Compelling Powers

 

 

I am compelled by two powers to write this.

The power of convection oven has compelled me to bring her justice.  I shall not give names; these are what bakers said about convection oven, and there are tons more negative comments out there:

“Almost all of the cheesecakes that I baked in it (convection oven) were a flop.”

“The fan of convection ovens can be too strong for cake batters, and the disturbance could cause some cakes to fall. Less movement in the oven is better for fragile items like cakes.”

 

This is what she has asked me to convey:

“Your cheesecakes were a flop because your skill sucks.  For you who think that I am too strong, either you are so ignorant or you are so egoistic that you cannot accept anyone better!!??  I am just so glad I didn’t end up in your kitchen, but HKG’s.  It’s not like she didn’t have a choice you know.  You see, I am not alone; my partner, the convention oven, lives with us. Honestly, her skill sucks too when she started baking with convention oven, but at least she is not as ignorant and egoistic.  She found me and eventually convinced that I am the one.  I don’t burn your cake; you don’t have to tent it. On the contrary, I give you beautiful, even tan on your cakes. Plus, you can look straight into your cake every freaking second while baking. Have a look at the cheesecake HKG baked last week.  Get it? Get it?

 

 

What you need is skill and knowledge, which you obviously don’t have. With me, reduce temperature by 10 to 15C.  If you are using a dark baking pan, reduce by another 10C.”

The power of cheesecake has compelled me to air her grievances.

 “I prefer to be baked in a convection oven.  Firstly, convention oven gives me freckles. Would you like freckles on your face? Huh, huh??? Secondly, I don’t like to be tented, it’s already hot in the oven; tent?? Are you nuts?  Do you think I like cracks on my face? Are you out of your freaking mind? I love to go crack-less; it takes skills but it's possible.  More importantly, crack is not my fault!  Neither is the convection oven’s! She was merely doing what you told her to do.  You heated me too much too high.  Do I look like a balloon to you? Even balloon burst at some point of time. The crater around the cheesecake?  -  Not my fault! Again, a temperature issue. Come on, even Ramsay’s cheesecake has that! What’s so big deal?  Move on people !

I admit that I am not perfect;  I know that I am temperamental.  But hey, I am a very forgiving cake.  Ok? Are we cool here?  I may have freckles with scar face, but I still taste as good.  BUT, if you are just as shallow as I thought you were, top me with fresh berries.  Then go learn from the expert because there are tons of people who love me just as I am - without garnish.

The bottom line is; if you could just brush up your skills, that would save us all tons of pain and frustration, not to mention finger pointing.

One last thing, you forgive yourself every time you make a mistake; why can’t you be as forgiving as me to others?? After all, it’s your fault that your skill sucks! ”

 

 

CC Cheese Cake

After my experience with bread, even more so with my still on-going quest for chewy chocolate chips cookies, cheese cake is my confidence booster.

A friend gave me the recipe.  The first time I baked it, I followed it all diligently; even when that meant having some left over cream; too much to trash and too little for anything else.  Frustrating isn’t it?? So it sat in the fridge for many, many days and finally ended up in the trash bag. *URGHHH*

I think it’s in my gene (ya right, what an excuse …), having left over ingredients just drives me nuts!  So I looked around and concluded that a little difference in the cream cheese and thickened cream ratio is not going to kill the recipe. I don’t know the original source of the recipe; obviously it has been passed around from one generous baker to another, then to another.  Thank you all for sharing your precious recipes and experiences in your food blogs.  We food bloggers are bunch of nice people you know …. **blush blush**

Here is my modified version. 

Ingredients:

Base

15 pcs of Digestive Biscuits (crushed)

80g melted butter

Or,

20 pcs of Oreo cookies (crushed,40 pcs after cream removed)

45g melted butter

Filling

2x 250g of Kraft Philadelphia cream cheese

150g caster sugar

1 ½ tablespoon of corn flour

2 eggs, lightly beaten

275ml Thickened cream (I use Bula)

Optional:

 Juice and zest of lemon

Or

Zest of 1 orange

Directions:

1.      Combine biscuits crumbs and melted butter.  Press into a spring form cake pan lined with aluminum foil. Chill in fridge for half an hour.

2.      Beat cream cheese and sugar till smooth.  Add corn flour, eggs, thicken cream and beat till combine.

3.      Add lemon juice and zest or orange zest.

4.      Pour mixture into prepared cake pan and bake for 40 – 45 mins at 180C. 

5.      Cool in oven till near to room temperature and chill in fridge overnight.

You will find that the cream cheese and cream portion is in full packing size. If you are using different brands, potentially different packing size,  er ...  go with the gut feeling;  a little more or less is fine.

My kids love Oreo cookies base, which means the Digestive biscuits are now sitting in the can doing nothing … *URGHHH*

If you like thicker base, by all means increase the base portion.  I have also tried mixing Oreo cookies with Digestive biscuits in an attempt to finish up the latter.  My daughter commented: “Mummy, the Oreo base taste different today and it is not as sweet.” She is 11 years old, and refused to be fooled.

The challenge for me is the aesthetic look of the cheese cake.  My cheese cakes had this rim around it; like Crater Lake. Sometimes better sometimes not, depending on how I played with the oven conditions. Sad to say, I have not found the right conditions … yet. But hey, even Starbucks cheese cake looks the same! Happened to the pro even, so I am not that in a hurry.

My good friend, Jen, bake hers in water bath to avoid crater formation.  I am not sure how well that works, but I won’t do it.  Once, and only once, I had my bread dough in the oven with hot water during proofing.  The steam went in between the glass panels of the door; leaving running water marks, drove me nuts!  Worst, that area is not accessible for cleaning … still an eyesore! *URGHHH*

This is the first time I had such an even rise in the oven.  I think that's because I covered the top since the very beginning.  Then I had to uncover it cos' there was no sign of drying after 30 mins.

Rim or no rim, they all taste good.  Friends have asked for the recipe and happily baking away ...