Ultimate Cook Book_ 900 New Recipes, Thousands of Ideas - Bruce Weinstein [359]
To cool: Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely, about 1 hour.
To store: Once cooled, wrap the pan in plastic and refrigerate for up to 4 days.
To unmold: Unlatch the collar and remove before slicing the cake.
Note: Dried California apricots are halves, quite tart—as opposed to the brownish, whole, rather dull Turkish apricots.
Apricot Ginger Cheesecake: Add 2 tablespoons chopped crystallized ginger with the vanilla.
Apricot Rum Cheesecake: Substitute gold rum for the water.
Peach Cheesecake: Substitute dried peaches for the apricots.
Rum Raisin Cheesecake: Substitute raisins for the apricots and gold rum for the water.
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Cream Cheese
Cream cheese is a high-fat (around 33% fat), dense (less than 55% moisture) cheese. It was the brainchild of a New York farmer who, in 1872, wanted to make a rich cheese to compete with French specialties. He substituted cream for a good percentage of the whole milk—and cream cheese was born. An inventor he was—but not much of a marketer. That job fell to another New Yorker, A. L. Reynolds, who in 1880 began distributing the cheese under the brand-name “Philadelphia.” The city of brotherly love was known for its high-quality craftsmanship, so Reynolds simply stuck the city name on his product. And stick it did. Even today, in Spain and Latin American countries, the cheese is simply known as “Philadelphia.”
Despite its popularity, cream cheese is quite difficult to produce. Without delving too deeply into the chemistry of milk, suffice it to say that cream cheese is always threatening to liquefy, mostly because of ion charges in the mix. Stabilizers like guar gum are often added to keep the cheese solid. In many lower fat cream cheeses, more and more of these stabilizers are added for body.
In the U.S., low-fat and even fat-free cream cheeses are sometimes called “Neufchâtel” cheese, a misnomer and a confusion with a high-fat, rich, French cheese.
No recipe in this book calls for whipped cream cheese, aerated for spreading. And no recipe calls for flavored cream cheese. Save both of these for bagels or toast.
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Sponge Rolls
These light cakes are made in a 10 × 15-inch jelly roll pan or baking sheet, then wrapped up in a towel and cooled. Later, they’re unwound, filled with a variety of concoctions, and rolled back up to be sliced into spiral-filled rounds.
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Vanilla Sponge Roll Cake
Makes one 15-inch-long roll cake
Unsalted butter for greasing
6 large eggs, separated, at room temperature
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
Position the rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly butter a 15 × 10-inch jelly roll pan, then line it with parchment paper; grease the paper and the pan’s sides.
Place the egg whites and salt in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer at high speed until the beaters form soft peaks when they are turned off and dabbed into the mixture, about 3 minutes. Set aside.
If you’re using a handheld mixer, clean and dry the beaters; if you’re using a stand mixer, remove the whisk and attach the paddle. Beat the egg yolks and sugar at medium speed in a second large bowl until this mixture is so thick, it will run off the turned-off beaters in wide ribbons that do not immediately dissolve back into the mixture, about 4 minutes. Beat in the vanilla.
Scrape down and remove the beaters. Fold in the flour with a rubber spatula just until moistened. Then fold in the beaten egg whites in three batches, taking care not to deflate them, using long, even strokes.
Pour and scrape the batter evenly into the prepared pan, spreading it to the corners. Rap it a couple of times against the counter to get rid of any air bubbles.
Bake until spongy to the touch and lightly browned, about 15 minutes. You’ll need to roll it the moment it’s out of the oven.
Chocolate Sponge Roll Cake
Makes one 15-inch-long roll cake
Unsalted butter for greasing
¾ cup sifted unsweetened cocoa powder
½ cup all-purpose flour
6 large