Hello hello!

Finally, a chance to share some news about food and my Saturday. It feels so good to just unwind on a Sunday afternoon and blog about the amazing time I had with my friends. This Saturday I had some friends over for dinner. I call it The Daniel Oliver Experience, I even hashtag it on Instagram and Twitter. Feel free to follow me on Twitter for the latest updates on my journey in life.

I always love company and especially having friends over for dinner. I tried to spice things up with fancy table decor and simple center pieces. I will be on the hunt this summer for awesome table ware for sure. I think what I look forward to the most is their reaction. I guess I don't really come off as a guy who knows how to cook and bake but it is what it is.

Here we go, three course meal.

This was the Apple and Swiss Cheese Salad and was inspired by a book that I have called Everyday Kitchen. Definitely one of my favourites, I can never get enough of Arugula lettuce. I always tell people that it's an acquired taste but to my surprise, the first timers always get hooked on it.

Heres what you need:
2 tsp honey
1 tsp dijon mustard
3 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp lemon juice
2 pink lady apples
2 endive leaves
1 small bunch arugula with stalks removed
85 g cheese of your choice

Combine the honey, mustard and olive oil in a bowl (this is going to be your dressing).

Slice the apple in thin slices and drench them in lemon juice so that they won't brown. Pour the remaining juices in the dressing. Place the endive leaves on the plate, stack it up with apple slices and garnish with the arugula leaves. Drizzle some dressing on top, add a splash of olive oil and garnish with lemon zest  (optional).

This was a very nice spring salad, filled with colours and flavour. The all natural dressing is one of my favourites out of all the dressings I have made.

This was the Pan Roasted Salmon with Rosemary Anchovy Sauce Paired with Asparagus. I blogged about this before during the initial stages of this blog. Search it up in the search bar above for full details!

Dessert, my must looked forward to part of the meal. This was the Black Berry Yogurt Cheesecake. Honestly, it was one of the creamiest I have ever baked. I was a little taken back on how creamy it was. Instead of using sour cream, I substituted it with strawberry yogurt. It was one of the most impulsive but rewarding things I have ever done. It was bang on. A post was dedicated to this before, please do a search.

Last but not least, Settlers of Catan. A game that involves trading, yelling, laughing and begging. Not so the begging part but it does involve a lot of convincing.

So there we have it, my Saturday night in a post. I hope you all enjoyed it and stay tuned for further baking and cooking.

Haro Haro!

Sorry, I got a bunch of cheesecake crammed inside my mouth.

Ah, there we go. All gone, hello again and happy black Friday weekend! Shopping this weekend was so chaotic. Everywhere was so crowded and filled with people wanting to get the latest deals on what-so-ever. Anyways, cutting to the chase. It took me two days to make this Cheesecake Factory replica red velvet cheesecake.

Yes, I fell deeply in love after the day of my cousin's birthday party when her mom took out a box of red velvet cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory. I had to try and bake it myself but I needed some help from people who did this before. Turns out, it's just a very long process that took an extra day to do. No biggie.

I adapted this recipe from cakecentral.com. It was very easy to follow and he tells me that people always ask for seconds once they are done with the first one, so I had to give it a shot.

The smell of fresh moist red velvet cake in the morning is something you simply can't resist. The hint of vanilla and cocoa powder really gives this cake a boost in it's value.

It was such a hassle cutting the cakes in half, especially when the cream cheese part tends to bunch up together. Here's a tip, heat up a sharp knife and run through it quickly but carefully. You don't want to cut yourself and end up adding extra food colour. Haha.

Cake for breakfast anyone? I swear that line came from somewhere, maybe Breakfast at Tiffany's?  Or not Haha.

Sinking my teeth into this soft and flavourful cake was exciting. First I love moist cakes, I am such a sucker for them and with the combination of cheesecake is just to die for. The sweet rich aroma of cream cheese blended with cocoa powder and cream. So smooth!

Here is the recipe

Ingredients
 
Instructions

Cheesecake:

3 8-oz pkgs cream cheese - room temperature

1-1/3 cups sugar

3 Tbs cornstarch

1 Tbs vanilla

3 eggs

2/3 cup heavy cream

Red Velvet Cake

2 Tbs butter - softened

2 Tbs shortening

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 Tbs unsweetened cocoa powder

1 oz red food coloring (a small bottle)

1 cup + 2 Tbs flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 tsp baking soda

1-1/2 tsp white vinegar

1/2 tsp vanilla

Cream Cheese Icing

8 oz pkg cream cheese - softened

3-1/2 to 4 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup heavy cream

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp salt

Spray two 9 round cake pans generously with PAM.

Trace bottoms of pans onto parchment paper, cut out, and place in bottom of pans. Set aside.

For the cheesecake:

Cream together cream cheese, sugar, and cornstarch with mixer.

Add eggs and vanilla - beating until smooth.

Add cream & beat in just until combined - dont overmix.

Pour into one of prepared pans.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour and 15 minutes - watching closely near end of baking time.

Cool at room temperature, then place in refrigerator for about 2 hours.

Run knife around outer edge, tapping pan to remove cheesecake onto the palm of your hand. Set in refrigerator until cold.

For the cake:

Cream butter, shortening, and sugar.

Add egg, then mix in cocoa and food coloring.

Scrape bowl with a COLORED spatula (red would be best to keep from staining a light colored one).

Add flour and salt, then buttermilk - beating well. Sprinkle baking soda over batter, then pour vinegar and vanilla over the top.

Youll see it foam slightly. Fold into batter until well mixed.

Pour batter into the other prepared pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes, or until it tests done. Cool, then remove cake from pan. Using large serrated knife, cut this layer in half when cold.

For the frosting:

Beat cream cheese and butter together until fluffy. Add sugar and salt, then cream & vanilla. Continue to beat until smooth and it forms peaks. Set aside.

To assemble cake:

Place first half of cake layer onto serving plate (be sure to remove parchment paper from the bottom!) Protect outer edges with waxed paper if desired.

Spread generously with a layer of frosting. Carefully slice cheesecake in half in the same way as the red velvet layer, placing one half on top of red velvet cake & frosting.

Add another layer of frosting. Repeat layers. Spread frosting carefully around outer edge of cake - being careful not to drag red velvet crumbs with the knife.

Now frost top of cake. Using remaining frosting, place in pastry bag with decorative tip. Pipe edge on top and bottom.

*Note: This frosting contains butter, which can soften and melt in your warm hand. Work quickly, or it can make the frosting start to droop. Store in refrigerator & serve with a dollop of whipped cream if desired.

Love the holidays!

Good luck! Have fun with it and try not to break anything in the kitchen. =)

Cheers

I have been meaning to update my blog for a long while but personal business came up and I had to deal with that first. So unprofessional, I know but here I am! And welcome to my utopia. Thankfully, I have the time to finish off the weekend with a nice post.

Sadly, I have been as active as I should but I did mange to spend some time in the kitchen. I baked a Bailey's chocolate cheesecake. I swear one day I am going to invest in a awesome camera but till then you will have to bare with me.

In order to make this cake a little bit more fun and personal. I mixed two recipes together, Jamie Oliver and Anna Olson. The reason being is that, I really love the way Jamie makes his base all you need is:

Base:
9 oz digestive biscuits crushed
11 tablespoons of butter 

Bake for 10 minutes at 350F

Every time I use this base, I get smiles and tears of joy all the time. Its packed with the aroma of butter mixed with freshly baked biscuits (drool).

For the filling:
6 oz semisweet chocolate
3 oz dark chocolate
3 pkg cream cheese
2 cups of sugar
1 cup sour cream 
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 eggs
60 ml baileys 

Olson always taught me that if I wanted to make a recipe more personal, add a little spice. ;) The baileys was seriously a nice kick and added the 18+ to the whole cheesecake experience.  The texture was very smooth, the sugar didn't over power the filling at all but instead the chocolate was very dominant which I loved. I got nothing but good remarks on this cake. Honestly, I was quite scared when it came out because the center was still very "jiggly" and the filling almost topped over the rim of the pan!

As a bonus, I baked a batch of macarons for the girls of the party. These are always "wow factor" desserts. Every time I bring them out, everyone would crowd around and they'd be gone in less than 60 seconds. I did spot a small error during the process of baking these. For future reference, I highly recommend you to process the icing sugar and ground almonds if you want a smooth and clean shell. Otherwise you will get a bumpy texture which is not pleasing to the eyes at all. Secondly, I tried my best to mix the colour brown but I didn't add enough food colouring and it turned out peachy. =( Which didn't go very well with the coffee cream filling. Blah oh well, now I know.

'Till the day I get a new camera, you guys will have lay your eyes on poorly designed apple cameras. =( Maybe I should have thought of that first instead of buying a new guitar. Oh well. I'll bake it till I make it if that makes any sense.

Keep on coming back for more. =)
P.S. That is my friends Husky. Her name is Holly. Say hi Holly, you are on my blog! =)