Out of this situation only good will come. I am Safe. One of my favorite affirmations.”
Louise Hay on twitter
I love reading about cookbooks people own, new ones they’ve added to their collections, and often find myself adding books to my wish list. Ottolenghi: The Cookbook
was one such wonderful book, and I was thrilled when Hilda presented it to me. The connect was special, and the book worth every printed word. Reading about Plenty
many times in the past few months, and then again last night on Nordjus made me update my virtual list! Yes, another one added to the ever growing list.
was one such wonderful book, and I was thrilled when Hilda presented it to me. The connect was special, and the book worth every printed word. Reading about Plenty many times in the past few months, and then again last night on Nordjus made me update my virtual list! Yes, another one added to the ever growing list.
I couldn’t believe my good fortune recently, and felt extremely humbled when one of my blog readers from the Middle East decided to mail me another book that I had longed to own, The Cake Bible
by Rose Levy Beranbaum. Zareena who lives in the UAE got in touch with me ages ago looking for a cake to make for her brother’s birthday. Many mails later, she sent me beautiful pictures of the cake she made, spiral design and all, saying it was ‘the sponge was the bestest sponge she had ever had in my life’ . I was so touched and elated that it worked for her. She is a busy young mother of three little kids, and yet finds time to run her home, bake and mail me from time to time. Then one day she sent me a gift, this beautiful book; in her words ‘a small way to say thank you for inspiring me to bake‘.
by Rose Levy Beranbaum. Zareena who lives in the UAE got in touch with me ages ago looking for a cake to make for her brother’s birthday. Many mails later, she sent me beautiful pictures of the cake she made, spiral design and all, saying it was ‘the sponge was the bestest sponge she had ever had in my life’ . I was so touched and elated that it worked for her. She is a busy young mother of three little kids, and yet finds time to run her home, bake and mail me from time to time. Then one day she sent me a gift, this beautiful book; in her words ‘a small way to say thank you for inspiring me to bake‘.
It’s a BEAUTIFUL book, and one that all serious cake bakers should own. Carrying the enviable commendation of The Cookbook of the Year, it’s a book that covers possibly every cake under the sun, with variations galore, and exhaustive tips in every section. It is a cake encyclopedia that covers basic cakes, fillings, decorations, frostings, fruit preservation to some extent, and handy tips from novice to home to professional bakers. What was I waiting for? Spent hours every night reading the book, and the first thing I decided to do on priority was make fresh cherry topping from scratch.
It’s cherry season here, and the topping was calling my name. After reading for years about ‘a can of cherry pie filling’ in listed ingredients, here I was singing my way through making ‘my own’ fresh cherry topping from scratch. Armed with a cherry pitter and a weighing scale, I had the fruit ready in next to no time, and the topping bubbling away very soon. I had a cherry pie or cheesecake in mind, and so made a batch of quark that day as well.
Amazingly I got a shout out from Mardi @ Eat Live Travel Write that very day telling me about Hay Hay it’s Donna Day, and that she was hosting the event. Mardi was smart and chose a fabulously simple, yet brilliant recipe from Donna Hay’s collection – Blackberry Cheesecake Pots. The idea of the event is that you bake either the same recipe, or a twist to it, inspired by the basic recipe. I was on the ball and rolling. The mind was racing after I read that the recipe was a non bake one, and took about 10-15 minutes to put together. A quick check of what I could use had me in rejoicing in my little corner – I would use fresh cherry topping and quark. YES!! {You can read more about the event here which has now been taken over by Denise @ Chez Us.}
What I eventually made was possibly the best and most refreshing non-bake dessert that I have ever baked. It’s all from scratch, and can be made in advance, the fresh cherry topping and the quark 2-3 days prior. Putting it together takes about 10 minutes, and then you just leave it to chill. I gave it about 5 hours in the fridge, but an hour should be fine too as there is no gelatin etc that needs to set. It’s light on calories, healthy, and vegetarian too! I don’t think it can get better than this in our home!!
Thank you Zareena for sending me this beautiful book, and thank you Mardi for inviting me to be part of the event. Fate brought this post together, and it was very satisfying. Quite a few readers of my blog often write to me asking how to whip up / stabilise low fat cream. Rose Beranbaum seems to have read our minds, and has presented a solution to stabilising low fat cream in The Cake Bible. Will try it out and share it with you soon.
. Will try it out and share it with you soon.
{For my readers in India, you might like to look at an online bookstore Flipkart.com.
I have had the best experience ordering books from them for a while. They ship free across India and are very professional.}
Cherry and Matcha Cheesecake Pots
Inspired by Donna Hay’s Blackberry Cheesecake Pots @ Eat Live Travel Write
Ingredients
380gms quark/curd cheese {recipe for homemade quark here}
1/3 cup vanilla sugar
200ml single/ low fat cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 a vanilla bean, scraped
1/2 tsp matcha powder
1 portion fresh cherry topping {Recipe follows}
Some fresh cherries to serve
Method
Process the quark, vanilla sugar, cream, scraped vanilla beans and vanilla in a food processor until smooth. Reserve 1/2 cup in a bowl.
Add half the cherry pie filling to the processor, and process until just crushed. Spoon into 6 serving glasses, spoon the remaining cherry pie filling equally among the 6 glasses/ serving dishes.
Finish off each serving with a dollop of matcha quark cheese and refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm. Serve with fresh cherries.
Serves 6.
Fresh Cherry Topping
Recipe from The Cake Bible, Rose Beranbaum, pg 344
280gms pitted tart cherries {from approximately 380gms cherries}
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tbsps cornflour {cornstarch}
Pinch of salt
1/8 tsp almond extract
Method:
In a large saucepan toss together the cherries, sugar, cornstarch and salt. Allow it to sit for about 30minutes to allow the sugar to draw out the juice.
Cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly, until thickened and boiling. Simmer 1 minute. The mixture should just barely drop from a spoon. {I added 1/8 tsp of citric acid as the cherries were more sweet than tart. Juice of 1/2 a lime should work as well}.
Remove from heat and stir in almond essence. Cool and store in refrigerator, or spoon over cold cheesecake if desired.
♥ Thank you for stopping by ♥
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Also find me on The Rabid Baker, The Times of India
That is so nice of her to buy send you the book. I have the other book book from Rose and I love it too.I still have to wait for the cherry season till jully . Love the dessert.
One of the most beautiful desserts I've ever seen! Incredible.
Just beautiful!! – mary
wish i had some matcha powder now. i totally dont know what to do with cherrries except to pop them in my mouth:P
These are absolutely gorgeous Deeba – I love the spin you put on them! I have had so much fun hosting this event and seeing what everyone has come up with! Great work and thanks for playing!
Beautiful dessert that doesn't require a bake. Very nice of Zareena to get you such a wonderful book!
Looks great.. Awesome presentation too…
Oh Deeba, these are so very pretty!
I love the colors, layers, flavors, everything!! You did a splendid job. 
Lively pots! Very refreshing…
Cheers,
Rosa
That looks great. I liked how you put it in the glasses
Très belle réalisation.
Bravo!
See soon
You are an inspiration to me here in the Caribbean as well and is that sponge recipe something you have posted before cause someone recently asked my for a reliable sponge recipe
OMG – why can't we be neighbors??? These are stunning!! Gave you a stumble
Hey Deeba – food blog world is a warm fuzzy place isn't it? Very nice recipe – I'm always wondering what to do with Quark! Might rush off and make the exact same thing – am on a deadline to cram in as much soft fruit baking before Saturday when we go back to Scotland for a couple of weeks (and back a couple of seasons, fruit-wise).
By the way, I went to your shop in Lal Kuan yesterday and staggered back very sweatily with all sorts of wondrous items including paisley-shaped biscuit cutters! All the best
Pamela
OOoooooh what a coincidence.. today we had mascarpone with cherry topping .. when I saw this post its already long time we finished but again feel like having some, seeing the pictures..
Oh Deebs….u just made me famous….n abt the book u deserved it welll….
I got some lovely twin cherries frm the market and i kept looking at baking a pie! but then i'd have to eat it all and so this is a lovely lovely recie for me… THough i have to go looking for the matcha powder now
looks fresh and refreshing for the summer! pics are fabulous deeba… is this the new cam?
gorgeous pics deeba!!
Again another must try dessert from you:)…Love it…and gorgeous pics too Deeba!!!
This looks absolutely amazing! And lovely pictures too. Great going!
I totally love anything that Donna Hay makes; even if sometimes it doesn't come out right on my end..
) The photos are always gorgeous and you certainly matched that Deeba! Lovely and delicious looking! And that cake book… sounds like I gotta go and find myself a copy!
I love reading about cookbooks that other people own and love, too. In fact, I must say that I _bought_ Ottolenghi the Cookbook after reading a few of your posts!
And yes, I love it, too!
Your posts are always inspiring! Cherry season is about a month away here. I'm going to have to try your cherry topping.
Deeba, these pots look delicious!! I'll have to try them.
And your photos, amazing!
My oh my, I am not a cherry fan, but these look so inviting! Your photos are always so stunning! This post is no exception…so bright and cheery(cherry:))
I feel like I always say the same thing–looks delicious and beautiful photography. I just cannot compete with you. (Good thing I'm not.)
Fabulous!
The first photo with the cherries shocked, is impressive!
Matcha cheesecake, I'm a huge fan of them individually – I look forward to sampling for myself as soon as I can
Cheers,
Gera
looks gorgeous and delish Deeba!! Your blog is really an inspiration to so many!!
So beautiful and nice flavours together. Love matcha!
Quark is much lighter than creamed cheese and well worth seeking out. I can't wait for cherry season Deeba to be as inspired as you:D
OH my God Deeba I love cherries and I love this beauty!!, beauty,beauty. huggsssss
The Cake Bible was my first dessert cookbook I owned and I absolutely love it! Amazing recipes and each one perfect! And these cherry cheesecake pots are divine, Deeba. I want one! And with quark? Yum!
Ooooooo I want to paint this!!
Beautiful!
Carolg
There's a book out there called "The Cake Bible"?? Need to get my hands on that somehow! I have NO idea how cherry and matcha taste together, but am definitely intrigued to find out!
I know summer is here after seeing this, a wonderful exciting dessert. I've never used matcha powder and love the colour it brings to the dish.
I simply adore cherries. This looks lovely. The combination of lime and cherry is such a wonderful blend. Have a lovely weekend.
Deeba, I love it. I love seeing your photos and your antique pieces, how you add a little touch here and there. Lovely. And what a great gift, to receive a book but also to know about an event in time to make something for it
. Lots of love
I feel like I always say the same thing–looks delicious and beautiful photography
These look gorgeous, I really want to take part in a HHDD. x
Deeba,
I am so happy to see that you participated in this round of HHDD. I love how creative you were with your recipe all the way to using not only Matcha but also Quark!
I have a tin of Matcha that I use for an occasional cup of tea or macarons; I am glad to see a new use for it!
Deeba,
for the matcha quark topping, do we simply blend the matcha powder with the reserved 1/2 cup quark?