traditional indonesian cheesecake

what so hard about leaving your holiday is adjusting your usually laid-back day back into rush-rush day. that's what has been happening to my self this week. school has started and my dearly beloved best friend has gone back to seattle. holiday is officially over. but the great thing is my favorite tv shows are coming back in its new season because summer break is over *big grin*. anyhow, last wednesday managed my self to bake a cake to remind me that even though i have started my busy routine again, i will always have time for doing things i love.

this cake is the traditional Indonesian cheesecake. i have been wanting to make this cake from months ago and i kept skipping it with another baked goods. thankfully this time, a friend kindly requested me to make this tasty and moist cake. this cheesecake is different from the western cheesecakes. it is basically a super rich and moist sponge cake covered with buttercream and grated cheddar cheese. it may sound funny to eat a sweet cake with salt cheddar cheese. you know what, that's the thing that make this cheesecake so rich and tasty. the saltiness from the cheddar cheese elevates the sweetness and the richness from the sponge cake and they will melt in your mouth playfully. i love this classic cake so much.

however, there's one little thing i regret when i made this cheesecake. look at my sponge! it doesn't look very decent right?! first of all, i think i might set the oven temperature a little too high on the beginning and my cake browned too quickly. i quickly lowered the temperature and suddenly my (used to be) super high cake sinked slowly.. but fortunately it didn't really ruined but it should actually rise a little higher than this picture below. there will definitely be a next time for me to make this again, perfectly. high and not that brown. so, for anyone of you and especially for my friend, Rini, who has been waiting for the recipe, here's the recipe.... :D

steamed chocolate brownie

by the time you read this post, i am sure i have already arrived in Bali. yup, i am going on a vacation! i will be in Bali for 5 days. looks like i'm gonna have so much stories and photos and foods to tell and report to all of you. yayy! hopefully i can freeze almost every wonderful moment i will have there. but today is my last day in Jakarta before i go on my holiday trip, so let me just quickly tell you what's on the menu today...

it's the super moist super chocolatey rich chocolate brownie. this cake was so famous here a few years ago, should i say this is one of Indonesian cake creation. we love steamed cakes. what makes this cake special is the richness of the chocolate and due to the steaming process, all the steam trapped inside the cake which makes it extremely moist and decadent. moreover, we usually add some real chocolate in between the cake layer. some use chocolate rice but yesterday i went smart with a rich chocolate ganache. it was magical.

the key to success on steaming cake batter is you must make sure your steamer has already very hot and the water has boiled madly. be careful not to use high heat which can make your cake deflate by the time you remove it from the heat. just use medium heat and to prevent my cake deflating, i usually let my cake rest in the steamer with the heat off for about 10-15 minutes. i always love steamed cake due to its moisture, it is so satisfying and comforting..

onbitjkoek

hello everyone! i'm back again. haha. this time will be the time for onbitjkoek. onbitjkoek is one of the traditional Indonesian sweets which may be influenced by the Dutch. well, it is basically a sponge cake flavored with spices and lots and lots of java almonds. this cake will make a good recommendation for elder people though. not preferably for us, under 40 years old. lol.

the reason why i want to make this cake is because i had a big family gathering today. most of the attendance are elderly. since onbitjkoek probably will suit their taste-bud, i decided to make this classic cake. i always love the technique of making sponge cake. i failed thousand times before when i have just started baking. however, i eventually succeed and it felt so satisfying, that's why i love making it now. it feels like repeating your victory over and over again. ;)

i used KBB as my references on making this onbitjkoek. KBB ever came with onbitjkoek challenge when i haven't joined them yet. i saw the recipe not from KBB's website but from KBB's member's blog, it was Mbak Hanna's blog. she made a slight modification for this cake and i thought it is better with the modification. this is an excellent recipe and i feel glad using this recipe. all people eating this say that it was delicious. so why don't you give it a try and make this soon?

chocolate marble sponge roll

hi! do you know that i have a very long story about this chocolate marble sponge roll? well, first of all, i didn't meant to make this in the first place. making a chocolate-hazelnut sponge roll was the main idea. who knew i would end up making this more festive sponge roll.

the story all started on the christmas eve. i had a tradition of giving cakes or cookies to some people. so far, i was like always associating christmas cake with a sponge roll and now i finally know where that idea comes from. buche de noel! yeah, buche de noel is a christmas'-must-have-cake in France and some other countries, but apparently not in Indonesia of course. buche de noel or yule log is a very incredible cake and praise the one who invented it. however, my skill was way below that, especially the frosting-thing. yule log is almost a normal sponge-roll decorated with frosting until it looks like a log. beautiful cake it is.

since that cake still seems impossible for me to make, i decided to make a normal sponge-roll without frosting on the exterior. my choice fell to a chocolate hazelnut sponge roll but the recipe brings me down, i tried twice on the very same day and both booed me. if i do the math, i was like wasting 9 eggs, 100 grams of hazelnut powder, 250 grams chocolate couverture, and 100 gr flour. i really wanted to cry if i remember all those waste. after my second trial on the hazelnut cake, i ran to my room, tried to find another recipe while soothing and boosting my mood back. i decided to use my classic sponge roll recipe and be loyal to it, the one that never fail me. but i don't want it to be just plain, i wanted to make a pattern on it, i wanted it to taste unusual. so i modified the recipe, i made marbled pattern for the cake and flavor the filling with irish cream. tell me it's festive enough..

i couldn't be more happy to see my cake batter looking so fluffy, so wonderful in its way, moreover when i saw it poured into my jelly-roll-pan. the most exquisite part is when i dropped the chocolate batter on it and swirled it. to be honest and a little of bragging my self, i made a great pattern you know. ha ha. finally, the cake came out from the oven and i started to roll it and make the filling. the filling was whipped cream with some shots of Baileys, superb! i gave this cake to my bf's parent and this cake was complimented. how couldn't i give a little credit to myself? he he. thanks to the marvelous recipe below, this recipe is one of the oldest recipe i discovered in my baking journey and have i told you that this recipe never fails me? you better try this and prove it to your self..

lemon madeleines

hello again! i'm sorry for not posting anything lately.. i have some excuses though. hoho.

reason number 1: is because i'm not in the mood for baking in the first week of June, i did go to the kitchen but for cooking, i made hakau with a little modification but it's still not really worth to report. haha. i'll try again later with a better shape.

reason number 2: to be honest, until now - the minutes i write this post - i still unable to make muffins. my muffins never rise. so by the 2nd week of June, i was practicing about making proper muffins. result is still F for fail. i am giving up for now until the end of this month and i'll try again next month.

and now, i'm back! yay! i made madeleine today.. why? because i just found and bought a cheap madeleine mold. i quickly grabbed it when i saw it. hoho. in the madeleine mold's shop i also found many many cute friendly-price props and i'm letting my self to buy them. see the red-heart saucer above? that's new! hehe.

madeleine, according to wikipedia, is a traditional small cake form Commercy and Liverdun, two communes of the Lorraine Region in northeastern France. madeleines are very small sponge cakes, with a distinctive shell-shaped depressions. aside from the traditional moulded pan, commonly found in stores specialising in kitchen equipment and even hardware stores, no special tools are required to make madeleines. a genoise cake batter is used. the flavor is similar to, but somewhat lighter than, sponge cake.  i have been interested with this cake since i first read and saw it in Kitchen Princess comic book. they look cute and thankfully i have recipes of various madeleines in my golden cookbook. so i decided to make one of them, the lemon and lime madeleines..