Easy Cakes for Special Occasions

I am sorry for my long absence. I was, ahem (and Lord, please do not strike me for this seeming arrogance), promoted at work; hence, my re-channeled energies kept me away from the kitchen for a while.

To make up for my inattentiveness, I am posting two recipes right now. These are two cakes which are easy enough for busy and exhausted people to make and pretty enough for gift-giving in this harried holiday season.

Cake No.1: JCarlos presented me with this impressive looking peaches and cream cake to celebrate my modest career progression. Since everything was bought ready-made at the local supermarket, he had devoted his efforts to decorating it with a delicate pattern of tiled peach slices.



Peaches and Cream Cake

½ Can Peaches
1 Loaf Madeira / Pound / Sponge Cake
1 Cup Whipped Cream
1 Dash Cinnamon

Drain the peaches. Dice 1/3 of the peaches into small bits. Fold this carefully into ¾ of the whipped cream and sprinkle with cinnamon. Slice the rest of the peaches lengthwise into thin slices. Cut the cake into 3 layers. Spread the diced peaches and cream onto the first and second layer of the cake. Sandwich these together. Spread the rest of the whipped cream on top of the third (and top) layer of the cake. Arrange the thinly sliced peaches on top of the cake, slightly overlapping them at an angle. Et voila! Serve chilled.



Cake No.2: This next cake is a Christmas gift I made for L, who is moving far, far away and needed a present that can be consumed immediately and doesn’t have to be transported interstate.

I actually made it once before ~ a Japanese cheesecake, but I found it too dry, so I added a little bit more cream to make it moister. Unfortunately, this ruined the texture. The cake came out too dense to be a Japanese cheesecake, but at least, it is considerably lighter than a normal cheesecake. And if I don’t really insist on producing a cheesecake soufflé, this tasted of a quite nice cheesecake. I did not bother lining my clay pot (yes, this is what I used as a baking vessel, since I did not have a springform pan), so the thing just won’t come off when it was time to remove it from the pan. Finally, I conceded and sliced the cake into slices, so I could dislodge them without mashing the cake into crumbs. To dress the gift up, I surrounded it with a fruit medley. Fortunately for me, berries were in season, so I had deluxe fruits to make my present look more presentable. I’d have garnished the fruit medley with mint leaves, had I remembered to buy them. I sprinkled bits of glace citrus peel on the salad to make the colors pop even more. I also sprinkled the cake with toasted almond flakes for textural variety and an added flavor.



Japanese Cheesecake with Almond Flakes and Fruit Medley

250 g Cream cheese
100 ml. Cream
80 g Butter
2 T. Corn starch
40 ml. Milk
6 Egg yolks
2 t. Orange extract

6 Egg whites
½ T. lemon juice
½ C. Sugar
1 T. Corn starch

Pre-heat your oven at 150C. Line your baking pan with baking paper, or if you are lazy like me, grease and flour your pan instead.

Melt the cream cheese, cream, and butter over low heat. Cool completely. Dissolve the corn starch in milk. Stir this into the cream cheese mixture, along with the egg yolks and orange extract.

In a big, clean bowl, beat the egg whites with the lemon juice until soft peaks form. Pour the sugar in a thin, steady stream into the whites while continuing beating. Beat in the corn starch until stiff peaks form.

Carefully, fold the whites into the cream cheese. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 30 min. in a bain-marie (Place the baking pan into a tall-sided pan that is large enough to hold the baking pan. Pour boiling water into this larger pan, so that a moat forms halfway up the sides of the pan with the cheesecake in it.). Reduce the heat to 125C and bake for another hour. Cool completely. Chill before serving.

Sprinkle with toasted almond flakes and serve with a fruit salad of your choice. Mine’s composed of strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, peaches, and bits of glace citrus peel.

The cheesecake soufflé I made before…

Leche Flan Cake

For those of us who are substantially impoverished, a few staples in the cupboard are essential to survival ~ flour, eggs, milk, and lots and lots of sugar! These are all cheap and would make a variety of filling, frugal meals. What is most important, though, is being able to whip up fancy desserts to combat depression from these very same ingredients.

I celebrated my partner’s birthday with a homemade cake that will not break the bank. It is divided into two components ~ one being leche flan; and the other, sponge cake. If its twin, crème caramel, is not familiar to you, leche flan is a rich egg yolk custard topped with a caramel that is tinged with a hint of bitterness, sort of like a more solid creme brulee without the burnt sugar.

The cake was exceptionally delicious where the bittersweet caramel soaked through. It tasted almost alcoholic.

The following recipe will yield exactly the same cake as the one in the picture, although my own preference is a thicker layer of leche flan. I feel that the smooth, rich texture of the leche flan does not shine through with such a thin layer of it. Next time, I will double the quantity of leche flan and halve the quantity of the sponge cake.

If you prefer just leche flan without the cake, you can double the leche flan recipe and cook this in a smaller pan, so that the mixture comes to about 2-2.5 inches thick. You can steam this on low heat or bake in a bain-marie at 200F for as long as it takes to set.



Leche Flan Cake

1 c Sugar
7 Egg yolks
1 c Evaporated milk
¾ c Condensed milk
2 t Vanilla / Grated lemon zest

¾ c Sugar
2 c Cake flour
1 T Baking powder
2 t Salt
3 Egg yolks
¼ c Oil
1/2 c Water
5 Egg whites
¾ c Sugar

Melt 1 c Sugar until it caramelizes. Be careful not to burn it and make sure to watch it closely as it melts. It could very, very rapidly turn from pale to burnt. Pour this into an 8-inch square pan. Combine the 7 egg yolks, milks, and vanilla. Strain this into the pan with the caramel.

Combine the dry ingredients. Make a well in the center and add the yolks, oil, and water into it. Mix until smooth. In another bowl, whip egg whites until soft peaks form. While beating, add the sugar in a thin, steady stream until stiff peaks form. Carefully fold the flour mixture into the stiffly beaten egg whites. Pour this on top of the custard. DO NOT STIR or agitate. Bake in a bain-marie at 350F for about 1 hour. Cool. Serve chilled.

Sticky Rice Cake (Bibingkang Malagkit)

Manang Jacinta, our cook, used to bring out trays of bibingkang malagkit or biko every other week for merienda back when I was but a wee toddler. This rice cake was a particular favorite of mine, so much so that a substantial portion of my long-term memory has been reserved for this sweet. I remember my excitement whenever it was ‘The Week’ that they were being served. How its rich scent filled the air! And how very like jewels the shiny, immaculate squares carefully dusted with latik at the very center. Today (many years after my fortunate acquaintance with pot and stove), I am able to enjoy this snack miles and miles away from home, thanks to bibingkang malagkit’s widely available and inexpensive ingredients. As a bonus, it’s pretty quick and easy to make, too.



Bibingkang Malagkit

2 c. Glutinous rice, soaked overnight
3 c. Coconut milk
½ c. Sugar
½ t. Salt
1 pc. Pandan leaf, washed and tied into a tidy bundle (optional)

Coco Jam Topping:
1 c. Coconut Cream
1 c. Sugar

Drain the soaked rice and place in a pot with the coconut milk, sugar, salt, and pandan leaf. Mix everything together until the sugar has dissolved. Cover the pot and simmer over very low heat. Stir every once in a while to prevent the bottom from toasting into a crust. After all the coconut milk has been absorbed after approximately 25 minutes, take the pot off the heat and let it sit, covered, for a further 10 minutes. Transfer the cooked rice into a pan big enough for the rice to spread out to about 1.5 inches thick. Leave it to cool at room temperature, preferably overnight, to set it properly, before cutting into squares.

This can be served as is, with mango slices, latik, or coco jam.

To make the coco jam, heat half of the coconut cream until it turns to oil. Add the sugar into the oil and allow it to caramelize. When the sugar is nicely brown and melted, add the rest of the coconut cream. Stir well until smooth and thick like toffee. Pour the jam on the rice cake. Let the topping cool and set before cutting the rice cake into serving portions.

* Latik is the solid left after heating coconut milk into oil. The product is best described as fragrant brown bits that can be both crunchy and chewy. The bits have a toasted coconut-y tatse.