola)

1 egg

1 tbsp. macadamia syrup

1/2 cup sour cream

Mix all the dry ingredients, then one by one add the wet ingredients. Stir after each until blended. Pour the batter into muffin caps or a muffin tray. Bake on 180°C for about 15 minutes.

When the cakes are cooled down completely, prepare the matcha cream. 

You need:

1 1/4 cups confectioner's sugar

2 tsp. matcha

3 oz. cream cheese

2 tbsp. butter (softened)

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Mix butter, cream cheese and vanilla extract until combined. Then add matcha and sugar. Mix until blended well. 

Now, fill a pastry bag with the cream and decorate your cupcakes. I used a star tip and piped swirls, starting in the middle. So, the swirls are very flat and look a bit rose-like.

Finally, I strew some sprinkles onto the cupcakes.

Next time, I will use less or no macadamia syrup because I think it somehow disturbed the matcha taste of the cream. Nevertheless, each on its own was yummie :) Cake and cream.

Irish Soda Bread

You would like to make bread on your own, but do not have that much time for making a yeast dough? Well, why not try Irish soda bread?

What you need is:

4 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
3 tbsp. sugar
1/2 stick butter
1 egg
1 1/2 cups buttermilk

 

Ok, the following steps are really easy. Mix all the dry ingredients. Rub in the butter (you can mix it in as well). Add egg and buttermilk and mix until combined. Place the dough into a greased and floured baking pan (about 24 cm). Bake on 200°C for 15 minutes, reduce heat to 175°C and go on baking for another 40 minutes. Leave it to cool down.

 

It tastes better when cooled down completely, preferably the next day :)  It is sooo yummie with any kind of jam!