3rd Tier: Mocha Cheesecake Squares, Coconut Muffin, and Green Tea Cream Puff

DIY Mother's Day High Tea at Coconut Crumpet's Home

As a dessertatarian, this is obviously the most exciting tier. The fact that I prepared an excess amount of each recipe didn't really bother me. That meant I would have dessert to last me a week, mwahahaha! There were a few bumps along the way during my baking of these desserts. A malfunctioning convection oven, running out of all purpose flour, burning this, burning that... Nevertheless, the guests didn't notice so let's just keep it between us, ok?


On my first day of cooking for the high tea, I made this mocha cheesecake. My mom loves mocha, she drinks a cup of homemade mocha every morning. She also loves cheesecake, so this was a tribute to her. 

Unfortunately for me, I had to find out about my malfunctioning convention oven the hard way. Nearly burning this poor thing. I believe my mini oven no longer can tell how hot it is anymore, so it just keeps heating and heating and heating... Therefore nearly scorching this cheesecake. And we all know how finicky cheesecakes can be... That left me with a cracked and burnt top. Thankfully, the cake itself is brown so a slightly darker top isn't noticeable. However I was still worried about the taste; is it burnt to the centre? will others notice it? I don't have anymore cream cheese left! Those were the thoughts constantly flying through my mind. Yes, I know, I can be so dramatic at times. 

In the end, I don't think anyone knew it was burnt, since I didn't hear any comments. After refrigerating, it actually covers the burnt-ness quite a bit. I quite enjoyed the deep and rich flavours of coffee and dark chocolate. Suits Asian adults well as it isn't too sweet but still decadent and creamy. Just make sure you don't burn your cake like me; save yourself a heart attack.

Mocha Cheesecake Squares

Mocha Cheesecake Squares

By Coconut Crumpet

Yield: 2 8"x4" loaf pans or 1 8" square pan; 16 squares

Ingredients

• 2 cup graham cracker crumbs (about 14 crackers)
• 6 tbsp coconut oil, melted
• 4 tbsp sugar (optional)
• 2 (8 oz.) packages of cream cheese, at room temperature
• ½ cup sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 tbsp espresso powder dissolved in 2 tsp hot water
• ⅔ cup cocoa powder

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350˚F. Line baking pans with parchment paper.
2. Mix graham crumbs, oil, and optional sugar to make crust and press firmly into the bottom of pans.
3. Bake crust for 3 to 4 minutes.
4. Beat cream cheese, a pinch of salt, and sugar until fluffy.
5. Add eggs one at a time, making sure to full incorporate between each egg. 
6. Add vanilla, dissolved coffee, cocoa powder and beat until smooth.
7. Pour cheesecake batter over prebaked crust and bake in a water bath for 35 minutes. 
8. To cool, turn off oven and leave cake in its water bath for 15 minutes before bringing out to cool completely on the counter top. Refrigerate overnight before cutting. 

-♡-

Being Coconut Crumpet, I can't host a party without incorporating something with coconut. This food represents me. It uses nearly everything coconut possible. The only coconut ingredient missing may be coconut flour and sugar. Other than that, everything from the oil, milk, topping, and meat is used here.

Originally, my plan was to make cupcakes. Now, me and cupcakes just don't seem to get along too well. They usually don't come out cupcake-like; either with a ton of holes or super dense. This one is the later, so I won't label the recipe with the word 'cupcake'. Being too dense to be a cupcake, I shall call it a 'muffin'. 

To save myself some time, I skipped on making my own frosting and used a coconut creme spread instead. I discovered this gem at a Costco in Oregon state. Unfortunately, not every Costco has it. It's this one here by Walls Berry Farm; I know it's not very healthy but it's so good on some Chinese bakery toast!

Coconut Muffins

Coconut Muffins

Adapted from Lillipop Girl

Yield: 15

Ingredients

• 1½ cups flour (either all purpose or whole wheat will work)
• 1½ tsp baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup sugar
• 1½ tsp vanilla
• ¼ cup + 2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
• ⅔ cup coconut milk
• ½ cup shredded coconut + more for topping

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350˚F. Line muffin pan with paper cupcake liners.
2. To toast coconut, spread evenly on a cookie sheet and bake in oven for 1 minute. Keep a close eye on it!
3. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt.
4. In a large bowl, beat eggs with sugar and vanilla with an electric mixer for about 10 minutes, or until the mixture is pale yellow, triples in volume, and flows like ribbons.
5. Add oil in a stream while mixing to wet ingredients
6. Add dry ingredients and coconut milk alternately into wet mixture. 
7. Gently mix toasted coconut into batter.
8. Using a muffin scoop, fill muffin cups with batter.
9. Bake for 15 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
10. Cool completely on a cooling rack before spreading coconut creme and decorating with toasted coconut. 

-♡-

For my best friend, who is a green tea fanatic, I filled choux pastries with green tea whipped cream. To be more specific, matcha whipped cream. There is a difference, and a big difference at that. Matcha is a specific type of green tea that has a sweet aroma and flavour; it actually gives your food that green tea taste. I've tried just using powdered green tea leaves, and it does next to nothing. So, when you're out at the store searching for powdered green tea, make sure it's matcha! It should be a light green colour, sweet smelling, and usually more expensive... 

This recipe is from my school, it's super simple and works every time. My brother used to make it multiple times a week when he first learned how to make these. However, this time they didn't exactly puff up as much as they should've. I'm guessing it's because I had to use whole wheat flour and it was a bit too heavy for just steam to lift. Also maybe I made them rather large.. If using all purpose flour, follow the recipe exactly and they should puff up beautifully! Even if they look flat coming out of the oven, it is possible to puff them up back to normal by filling it with a ton of whipped cream. Worked for me, and who doesn't like more whipped cream? My best friend liked them so much our selca with these cream puffs became her Facebook profile picture. 

Green Tea Cream Puff

Yield: 10 very large choux

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp butter
• 6 tbsp water
• 6 tbsp flour
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1 heaping tbsp matcha powder
• Honey or sugar, to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400˚F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicon mat.
2. Combine butter and water in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring until butter melts and mixture comes to a boil.
3. Add all the flour and stir vigorously over heat until mixture leaves the sides of the pan and turns into a ball. There should be a thin layer of film stuck to the pan. Turn off the heat.
4. Transfer mixture to a small bowl, add the eggs, and beat with an electric mixture until fluffy. 
5. Drop by the spoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheet 5cm apart.
6. Bake for 10 minutes at 400˚F. Then reduce the heat to 350˚F and bake for another 10 minutes. **It is very important you do not open the oven during the entire baking time or the steam will escape and choux will not rise!
7. Cool completely before filling with whipped cream.
8. To make whipped cream filling, beat whipping cream with an electric mixture until soft peaks.
9. Add matcha powder and sweetener and continue to beat until stiff peaks form. Adjust flavours to taste.
10. Transfer whipped cream to a pipping bag with a small round tip.
11. Poke a small hole large enough to insert the tip of your pipping tip at the bottom of each choux.
12. Pipe whipped cream into choux until it just begins to expand.
13. Serve immediately.