Ricotta Cheese Making Class @ Just Heavenly's The Baking Barn

It has always been fun to be in the company of Nigel Skelchy. His laughter is rather infectious teehee. If you don't already know, Nigel is the other partner apart from the talented Allan Yap of Just Heavenly, nehhh the cake shop that sells sinfully delicious cakes and desserts! A quick note here - they have recently started taking orders online and yes you can even make the payment online via their website. Start browsing the website and put in your order. (Disclaimer: I do not wish to be blamed if you wet your keyboard with your drool nor behaving indecently by licking your screen :p whilst you browse the website.)



At about the same time, Just Heavenly started their baking school - The Baking Barn, helmed by Nigel himself. Be sure of a good 3 - 4 hours of fun with him. Classes are held on Thursdays (9.30am - 11.30am) and Saturdays (2.00pm - 4.00pm) but do add in another hour to savour your creations together with coffee and tea. Classes are held in the HQ at Bangsar, just up the road from Bangsar Village.

The classes are semi-hands on with everyone getting a turn at things. No doubt one can search for recipes online but nothing beat having to attend a class as there are a lot of "unwritten" knowledge that will be imparted by the gurus.



I've attended Make Your Own Cheese - Ricotta which is actually Part 2 of the cheese making classes. How to make mascarpone was taught in Part 1. At The Baking Barn, one mother recipe will be taught and from there 2 - 3 cakes or desserts will be created. So at this class we were taught how to make ricotta cheese and from there it spins off to a Berry Ricotta Cheesecake, Ricotta Kisses, Ricotta Pancakes and a Cinnamon Honey Ricotta Spread.



We were first shown how to make the ricotta and we were spilled with the economics and sciences of making your own ricotta. Did you know you can make your own ricotta with just half the price of a tub of ricotta??? I like it when I'm supplied with lots of tips and substitutes if so happen you do not have the equipments in use ie. candy thermometer, food processor, cheesecloth etc.



Next Nigel showed us how to make the cheesecake. Looks easy peasy hehe cos we're not making it on our own but with the help of a few lovely ladies. This cheesecake is baked in a hot water bath. We were also taught how to dress up the cake by making strawberry coulis and balsamic drizzle. Due to time constraint, whilst the cake is baking in the oven, Nigel has a cooled down cake to continue the class. He plonked a bunch of hulled strawberries in the middle of the cake before pouring the coulis on top. He even showed us the trick to make the coulis flow down sexily on the side of the cake. Next up, the cake was sliced before drizzling some reduced balsamic over.



As we dig in, Nigel explained to us that this is not the creamy style cheesecake but more like Italian. I can say it's not smooth and creamy but I really like the slight crumbly texture and it doesn't taste heavy at all! Kind of a light cheesecake I would say, nice :D



Ricotta Pancakes were next. As Nigel was explaining to us how to fry up pancakes that are crispy on the outside using lots of oil and butter, we urged him to do just that since I guess most of us would never do that at home hahaha. The pancake batter is somehow like being shallowed fried and I got to finish up frying the pancakes.



Some honey is drizzled over after a dust of icing sugar. Nigel shared with us some marmalade that Allan had made up. The marmalade is so yummy, not the thick bitter rind kind that we made him to turn that into a jam making class.



Next up was the Ricotta Kisses, like Mangolisa had commented on my pics she was explaining to me this dish being deepfried like cekodok and so we have a cheesy Ricotta Kisses/cekodok haha. All ingredients were mixed in together to form a thick batter which is dropped into hot oil by the teaspoonfuls. We noticed that the kisses actually turned itself over when done frying on one side. How brilliant!





Later that night, I caught up with an episode of Axian's Food Adventure on telly. A man was showing Jason Yeoh on how to make taufu pok (tofu puffs). After slicing tofu into cubes, he dropped them into a huge wok of hot oil. The tofu behaved the same was as the kisses. It actually turn itself over when done frying. The man explained that as the bottom part of the tofu is cooked through, it became lighter hence the heavier uncooked top will roll downwards. Ooooo so that is the reason! Very educational for me indeed.



Anyhow, the kisses were served with a dusting of icing sugar. Crispy on the outside, cheesy and fluffy inside... very yummy. Not sure about you but I noticed that deep fried stuff tend to be extraordinary delicious even though I'm not a big fan of deep fried goods :p



Lastly, we were shown how to assemble the Cinnamon Honey Ricotta Spread. It was a very easy 5 minutes job to impress the family or guests which can be served as a bread or French toast spread or as part of a cheese/dessert course. Loved the slight creamy ricotta texture with the sweet honey and a hint of cinnamon taste.



The class ended with all of us sitting down to enjoy all the yummy goodies that we have made up with a cup of tea or coffee. Nigel also took this hour as the opportunity to address any more questions from the bunch of eager beaver ladies.

You can find the class schedule plus book your baking class(es) here. Do note that you can buy a single (RM180) class or even 2 (RM320) or 4 (RM610) classes package. The schedule for July is not up yet but I can type them out.

Thursdays

5 July - A Passel of Triffles (Part 1)
Hot Milk Vanilla Cake, Traditional Triffle, Victoria Sandwich, Creme Chantilly, enriched custard & Lemon Thyme Drizzle Cake.

12 July - A Passel of Triffles (Part 2)
Devil's Food Cake, Chocolate Trifle, Chocolate Custard, Salted Toffee Chocolate Topping.

19 July - Clouds of White (Part 1)
French Meringue, Berry Pavlova, Iles Flottane, Creme Angliase, Elton Mess, Creme Chantilly and Creme Fraiche.

26 July - Clouds of White (Part 2)
Individual Bombe Alaskas, Real Lemon Curd, Lemon Meringue Cake.

Saturdays

7 July - Cookies
Rolled Cookies, Dropped Cookies, Sandwich Cookies.

14 July - Cheesecakes (Chilled) (Part 1)
White Choc Wasabi Cheese Tart, Chilled Strawberry Cheesecake and the perfect biscuit base.

21 July - Cheesecakes (Baked - No Cracks) (Part 2)
Baked NY Cheesecake, fruit variations, how to make it denser, lighter and various toppings and swirls.

28 July - Local Chiffon Flavours
Basic stable chiffon in a ring mold and in a 9" round mold, Buttercream, Cempedak Buttercream Chiffon and Durian Pandan Chiffon.


I would like to thank Nigel for the invitation to join in the class. I've learnt a lot that Saturday afternoon and enjoyed the banters with the rest of the ladies I've met in the class. There will be a repeat of this class on 9 August (Thu) is you're interested to learn the same items ;-)


The Baking Barn
By Just Heavenly
47 Jalan Terasek
Bangsar
Kuala Lumpur
Tel: +603 2287 9866 or +603 2284 9866

Sliced Red Dragonfruit Cheesecake

Just to show the cross section of the Red Dragonfruit Cheesecake that I've made. Looks beautiful but tastewise it's not sweet at all, in fact a little bland. So if you're replacing the canned peach with red dragonfruit, do add in more sugar.

Thanks all for your concern over my mishap. As of this afternoon, my PC is running fine and dandy (YAY!!) after all the never ending OS updates yada, yada, yada...


Technorati Tags: cheesecake + dragonfruit

Red Dragonfruit Cheesecake

After the tip off by da beautiful Mei Yen about swirling red dragonfruit into her cheesecake, I decided to do the same after buying some locally planted species. According to the owner of the farm, they are sweeter compared to Vietnamese dragonfruit as the local ones are pluck after the fruit is ripen on the tree.

Whilst I was slicing the fruit, I stole some bites and my oh my, it was really sweet but I was still skeptical about the taste after mixing into the cheese. Anyway, I went ahead and made one based on the Peachy Cheesecake recipe. I tasted the cheese mixture after mixing in the dragonfruit puree which seems all right.

Sad to say after chilling it, I did not get to taste it. Instead I presented it to my brother for his birthday. Since he wasn't around, we did not managed to sing him a song and have him cut the cake. Hubby and I left thereafter. However, he told me it was good. The deep purple colour is so rich and lovely... very captivating. Looks like I'll have to make another one... SOON!

Here's a shot I managed to stole before sending it off...



Technorati Tags: cheesecake + dragonfruit

Apple Cheesecake

Based on the Peachy Cheesecake recipe, I recreated an apple one by cooking chopped apples in a wee bit of water with some brown sugar and cinnamon powder, then blend them up once cooled down. In another pot, I did the same with thinly sliced apples. Replaced the pureed peach with pureed apple. I was too lazy to wait out for the cream cheese concoction to set so I just arranged the sliced apples above the biscuit based. This is a NO NO... so please don't be lazy like I did haha else the cheese portion will come off easily instead of attaching to the biscuit base. If you're lazier, just skip making apple slices. Tasted as good as the peachy one, if not, better as commented by a guinea pig.



Technorati Tags: cheesecake + apple

Carrot Cheesecake

I've gotten hold of Yum Yum Publications' latest Chinese-English bi-lingual cookbook - Yummy Cheesecakes by Kelly Tang. It contains mostly baked cheesecakes recipes. Since I was too lazy to do anything heavy over the holiday period, I picked this Carrot Cheesecake from this cookbook to experiment.

When I was going thru the recipe, it really struck me that the recipe looked more like a butter cake instead of a cheesecake and I didn't bothered to add more cream cheese knowing very well 125g of them is seriously very little to impart much cheese taste. So much so that my hubby proclaimed that I thau kung karm liew (Cantonese for stinge on work and ingredients) after tasting one piece of it!!! Grrr... all right lah actually if you really want more cheese flavour, I suggest you use more cream cheese and a little more carrots if you want extra bites. This cake need to be baked in a water bath, so remember to boil some water before hand.

Check out my cake surface... its very dark cos my oven temperature had gone bonkers and I need to get the technician to come and adjust the oven. Apart from the darkened surface, the centre of the cake is not fully cooked too (I managed to hide that part in the shadow in my pic haha), funny though that the skewer came out clean when I checked for doneness. So this means no baking will be done the next couple of weeks, must get the oven done up before Chinese New Year. I have been dragging my feet since a few months back...

Carrot Cheesecake

Ingredients A:
125g softened cream cheese
150g softened unsalted butter
230g castor sugar
5 eggs

Ingredients B (sifted together):
230g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder

Ingredients C:
50g grated carrot, squeeze out the juice
1 tsp vanilla essence

Method:

1. Beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add in sugar and beat till creamy and pale.

2. Add in eggs one at a time and stir well. Slowly fold in B.

3. Lastly mix in ingredients C. Pour mixture into a lined 8"/20cm round cake pan and place onto a baking tray filled with water and steam bake at 180C for 40-60 minutes or until well cooked. Remove and leave to cool. Serve.

Ref: Yummy Cheesecakes, Kelly Tang, Yum Yum Publications Sdn Bhd first published in Sept 2006

There were some extra batter which was enough for a few cupcakes. They really looked good here.



Technorati Tags: cheesecake

Oreo Cheesecake

Made this cheesecake but it's really not up to mark as the texture is not creamy enough and since my brother had experimented this recipe twice and failed badly, I tried to improvised here and there too. Still it is not satisfactory, so I'm gonna try another recipe later on.

Oreo Cheesecake

Crust:
120g Oreo biscuits, removed filling* and crushed (I've used the whole pack)
70g unsalted butter (cut this down to 40g, still works but slightly crumbly)

Filling:
250g cream cheese, softened
125g caster sugar (I've used 80g instead but I think 100g would be just nice)
2 pieces Oreo biscuits, removed filling and crushed
*Oreo biscuits' fillings from crust
150g dairy whipping cream

1 1/2 tbsp gelatine powder
80ml full cream milk (I've sub with low fat)

1. Crust: Combine all ingredients and press into a 7" (18cm) round springform pan. Chill in fridge till firm.

2. Filling: Beat cream cheese and caster sugar till smooth. Add remaining ingredients and mix well.

3. Combine gelatine powder, full cream milk and double boil until dissolved. Pour into cream cheese mixture and mix well. Spread onto crust.

4. Chill in the fridge for 3 hours before serving.


Ref: Kelly Tang, 2005, Taste of Cold, Sweet Temptation, Yum Yum Publications Sdn Bhd

Technorati Tags: cheesecake

Peachy Cheesecake

By far this is the yummiest and easiest cheesecake I've ever made hahaha well not that I've made that many in the first place. Thumbs up from all guinea pigs.

PEACHY CHEESECAKE

Crust:
150g Digestive biscuit crumbs
110g unsalted butter, melted

Filling:
250g cream cheese, softened
50g caster sugar
50g dairy whipping cream
400g canned peaches, drained and blended into puree
1 1/2 tbsp gelatine powder
2 tbsp water

Crust: Combine digestive biscuit crumbs with melted butter and press into the bottom of a 7" (18cm) loose based pan. Chill in the fridge until firm.

Filling: Beat cream cheese, sugar and whipping cream until smooth. Add in peach puree and mix well.

Mix gelatine powder with water, double-boiled till dissolved and mix into filling mixture. Pour onto crust and chill in the fridge for at least 3 hours.

Ref: Kelly Tang, 2005, Taste of Cold, Sweet Temptation, Yum Yum Publications Sdn Bhd

I find the melted butter was too much for 150g of crumbs, I had to add 2 more pieces of biscuits to have a less soggy crust. Else, everything was fine. Pictures were lousy even though taken in broad daylight due to hazy skies, duh!



Technorati Tags: cheesecake

Swee San's Lemony Cheesecake

Sighhh as if with the cough is not enough, I've now contracted Conjunctivitis. 3 more days medical leave was given by my doctor to prevent me from spreading to anyone in the office which means I gotta stay away from boiboi too. Arrrghhh!!! Sighhhh it's so boring staying at home and it's so hot too! Hard to open my eyes wide wide as there are some sticky discharge. Hopefully I should be better by tomorrow.

A couple of weeks ago I've made a Lemony biscuit based cheesecake using Swee San's (of A Self-Proclaimed Foodaholic) recipe. Like she have said, it's an easy peasy recipe and I actually trusted her that this is good stuff! It's no kidding ok cos it was really good. Guinea pigs also told me it was good haha but I need a proper pie tart mold as those I have were either too big or too small for the recipe. I ended up making two of them in smaller containers and both have fillings over-flowing the biscuit base but luckily they were thick enough to hold the shape. Head on here to check out her recipe.



I can't wait for more recipes from her. Swee San had just reached Sydney to pursue a course in Le Cordon Bleu and don't forget to check out all those delicious goodies she churned out everyday!!! Wished I'm her neighbour in Sydney so that she can feed me those goodies everyday she brought back from class haha. Thanks sweetie for the wonderful recipe.

Technorati Tags: cheesecake + lemon + lemon cheesecake