No bake cheesecake with black pepper strawberries

Hello. It’s me. I’m still here, I’m just mostly on the other side, watching Tasty video after Tasty video and admiring all the drippy cakes on Instagram. A lot has changed since I last blogged, food seems to be moving in the direction of fast forward videos and I felt like food blogging had its day. Then I made a recipe for black pepper strawberries with chocolate crumble from delicious. magazine (August 2016 issue, page 57), it was written by Franceso Mazzei, a chef at Mayfair restaurant Sartoria, it’s essentially strawberries and cream with crumble but Jesus Christ it was bloody perfect. So, I thought I’d adjust it a bit and turn it into a cheesecake, I was still impressed by the flavours, something about black pepper and strawberries just works and I don't know why. So here it is - I hope you make it! 

No bake cheesecake with black pepper strawberries

Ingredients

For the base

• 100g butter, at room temperature 
• 80g caster sugar
• 75g plain flour
• 25g cornflour
• 80g ground almonds
• 25g cocoa
• 1/8 tsp cinnamon 
• 1 egg white

For the cheesecake

• 4 leaves gelatin
• 300ml double cream
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 120g icing sugar
• 160g mascarpone 
• 280g cream cheese

For the topping

• 200g strawberries 
• 60g caster sugar
• Zest and 2 tbsp juice of a lemon
• 5 turns of a pepper mill 

Note: You can leave the gelatine out, the cheesecake just won't have a firm set, but it will still taste good. 

Method

1. To make the base, preheat the oven to 180 C/160 F and lightly grease a 7-inch springform pan. Beat the butter and sugar to combine, then add the rest of the ingredients and mix just until a dough forms. Press the dough into the base and prick all over with a fork. Bake for 20-22 minutes until firm in the middle, then transfer to a wire rack to cool. 
2. To make the filling, soak the gelatin in cold water for 5 minutes, then transfer to a small saucepan with 150ml of the double cream and stir on a low heat until the gelatin dissolves. Pour the gelatin cream and the rest of the cream into a large bowl and leave to cool completely. Once cooled, add the rest of the cheesecake ingredients and use an electric whisk to mix until smooth and thick. Spread the filling over the cheesecake base and level it off with a spoon or offset spatula. Put the cheesecake in the fridge to set for 4 hours, or overnight. 
3. To make the topping, slice the strawberries into halves and quarters and put them in a bowl with the sugar, lemon and pepper. Stir to coat the strawberries and leave to macerate for 10 minutes, then pile the strawberries on top of the cheesecake. Reserve the juice for guests to pour over the cheesecake before they dive in. 

Em x

Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies

I have a confession to make. I doubled the below recipe and the second batch of brownies (without the cheesy top) ended in an un crispy, dry, burgundy disaster! I'm sure, if I hadn't of doubled this innocent,  sweet and delicious (never done anything to upset me) recipe, then all would have ended in chocolatey bliss. But what really interested me is that the cheesecake topping had moistened the burgundy brownie substantially, which added a nice little touch to the better batch of the two!

All of you don't happen to be wondering wondering why I made these. So I made these this week because apart from working, I've spent quite a bit of time at home, on the Internet, browsing....admiring everything on foodgawker. And why have I spent more time then usual doing this, which subsequently caused me to make a horrendous batch of brownies? Cos I can no longer drive. That's why. And it's absolutely killing me. On the plus side, it means you get to see more on mbakes! Woo!

Anyway, must dash, work experience at Goodtoknow starts tomorrow. Still got to pluck my eyebrows and wax my tash! Wish me luck!

The Recipe:
Brownie:
Quarter cup cocoa powder (60 ml)
3 large eggs at room temp
170g unsalted butter
200g caster sugar
180g plain flour
150g dark chocolate (60%)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp red food colouring
Cheesecake
300g cream cheese
2 egg yolks at room temp
2 tsp vanilla extract

The Method:

• Line one 8 inch square tin with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius. 
• In a saucepan, melt the butter on a low heat then add the chocolate. Keep stirring until all of the chocolate has melted. 
• Take the mixture off the heat and whisk in the cocoa powder until smooth. At this point you can either transfer the mix into a freestanding mixer or leave it be. 
• Add one egg at a time, consistently mixing. Then the vanilla, sugar and lastly the flour. Add the food colouring last. Mix till well combined. 
• Plop all of the brownie batter into the prepared tin and spread around well. Set aside. 
• Make the cheesecake layer with an electric whisk or mixer. Cream the cream cheese till smooth and add the egg yolks one at a time. Lastly the vanilla - add to your preference. 
• Gently smooth the mixture on top of the settled brownie using an offset (cranked) spatula.
• Bake for 40 minutes or until the cheesecake topping is a healthy golden brown. 
• When it's baked, leave to cool in the tin so it keeps it's shape.
• Enjoy and refrigerate when not in use!

PS. Sorry for all of the painfully similar pictures! Budding awful photographer over here!

Love Em x

Konditor & Cook Review and London Borough Market

As London’s weather happened to be really good today, I decided to take a trip to London Borough Market with my boyfriend. It was bloody packed. Borough Market sits in the centre of London Bridge and is a 2 minute walk from the London Bridge station; it serves local and beautiful fruit and vegetables, and various food stalls selling anything from authentic beef to Ostrich. We had the pleasure of eating a cheese and potato lunch served with wild garlic, this doesn’t sound very appealing but it was to die for - and the queue was humongous!

Konditor & Cook Black Velvet Cupcakes £2.75

Konditor & Cook Magic Cakes £2.95

We also bought 3 ‘Curly Whirly’ Brownies and a ‘Black Velvet’ cupcake from Konditor & Cook which is a small bakery chain set up in several areas of London. They tasted delicious, and dare I say it but I think I preferred their cream cheese frosting to Hummingbird’s! There was something natural in the taste of their products; after all they do pride themselves on using nothing but organic and free range ingredients. I think you should all take it upon yourselves to visit this boutique style chain, or even just visit the Borough Market and see why it’s so famous! 

                                                    

Konditor & Cook Curly Whirly's £2.30

Hummingbird Bakery Valentines Day

For Valentine’s Day the boyfriend showered me in cake, in the non-literal sense. There was a beautiful Red Velvet Cake and a dozen Raspberry Cream Cheesecake Brownies, each tasted as consistent and delicious as the next and are all over half eaten at the moment (I got them yesterday). He ordered them from Hummingbird Bakery in London, and he definitely got in on point J

On another note, the work of a dedicated & talented media reviewer can be found at http://relentlesslife.wordpress.com/

Black Bottom Cupcakes by Hummingbird & Review

Hummingbird Bakery began in Notting Hill in 2004, since then they have plunged into a world of success that is none other than well deserved. Their products are inspired by the infamous American style that we all adore, this is the style that is envied by most Brits. It's a well known and national annoyance of ours - the food just looks better/probably tastes better in America! 

After making these today out of  Hummingbirds first publication - The hummingbird bakery cookbook, i decided that it was imperative i published the recipe onto my blog (without a picture because i stupidly forgot to take one). 

These cupcakes contain three layers of deathly goodness. They start off with a thick, rich and crumbly chocolate sponge which is embellished in texture as opposed to sweetness to add a balance to the cupcake's flavour. On top of that is a small helping of cheesecake and chocolate chip. Above that is a generous amount of cream cheese frosting. Above that is a sprinkling of cocoa. All in all, there are 3 variations of chocolate and 2 of cheese in this cupcake. Therefore it speaks for itself in terms of it's delicious-ness. 

The recipe 

Sponge

1. 190g plain flour

1. 120g caster sugar
2. 40g cocoa powder, plus extra to decorate
3. Half tsp bicarbonate of soda
4. 40 ml sunflower oil
5. 1 and a half tsps white vinegar
6. Half tsp vanilla extract
7. Cheesecake
8. 140g cream cheese
9. 60g caster sugar
10. 1 egg
11. Half tsp vanilla extract
12. A pinch of salt
13. 100g milk chocolate chips
14. Frosting
15. 300g icing sugar, sifted
16. 50 unsalted butter
17. 125g cold cream cheese

The method

• Preheat the oven to 170 degrees and line a muffin try with cupcake cases.
• Place all the dry ingredients for the sponge into a bowl and mix until everything is well incorporated. 
• Pour the oil, water, vinegar and vanilla in a jug and mix together.
• slowly pour the contents of the jug into the dry ingredients whilst mixing. You should be left with a thick dough-like mixture. Plop an equal amount into 12 cupcake cases and leave aside. 
• In a smaller bowl - for the cheesecake, whisk together the cream cheese, vanilla, and egg. You should be left with a creamy consistency after about a minute of whisking. Briefly and gently stir in the chocolate chips.
• Plop some cheesecake mix on top of each cupcake.
• Bake for exactly 20 minutes in the oven - any longer and your cheesecake top will become dry!
• For the frosting, electrically whisk together the icing sugar, butter and cheese until you have a thick and creamy texture. Do not over mix as it easily melts!
• Frost the cakes, and finally dust with cocoa.