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Saturday 4 August 2007

Anh's Cottony Cheesecake - Surprise at First Sight

Finally, finally... Honestly, I feel really bad for making you guys wait such a long time... Should have at least added the link to the original recipe - stupid me... As the title suggests, I saw this cheese cake over at Food Lover's Journey - the lovely blog of Anh from Melbourne. Besides loving all kinds of cheese cakes, I was truly intrigued by her love affair with this particular cheese cake. Wondering if I was to fall in love at first sight, too, I set to work. The only change I made was substituting dark rum for the lemon juice and vanilla bean paste for the black sesame powder (it was late at night and I didn't feel like hunting down this ingredient although I'm pretty sure that it's preferable to the rather well-known vanilla flavour).

For some reason, my computer decided to continually hibernate itself so I had a hard time making sure that I got all the ingredients in the right amounts (nearly forgot the corn flour...). This chaos could have been the reason for not thinking about the right kind of cream cheese to choose. Usually, I have the slightly fat-reduced one for breakfast and that's what I used for the cake, too. However, this resulted in a batter with pouring consistency - I definitely had no need to add any more milk as Anh had suggested in her recipe. And I'm pretty sure that I beat the egg whites until far too fluffy. All in all, the whole thing reminded me of souffle batter - not a bad thing in itself but I started to feel a bit worried - the recipe said it should be like your average cake batter...

Anyway, I poured it into my 20-centimeters spring form pan; the left-overs went into my little heart-shaped moulds. And then the waiting began. One hour and ten minutes is an awful long time when you're desperately wanting to eat this cake... I stared through the oven door and watched the batter rising beautifully, just like a souffle. However, I was pretty sure that this lofty appearance wouldn't last very long and during the last third of the baking time the cake flattened out quite a bit. It was then when I noticed that I had simply forgotten the water bath the recipe had called for...

Despite the fact that I had messed up a lot, the cake soon started to smell wonderful. When I took it out of the oven, I could barely contain my impatience and quickly cut one of the little cakes in half. Due to my greediness, I don't have any pictures... The texture was quite different from the large cake. The small ones had retained their airy structure and with their dark brown edges, they reminded me of Canneles. Mind you, i've never eaten any but they looked exactly like this or like that had there been any chocolate in it. Now I definitely have to try the real thing!

The next day, during a dinner party, I cut up the large cake and got my second surprise. Although the cake didn't have the decidedly cottony texture of Anh's original, it reminded me of another French specialty: Far Breton. I had eaten this custardy prune-studded cake only once in my life while on school exchange in Brittany. However, I loved it so much that I still remember the taste of it. And this cake was a darn good replica!

All in all, this cake was surprise at first sight - and what a good one! Now I just have to find the time to try the original recipes. Besides following Anh's recipe to the letter...


The hint
First, I served this cake with warm berry sauce and slightly whipped cream. However, strawberries marinated in a little sugar and Cointreau were an even better accompaniment.

21 comments:

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

I am intrigued by the name Cottony Cheesecake. Can't wait to see the recipe and to make it!!I enjoyed reading your posts, your interview and meme. Keep up the great job!!!!I know lots of young people my daughters age that have headed to Australia whether it be for a few months or a few years. When I was in my 20's the place to travel was Europe....and we did!!!

Brilynn said...

Beautiful pictures and that texture looks amazing! I want some!

Anh said...

Eva, I hope you like the cake. *nervous*

The photo is so beautiful! I love the touch of strawberries, too.

Eva said...

Valli - I actually don't even know where that name comes from... Glad to hear that you're enjoying my blog! And, luckily, in a couple of days I can visit Europe again..:-)

Thanks Brilynn - the texture was really unique and somewhat unexpected but delicious nonetheless!

Anh, you needn't have to worry! Although I was somewhat puzzled that my version didn't look like yours at all (still have to figure out why), I just loved this cake! Hopefully tomorrow I'll post a thorough account of it, I promise!

Patricia Scarpin said...

Eva, you are a mean, mean person!! This is pure temptation! ;)

Nora B. said...

Eva, how could you keep me waiting like this... ;-)

Eva said...

Patricia - I hope I didn't force you to do some serious fridge-raiding..;-)

Nora - Can't tell you how bad I feel for not posting sooo long... This video documentation keeps me really busy but now it's nearly finished, thank God!

Anonymous said...

I love cheese cake and this one looks delicious.

Mandy said...

Nice shots! I can almost taste the cottony texture of the cheesecake!

Eva said...

Cooking Ninja, this one is really worth a try - something quite different from the average cheese cake.

Thank you, Mandy!

Toni said...

First time visiting your blog, and what a welcome!! I adore cheescake... and those strawberries? To die for!! I love your photography!

Eva said...

I wish you a warm welcome, Toni! Feel invited to stick around!

Nora B. said...

Hi Eva, finally!!! This only means that you managed to finish the video editting job (I hope!).

Terrific post. I love it when bloggers write about their experience with recipes. Your cheesecake may not turn out exactly like Anh's but it sounds like you were very pleased with the result. Your photos are beautiful as usual. :-)

p/s: I've also been wanting to make canneles...I've even printed out the recipe from tartelette....

Eva said...

Fingers crossed, Nora... If there are no further comments, I just have to burn the DVD (which will only take time and not nerves...)
Will have to wait with Canneles until I'm back from Germany but looking forward to seeing yours!

Tatter said...

Gorgeous and scrummy! I find cheesecakes irresistible!

bembi said...

this cheesecake looks gorgeous and delicious! namm namm! ;))

Madame K said...

I remember seeing a similarly-named cheesecake recipe in a Japanese cookbook. The texture looks so tempting.
I'd love to try this!

Eva said...

Tatter, me too! I just love cheesecake of all sorts...

Thanks Bembi!

Go for it, Karen! However, I recommend to rather follow Anh´s instructions..;-)

Anonymous said...

I always wanted to make proper cheesecake... I must try your recipe one day.
Greetings, Margot

Helene said...

I love that cheesecake. I made one in april with salted butter caramel sauce and it was wonderful!
You did a great job!

Eva said...

Hi Coffee&Vanilla, this is however a rather unusual cheesecake (at least for me) but I hope to blog about the "real" German cheesecake some time soon!

Thanks Tartelette! I remember yours looking wonderfully tempting...need to try this sauce!