Lemon and Blueberry Baked Cheesecake

I have made many cheesecakes in the past, but never have I ever baked one.
Honestly I have always been a bit scared too, as it sounded a bit tricky to me to get right.

What if it cracks/sinks/leaks/overcooks and so on and so forth, but I decided to give it a bash, as another unbaked cheesecake recipe sounded a bit of a cop out, as really they're so easy to do! (but still delicious) so anyway, this was my attempt.

It looks a bit dark as I may have left it in a bit too long (trial and error) but overall when you cut into it, its creamy and light in colour. (Btw it actually tasted delicious!)

Ingredients:
For the blueberry syrup-

• 150g blueberries
• 3 tbsp caster sugar

For the cheesecake-

• 300g digestive biscuits
• 150g unsalted butter, melted
• 500g cream cheese, softened (full fat)
• 140g caster sugar
• rind of 2 lemons
• 3 eggs
• juice of 2 lemons

Firstly make the blueberry syrup. In a small pan on medium heat add the blueberries and sugar until they start to become a syrup. (you can leave some blueberries hole or mash them) take off the heat and set aside to cool.

Preheat your oven to 180c and grease the pan you're using (I used a spring form pan.)

Either put the biscuits in a food processor to make fine crumbs or place into a bag and bash with a rolling pin (I chose the latter) Now pour into a large bowl and add the melted butter, stir to coat the biscuits until it looks like wet sand.

Place into the fridge for at least 15 minutes while you get on with the filling.

In a large bowl beat the cream cheese to loosen and then beat in the caster sugar, and lemon rind.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition and pour in the lemon juice with the last.

Pour half the mixture into your prepared tin and then take spoonfuls of half of the blueberry syrup and dot them around. Take a knife and gently swirl it through to mix slightly. Pour in the rest of the cream cheese mixture and do the same on the top with the syrup.

Place into the oven, for 30-35 minutes. (Keep an eye on it, I left mine in for about 40 minutes as it was supposed to be for 45 but I noticed it was turning brown.) It should still wobble a little in the centre but will firm up on cooling.

Turn off the oven and open the door slightly, leave the cheesecake in their for about an hour.
Now refrigerate for at least four hours, I decorated mine with a few blueberries!

Strawberry Cupcakes With Condensed Milk Buttercream

There's nothing like fresh strawberries in the summer in Britain, you can never get them the same any other time of the year, you just cant!
So I like to make the most of this, I have been eating them so much just with ice cream or cream, or actually just by themselves! Obviously I wanted to bake them into cupcakes (I want to bake everything into cupcakes) and I have been waiting to try out condensed milk butter cream for a while so what better time then now!

Ingredients:

(Makes roughly 10 large cupcakes)

For the cake-

• 180g unsalted butter
• 180g caster sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 180g self raising flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 punnet of strawberries chopped (save some strawberries for decoration)

For the butter cream-

• 150g unsalted butter, softened
• 300g icing sugar
• 4 tbsp condensed milk

Preheat your oven to 180c and line a muffin tray with 10 cases.

In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Beat in eggs one at a time and add the vanilla with the last one.

Sift in the flour and baking powder, then gently fold in with a metal spoon until just combined.

Add the chopped strawberries and fold in.

Divide the batter between the muffin cases and place in the oven for 25-30 minutes. (They will take longer to bake because of the strawberries) Once baked leave to cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

Now for the icing, beat the butter until it starts to go pale in colour, then slowly add in the icing sugar, and then the condensed milk until combined and you have a nice fluffy icing.

If you think its too stiff add some milk.

Pipe your buttercream onto each cupcake and decorate with your leftover strawberries.

I used a wilton 1M tip to decorate mine with, always makes whatever I bake look 'pro'.

I got mine here- 

Wilton 1M Nozzle Cupcake Decorating Tip Swirl

White Chocolate Berry Mousse Cake

My parents have been away cruising around Europe for two weeks, (lucky devils) and arrived home today, so I thought what better way to welcome them home from their travels then with a delicious cake! (what a great daughter I am eh ;) )
I wanted to try something different but still in cake form, as its my favourite thing to bake and also wanted to use the frozen berries I had laying around in the freezer! So I made a white chocolate berry mousse for the inside layers and then covered it with chantilly cream, white chocolate shavings and crystallised rose petals (these were so easy to do.)

This honestly was one of the best cakes i've made to date, so moist and light! 

Ingredients:

Cake-

• 180g unsalted butter
• 180g caster sugar
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 180g self raising flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder

Mousse-

• 250g berries
• 200g white chocolate
• 150ml milk
• 4 tbsp water
• 2 gelatine leaves
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 200ml double/whipping cream

Chantilly Cream-

• 200ml double/whipping cream
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp icing sugar

Crystallised Rose Petals-

• 1 egg white
• 2 tbsp caster sugar
• 5 rose petals

Firstly bake the cake. Preheat your oven to 180c and grease and line two cake tins.

In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, add your eggs gradually (I beat them in a jug so its easier to slowly pour in.) and beat in the vanilla extract.

Sift in the flour and baking powder, and gently fold into the mixture with a metal spoon.

Divide the mixture between your two tins and place into the oven for 20-25 minutes.

Once baked let them cool for a few minutes before getting them out the tins and placing them onto a rack to cool completely. Once cooled, you can then use a bread knife to carefully split each sponge in half.

For the mousse, start off by puréeing the berries in a blender, then strain through a sieve into another bowl to remove any seeds.

Break up the white chocolate and place into a large bowl. Heat up the milk and pour over the white chocolate. Leave for a few minutes then stir to combine. Pour the puréed berries in and mix together.

Break up the gelatine leaves and place into a heat proof bowl. Cover with the water and soak for 10 minutes. Now place the heat proof bowl over a pan of slightly simmering water for 10 minutes to melt. Once melted, pour into another bowl to let the gelatine mixture cool down.

Once its cooled you can add it to the white chocolate berry mixture, and mix well together. In a separate bowl beat the cream until soft peaks, fold the cream into the berry mixture to combine.

Place the bowl into the fridge to set up. Leave it in there for 2 hours to set before using it on your cake. (before using give it a stir to loosen it up.)

The chantilly cream is really easy, just put all 3 ingredients into a bowl and beat until you get soft peaks.

                                                                        

Now the rose petals, have your egg white in a bowl and the caster sugar sprinkled on a plate for easy dipping. Using a pastry brush, brush a thin layer of egg white onto the rose petals and then dip into the caster sugar. Leave to dry on cling film for a couple of hours at least, easy!

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To assemble the cake I started with a slice of cake, piped a layer of mousse and then the same again until I put on the top layer of cake. I scraped any excess mousse off around the cake with a spatula to make a clean base for the cream. Then I simply 'iced' with the cream.

I only did one layer but for a sleeker finish you could double up the cream mixture, ice one layer, then place into the fridge to chill for half an hour, then ice another layer. Finish with white chocolate shavings and your crystallised rose petals!

                                  .

Its probably best to keep this cake in the fridge due to all the cream, also it should be eaten within 1-2 days really. Mine hardly lasted a day,
1. because everyone loved it
2. because a huge chunk of the cake was consumed by the pug! (we were giving a slice of cake away and he found it!) he is a nightmare, so make sure yours is kept safely away from scavengers!