Lemon Curd

I've bought a few lemons too many in my recent groceries shopping trip, it was on sale, like RM1 per piece and before the lemon are spoiled, I did this simple lemon curd. I'm thinking of doing some macs, but for now, i just prepared the filling first. This recipe is adapted from Alton Brown's recipe (I halved the recipes since I only have 2 lemons)

Difficulty level: Easy
Preparation time: 20 minutes

Lemon Curd

Ingredients:
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup icing sugar
1/6 cup lemon juice
1/2 tbsp lemon zest
50 gm butter, chilled

Steps:
1. Whisk the yolks and sugar till combine.

2. Add the lemon juice and zest

3. Over a double boiler, whisk the yolk mixture until it thickens, around 10 minutes

4. Take the mixture of the heat, and add in butter bits by bits, making sure that the butter melts evenly.

5. Store the curd in a container, and cover the top of the surface with cling film.

6. This lemon curd can be refrigerated for up to 2 weeks :)

Red Velvet Cake

I've tried a few different recipes of red velvet cake from the internet. Some turn out to be moist, some are dense and one was very uneatable. :(
However, I never did give up. Keep on searching for recipes, until I came across this recipe from Kak Edi's blog. I've ordered my engagement cupcakes from her and it was delish :). She does beautiful cupcakes and I really do recommend her. Anyway, I've tried this recipe twice, and I think I have found it. I love the texture of this cake. It's moist, and it's not too sweet. However, I modified the recipe for the cream cheese frosting, since I don't have whipping cream in stock. Here it goes.

Difficulty level: Moderate
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Baking time: 35 minutes

Red Velvet Cake

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tbsp red coloring
1/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg, room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 cup buttermilk (I added 1/2 tsp lemon juice to 1/2 cup full cream milk)
1/2 vinegar
1/2 tsp soda bicarbonate

Steps:
1. Sieve flour, baking powder and salt. Put aside.
2. Mix cocoa powder and red coloring to form a paste.

3. In a clean bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Then add egg, vanilla essence and cocoa mixture. Mix well

4. Add in flour and buttermilk alternately, ending with the flour mixture. Mix well between each addition.

5. Now. this is the last part, and it is very important that it is done quickly. I don't even have time to take a photo, sorry. In a small bowl, combine vinegar and soda bicarbonate and fold into the cake batter quickly.

6.Pour the batter into a baking tin (I used a 7" tin) and bake for 35 minutes at 170C.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:
125 gm cream cheese, softened
50 gm butter, softened
1/2 cup icing sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp lemon juice (put in more if you like a more 'tart' frosting)


Steps:
1. Beat the cream cheese until smooth and light.

2. Add in the softened butter. Beat well.

3. Add in icing sugar, vanilla essence and lemon juice. Mix everything well.

4. Chilled the frosting while the cake is cooling down.

Assembling the cake:


1. Cut the cake into 2 or 3 parts. Do it as evenly as possible.

2. Spread the frosting onto the first layer, even it out with a spatula

3. Put the second layer of cake, and repeat the process.
4. Lastly, put the top layer, and frost the whole cake. Decorate the cake with the crumbles that falls of when you cut the cake. :)
5. Voila!!

Oreo Cheesecake

Ignore my intention to bake a pavlova. Couldn't find the berries for garnishes, so decided to postpone it later. Since I'm spending the weekend in Kg Wai, decided to give this cheesecake a try. I can't remember where I get the recipe from, but it has been in my book for a long time now.

Difficulty level : Easy
Preparation time : 20 minutes
Bake time : 30 minutes

Oreo Cheesecake

Ingredients:
 
2 packs Oreo cookies
3 tbsp melted butter
250 g cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 tsp lemon juice
1 egg

Steps:
1. Separate the Oreo cookies and the fillings. DO NOT throw away the fillings, we going to use it with the cream cheese.

2. Crush the cookies. I put the cookies in a plastic bag and crushed in with my bare hands. It is a stress reliever. Or you can put it in the food processor. I just like my way better :)

3. Divide the crushed cookies into two parts, for the crust and for the cream cheese filling. For the crust, add the melted butter and mix well. Make sure you don't add to much butter or your crust will be soggy.

4. Press the crust mixture into the cake tin. I used a 7 inch cake tin which are lined with baking paper and cover with aluminum foil on the outside.

5. Bake the crust for 10 minutes at 160C, then let it cool.
6. For the cream cheese filling, beat the cream cheese until it is smooth and fluffy.

7. Add in the Oreo's fillings, vanilla essence and the lemon juice into the cream cheese batter and beat well. I find that the batter is sweet enough for my taste, but you are welcome to add extra sugar if you like.

8. Add the egg, and mixed well. Lastly, add the crushed cookies and mixed well.

9. Pour the batter into the cake tin, and put the tin into another baking tin which has been filled with water. That is why I covered the cake tin with the aluminum foil, to protect the cake since I'm going to bake it in a water bath. This method prevent the top of the cheesecake from cracking, I think. :P

10. Bake for 20 minutes at 180C. After that, let the cake cool, and refrigerate the cake for at least 4 hours to let it set.

I garnished the top with extra fine crushed Oreos.

 The Taste: The crust is lovely and the cream cheese is smooth with bits of cookies. Yummy :)