Hello Mr. Zebra - A cream cheese marble cake

Visually appealing, this cake is perfect for those who cannot decide between making a cheese cake and a pound cake. It would be misleading to call it a pound cake because it does not follow the mass ratio of a true pound cake, nor is it made by the usual creaming method. This cake is simply a hybrid of 3 recipes: Japanese cotton cheesecake, cream cheese pound cake and Jaffa cake.

This recipe highlights the salty dairyness of cream cheese in a cake which holds its pleasing moist crumb for a few days after it has been baked. It is difficult to describe its texture as it possesses neither a cloying nor the melt-in-your-mouth quality of a cheesecake. It is neither crumbly nor fluffy. I can only liken its texture to that of a rich and heavy genoise because I think it is essentially just that.

I think this would make the perfect kid's party cake, all that is lacking is a generous slathering of good chocolate frosting and a few obligatory crunchy and colourful sugar adornments kids adore. Their parent's might even indulge and enjoy a slice or two.

cream cheese marble cake

250g cream cheese (full fat please!)

50g butter

1 tsp vanilla paste/extract

100ml milk (full fat again, please!)

6 large eggs, separated

200g caster sugar

(NB this cake is not overly sweet, you can increase the quantity of sugar to 300g if you wish)

200g plain flour, double sifted

1 tablespoon cocoa powder

makes 1 8-inch round cake

preheat oven to 180C

line cake tin with baking paper and set aside

gently heat milk, butter, cream cheese and vanilla in a medium saucepan

whisk until mixture is smooth and remove from heat

beat egg yolks and 100g sugar for at least 5 minutes until thick, pale and tripled in volume

whisk egg whites in a separate bowl adding remaining 100g sugar gradually to achieve a shiny meringue that will hold its shape

fold the egg yolk mixture into the cheese mixture gently

sift flour into this mixture and mix well without knocking too much air out

stir 1/3 of the meringue into the mixture to lighten in slightly

fold remaining meringue into the mixture

divide mixture into half

sift cocoa powder into half of the mixture. (NB you may need to add 1-2 tablespoon of milk to adjust the consistency of the batter so it is similar to the vanilla flavoured half)

pour batter in an alternate fashion into the prepared cake tin

bake for 15 minutes at 180C then reduce temperature to 160C and bake for a further 40 minutes or until cake is ready.

Birthday Cup(less)cakes

I feel relaxed today - almost happy but definately content, unlike last Sunday, my birthday which was really Crapday because I spent 12 hours at work, found out the lock on my car door is screwed because some punk tried to pick it, had dinner cancelled on me and most tragic of all, had not a crumb of cake to eat.

There must be something about getting older. I get overwhelmed by a lot of things, mainly by kindness and concern which seem to surround me quite a lot lately so much so, I don't know what to do except thank and apologise profusely in a high-pitched voice to the point of it becoming quite annoying. Also, I get weepy easily; it is embarassing. Like the other day, I got teary while perusing the dairy section at my local supermarket playing "Hear me out" by Frou Frou in my head which I no longer wish to identify with but did for a while. I guess my brain should have put on a cheerier track but it has been through a lot lately so I let it slide.

Today, I woke up on the right side of bed and realised I should really love where I am at at the moment because I am healthy and alive, albeit a little poor. I love my family and friends and I love the twenty-eight years I have lived through (despite numerous regrets - like what was I thinking when I got the "bed head" crop and thought I looked so wicked cool?). I laid in bed drifting off into my favourite daydream - the one where I am with my perfect man and we own a little terrace house with a nice enough kitchen, Benson the beagle is sleeping on his rug in the corner gently snoring, the Tosca string quartet is playing softly in the background and I am making pretty cupcakes. Sexy. Perfect.

So here is the thing about daydreams, you are the director, you have 100% control, unlike your waking life which is often the complete opposite where the dainty cupcakes you dream about turn out a little short of perfect. Like my dark chocolate cupcakes with orange-wattleseed cream and cocoa nibs.

The flavour and texture of these cupcakes were sensational (you couldn't possibly go wrong with good quality couverture, pure orange oil and fresh cream), but they lacked the aesthetics of a perfect cupcake. It didn't stop me from scarfing down a couple at the belated birthday celebratory dinner I had with my close friend J-M, who was elegantly sufficient after main course but somehow found room to enjoy a cupcake anyway.

NB I didn't have a cry over how my cupcakes turned out so maybe there is still hope for me after all.

"browniebabe of the month": Matcha Cream Cheese Brownies

I remember the first thing I ever baked as a child was a chocolate cake following a recipe out of my mother's food economics journal. It was simply the best-tasting cake because it was a chocolate cake and I baked it on my own. In fact, it was THE chocolate cake and I held the recipe for this cake on a pedestal so high you cannot begin to imagine my despair when I revisited it only to find the resulting cake almost unpalatable! To date, I am still grappling with the possible realities of the situation: has my skills as a baker slipped over the years or is this prized chocolate cake recipe not as flawless as I remembered it to be? I refuse to believe in either!

Consequently, I rarely make or share the recipes I loved so much as a child because I feel this need to preserve and guard these precious remaining food memories of my childhood. Sadly, this includes my favourite brownie recipe but I have improvised and created a brownie especially for "browniebabe of the month", the first blog event ever hosted by Myriam of once upon a tart.

These brownies are best eaten the day after to allow the cream cheese to firm up and the chocolate to set to a fudgey finish. This will also allow you to slice the brownie into neat and tidy squares. The combination of sweet and salty with smokey, grassy notes is just teasingly delicious...

matcha cream cheese brownies

100g dark chocolate (min. 70%)

100g dark chocolate (min. 55%)

3 tbs cocoa powder

120g unsalted butter

3 large eggs

200g brown sugar

75g flour

250g cream cheese

100g sugar

1 egg

1 tbs flour

1 1/2 tsp matcha

(makes a 18x18cm pan, 12 generous squares)

preheat oven to 170C and line the base of a pan with baking paper.

melt dark chocolate and butter in a bowl over simmering water.

whisk cocoa powder into melted chocolate and set aside mixture to cool.

beat sugar and eggs in a bowl until thick and light.

combine melted chocolate and egg mixture and gently fold in flour.

beat cream cheese in a separate bowl until smooth and fluffy.

gradually beat in the sugar until dissolved.

add egg and mix to combine, scraping the sides of the bowl.

stir in the flour and matcha

pour the chocolate batter and cream cheese mixture alternatively into the prepared pan.

bake for 35-40 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out with a few sticky crumbs.

cool before attempting to slice.