Raspberry cream cake

Before all, apologies for the picture quality... we were in kinda hurry to get ready for the party and got a lousy replacement phone in action to document the baking.. Anyway...
Birthdays! They are always a good opportunity to eat something sweet.. and at celebrations we can do it guilt free :).
The kids found a video of a berry cake, and there was no way I can avoid baking one. Well, it was the easy challenge, and I quickly jumped into accepting it.
Plus, it is a light(er) treat compared to the average cake.
To make it even lighter replace the heavy whipping cream-cream cheese mix with yogurt, and in general play around with various fillings..

Ingredients for a 12 portion cake
Sponge cake
10 eggs
water
12 tbsp sugar
12 tbsp flour
2 tbsp oil
1 lemon zest
dash of vanilla extract

raspberry jam o fill the spongecake roll

Cream filling
9 oz fresh raspberries
4 fresh blueberries (optional, replace with raspberries)
200 g, 7 oz sugar
gelatine for 2 quarts liquid, I used 3 bags of gelatine powder
1/2 pound cream cheese
6 large tbsp sour cream
1 quart heavy whipping cream (you can replace it with natural yogurt)
juice of 1 freshly squeezed lemon, left from the sponge cake
dash of vanilla extract

Bake the sponge cake.
Prepare a large tray. Line baking paper in the bottom, and lightly butter both the paper and the sides that
In a larger bowl beat the 10 egg whites with water equaling 2 eggshells filled.
Start beating the egg whites, when lightly beaten add gradually half of the sugar (6 tbsp) and the water.
Beat until soft peaks form, but do not over beat.
In another bowl mix the egg yolks with the other half of the sugar (6 tbsp), add the 2 tbsp of oil, mix lightly into the egg whites. Add the lemon zest.
Last, sift in the 12 tbsp flour, gradually and lightly mixing it into the eggs.
Bake at 180 C, 350 F for 12 minutes.
Remove from oven and roll it up with the help of the parchment paper. Keep it tight for 15 minutes until cools down slightly. Slowly roll it out and spread a thin layer of jam on the sponge cake. Roll it back, and let it sit for another 15-20 minutes.
Meanwhile prepare the cream.

Lightly beat the cream cheese with the sour cream in a smaller bowl. In a larger bowl beat the whipping cream and mix in the cream cheese-sour cream mixture, vanilla extract, lemon juice, adding the gelatin at the end.
How you prepare the gelatin depends on the type you have, but it should be enough to make 2 quarts of liquid rather jelly-ish. I lightly warmed up 5 tbsp cream, added the gelatin powder and mixed it into the cream-cream cheese mixture.

Prepare a round bowl, about 3 quarts, with plastic wrap all around.
Slice the sponge cake in thin slices, about 1 cm (3/8") thick and cover the sides of the bowl tightly with the slices. Leave some for the top.

Poor some cream mixture into the bowl, hitting every now and then to make the cream fill in the gaps between the sponge cake slices. Add a handful of raspberries, poor more cream, more berries, more cream.. and so on.., approximately 3 layers of berries between 4 layers of cream.

Fill it almost to the top, leave place for the bottom to be layer of sponge cake.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 6 hours.
Before serving remove from fridge and decorate with a handful of raspberries and mint leaves.
In our family it was a hit among the kids as it was creamy but not too sweet, and the jam and fresh raspberry and lemon gave an extra kick.
Bon apetite!

Brownie cheescake - sajttorta brownie

It looks like I'm Americanizing my baking, which will be the case with some pies coming soon to our table, but this brownie ironically had been on our menu for years.. not less than 10 years.. OMG.. time really flies.
The recipe came from a fellow social network addict back in 2003, living in France, loving cheese, and chocolate I suppose :).
It has two types of cheese, so no wonder why the recipe made it to France :).
It is a nice way to get your kids eat cottage cheese and ricotta, if they are not mad about them in any form already, like mine.
The recipe is sooo easy, the challenging part is to let it sit for a day in the fridge.. nooohoohhooo way :D. Ok, this time might work as I finished it at 9 in the evening, and I keep fingers crossed that nobody wants to dill their belly with sweets for the night.

Ingredients
Cheesecake
250 g ricotta (farmers cheese, cottage cheese will do it)
150 g farmers cheese (cottage cheese, maitorahka :))
4 tbsp powder sugar
small dash of vanilla extract
2 eggs
120 g heavy whipping cream
2 tbsp flour

Brownie
200 g butter (2 sticks)
300 g dark chocolate (or semisweet chocolate chips)
6 eggs
200 g powder sugar
ash of vanilla extract
150 g flour (1 cup, or 250 ml)
pinch salt

Prepare a deeper tray, 5 cm - 2 inch, by lining parchment paper on the bottom and buttering/ flouring the sides. Preheat the oven to 180 C, 350 F.
 Prepare the cheesecake. Mix the ricotta, farmers cheese, sugar, vanilla, 2 eggs (adding them one by one and working them well in the batter), at the end add the whipping cream and flour. You'll get a yogurt like liquid batter. Scoop it into a piping bag.

Melt the chocolate with the butter over water bath or in the microwave.
In another bowl mix well the eggs with the sugar and vanilla. Add the melted chocolate, flour and pinch of salt to the butter-sugar mix.
Scoop the butter in the tray, and dip the top of the piping bag in the batter. Start gently pressing, while slowly moving the bag in zig-zag, or as you like until you empty the bag. The cheesecake does not have to be visible on the top, it just happened that as I managed to poor it the way it looks.
Bake for 35 minutes on the middle rack. Let it cool, and refrigerate it for 4 hours, or better a day.
Serve cut in roughly 4x4 cm, 1.5x1.5" cubes.. be en garde!, and grab some before it is gone! :)
Bon appétit!