Chocolate Yogurt Cheesecake Recipe

Chocolate Yogurt Cheesecake

I made a Yogurt Cheesecake previously and commented that technically it was not a cheesecake since yogurt is not cheese. And texturally it was not quite a cheesecake either. Nevertheless it was delicious. However, from the texture perspective, this chocolate cheesecake more closely resembles a cheesecake texture. And the taste is fantastic.

And this version of cheesecake is cheaper since Greek or Turkish yogurt is much cheaper than cream cheese. I still stand behind the comment I made on the Yogurt Cheesecake Recipe post, you can have 3-4 slices, with no guilt. But don’t blame me if you notice the effects later.

Ingredients

Base

⅓ cup almond meal

¾ cup plain flour

¼ cup caster (superfine) sugar

90g butter, chopped

Filling

2 cups Greek yogurt

330 grams milk chocolate, melted, cooled

4 eggs

½ cup sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1½ tablespoons cornflour

1½ tablespoons water

Method

1.      To make the base, place the almond meal, flour, sugar and butter in a bowl. Rub the mixture with your fingertips until a rough dough forms.

2.      Line the base of a 20cm-round springform tin with baking paper. Place the base mixture into the base and flatten. Bake at 150°C/350°F until light golden, about 12-15 minutes.

3.      To make the filling, mix cornflour and water until there are no lumps, Add the rest of the ingredients and beat until the batter is smooth.

4.      Pour batter over the base and bake at 160°C/325°F until the centre is almost set, about 40-50 minutes.

5.      Remove from oven and run a metal spatula around the rim of the pan to loosen the cheesecake. This helps prevent cracking. Let the cheesecake cool for about 20-25 minutes before covering and placing in the refrigerator. Refrigerate for 4 to 6 hours or overnight before serving.

Yogurt Cheesecake Recipe

Yogurt cheesecake 

Technically this is not a cheesecake since yogurt is not cheese. I hope the recipe naming police does not find me!

Texturally this is not quite a cheesecake either. I associate cheesecakes with having a rich dense filling. This cheeseless cheesecake has a 'lighter' filling, as the photo shows. 

Yogurt cheesecake

But it is delicious. I can imagine yogurt chocolate cheesecake will produce a better texture. I will try this next time.

If you are keeping an eye on costs, this cheesecake is cheaper since Greek or Turkish yogurt is much cheaper than cream cheese. This means you can have 3-4 slices, with no guilt. But don’t blame me if you notice the effects later.

In the photo you will see that the filling to base ratio is a bit out. I used less filling and more base.

Ingredients

Base

⅓ cup almond meal

¾ cup plain flour

¼ cup caster (superfine) sugar

90g butter, chopped

Filling

3⅓ cup Greek yogurt

4 eggs

1⅓ cups caster sugar

¼ cup lemon juice

1 tablespoon grated lemon rind

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1½ tablespoons cornflour

1½ tablespoons water

Directions

1.     To make the base, place the almond meal, flour, sugar and butter in a bowl. Rub the mixture with your fingertips until a rough dough forms.

2.     Line the base of a 20cm-round springform tin with baking paper. Place the base mixture into the base and flatten. Bake at 150°C/350°F until light golden, about 12-15 minutes.

3.      To make the filling, mix cornflour and water until there are no lumps, Add the rest of the ingredients and beat until the batter is smooth.

4.      Pour batter over the base and bake at 160°C/325°F until the centre is almost set, about 40-50 minutes.

5.      Remove from oven and run a metal spatula around the rim of the pan to loosen the cheesecake. This helps prevent cracking. Let the cheesecake cool for about 20-25 minutes before covering and placing in the refrigerator. Refrigerate for 4 to 6 hours or overnight before serving.

Yogurt cheesecake

Lazy Daisy Cake Recipe

Lazy Daisy Cake

At high school I lived for a year in the hostel. And that meant eating hostel food. Generally high school hostels are not renowned for putting out food that makes you jump with excitement. If you lived in a hostel, you will know what I am talking about. But I didn't dislike the food as much as other students. Maybe because I only lived for one year? Or its my taste buds.

Surely there were some dishes that even I could not stand. One that instantly comes to mind is beef olives. But there are a few dishes that I still have fond memories of. One of them was a simple plain cake with a crunchy coconut topping. I absolutely loved it. It was served in a bowl with a generous amount of custard.

I decided to search for this cake and came across lazy daisy cake, which matched the description. I don’t know where the name comes from. Perhaps a lazy lady called Daisy came up with the recipe. Irrespective of the interesting name, the cake is absolutely delicious.

My only criticism of the recipe is the level of sweetness. I used about a third less sugar than suggested by the recipe, and it was still really sweet. Next time I will use even less sugar.

Adopted from King Arthur Flour

Ingredients

Cake

2 large eggs

¾ cup sugar (original recipe suggests 1 cup)

1 cup Flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup milk

1½ tablespoons butter

Topping

¼ cup unsalted butter

¼ cup brown sugar (original recipe suggests ½ cup + 2 tablespoons)

¼ cup milk

1 cup flaked coconut

Method

1.     In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs till frothy, then add the sugar, beating at high speed until mixture is thick and lemon-colored. Stir in the flour, baking powder and salt.

2.   In a saucepan, heat the milk and butter together to boiling. Add to ingredients in bowl, beating to combine.

3.      Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake at 175°C/350°F for 30 minutes, until the top springs back when lightly touched with your finger, and the edges begin to pull away from the pan. Remove from oven and place on a rack to cool for 10 minutes or so.

4.      To make the topping: Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the brown sugar, milk and coconut, stirring to combine. Pour the topping over the warm cake, and place under a broiler for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the topping is golden brown and bubbling.

Lazy Daisy Cake

Blueberry Kvarg Cheesecake Recipe

Blueberry Kvarg Cheesecake

The blueberry kvarg I used had blueberries already mixed with the kvarg. The kvarg contained 0.2% fat, compared with over 30% for regular cream cheese. Considering the significantly lower fat content, I expected the texture and taste to be quite different. It wasn’t, which was a pleasant surprise. Perhaps the difference in taste would be noticeable for unflavoured or vanilla cheesecake.

As another added plus, kvarg is cheaper than cream cheese. So if you are looking for a low fat cheaper alternative for your cheesecake, kvarg is worth considering.

Ingredients

Filling

500 g blueberry kvarg

2 large eggs

50 ml sugar

2 tablespoons flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon salt

Base

1 cup coconut oil graham cracker crumbs (or regular graham cracker crumbs)

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1 tablespoon sugar

Method

1.      Line the base of a 20cm-round springform tin with baking paper.

2.      Add melted butter to the cracker crumbs and sugar. Mix well, place in the baking tin and flatten. Bake at 150°C/350°F for 5 minutes.

3.      To make the filling, cream kvarg, sugar, eggs, flour, vanilla and salt with a whisk until the mixture is smooth.

4.      Pour batter over the base and bake at 160°C/325°F until the centre is almost set, about 40-50 minutes.

5.      Remove from oven and run a metal spatula around the rim of the pan to loosen the cheesecake. This helps prevent cracking. Let the cheesecake cool for about 20-25 minutes before covering and placing in the refrigerator. Refrigerate for 4 to 6 hours or overnight before serving.

Blueberry Kvarg Cheesecake

Pumpkin Cheesecake Recipe

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Prior to making and eating this dish, I don’t think I had ever tried a pumpkin dessert before.  Considering the popularity of pumpkin desserts, I had always been really curious to see what all the fuss was all about. The Pajama Chef blog has a number of pumpkin desserts so it was a great opportunity for me to finally bite the bullet.

I love cheesecakes but the idea of having a pumpkin cheesecake sounded a bit unappealing to me. However I was very pleasantly surprised. Far from unappealing, it was outrageously delicious. The pumpkin flavour was subtle but present, it was just enough. The texture was amazing, soft and silky. Pumpkin added a nice creaminess, as well as a pleasant yellow color. While eating the cheesecake I got reminded of dulce de leche, not sure why. Maybe cooked pumpkin and cream cheesecake has a slight dulce de leche flavor or aroma. Or maybe my senses went astray.

The recipe suggests cooking the cheesecake in a water bath. However I didn’t do this and it turned out fine.

Adopted from The Pajama Chef

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Ingredients

2 cups chocolate graham cracker crumbs

½ cup + 2 tablespoons brown sugar, packed

¾ cup sugar

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

32 ounces cream cheese, softened

About 2 cups [15 ounces] canned pumpkin

4 eggs, at room temperature

2½ tablespoons heavy cream

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

½ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ginger

Method

1.      In a food processor or blender, mix together the graham cracker crumbs, 2 tablespoons brown sugar, and butter. Press into the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan and bake at 175°C/350°F for about 7 minutes or until set and golden brown. Cool completely before filling.

2.      Mix cream cheese and sugars until creamy. Add pumpkin and mix until combined. Add eggs, one at a time and mix well.

3.      In a small bowl, whisk together cream, vanilla and spices, then pour in the batter and mix until combined.

4.      Pour batter onto crust. Bake at 160°C/325°F for 55-65 minutes, or until edges are set and middle is slightly underbaked. Remove from oven and run a metal spatula around the rim of the pan to loosen the cheesecake. This helps prevent cracking. Let the cheesecake cool for about 20-25 minutes before covering and placing in the refrigerator. Refrigerate for 4 to 6 hours or overnight before serving.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Semolina Coconut Apple Cake Recipe

Semolina Coconut Apple Cake

Semolina adds a fantastic soft grainy texture to cakes. I’ve made many different variations of semolina cake and it never disappoints.  The cake is also super moist.

I chopped the apples into centimeter cubes. As a result the apples maintained a slight crunch. If you prefer the apples to have a softer texture, cut into smaller cubes, or grate them.

Semolina Coconut Apple Cake

Ingredients

1 cup semolina

¾ cup desiccated coconut

½ cup chopped apples (or 1 cup if you prefer lots of apples)

¼ cup sugar

3 tablespoons flour

1¼ cups yogurt

½ cup vegetable oil

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

For syrup

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

Juice from ½ lemon

Method

1.      Soak coconut in yogurt for ½ hour (optional)

2.      Beat eggs and sugar until sugar has dissolved

3.      Add yogurt, coconut, apples and oil and mix well.

4.      In a separate bowl mix together all the rest of the ingredients. Add to the liquid mixture and mix to combine. The batter will be quite 'wet'

5.      Line a 8×8 pan with baking paper and pour batter in it.

6.      Bake at 175°C/350°F until golden brown and delicious, about 25-30 minutes.

7.      To make the syrup: Boil water and sugar for 3 minutes. Add lemon juice and boil for further 3 minutes. Let it cool completely

8.      Pour the cold syrup over the warm cake. Let it cool completely, or chill, before serving.

Semolina Coconut Apple Cake