Adam runs a small B&B in Herefordshire and is also a craftsman. His craft-related blog, The Craft Bench, can be seen here

Friday 8 March 2013

Baby Cheese Cakes

I was invited to my friend Chris Rowlatt's birthday party earlier this week and made these little cakes to take along. They disappeared very quickly!



They are based on a Swiss Easter cake recipe  (Ă–ster Pfladen - Easter Flan):

500g puff pastry
1 cup sultanas (optional)
300g cream cheese (ie: Philadelphia)
200ml single cream (or double if you are feeling extravagent)
1 Tbsp cornflour
6 Tbsp sugar
Grated rind of one good-size lemon plus, if you like it really lemony, half the juice
2 eggs

Set the oven to hot (200°C).
Put the sultanas in a bowl and soak in hot water until plump.

Grease a half-height muffin tin and line each dip with a circle of puff pastry.
Place the remaining ingredients into a blender and blend well. Tip the mixture out into a bowl.
Drain the sultanas, pat dry on kitchen paper and stir into the mix.
Using a tablespoon, or small cup, ladle dollops of the mix into each pastry cup, making sure there's a few sultanas there too.
Place the tray/s into the oven and bake for 20 minutes until the top is brown - personally, I check after 15 minutes. The filling will rise up, but usually settles back down again once out of the oven.
Allow to cool before serving - and try not to eat too many at once!
Makes about 30...

To make as a flan, grease and line a 9" springform tin with the pastry and pour the mixture in. Bake for about 45 minutes.

They are actually dead easy to make, however I'm supposed to be on a diet at the moment so, just for the hell of it I totted up the calories - BIG MISTAKE !  Have you any idea how high pastry is in calories???
So, next time I shall a) try half quantities and b) try something other than pastry; sliced white bread rolled out flat onto a little sugar perhaps - in which case I'll leave everything to sit for an hour or so before cooking so that the bread absorbs some of the custard. I might also try a little less sugar in the mix...