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Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Red Berries Tray Bake with Cheesecake Ripple - Berry Week #2


I am a girl and I love pink. Well, maybe a woman now, hehe.

Well, girls seem to be born with this liking for pink. My girls love pink. I never teach them to like pink.
I am not pink crazy that I love my car or room to be pink, dressed in pink from top to toe, pink lipstick and eyeshadow, but when cakes or desserts come in pink, I am totally swooned. Absolutely swooned!!! So, when I saw this cake on Technicolor Kitchen, I just can’t say no to it, and I have half a block of cream cheese left from my Pomegranate Cream Cheese Orange Salad. And I also have strawberries left over from the “tomato sauce” for the Pizza Cake. And I just bought some raspberries too.

Not that I don’t love plums that I don’t want to use them like Patricia did. Red plums are in season now, and I just saw them at RM12/kg. Not too expensive, cheaper compared to using rasps and strawberries. But since I already have those ingredients in hand, so just use them, rather than go and buy 4 plums for this. Plums when baked are very pretty. They have this wonderful pinkish hue from their skin. It doesn’t look as pretty when the fruit is raw, but when baked, the colour is super pretty. You can see how pretty it is in my plum and nectarine cobbler.

At first I wanted to use some blueberries too, but then I don’t want to spoil the “pinkness” in this cake. Feel free to use blueberries or even fresh peaches (Australian peaches in season now!!!!).
Basically, any soft fruit will work with this cake. Substitute with whatever you have on hand. But don't forget to change the name to fit the cake. A cake with blueberries can't be called red berries tray bake, or a cake with peach can't be called a berry cake too, as peaches are stone fruits, a category in its own.
I also changed the method for the cake. I used creaming method, just to reduce slightly the amount of baking powder used. I didn’t reduce the sugar content as my fruits are rather tart. If your fruits are really, really sweet, then reduce the sugar, as the sourness of the fruits seems to intensify after baking.


Red Berries Tray Bake with Cheesecake Ripple
Sources:
Original recipe from : Waitrose

Cream cheese mixture
125gm cream cheese
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Cake batter
120gm butter
120gm soft brown sugar
2 eggs
½ tsp vanilla extract
140gm all purpose flour
1/ 2 tsp baking powder
200gm raspberries and strawberries


1. Rinse fruits and set aside to air dry.
2. Fully line a 8 inch shallow square pan with overlapping baking paper.
3. Preheat oven to 160(fan)/180C.
4. Sift flour with baking powder, set aside.
5. Beat cream cheese, vanilla and sugar until creamy, put into a plastic bag.
6. Cut the strawberries and tear raspberries into halves.
7. Cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy.
8. Add in eggs one by one, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla extract.
9. Put in half of sifted flour and beat until combined and beat in the balance of flour.
10. Put 40% of the batter into the lined pan, spread it around.
11. Snip a corner (abt 8mm) off the plastic bag with cream cheese in it. Squirt ½ the cream cheese all over the spread out batter.
12. Arrange half the fruits over the batter. Gently press them in.
13. Dollop remaining batter over fruits, press and spread the batter over the fruit.
14. Squirt the balance of cream cheese over cake and arrange the balance of fruits. Gently press the fruits in.
15. Bake for 35 minutes or until skewer comes out clean.

Verdict:
Very soft and moist!!! The cream cheese ripple added a special dimension to the taste of the cake. Creamy and dense compared to the soft moist cake. Yummylicious! As predicted, the berries turned tarter after being baked. The strawberries were still fine, but the rasps are…. Hahaha, squince a bit when you eat. But then, the next day, the tartness mellowed and was longer as sharp. Same thing happened to my Stone Fruit Tea Cake 2. It only tasted fragrant and sweet the next day. So, if you ever find the cake to be too sour for your tastebud, keep it for one day, it’ll be much better.

Do not keep it at room temperature for more than 24 hours. It contains cream cheese and you better chill it to prevent it from turning bitter and bad. Warm it in the microwave for 10-20 seconds, and the cake is very nice when eaten warm.



I am submitting this to Aspiring Bakers March 2011 Fruity March

32 comments:

  1. wah finally this is up jor...

    Just nice for Women's Day today :)

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  2. Lovely pink indeed! As much as I love pink too, I realise I dobvwear that color anymore, lol! I actually love my cheesecake chilled! So once it's cooled I always put it in the fridge. But thanks for sharing this nice soft berry cheesecake, very yum looking!

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  3. Swee San,
    Oh, today's women's day ah? kekeke.
    thanks for telling.


    Bee,
    This is actually a tea cake, but with some cheesecake topping only. Not a true cheesecake.

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  4. i love the texture! really delicious!

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  5. I love pink too Wendy~ You got a very yummy looking cake here! *slurp*

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  6. Waaaa so mouthwatering :) love the color and I bet the taste is good too...cheesy and tangy sweet at the same time. Great photography too :) Thanks for sharing. Have KIV this for my Piggies.

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  7. Finally I can see these photos in big big screen, looks so much nicer and prettier than when in small heeheehee....I have some strawberries in the fridge, should I do it hmmm... my energy stil dun wanna come back to me. why never support my aspiring bakers my dear friend :(

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  8. love the color..beautifully done! :p~

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  9. aww man i love cheesecake, especially those with fruits! these are too yummy to resist!

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  10. Very pretty and very generous with berries. I wish I get work more with Raspberries but they are the most expensive berries in Singapore. So most of the time, I will only use frozen raspberries...for purees and mixing with batter.

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  11. Wendy, you are such an excellent chef. My kid just entered a culinary competition, he loves to create French cuisine.

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  12. Wendy this looks really sweet.

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  13. J3ss,
    thanks


    Cathy,
    Better get some tissue :)


    Elin,
    thanks, Yup, cheesey and tangy at the same time. Hope ur piggies will love this


    Jess,
    Cheh... like that meh. Kekekeke.
    I will submit la... wait la, I'll send u email, one shot.


    Deliah,
    Thank you


    Jean,
    Me too


    Shirley,
    I can't get frozen ones, if not I'll use them too. I actually split the strawberries to 4 and tore the rasps apart, if not, where got so much? kekekek.


    cina.fong,
    Masterchef? Great!
    It's nice to have kids cooking at an early age.
    Very good of you to encourage that.


    edith,
    Thanks... pink makes my day brighter :)


    aiwei,
    Happy women's day to you too

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  14. the cake look so nice. i love the red colour !

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  15. WOW Wendy! This is really very pretty with the bright red color. I would like to try this recipe. Thanks for sharing :))

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  16. very girlish and sweet looking cake!i'm sure this is delicious too wth the pipes of cream cheese in it!

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  17. the cake look so lovely! (: love it! yummy! (:

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  18. Yoooh! Love the cream cheese peeking out leh...
    Eh, My EeSync loves pink too leh...and all shades of purple (he consider those pink too). Sounds girlish hor? But he's so rough...!

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  19. Beautiful pictures Wendy especially the nice red/pinkish color. Make me want to make this too since I have some nearly dry up raspberries in my fridge :)

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  20. Janice,
    Me too.. the colour's is what that makes it look really pretty


    Anncoo,
    I hope you love this


    lena,
    The cream cheese really makes the cake shine


    Sweetylicious,
    Thanks


    Meldylocks,
    I guess pink makes kids happy. That's why they love the cheery colour. Haha, Ee Sync may be rough when playing, but he may be soft at heart, who knows he'll melt hearts of women when he grows up.


    Gert,
    Oh, great!
    Can't wait to see this on ur blog.

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  21. Jenn@ChasingFoodDreamsMarch 9, 2011 at 10:25 AM

    oo.. here's to us pink girls!

    My favorite raspberry & cream cheese, this one sounds and look like a winner already.. cannot wait to make it.

    My only gripe is raspberry is super expensive here.. hehe :)

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  22. Hi Wendy,

    Two questions:

    1) Why use baking paper and not butter the pan?

    2) Why all purpose flour and not cake flour? What difference would that make?

    The cake really looks great. Looking forward to try baking it.

    Cheers,
    San

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  23. San,
    1. If you butter the pan, how can you take out the whole cake nicely? Cakes with toppings can't be overturned. It'll spoil the topping. With a lined pan, you can lift the whole cake out without easily to cut without damaging the pretty topping.

    2. It's according to the recipe source. You can use cake flour if you want, but cakes with fruits inside are best made using all purpose, if not it can be too fragile.

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  24. So pretty! I'm a sucker for pink things too!

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  25. So yummy looking. I love the colours too, so sweet and appropriate for Women's Day!

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  26. Wow, what an amazing cake, Wendy! Love, love, love your version with berries - looks so delicious!

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  27. pigpigscorner,
    Who isn't? kekeke.



    Jeannie,
    I didn't know it's women's day, actually, such a coincidence. :)


    Patricia,
    Thank you for your recipe. It was really insipiring and delicious!

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  28. Hi Wendy, may I know why we have to squirt the cream cheese onto the batter? Can I just pour the cream cheese mixture onto it?

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  29. your lovely blog became my friend since 2010 even i have memories with it
    thanks for your recipe

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  30. I already made this cake and using strawberry only, i love how it turns out but my bro and bf think this cake is too sour haha my score (8 of 10) their score (6 of 10) for this cake :"D

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  31. Can I use frozen raspberry & strawberry? Thanks

    ReplyDelete

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