TWD - Chocolate Cream Pie

I've said it before, and I'll say it again - one of the reasons why I enjoy food blogging as part of a group is that it pushes me to make things that I would never in a million years have chosen to make myself, and I am more often than not pleasantly surprised by the results.

This week's Tuesday with Dorie, hosted by Kim of Scrumptious Photography, is another one of those weeks where I made something that I otherwise would have never have chosen to make. Kim's choice was Dorie's Chocolate Cream Pie. This is a dish which I believe is all American, as evidenced by Dorie's opening description of it as resembling something served at a roadside diner. Now, I would be lying if I said that chocolate and cream served separately aren't good - I am a chocoholic, and cream can make many dishes just that little bit nicer (if a bit naughtier in the kilojoule department). However, the sound of the two together in a chocolate shortbread crust with chocolate curls on top sounded way too rich for me.

I made Dorie's recipe as is, without any changes, as many TWDers who made this before me said that this was just perfect.

Unfortunately, I have not as yet tried the pie combination because I am taking this for the Legal-Finance morning tea today. A lot of TWDers said that while they weren't that keen on the separate elements of this pie, together, they found them to be awesome. I can say that I have tried the crust (rather dry and not at all sweet), and the chocolate custard (devine) and the whipped cream (which is, well, whipped cream) alone. An update on my views on the flavour combination will be provided once I have sliced the pie.

Newsflash - the Verdict: This pie is incredibly rich - it knocks a sucker punch. The cream actually helps to smooth out some of the richness, so I would not leave it out. However, it was very popular at the party as well, making me a happy girl :)

You can check out hundreds of other versions of this chocolate cream pie, and have your fill, so to speak, by visting the TWD blogroll, and you can find the recipe at Kim's site (remembering that Kim will post behind me because we are in different time zones).

Daring Bakers - Say Cheese! Ginger Lime Baked Cheesecake

Are you wondering as you casually surf the blogosphere today why every foodie on the planet appears to simultaneously have decided that baked cheesecake was next on their "to do" list? Never fear, this is not just your imagination or a sense of deja vu - it's Daring Bakers time again!

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

However, as Jenny says:

The real challenge this month is to take this basic recipe and play with it. Make it unique. Make a showstopper of a dessert. Add flavor, sauces, decorations – dress it up and show it off.

I am a fan of cheesecake of all types (baked or unbaked), and fruity cheesecakes are my favourite because the acidity of the fruit balances out the rich decadence of the cheese. However, I tend to avoid making cheesecake because I know that it is pretty full on in the calories stakes, and I tend towards being a couch potato. (Since I began this blog, I have gained a certain amount of weight that won't budge.) However, with Jenny's choice for Daring Bakers this month, I have the perfect excuse to make a cheesecake.

There is also no danger that I will be left holding the cake, so to speak, because my team is hosting a morning tea on Tuesday this week. Apparently, my new work friend Ruth tells me that unless Legal holds a morning tea soon, we will be cut off from the Finance morning teas, with Finance being our nearest neighbours. It is perhaps not so sinful that Legal hasn't had a morning tea for a while, because until I arrived, there were only two people in Legal (as opposed to 20 or so people in Finance!). However, I made it clear that I love to bake and HAVE to bake, so I was more than happy to ensure that Ruth doesn't get "excommunicated". I was also impressed to learn that my new boss, Rod, cooks and bakes. No excuses then!! (I understand that Rod is thinking of making creme brulee spoons for the morning tea - wow, who thought that a guy would up the ante on my baking standards! No offence fellas, but the majority of guys that I know are not food bloggers or chefs, and rely on their significant female other to feed them.)

I originally was going to make a ginger and chocolate cheesecake, but if you have been following TWD this month, you will know why I am suffering somewhat from chocolate overload. To give me some ideas, I did a quick Google search on ginger cheesecakes, and lo, I found a recipe for ginger & lime cheesecake. Accordingly, I used Abbey's recipe, but used gingersnaps for the crust instead of graham crackers, laced the batter with glace ginger and lime zest, and substituted the lemon juice in the cheesecake recipe for lime juice. To decorate the cheesecake but leave it simple so that I can transport it to work, I piped whipped cream around the edge.

As this post goes to air, I have no idea what my cheesecake tastes like (other than a lime-y lick of the rim of the springform pan after being removed from the cheesecake), as our morning tea is not until tomorrow. However, I will update you with my verdict once it has been sliced.

Update - the Verdict: this cheesecake was absolutely amazing - light yet creamy, melt in the mouth, and the ginger and lime were dream flavours. It went down really well - it was definitely a hit. I would rate this as my top cheesecake recipe ever.

To see all the other fabulous cheesecake variations by the other Daring Bakers (and believe me, there are some absolute stunners!!), please visit the Daring Bakers blogroll. Jenny's site will have the recipe, should you want to make this cheesecake yourself.

Pear Ginger Muffins and Some Farewell Gifts

I have at last moved more or less into my new home, and this weekend has been the first opportunity that I have had to bake in a while. (I have been keeping up with TWD by strategic baking in advance!). My spare room still looks like a scene from the movie Iris, with stuff absolutely everywhere that I am not sure what to do with, but thankfully I can shut the door on it and ignore it for a while.

To christen my oven, I made Pear Ginger Muffins for my morning tea, using this recipe from Coconut & Lime. These smelt divine while baking, as they contain ginger and brown sugar. Instead of sour cream, I used (cheesecake flavoured!) low fat yoghurt, and I used William Bartlett pears, which are juicy, delicious and in season at the moment. Unlike Rachel, I removed the skins from the pears before dicing.

The pears make these muffins quite moist, and they have a wonderful ginger zing to them, because they contain a 2 inch knob of grated fresh ginger. I have never used fresh ginger in baked goods before, but I would gladly do so in the future, as the taste is more pronounced than using ground ginger. Overall, I enjoyed these muffins and would make them again.

Although it's about 3 weeks since I left my last jobs now, I wanted to share the lovely parting gifts that I received from my lawyer colleagues (I was seconded two days a week, so I really had two part-time jobs).

From Alison and Terry in Sydney, I received these lovely tulips and lillies, pictured in my wonderful Melbourne kitchen (my new kitchen is not anywhere near as big and has no window):

and from Loretta, Jason, Cameron, Kate and Rob in Melbourne (and chosen by Loretta and Kate), I received these lovely baking goods (they know me well!):

There is a cupcake apron by Davis & Waddell, a Wilton cupcake pan, heart-shaped silicone muffin cups, pink Wilton icing and pink and red heart decoration lollies. Watch this space for the ways in which I use these marvellous gifts.

(PS I miss you guys!!! I wish that circumstances could have been different, and I hope that I will work with you again or at least catch up at some time in the not too distant future.)

Finally, this afternoon, I saw The Boat That Rocked at the movies, about pirate radio broadcasters in the late 1960s. (Oddly, it seems that radio was once tightly regulated in the UK, and the BBC only played 45 minutes of rock and roll per day, so pirate broadcasters based in the North Sea played rock and roll for the masses 24 hours per day.) It is very funny, although not as good as I had hoped, and it features a fabulous 60s soundtrack. Rhys Ifans looked absolutely gorgeous in it, although I would hate that kind of guy in real life. The other Rhys, Rhys Darby from Flight of the Conchords, and Bill Nighy, plus the guy from The IT Crowd, provided some chuckle-worthy comic moments, and the young Carl (Tom Sturridge) was a cutie. If you like a good chuckle or a fan of 60s fashion or music, this is a fun movie to see.

TWD - Four Star Chocolate Bread Pudding

This week's Tuesday with Dorie is hosted by Lauren of Upper East Side Chronicle, who has selected Dorie's Four Star Chocolate Bread Pudding. Well, I thought, if it's worth four stars, it must be pretty good - and of course it appeals to the chocoholic in me.

I made this while staying with my mother in between homes. Now, I love my Mum dearly, but she is a force to be reckoned with, and I don't think she would have been too impressed if I snitched seven of her precious eggs to make the full batch of this. Also, it was likely that no-one but me would eat it. Accordingly, to save myself all sorts of grief, I only made a quarter of the recipe - which in itself produced a substantial dish of pudding.

I just used stale white sandwich loaf for the bread component, and for the chocolate component, I used dark chocolate solid Easter eggs chopped into small bits. I left out the raisins - not sure that I would have liked them in this dish!

This pudding was easy to make - it caused me no problems, and I was glad that it didn't involve food processors, electric mixers or any other appliances, because my resources at Mum's are rather basic - phew! (Lauren, you must have ESP - thanks!)


The end result was rather nice - a squishy, comforting bread pudding. I ate my serve warm rather than at room temperature or cold as suggested by Dorie, and it was just fine.


Thanks to Lauren for hosting this week. You can check out the efforts of all the other TWDers at the TWD blogroll.

TWD - 15 Minute Magic - Chocolate Amaretti Cake

Who of us can resist a good chocolate cake? Not me, for sure. I am a self-confessed chocoholic,and have to exercise plenty of discipline to keep myself away from it - even though I still manage to eat some every day. The chocoholic in me issued a loud triumphant "Wheeeeee!" when I saw the recipe for this week's TWD, hosted by Holly of PheMOMenon, as it was for a solid-gold, full on, chocolate cake - well, actually a European style torte, called "15 minute magic - Chocolate Amaretti Cake".

All I can say is - I am in lurrrrrv with this cake. It was dead simple to make in the food processor, and it is rich, fudgy and devine:

and to top it all off, it is covered with a rich, gooey ganache:

My photos don't do it justice - this is a wonderful cake. To save myself from annihilating it all by myself, I took it to work to share with colleagues, who also loved it.

This cake is unusual in that it contains crushed amaretti biscuits and nut meal instead of flour. In my quest to find the amaretti, I finally made the effort to go to Mediterranean Wholesalers in Sydney Road, Brunswick, just before I left Melbourne. Boy oh boy, do I wish that I could have gone sooner. It is a huge Italian grocer, with everything you could ever want at very reasonable prices. If you are ever in Melbourne, go visit them - you won't be disappointed.

To check out how everyone else went with this cake, and make yourself very hungry in the process, visit the Tuesdays with Dorie blogroll.

Berry oat muffins

Recently, I saw a lovely recipe for healthy, low fat berry muffins by Maria of Two Peas and Their Pod. Full of oats and berries, these muffins looked perfect for my morning tea at work. You can find the recipe here on Maria's blog.

Maria had described these muffins as healthy AND delicious - well, with a rap like that, how could I resist? And I agreed with her - even though I dumbly managed to leave out the oil when I made them. Oh well, perhaps mine were even healthier without the oil - just perhaps not as tasty, but still very good.

These muffins are perfect for a quick brekkie or a guilt-free treat.

Mixed berry jam

Greetings to everyone on this Good Friday, the holiest of holidays in the Christian calendar. I hope that you and your families are having a relaxing break.

I have moved out of my Melbourne apartment and I am currently "homeless", in that my furniture is in transit who knows where, and I have no keys to my apartment at the other end. I won't call it my "new" apartment, because I have lived there before - it is more of a homecoming, although I have lived in it over two stints that total less than the time I lived in Melbourne.

It hadn't been part of my life plan to come "home" yet, so over the summer, I busily stocked up on berries while they were cheap and plentiful and froze them to last me over the long, grey, cold, non-berry season. When I had to move, I knew I couldn't just take the frozen berries as is with me (which is such a shame!). However, I couldn't bear to part with my hard-won berry booty, so I decided to make jam with it. I was awfully surprised at how many berries I had stored - I had over a kilo of them in 125g punnets!

Here are my beautiful berries (raspberries, blackberries and blueberries) sitting in the pot waiting to be transformed into jam:

and here is the jam mid-"rolling boil" before it reached setting point:

In theory, jam making is easy - boil up equal parts of jam and sugar together with the juice of a lemon until it reaches setting point, then pour into sterilised jars and seal. However, I have never been able to get the setting point right. Of course, this was only the second time I have tried to make jam (if you discount my failed attempt at making microwave chilli jam), and both times I have overboiled the jam, so that I end up with a very thick, if very delicious, paste that is rather hard to spread easily without warming it first. Oh well, it helped me to preserve my precious berries so that I can continue to enjoy them in my new home. I also figure that too thick is better than too thin - who wants to put berry coulis on their crumpet?

Happy Easter everyone!