After I made the blueberry cheesecake for her, I decided to make a cheesecake for me and Kemal, but I made the crust a little different. Kemal isn’t crazy about graham cracker crusts, so ... [read more]]]> Vesna’s blueberry cheesecake for a really sweet girl at work who requested this cake for her 20th birthday.

After I made the blueberry cheesecake for her, I decided to make a cheesecake for me and Kemal, but I made the crust a little different. Kemal isn’t crazy about graham cracker crusts, so I made our cheesecake with ladyfingers dipped in tangerine juice. And since we both love raw honey, I topped our cheesecake with that and a little whipped cream.

The crust (as well as the cheesecake) had a beautiful taste, but I didn’t care for the texture of the crust because it was too wet. Graham cracker crusts are much better for cheesecakes I think. I’ll give you the recipe I used in case you want to try it, but honestly, I suggest just making it with a graham cracker crust instead.  To do so, you’ll need a stick of butter and sleeve of graham crackers. Click on the link for Vesna’s blueberry cheese for instructions on how to make a graham cracker crust.

Honey Citrus Cheesecake

Adapted from: Vesna’s Blueberry Cheesecake

Ingredients:

• 1 pkg. cream cheese
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 12 ladyfinger cookies
• 1 cup tangerine juice (you can substitute with orange juice)
• 1/2 cup raw honey
• 1 pkg. Dream Whip whipped topping
• 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup cold milk
• Optional: cinnamon sugar for sprinkling

Instructions:

• Remove the cream cheese from the refrigerator so it can soften some.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Grease and flour a round, 8-inch Springform cake pan.
• Pour the tangerine (or orange) juice in a bowl.
• Use your fingers to submerge a ladyfinger cookie into the juice until it gets soft, and then place it in your greased baking pan.
• Continue this process with the rest of the ladyfingers until the bottom of the cake pan is covered. (Since you’re using a round pan and rectangular shaped cookies, you’ll need to break some of the cookies apart in order to cover the bottom of the pan.)
• Next, press down on the very soft cookies to make a moist crust. Flatten the cookies out so the entire bottom of the pan is covered…similar to how you would flatten a graham cracker crust.
• Now you want to make sure your Springform pan doesn’t leak any juice. If it is leaking, let the liquid ooze out the edges then wipe the outside of the pan. You can place the Springform pan on top of a cookie sheet and then bake it that way if you’re worried it will leak. I didn’t do that though and didn’t have any problems with the pan leaking.
• Bake the crust for 10 minutes.
• While the crust is baking, make the filling for your cheesecake by mixing together the cream cheese, the 2 eggs, and the sugar with an electric beater.
• Remove the crust from the oven after 10 minutes, and then pour the cheesecake filling on top of the crust.
• Flatten the filling with a spatula so it’s even and then bake for about 20 minutes.
• After 20 minutes, check your cheesecake. If it’s still a little jiggly in the center, reduce the heat to 300 degrees and cook for another 10 minutes or so, being sure to watch it carefully.
• When the cheesecake is no longer jiggly, remove it from the oven and let it cool on the counter.
• After it’s cooled down, spread the honey on top of it.
• Refrigerate overnight.
• In the morning, make your whipped topping by beating together one package of Dream Whip, the vanilla, and the milk.
• Decorate the top of the cheesecake with whipped cream, sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar if you like, then serve cold.

I wanted to make a very special cake for my very special friend, Vesna. It’s her birthday today (March 16th), and I made her favorite cake, which is called Queen Cake, in honor of her birthday. It’s a meringue cake, but it’s quite different from any meringue cake I’ve ever had. The pastry part of ... [read more]]]> I wanted to make a very special cake for my very special friend, Vesna. It’s her birthday today (March 16th), and I made her favorite cake, which is called Queen Cake, in honor of her birthday. It’s a meringue cake, but it’s quite different from any meringue cake I’ve ever had. The pastry part of the cake is a meringue base that’s been dried out in the oven. It’s very crunchy, and that crunchy texture makes a nice contrast with the cream layers. The result is a dessert that’s divinely delicious!! Here’s a picture Kemal took of the cake after Vesna cut it for us:

Vesna loves how when she bites into the cake there’s a crunch, followed by a dissolving of the meringue on her tongue, and then a creamy, dreamy yumminess!!! When she told me how much she loves this cake, I knew I had to make it for her. Well, all I can say is that it’s a good thing I started making this cake early (around 11 p.m.) because I ended up having to throw away the first meringue cake and start over. Here’s what happened.

When Vesna told me how to make the cake several weeks ago, I was kind of sleepy while I was taking notes. I accidentally wrote down 8 eggs instead of 4. Oops!! That’s a big difference. So anyway, last night I made this cake with 8 egg whites and poured all it into one large Springform pan. Big mistake!!!! It was way too many eggs, and my meringue base turned out to be huge. It was too big to dry out in the center, so the outside was perfect while the inside was still wet.

Well, lucky for me I still had time to try again. So Kemal and I nibbled on the crunchy part of the meringue and then threw the rest of it away. I started over, and this time I used less eggs. I also decided to have two layers of crunchy meringue, so I divided my meringue into two pans. Well, I got that right, but I forgot to process my sugar in the blender to make it super-fine in texture. It didn’t ruin my meringue base, but it wasn’t perfect the way I wanted. I wanted the meringue to totally dissolve on the tongue, but it was just a little stickier than I would have liked. That wasn’t such a big deal though.

A bigger deal is that when I made my creams, I didn’t add the milk gradually like I was supposed to, and I ended up with lumps. It took me an hour to try to get all the lumps out. And all night I was dropping everything and making a huge mess. I normally clean up all my messes, and while I did clean up after the first cake flopped, I eventually got so sleepy (around 4 or 4:30 a.m.) that I couldn’t stand up anymore. I dropped everything, cleaned my hands, and collapsed on the sofa. I left everything. I woke up in the morning to a sparkling, clean kitchen. Kemal put everything away, cleaned everything up, and put me to bed…something I don’t even remember. In the morning, I finished the cake in time to get it to Vesna for her birthday.

The good news is that the cake tasted pretty good. We all enjoyed it for breakfast with a cup of coffee. Here’s a picture Kemal took of Vesna getting ready to enjoy hers:

I can’t wait to make it again because I learned from my mistakes. But for now, I get to have fun using all my egg yolks. Time to go make some homemade ice cream and egg noodles.

Queen Cake (Adapted from Vesna’s recipe)

Ingredients for Meringue Cake:

• 4 egg whites
• 4 egg yolks
• 1 cups sugar

Ingredients for the vanilla and chocolate cream:

• 7 tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 2 cups milk
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 pkg. vanilla sugar
• 2 sticks unsalted butter
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Ingredients for the whipped cream topping:

• 4 pkgs. Dream Whip
• 4 tbsp. pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups milk
• Optional: 2 oz. grated bittersweet chocolate for garnishing the top of the cake

Note: Vesna makes her whipped cream topping more dense by using less milk. I think it’s better with less milk, but silly me, I forgot and used more milk. So if you want your whipped cream fluffier, use two cups of milk. If you want it to be more dense, use 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups.

Instructions for making the meringue cake:

• Put the sugar in a blender and press the “processor” button. If you don’t have a processor button, just press puree. You only need to process the sugar for about 1-2 minutes. This will make the sugar become very fine, airy, and powdery, and when your sugar is very fine like this, it will make for a much better meringue.
• Set the sugar aside when it’s done.
• Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
• Now you want to get your baking pan(s) ready.

Note: Before you prepare your pans, you need to decide how many layers of meringue you want. If you want two layers of meringue (that’s how I made mine), you’ll need to line two 8-inch Springform pans with parchment paper. If you want only one layer of meringue, then you’ll need to use one less egg for the cake, and then line one 10-inch pan with parchment paper.

The meringue is very sticky, and if you just cut a circular shape from the parchment paper so it fits in the bottom of the pan(s), it will keep the meringue cake from sticking to the bottom.

• Separate the eggs, putting the yolks in the refrigerator for later use.
• Leave the egg whites on the counter for about 30 minutes, letting them come to room temperature.
• Place your two sticks on butter on the counter top also so it can get soft. You’ll be using the butter later when you make the creams.
• With an electric mixer, beat the eggs on high speed in a large stainless steel or glass bowl for about 3 minutes until the eggs start to get foamy. Don’t use a plastic bowl; they don’t work as well.
• Add the sugar to the eggs a little at a time, beating continuously on high speed until all the sugar is dissolved and the egg whites are glossy and have peaks that stand straight up. To test your egg whites to see if they’re done, take put some egg whites in a spoon. Turn the spoon upside down. The egg whites shouldn’t drip or fall. They should stay on the spoon. If they stay on the spoon, then your egg whites have been beaten enough.
• Pour the meringue into your lined baking pan(s), and then put your pan(s) in the oven.
• Reduce the heat to 250 degrees and bake until the meringue totally dries out and browns some. That will take about 2 hours or so. I was baking late at night and I was kind of sleepy when I pulled the merginue cake out of the oven and forgot to check to see what time I finished. You can check it after about 1 hour if you like, but I don’t think it will be browned enough. It all depends on how hot your oven runs. I think mine took a little over 2 hours. Just make sure you don’t open the oven door during the first 30 minutes of baking.
• When the meringue cake is done, it will be browned and totally dried out on the inside and outside. It will be a crunchy cake base.
• Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool about 10 minutes or so.
• Then you can remove the outside of the Springform pan.

Instructions for making vanilla and chocolate cream:

• Beat the egg yolks.
• Measure out 1/2 cup milk and set it aside.
• Add the 7 tbsp. flour to the yolks, and beat it with a fork until there are no lumps. Add a little milk to the egg/flour mixture, beating it with a fork until there are no lumps. Then add a little more of the 1/2 cup of milk that’s left, beating well. Continue until you’ve added all of the 1/2 cup of milk to the flour, beating it by hand until there are no lumps.
• Put 1 1/2 cups milk, 1 cup of sugar, and vanilla sugar in a sauce pan and heat it on med. well heat until it boils, stirring constantly.
• After it comes to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and then add the egg yolk/flour/milk mixture that you just whisked together, stirring it in with the warm milk/sugar very quickly.
• Keep stirring it on low heat until it has the consistency of a pudding.
• Transfer half of the vanilla cream to a medium-sized glass or stainless steel bowl and refrigerate it.
• Add the chocolate chips to the remaining vanilla cream that’s still in your sauce pan, stirring constantly and melting over low heat.
• After the chocolate chips have melted and have been incorporated into the cream, transfer it to a medium-sized glass or stainless steel bowl and refrigerate it.
• When the vanilla and chocolate creams have cooled down, remove the bowls from the refrigerator.
• Add one stick of the softened butter to the vanilla cream. Beat the butter into the cream with an electric mixer until the butter is incorporated into the vanilla cream.
• Now clean your beaters.
• Add the other stick of softened butter to the chocolate cream. Beat the butter into the cream with an electric mixer until the butter is incorporated into the chocolate cream.

Instructions for making the whipped cream topping:

• Mix together in a large bowl the 4 packages of Dream Whip, 10 tsp. vanilla, and 1 3/4 cups milk.
• Beat with an electric beater until the whipped cream is thick and fluffy.
• Refrigerate the whipped cream topping while you’re assembling your cake.

Assembling your cake:

• Put your meringue cake on your serving dish (or you can leave it on the bottom of your Springform pan).
• Spread the vanilla cream on top of the meringue base.
• Now refrigerate until the vanilla cream hardens some.
• Then spread the chocolate cream on top of the vanilla cream.
• If you’re making two layers of meringue like I did, then you’ll take your other meringue base and place it on top of the chocolate cream.
• Now you will spread the whipped cream topping all around the sides and top.

Note: If you’re using just one layer of meringue, the whipped topping will be spread on top of the chocolate cream and around the sides. If you’re using two layers of meringue like I did, you’ll spread the whipped topping over the second layer of meringue and around the sides.

• If you would like to garnish the outside of your cake, just grate some bittersweet chocolate and then sprinkle it over the outside of the cake.
• Refrigerate about 1 hour so it can harden up some.

I decided to make her cake tonight for a co-worker who got ... [read more]]]>

I decided to make her cake tonight for a co-worker who got a promotion and who’s leaving our restaurant in a few days. I intended to write “Congratulations” on the top of the cake, but the ready-to-use icing tube that I thought I had was nowhere to be found, so I decided to decorate the top of the cake instead. I put maraschino cherries and walnuts on top of the chocolate layer. I also used my dessert decorator gun that Kemal got for me the other day to make the little whipped cream stars. That was lots of fun!

Okay, here’s Vesna’s recipe. Hope you have as much fun making it as I did!

Rokada Cake

Ingredients for the Pastry Layer:

• 4 egg whites
• 4 egg yolks
• 4 tbsp. sugar
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 2 tbsp. butter

Ingredients for the Walnut Cream Layer:

• 1/2 lb. ground walnuts
• 10 1/2 tbsp. milk, warm
• 2 sticks butter
• 10 1/2 tbsp. powdered sugar

Ingredients for the Chocolate Layer:

• 1 cup sweet chocolate chips
• vegetable oil

Ingredients for the Vanilla Cream Layer:

• 5 pkgs. Dream Whip
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 10 tsp. vanilla

Ingredients for Decorating the Top of the Cake:

• Some of the Whipped Cream that you made with the Dream Whip
• Walnuts, whole
• maraschino cherries
• Optional: ready-to-use icing tubes

Instructions for making the pastry layer:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Grease an 8-inch Springform pan with the 2 tbsp. butter.
• Separate the eggs, putting the whites in a large bowl and the yolks in a smaller bowl.
• Beat the 4 egg whites with the 4 spoons of sugar. Don’t add all the sugar at once. Just add one spoon at a time.
• Beat the egg whites and sugar until the sugar and egg whites are thoroughly mixed.
• Beat the egg yolks and set aside.
• Melt 1/2 cup chocolate chips. (Don’t add oil.)
• When the chocolate is melted, add it and the egg yolks to the egg white mixture.
• Mix well.
• Pour the pastry mixture into the greased pan.
• Bake about 20 minutes. You’ll know the cake is done if you insert a toothpick and it comes out clean.
• Cool the cake.

Note: The cake will rise up quite a bit while you’re baking it, but once you cool the cake it will collapse some, which is what you want it to do.

Instructions for making the Walnut Cream Layer:

• Set the butter on your counter top so it can get to room temperature and soften.
• Grind the walnuts in your blender on puree.
• Warm the milk in a small sauce pan.
• Mix the walnuts into the milk and cool in the refrigerator.
• Cream the butter and powdered sugar with a beater until it’s well blended and creamy.
• Add the creamed butter and sugar to the milk and walnuts when the milk and walnuts have cooled.
• Mix well and set aside.

Instructions for Making the Vanilla Cream Layer:

• Mix together in a large bowl the 5 packages of Dream Whip, 10 tsp. vanilla, and 1 1/2 cups milk.
• Beat with an electric beater until the whipped cream is thick and fluffy.
• Refrigerate until you’re ready to assemble the cake.

Note: Keep in mind that the vanilla cream will not be white. It’ll be an off-white color because of all the vanilla that’s in it.

Instructions for Assembling and Decorating the Rokada Cake:

• Once the cake is cool, spread the walnut cream layer on top it.
• Now you want to spread a thin layer of chocolate on top of the walnut cream layer.

Instructions for Making the Chocolate Layer:

• Melt 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips in a small sauce pan.
• Pour enough oil over the chips to cover them. If you don’t use enough oil, the chocolate layer will not be smooth.
• Stir until the chocolate is melted and mixed with the oil.

Continued Instructions for Assembling and Decorating the Rokada Cake:

• After you’ve spread the warm chocolate on top of the walnut cream layer, you want to refrigerate the cake so the chocolate can harden.
• After the chocolate is hard, then take the cake out of the refrigerator.
• Take a knife around the the edge of the cake and then open the Springform pan, removing the ring.
• Now spread the vanilla cream topping around the sides of the cake.

Note: The way you finish decorating the cake is up to you. You can put whipped cream entirely on the sides and top of the cake, or you can decorate it the way I did by spreading whipped cream around the sides and then some on the top. I use a stainless steel dessert decorator with a star tip to decorate part of the top of the cake. Then I added maraschino cherries and walnuts.

You can also cover the entire cake (the sides and top) with the vanilla cream.

Another way to decorate the cake is to spread the vanilla cream around the sides only so the top of the cake is chocolate. Then if you want, you can use one of those ready-to-use icing tubes to decorate the top of the cake by writing, “Happy Birthday, Congratulations,” etc.