Strawberry Cheesecake

For my aunt's birthday earlier this month, mum tried out this new cheesecake recipe she found in a cookbook. The base is made of crushed digestive biscuits, followed by a layer of melted chocolate. The body is a thick layer of cheese blended with low fat cream and ground strawberries.

The cheese was surprising light (because it is made fluffier by the cream) and refreshing (because of the strawberry flavour). I would have preferred the cheese layer to be thinner but that's not a criticism in itself. Definitely to be included into mum's list of offerings.

Marble Cheese Cake

Just read in the Star yesterday that Gordon Ramsey may do a feature on Malaysian cuisine. Pssh! what does that foul-mouthed boor know about food? A London paper recently did a review of 'celebrity chef' restaurants and Ramsey's sat at the bottom of the rankings of a miserable, overpriced lot.

While I was grumbling about the pretensions of poor English cooks, mum was baking this little creation. It's basically chocolate cake with a large swirl of cheese and moist chocolate. I really like the crater top. The side view shows the 'marbling'.

Mango Cheese Cake

I am not a huge fan of cakes but once a year, I agree to have one made in my honour. On my birthday, of course. This year, I got a mango cheese cake. Mum begins by making a base of crushed digestive biscuits. Then she creams all this soft philadelphia cheese. She adds mango to the mix and puts the whole thing into the fridge to chill and solidify. 

Here's my birthday cake. I still haven't figured out why she decided on bilingual decor this year.

Marble Cheese Muffin

This is one of my favourite muffins and it is mum's invention. It is actually a chocolate cheese variety but what is great about it is that it is layered and has a surprise middle. She starts out by putting a layer of chocolate mix at the bottom of the cups and a large dollop of soft chocolate. Then, she tops up with cheese cake filling and a squeeze of melted chocolate. She finishes with a little swirl to create the 'marbling' pattern.

You can almost see the steam coming out from the top where the cheese and chocolate split. Let your taste buds be attacked by a mix of flavours and textures - the savoury cheese, sweet chocolate, crumbly cake and warm melted chocolate.

Cream Cheese Chiffon Cake

This is a new cake that mum is trying out. She normally makes butter or orange chiffon cakes but she picked this up from a random recipe somewhere. I have to say that it tastes quite good. The cheese adds a subtle flavour to complement the buttery fragrance of the body.

Chiffon cakes are great for picnics and parties. They are light, huge and relatively mess free (no cream for kids to smear about).

Blueberry Cheese Tart

At the time of writing, she is baking a batch of blueberry cheese tarts. These tarts are actually rather a lot of work and sometimes I help her with them.

1. She first makes the dough from flour, butter, egg and sugar. Then, she painstakingly weighs up little lumps which are then pressed into the base mould. The base is then baked, removed from the mould and cooled overnight.

2. The next day she makes the cheese filling, pours it into the base moulds, adds a spoonful of blueberry on top, makes a swirl pattern with a mini stick and shoves them back into the oven.

3. The finished product. Yumms...