Almond cheese cake

For the cheese portion of the cake I make yogurt cheese.  The yogurt cheese takes 4-8 hours.  So beware of that before getting too excited.  This is not a difficult recipe, but it is certainly for the more patient.  I just hang my yogurt as soon as I get home from the store so that I have it ready to go since I can throw it back into it's original container and keep it refrigerated until time of use.   The awesome part is that the total active time on this dessert is maybe 30 minutes.  So it isn't time consuming, it just requires patience.  And the reward couldn't get much better.

Oat flour oil pastry:
Which is flaky, delicious and alright for those avoiding cholesterol or animal products (for other pies and tarts).

• 1 heaping Cup oat flour  (pulse rolled oats until fine in a food processor)
• 1 shallow cup of whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/3 Cup -1/2 Cup olive oil
• pinch of salt

Blend all in a bowl until well combined the oil makes the flour stick to itself and you can pat out 4 small tart shells or one large one.  It is pretty easy to just press it into a tart pan without trying to roll it out which can take a little bit of wizardry to succeed.  Preheat oven to 450 bake 12-15 minutes checking to make sure its not over browning.  Take out let cool. Once the shell is cool - fill it with the blended filling.

Cheesecake soft filling:  (which you'll need to adjust for your tart pans size)

3/4 Cup whipping cream (liquid state)
3/4 - 1 Cup yogurt cheese  (solid state)
3 TBSP light brown sugar
1-2 TBSP honey or agave (agave is better for diabetics and can replace brown sugar as well in a slightly smaller amount)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract   (if doing fruit topping just use vanilla and leave out the almond)

Approximately 10 almonds for topping, chopped until able to be eaten easily with the cheesecake.

Beat the hell out of the whipping cream until smooth but quite thick, too much and it starts to look like it has curds.  In a bowl put your yogurt cheese, sugars, extracts and beat so that the sugars are well combined and smooth with no chunks. Fold in the whipped cream until thoroughly combined.  Spoon into your tart shell and cover with almond pieces.  Place into the refrigerator for at least one hour.  More time is better but I know it is difficult to wait.  2-4 hours is ideal.  It makes a really lush texture.

Even though the yield for the recipe above is for an 8 inch by 2 and 1/2 inch deep cheese cake... the pieces are rich, creamy and satisfying. Making 8 pieces like the one shown. So share it or horde it!

Yogurt Cheese

What is yogurt cheese?  It is very straight forward! It is cheese made from yogurt.

What do you do with it?  You can use it as a spread, dip, or blended with fruit for a chilled no bake pie or cheesecake.  Think of cream cheese but without all the BS they add to cream cheese.

How much yogurt does it take to make yogurt cheese?  The yield of the yogurt to cheese ratio is about HALF perhaps a little less than.  So whatever amount of yogurt you start out with yor yield of cheese will be about half that. Since making the cheese removes the water from yogurt and yogurt is a large part water.

You start with a whole milk yogurt.  The variety I use is Pavel's which is a Russian whole milk yogurt.  It is around 3.50 - 4.50 for a 2 lb container.  Greek yogurts are thicker already and have less water in them but tend to be far more expensive.  There may be even cheaper whole milk yogurts available.  This cheese ends up being around 3-5 dollars per pound versus purchasing it at anywhere from 8-23 dollars a pound.  Cream cheese being cheaper but it is loaded with crap OTHER than milk. And you are the artisan cheese maker!

You empty your yogurt into a clean towel.  I like ones that are smooth with small weave and not terry cloth which is made of little loops and those loops can get messy so a bread/dough towel is best.  Cheese cloth varies so wildly in the available spacing of the weave that recommending it could result in unknown and variable results.  If you think the weave is tight enough to hold the loose yogurt but expel only water then perfect!

I use a bowl under the towel as I pour in the yogurt to hold the water and allow it to drain into the bowl while I adjust it for tethering.

Then gather up the towels corners and any openings and tie it shut with a rubberband or twine to hang like a hobo's bindle from a string on a hook or nail above the sink.

It needs to drain for at the very least 4 hours.  It is best with light squeezing early on to rid some of the most eager water.  Then it can cut the time down.  But best of all is tying it up before you go to work and taking it down when you get home.  There isn't much "danger zone" issues with leaving yogurt hanging unless your house has a big mildew, or mold problem then perhaps.*

You can check on the cheese progression,  it will be thick and a spreadable consistency when done.
If the center is still very liquidy you can stir it a little and then hang it again for a bit more. Or stir what little wetness there is back into it when you go to store your cheese in the fridge.

What can I do with the cheese once it is done?  Raw fruit pies! Like the Cherimoya pie with strawberries.  Or a Cheesecake with blueberry sauce. A cheese dip with spinach and greens or roasted red pepper or sun dried tomatoes.  A toast spread with olive oil, herbs and pepper flakes. 

*Did you watch the danger zone videos in health class?  I'm referring to food contamination fear.  The biggest food contaminates are from LARGE industrial farms and not in your home.  In your home it is raw meat that contaminates most surfaces.  Leaving food out is a unique to the house kind of rule.  So if you're against it, this style may not be for you.

Rhubarb Cake

I bet I can make you cry.

This is one of those things that uses subtle color to send the senses thumping.  Rhubarb is one of hundreds of thousands of food/plant items that was used first for medicinal purposes and then later in food.  It aids in digestion.  I don't know which business end of the digestion it aids... whether in stomach issues or rear end issues.  But hell I can't be bothered with the specifics, it's tasty and that is the business end I'm about.

I was that kid who when I saw an upside down anything cake...I truly believed adults were magic.  All that was wrong in the world would be fixed and Lions would lay with lambs.  More like Castle Grayskull and Barbie might get along, at least until I was finished with a slice.   Plums, pineapple, it didn't matter.  A blond cake and a fruit top with soaked cake bits  in between in a well lit summer kitchen was heaven.  Only difference now is I get to control my heaven!

Rhubarb is everywhere right now and so it makes so much sense that heaven this time would be rhubarb related. Rhubarb, do you peel it or not?  Well the answer is Yes if it is woody, NO if it is young, fresh, or the skin isn't tough.  After baking in most cases you wont really taste the difference. It depends on how supple you need the rhubarb to be. 

Before jumping in, get your butter out meant for cake so it comes to room temp. Preheat your oven to 350 and butter whatever type of pan you're using.  If doing upside down then a single layer of a layer cake pan is in order with enough room for ingredients.  2 inches tall at least and around 9 inches in diameter.


Now for the cake to make you cry:

The upside down part (if you flip this puppy):

• 1-1 and 1/2 pound(s) rhubarb washed and diced. Approx. 3 heaping Cups or 5-8 stalks depending on size. You can get fancy and diagonal cut them or strips or tiny bits everywhere. You just don't want the bulby end (rhizome) or the leafy end toxic oxalic acid.
• I believe you can't over due the rhubarb.  I used about 2 cups for my cake and it really was NOT enough.  It does cook down quite a lot and for as good as the cake and crumb portion is, the fruit layer is the most important so don't skimp.
• 1/2 - 3/4 Cup vegan sugar as long as each piece is thoroughly coated, you're good.
• Toss the rhubarb bits to coat itself in the sugar and let it hang out.

The cakey part:

• 1 and 3/4 Cup unbleached white flour (you know I'm really getting serious when I don't recommend whole wheat)
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• pinch sea salt
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 Cup sugar
• 1 stick butter (room temperature so it beats nicely)
• 1 Cup whole milk yogurt like a greek style ( I use Fage, but the most important part is whole milk - if you use a yogurt with low fat or soy you're upping the msg for the family as it is broken proteins and shouldn't be cooked furthering the breakdown) You can also make a thicker version of the thinner whole milk yogurts but we'll get into that later on.

Blend dry ingredients into one another reserving sugar and vanilla for the wet ingredients.  Beat butter and combine sugar and vanilla with the butter to cream,  adding eggs scraping bowl sides add a little flour then yogurt beating and repeating until all is combined.  Scoop this thick batter over your rhubarb and smooth the top as needed to bake evenly.

The crumb layer (last to go on and will act as a crust once flipped): 

• 3/4 - 1 stick Cold salted butter blended with
• 1/2 - 3/4 Cup flour (I'll adjust as needed and save my extra crumb topping in the freezer for  other treats like cupcakes, muffins and crisps) No one complains if you use all of it on one cake!
• 1/2 - 3/4 Cup vegan sugar the sugar ratio should match your flour ratio.
• 1/4 tsp coarse sea salt or more this is the zinger and should not be skipped.

Cut in the sugar and salt to the butter until crumbly and loosely toss until the batter is covered with little butter rocks of it.

And yes OF COURSE you can make this cake with other fruits.  I don't recommend citrus because of its ability to break proteins like a kung fu master.  If a citrus cake you need?  Then Nigella Lawson has the best Clementine cake I've ever had and the almonds in it make it somewhat troublesome in the broken protein factor.  But if you're going to be bad this is the way to do it - not through a hot pocket or the dollar menu.

Bake the cake for 40-50 minutes for a bundt pan, 30 for a layer pan (approximately) until a toothpick comes out clean or the cake bounces back when pressed. The larger the diameter and thus the thinner the cake batter then the less the time.
 

Gorgeous, but... obviously needs more rhubarb.

I used a bundt cake pan, I recommend if you'd like to make it an upside down cake that you use a 2 inch tall (at least) X 9 inch round pan.  As bundt anything does NOT like to be flipped over.  The crumbs make an excellent show so I can't complain about my pan choices. 
This cake is high on the share-o-meter as it is rich in the creamy department and you may feel guilty for not sharing.  At my house... we just skip real meals and pile on the cake.  This can EASILY feed 10-12.