Tuesday 12 November 2013

Baked Mocha Marble Cheesecake



I found this cake in At Home with Amy Beh 3. Amy Beh is one of my favorite local chefs and I faithfully follow her cooking column in The Star and I have bought 3 of her cookbooks. When I looked at the recipe, my heart skipped a beat. The egg separation method brought back memories of my many failed attempts with Cotton Soft Japanese Cheesecake

Deep cracks that broke my heart.

I need not have been so afraid because this cake has double the amount of cream cheese and is therefore much denser than CSJC and more stable in structure. But still, look at the cracks above :( This is in spite of me baking the cake in a water bath. However, after the cake cooled down and shrank a little, the cracks were hardly noticeable.

Miraculously, the cracks "disappeared".

The texture of this cake is a cross between American style cheesecake and Japanese cheesecake. My only complaint is that the coffee flavour is a bit too strong. The recipe says to mix 20g of melted chocolate with 3 teaspoons of instant coffee granules. I used 2 teaspoons and I still found the coffee overpowering with a slight bitter taste. I would adjust to only 1 teaspoon in future.


The chocolate coffee mixture is supposed to be piped in circles on top of the cake. Then you are supposed to use a skewer to draw lines to create a design. I opted to just spoon the mixture on top and used a butter knife to create swirls. It's a lot easier hee..hee...Besides I am a disaster with a piping bag.

This is a whole lot easier than piping. You can make a mess and it still looks good.

Overall, I would say that this is a nice cheesecake and I would consider increasing the chocolate a bit more and reducing the coffee. The cake does not rise very high on the oven and in terms of shrinkage, it is very minimal.



I was quite happy as I had a nice domed top and the cake looked very presentable. I would definitely bake it again even though I find the water bath a bit troublesome. 


Baked Marble Mocha Cheesecake
Recipe source : At Home with Amy Beh 3 (page 114)
(My modifications and notes in red)

Ingredients :
- 20g cooking chocolate
- 3 tsp instant coffee powder (I used 2 tsp and found the coffee quiet strong)
- 1 tbsp milk
- 500g cream cheese
- 100g castor sugar (I reduced to 70g)
- 200g thickened or whipping cream
- 5 egg yolks
- 100g superfine flour (I used 120g)
- 20g plain flour (I omitted)
- Grated rind of 1 lemon (I omitted)
- tsp vanilla essence
- 5 egg whites
- 65 castor sugar
- 1 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice (I omitted)

Method :
1. Grease sides and line the base of a 22cm (8") round cake pan with greased baking paper. Preheat oven to 150C. (I used 130C)
2. Put chocolate, instant coffee and milk in a small saucepan. Melt ingredients oven a gentle low heat. Leave aside to cool completely.
3. Beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Blend in whipping cream and beat until well combined.
4. Add egg yolks one at a time and beat between additions.
5. Sift in both flours and add the lemon rind and vanilla essence to mix.
6. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until foamy. Gradually add sugar and lemon juice and whisk until soft peaks form.
7. Gradually fold 1/3 of the egg white into the cheese mixture then fold in remaining egg white until just combined.
8. Remove 1 quarter portion of the mixture and stir in chocolate coffee mixture to mix. Put into a piping bag.
9. Pour half portion of the plain mixture into the prepared pan. Pipe wide zig-zag patterns of chocolate coffee cheese mixture over the plain mixture.
10. Top up with the remaining plain mixture and with the remaining chocolate coffee mixture, pipe circles over the surface of the plain batter. Use a sharp satay skewer to draw lines outwards to create a design of your own,
11. Place cake pan in water bath and bake for 1 hour 40 minutes of until firm and golden. Turn off the oven and leave the cake in the oven for 25-30 minutes with the door closed. Remove the water bath from the oven and leave the cake to cool completely in the oven with the door ajar. Cover the cake pan and refrigerate for several hours before serving

Note : I did not pipe the chocolate cheese mixture but merely put dollops onto the surface of the cake and swirled using a butter knife.





This post is also linked to Cook-Your-Books #6 hosted by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours.

60 comments:

  1. I like the texture of this cheese cake, reminds me me of the soft cheesecake but slightly denser which is my preferred texture.

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    1. Hi Mich! Yes, the texture is not as dense as the regular American cheesecake due to the egg separation method. I prefer this texture too.

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  2. Decadent! It's tea time right now, i would love to have a piece to go with my coffee!

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    1. Yes, this cheesecake is perfect for coffee lovers!

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  3. An excellent afternoon snack for me

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  4. Hi PH,
    I love Amy Beh's cookbooks too. Always follow her column in the chinese magazine "Feminine' :D
    Your MMCC look so good!! Can see it is moist and creamy!!
    Pass a piece over for my dessert please..:D

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    1. mui mui, I pass to you three pieces to share with your boys!

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  5. Nice cheesecake with the beautiful swirls :) Can have a slice for my tea break? :D

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    1. Ann, you can have a slice or two anytime!

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  6. Yummmmm!!!! That's a real beauty. Saw one in somebody's blog - all the yellow - bottom layer, all the brown on top, no swirls. What kind of marble is that? So tickled by the sight! LOL!!!!

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    1. Hee..hee...I made a mess but can pass it off as marbled :D

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  7. Nice swirls !! It reminded me to challenge marble cake again :)

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    1. Thanks, Esther! I know you can do a better marbling than me :)

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  8. We can exchange cakes now. Next time can use a sprig of mint leaf to cover those fine cracks, hehe.

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    1. Hi Jessie! I want two slices of your cake because one is not enough :)

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  9. I think I would be happy with this strong cofee flavour!

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  10. Cracks or no cracks, I'm sure this cake will not break our hearts....

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    1. Hi Victoria! This cake sure puts a smile on our face :)

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  11. I love this cake! just look so delicious..:) Count me in as your new follower:)

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    1. Thank you, Melgie! And thanks for following me :)

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  12. I like this soft cheese cake and the swirls are beautifully done too..

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    1. Thanks, Cecilia! The texture is nice and if the coffee had not been so strong, I would have enjoyed it better.

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  13. Hi Phong Hong,
    Lovely cheesecake! I only have one book of Amy Beh's, and have tried only a few recipes from it.
    This cake looks good, and sounds wonderful with the coffee.
    Thanks for linking with CYB!

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    1. Thanks, Joyce! I am glad I baked this cheesecake!

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  14. The cake looks soft & fluffy! Would certainly love to have some. Yummy!

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    1. Thanks, Shirley! Even though it is not as light as cotton cheesecake, it is still lovely to eat :)

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  15. It looks creamy and delicious! Wish it is not that troublesome to make. :D

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    1. Yeah, I find waterbath so fussy! But still, well worth the effort!

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  16. it must be perfect taste.
    it looks so soft and creamy as well, and the texture is so beautiful. Like!

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    1. Thank you! I liked it a lot too except for the strong coffee.

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  17. Ya, I find water bath method tedious too! But the results is usually good if I ever tried baking with this method...Yours looks really moist and delicious....it better be huh with such expensive ingredients.

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    1. Jeannie, I was quiet scared that it won't turn out well but lucky that it did. Or else wasted my cream cheese and whipping cream :)

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  18. did it create another nerve wrecking moments for you baking this cheesecake this time? well done ph! the cracks are barely noticeable and your marbling pattern looks great too!

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    1. Lena, I was nervous as this is first time using waterbath. Quite tricky for me but luckily it turned out well!

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  19. I haven't baked or ate the cheesecake for a while, your cheesecake just make me drooling. The cake looks really yummy & the swirl looks great too :)

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    1. Thanks, DG! I love cheesecake but cannot over indulge or else my tummy will bulge! Hey, it rhymes :D

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  20. Hi Phong Hong, me too have this book. I kept looking at it but never get to do it when I see, oh so much cheese ah!. Good that you tried this. I love Amy Beh's recipes but I noticed there a lots of ingredients in most of her recipes.

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    1. Hi Kimmy! At first I thought maybe it is an error because it use 500g of cheese. From the method and the photo, it looks like the cotton cake. But still went ahead and found that it turned out quite nicely. Not too dense.

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  21. Hello PH, this cheesecake look so gorgeous! My kids surely love it! Save to folder first...tq PH.. :))

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    1. Hi Ummi! Glad you like this cheesecake. You will not regret baking it :)

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  22. Beautiful cheescake, PH! I'm definitely not ready to bake something like that now! Will pass it to my wife! :D

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    1. Hi Alvin! Your wife will do a great job with this cheesecake. Just be careful on the amount of coffee used.

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  23. I can't resist cheese cake, may I have a piece?

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    1. Jozelyn, of course you can have a piece hee...hee...

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  24. bila lihat kek yang di potong tu ..berair mulut Cm :) I suka kek macam ni

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    1. CM, kek macam ni pun kegemaran PH. Tapi PH cuba kurangkan makan kek sebab hee..hee...badan dah bulat!

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  25. wao.... very nice cheesecake. my family not interested in cheese cake so i done have chance to bake this.

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    1. Oh...too bad they don't like cheesecake. But never mind xing hui, you can bake and share with other family members or friends who like cheesecake.

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  26. My grandmom said that the cake crack is usually ecause using too high temperature and also too hight baking pan/mould....
    i guess is was still delicious!
    nothing better than homamade cheesecake!

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    1. Thanks for the tip, Dentist! Will make adjustments in future for my cake :)

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  27. Phong Hong your cake your cake looks so yum -yum I like any cake with cheese only see and cannot eat

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    1. Thank you, EE! Yah lah....must jaga sugar and cholesterol level hee..hee...

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  28. Hi, Phong Hong...I have so much to catch up with...been inactive for the last several days on my computer. (word of advice; don't fix something when its not needed)...I tried to upgrade some things manually without letting the computer do its work and nearly knocked my own blog out...and that would have been the end of my blogging days!

    Your swirl cheesecake is divine moist and perfectly heavenly delicious...the reason for the crack on the cake is due to 'over mixing the batter'...that's all! Not a big issue, happens every now-and-then. Better to slightly over mix, than under mix; that's what I say! xo

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    1. Oh dear, Elisabeth! Good thing nothing happened to your blog. I am hopeless when it comes to maintaining the computer and doing upgrades. I leave that to my brother who is great with computers.

      Thanks for the tip! Yes, I believe I over mixed the batter. I always have that problem and with more practice I hope to improve!

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  29. This looks beautiful, I would love to try this...I just wish I could bake :)

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    1. Thank you, Lyndsey! You can bake, Lyndsey......cheesecakes particularly the American type is a very forgiving cake. Trust me, when I started baking, my New York cheesecake turn out quiet well in spite of my inexperience :)

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  30. Hi Phong Hong, sorry I miss so many of your posting.
    Your this cheesecake look like to die for kind.. Look so delectable, great to go with coffee. :)

    Have a wonderful weekend, regards.

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    1. Amelia, don't worry. I know that it takes a lot of time for blog visits and I am having trouble keeping up too!

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