Chocolate cheesecake Bundt cake with dark chocolate ganache

My loyal Bundt cake pan has been sitting desolately in the back of the cupboard for quite a while, so I went on the hunt for interesting Bundt cakes, and spied this cheesecake-filled version. My recipe is a three-part hybrid. The original cheesecake filling made the cut (with slight measurement alterations). For the cake I opted for a new-to-me chocolate cake recipe, which is going to be used again in this house because it's awesome. Very easy to put together, moist and chocolatey good. And then ganache, because I couldn't leave it bare, and because, well, chocolate.

The original cake ingredient list included sour cream, but in baking sour cream and thick natural yoghurt are often interchangeable. We always have The Collective Straight Up yoghurt in the fridge (I reckon it tastes better than the other natural yoghurt brands you can buy from the supermarket - some of them are too tangy to be good on their own), so that was an obvious switch. Always good when you don't have to buy special ingredients *just* to make cake...

The gentle tang of the yoghurt in the cake works well together with the cheesecake, I reckon - that was my logic in straying from my go-to chocolate cake, and I'm pleased I did. And as I mentioned earlier, it's very easy to put together, so I think we're onto a winner.

The trickiest part is getting the cheesecake filling spread around the tin - I started with a spoon, but switched to a piping bag midway through and found it much easier. Either way will work but if you have the choice go with the bag.

The cheesecake would work equally well with flavour added - I'm thinking a teaspoonful of Fresh As powder in the fruit of your choice would change it up nicely.

To top it all off I whipped up a quick ganache, though I was distracted while making it and added too much chocolate (a phrase I never expected to utter - I mean, is "too much chocolate" even a thing?), which meant it was spreadable rather than drizzly. Even after using the hairdryer to try to make it run down the sides of the cake.

If you follow my recipe (a feat I am apparently incapable of) yours should pour nicely, though. Which will benefit you, especially if you go to the effort of perfectly prepping a fiddly Bundt tin beforehand.

The more detailed your cake tin is the more it matters how you prep it - a smooth ring tin might be fine with a quick spray, but a Bavaria one like mine has many niggly little grooves that want to hold on tightly to cake, so careful prepping is key to getting the cake out intact.

My process is this: first I spray the pan liberally with non-stick spray. Then I turn it over and hold over the sink for a minute, to allow any excess spray to run out. Next, I add flour (about a tablespoonful) and shake it all about until the surface is coated. Finally, I upend the tin over the sink again and tap it a couple of times - quite firmly - to knock out any extra flour.

This adds a very small amount of flour to the surface of the cake. Taste-wise you can't tell, but it does make the crust slightly paler. If I'm not icing a cake (Bundt cakes are so pretty it can seem a waste to ice them) I still would usually put some kind of glaze or syrup over it, which tends to darken the cake up a bit so if you're concerned about it looking pale then glaze is your friend.

So tell me - have you ever used a hairdryer, or other unlikely appliance, in the kitchen? Or is that just me?

Chocolate bundt cake with cheesecake filling and chocolate ganache icing
Filling (recipe adapted from Handle the Heat)
250g cream cheese
1/2 cup / 110g sugar
1 egg
2 tsp / 8g flour
1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
Cake (recipe adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod)
225g butter
1/3 cup / 45g cocoa
1 cup water
2 cups / 365g flour
1 3/4 cup / 450g sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1/2 cup Greek yoghurt
1 tsp vanilla extract
Ganache (my own recipe)
150g chocolate
125ml cream

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C. Spray and flour a large bundt pan, tapping any excess flour out.

Prepare the filling. Beat the cream cheese and sugar together until sugar is dissolved. Beat egg, flour and vanilla in, then set aside.

Prepare the cake batter. Combine butter, cocoa and water in a saucepan over a medium heat, stirring occasionally until butter is melted and ingredients are combined.

In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar and baking soda. Add half the cocoa mixture and beat until  just combined, then repeat with the other half. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition, then add yoghurt and vanilla and mix to combine.

Assemble the cake: pour half the batter into the prepared bundt tin. Using a piping bag or a spoon distribute the cream cheese mixture around the cake, keeping it away from the edges of the tin. Pour the remaining cake batter on top.

Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a knife inserted shows the cake batter has cooked (the cheesecake batter will stay gooey so don't worry if this comes out; if the chocolatey part is cooked you're good).

Cool for 30 minutes then turn out carefully onto a plate (if it has risen substantially or unevenly you can trim the top first so that it sits flat).

Heat the cream in a small saucepan until just on the edge of boiling. Remove from heat and add the chocolate, and stir until smooth. Drizzle over the cake. Serve warm or chilled - it's good both ways!

The Collective kindly provided the yoghurt for this recipe, but I wouldn't recommend it to you if I wasn't a fan. 

Audacious, outrageous ice cream cake

Well. It's December. Summer. Season of barbeques and gatherings, complaining because it's too muggy and not the holidays yet, or complaining that it's not hot enough yet (it's always one way or the other). 

I mentioned in my email last week that it's all about ice cream for me right now - I struggle to let a day go by without at least a small dose. I'm quite enjoying sharing ice creams with the Little Monkey because although he has well and truly mastered most foods, he still always forgets about temperature so every mouthful of frozen goodness comes with an expression of complete shock. He loves it, but it's hilarious to watch. 

This cake is great for sharing, even with little people - the medley of flavours and textures make it more of a complete dessert than ice cream is on its own (I have a special set of criteria for dessert... That's not weird is it?), and it'll definitely please all ages. And even though it's pretty simple it looks flash so is perfect for taking to parties or gatherings. 

And the nature of it means you can substitute ingredients to your heart's content - anything that you think will taste good in ice cream should work. This is my personal holy grail - raspberries for flavour, maltesers for malt-factor and chocolate, marshmallows for chewiness, Turkish delight for more different chewiness, and meringues on top for crunch. But you may have a different formula. You know, I reckon chopped up Snickers bars would work pretty well in place of the Maltesers... 

I should also note that quantities are approximate, so if the odd Malteser or marshmallow accidentally falls into waiting mouths during construction the cake will be fine. I have thoroughly tested this and am confident it will stand up to the stress. ;-) 

Are you in ice cream mode yet? What's your favourite dessert to take to a BBQ or potluck at this time of year? 

Audacious, outrageous ice cream cake

1 litre vanilla ice cream

155g Maltesers

2 cups frozen raspberries + 1 cup for topping

180g marshmallows

200g chocolate covered Turkish delight (I used bars this time but the blocks also work)

2-3 meringues

Scoop the ice cream into a large bowl and allow to soften slightly. Line a 24cm cake tin with baking paper, tin foil or glad wrap. 

Using the side of a knife, partially crush the Maltesers and spread them over the bottom of the cake tin. 

Chop the marshmallows in half. Chop the Turkish delight into small chunks. 

Add the first two cups of raspberries, the marshmallows and most of the Turkish delight into the bowl with the ice cream. Mix until well combined then scoop into the cake tin and gently spread to fit the tin, taking care not to push all the Maltesers to one side. Cover and freeze for at least 6 hours. 

To serve, gently heat the remaining cup of raspberries, mashing with a spoon, until pulpy. Set aside. 

Unmold the cake by running a hot cloth around the perimeter of the tin, and then turning the cake onto a large platter. Gently crumble the meringues over the top, then sprinkle on the remaining Turkish delight, and dollop on spoonfuls of the raspberry puree. Serve immediately. 

Perfect pear and chocolate cake

I've been eyeing up this recipe for a while, and we keep getting pears in our fruit and vege box (I guess we're not quite into summer fruit season yet) so with the awful weather yesterday I finally got around to giving it a whirl.

I spied it over on Not Quite Nigella, where the lovely Lorraine has been sharing great recipes for a blogland eternity - since 2007. I've been following her since not long after she started, and love her quirky recipes and ideas, though as ever I am mainly drawn to her cakes.

This cake sounded delicious, pretty easy, and perfect to use up the pears in the fruit bowl. And as it turned out it is all of those things (except that the fruit bowl is empty now).

The batter is very simple to put together - chopping up the fruit was the trickiest bit and that wasn't arduous. There's enough fruit to make the batter go a long way, and as a result the cake feels less rich - though the addition of chocolate helps to boost the decadence level back up into the acceptable zone.

Though it's a pear cake I used both pears and apples, as they are reasonably interchangeable in baking. This will alter the flavour of the cake slightly but unless you happen to hate one or the other (or have an allergy) that's unlikely to be polarising. The main thing is that the fruit makes the cake dense and moist.

It was billed as a breakfast cake, and although I will confess to having eaten cake for breakfast on the odd occasion, I still think this qualifies as dessert, not really breakfast food (if you choose to have dessert for breakfast that's your call, but you've got to own it!).

It's especially awesome served warm with a generous scoop of good quality chocolate ice-cream, but is good cold too.

Perfect pear and chocolate cake (adapted from Not Quite Nigella)
100ml vegetable oil (canola or sunflower)
150g caster sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
250g flour
2 tsps baking powder
75ml milk
5 pears (or apples, or a mixture)
125g chopped chocolate

Preheat oven to 170C. Grease a 23cm round springform cake tin.

Chop two of the pears into small cubes (1cm or less). Halve and core the other three, then carefully score along the outside.

Beat together oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla until double in volume.

Add half the flour, baking powder and milk and fold until just combined. Add the remaining half and fold again, then add the chopped pears and chocolate and fold in. Scrape the batter into the prepared tin and top with the scored pears.

Bake for 50-60 minutes, until a skewer comes out  clean. Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve with lashings of chocolate ice-cream or cream. Serves 8 for dessert.

Mrs Cake's ultimate easy crowd-pleasing chocolate cake

This is like the little black dress of recipes. I know it off by heart and it's such a great basic chocolate cake. It's no chocolate nemesis torte, but it works consistently and is easy and inexpensive to make.

All dressed up for my sister's 21st

It's ideal for parties, because you can dress it up as much as you like and you can easily double the recipe and feed screeds of people. It was the staple birthday cake in our house growing up (I believe 21 years ago today it became a Bananas in Pajamas cake for my sister - happy birthday Cathie!) and despite being fed to hordes of sugar-hungry kids at parties or our enormous extended family at Sunday Tea there would always be leftovers for the next day.

In fact, there's a fair bit of photographic evidence of this cake in my life - because in the olden days before digital cameras people usually only got the camera out for milestones, like, say birthdays. Oh look, cake! The photos above show my christening, 1st birthday and 4th birthday (I guess the party wasn't rocking enough for our liking?).

The recipe has three stages - creaming the butter and sugar, which is a technique I'll cover in more detail later in the week, is the first. I recommend using a bowl with a shield if you have one, or if not use the biggest bowl you have!

Then the dry ingredients get added, and then the milk and baking soda get warmed to activate the raising agent and beaten in to the mix. Easy!

It makes a pretty runny batter but cooks up beautifully... Although I *may* have gotten slightly distracted in the last five minutes of cooking so this is slightly more cooked than I'd like.

Usually I trim the top to flatten it out, which has the added bonus of being able to taste-test (especially good if you're, say, giving it to your neighbour to thank them for helping sort out a flat car battery and want to make sure it tastes good, hypothetically speaking of course). Then I flip it over and ice it upside-down.

This time I used ganache, which I whipped up to make lighter and fluffier. I then sprinkled a few crumbled freeze-dried raspberries on top and voila! Cake time.

Does your family have any special celebration recipes?

Chocolate Cake
1 cup/285g sugar
1 egg
1 Tbsp golden syrup
125g butter
2 cups/300g flour
4 Tbsp/20g cocoa
2 tsp/8g baking powder
300ml milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp/5g baking soda

Preheat oven to 160 C. Grease a 22cm cake tin.

Cream butter, sugar, golden syrup and eggs together. Add flour, cocoa and baking powder and mix briefly to combine (it doesn't have to be fully mixed, and will look crumbly).

Warm milk, vanilla essence and baking soda in microwave for about 2 minutes, and then gradually beat into the rest of the mix just until the batter is smooth.

Pour the batter into the cake tin. Bake for about 40 minutes until the cake springs back if gently pressed or a knife or skewer comes out without goo (it doesn't have to be clean - so long as any crumbs that come out are cooked).

Ice using ganache, cream cheese icing or whatever suits.

Note: this recipe can easily be doubled - in fact I've halved it because the original makes such a big cake. If you do, I recommend using two 26cm tins and baking in layers, with cook time of around 30-35 minutes. You can do the layers one after the other if you only have one tin - just remember to regrease it in between. 

If you cook it in one layer it will take a lot longer to cook - around an hour - and the edges will likely end up a little dry, which can be overcome by drizzling with sugar syrup or just by ensuring lashings of icing. 

You can also use different size tins but cooking time will vary and a larger tin will make a flatter cake. It also makes great cupcakes; the recipe above makes 18 cupcakes, which take 15-18 minutes at 180 C to bake. 

Chocolate Carrot Cake

After a long absence, I’ve decided I need to get back into blogging. There are a lot of exciting things happening in foodland and I need to do something a little more constructive than watching mind-numbing television and something a little less expensive than constantly renovating and improving our home. And I have missed you guys! 

 

I think I needed a break, because I had gotten to a point where it didn’t matter how many gorgeous and luscious-looking recipes I saw, I wasn’t inspired to try anything new. This recipe broke that spell for me, even though I had to wade through a dodgy Google Translate version to produce it – there was a close call with the raising agent (the ingredient list said yeast, but I trusted my instinct and used baking powder), and I still don’t know if the nut content is supposed to be pecans or walnuts – but it doesn’t really matter, either will be delicious.

I was intrigued by the idea of mixing together two of the best cake flavours – chocolate and carrot – and to be honest didn’t expect too much, as I often find that the pretty (and sometimes no so pretty) pictures which do the rounds on Pinterest fit firmly in the gilded-lily category. And often less is more, even when it comes to food. But in this case – OTT works.

Everyone who has tried it has raved about it and the cake is really easy to make, being a carrot cake made with oil there’s no creaming involved. The icing, which is a little bit tricker but still definitely not rocket science, would benefit from a mixer, electric beaters or at least old-fashioned egg beaters to get nice and smooth – but is worth every bit of washing up you have to do – it is so rich, so creamy, so delicious…

Unfortunately my Pinterest-trawling must have brainwashed me a bit because apparently I forgot how to take photos for a blog - notably, no pretty-cake-at-the-end pictures (I can't decide if it's ironic that I forgot the photos when inspired by someone else's food porn, or if it's a result of the very visual inspiration). So I'm going to make it again, in the next couple of days, and update this post with a picture of the (hopefully) pretty end result then - but in the meantime, here's the recipe - and if you click the source link below you can check out the gorgeous photos which made me want to make it. 

Have you ever translated a recipe, and did the language barrier cause any puzzling moments? 

A hastily made and hastily photographed version of this cake - better than no photo but only just!

Chocolate carrot cake (adapted from Food and Cook) 
100g walnuts or pecans
340g grated carrot

1 tin of pineapple pieces, drained
4 eggs 
200g sugar
100g brown sugar
240ml sunflower or canola oil 
2 tsp vanilla essence
280g flour 
25g cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
 1/4 tsp nutmeg

Icing 
270g dark chocolate
170g cream cheese
85g butter (at room temperature) 
240g icing sugar
4 Tbsp cocoa
1/2 tsp salt 
160g sour cream or plain yogurt

Preheat the oven to 180 C. Roast nuts for about 8 minutes, watching carefully to ensure they don't burn. Grate carrot and nuts and set aside with drained pineapple. 
Mix together flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon.In another bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar until fluffy, then add the oil and vanilla and continue beating until well blended and light.Add the liquid to the dry ingredients and mix until combined, then add the carrots, nuts and pineapple and mix in. Grease two 22cm round cake tins and divide the batter between them. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.
When the cakes are cool prepare the icing. Melt the chocolate, either with short bursts (1 minute then 10 second intervals, stirring in between) or over a double boiler.
Beat the butter and cream cheese together until fluffy. Sift the icing sugar and cocoa in and beat until well combined.
 

Add the sour cream or yogurt to the melted chocolate and mix to combine, then add to the butter mixture a beat well.

Spread about 1/4 of the icing on one of the cakes to form the bottom layer. Place the second cake on top, and use the rest of the icing to cover the top and sides. Store in a cool place (fridge or cool pantry) and eat within 2-3 days.
 

Notes: 

• If you only have one tin you can bake the mixture at once to make one thick cake, but reduce the oven temperature and cook for longer, then cut in half to fill when icing it. 
• This recipe translates well into cupcakes - bake for 15-18 minutes and pipe the icing on.  

How to Pipe Icing Roses

First of all, sorry for my long absence. Real life has been pretty busy, between work, avoiding rugby, having wisdom teeth removed, sickness, and bathroom renovations (long story) - and unfortunately the blog loses out when I run out of hours and/or energy. However, I am back! With a decorating technique which you may remember from my Grandmother's 80th birthday rainbow cake.

This is my favourite decorating discovery in quite a while - probably since I figured out how easy it is to pipe cupcake swirls and impress everyone. All you need to make this cake is a bit of control over a piping bag - actually, if you don't have it when you start have a few practice goes then scrape the icing off and start again. Even if you're a complete icing novice you should be able to do this!

Unfortunately a cake covered in rose-like swirls isn't appropriate for every occasion, but there are still opportunities and if there aren't make your own. I made this cake (which, incidentally, is kumara and ginger cake, very yummy!) for my dentist, who I don't imagine is much a fan of swirly roses but who needed a cake on account of removing five teeth from my mouth with relatively minimal discomfort and generally being a good sort. Most people are accepting enough of cake that they will eat it regardless of the decoration. ;-)

To ice a cake this way, you need a few things;

1. A cake

2. Icing soft enough to pipe but firm enough to hold its shape

3. A large piping bag

4. A large open star piping tip (Wilton 1M or equivalent)

5. A spatula

6. Gel colour and a paintbrush (optional)

For icing, buttercream is the easiest to get the correct consistency, and any recipe will do - generally, if it's not stiff enough add a little more icing sugar. I frequently use cream cheese icing, though cream cheese and icing sugar can do strange non-Newtonian liquid type things so make sure you use butter as well. Ganache also works but you'll want to whip it so that it's not too heavy and pipe it soon after.

The dual-colour effect is optional, but pretty simple to achieve - paint a stripe of gel colour (your accent colour) down one side of the piping bag before filling it (if you need to refill the bag, which you probably will, do this again each time).

The icing on one side of the bag will be tinted by this, and the rotation of the bag as you pipe will naturally swirl the colour through each rose. The saturation of colour will diminish as you go (i.e. the first couple will be darkest) so you might want to pipe in a semi-random order rather than progressing around the cake.


Getting down to business; piping the rosettes is really easy, and (bonus) you really can scrape the icing off and start over (just don't put crumb-infested icing back in with pure icing - use it for filling your next cake instead, or just eat it off a spoon) so there's no need for stress.

Scoop icing into the piping bag, filling it no more than two-thirds (if you over-fill it the icing will squeeze out the top end when you're not looking). Try to squeeze any air out, then twist the top of the bag and grasp it firmly in whichever hand feels more natural - probably your writing hand.

Squeeze a bit of icing out into the icing bowl to get any air out of the tip and get it flowing. Position the piping tip where you want the centre of the first rose to be, apply firm, even pressure, and move the tip in a close spiral out from the centre point, allowing the icing to lay on the cake. When the rose is large enough (size is up to you), release the pressure so the icing stops flowing, then pull the icing tip away. Voila!

Repeat this to cover the cake. Once you get the hang of it it's pretty speedy.

Try to arrange the roses so there aren't huge gaps, but you can fill the holes by piping semi-circles as needed. Use the same technique but just run the nozzle along the gap you need to fill. When the cake is complete these bits will just blend into the overall picture.

To do the sides the technique is the same, just make sure you get the nozzle nice and close to the cake so the icing sticks on, since gravity won't be on your side. Again, swoopy semi-circles will fill large gaps. 

If there are small holes between roses (i.e. measurable in millimetres; too small to pipe into) use something small (the end of a teaspoon, as I did, or a skewer) to poke into the holes - you'll be able to push the icing around a little until it joins up. Sort of hard to explain but just give it a go - it will make more sense when you're doing it!

And that's that. You have a cake worthy of a dentist... Or a grandmother... Or another deserving person or occasion. And the dentist loved it. Would you give your dentist a cake? What's the most unusual occasion you've ever applied cake to?