Category: Cream

No-Bake Cheesecake

12/22/2015

I had pinned this article from Epicurious from back in forever, and had honestly forgotten about it altogether. It wasn't until I offered to make a cake for my mother for the holiday potluck and trawled through my Pinterest board (and quietly panicking when I realized I almost never pay any attention to cakes) when I stumbled across this recipe again.

Since it was for the holidays, I added some green to help complement the red, and had a grand old time carving and essentially playing with the fruit. With a ready-made crust and store-bought whipped topping, this is a quick and easy recipe, though I usually opt to make my own graham cracker crust and whipped cream.

8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup sour cream (or 1 1/3 cup for a more NY-style sour cheesecake)
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 lemon zested
8 ounces prepared whipped topping, thawed
1 prepared graham cracker crust
1 pound fresh strawberries, hulled and halved lengthwise

Beat the cream cheese until smooth with an electric mixer. Gradually beat in the sugar. Beat in the sour cream, vanilla, and lemon zest until just combined.
Fold in the whipped topping. Scrape mixture into the piecrust. (There may be some filling left over. If so, reserve it to be decoratively piped onto the top of the pie.) Chill in the refrigerator for 4 hours.

Notes: Half of those who tried this mentioned that they preferred a thicker graham cracker crust than I usually make for other tarts to go with this cheesecake.

If you're going to use kiwis, find some that are firmer/not-quite-ripe. They will be easier to slice using a mandolin, and they'll be so thin that their not-so-perfect state of ripeness won't be as much of an issue. Also, turn the fruit 180 degrees after each slice; otherwise, the trailing end will start to get ragged after a while depending on the sharpness of your mandolin, particularly if the fruit is already softer than ideal.

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Whipped Cream / Topping

12/22/2015

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I highly recommend reading through Bon Appetit's do's and don'ts of homemade whipped cream. It's a succinct guide of the common pitfalls of making your own whipped cream, tips on how to recover if you've misstepped, and what effects different ingredients have. Otherwise, I've simply copied the most common steps below for easy reference.

1 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp confectioner's sugar or granulated sugar
(optional) additional 1 tbsp of sugar for sweeter whipped cream

Chill the bowl and whisk, either in the freezer (for about 10 minutes) or the refrigerator (for about 20 minutes).
Pour the heavy cream in the bowl. If using granulated sugar, add it now.
Using an electric mixer, beat the cream until soft to medium peaks form. If using confectioner's sugar, add it now.
You may wish to switch to a hand-whisk to continue beating the whipped cream to the desired stiffness. Or else use the electric mixer in short bursts, to avoid over-beating the cream.
Chill whipped cream until ready to use. You can "refresh" it just before use by hand beating it for about 10-15 seconds.

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Chinese Bakery-Style Whipped Cream Frosting

4/8/2015

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This style is used by Chinese bakeries to frost their cakes. It is much lighter and much less sweet than Western style frostings. As a result, it's often a favorite in my family, and it took quite a bit of research before I finally found this recipe - but it was totally worth it! My mother in particular was ecstatic with the results when I made her birthday cake using this.

2 tbsp cold water
1 tsp unflavored gelatin - can be found in the supermarket in the Jello section.
2 cups (1 pint) of chilled heavy cream
2.5 tbsp of confectioner’s sugar

Flavor options:

Plain: 1 tsp vanilla
Strawberry: 4 oz pureed strawberries + 1 tbsp strawberry powder or extract

Place your mixing bowl and wire whisk(s) into the freezer for about 5 to 10 minutes before using them to prepare the whipped cream. This will ensure that the cream stays as cold as possible.
Add the unflavored gelatin to a small bowl with the 2 tbsp of cold water. Let it soak for about 5 minutes and then dissolve the gelatin into the water by holding the bowl (carefully) over a pot of simmering water to slowly heat it while continuously stirring. Once dissolved, the gelatin and water should be almost clear. Set aside and let cool to a luke warm temp, but do not let the gelatin cool or sit too long or it will harden.
Take your chilled mixing bowl and wire whisks out of the freezer and add the 1-pint of chilled heavy cream to the mixing bowl. Beat the cream in your mixer or with your hand mixer in the following manner:
Beat the cream slowly until it just starts to form bubbles (30 sec.).
Increase the mixing speed to medium until the wire whisk leaves some trails in the cream (30 sec.).
Increase the mixing speed to high and mix the cream until it becomes billowy. Add the sugar and your flavor option of choice carefully while continuing to mix until the cream becomes just stiff. The cream will begin to stiffen within a minute of adding the sugar. As soon as the cream is just becoming stiff, add the dissolved gelatin while continuing to mix. Once the gelatin is added, the cream will further stiffen and dry out. After adding the gelatin, continue beating the cream for about 30 more seconds or until you are satisfied that it is stiff enough, but not too dry or clumpy.
Once you are finished with beating the whipped cream, use it immediately for frosting the cake, or refrigerate it for later use. If refrigerating the cream for later use, be mindful of the fact that the cream may stiffen slightly when refrigerated, but it will loosen up again once you start working with it.

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No-Bake Cheesecake

Whipped Cream / Topping

Chinese Bakery-Style Whipped Cream Frosting

Sweet Enough

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