No-Bake Lemon Cheesecake with Sliced Lemon Compote

I've been wanting to try different types of cheesecake for a while but I just haven't had much opportunity for it. Now that I have 3 lbs of cream cheese, I have all the reason in the world to make a cheesecake. I don't have an occasion for this, other than an effort to do something else in life other than work. :p


I had heard of no-bake cheesecakes, but I've never tried them before - nor was I interested in it. I used to think that no-bake cheesecakes are fake cheesecakes, but I am now more open towards them. :) No-bake cheesecakes typically uses gelatin to held its structure together, but this recipe uses cornstarch instead of gelatin. The mixture is cooked almost in a similar fashion to making custard. The cheesecake is then chilled for "at least 16 hours before serving."

I thought that just the cheesecake alone would look plain, so I made some sliced lemon compote to decorate the cake. It was my first time ever making a compote and I'm not sure if I'm doing it the right way. I boiled sugar and water, and then added my lemon slices in. I covered the pot with paper towel and then remove the pot from heat. I waited for it to cool overnight before using it.

The lemon compote tasted bitter though. I think the next time I make compote, I'll boil the lemon slices first to remove some of the bitterness before adding it to the sugar mixture. I ended up rolling the lemon slices in sugar in an effort to cut down on the bitterness. I'm bringing it to the office and I'll see if I pass the test.

Update:

For the most part, my coworkers liked the cheesecake. I tried just a little piece of the cheesecake and I liked it too. It's not too sweet but it is a heavy cheesecake. As a note for future baking attempt, I will decrease the amount of cream cheese used and add more lemon juice into the cake. This way, the cake will be lighter and the lemon flavor will be more bold.

Update on Anniversary Baking

Yay! Thank goodness there's another camera in action during all these baking time for my parents' anniversary. :) These pictures are taken fresh on the day itself! These are candid shots of the cakes and I hope you'll enjoy them!

This is me trying to carefully spoon equal amounts of strawberry jelly on top of each strawberry mousse.

These are the 2 main trays of strawberry mousse - there are 3 more plates of these!

Yep, the strawberry mousse in the making! I really took up a LOT of space in the fridge that day :p

These are tiramisu in progress. We're dusting them with cocoa powder... at the last minute!

There are no pictures of the durian mousse - but from what I heard (from durian fans), they're pretty good. :p

Almond and Cheese Chiffon Cake

This is my first baking moment back in Houston. It had been an eventful weekend with a wedding and a funeral at the same weekend. I had a totally wonderful time during the wedding - every moment of it was very warm, fun, and memorable. I am very happy for my friends! I wish them all the love and joy in their marriage.

The funeral, on the other hand, was really depressing for me. I never would have thought that the last time I saw her (in December 2008 before my vacation to Indo) was the last time I ever saw her. I was really sad and confused. This incident really shook me up and made me realize that my time here is limited - I should make the best out of it.

Anyway - back to the Chiffon. When I was in Indo, my mom's friend came over to the Villa and cooked for us. She also taught me to bake a Chiffon cake with coconut milk (a new recipe!). But more than the new recipe, she gave me an idea to mix almond into the batter to give the cake a more unique feel. In this cake, I folded in grated cheddar cheese (Kraft from Indo) and sliced almonds.

I actually think that this is the best looking chiffon that I had ever made. The complexion of the cake was uniform throughout and the way the almonds and cheese showed up at the top was really nice too. The texture of the cake was also very soft and moist. Alvin ate 2 slices at once. And I think Ryan ate a couple of slices too. I ate a good slice myself too! I still have some leftover at home - let me know if you're interested! :)

Baking for My Parents' 25th Anniversary

This Christmas was extra special because it's also my parents' 25th anniversary. We held a celebration of thanks at the villa and it was a beautiful day. :)

My mom has asked if I could make some desserts for that day and I was very honored to be given that opportunity. It was, however, much more work that what I had thought it would be. I planned to make 120 mini strawberry mousse cake and 120 petite tiramisu cups. My mom then added a request to make about 75 durian mousse in shot glasses. Of these 3, I only managed to take a picture of a plate of the strawberry mousse - and this was taken the day after the celebration.

We made most of the desserts the day before the anniversary and finished it all on the day of the anniversary. I was caught off guard by a lot of things on the big day of baking. Since I'm not baking in my own kitchen, everything was different. The oven in Indonesia is a gas oven, mine is an electric oven. This really affects the baking time for me. Also, my mom's mixer was a lot slower than the one I typically use. This really affects the preparation time for me. The humidity, the different ingredients, and even the different egg sizes really made the day interesting. But all that being said, it was such a fun experience.

The picture above is with my brother and I posing with the cake. Believe it or not, he helped out a lot in the making of the desserts. He was quite shocked by the amount of work that was put into making desserts. My sister was also a champion on that day. She helped out tremendously! She is officially a tiramisu expert now. :) I'm so proud of her!

After most of the guests left for the evening, the family then had some time to relax and take pictures! :) My little sister is making a heart shape with her fingers - she's so adorable! I can't believe she's 7 already!

The villa looks really nice at night. I can only share a picture with you, but you've got to see it yourself to really appreciate how pretty it is at night. :)

I didn't do that much baking in Indo. I did try some new recipes and learned to cook a few new dishes. Now that I'm back in Houston, I think I'll start my baking episodes again.

Chocolate Rum Cake

I knew I was going to miss baking when I went back to Indo. That's why on the day of my departure from Houston, I had to make just one more cake. I had some heavy cream in the fridge that will go bad if I leave it for 3 weeks and so I decided to use it up.

This cake is a really simple. It's just moist chocolate sponge cake brushed with rum and filled and covered with chocolate Chantilly cream. I spiked the cream with rum as well to "lighten" the chocolate flavor.

Of course since I'll be leaving within a few hours that this cake was made, I need to give it to someone else. Who would be a better person to give this cake than the kind girl who sent us to the airport? Yep, it's all for Sylvia!

I really haven't heard from her about the cake. I'll definitely ask her opinion on it when I see here again. :)

MIA in December

Yep, I'll be missing in December - not because I've stopped blogging or that I've stopped baking but because I'm in Indonesia right now with limited access to Internet and email as well as no access to my kitchen.

I missed baking a LOT.

I left for Indo on Dec 11th. Before that, my work was taking all of my time. During the first 10 days of the month, I had to travel to Alabama twice. I was only in Houston for one and a half days. which I used to prepare for my Indo trip (buying gifts, packing, and cleaning up my room).

Despite that, I managed to bake a chocolate cake on the 11th, before I had to leave for the airport. :p I'll upload the cake as soon as I get to the US.

I can't wait to see my kitchen and all my baking tools in Houston. See you all in January!

Black Forest Cake 3

I had promised my friend to bake a birthday cake for his wife's birthday but I totally forgot about it! I know... it's so awful of me. I felt really bad about it. Luckily, he gave me another chance to bake him a thanksgiving cake. His wife chose the black forest for her birthday and so I made the black forest cake as the thanksgiving cake. :)

This is 2 layers of moist chocolate sponge cake, brushed with rum simple syrup, a layer of chocolate rum cream, lots of dark bing cherries, and frosted with rum chantilly cream. I was thinking of experimenting with chocolate decorations, but I was a little scared of failure. I should be more adventurous next time, but since the cake is for a special occassion, I decided to play on the safe side.

I found this "Home Made" stickers at Michael's and I thought that it would be perfect for all my cake orders. :) My cakes are as home made as it can be. :) I'm really grateful for all my friends and families who constantly encourage and support me in my baking. Alvin has also been such a support for me. I hope I continue to learn and improve in the future.

Blueberry Cupcakes

Just before I left for one and a half week, I had to bake something. I don't quite know what I wanted to bake, but I've been crazy about cupcakes lately so I thought I'll experiment with it. I'm trying out new recipes to find the best cupcake recipe. The cupcake that I like is the cake-y one, more on the light side - maybe a little fluffy too. :) Anyways, I think I baked these for a minute too long. The top of the cupcakes were a little dry. I'll reduce the bake time next time. :)

Since I was going away, I donated these to Suhi & Suha Thanksgiving Potluck. :)

There's another story behind these blueberry cupcakes. I had frosted the cake in the morning, after putting the frosting in the fridge overnight. Despite all those cooling, the buttercream started to melt as I made the swirls. The apartment was too hot for the buttercream. We had turned the heater up to 80F at the apartment. This resulted in some ugly swirls. :p Anyways, I got a feedback that it was "bherry... bherry" good. Yay!

Chocolate Pudding Filled Cupcakes

Today's entry is really adopted from the Mexican Chocolate Pudding Filled Cupcake recipe that I found on Martha Stewart. If you click on the link, it'll take you to a video on how to bake the cupcake. I changed the recipe a little for my mini cupcakes. Since I don't have any Mexican chocolate, I just replaced it with regular bittersweet chocolate. Also, instead of pulling out a chunk of the cupcake to make room for the chocolate pudding, I just squeezed it right in. For a little decoration, I sprinkled white chocolate shavings on top.

I brought these to the Cocktail Dinner for my friend's bachelorette party and of course, I had to use the mini cupcake stand for presentation! I love this new tool that I bought. :)

The cross-section of the cupcake in the above picture will show you how it looks like with the chocolate pudding inside. The feedback I got from these cupcakes are that the frosting is super yummy, the variation in texture (between the cupcake, pudding, and frosting) is complimentary, and the chocolate taste is really rich. :)

Cotton Cheese Cake

This is the special guest for the weekend (and Monday too!). My dear friend who's getting married soon and I'm so happy for her! One of her favorite thing is the limited edition kraft cheese from Indo. Yes, it is extremely hard to find here in Houston. That's why I am so grateful for my mom who brought me some from Singapore and for Jane who also brought me some from Indo. *muach*

This cake is made of 2 layers of moist cotton cake, vanilla buttercream, lots of grated kraft cheese, and covered in more buttercream and cheese. I'm glad that when we finally tried it today on our small group, my girlfriends liked it. :)

You may also wonder what it is that I drew on top of the cake. Yes, it is rather badly disfigured. It is actually my attempt to draw women's undergarment. A few of my friends suggested making "exotic" cakes, but I just couldn't bring myself to bake one. This is about as close as I can get to that. :p