Gary Mehigan's Black Forest Cake

Gary Mehigan's Black Forest Gateau Recipe from Australia Masterchef season 2

*Gasp!* No photo!

It was a challenge and it came out quite messy. I can see why the contestants on Masterchef would have trouble especially given the time limit that they are given.

Taste was a bit too dark chocolately to me, but well received by everyone else who tried it.

And yes, I did add the more than recommended amount of alcohol ;)

The thing that everyone said 'made the cake' was the Hazelnut Praline mousse. It gave the cake a new dimension. I love the cherry compote, I love little bits of fruit in my cake!

My candied cherries failed, so I didn't use those for garnish :(

I will definately try this cake again and hopefully get it right and photo-worthy.

Pumpkin Cheesecake~

Maybe it seems normal in the US, but the thought of it seems strange to me, and to the people I fed this to.

However, I was surprisingly well received, except for one person who said it tastes like mashed pumpkin baby food.

The flavours and the spices worked really well and the Chantilly+brandy cream to top it off worked very well too. To me the pumpkin flavour was very subtle (obvious to some people, not subtle enough). I actually used freshly mashed pumpkin for this recipe, when it said canned pumpkin. It turns out freshly mashed pumpkin needs to be further reduced to get rid of the water content, so that is probably why the flavours were so subtle.

I will definately make this again!!

Blackforest Cheesecake

This was incredibly well received. I absolutely loved it as well!

So? I cheated and used cherry jam, but boy did that cherry jam give it a sugary kick!

I also used the Black Forest Timtam biscuits for the base.

And Kirsch, the more the better ;)

And Hazelnuts! Lots of it.

And topped with Chantilly cream and fresh cherry!

Oh yeah~!

Recipe adapted from: kraft.com.au
Base:

• 1 pack of Arnott's Blackforest Timtams
  
• 40g butter, melted
• 4 tablespoons chopped toasted hazelnuts

Filling:

• 500g block PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
• 3/4 cup caster sugar
• 2 x 55g eggs, lightly beaten
• 100g Côte d'Or Dark 86%, melted
• 1/3 cup cream
• 4 tablespoons Kirsch (cherry brandy)(optional)
• 1/3 cup chopped toasted hazelnuts, extra
• 2 × 425g cans pitted cherries in syrup, drained (syrup reserved)

Topping

• 5 tablespoons Cherry jam
• 5 tablespoons reserved cherry syrup
• 250 ml heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons sifted icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp kirsch
  

1. COMBINE biscuit crumbs, chopped hazelnuts and butter. Press into the base of cupcake patty cases.
   
2. BEAT the Philly and sugar using an electric mixer until smooth. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until well combined. On low speed, beat in the chocolate, cream and kirsch until smooth. Stir in the hazelnuts and half the drained cherries.
3. POUR into prepared base and bake at 150°C for 25 minutes, until just wobbly in the centre. Allow to cool in oven with door ajar. Chill for 2 hours.
4. SIMMER the jam and reserved syrup in a saucepan until the jam is melted and it becomes a thick syrup, cool. Spread over the cooled cupcakes.
5. WHISK the cream with icing sugar, vanilla extract and kircsh until soft peaks form.
   

Coke Cupcake?!

CocaCola Cupcake?!

Yup, when I saw this recipe, I just had to try.

However, I was very disappointed at how subtle the coke taste was.

It wasn't bad, it's just that the cocoa overpowers the whatever coke flavour there was. So I ended up mixing up an icing that was almost entirely coke and icing sugar to try to bring out the coke taste.

If I try this again, I will somehow try to find a way to concentrate the coke flavour.

Maybe less cocoa? That make lose the dark colouring...

Pondering... pondering...