Quick no-bake Oreo cheesecake

We hadn't baked anything in class for a week or so, so to treat the 3rd years (freshman or Year 9's, depending upon in which country you live) my teacher, Miss K, decided we'd make Oreo Cheesecake. Well, technically she had planned for them to make Mandarin Cheesecake, but I couldn't help but notice that one of the other teachers was making Oreo Cheesecake with her class...  So I pleaded, and we ordered Oreos for the students (plus enough for us two to make a cake each too ;) ).

It was surprisingly easy, and after crushing the biscuits and adding melted butter for the base, we whipped up cream cheese with double cream for the filling.  Because Team Becca and I love Oreos so much, I crushed biscuits to put in the filling as well.  The Team knew I would be making this cake in class, and had requested I decorate it as a smiley face for them.  Miss K's more adult design is on the right there.

 We managed to hold off digging in until after the children's dinner, then got a sharp knife and cut decent wedges for us each.  And I have to say, it didn't disappoint.  Rich, creamy, chocolately and crunchy - taste sensation heaven!  As you can see, the Smarties faded in colour over the few hours between making and eating, and the whole cake didn't last too well over the next day or so.

This is definitely best eaten on day of preparation.  Enjoy!!

Baked lemon cheesecake, Donna Hay style

The recipe for this Baked Lemon Cheesecake was in the same Sunday colour supplement as the previous Cinnamon Cheesecake post, and is also a Donna Hay recipe.  It had a fresh whipped cream topping, but I didn't feel that it would add much to the taste, so decided against using it.  The recipe was fairly straightforward to follow and I had the cake ready for the oven fairly soon.  Mmm, fresh lemon rind, yummy!

A quick sprinkling of icing sugar and this baby was ready to serve.  And oh my, was it good!!  I posted the initial photo on my Facebook page at the time, and got great feedback from just the photo!  As it was made not long after the cinnamon cheesecake, we were more than happy to share.  Just be sure to have a hot cup of coffee, or cold glass of milk, ready when you have your slice...

Cinnamon cheesecake a la Donna Hay

Mmm, doesn't that cake look great - a baked cheesecake (here's Donna's classic baked cheesecake recipe for you to see), with fresh local Scottish strawberries.  This beauty was a Donna Hay recipe that I cut from a Sunday newspaper colour supplement, and it didn't disappoint.  The original recipe was actually for a pear and cinnamon cake, but when I read it through the pears were actually just for decoration on top.  They were cooked to start with in a sugary syrup, and placed on top at the end, with the syrup drizzled over, but still...

I felt that it was going to be a fair bit of extra time and work involved, for not that much pay-off.  So I cheated a little.  I made the cake according to the recipe instructions (I always do that the first time, then I write notes in case I want to tweak things for subsequent bakings) and that was all fine and went well.  I felt it looked a bit naked when fully done - smelt amazing, but looked naked.  We had some fresh berries in the fridge, so on they went, with a touch of real Canadian maple syrup for added taste.  You can't really see the drizzle in the photo, but it was there...

This was the first time in a while that I'd baked a cheesecake, and it won't be the last!  It was really delicious, with a light delicate cinnamon taste.  Another winner from the fabulous Ms Hay!!

No-bake cheesecake rocks

I had made a cheesecake once before, wrapping it in foil and putting it in the water bath, and while it tasted great it was a bit of a bother.  So I haven't baked one for quite some time.  I loved the idea of Lakeland's PushPans, and bought a couple, but still hadn't made a cheesecake.  

Then I saw this recipe, for no-bake cheesecake, and I was sold.  (I should at this point have included the link for that recipe, of course, but I can't for the life of me recall where I saw it.  So as soon as I find it, I'll add it in for you.  Promise...........  Ok, great news, I just found it!)

It needed mini Creme Eggs which, despite it being their season, could not be found for love nor money.  Boo hoo.  Then we found some, in the last shop we tried (d'oh, of course).  And it was game on.

The girls were supposed to help me, as it wasn't a difficult recipe and we were making it for a playdate today (we made it Saturday late afternoon) and Mini-1 had a lot of fun crushing up the Oreo's.

But then when it came time to mix up the cream cheese and sugar etc, she didn't appreciate not being allowed to lick the beaters (because we still needed to use them) and her impatience got the better of her.   So we parted ways, me staying in The Kitchen, and her going off to join Mini-2 to play in the back garden.  No harm no foul, right?! 

I think she would have liked to stay around for the cutting of the eggs part... It was pretty plain sailing from there on in, and the cake rested really well in the fridge for the day and a half until it was needed.

Although some of the creme eggs did perish along the way (Mr Becca had a midnight feast methinks) but we had enough for the decoration required.  (Even though I used the PushPan and waited for a while once removing it from the fridge, there were a few little areas of adhesion to the pan, creating a hole here and there.   If you've any hints or tips on how to avoid this next time, please share)

And the taste - oh my goodness!  Fantastic!  So sweet and smooth and delicious, you've got to try it yourself.  I had mentioned it to one of the new school mum neighbours (we recently relocated Becca Towers, thus necessitating new school and new local friends) and given her the recipe, and she had made it too, for her Easter Sunday family lunch.  And texted me to say it was so good that she should have made two!  How's that for yummy??!

A gratuitous interior shot or two for you to drool over, because I'm kind like that.

Strawberries are nearly in season

Other bakers have 'ranges' of cupcakes, and business could be busier so I thought I might try out some new recipes in order to (hopefully) stimulate interest.  I can do various flavours, but people generally want vanilla with colours - which is always fun. 

And I've been doing a lot with blueberries recently, then noticed that strawberries are on offer and finally looking good.  They aren't local, so not ideal, but the girls have been asking to eat some for weeks now and I've not wanted to buy them because they aren't in season yet.  Kinda difficult concept to get over to young, hungry kids but I did my best.

So I bought a few punnets, looked through some of my favourite books and thought I'd like to do a taste comparison test, and offer the cakes around to our Facebook fans and friends for their opinions.  And, to be quite frank, the Team are getting sick of cake - shameful, I know.  Not the whole Team you understand, but some of them.  And apart from that, while strawberries are a wonder-food and healthy, by the time you add in the cake batter and icing, it's harder to agree that they're good for you.  So, to aid my health-and-seasonal based teachings, and save our waistlines - I baked up a batch of each recipe and offered one of each on the proviso that I had to receive honest feedback.  And we're off!

At the top, in the white cases, are the bases for the Strawberries and Cream cupcakes. These have crushed berries throughout the batter, and are to be topped with vanilla buttercream and half a fresh strawberry.  At the bottom, in the brown cases, are the cake part of the Strawberry Cheesecake cupcakes.  As you can see, these have pieces of fresh strawberry mixed through the batter, and are to be topped with cream cheese buttercream icing and crumbled biscuits - to resemble the layers of a cheesecake.

The cheesecake icing, naked.  I'm pleased with the swirls on these, though would like them even fatter.

And now they're dressed and ready for their close-up.

These are the naked Strawberries and Cream ones.  I got the buttercream whiter by extra whipping and a touch of Superwhite by Sugarflair.  I don't see this as cheating, rather it's a way to offset the ivory tinge caused by using real butter.

Here we see them fully dressed.  Pretty, aren't they?

Side by side, they created quite a buzz on our Facebook page.  And from the top...

I noticed later on though, that a little bit of water had run off after I'd washed the berries.  It won't affect the taste at all, just doesn't look wonderful.  What do you think?

P.S.  The feedback so far is very positive, with Strawberry Cheesecake winning at the moment.  But only 3 votes are in at this point - more to come later tonight I hope!