Strawberry & almond cheesecake sponge

There was a time when I always made a cake for Sunday afternoon coffee and I used to take them to my inlaws home and the cake would be finished in a flash as we were always with some 7 for coffee and then If by chance there was some left over she would keep the rest for the next day for them.

If you are a regular reader of my blog you will know that she passed away last year and now for sunday coffee we have gone down from 7 people to just 4 ( ok mostly 3 as Shyama is only there for coffee ifshe come home for weekend)

And mostly we end up buying cake if it is just 3 of us as Hans would be saying to me why you want to do all the work making a cake as we are just 3.
So ususally we end up buying tarts/ cakes these days from the bakers .
And i was fed up paying too much for the small cakes plus they are too sweet etc... and I go on grumbling about it, so I ended up making this cake for one sunday.
And I kept the rest in my FIL's fridge saying he can have a slice for next day and also to give for Niece when she come there.
The cake is really good and moist. And as strawberry season is still going on there it was a good way to use the delicious strawberries.
Mu cheese went to the bottom so next time when i make this cake i will add more than half of the cake batter and then add the cheese mix.

Recipe Copied from BBC Good Good

Ingredients.

• 175g butter, really soft, plus extra for greasing
• 250g caster sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 200g self-raising flour
• 50g ground almonds
• 75g full-fat natural yogurt
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 250g strawberries, hulled and sliced
• handful flaked, toasted almonds

For the cheesecake blobs

• 200g full-fat cream cheese
• 25g caster sugar
• 1 large egg
• Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease and line the base and sides of a deep 23cm cake tin with baking parchment. Mix the ingredients for the cheesecake blobs together in a bowl until just combined – be careful not to overmix or it will become runny. Set aside.
• Put the butter, sugar, eggs, flour, ground almonds, yogurt, vanilla and a pinch of salt in a large bowl, and beat together until smooth using an electric hand whisk.
• Scrape half the cake mixture into the tin, then scatter with half the strawberries. Use the back of a teaspoon to create dips in the surface of the cake and dollop in spoonfuls of cheesecake mixture – saving about half for the top. Cover with the remaining cake mixture, being careful not to disturb the cheesecake and strawberries below. Scatter with the remaining strawberries and spoon on the remaining cheesecake mixture, using the same method as before.
• Scatter with almonds and bake for 50 mins-1 hr or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool for 20 mins in the tin before turning out. Delicious served warm or cold

Hawaiian Rolls

The first time I had Hawaiian bread was when I visited my sister in Houston in 2012 , we were in this supermarket and sis said to me Finla these breads are so soft a bit like our Kerala bakery bread and she bought a pack.
Of course her son Vishal love these bread too that he and I ended up eating ( Hogging) the whole lot.
So I have been wanting to make these bread from the time when I came back . And was looking for a good recipe.

The moment I saw this recipe in this blog Milk and Honey I knew I was going to make this Hawaiian Rolls as they were looking super soft and so delicious.

And must say they were really so so good.
If i could I would have eaten in one go more than I had ate :-) if I had ate more I think I would have also had to do running and squats like she does, and I do really wish I did so I could eat more of these delicious bread.
The recipe I have given is from her place and I have written what I changes, actually didn't change that much.
I think the bread is eaten the best the day itself of making them.

You should check out Milk and Honey blog , she has so much delicious dishes that I am sure I will be visiting her place to make few other dishes from her place.

How to make them.

Recipe Copied from Milk and Honey

Sweet Buns - aka Hawaiian Rolls

500g "00" flour (a little more or a little less) and some for dusting on the work surface ( Use White bread flour)
1 large egg
250ml pineapple juice, room temperature
1/4 cup caster sugar
1/4 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger ( I added more grated ginger)
1 scant teaspoon fine sea salt
7g (1 sachet) dried yeast
60g unsalted butter, melted
Egg wash - (1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon of water)
30g unsalted butter, melted for brushing

Grease a 20 x 30 baking pan. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, beat the eggs, pineapple juice, sugar, ginger, vanilla and melted butter. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook, dump in about half the flour (no need to measure, just eyeball it) and the salt. Add the egg mixture and mix on low until roughly incorporated. Sprinkle in the yeast and mix. Add the remaining flour and mix until you have a slightly tacky dough. If it's too wet, add a little more flour a tablespoon at a time. Scrape the dough into a lightly oiled bowl and cover. Leave to double in size for about an hour. (Mine took almost one and half hour to double up)

Scrape the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead briefly. Add more flour if the dough if it's too sticky, but only enough to make it manageable. Divide the dough into 15 even portions. Roll the portions into balls and place them in the baking tray. Cover and leave them to double in bulk for another hour or so.

Preheat the oven to 180 C.

Brush the tops of the balls with egg wash and bake for 25 - 30 minutes until golden brown. Brush tops with melted butter and serve warm
Sending the Delicious super soft bread to Yeastspotting