Pierre Herme Cheesecake

Snow again!!! My two lucky snow covered weekends of all time. Was it a coincidence or what that Vancouver got snow on the weekends one after each other. I often hear people saying they want a pineapple express. Boooo!!!! Despite the fact that I am freezing my ass off and shivering away, I am a fan of the cold weather. During these two weekends, if one where to notice a dark blimp sticking out the arm and inspecting the quality of the snow flakes whilst walking down a snow covered street, well….that blimp would be me 🙂

In light of these past snowing weekends, I thought of a superb idea to warm up the house. Nothing can warm up the cold air circulating around the kitchen than a nice toasty warm even. To cure my insatiable appetite for desserts, I decided to make a deliciously smooth cheesecake. I was flipping through a Pierre Herme cookbook recently and my dark gleaming eyes fell upon his milky smooth white cheesecake. Pierre Herme had always been my inspiration as most of the flavoring in his creations really complimented each other. His cheesecake was no different. Originally I had though that it was similar to the north american sytle cheesecakes but to my astonishment his really instructions really stood out. Slow baked cheesecake best described PH’s. You see most cheesecakes recipes required a higher temperature during baking and in turn this promoted a browning of the top as the sugar caramelized but with a lower temperature and a steam bath, the cheesecake was at its best. I have longed to make cheesecakes that have a creamy rich consistency and now I have achieved it thanks to his instructions. For me, I started at a lower temperature at approx 225F and increased the temperature to 235f over a period of 1 1/2 hours. Keeping a watchful eye on the delicately scrumptious concoction definitely helped. By the time the cheesecake was baked the center should only wobble a bit.

Keys to a White and Smooth Cheesecake:
-Lower Baking Temperature and Longer Baking Time
-Warm Water Bath

Pierre Herme Cheesecake (Can also be found here)

1 kg (2 1/4lbs) cream cheese, at room temperature
300g sugar
5 eggs
2 egg yolks
70g heavy cream
50g flour

Preheat the oven to 225.
Mix the cream cheese and sugar and beat until smooth.
Add egg yolks, eggs and cream one by one until fully incorporated and smooth
Add the flour and mix well.
Pour the cream cheese filling onto the cooled cheesecake base in the ring on the baking sheet.
Place in the oven and bake for 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours until the edges are set and the middle is a little wobbly.
Remove the cheesecake from the oven, set aside to cool, then refrigerate.

This cheesecake really hit the spot and I am glad to share this recipe. Enjoy this smooth silky cheesecake!!!

Coconut and Mango Cream Cheese Mousse Cake

Finally some warm weather and sun this weekend. The week had been miserable with pouring rain and wind so imagine everyone’s delight when the sun finally decide to show itself.

I decided to redo the coconut dacquois and mango cream cheese mousse cake. The last time I followed the instructions as per measurement but found the mousse cake quite sweet for my liking. This was due to the sugar added to the already sweet mango puree. The mirror obviously did not help as it also contained sugar. As a note to readers, the mango puree made from fresh mangoes was sweet enough, hence add the extra sugar at your discretion. The next tweek I made was the dacquoise. I reduced the icing sugar. I had better success with the dacquoise this time as the egg whites/sugar where whipped properly. AS a third revision, I added about 20 g more mango puree to the suggested measurement. By doing so, the flavour was more pronounced. As a finale tweek, I also chopped up some fresh mango to add to the mousse cake. I also decorate the dish with some beautifully scent chocolate petals, given by a friend. The results were more to my liking and it was less sweet.

Mango Cheese Mousse (adapted from Tony Wong)

Fresh Mango Puree 100g (I used 200 g)
Granulated Sugar (I used 5 g)
Mascarpone Cheese (I used cream cheese)
Whipping Cream 150 g
Gelatin Leaf 6 g
Fresh Mango Chunks

Coconut Dacquoise

Ground Almond 57 g
Coconut 55 g
Icing sugar 112 g (I used 90 g)
Egg white 150 g ( I used approx. 170 g)
Sugar (I used 40 g)

For decoration, I chose to decorate the cake with a gum paste carnation. I had previously taken the course with Michaels and thought the colours would compliment the colour scheme. The results were more to my liking and it was less sweet.

Inspiration and Tropical Mango Mouse Cheesecake

The inspiration of this creation really dated back to chocolate making from VCC. I met a wonderful young lady, lets call her GN. It’s fairly rare that one found someone with so much enthusiasm and passion about their craft that she’s in a class of her own. From day one, I felt her passion and zest for pastry spill into me. Her positivity radiated outwards and outshone the rest of the students. After the course I would go visit her or chat about pastry, our true love. 😛 If it weren’t for her constant encouragement and challenging me to push my boundaries, I would not be were I am today in baking. Through our endless chats about pastry chefs and baking, Tony Wong came into the picture. Apparently he was hailed as one of the forthcoming pastry chefs in Hong Kong with numerous accolades. Curious about him, I bought his books. The rest was history. All his recipes were immaculately detailed to the point of temperature and time. His photos were stunning and beautifully illustrated detailing many intricacies. Yes, this was one of my favourite books to this day.

Wong took on a asian approach to pastry making with a french flare. While his creations were less sweet and more light in comparison to North American desserts; nonetheless, each dessert was constructed beautifully with complexity and the flavours complimented each other well. My first project was making the Mango Mascarpone Mousse Cake. The cake was combination of cheese, mousse and dacquoise.

The dacquoise was made by sifting icing sugar, then adding the coconut and toasted ground almonds. Egg whites and sugar were beaten until stiff prior to folding in the coconut mixture. The completed mixtures was then pipped into rounds for baking at approx. 330F for 20 mins.

The shape the disks, I just used a circular cutter to them the dacquoise when it was warm.

Next came the mousse/cheesecake. Gelatin was first softened in cold water. The puree was split in half with the 1st 1/2 of the puree warmed with the sugar. As a tip, don’t boil the mixture as you would loose the delicate taste of the mango. The remainder was warmed up with the cream cheese. It is crucial to heat the cheese with the puree until smooth prior to adding in the gelatin. As another note, whisk the mixture until fully incorporated. Combine the two mixtures, cool and fold in the whipped cream. Place a disk of the dacquoise at the bottom and pipe in the mousse. Insert the another piece of daquoise in the middle and repeat with mousse. Chill until set.

The mirror comprised of mango puree and neutral mirror; the ratio was 2:1. Temperature was crucial Warm mixture to 50C and cool down to 35-40C prior to pouring onto the set mousse.

As for decoration, I added a mango ball, white chocolate and freeze dried raspberries as decoration. As an accompaniment, 2 chocolate straws where added with a scoop of Raspberry and Strawberry Sorbet.

Mango Cheese Mousse (adapted from Tony Wong)

Fresh Mango Puree 100g (I used 170 g)
Granulated Sugar (I used 40 g)
Mascarpone Cheese (I used cream cheese)
Whipping Cream 150 g
Gelatin Leaf 6 g

Coconut Dacquoise

Ground Almond 57 g
Coconut 55 g
Icing sugar 112 g (I used 110 g)
Egg white 150 g ( I used approx. 170 g)
Sugar (I used 40 g)

The cake was sensational, creamy, light and refreshing. The delicate mango mousse tickled my taste buds and was complimented by a sweet aromatic coconut dacquoise; a smell that lingered in our house when it was baked. For me this recipe is definitely a keeper. Thanks to the chef who created such an astounding dessert 🙂

Matcha Cheesecake

I decided to make another no bake cheesecake with the remaining cream cheese I had left over. Instead of making an ordinary cheesecake, I decided to make something extra. I have been reading alot on double baked cheesecakes and hence decided to make a double cheesecake as well. I considered making azuki cheescake but decided against it as it would be too sweet, hence I decided to make a baked new york style cheesecake instead.

I first made the new york cheesecake in silicone molds. Once that was completed, I proceeded to make the no bake matcha cheesecake. I first boiled the milk and then whisked the matcha green tea into the milk ensuring all granules were melted. Then added the cream cheese to the mixture. To prevent lumps and a creamy texture, I heated the creamcheese in a bain marie again. I then placed the gelatin in cold water to let it bloom and melted the gelatin in a bain marie as well. Once the gelatin has melted, I added this into the cream cheese mixture.

To assemble the matcha cheesecake, I placed the sable cookies at the bottom, and poured in some matcha mixutre and added the baked new york cheesecake and then topped it off with the remaining green tea mixture. As a decoration, I created a white chocolate border and painted on some red food colouring to create contrast. I then topped it off by decorating with strawberry pearls and freezed dried strawberries.

Matcha Cheese Cake (found here)
200g Arnotts Nice biscuits (or any other plain sweet biscuits)
100g unsalted butter, melted
150ml pure (whipping) cream
170g cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup caster sugar
100ml milk
1 1/2 tsp matcha powder (adjust to taste, I like mine a bit stronger)
1 1/2 tsp powdered gelatin

As a note: Instead of using new york cheesecake, as they are of a completely different consistency, I would recommend maybe trying a creme brulee or custard instead for next time. Enjoy.