Chinese Bakery Style Orange and Strawberry Cream Cake

So I know the title is kind of long, but that's what this cake is! If you've never had a Chinese bakery style cake, it's layers of fluffy sponge cake filled with a variety of fruits and covered in a whipped cream frosting. These cakes are extremely light and airy, making them a great ending after eating a large meal. Growing up, I wasn't always the biggest fan of Chinese bakery desserts. I thought that they tasted kind of bland compared to sweeter American style cakes. Now that I'm older, my tastes have expanded and while I still love a good yellow cake covered in rich chocolate buttercream, I appreciate the subtle sweetness found in Chinese style desserts.



Since I was making this cake for Chinese New Year, I decided to add a twist and do an orange sponge cake filled with lots ripe strawberries and whipped cream. Oranges are a symbol of good luck and prosperity for the new year due to their round shape and in Chinese the word for orange sounds similar to the word for wealth. I chose to use only strawberries in the filling for their red color since red is a sign of good fortune and happiness. So basically this whole cake is filled with good luck, success, and joy!

Red Bean Cheesecake

Happy Chinese New Year's eve! I hope everyone is ready to celebrate with family and friends and eat some crazy delicious food! Since making my own red bean paste earlier this week, I've been working on incorporating it into some desserts, which actually turned out harder than I thought. Red beans have a pretty delicate flavor that's really easy to overpower. I realized that when you eat it in traditional Asian desserts and snacks, it's usually as a ball of filling in something like a steamed bun or dumpling, so the bean paste's sweetness comes through.





I was determined to make a cheesecake with the red bean paste, because I just really love cheesecake and wanted something different for dessert than the usual red bean soup for the new year. That and I don't like red bean soup =p So when making this cheesecake, I decided to add a layer of the bean paste in addition to mixing it into the batter to help make the bean flavor stronger. While I used homemade red bean paste, canned paste will work fine too. Making your own is really easy though and you can find my recipe for it here. The tangy cream cheese along with an almond crust go well with the red beans.






I have a confession, the lines along the sides of the cheesecake are from the parchment I used to line the pan because I did it kind of sloppily. I'm just going to pretend they're intentional =) Also, I kind of spaced out when I started baking the cheesecake, completely forgot when I put it in the oven and ended up taking it out a bit too early. So the middle is not as firm as I would like, as you can see from the photos, but it still tasted great!

This recipe makes a 6 inch cheesecake, but it's pretty rich so all you need is a small slice, which is great after eating a multi-course meal, but you still want something sweet. I hope everyone has some amazing dishes over the next few days and that this cheesecake is one of them! Enjoy!

Red Bean Cheesecake

Makes one 6 inch cheesecake

Ingredients

Crust

1/2 cup (48g) graham cracker crumbs, about 3-1/4 cracker sheets
1/4 cup (40g) almonds
1 tbsp (13g) light brown sugar, packed
1/8 tsp salt

3 tbsp (42g) unsalted butter, melted 

Filling

10 oz (284g) cream cheese, softened

1/3 cup (69g) white sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1-1/2 cups (364g) red bean paste, divided. Recipe to make your own here
1/3 cup (89g) heavy cream, room temperature

2 eggs, room temperature

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 6 inch springform pan, line with parchment and then butter the parchment. In a food processor pulse the almonds until finely ground. Add the graham cracker crumbs, brown sugar, salt and pulse to mix together. Add the melted butter and pulse until combined and moist crumbs form. Press the crumbs into the bottom of prepared pan and bake for about 8-10 minutes until set and edges are golden. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Spread half of the red bean paste in an even layer over the crust. Wrap the bottom of the pan with tinfoil, making sure the foil comes up at least 3/4 of the pan's sides.

Preheat oven to 325°F. Place a kettle of water on to boil. In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the sugar, cream cheese, and salt on medium low speed until smooth and creamy. Mix the remaining red bean paste with the heavy cream and vanilla until smooth, then add to the cream cheese mixture and mix until combined. Scrape the bowl down and with the mixer on low, add the eggs, mixing well. Pour into cooled crust and place the cheesecake pan into another, larger baking dish. Pour enough boiling water into the larger baking dish until it comes about halfway up the sides of the cheesecake pan. Bake for about 1 hour and 10 minutes until the edges have set but the center of the cheesecake has a slight jiggle. Remove from water bath and allow to cool to room temperature then chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours. Unmold from pan, slice and enjoy!

Homemade Sweet Red Bean Paste

Continuing with dessert planning for Chinese New Year, I knew I had make some homemade sweet red bean paste. Often used in many Asian desserts and snacks, red bean paste can be found in steamed buns, sesame balls, ice cream, dumplings, and many other pastries.

I've used canned red bean paste before, but always found it way too sweet for my taste. Making your own is actually pretty easy, it just takes a bit of time but you can adjust the sugar and sweetness to your liking.





To start, the beans should be rinsed and soaked in water overnight to help reduce the cooking time. After soaking, the beans are drained and placed into a pot with enough water to cover them by a few inches and simmered until soft. The beans and cooking liquid are then pressed through a fine mesh strainer to remove the skins. You could also use a blender or food processor to blend the beans into a smooth paste without removing the skins first, but I prefer using the strainer for a smoother texture.



Sugar, salt, and vegetable oil are added to the paste, which is then cooked down to get rid of any excess liquid and thicken the paste up. Allow to cool and that's it, you now have red bean paste to use in any recipe you choose!

Growing up, I would often have steamed buns filled with this sweet bean paste on the weekend, so I'm definitely going to try making some. Along with ice cream, I've been experimenting with red bean cheesecake and cookies and I'll be getting a recipe up for them soon! Enjoy!



Homemade Red Bean Paste
Makes about 2-1/4 cups ( 537g) of paste

Ingredients
8 oz (229g) dried adzuki beans
Water as needed for boiling
1/2 cup (104g) white sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup (38g) vegetable oil

Directions

Rinse the beans and place in a large bowl. Cover with water and soak overnight. Drain and place the beans in a pot with 3 cups of water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer the red beans for 1-2 hours until soft, stirring occasionally. If there is still a lot of water in the pot, continue cooking until there is only a thin layer of water covering the beans

Press the beans and any excess liquid through a fine mesh strainer set over a pot. Discard the leftover skins. Add the sugar, salt, and vegetable oil to the red bean paste and cook over medium low heat, stirring often until the paste thickens. Allow to cool.

Chewy Almond Cookies

It seems the holidays were not too long ago and I was baking up a storm. Cookies, cheesecake, chocolate mousse, I even made an ice cream cake. I didn't think it was possible, but I was kind of over desserts and baking by the time January rolled around. Well now it's been over a month since I've made anything and I'm ready to get my cookie back on!

With Chinese New Year coming up, I've been thinking about what to bring to my family celebrations later this month and these almond cookies are definitely on the list!

Pumpkin Coffee Cake with Pecan Streusel

Happy Halloween, season of all things spooky and pumpkin! While I'm not actually super big on pumpkin, I couldn't resist making this cake after going apple and pumpkin picking and sampling all the baked goods at the orchards. There's nothing better than the smell of spiced cake in the kitchen as the weather cools down.



I have to admit, it took me several tries to get this recipe right. Way too much pumpkin puree the first time and the cake was just a dense, gloppy mess. The next couple tries were pretty good, just not quite what I wanted. Finally, the fourth cake was everything I was looking for, not too dense, lightly sweet and spiced with a nice crunch from the pecans. The perfect fall afternoon snack with coffee! Or perfect breakfast, warmed up in the toaster oven. Really, this is an anytime of day kind of cake.

Fresh Apple Cake

A few weeks ago at a family bbq, my aunt told me how one of her favorite desserts was this apple cake that a friend would make her every fall. Seeing as how the apple is New York's state fruit and I live close to several orchards in my area, I decided to come up with my own recipe for this apple cake!

Toasted marshmallow ice cream

Nothing beats a summer campfire and roasting marshmallows on a stick. But sometimes it's just too darn hot to sit in front of a fire to get that toasty marshmallow. Cue toasted marshmallow ice cream!

Lemon seven-layer cookies

When it comes to cookies I generally love simple recipes, the mix-everything-in-one-bowl kind of deal. But every once in a while, it's nice to make a fancy cookie, one that makes people go "Wow! You made bakery cookies!" Which is how my friends responded when I gave them my test batches, even though the first couple of times they came out kind of wonky. 

Tiramisu

Aside from ice cream. tiramisu has to be one of my favorite desserts. It's light and creamy and even after a big meal, I can never refuse a piece! If I see it on a menu I have to order it and every place has their own version. My favorite tiramisu actually comes from a local health food store in my area. It's rich, but still airy and I've been trying to recreate it at home.

Lemon Cookies

Warm weather is here and that means lovely things like the days getting longer and backyard barbecues with massive amounts of grilled food. It also means more citrus-y  desserts, which are really great when you eat way too much at said barbecues but still want something sweet to end the meal.

Chocolate Espresso Cookies

I'm very proud of myself,  I made these cookies two days ago and there are still some left! Great for a quick chocolate fix, they're rich with a nice kick of coffee. The weather is starting to warm up and I bet these would be even better sandwiched with vanilla ice cream, so enjoy!

Maple Brown Sugar Ice Cream

It's cooling down, but I'm still making ice cream. It's one of those year round foods!

Dark Chocolate Grand Marnier Truffles

I'm already planning for the holidays and have been practicing some truffle recipes to give away at Christmas. I've always loved those chocolate oranges that you can smash apart and eat, but making your own candy is so much more personal and sweet, so I decided to go with my own orange Grand Marnier truffle!

Alphabet Soup

It's cooling down nicely and all I want to do is eat soup and layer up in jackets and scarves. I'm trying to incorporate more vegetables in my diet so I figured this soup would be a good way to do it!

Lemon Cheesecake

It's summer and it's hot. I've decided the best way to cool down is to consume creamy chilled pieces of cheesecake. Works wonders, especially if you eat it straight out of the pan from the fridge!

I miss Savannah, Georgia so I made pulled pork

I went to Savannah for school and one of the best places to eat was Angel's BBQ. This little restaurant was located in an alleyway right next to my dorm and every time I went I would have a ball with all the sauces that they make themselves. Coming back to New York, I tried to find bbq that would hold up, but nothing came close, so I finally decided to try and make my own. While I still miss Angel's BBQ, I'm pretty happy with how my pulled pork came out, so give it a try!