Rice Dumplings and Light Crème Brulee Cheese Cake . 糉子與輕盈焦糖芝士蛋糕

                Rice Dumplings and Light Crème Brulee Cheese Cake  
                                           糉子與輕盈焦糖芝士蛋糕


"Bartar", trading in which goods or services are exchanged without the use of cash, was very popular in the olden days, and today I have bartered once for the rice dumplings that I wanted from a friend who made them all by herself.  What I used to trade the rice dumplings home was a Homemade Light Crème Brulee Cheese Cake. My friend even gave me one flavor each of the three types of rice dumplings she made, I know they are gonna be delicious.

It will be what we called the Dragon Boat Festival or Tuen Ng Festival tomorrow, besides the popular dragon boat racing in the Hong Kong Harbor, most of us will eat the rice dumplings as a tradition, and so I am keeping the rice dumplings for the festival and will taste tomorrow. Having a friend who is willing to share her dumplings with me is a blessing.

I was supposed to prepare the cheese cake by myself yesterday, but I was tied up with something important, so I prepared only the crust and my helper baked the whole cake for me, it came out exactly as I expected, no cracks and had not shrunk a bit.  Having a good domestic helper at home is just like having a pair of spare hands which do the work for me when needed….it is another blessing for me.

For the crème brulee topping of the cake, I made it this morning, no cheating, I did it all by myself as I have not taught my helper to use blowtorch yet, but I definitely will. I did not know if my friend liked heavy crème brulee topping or not, I did it only very lightly, it was not burnt much, but I got a cake with heavy crème brulee topping, which I made it after delivering the cake to my friend..I must say it is very yummy.  It tastes very good, cheese flavor is just adequate, but not overwhelming, of course, it is not too sweet as I do not have a heavy sweet tooth.  Please check it out at my another blog post.

很久以前有以物易物，今天我也來一轉以蛋糕易糉。

好感謝一位朋友送贈我親手包的糉，而且有三種味道，使我捨不得即時吃光，還是留到明天端午正日應節後才享用。其實以物易物帶來的樂趣較用金錢去買的，感覺更實在而滿足。

昨天比較忙，我只夠時間親手造好餅底，而這個芝士蛋糕全有勞我的家傭好幫手了；所以家裡有個可交帶的幫手，真的好像自己也騰出多一雙手，感恩。

蛋糕面層的焦糖面則是我今早加上的，不是自己吃，不敢把焦糖面造得太重手，另造了香濃版本，請有興趣的可看看。

Light Crème Brulee Cheesecake

 Ingredients:

Cake base:-

Crackers/McVitie's/Butter Cookies 80g

Melted butter  40g

Fillings:

Cream Cheese, softened  250g

Sweetened Condensed Milk 80g

Lemon Juice 1 tbsp

Egg 3 pc

Cake Flour 1/2 tbsp

Topping:

Castor Sugar or Finely grinded sugar 3 tbsp

Method:

1.   Preheat oven to 140C

2.   Wrap the outside base of a 15cm dia. loose-base round cake tin with double layers of foil

3.   Grease cake tin with cooking spray, butter or Crisco, slightly dust in flour,  and shake of the excess

4.   Grind the crackers/McVitie’s/cookies till fine, then mix well with melted butter, and press onto the tin base, refrigerated for at least 30 minutes or until firm

5.   In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy, gradually beat in sweetened condensed milk until smooth

6.   Add in lemon juice, mix well

7.   Add eggs in, one at a time, slightly mix well

8.   Fold cake flour in the mixture.  Pour into prepared cake pan. Place over a water bath with an inch of water

9.   Bake over 140C for 70 minutes or until center is set.  Remove the cake from the oven and let cool for an hour.  Chill at least 4 hours or overnight

10.  For Crème brulee topping, remove the cake from the tin,  sprinkle sugar evenly over the top of the cake and dust at the side too, use a blowtorch to move back and forth on top of the sugar layer at the height of 6 inches above until getting a thin light brown candy shell

Remarks:

1.   I have greased the cake tin with softened butter and dust with a little flour in order to make a straight side from the tin.

2.   Broiler could be used for Caramelizing sugar. Put cake inside the top rack of the broiler, try to use the high temperature and shortest time as far as possible. It may be easier if you broil the cake with tin, so you could remove the tin out once the ideal color is reached.

3.   Crème brulee topping color depends on the temperature of your broiler or flame, and distance the brulee from the heat counts. It’s your personal preference to choose a thin light brown candy shell or a dark brown to black burnt sugar crust.

4.   The less sugar you use, it will take shorter time to brulee and it will result in a thin light brown candy shell

5.   For 15cm cake mold: use 1 portion of the ingredients

 18cm cake mold: use 1.5 portions of the ingredients
          20cm cake mold: use 2 portions of ingredients

輕盈焦糖芝士蛋糕

材料：

餅底： -

餅乾/消化餅乾/牛油曲奇80g

牛油溶液40g

蛋糕料：

忌廉芝士，軟身 250g

甜煉奶 80g

檸檬汁1 tbsp

蛋3 pc

低筋粉1/2 tbsp

焦糖面：

糖霜或磨幼白糖3 tbsp

做法：

1.預熱烤箱至140℃

2.用雙層錫紙包好脫底模外底;

3.模內掃油灑粉，倒出多餘餅粉

4.磨碎餅乾或曲奇餅，與牛油混和，然後按壓到模底內，冷藏至少30分鐘或至硬身

5.在大碗中，將忌廉芝士打至鬆身，加入甜煉奶打至細滑

6.拌入檸檬汁

7.逐隻雞蛋拌入，輕輕混勻

8.灑入餅粉，拌勻。倒入餅模內。座入有水2.5cm高的烤盆

9.放入140℃烤箱烘烤70分鐘，或直至蛋糕中心凝結。從烤箱中取出蛋糕，待涼一小時, 再冷藏4小時或過夜

10. 焦糖面做法：取出蛋糕，移走餅模，將糖均勻地灑在蛋糕面及圓邊，用火槍噴在糖霜面，約在15cm高來回移動，直至金棕色。

提示：

1. 不用火槍做焦糖面，也可用烤爐上火烤，用極高溫盡快烤至理想顏色。如用烤爐，惡連模烤，方便上色後易於從烤爐取出

2. 焦糖面色澤取決於火焰溫度及與蛋糕面距離，深淺色悉隨尊便

3. 用糖量越少，焦糖需要時間越短，短時間內已可做出金棕色

4. 15cm脫底模：用 1 份材料

17.5cm 脫底模：用 1.5 份材料

20cm脫底模：用 2 份材料