Cooking is both an art form and a science and is constantly evolving. I am always evaluating recipes, altering and tweaking to suit new conditions or just to try to perfect.
Having made some more fresh curd cheese on the weekend, I decided to make curd cake again. But this time I made mini curd cakes as a result of just this kind of recipe evaluation mentioned above.
Also I wanted to try out a beautiful baking tin from Baker’s Secret that I had recently acquired. It has 12 holes with removable bottoms. It’s meant for pies or puddings but would do just as well for cakes!
I was aware that the River Cottage Australia recipe I quoted in my previous post uses quantities based around 1 kg of cheese:
https://thequirkandthecool.com/2013/09/27/fresh-curd-cake-with-strawberry-conserve/
However the curd recipe from the same source seems to make only 400-500gms of curd from 2 litres of milk.
I’m not sure whether my inexperience as a cheese maker has meant I get less curds from the milk, or whether indeed the lesser quantity is what you actually end up with.
So this time I made cheese with 2 litres of milk and ended up with 400gms of curd. Not having enough cheese for a large cake I made mini cheese cakes and adjusted all the quantities appropriately, roughly halving them.
You may note in comparing the recipes that I used 3 eggs not 2 and suggested increasing the cream quantity. From my experience, the extra egg gives richness to the mixture and increasing the cream is necessary if the mixture is a little stiff.
I also adjusted the oven temperature down to 170 degrees C, as I thought the result of my previous baking was a little overcooked, and I prefer to control this through temperature rather than less baking time.
In the photos I stacked the cakes on top of each other for visual and serving appeal. The mixture yielded 4 large mini cakes.
Ingredients
400-500 gms fresh curd
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/4-1/2 cup cream
3 large free-range eggs
1/2 tsp lemon zest
1/2 tsp vanilla paste
Method
Preheat oven to 170 degrees C. Line the bases of Baker’s Secret mini tins (as in the photo) with baking paper or just use ordinary muffin tins.
Place the curd, sugar and cream in the bowl of a food processer and process until smooth.
Add the eggs, lemon zest and vanilla paste and process until thoroughly mixed.
Pour into the prepared tin and smooth the surface with the back of a spoon.
Bake in the preheated oven for 30 – 45 minutes or until just beginning to turn brown and the mixture is set. Timing will depend on the heat of your particular oven. You will need to watch carefully as these little cakes will cook quickly.
Serve warm or at room temperature, but not completely cold, with any kind of fresh or cooked fruit.
The Quirk and the Cool 