White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake

Amor, thy name is cheesecake. You’re so bad, you’re good. You can be temperamental. I want you to be a smooth operator, but occasionally you crack under pressure. I still stand by your side. You’re so irresistible; I just can’t quit you.

After coming across a divine looking recipe on Pinterest, I had to make it for Valentine’s Day. But this gorgeous dessert would be welcome any time of year. You may be tempted to save some time and substitute raspberry jam for the homemade raspberry sauce, but I urge you not to. Once you taste the sauce you’ll slap yourself silly for even entertaining the thought.

First, let’s make the raspberry sauce. In a small saucepan, I stirred together some sugar and cornstarch then added cold water and frozen raspberries. I didn’t even have to thaw the raspberries, so don’t worry if you want to make this and they’re not in season. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer 5 minutes, until sauce is thickened. Keep whisking the raspberries so they don’t stick to the pot and burn.

Bubbly raspberry sauce

Take the sauce off the burner, and push it through a sieve to remove the seeds. Set the sauce aside to cool. This is a tart raspberry sauce, but it complements the rich cheesecake nicely.

Smooth, baby

Now it’s time to start on the cheesecake filling. This will be enough filling for a prebaked cheesecake crust. You’re welcome to create your own crust and make a nice, tall cheesecake in a springform pan but you will have to adjust the ratio for the filling. Start by preheating your oven to 325 degree F. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the cream cheese and sugar until combined. Then, mix in the egg and egg white and the vanilla and lemon juice (I skipped the lemon juice and it still tasted great). I did state this was a white chocolate cheesecake, so now it’s time to get the white chocolate ready. Some people like using a double boiler to melt chocolate, but I prefer using the good old microwave. Combine the white chocolate and cream in a bowl, and microwave at 30 second intervals at 50% power, stirring in between, until melted. This next step is very important: take a clean spoon and dip it into the white chocolate. Lick the spoon. This quality testing step may require you to dirty 2 or 3 spoons. If anyone asks you why you keep eating the melted white chocolate, assure them that this is a crucial step in the melting process.

Not melted

Add the melted white chocolate to the cheesecake mixture and combine with a mixer. This next step of swirling some sauce inside the cheesecake is optional. I like raspberry swirls within the cheesecake, so I did it. Pour half of the cheesecake-white chocolate mixture into your crust. Then, haphazardly dribble 2 tablespoons of raspberry sauce over the cheesecake layer until it looks sufficiently messy. Tap into your inner Jackson Pollock.

Swirly

Then, carefully pour the remaining half of the cheesecake mixture on top of the swirled cheesecake, trying to hide the swirls. It should look like a plain cheesecake.

Caution: raspberry swirls lurking within

As you can see, some raspberry decided it didn’t want to hide for me. That’s ok, just try your best to make it even. Next comes the fun part, the raspberry heart swirl! This is a lot easier than it looks. Take your cooled sauce and transfer it into a squeeze bottle with a nozzle opening. I used a candy making squeeze bottle to make my raspberry dots, but a clean condiment bottle would work. Anything that will allow you to squirt dots of sauce onto the cheesecake. A small teaspoon will work in a pinch but your circles may not be as uniform.

Sauce is ready to get to work

Now, take the sauce and carefully squeeze dots of sauce in a circular pattern around the cheesecake. Imagine that the dots are a continuous swirl pattern as you are squeezing sauce. This is how mine turned out.

Dots

Time to make the hearts! Take a clean toothpick, and starting at one of the outermost dots, drag the toothpick across the dot to the next dot. Hearts will form like magic! So simple. Continue dragging the toothpick in a swirl pattern thorough all the dots, not stopping, so that the swirl is continuous.

Be mine

Look at your beautiful creation. Bake in the oven between 30 and 40 minutes, until the center is still slightly jiggly. You can use a water bath if you’d like. I find that my cheesecakes crack less when I do, but it’s optional. Cool, then chill in the fridge until ready to eat. Eat with a fork, or if you’re so inclined, share a slice with someone you love.

(via Cooking Classy)

Ingredients

• 1 pre-made Oreo crust
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
• 1/3 cup cold water
• 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries (no thawing necessary if frozen)
• 12 oz. cream cheese (1 1/2 pkg.), softened
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 egg white
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 tsp lemon juice
• 1 cup white chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. In a small saucepan, whisk together 1 Tbsp granulated sugar and cornstarch. Stir in the cold water and raspberries. Whisk over medium high heat until it boils, then reduce the heat to medium low and simmer about 5 minutes until sauce has thickened. Remove from heat and force sauce through a strainer to remove the seeds. Set the sauce aside to cool.
• In a large mixing bowl, with an electric mixer, beat together cream cheese and granulated sugar until combined. Mix in egg, egg white, vanilla and lemon juice. Set mixture aside.
• Melt white chocolate and cream in the microwave on 50% power in 30 second intervals, stirring, until melted. Add white chocolate to cheesecake mixture and blend with mixer.
• Pour half of the cheesecake mixture into the crust and spread evenly over bottom. Drizzle with 2 Tbsp of raspberry sauce. Pour the remaining half of the cheesecake mixture on top, trying to hide the raspberry sauce. Pour your raspberry sauce into your squeeze bottle and squeeze dots of sauce in a circular swirl around the cheesecake. Take a toothpick and drag it through the dots, from the outermost dot to the center, not stopping until finished. Tada, beautiful raspberry hearts
• Bake for 30-40 minutes, using a water bath if desired, until the center is just slightly jiggly. If you bake until firm all over, it will be crumbly and overbaked. It will firm up in the fridge. Cool, then refrigerate until chilled. If you have extra raspberry sauce, serve on the side if your heart desires. Enjoy!

Penne with Roasted Butternut Squash

I’m not quite sure if Fall has already arrived, as it’s still 80+ degrees here in Southern California. But Starbucks is selling the pumpkin spice latte so it must be fall. What better way to welcome Autumn than to have a sunset picnic/bonfire at the beach?

But what to bring? I remember watching Giada make a fantastic looking pasta on her show when she took a picnic lunch to the Getty museum. It had butternut squash and onion and looked simple but delicious. It was the perfect choice for my picnic at the beach.

Roasted butternut squash and onion

To make life easier, I bought 2 packages of precut butternut squash at Trader Joe’s as I didn’t really feel like peeling and dicing a huge squash today. I’ve done it before, and it made my hands all strange and dry. Anywho, it cost me a bit more money but saved me time. I threw the squash along with one diced onion onto a baking sheet and drizzled olive oil over the vegetables and salted with kosher salt and added some black pepper. They went into the oven at 425 F for about 45 minutes and came out beautiful.

As the roasted squash cooled, I boiled a box of penne pasta in salted water and took an 8 ounce log of goat cheese and smushed it in a large mixing bowl. After the pasta finished cooking, I added it to the goat cheese in the bowl along with a cup of pasta water. The cheese melted into a wonderful sauce and I added back the roasted vegetables, about a cup of toasted walnuts, a cup of chopped basil, and 1/3 of a cup of parmesan cheese.

Penne with roasted butternut squash, goat cheese, and toasted walnut

The finished pasta was creamy, a bit tangy,  sweet, and full of autumn flavors. I served it alongside some fried chicken from KFC and brought some homemade chocolate chip cookies for dessert. I think it could stand alone as a great vegetarian main dish though, it was very filling with the toasted nuts and roasted squash. Maybe I’ll make it again for a future meatless Monday

4th of July Cupcakes

4th of July bbqs usually have kids. Kids like cupcakes. They also like colorful things. So when my friend invited me to her house for a bbq, I decided to make red, white and blue cupcakes with vanilla cream cheese frosting. With sprinkles. Because kids go nuts for sprinkles. Plain ice cream cone? Meh, they’re acceptable, but only because they hold the ice cream. An ice cream cone dipped in chocolate and covered in sprinkles? So delicious!

The technique didn’t seem to difficult. Whip up a batch of vanilla cupcake batter, separate it into three bowls, and dye one bowl with red food coloring and another with blue food coloring.

Colored batter courtesy of Americolor Super Red and Royal Blue

After the batter was colored, I poured a couple of teaspoons of blue batter into the bottom of the cupcake liners.

Step 1: Put the blue in the cup

Ignore the one on the right, that was my practice cake. After the blue batter was gone, I layered it with the white batter.

Step 2: Lay the white on the blue

I found it easiest to pour the batter around the edges first, then fill in the middle. Time for super red.

Step 3: Pour the red in the cup and remind people it’s not blood, but a cupcake

Now after being very careful when layering my batters, I expected them to be clearly distinguished from each other. They came out of the oven like this:

Um, why did I just waste my time layering my colors?

This was not supposed to happen but according to the censored version of Forrest Gump, “stuff happens.” I decided to call them firework cupcakes. After cooling them I topped them with vanilla cream cheese frosting and the aforementioned sprinkles.

Baby you’re a firework, though you were supposed to be in three separate layers, but it’s ok as long as you’re delicious

The kids didn’t seem to mind, they just saw cupcakes and couldn’t wait to start dipping their fingers into the frosting and throw away the cake part while their parents weren’t looking. Not that any of us ever did that, right? *cough*

Chocolate Cupcakes with Raspberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Swiss Meringue Buttercream. It’s simultaneously revered and feared because its silky, smooth texture requires a bit more work than its American cousin. When it came time to bake some cupcakes for my coworker’s birthday I decided to forge ahead with this often finicky frosting.

For the cake, I used my previous chocolate cupcake recipe and my new dark brown cupcake liners I’d been saving for the next time I baked chocolate cupcakes. I just love how it looks with chocolate cupcakes For the frosting, I used Sweetapolita’s recipe for Raspberry Swiss Meringue buttercream and a couple drops of Wilton’s Pink gel color to make the frosting more pink. Not having a candy thermometer wasn’t a problem, I just heated the egg white and sugar until the sugar was dissolved and no longer grainy. The frosting turned out great, didn’t curdle up as I’d often as I read it did. It was satiny smooth and not very sweet, unlike the often gritty American buttercream.

To decorate, I made some chocolate monogram letters to top the cupcakes. I printed some M and L letters onto letter paper, taped them down to the counter with some wax paper on top, and traced the letters with melted Mercken’s dark chocolate candy coat using a #2 round tip. Unfortunately, over half of the fragile letter Ms broke. Next time I will pipe them a bit thicker to prevent breakage.  Here was the final product!

Chocolate Cupcake with Raspberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream

They were a hit. I feel like swiss meringue buttercream and I have a very bright future together.

Chocolate Cupcakes
Makes 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa (I use Ghirardelli)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk, shaken
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (I use Nielsen-Massey)
• 1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line cupcake tins with cupcake liners. I recommend using grease-proof liners with dark batters if you want the color/pattern to show up.
2. In a large mixing bowl, sift together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. The cocoa makes a big difference. I’ve used Hershey’s before in a pinch and the depth of chocolate flavor was noticeably absent.
3. Add eggs, buttermilk, oil and vanilla and beat together for 2 minutes.
4. Stir in the hot coffee. Don’t be scared by the watery batter, it will bake up just fine.
5. Fill liners 2/3 full with batter and bake cupcakes for approximately 22 minutes.
6. Let cupcakes cool in pans for 1-2 minutes then remove and cool completely on wire racks before frosting.

Raspberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Makes enough for 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 5 large egg whites
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, cut into cubes
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 pint fresh raspberries

Instructions:

1. Add egg whites and sugar to the bowl of an electric mixer. Set the bowl over a pan of simmering water and whisk constantly until the sugar has dissolved and mixture is no longer grainy.
2. Using the whisk attachment, beat egg white-sugar mixture on medium-high speed until it turns thick and glossy and the bowl feels cool. This will take 8-10 minutes.
3. Switch to paddle attachment and reduce speed to medium-low. Add butter one cube at a time until it’s fully incorporated. Add vanilla, salt, and raspberries and beat until combined. If desired, tint with pink gel coloring. Frost cooled cupcakes. Eat and enjoy.

Seared Scallops with Wilted Spinach and Parmesan Risotto

While watching tv one day, I remembered the most awful sea scallops I had during a trip to San Diego. The antipasto platter was amazing, the shrimp polenta appetizer even more amazing, so I had high hopes for my scallop entree. What I ended up with were the most overcooked, stringy, rubbery little hockey pucks I’d ever eaten. So that next day, I decided to try searing up some scallops of my own.

I found some beautiful U-10 scallops at the market and also bought a cup of arborio rice from the bulk aisle to whip up some risotto. I’d never made scallops nor risotto before, so if this meal went wrong it was going to be one expensive experiment. First I sauteed a shallot in a bit of butter then added the rice.

Then I added some white wine, salt and pepper. After that was absorbed I started ladling in the chicken broth. Pretty soon, all the broth was gone and the risotto was done. I added parmesan cheese and it was finished. I recommend using a good chicken stock because I did not, and my risotto suffered for it. I’d also add more parmesan cheese than I did because the flavor was very faint.

For the spinach, I just wilted a bag of baby spinach in some olive oil and added some salt and pepper. Didn’t want too many flavors going on to compete with the scallops and risotto.

On to the scallops! I thoroughly patted them dry with paper towels and added salt and pepper. Using Alton Brown’s searing method, I put some butter and olive oil in a pan over high heat then seared my scallops for 1 and a half minutes on each side. To serve, I put some risotto on a plate, topped with some wilted spinach, and finished it with the seared scallops. The scallops turned a beautiful golden brown and were succulent and tender. Here was little old me, searing scallops for the first time, and they did not turn into rubbery hockey pucks. Hooray! Score one for food monster.

Voila

Parmesan Risotto (adapted from recipe by Skinny Taste)

Ingredients

• 1 cup arborio rice
• 2 tsp butter
• 1 shallot, minced
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 4 cups of low sodium chicken stock
• salt/pepper
• 1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese

1. Heat chicken stock in a small saucepan
2. Melt butter in a skillet over medium low heat. Add minced shallot and saute for 1 minute. Add arborio rice and mix until rice is translucent, 1-2 minutes. Add wine, salt and pepper and mix until all the wine is absorbed
3. Ladle a cup of chicken broth into the risotto and wait until broth is absorbed. Continue adding broth and stirring until all broth is absorbed and risotto is al-dente. This took me about 25 – 30 minutes.
4. Add parmesan cheese and stir

Seared Scallops (adapted from recipe by Alton Brown)

Ingredients

• 1 pound of U-10 scallops
• 2 tsp unsalted butter
• 2 tsp olive oil
• kosher salt, pepper

1. Thoroughly dry scallops on paper towels. Pull off the little side muscle off the scallops which are tough. Add salt and pepper
2. Add butter and olive oil to a skillet and heat over high heat. Add scallops in a single layer and sear for 1 and a half minutes on each side

Burrata with bacon, marinated escarole, and caramelized shallots

When I told my coworker that I made reservations at Osteria Mozza for my boyfriend’s birthday dinner she told me that we had to get something from the mozzarella bar. As I looked at the offerings, one stood out to me. It was the burrata with bacon, marinated escarole, and caramelized shallots. I like all of these ingredients so I figured they would taste fantastic together. When our dish came out, it was presented as a little mound of escarole on top of crostini, topped with a tiny ball of burrata which had slivers of black, caramelized shallots on top. At first, I was a tad disappointed in the serving portion. But the minute I put together a forkful of all the ingredients and put them in my mouth, it was a revelation. The toastiness of the bread, the acidic, vinegary punch from the escarole, milky creaminess of burrata, along with the sweetness of the caramelized shallots was throwing my tongue for a complete loop. Confusion, excitement, and ending in the realization that it was delicious. After I savored the properties of the individual ingredients and how they combined to create such a high impact dish, I started making notes in my head trying to figure out how to re-create this at home.

I started Googling the recipe and somehow stumbled across a recipe on the Melbourne food and wine website. It looked to be the legitimate recipe from its creator, Nancy Silverton. I drove to Whole Foods with my fingers crossed that they would have burrata. And there it was, $6.99 for two big balls of it. I also picked up some champagne vinegar and some gorgeous U-10 scallops for the main entree.

The burrata dish was comprised of many steps, and was more time consuming than I anticipated. I also set off the smoke alarm a couple of times during the process. First I pureed together a mixture of garlic, shallots, olive oil, and salt.

This was used to coat the escarole. After that, the escarole was charred in a skillet over high heat. You may or may not set off your smoke alarm during this process. Afterwards, it was marinated with more shallots, garlic, champagne vinegar, olive oil, and salt and pepper.

To cook the bacon, I put a couple of strips onto a baking sheet and placed it into a cold oven. I set the temperature to 400 degrees and the timer to 17 minutes, which results in perfectly crisp bacon every time. Some people poo-poo the oven method of cooking bacon but I find it is much easier to pop it in and be able to do other things in the meantime, then to stand over a skillet and mind the bacon.

While the bacon was cooking, I put the sliced shallots in a skillet with olive oil, salt, and pepper until they browned. Then in went the balsamic vinegar. When it reduced, I added some honey and it was complete.

I skipped the bread component this time as I wanted a lighter appetizer. Here was the finished product:

Burrata with bacon, marinated escarole, and caramelized shallot

It tasted really good. The escarole’s shallot and garlic was a little overpowering so I’d cut way back on that during the marinating process next time. But it was very close in flavor to what we had at the restaurant. I was asked to make this for a future dinner party to impress our guests. I believe I will. 

Recipe via Melbourne Food and Wine

Burrata with Bacon, Marinated Escarole, and Caramelized Shallots

 For the escarole

• 4 garlic cloves peeled, whole and 2 finely chopped
• 3 medium shallots peeled, 2 whole and 1 finely chopped
• ¾ cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1½ tsp kosher salt
• 1 medium head of escarole, cut in half lengthwise
• 1 tbsp plus 1 tsp champagne vinegar
• freshly cracked black pepper, to taste

For the caramelised shallots

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 6 large shallots, sliced lengthwise
• ¼ inches wide
• salt and pepper to taste
• ½ cup balsamic vinegar (non-aged)
• 1 tbsp honey
• 2 ¼ inches thick strips bacon, preferably applewood-smoked
• 4 ½ inches thick slices of La Brea Bakery batard (or 8 slices from a baguette or 2 slices from a large round rustic white loaf cut in half)
• 160g burrata cheese, divided into 4 pieces

---

To prepare the escarole
In a blender or food processor fitted with a metal blade puree two whole shallots and two whole garlic cloves, ½ cup olive oil and 1 teaspoon salt. Coat the escarole with the pureed mixture.

Over a hot grill, char the escarole seven-eight minutes on each side, until tender. Alternatively, to char on the stovetop: heat a heavy-duty skillet over high heat. Add the escarole, and char on one side for seven-eight minutes. Turn over and char the other side.

Remove from the skillet. In either case, discard any pieces that are too blackened and place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to cool.

Cut off the root and discard it, then chop the escarole coarsely into 1 inches pieces.

In a large bowl, combine the vinegar, chopped shallot, chopped garlic, remaining ½ tsp salt, and pepper to taste. Add the escarole and toss. Add the remaining olive oil, toss again, and set aside.

Allow the escarole to marinate for at least 15-30 minutes before serving.

To caramelise the shallots
In a small skillet, combine two tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, shallots, salt and pepper. Over high heat, brown the shallots on one side then flip to brown the other side, being careful not to stir the shallots too often or they will soften.

Add the balsamic vinegar and cook over high heat until it is reduced
to a syrupy consistency, add the honey and stir to combine.

To cook the bacon
Preheat the oven to 180C. Place the bacon on a baking sheet and cook in the oven until it’s done but still chewy, not crisp, 17-22 minutes, depending on the thickness of the slices.

Remove the bacon from the oven and transfer it to paper towels to drain. When cool, rip each strip of bacon in half to fit bread.

To toast the bread
Place the bread slices on a baking sheet, brush the tops with olive oil, and bake for 15-20 minutes, until they’re lightly toasted and golden brown. (You can also toast the bread in the toaster, but without the oil. Then brush the toast with oil after they’re done).

Rub the oiled side of the crostini with the garlic and set them on your work surface, oiled side up.

To assemble
Pile an uneven layer of escarole over each slice of bread and lay the bacon over it.

Place 40g of the burrata onto the centre, over the bacon, leaving a 1” border of escarole, and top with 1 teaspoon caramelised shallots.

Drizzle with olive oil and freshly cracked black pepper.

Happy Birthday Cake Baking

Three of my closest friends were born within the first two weeks of April. This year happened to be the first year that I would be celebrating my boyfriend’s birthday with his parents. The fact that this was the first time I was stepping foot into his parents’ house didn’t faze me one bit. Also, it would be the first time that they would be tasting anything I had ever cooked. Oh, and did I forget to mention that his mom is an awesome baker? No pressure at all.

On our first date, we had the most amazing Pina Colada cake from Tommy Bahama’s for dessert. To this day, we still talk about it every now and then. I decided to try and recreate this cake. To do so, I had to order this special White Chocolate mousse mix made by Swiss Chalet fine foods. The shipping cost more than the actual canister of mousse but this wasn’t just any old cake I was baking. This was an impress the birthday boy, don’t embarrass myself in front of his mama cake I was baking.

After baking a basic vanilla cake in two 9″ round pans, I had to cut away all of the brown bits off of the cake layers. This part was not too exciting.

Stripped cake

The white chocolate mousse required 1 pound of the Swiss Chalet white chocolate mousse mix incorporated into 1/2 a gallon of heavy whipping cream. The recipe said 2 quarts, as if stating it that way would make us feel better about ourselves. Who are we kidding, people, it was half a gallon. It whipped up creamy and dreamy and sinfully light and sweet. 

Now that my filling was done, it was time to assemble the cake. After I had cut away all the brown bits off of the top, bottom, and sides of my cake, I had to split them in half horizontally. This proved to be a bit difficult and some of the cake layers split apart. Nothing some white chocolate mousse couldn’t patch up though. Each cake layer was brushed with some rum then spread with a layer of white chocolate mousse and topped with pineapple tidbits.

Whoaaa, we're halfway there. Whoa-OH! Livin' on a prayer

I kept building up the layers and then frosted the tops and sides with more of the white chocolate mousse. I did the best I could at getting the cake looking like an actual cake instead of a lopsided mess. 

The final touch was to coat the sides with some toasted shredded coconut.

After staring at it for a while, I wasn’t satisfied. The Tommy Bahama cake was covered in coconut and I was afraid there wouldn’t be enough. So I added more to the top.

Now this is a Pina Colada cake

It sort of resembled a cheese ball at this point but oh well. Into the box it went. After we ate some amazing homemade cabbage rolls for dinner, out came all three desserts. My cake, a peanut butter chocolate pie baked by his talented sister, and a lemon bar pie made by his mother. I hid a little surprise inside his cake box which I added at the last minute. 

Cause Batman's not just for kids

I got positive reviews for the cake as everyone said it was good. Whew. John, if you are reading this, I hope you had a very happy birthday. And don’t worry, I only used about half of that white chocolate mousse filling