Monday 26 May 2014

Biscuit Layered Cheesecake : LTU Milk


Milk is the theme on LTU this month and hosted by Tze of Awayofmind Bakery House. I am one of those people who does not drink milk. Yah, yah, I know it is supposed to be good for me - the calcium and all. I was told that when I was small, I stopped drinking milk after my grandfather took away my milk bottle. Apparently, I refused to drink from a cup. I guess the milk didn't taste as nice sipped from a cup and I preferred my "guleng kuan" (milk bottle). As a small kid, there's nothing like spending a lazy afternoon in bed sucking at your milk bottle and clutching on to your smelly bolster, right? A cup? Where's the fun? Hence the protest which lasted until now hah..hah...




Actually, I don't like plain milk. I don't like the taste but I love chocolate milk. I can finish one big carton of cold chocolate milk all by myself. But that was of course way before I developed lactose intolerance. One sip of milk and 5 minutes later I'll be running to the toilet hah...hah... But the funny thing is, if I take milk with cornflakes or cereal, I don't experience any adverse effects. Luckily, I can take milk in other forms like yoghurt, cheese and cream.



I bookmarked this recipe from Jess of Bakericious since last year but I never got the chance to try it. This cake is very easy to put together and there is no baking involved. What is important is that you must use a good biscuit. Good biscuit need not necessarily mean expensive biscuit. What I mean by good biscuit is biscuit that you enjoy eating out of hand. It has been a long, long time since I ate biscuits. Reason being, I never keep biscuits or any tidbits at home because I tend to get itchy mouth whenever I have any form of munchies in the pantry.




The original recipe calls for Marie biscuits. Which was what I used in my first attempt. I could not find chocolate Marie biscuits and I settled for coffee flavour. I was very disappointed with that particular brand because there was no coffee taste at all. Jess highlighted some problems that she faced when making this cake namely the amount of cream cheese stated in the original recipe was not enough and the cream cheese was difficult to spread. I learnt from Jess' experience and also from my first attempt. This time round, forget about Marie biscuits. I decided to try Captain Munch. 



One advantage of this biscuit is that it is square which makes assembling the biscuits in a square pan a lot easier. Besides, this biscuit tastes pretty good, very nice malty chocolaty taste.




The biscuit will not fit perfectly as there will be a small gap towards the end. What I did was just to break the biscuit into a size that would fit. Of course it didn't fit perfectly but it did not really matter. With Jess' comment about the cream cheese being hard and difficult to spread, I decided to use condensed milk to sweeten the cream cheese instead of sugar. The condensed milk made the cream cheese softer and creamier. I wanted to add some cherry filling but I did not have time to make it from scratch. Instead, I used St Dalfour Black Cherry jam. This jam is thick with whole black cherries and no sugar added.



I should have listened to Jess and used 750g of cream cheese but I was stingy and stuck with 500g. Because of that, I could only make 3 layers and there was barely enough for the top layer. I also used chocolate shavings and used only one bar of chocolate. Again, not enough to go around which explains why I had to use chocolate rice for the topping. So you see, stinginess does not pay when making cakes hah...hah...hah...



This cake is chilled overnight and the next morning, I sliced the cake. I had one slice and wow, it was wonderful! The combination of cream cheese and condensed milk with black cherries and chocolate tasted so very good. With this cake, you can get very creative and use many other biscuit flavours and fillings. I love this cake for its simplicity and I will be making it again with other flavours soon.










Biscuit Layered Cheesecake
Recipe source : Adapted from Bakericious

Note :
1. I made this cake in an 8" square tin with removable bottom.
2. I also lined the pan with baking paper with overhang to make removal of the cake easier and neater.
3. I find it easier to spread the cream cheese layer using the back of a spoon.
4. The was some leftover biscuits after making this cake and 120ml milk to dip the biscuits was just nice for me.

Ingredients : 
- 500g cream cheese at room temperature (I will use 750g in future)
- 1/2 can condensed milk (or to taste)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 120ml milk
- 70g melted butter
- 2 packets Captain Munch chocolate biscuits
- Some black cherry jam
- 75g chocolate shavings (In future I will double the amount)

Method :
1. Using a hand whisk, beat cream cheese until creamy.
2. Add condensed milk, vanilla extract and beat until well combined and creamy.
3. Crush 150g biscuits until fine and mix the crushed biscuits with melted butter. Mix until well combined and pour the crushed biscuits into the prepare cake tin.
4. Spread the crushed biscuits evenly on the bottom of the pan and press firmly until biscuits are evenly spread.
5. Spread a layer of cream cheese over the biscuit layer.
6. Dot some black cherry jam on the cream cheese layer.
7. Sprinkle some chocolate shavings evenly over the cream cheese layer.
8. Dip each piece of biscuit into the milk (do no soak too long. Dip and take out immediately) and arrange in a single layer on the cream cheese. 
9. Repeat steps 5, 6, 7 and 8 and ending with final cheese layer.
10. Sprinkle chocolate shavings onto the top cheese layer and chill the cake overnight.




Photobucket

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs Up organised by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Doreen of My Little Favourite DIY and hosted by Tze of Awayofmind Bakery House.

50 comments:

  1. Am gonna bookmark this.. Kam ngam when I', reading this post, I'm having my Marie biscuits with Milo.. When I see no-bake cheesecakes, I always associate them with lemon and Marie biscuits.. But this time, it's jam and chocolate biscuits, interesting.. I bet it's nice too.. I thought we need to crush the biscuits, but when I see your pictures, wah, senang, best! No need to crush, just layer only.. Eh, if use Marie biscuits, round shape wor, lagi hard wana layer lor?

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    1. Louiz, if using round biscuit you will have gaps in the biscuit layer but it is not a problem. The cheese will go in between those gaps and once chilled, it will hold everything together. This cake is very senang to do and really nice to eat. You must try, I guarantee you will love it! And not only that, it looks impressive :)

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  2. Oh dear, good morning Phong Hong. This si something like Operak cake to me. I would love to try this out... Looks yummy and delicious....

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    1. Angeline, you must try it!

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    2. Call me jakun.. What is Operak?

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    3. Louiz, what Angeline meant is Opera Cake. It is a layered cake. Can google and oogle at the pictures :)

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  3. Hmm, I got anothe cake for friend's birthday next mth... Finger cross and hope I have time to do this for her.

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    1. Angeline, make this cake for your friend! Everyone will be very impressed because though it is easy to make, but it looks class if you can layer and slice it nicely.

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  4. Cos I have one extra piece of cream cheese in the fridge. Hmm cna I mix the ccream cheese with some mascarpone cheese?

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  5. Condensed milk in the recipe really make the tricks here - for the cake to stay firm... I not really good in handling gelatine..

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    1. I haven't worked with gelatine and it is not necessary for this cake.

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  6. You're right, I almost dip my lady fingers too long for my Tiramisu cake... I've learnt from my mistake. I should take out immediately next time!

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    1. I did the same thing too! End up with wet soggy biscuit :(

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  7. It is even gteat to have a splendid cake without baking...!

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  8. This looks really yummy and simple to make too.

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    1. Sem, this is very hassle free and very relaxing to make. And it looks good and tastes heavenly!

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  9. oh delicious looking biscuit layered cheesecake.. rarely see this, because most people will just do one layer of the biscuit base and then top with the cheese, ah, i think i like this layering thing.. more biscuit and probably won't be so much "jelak" right?? somemore you have some black cherry in there, a little bit sourish balance up the whole thing, makes me able to eat more, haha!! but then i am not a fans of the chocolate shaving, would do away with it or probably add another layer of biscuit on top, macam makan sandwich~~ :D

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    1. SK, you arr....so fussy pot one hee..hee...smelly leaves don't like, now chocolate shavings also don't like. Haiya....hee..hee...

      This cake is super simple to make but can look very impressive if it is nicely layered and neatly sliced. I will do another one with different flavour and filling. I need more practice on the layering part.

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  10. Waa Phong Hong, I can call you the cheesecake queen already, you made so many types! not to mention at least 2 attempts per recipe...this one looks really good and of course expensive with so much cheese....can understand why you got stingy lol! I'll make a tiny one if I try this, then can get more layers and still don't look stingy lol!

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    1. Hi Jeannie! Good idea to use a smaller pan. If it is for a small serving, then you will be able to make more layers and it will be more presentable. It's nice to eat, I recommend bigger portion hee..hee...

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  11. Good morning Phong Hong! Ai, so far I only submit 2 recipes to the LTU. This chesecake comes with layers of biscuits, looks like a special recipe to me!

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    1. Hi Jessie! This cake good for those days when you don't have much time to spare. Easy to put together and yet it looks so good. Me too only have time for 2 postings. Wish I could do more.

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  12. Wow!!!! This is awesome!!!! Biscuits and cheesecake combination really caught my eye! Yummy :)

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  13. WOW... this layered cheesecake looks so yummy. Love to try it !

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    1. Ann, I can imagine how beautiful your layered cheesecake will be!

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  14. Ooooo...awesome. Would surely make a great dessert after a delightful meal.

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    1. Arthur, this one is perfect for you to make because you don't have to bake it!

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  15. Hi Phong Hong, hee hee I also don't drink milk but can go with cereals, puddings or other bakes. I love chocolate milk ... glass after glass ^-^. This layered cheese cakes is like 'cross over' of Tiramisu and Opera cakes. Will try this.

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    1. Hi Karen! You will enjoy making this cake and eating it too!

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  16. I like the idea of using biscuits, easy and it makes the layers look so even especially for people like me who can never get the layers even when i make layers with sponge cake ;-)

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    1. Do try it! It looks rather impressive even though it is so easy to put together.

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  17. Hi Phong Hong, thanks for the explanation. Without it, I wouldn't dare to think about trying. I'm convinced it's a lovely cake. Maybe I can use a small baking tin and get more layers?

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    1. Hi Kimmy! Yes, use a smaller baking tin and you can get more layers. Saves on the cream cheese too!

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  18. Phong Hong, come and check out your yummy layered cheesecake while i am on my break for packing. wow! this look like a special cheesecake which i want to try out when i settle down at my new place.

    Thanks for linkup with LTU!

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    1. Hi Tze! I am looking forwards to your version of this cake!

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  19. This looks great! I love all the layers in the cake. Using the condensed milk to sweeten the cream cheese is a great idea!

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    1. Hi Wok and Spoon! I am not a fan of condensed milk but combined with cream cheese it tastes pretty good!

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  20. Hi Phong Hong,
    Wow!! Love this yummy biscuit layered cheesecake. 750g cream cheese that is a lot which I don't mind cause it will be so so YUM! :p
    mui

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    1. Hi mui mui! If you are feeding a few people then I recommend making an 8" cake. If not, there won't be enough to go around :)

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  21. Hi Phong Hong,

    We are exactly the opposite of you!!! When my son was a toddler, I had to buy at least 10 L a week to feed the 3 of us! Now, we are still going strong drinking 7L of milk a week! I can't imagine how can you don't drink milk??? LOL! However, I can understand that lactose intolerance can be quite problematic for some people.

    Well, at least this form of milky treat is not giving you any problem!!! Only lovely satisfaction? :p

    Zoe

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    1. Zoe, that is a lot of milk!! But it is good as milk is nutritious. Sadly, I can't enjoy anymore chocolate milk but at least I can have my cheesecake :)

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  22. Hi PH, oh you are same like me, dun like milk only chocolate milk lol. This cake is really delicious, this is one of my top rated cake by my "customers" hahahaha... I did many version and varieties but didnt get chance to share, perhaps next time :D. One of my version also used condensed milk but is caramelised type, I should share out soon heeheehee....

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    1. Jess, next time you make this cake I hope to see it and get more ideas from you!

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  23. Yup, I only like drinking chocolate milk, too!! Boy, does this cake look marvelous! Perfect no-bake option now that the heat is upon us :)

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    1. Hi Lizzy! Best cake ever for those lazy hazy days :)

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  24. Looks good. Hmmm might try this one of these days...gotta wait for mood to come. LOL

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    1. Ya lah. When no mood the cake won't turn out well. I experience it before. No mood, don't make cakes hee,,hee,,,

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