Source http://resipinoraini.blogspot.com/

Kek keju semakin popular di negara kita kerana keenakan dan keunikan rasanya.Walaupun harganya agak mahal berbanding kek-kek yang lain, namun ia tetap jadi pilihan para penggemarnya.Kek keju yang terkenal seperti Kek Tiramisu adalah berasal dari Itali. Ia adalah hidangan pencuci mulut yang popular dan dicipta pada tahun 1960 di Treviso,Itali.”Tiramisu” bunyinya seakan-akan bahasa Jepun tetapi dalam bahasa Itali, ia bermaksud “pick me up” atau “carry me up”. Resipi asal Tiramisu menggunakan ’sponge fingers’ dan keju mascapone. Tetapi kita boleh ubahsuai resipi ini mengikut selera sendiri . Untuk mendapatkan bahan-bahan membuat kek keju lebih mudah mendapatkannya dari kedai-kedai menjual bahan kek seperti Bagus Marketing, Bake With Yen dan lain-lain. Harga krim keju juga lebih murah berbanding dengan membeli dipasaraya biasa. Keju mascapone sukar didapati dan harganya mahal.Anda boleh gunakan krim keju Philadelphia bagi menggantikan keju mascapone. Krim masam pula boleh digantikan dengan yogurt.

Panduan Membuat Kek Keju

1. Gunakan keju jenis krim keju( cream cheese) untuk kebanyakan resipi kek keju. Kecuali dinyatakan dalam resipi untuk menggunakan keju jenis lain.

2. Keluarkan keju 1 jam sebelum digunakan agar ia lembut dan bersuhu bilik. Ini memudahkan kerja memutar dan supaya ia tidak berketul.

3. Kek keju mempunyai 2 kaedah membuatnya iaitu cara membakar dan cara dinginbeku (Chilled). Baca resipi dengan teliti untuk mempastikan kaedah mana digunakan.

4. Teknik water-bath/steam bake/bain-marie digunakan semasa membakar kek keju agar ia masak dengan perlahan dan tidak hangus. Suhunya pula 160 darjah celcius. Teknik ini bermaksud meletakkan sedulang air dibawah acuan kek agar kek masak melalui haba air tersebut.

5. Gunakan tin bulat jenis ’springform’ agar mudah dibuka dari bahagian tepi. Anda juga boleh gunakan ‘loose tin’ yang boleh dibuka dari bahagian bawah. Jangan gunakan tin pembakar biasa kerana akan susah dikeluarkan.

6. Jika gunakan kaedah membakar water-bath, lapik tin dengan kertas aluminium untuk mengelakkan air masuk ke dalam kek.

7. Panaskan ketuhar kepada 160 darjah celcius selama 15 minit. Masa membakar pula adalah satu setengah jam (1 1/2 jam).

8. Kek keju enak dimakan apabila sejuk. Setelah kek sejuk ,masukkan ke dalam petiais sekurang-kurangnya 3 jam agar ia padat. Kemudian barulah dipotong ..

Decorating with piping gel….Source By http://bakingproject.com

Piping gel is another ingredient that you can use to make interesting pictures on cakes. Most of my visitors who are in the cake business is already an expert in this technique. However, for the sake of some newbies, I?ve decided to document my project this morning using piping gel. Take note that I am also still learning, so forgive me if the end result is not that good.

Ok, first of all decide what you want to draw on the cake. You can pipe directly on the cake or like me, trace it. I take a baking sheet and trace the picture that I like.

Then I transfer the paper onto my cake. Before that I have covered the cake with fondant and leave it to dry overnight. You can also cover the cake with icing but make sure it is cool in the fridge and the icing has hardened a little.

To trace the picture, I use a toothpick and prick some holes along the pencil line. Remove the paper and you will see the dotted lines on your cake. Now, draw the outline. I use melted chocolate for this and pipe it using a paper piping bag. You need a steady hand for this.

Leave that to dry.

Colour your clear piping gel. I use my gel colouring, you can also use the usual liquid colouring. This is how the clear gel looks like.

Spoon the coloured gel into the paper piping bag, snip the end and fill in the outlines.

That?s all there is to it, actually. Apart from the paper piping bag, I also used a small artist brush to touch up and blend the colours together. My finished picture :

I?m using a dummy cake here, so for the finishing touch, I just tied a ribbon at the bottom of the cake.

I think this is one of the easiest cake decorating technique. I?m hoping with a little more practice I can make finer piping for the outline. The important thing is the consistency – you have to make sure the icing or melt chocolate you are using is soft, if it is too thick the lines will break and you will have big bulbs. It has to be smooth and thin so you can glide easily to trace the outline. Filling in the gel is easy and I?m sure you will not encounter any problem.

Well , I hope this article has been useful. Cheerio !