White Chocolate Blueberry Cheesecake

White Chocolate Blueberry Cheesecake1

I kind of have a thing for cheesecake. A few weeks from now I started craving it and this desire has not stopped until yet. This weekend, I came across a recipe called “The best cheesecake in the world”. Dear reader, be careful when reading such things – do not believe everything written on the internet. I was very sceptical at the beginning, as I have been disappointed with such “best” recipes, but the instructions did not sound too complicated, so I gave it a try.

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This cake has a crust which holds the whole mass together. I am not reaally a fan of crusts in cheesecake, because they usually take quite some time to prepare and are dry when baked. But this one is no big deal concerning the preparation and is a little crunchy, which is really an interesting experience to taste.

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To make the whole thing a little special, I cut one white chocolate into small pieces with a knife and put it in the batter. Also I put some blueberries in the middle of the batter. And no doubt, the cheese layer was by far the best one I have ever tried. It uses beaten heavy cream to get fluffy and the white chocolate inside makes it taste full and rich.

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Although my version turned out a bit burned, as can be seen in the pictures, it did not taste burned at all. So please do not let the brown top scare you, the most important thing is that the mass is baked. And now here the instructions for the surprisingly simple “best” white chocolate blueberry cheesecake.

White Chocolate Blueberry Cheesecake

(for a round 26 cm (10´´) pan)

crust:

200 g (1 2/3 cups) flour
75 g (1/3 cup) sugar
75 g (1/3 cup) butter
1 egg
1 tsp baking powder

cheese layer:

125 g (1/2 cup + 1 tbsp) butter
180 g (3/4 cup + 1 tbsp) sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 pckt instant vanilla pudding powder
3 eggs
500 g (18 oz) curd
200 g (6,5 oz) sour cream
200 ml (3/4 cup) heavy cream
150 g (5 oz) frozen blueberries, defrosted and dripped off
100 g (3 oz) white chocolate, chopped into small pieces or shredded

To prepare the crust, soften the butter in a microwave and mix together with the other ingredients for the crust until a crumbly dough comes together.

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).

Oil a round pan and spread the dough on the ground and form a rim of about the width of two fingers. Place the crust in the fridge until the cheese mass is done.

For the cheese layer, mix butter, sugar, vanilla extract, pudingpowder and eggs in a bowl. Add curd and sour cream and cream until incorporated.
Beat the heavy cream in a seperate bowl, then fold it gently in the rest of the mass. Last but not least, put in the chopped white chocolate.

Pour half of the mass into the prepared pan, then spread the blueberries onto it. Now spread the rest of the mixture on top.

Bake for a good 60 minutes, until the cheese mass is done.

Summer Versions

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It has been quite hot the last few days here and I was not brave enough to stand next to the oven very often, waiting for hot treats to come out. Anyway, no one wanted to eat the chocolate cake I planned doing (because I always love chocolate cake, no matter the temperature). Which was kind of depressing and I had to find a way to make my cake more attractive. The answer was fruit! I threw a good 150 g (5 oz.) of fresh raspberries into a brownie batter and it turned out very good.

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I even decided to bring these brownie cupcakes as a gift for a little sweet baby boy.

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These animals on top made of icing are marvellous, aren’t they?

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Hope to be able to come back soon with a new recipe!

Chocolate Raspberry Donuts

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Some kind of summer has finally arriverd here in the middle of Germany. The pouring rain has stopped and left many damages behind, but it is warm and sunny… I call it berry time.

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Berry time because it makes you want something fresh, something juicy, something sweet – like berries? I found an amount of really tasty raspberries at the supermarket and decided to use them in a dough. As my boyfriend passed his last exams for the A-levels last week, there was a good reason for baking :).

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I heard the donut maker was crying for me, so it was not a difficult decision to use the fruit in a chocolate dough. Have a look at the resut :).

Chocolate Raspberry Donuts

(makes about 50 donuts)

230g (2 cups) flour
30 g (3 tbsp) dark cocoa powder
130g (½ cup + 1 tbsp) sugar
1 pkt vanilla sugar
150 ml (½ cup + 3 tbsp) milk
100 ml (½ cup – 2 tbsp) heavy cream
3 eggs
3 tbsp corn oil
1 pck (3 tsp) baking powder

150 g (5 oz.) fresh raspberries

Put all the ingredients into a large bowl. Stir with a stand or a handheld mixer on medium or high speed, until the batter is smooth. Preheat your donut maker. Cut the raspberries into halves or, if you have bigger ones, in three parts each.

Place 2 or 3 pieces of the raspberries into each mould. Fill in about 1 tbsp of the dough into each mould and bake with the lid closed for about 3 minutes.