The Sugar Bar

As you all know, my time on the blog has gotten very much shorter and the time to try new recipes and invent chocolate truffle combinations has been almost obliterated by the massive workload I have to complete. If I intend to save my degree, it’s all got to be done and The Sugar Bar has, unfortunately, to be placed on the backburner for a while. Nevertheless, I will update regularly (as much as I can) with some interesting pictures and places/little bits to eat. I won’t be gone completely of course. You see me on Twitter way too much.

The lovely Naomi, of BakersRoyale, noticing my struggle was very kind enough to suggest guest-posting for me and created a beautiful bit of heaven in the shape of a mini cake, all in the essence of a person with limited time and kitchen space.

I met Naomi, or actually I found her, through one of the cake posts she submitted to Foodgawker and boy, did I gawk. Her cakes are stunning, little bits of art to be honest and all so meticulously put together. And I bet they taste as divine as they look – always quivering on my laptop screen, tempted to plop right out of it straight onto my dessert plate. She’s truly inspiring and such an easy-going person, we got along straightaway! In fact, sometimes I do wonder if she’s actually a twin of mine. We’re on the same wavelength. But enough of my chitter-chatter, let me give you Naomi! Here’s what she said:

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SoNo’s No Bake Cheesecake ~ A no bake cheesecake dressed up in a pistachio crumb and topped with some fresh raspberries.

This famous cheesecake is from John Barricelli’s SoNo Bakery in Connecticut and is featured in his SoNo Bakery book. After trying several no bake cheesecakes, this is hands down the best-period.

The bits of lemon and orange zest give the cheesecake a citrus balance that will refresh your palate with every bite. Add the pistachio crumb and the raspberries and this cheesecake moves from delicious to heavenly.

Aside from taste, the other reason I love this version of a no-bake cheesecake is John Barricelli’s use of gelatin to help set it. Now while he describes the finishing mixture as a mousse, I find the finishing mixture more similar to a baked cheesecake. No-bake versions tend to be very light and where this recipe not only has the velvety texture of a baked cheesecake, but it also has enough weight for every bite to be well tasted, rather than submitting and dissipating on contact.

I miniaturized this dessert into two inch mini cheesecakes the original recipe calls for a 9 inch pastry ring. If you don’t have one, a springform pan will work just as well.

SoNo’s No Bake Cheesecake
Ingredients

Crust:
1 1/2 cup crushed graham cracker
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
7 tablespoon unsalted butter(melted)

Cheesecake:
¼ cup water
1 tablespoon powdered gelatin
2 ¼ cups heavy cream
1 pound cream cheese, room temperature (at least six hours)
2/3 sugar
1 teaspoon coarse salt
Grated zest of orange
Grated zest of lemon
2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
¾ sour cream

For assembly
1 cup pistachios, shelled and finely chopped
2 cups raspberries

For the crust:

1. Combine graham cracker crumbs with sugar.
2. Add melted butter and blend until combined.
3. Press into pan. Set aside.

For the cheesecake:

1. Bring 1 inch of water to a simmer in the bottom of a double boiler. Sprinkle water over gelatin and let stand for 5 minutes.
2. Using a spatula scrape the softened gelatin and place it into the top of the double boiler. Set it over simmering water and heat until the mixture becomes liquid. Remove from heat and set aside.
3. Using the whisk attachment of a stand mixer, beat the cream to medium peaks. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
4. Replace whisk attachment with a paddle. Wash out bowl. Add cream cheese, sugar, salt, lemon and orange zest and lemon juice in mixer bowl and beat on medium high speed until the mixture is smooth, about 5 minutes.
5. Add a dollop of cream mixture to the gelatin and fold with a rubber spatula. Return the gelatin mixture to the remaining cream cheese mixture and fold together.
6. Scrap the new mousse mixture into pastry rings or springform. Smooth the top and cover with plastic. Freeze for at least four hours or overnight to set.
7. Remove cake. The cake will have a slight sunken center. Using spread sour cream on top as if icing a cake to even out the top.
8. To remove from pastry ring, use a hot towel and wrap it around the ring. You may have to do this twice.
9. Don’t worry about the uneven sides as it will be covered with the pistachio crumb.

To assemble:

Cover sides with pistachio crumb and garnish top with raspberries.

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Hope you liked Naomi’s post as much as I did! If you want more, jump over to her blog here.

It’s quite difficult to find that perfect cheesecake since quite a lot of people are rather anal or picky about their cheese. When it comes to cheesecake, I’m even more fussy. What I mean by that really is that I love to eat it, that’s a given. But that I always associate really good cheesecake with one that’s been made for me by someone else because I cannot be bothered to bake a cheesecake. That’s just that. It’s (in that warped head of mine) too much of a faff in my opinion to bake cheese when you can just have it as it is. Cheese, neat. Straight out of the fridge, oh yeah. Now we’re talking. But cheese cooked is so amazing too – savoury or sweet. Nevertheless, somehow I still can’t bring myself to be bothered to bake a cheesecake.

Whilst hopping through the foodblogs I usually visit, I came across Cafe Johnsonia’s Frozen Mascarpone Cheesecake, so that really got my tastebuds into craving mode. Not one to fuss around with cheesecakes, I couldn’t be bothered to work on this Chocolate Mascarpone Fruit & Nut Cheesecake shizzle from good ol’ Delia so I decided to mash-up little bits and pieces to create my very own non-bake, why-not-use-the-freezer cheesecake. Take laziness to the maximum without forfeiting the taste factor. I admit frozen/non-bake cheesecakes hardly ever look as impressive as baked cheesecakes but Hans and I were very pleased when we were tucking into our very own slices. Tasty, rich yet light. Coupled with a raspberry coulis and you’re well on your way to a sugary cloud 9 heaven. Also, I find baked ones very heavy and filling whereas this was creamy but not too overwhelming that you couldn’t fit in another healthy slice.

Thumbs up and a big pat on my back; one too on Hans’s. Cheers to Anna for doing the taste-testing of the respective bowls of ingredients. Although I now have a bright red spot of raspberry coulis on my duvet cover (looks suspiciously like blood…geeez), it was so worth it! This coulis is absolutely gorgeous. If you don’t know what that is, it simply is a posh way of saying raspberry sauce. Quick to prepare, great colour and delicious; use it for just about any other raspberry-requiring dessert. For a cheesecake? Spot on!

I was a little pretentious with the presentation. But it was a pretty day today. Very very warm. And I was surprised to see so many bluebells growing out in the garden so I picked one, washed and dried it, then popped it atop my cheesecake for added prettiness. How adorable.

Chocolate Non-bake Cheesecake with Raspberry Coulis
Ingredients

For the crust:
1 tube of ginger nut biscuits, crushed into crumbs
3 tbs sugar
5 tbs butter, melted

For the filling:
8 oz cream cheese
8 oz mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup double cream
1/3 cup caster sugar
120g plain chocolate, melted (you can increase the amount, or use dark chocolate if you’re going for an uber chocolatey cake)

For the coulis:
1/3 cup caster sugar
3 tbs water
2 1/2 cups raspberries

Bash up all the biscuits. Add sugar and melted butter. Using a fork, toss and coat in butter until all of it is covered. Press into bottom of a springform pan and use the back of a spoon to flatten and even it out. Place in freezer for the crust to bind about 15min.

Using a wooden spoon, beat together the cream cheese, mascarpone and sugar. Over a bain-marie, melt the chocolate and be careful not to burn. In a separate bowl, using a metal whisk, whip the double cream until it can hold its shape. Do not overwhip. Add the chocolate once it’s cool enough to the cheese mixture. Finally, the double cream. Give it a good stir.

Remove crust from freezer. Pour the cheese mixture into the pan and smooth out. Cover with clingwrap, making sure the clingwrap touches the surface of the cheese and up the sides of the cakepan. Place in freezer 40-50min. Remove and place in fridge. Serve whenever after by using a warmed knife to slice.

The coulis is really simple. Over a medium fire, cook the sugar and water. Stir continuously for about 5min. It’ll start to thicken and caramelize but be careful not to let it burn. Add the berries and keep stirring. Lower fire if it bubbles too much. Break up the berries, leaving some relatively whole just so it looks better unless you want it to be as smooth as possible. Cook until it thickens. Leave to cool. Then serve by spooning loads over your cheesecake.

Before you say anything, here’s a spoiler: this is a failed attempt! I know…how can one ruin a crumble. Not to worry though, because I did it. I’ve been awarded the champion spaced-out idiot of the century; what a laugh.

Are you a crumble or cobbler person? Can’t decide? I know…the decision is always a tough one but I can safely say crumbles are the mighty winner most of the time.

Cobblers are an American fruit dessert, cooked in a deep-dish, it has a pie-crust top layer as opposed to a crumble layer. The pie-crust top can be cooked till it’s almost like a biscuit top, crispy and sweet or cakey like and it’s very easy for you to control the texture of this top layer. Crumbles are the British side of things and constitute a crumble topping, as the name suggests, usually made with graham biscuit or cookie crumbs, flour, nuts, oats, bread crumbs and even muesli. A very popular dish, it’s a slap and whack type of recipe and scores a 10 for its flexibility as well. Use any type of fruit you’ve got available because it still gives an awesome flavour. Also, this recipe is great for using brown sugar and lots of nuts and wholesome wheaty goodness.

Apples and summerberries are definitely a good, sweet combination. I’ve used a mix of raspberries, blackberries, black and red currants. Instead of using a mix, you can opt for your favourite fruit or combination of fruit. I added some sultanas as well to give it a warmer flavour, seems like it worked out well. Preparing this dish was a joy – easy to prepare and so colourful. A setback, however, was my topping – the key feature! Spacey as I was, I started pressing the topping down with the back of a spoon. It must have been the inner cobbler-girl calling out from within, thereby ruining my crumble topping completely. Tasted great but it just wasn’t quite the perfect crumble. I feel like I’ve shot myself in the foot somehow.

Nevertheless, this is once again another completed kitchen ‘adventure’ by diva, so let’s not be shy and file this in with the rest too.

I used to pester a good friend of mine in college for apple crumble every single week because she made this impeccably great apple filling. In exchange for her culinary delights, I baked her favourite M&M cookies and made sure I brought round a good supply of it for each council meeting. Good times those were. I still miss her apple crumble, as I’ve not kept in touch for about 2 years now. And everytime I think of crumble, I’ll think of her and that wicked crumble-skill of hers.

This recipe has been adapted from one of Delia Smith’s. It serves about 6 in one deep-dish.
Tip from Anna: be very careful when crumb topping starts to brown as the moment it has cooked and you are waiting for this to become the perfect brown, crispy, crumb topping, it can easily burn in a blink of an eye.

Apple & Summerberry Crumble
Ingredients

500g mixed berries
1 golden delicious apple, chopped
1/4 cup sultanas
1 tbs sugar
For the crumb topping:
225g plain flour
110g butter, cut into small cubes (I recommend using regular butter rather than unsalted)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
75g brown sugar (I’ve used demerera)

Preheat oven to 180d Celsius.
Arrange fruit in an oven deep-dish and sprinkle sugar over.
Rub butter into flour till crumb-like. Stir in sugar and cinnamon and pour over the fruit. Spread out with a FORK and do not press down with a SPOON. This is my queue for a shake of the head and a loud, regretful sigh.
Place on top shelf in oven and bake 40-50min.

Serve with pouring cream, ice cream or custard.