Tofu Cheesecake

A month ago I offered a buddy my kitchen to bake a birthday cake for her brother & it was Tofu Cheesecake. It has never interest me to making one until I tried it with my friend. It's interesting. She made one without real tofu but it was called Tofu for its super smooth texture. So I google around for one recipe that uses real tofu & came across this beauty. I follow the guidelines & adjusted a little according to my preference. I love how Em has decorated her cheesecake. So Fusion! Got to thank her for sharing this recipe. Love it!

Ingredients

1. 150g Silken Tofu
2. 8oz Philadelphia Cream Cheese
3. 50g Salted Butter - For Crust 
4. 50g Salted Butter - For Cheesecake
5. 5tbsp Caster Sugar
6. 1/4 cup Lemon Juice
7. 1/4 cup Cream (I used Whipping Cream)
8. 1/4 cup + 2tbsp Warm Water
9. 2tbsp Gelatin 
10. 150g Digestive Biscuits 

*Just like Agar-agar & Konyaku Jelly Powder, Gelatin gets hardened when let sit to cool. So it's important to make the Gelatin last. 
*I would suggest to reduce Lemon Juice to 1/8cups, about 25ml as I find it a little too sour. Or try 1/4 cup & let me know if you like it? 
*I used a 6" Push Bottom Cake Tin. Use only either a springform cake tin or Push Bottom, unless you plan to eat it directly from the cake tin.

Method

1. In a mixing bowl, break & pinch digestive biscuits into fine crumbs. You may blitz them with a blender. 
2. Melt 50g butter, pour into digestive biscuits crumbs. Mix well & pour into your cake tin. Using a spoon, press down all the crumbs to form a base. Refrigerate.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. Meanwhile, mix cream cheese, tofu & 50g butter in a large microwavable bowl. Heat up the ingredients 10 / 20 seconds at a time until warm to touch & partial of it melted. Do not overheat resulting melted ingredients. (You may use double boiling method) 
4. Whisk to achieve a smooth consistency. Don't worry with the texture being crumbly. You have not failed. Refer to pictures :)
   
   
   
   
5. Once smoothed, add sugar & continue to whisk. Then add in lemon juice & cream, whisk until mixture becomes silky smooth. 
   
   
   

   

   Texture turns smoother after adding sugar

   
   
   
   
   
   
   

   

   Texture is silky smooth after adding lemon juice & cream

6. Now proceed to gelatin. Sprinkle into warm water the gelatin powder, mix until completely dissolved. 
   
   
   
   
7. Once completely dissolved, immediately pour into cheese mixture & stir to combine. 
8. Remove cake tin from fridge & pour cheese mixture into it. Cover top with cling wrap & refrigerate for minimum 4 hours. I chilled mine overnight. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
9. Now to unmold the cake, (if you are using a push bottom tin), get a mug ready on your work station. Firstly, gently place your fingers at the bottom n slowly push up the base. Once the sides of the cheesecake is released, continue to push all the way up. Still holding the tin, slowly rest the base on top of the mug & release the sides onto the table top.

   

   Cake is done after chilling overnight

   
   

   

   Base of cake tin is resting on the mug, gently push up to release entirely

   
   
   
    
10. Then comes the tin base which is sticking entirely to the cake (This applies to Spring Form too). Because the cake is so delicate, you will not be able to remove the cake with your bare hands. Use a long knife or a spatula that is longer than the diameter of the cake to slice through in between the bottom of the cake and the tin base to release (If you are lucky the whole base will just release itself). Otherwise slowly slice through, & repeat. On the second slice through, stop at the end of the cake, do not leave the base. Gently lift up the side of the cake with your knife or spatula, and slip in the cake board under the knife. Remove knife. While your left hand is holding the board, rest the side of your right palm on the other end, touching mostly on the crust & push the cake over to the cake board.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
11. Decorate your cake whichever way pleases you. If you are planning to dust your cake, do it just right before serving as moisture from cake will be absorbed by it resulting dampened dust. Serve chilled :)
    
    
    

    

    I like how Em decorated hers; like real tofu cubes. So I did one too...Hee

    This yield is enough to feed 10 itchy mouths...
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
     
    
    
    

Chicken Essence Steam Chicken

This is another quick dish that can be cooked together with rice. But I did it in a wok as I was steaming vegetables for my kids today. I've had a box of Chicken Essence sitting aimlessly in my cabinet for a while now, hence this dish for today. 

Ingredients 

1. Half a Chicken, chopped 
2. 1/4 tsp Salt 
3. 1tsp Sugar 
4. 2tsp Soy Sauce
5. A dash of White Pepper Powder
6. 1/4tsp Garlic Powder
7. 10g / 6-7 Slices Ginger (Julienne & Add more if you wish)
8. 7g / A handful of Goji Berries, washed.
9. 1 Bottle of Chicken Essence 

Method

1. Marinate chicken with soy sauce, salt, sugar, pepper, &garlic powder. Mix evenly & marinate for 2-3 minutes.
   
   
   
   
2. Pour in chicken essence, arrange sliced ginger on top & sprinkle goji berries all over. 
   
   
3. Steam over simmering water for 30minutes or until chicken is completely cooked. (Boiled water & reduce fire to low)
   
   
4. Remove from heat & serve. 

Wholemeal Bread

I've never gotten around to baking a loaf without a BM. This loaf is my first & I am so happy with it. The colour & texture of this loaf is just right. The only setback is the height not reaching its maximum. I'll adjust it the next round. 

I have adapted the guidelines from Nasi Lemak Lover and adjusted the flour ratio myself because I have been craving for wholemeal bread lately. I'm definitely making the plain loaf with this recipe. Hope you like it! :D 

*I used a 10"x11" Bread Loaf Tin

Ingredients 

1. 300g Wholemeal Flour
2. 75g Cake / Superfine Flour
3. 30g Caster Sugar
4. 3/4 tsp Sugar (I used 2/4tsp Pink Sea Salt) 
5. 1tsp Instant Dried Yeast 
6. 240g Cold Milk 
7. 20g Butter 

Method

1. Mix together all flour, sugar & yeast in the mixing bowl. 
   
   
   
   
2. Add salt & milk, then knead on low speed to form a dough.
   
3. Once dough is formed, increase speed to medium low to achieve a smooth dough. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. Maintaining on medium low speed, add in butter & continue to knead for 20minutes. 
   
   
   
   
5. Remove bowl from mixer & cover with a wet cloth to proof dough until double in size, about 30minutes. 
   
6. At the last 5 minutes of proofing, preheat oven to 50°c or the lowest temperature you can find, for 5 minutes. Switch off after 5 minutes. This step is for final proofing. It's optional. 
7. Once 30minutes proofing is done, divide dough into 3 equal parts & roll them into balls. Cover with wet cloth & let rest for 10minutes.
   
8. Roll out each dough into rectangular shape & roll back up to form a roll. 
   
   
   
   
9. Place all 3 rolls into the bread tin. Cover with wet cloth & proof for 60minutes. Allow to rise to 90% of bread tin's height. If you are following step 6, do the final proofing in the oven. (Remove from oven at the last 5 minutes of proofing to preheat oven to 190°c).
   
   
   
   
   
   
10. Remove wet towel & cover bread tin with it's cover & bake in preheated oven at 190°c, fan forced mode, for 30minutes. 
11. Remove from oven & let cool before slicing.