My desperation baking took a festive turn this week. It was Shawn’s birthday on Friday so I made him this Creamy Small Batch Cheesecake. I’ve never had to learn how to make cheesecake because my little sister is a master cheesecake baker; I don’t even own a 9-inch springform pan. Whenever we’re out for dinner, Shawn gravitates to the cheesecake on every dessert menu so I decided to give it a go. This cheesecake is made in a loaf pan, which may have been where I went wrong. I baked it in a glass 9x5 loaf pan and it would not set. The instructions say to bake until the centre is set and I’m familiar with what an unset centre looks like. I was confident I knew what I was looking for, but I ended up having to bake it for 12 minutes longer than the bake time stated in the recipe. Maybe I shouldn’t have baked it in glass? All I know is I ended up with a dry cheesecake. It was fine because I topped it with a mixed berry compote and lots of whipped cream, which hid the sad state of the cheesecake underneath, but I knew in my heart that I was serving substandard cheesecake.
But! All was not lost! When Grady found out I was serving birthday cheesecake instead of our family tradition of birthday chocolate cake, he requested a second cake. Who am I to say no to more birthday celebrations? I physically cannot do it. So I also made my standard chocolate cake and topped it with a whipped chocolate ganache. It was the tits. There’s no humble way for me to say it: I make amazing chocolate cake.
To carry the cake theme through the long weekend, I also made Bon Appetit’s Rhubarb Custard Cake. I’m a jerk who tweaks a recipe before I’ve even tried it once, so this is how I made it:
I used orange zest instead of lemon zest because orange with rhubarb is what dreams are made of.
I used brandy instead of rum because that’s what I had in my liquor cupboard.
I added 1/16 tsp of ground nutmeg and 1/4 tsp cinnamon to the dry ingredients for the barest hint of spice.
I baked it in a 9-inch square baking pan because I don’t own a springform pan.
This cake is outstanding. It’s dense and buttery and tart and gorgeous. The next time I make it, I’ll sprinkle a tablespoon or so of orange juice on top of the rhubarb, the same way you sprinkle lemon juice over the plums in Smitten Kitchen’s purple plum torte. I think it’ll add a bit more punch and help the sugar sprinkled on top caramelize.
I ended my baking tour with a simple rhubarb crisp. I’m a sucker for rhubarb season. I need to plant some so next spring I can just run out to the yard whenever I want to bake something delicious.
This week will be light on the baking, I reckon. Poppy’s birthday is next week so taking a week off to eat some leafy greens is probably a good thing. Though now that I say that, Poppy hates chocolate and has requested a “pink doughnut” cake, so I guess I should spend this week figuring out what that means. Girlfriend hates chocolate so my go-to cake is a no-go. If you’ve got a recipe for a simple white or yellow cake, please let me know!