Inside-out Chocolate yeast cake

Hi, remember me? Yes, I know I have been a little scarce lately! I have missed my blog actually but the work is keeping me so busy these days that I rarely have much time for myself. Celebrated my 30^th birthday this week! Oh what fun! I have started another course again too which is keeping me busy to the absolute max, but at the end of it all I shall be very happy!

So I wanted to share you this cake I made recently. I actually got it from Carine Goren’s book ‘Sweet Secrets’. Well actually my partner Efi requested it out the book. How he did not make it that simple you see. He decided that he wanted the chocolate filling from one recipe and wanted it served with the dough of another. Since it is only the 2 of us at home and I am not making a habit of eating too many sweet things, it was basically up to him to eat it, so we decided that I should probably halve the dough recipe, but with strict instructions to keep the chocolate amount the same! Is he not the cutest!!! J

Sasha being Sasha of course made a tiny little calculation error cause as you know a). I am still learning and b). I am not that good with following recipes!

So I was quite nervous while it was in the oven, but my nerves were put to rest once it came out the oven and Efi devoured halve of it while still hot! And I did allow myself a taste a can confirm its wonderful, so here goes!

Dough:

3 ½ cups flour

2 tsp instant yeast

2 eggs

½ cup sugar

¾ cup luke warm milk

½ tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp salt

2 ½ sticks soft unsalted butter

Chocolate filling:

1 ½ sticks unsalted butter

100g bittersweet chocolate

5 Tblsp cocoa powder

¾ cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ tsp cinnamon

Make your dough and proof first. In a mixer fitted with dough hook, mix flour and yeast, add eggs, sugar, milk and vanilla extract and mix till smooth. Add salt and butter and knead till dough is smooth and shiny. Cover and leave to double in size for approximately 1 hour.

To prepare the chocolate filling, melt together the chocolate and butter on low heat. Sift the cocoa powder and sugar and mix in together with vanilla extract and cinnamon. Let it cool till it is spreadable.

Turn the proofed dough out on a floured surface and roll out to a ¼ inch thick rectangle. Spread the chocolate filling evenly. Roll the dough to form and tube, then slit the dough length wise down with a sharp smooth edge knife to form 2 strips that you can plait. Twist the together into a spiral. 

Place into a backing tray, cover and leave to double in size again.

Pre-heat the oven to 170C.

Brush the cake with egg wash and back for 25-30 minutes or until they are brown and cooked through. 

Enjoy! 

Israeli Cheesecake (my slimmer’s version)

Yeah right you are thinking. Just like everyone else that I have told when listing the ingredients. You might be thinking, ‘what’s the point’.

I was never a fan of cheesecake growing up. I never liked the taste, found it always too rich, sometimes with a sour taste. I could count on my one hand the number of times I actually tried cheesecake.

It was a couple of years back that Efi asked me to make cheesecake to break the Yom Kippur fast, and at first I was very much apprehensive, firstly cause I did not have a clue how to even start baking a cheesecake and secondly because of my previous experience. But you know, it was for my Efi, and so I wanted to give it the best attempt.

On my third trip to Israel I found a recipe book booked ‘Sweet Secrets’ by Carine Goren. I can highly recommend this book if you are even the slightest interested in baking. This was exactly what I needed!

Now I am naturally conscious about eating healthy and always find ways to cut back on excess calories without affecting the taste much. I took a serious gamble here, and in my personal opinion, I was hugely successful.

This is my version of Carine’s No-bake cheesecake:

For the crust and crumb (do this first as it needs time to cool before adding your filling)

1 1/2 cups flour

1tsp baking powder

¾ cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 ¼ stick unsalted cold butter cubed

3 egg yolks

Preheat over to 180C

In your mixer, mix flour, baking powder, sugar, vanilla extract and butter till it resembles crumbs. Add the egg yolks and pulse just till a dough is formed.

Press half the dough into the actual dish that you will be making your cheesecake in to form the base of the cheesecake. With the other half, press into a dish, once this is baked into a biscuit you will be breaking this up into a crumble, so the dish really does not matter.

Bake for approximately 20 mins or until golden and then set aside to cool completely.

For the filling

1 cup full cream

¾ cups sugar

1 packet of instant vanilla pudding mix

3 1/2 tubs of fat free smooth cottage cheese

In a mixer, combine all ingredients for a couple minutes till well mixed through.

When the crumb base has completely cooled, scoop the filling inside and smooth over with your spatula. Gently sprinkle the crumb that you have broken up over the cheesecake and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.

What I love about this cheesecake is that I can eat without feeling that it was too rich and heavy as it is so light, I have officially turned into a cheesecake junkie. I am very curious to hear what you think, so let me know if you try it!